One of my assignments this year is to assist final year IT students at the University of Technology to prepare for a career in IT. It will include resume writing and interview techniques etc, but what are their career prospects?
Careers in IT in Australia have changed rapidly in the past decade, the opportunity to work in a hardcore research or software development company have always been small (some like Atlassian, Wisetech and Canon’s CISRA provide career options), however the traditional IT organisation within non-IT businesses are facing the paradox of IT becoming infinitely more complex while being easier than ever to install and use allowing other business divisions to by-pass the internal IT department entirely, leading to considerable downsizing. Outsourcing (including cloud services) has greatly simplified the IT challenge within many organisations. There is currently an opportunity for a career in Australian IT services companies, this area has enjoyed rapid growth in recent years, however once organisations get comfortable with outsourcing, third party management and off-site storage of their data, the next logical step is to move it all offshore to the lowest cost provider, impacting Australian IT careers.
The greatest opportunity I see for today’s IT graduates is to identify a better application, system, process, web design, iPhone app, game etc and build their own business around it. The opportunities for IT entrepreneurs have never been greater, with the rapid pace of technology development the opportunity to leverage technology in new ways is vast. Those graduating today are ‘digital natives’ with an insight into IT and a relationship with technology that us old-timers cannot even imagine. The opportunities are endless and very exciting, today’s IT graduates can shape not only the future of IT but the world.
What would you say to today's IT graduates?
