Media Release

National ICT Careers Week kicks off today 27th July – 1st August

ACS announces: Google Student Day Competition &
Young Aus-Innovators National ICT Prize

27 July 2009: National ICT Careers Week (http://www.ictcareersweek.info/) was officially launched today by the Hon Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications & Digital Economy at the Investment Centre in Melbourne. In its second year, the week uses special events, activities & competitions to demonstrate to young people, parents and careers advisors the dynamic career opportunities available in ICT.

In conjunction with National ICT Careers Week, Google Australia today announced a Google Student Day competition. The competition will give 40 students and their parents the opportunity to attend Google Australia's new head office in Sydney for a behind the scenes tour of innovation and geekdom at play. The Student Day will run on the ACS website and to enter, students under the age of 18 must write in 25 words or less why they think IT is cool? More information and entry details can be found at: www.acs.org.au/competition/google.htm. Google was recently voted best place to work in the inaugural BRW Great Place to Work Survey¹.

Alan Noble, Engineering Director, Google Australia said: "At Google we're all technology optimists. We believe that the wave of information and communications on the web is changing lives for the better. Students choosing careers today have so many exciting options in technology and we hope to inspire some of those choices through Google Student Day".

The ACS and National ICT Australia (NICTA), Australia's ICT Research Centre of Excellence, also marked the launch, by announcing a National ICT Prize for high school students. Students in years 10 to 12 from around Australia will have the chance to win a total cash prize of $5000 and an internship at the NICTA.

"Offering school students the opportunity to contribute to dynamic, world-class ICT research projects is a powerful way to engage them with tertiary-level ICT study and participation in the digital economy," said NICTA's Education Director, Dr Tim Hesketh. "I look forward to supporting this new generation of computer scientists and engineers through the Young Aus-Innovators National ICT Prize."

Further information about the National ICT prize can be found at: www.acs.org.au/competition/ictprize.htm

Today's launch is the first of more than 60 national events aimed at young people, parents and careers advisors. Minister Stephen Conroy spoke of the numerous career opportunities for Australia's future workforce and highlighted how the growth of the digital economy will impact the types of occupations that will be offered. ACS CEO Sam Burrell, AIIA CEO Ian Birks and Penny Coulter, Chair of Careers Week Steering Committee were also in attendance at the launch National ICT Careers Week today.


New research commissioned by the ACS and conducted by Habbo Australia, demonstrated that IT & Technology Professionals careers are now the most popular career choice amongst 12 – 18 year olds. The majority (30%) of respondents (1,820 survey respondents) said they thought of being on the edge of new technological developments when considering a career in technology. Nearly a quarter (21%) of teens thought a career in technology was pretty cool, whilst 15% associated technology as a career that earns a lot of money. Only 5% thought a career in technology was geeky or boring.

Speaking at today's launch, ACS CEO, Sam Burrell discussed how the growth of the digital economy will create numerous career opportunities for those still at high school and university.

"Today's students will enter a vastly different world by the time they graduate. The pace of globalisation, technological change and the impact of the global financial crisis will vastly alter the demands on Australia's economy. The digital economy has been earmarked as having the potential to become the new economic engine room for Australia. What this means for the emerging workforce is that there will be numerous and diverse job opportunities available for high school students and university graduates within this economic sector. Judging by our survey results, it seems that young people are starting to understand the most exciting career opportunities are going to evolve out of our technology sector. The next decade will be an exciting time for our industry and those looking to have an impact on the way that we live and work.

"We would like to thank this year's participating organisations, in particular Google Australia for their support of National ICT careers week. The Google Student Day competition will assist in broadening the views of any students and parents who assume that ICT careers aren't rewarding or enduring. There is no better example of an exciting technology career, than a career at Google. NICTA's National ICT Prize will serve as a great challenge to high school students around Australia and will encourage our youth to think about how ICT can have a further positive impact on our economy and society in the future" said Mr Burrell.

Each ACS State and Territory Branch will host various events to demonstrate the value of ICT careers and the opportunities available to young students with an ICT qualification.

Events held by the ACS and other participating organisations during National ICT Careers Week (27th July – 1st August) include:

• 27 July (Melbourne)
  ACS National ICT Careers Week: Young IT SIG Workshop: Business Writing
  Improve all aspects of your business writing in this special National ICT week seminar. Learn to use the active voice for energy and impact in your writing, understand and apply the principles of plain English and improve your email ettiquette, puncutation and grammar in this highly interactive session.
  
  


• 27 July (Gold Coast)
  Careers in ICT Booth, Gold Coast Careers Expo
  Get a taste of the real ICT industry by speaking with the leading professionals at the Careers in ICT booth at the Gold Coast Careers Expo. Young and upcoming ICT professionals will be on hand to share first hand their success and passion for ICT and provide you with great resources on the wide range of ICT careers options available.
  
  


• 28 July (Canberra)
  National ICT Career Week at CIT - FREE
  The Canberra Institute of Technology, together with partners in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, will host an interactive evening for scholars, parents, teachers and anyone else looking to begin an exciting career in information and communication technology. Discover the advantages of working in the IT industry by networking with ICT specialists, employers, students and trainees and hear from those who know. Pre-register and stand a chance of winning an Apple iPod Shuffle in our lucky draw that evening.
  
  


• 29 July (Adelaide)
  Meet Adam Elliot - Academy Award Winner, Organised by: University of South Australia
  The tradition of bringing celebrity speakers to talk to Year 10-12 students about the opportunities in IT continues at UniSA. This year, come and meet Academy Award® winning director winner, Adam Elliot, the creator of HARVIE KRUMPET and one of the world's most celebrated animators.
  
  


• 29 July (Melbourne)
  National ICT Careers Week: Special ACS Victorian Branch Event
  The event will feature two separate, parallel sessions which will allow the speaker's to focus on the target audience. The Young Professional's session will feature speakers on the topic of "Climbing up the IT Ladder". The Student's session will include speakers on the topic of "The Starting Line to a Successful IT Career".
  
  


• 29 July 5pm (Brisbane)
  ICT Is your Passport to the Future - What's involved in a Career in ICT and Why Choose ICT,
  An informative and thought provoking forum with Young ICT Professionals sharing their career journeys so far, their future goals and their lifestyles. This is a networking forum allowing participants to mingle with ICT industry representatives and their peers, to ask questions and to find out more about this exciting and rewarding industry.
  http://www.acs.org.au/qld/index.cfm?action=event&area=9004&temID=eventdetails&eveID=10140860919433
  
  


• 30 July (Adelaide)
  ACS South Australia Branch Conference
  http://www.acs.org.au/sa/2009conference/.
  
  


• 30 July (Sydney)
  Computing Workshops and the Thrill of Virtual Reality @Macquarie
  The workshop is designed for high school students to get experience in programming in high level programming languages. There are three activities: (1) animation; (2) Python programming (3) virtual reality lab visit
  
  


• 30 July (Melbourne)
  ACS Professional Year Seminar
  Are you an international student or graduate? If yes, then this seminar is for you. This seminar will focus on the ACS Professional Year, the 1 year program designed to enhance employability skills for international students. The program includes the option of night classes and an internship arranged with an Australian host company. Successful completion of the program means you will be eligible to apply for additional migration points towards PR.
  
  


• 31 July (Gold Coast)
  Robotics Workshop for School Teachers, Organised by Griffith University School of Information & Communication Technology
  This workshop was designed to provide interested students, school teachers, both beginners and experts in robotics, with practical skills as well as a broad understanding of the general, but essential, technologies. The microcontroller and the robot set chosen for the exercises allows teachers to see, understand and manipulate the very basic level of components.