“The Australian Computer Society should be stripped of its ability to accredit university courses and disbanded,” Matt Barrie, CEO of Freelancer.com wrote during a rant yesterday on social networking site LinkedIn. Barrie was attacking the content of ACS Foundation brochures he received at an NICTA forum on improving technology education in Australia. He said the ideas about IT and technology, as shown in the brochures, were outdated. For example, some brochures described IT to be about “electrical electronic engineering: install, repair and service technology equipment”, and “network communications: provide technical support to help people use software and hardware”. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe He then went on to call the ACS “morons” who are “doing more damage to the industry than help”. ACS President Nick Tate commented on Barrie’s LinkedIn post to clarify that the brochures belong to the ACS Foundation, which is not part of the ACS. “We are surprised to see such strong statements about the ACS based on such incorrect information,” Tate wrote. “The great thing about the ACS is that in representing the ICT profession, we are happy to engage with and listen to those who wish to contribute to the profession. “We think it would be useful, however, to start our discussions about meetings that the ACS has actually held and about documents that we have actually produced.” Barrie made comments in response to Tate’s response saying that he won’t withdraw his statements on LinkedIn, and he doesn’t believe the ACS should go without some responsibility of issuing the brochures. He also wrote that there needs to be an industry body that can represent a “modern technology industry”. Follow Rebecca Merrett on Twitter: @Rebecca_Merrett Follow CIO Australia on Twitter and Like us on Facebook… Twitter: @CIO_Australia, Facebook: CIO Australia, or take part in the CIO conversation on LinkedIn: CIO Australia Related content brandpost Lessons from the field: Why you need a platform engineering practice (…and how to build it) Adopting platform engineering will better serve customers and provide invaluable support to their development teams. By VMware Tanzu Vanguards Oct 02, 2023 6 mins Software Deployment Devops feature The dark arts of digital transformation — and how to master them Sometimes IT leaders need a little magic to push digital initiatives forward. Here are five ways to make transformation obstacles disappear. By Dan Tynan Oct 02, 2023 11 mins Business IT Alignment Digital Transformation IT Strategy feature What is a project management office (PMO)? The key to standardizing project success The ever-increasing pace of change has upped the pressure on companies to deliver new products, services, and capabilities. And they’re relying on PMOs to ensure that work gets done consistently, efficiently, and in line with business objective By Mary K. Pratt Oct 02, 2023 8 mins Digital Transformation Project Management Tools IT Leadership opinion The changing face of cybersecurity threats in 2023 Cybersecurity has always been a cat-and-mouse game, but the mice keep getting bigger and are becoming increasingly harder to hunt. By Dipti Parmar Sep 29, 2023 8 mins Cybercrime Security Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe