ACS, AIIA promote National ICT Careers Week

The National ICT Careers Week will again be held this year in an effort to increase the uptake of IT education and training.

Held from 27 July to 1 August 2009 under the theme of ‘ICT: Start Here, Go Anywhere’, the event will showcase the study and career opportunities currently available in ICT.

Penny Coulter, chair of the Careers Week Steering Committee said event would broaden the horizons of school leavers who may not have considered a career in ICT.

“Last year, we had more than 70 organisations across Australia join us to promote the exciting and dynamic career opportunities available in Australia’s ICT industry. The 2009 National ICT Careers Week will be similarly successful,” she said in a statement.

Australian Computer Society chairman Kumar Parakala said a unique advantage for ICT professionals was that there were no boundaries to what industry they could can work in.

“Current and future generations of Australian ICT professionals will be engaged in solving many of the most of the significant problems we face today – whether that is addressing impact of global warming, improving access to critical health services, or improving corporate governance systems,” he said in a statement.

Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) CEO Ian Birks said that with the rollout of the national broadband network, the range of job opportunities related to creating a new smart economy in Australia was set to explode.

According to the AIIA, direct job creation as a result of the NBN can be expected in four key areas: IT Managers, IT Professionals, Telecommunications Managers and Specialists and skilled labour to deploy and service cable.

Citing research by Access Economics, the AIIA said that adopting smart technologies in five key areas of the economy — electricity, irrigation, health, transport and broadband communications– will add more than 70,000 jobs to the economy in 2014.

Earlier this month, SEEK reported that IT consultants were the fourth most in demand professional.