NQ Career Expo Guide

Information Communication Technology Industry

274,000 people work in the Information Communication Technology in Australia.
Graduate starting base salary average $44,000.
ICT is still Number 1 for job vacancies category in 2006 (20000 in Seek) and 2009 (13000 in Seek).
Skills can be used worldwide.
Skills can be deployed remotely worldwide in some cases.
New ICT roles and job categories created at a increasing rate.
292 million computers were sold worldwide in 2008. Who will support them?

ICT Career Streams

Building Technology. E.g. Graphics Designer, Games Developer, Web Developer, Embedded Developer, Software Architect, Systems Analyst
Running Technology. E.g. Help desk operator, PC support, Database administrator, Security specialist, Telecommunications Engineer, Capacity Planner, Customer Service Manager
Transforming Business. E.g. Business Process Modeller, Business Analyst, Change Manager, Project Manager
Designing the Enterprise. E.g. Information Management Specialist, Strategic Planner, Technology Architect, Business Architect

ICT is incorporated in the faculties of Business, Science, Engineering, Social Science and Architecture. Do you have enough IT subjects to cover your career and perform effectively?

What can I do now?

Review your skills, likes and dislikes. See exercises in What Color is my Parachute book.
Volunteer for ICT activities in your social groups.
Perform ICT work experience.
Attend Australian Computer Society events and speak with people in the ICT industry.
Follow industry news online E.g. http://www.australianit.news.com.au/ http://news.cnet.com/ http://www.itnews.com.au/
Study ICT magazines. See library for a wide range of free reading.
Consider building your own computer. Learn which components can go together.
Consider building your own website. Study up on content management systems, HTML and Javascript etc.
Try Virtual Computing for free to become familiar with server and desktop operating systems and applications.
Investigate some of the over 230,000 open source software projects to see how IT is made and used.
Consider gaining International Computer Driving Licence while still in school.
Consider entry level ICT training while in school. E.g. Microsoft Certified Professional, CompTIA A+
Attend open day events for University and TAFE.

Links

Australian Computer Society http://www.acs.org.au/ See Careers & Employment, Careers, ICT Career Portal
NQ Australian Computer Society http://www.nq.qld.acs.org.au ICT articles, local ICT events and discussion group
International Computer Drivers Licence http://www.icdl.com.au/
James Cook University http://www.jcu.edu.au/
Free Open Course ware from University of Southern Queensland http://ocw.usq.edu.au/
North Queensland TAFE http://www.tnqit.tafe.qld.gov.au/
Microsoft Online Application Training http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/default.aspx
Seek Online Training with mentors and online library http://www.seeklearning.com.au/
Prometric Exams available nearly anywhere http://securereg3.prometric.com/

How do we use Information Technology?

Transform and automate processes
Improve decision making
Communicate
Entertainment

How is ICT Shaping Our Future?

Information Technology is reducing the cost of doing business.

VOIP telephony allows low cost business communications almost anywhere with an Internet connection.

Servers, applications and telephony can now be remotely hosted reducing business capital costs.

Consider how music can be distributed worldwide in a digital format at a lower cost.

Consider how magazines/newspapers can be distributed in a digital format at a cheaper cost than on paper.

How has online services transformed job advertising, real estate marketing, classifieds and general advertising?

How has online services transformed banking, online share trading, worldwide e-Commerce trading?

Understand how IT is used throughout the supply chain to reduce idle inventories and waste.

Computing power allows more work to be completed per individual improving productivity.

A national fibre to premises network would allow for more advanced IT solutions in Australia.

How to stay competitive?

Try to be unique, valuable and hard to replicate.

Learn about new technologies and use them for competitive advantage.

Understand how new technology can create new business opportunities.

Learn how Information Technology and Business need to work together.

Future Requirements of IT

Better communications between people, devices and systems.
Knowledge collection and access.
Working with larger and larger volumes of data effectively.
More Internet based information systems.
Natural user interfaces such as speech and touch.
Cloud computing software and hardware services.
Information available independent of device. E.g. smart-phone, netbook, notebook, desktop.
Business intelligence systems with meta-data tags/description standards
Shared work spaces such as Google Wave and Microsoft Sharepoint
Use of distributed virtual teams and telecommuting/tele-cottaging.

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