IT education comes in a variety of guises, so which one is best for you? Todays teacher, David Hellaby, gives you a crash course.
Alot can change in 12 months. Last year there more
IT education comes in a variety of guises, so which one is best for you? Todays teacher, David Hellaby, gives you a crash course.
Alot can change in 12 months. Last year there more vacancies in the information technology (IT) industry than most other industries, and the pay was better. Despite the early signs of the dotcom crash there was a lot of optimism and plenty of jobs. Since then economic conditions have tightened and the IT sector in particular has felt the pinch, resulting in a sharp drop in the number of jobs being advertised.
A recent check of the Federal Governments JobSearch Web site showed that of the 51,000 jobs on offer around the country only 450, or less than 1%, were in computing and IT. The fear now is that the job situation will deter school leavers from taking IT-related courses at university or TAFE. If that was to happen it could create a much worse crisis than the current tight job market.
Despite the economic situation, which experts say we are already recovering from anyway, Australia still has an IT skills shortage that is not likely to be filled in the short term, although the gap between supply and demand is narrowing.
The numbers
A recent survey of business and government (Market for Australian IT&T Skills 2000-2002), which was carried out with the help of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, found that although annual employment growth in IT&T (information technology and telecommunications) has eased a little from the high rates (about 9%) experienced over 1999 and 2000, it remains strong and well above the average for all industries. Demand across all IT&T occupational groups is expected to grow by about 7.5% this year and by about 8% in 2002. That compares with an average employment growth across the Australian economy of about 1.3%.
The survey estimated that 24,000 extra people will be required to work in core IT&T occupations and supporting roles this year, with a further 27,500 next year. Most of this demand will be for people with skills such as software and hardware developers, systems administrators, IT&T managers, technical advisers and IT consultants.
About 25,000 of the additional 27,500 IT&T employees required next year will need to have a relevant IT&T qualification -a university degree, TAFE or equivalent certification, industry or commercial qualification - and, of those, about 18,400 will be expected by employers to have a university degree or higher qualification. The rest will require Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications (about 2,600), or industry or commercial qualifications (about 4,000). Around 10,400 university-level graduates will enter the IT&T job market in 2001 and 2002, and there is potential for up to another 2,000 university-level or equivalent graduates, while about 6,700 graduates from VET institutions will become available to employers by the end of 2002.
While the survey estimates there will be no shortfall for VET qualification, there is likely to be a shortfall of up to 8,000 university graduates next year. That will be offset to a certain extent by any over-supply of TAFE and other course graduates, as employers fill positions with lesser qualifications than they are seeking.
There are plenty of incentives for studying at university, with one recent study estimating that the starting salary for computer science or computer engineering graduates averages more than $37,000.
While the current skills shortage is expected to last for some years, the skills that are required are also changing as quickly as new technology. Despite these changes in technology, some IT skills are in constant demand, particularly application skills such as database management, security, systems, project and customer relationship management, multimedia and exchange, and e-commerce applications. Telecommunications network management skills also are in constant demand.
It should be noted that most of the long-term vacancies are for experienced people; however, given the limited pool of existing skilled workers and the supply shortfall, entry opportunities will inevitably be created at lower levels as people move up the ladder to higher positions. While most IT&T job categories will experience quite strong demand over the next two years generally, it will be those jobs requiring most experience (systems administrators and managers) that will come under the most pressure.
The industry
However, not all areas of IT&T employment are growing. For example, the number of self-employed IT contractors and consultants is expected to fall between now and the end of next year for a variety of reasons, ranging from a slight reduction in the number of companies outsourcing to a restructure of the way companies winning outsourcing contracts employ people who carry out the contract. For instance, changes to Queensland's industrial relations laws, which bring IT contractors under the same regulations as employees on wages (meaning they are entitled to be paid superannuation and holiday leave), has had an adverse effect on the number of contracts being offered.
However, one area where there is continuing strong demand for skills is e-commerce, and while demand will grow it will be several years before universities are producing sufficient numbers of graduates to make a dent in the requirements.
For example Australia's first Bachelor of Electronic Commerce, which is being run at the University of Queensland (UQ), finishes at the end of this year with only 40 graduates. While there are about 200 more students studying for e-commerce degrees at UQ, and other universities are now offering similar courses, they will have little impact on the pent-up demand for skills.
At June 2000, nearly 58,000 businesses with a Web site (56% of all businesses with a Web site) reported not being satisfied with their Web site's e-commerce or e-business functionality - and almost 25% of them blamed a lack of e-commerce skills.
While studies by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the IT&T Skills Hub have taken a conservative approach to the skills shortage, other organisations suggest the gap between available university qualified staff and the number required is widening and there could be a shortfall of as many as 90,000 over the next five years.
The Business Council of Australia's e-Business Roundtable is still attempting to quantify the problem, and in a report on e-Business in March this year (at www.bca.com.au) the roundtable concluded 'demand for both 'pure' e-business skills and 'traditional' ICT skills far exceed supply.'
According to the Council the gaps include both information communication technology specific skills - such as Web design, programming, systems integration, and software engineering - and the skills needed to commercialise e-business opportunities.
'Simply to match Singapore's current proportion of the workforce with university ICT (Information and Communications Technology) qualifications we would need an additional 85,000 university qualified IT workers, and to match the US proportion we would need 68,000. Although there is no consensus on the extent of the shortage, a major review of the IT workforce undertaken by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu for the IT&T skills taskforce estimated that Australia will need an additional 90,000 university-educated IT workers and another 90,000 TAFE-qualified students in the next five years.'
However, spending three or four years at university or doing a one-year TAFE course does not guarantee a job in the information technology industry. Statistics reveal that more than 13% of computer science graduates in 1999 were still looking for a job four m