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13/3/06
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Want more quality career resources from Career FAQs for FREE? Click here
Information
Technology
By Jonathan Shearman
Australia wide
Published by Career FAQs Pty Ltd
IT - 120306.indd i 13/3/06 2:41:52 PM

© Copyright Career FAQs Pty Ltd
First published in 2006
This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study,
research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part
of this publication may be reproduced by any process or by any means, electronic,
photocopied, recorded or otherwise without prior written permission of the
copyright owner. Inquiries for reproduction should be addressed to the publisher.
Published by
Career FAQs Pty Ltd
Suite 76, The Hub
89–97 Jones Street
Ultimo NSW 2007
+61 2 9282 9383
National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Shearman, Jonathan.
Information Technology: Australia.
ISBN 978 1 921106 13 1
1. Information technology – Vocational guidance – Australia. I. Title.

(Series: Career FAQs).
004.02394
Publisher: Sue Stevens

Author: Jonathan Shearman
Editors: Diane Jardine, Vanessa Macquarie, Emma Grahame
Researchers: Louisa Veidelis, Amanda Evans
Cover and internal design: Terri Marzullo, H2M Creative Services
Illustrations: Nigel Beard, Ainsley Beard Creative
Desktop Publisher: Terri Marzullo
Proofreading: John Sims, Sims Editing & Proofreading
Printed by Paragon Printers Australasia
Advertising sales enquiries: Stef Harland
Career FAQs acknowledges the following copyright owners for permission to

reproduce their work.
Graduate Careers Council of Australia, www.graduatecareers.com.au

Michael Page International
Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners and obtain permission.
However, should an infringement have occurred, Career FAQs apologise for the
omission and request that the copyright owner make contact.
Disclaimer
The opinions and statements made by people who contributed to this book from
the information technology profession are their own and are not those of Career
FAQs. The publishers do not claim to represent the entire extent of the information
technology profession and career choices. The aim has always been to provide
a broad overview of the possibilities available. As such Career FAQs Information
Technology does not purport to be a true and accurate record of the information
technology profession, relying on the voices of those working in the industry to tell
their stories. Inaccuracies may arise as a result of the nature of this book. Users
should follow the links to actual websites of organisations to ascertain current
information and practice.
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Foreword
Welcome to the information technology (IT) edition of Career FAQs
– a new resource for students, teachers, parents or anyone looking to
pursue or advise on a career in the IT profession. This new resource
will provide you with plenty of detailed information about the many
different types of careers that are available within the IT industry and
give you practical guidance on how to reach for, and achieve, your
career goals.
Why the IT profession? Our world has been – and is still being
Steve Vamos
– transformed by inventions like the personal computer (could you
Steve was appointed Managing
imagine life without one?), sophisticated software, the Internet and the Director of Microsoft Australia
ultra-fast broadband networks that give us access to the online world. in February 2003. He was
previously Chief Executive Officer
of ninemsn (appointed in 1998),
Some people call this a technological revolution, but to my mind it’s where he helped the company
better described as an evolution that’s enhancing the way that we live, achieve its position as an
Australian media industry leader.
work and play. Did you know that two-thirds of Australian households
Before joining ninemsn, Steve
have a computer at home and that over half of all households now held the positions of Managing
Director of Apple Computer
have access to the Internet? Australia (1994–96), Managing
Director of Apple Computer Asia
Technology is becoming a pivotal touchstone of our society. Today, it’s Pacific (1996–98), and was also
appointed Vice President of Apple
enabling us to do things that would have been unimaginable a decade Computer Inc., Australia, in 1996.
ago. Take, for example, the now commonplace practice of booking an Prior to joining Apple Computer,
Steve spent 14 years with IBM in
airfare or hotel online – a short time ago this would have been a rarity. a number of sales, marketing and
general management positions.
Have you got an Xbox or ever made a home movie on your PC? Both
have been made possible by the exciting fusion of digital technology
and entertainment, which is transporting people into new, fantastic
online environments and allowing everyday people to become self-
made musical maestros and film directors.
From a commercial perspective, several years on from the height of

the ‘dotcom boom’, businesses are again increasing their spending
on IT and there is a new focus on ‘tuning’ systems and software
applications to work more efficiently, effectively and harmoniously
together. However, the fundamentals of system administration and
maintenance are as critical as ever in providing the foundation on
which successful IT strategies rely.
The IT profession is integral to bringing all of these developments to

life and, viewed through this lens, it’s an exciting and dynamic time
to be exploring a career in the industry. Together, IT professionals are
helping people, communities and businesses to realise their vision for
a better future.
iii
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The blazing pace of digital advancement is also opening up new

career opportunities that are adding to the already broad stable of
employment paths. Today, a vast array of jobs span from system
administration, website design, developing interactive entertainment
and electronic games through to helping hospitals find better ways to
care for their patients.
And there are just as many paths through which you can reach
your career aspirations, whether it is through TAFE, university or
undertaking vocational training to achieve, for example, certification
as a Microsoft Certified Professional, a qualification that demonstrates
your expertise in working with Microsoft products and technologies.
But, like any sector, the IT industry also faces its own set of unique
challenges. For example, technological advancements are generating
immense waves of change and after many years of unrelenting
progress society is, in many respects, striving to catch up. Your
willingness and ability to learn about and adapt to change is as
important as being able to lend a guiding hand for others during
periods of transition.
Career FAQs is a wonderful new resource and I commend it to you as a

reference point to explore and learn more about the career opportunities
on offer in IT – and, remember, always reach for your goals!
iv
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Contents
About Career FAQs ix
How to use this book xi
The big picture

Why information technology? 1
What do IT people do? 3
What does it take to be a good IT professional? 4
What’s happening right now? 5
Current size of the profession 5
What are the job opportunities? 6
Hot jobs now 9
IT business analysis 9
Senior IT positions 9
Contract work 10
Agency contracting 11
Consulting 12
Ian Benjamin – Consultant trainer 12
Overseas opportunities 14
Women in IT 15
IT career challenges 16
How much can I earn? 16
Who are the main employers? 20
General commercial IT 20
Corporate IT 21
Banks and financial institutions 22
Tertiary education 23
Pure research and learning 24
Government 25
Not-for-profit organisations 25
What are employers looking for? 26
Meet some employers 26
Janice Ma – Westpac 26
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Fiona Hathaway – Microsoft Australia 28

Michele de Laine – Centrelink 31
What support organisations exist? 35
Australian Computer Society 35
Australian Information Industry Association 35
Australian Society for Computers in Learning in
Tertiary Education 35
Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists
and Managers, Australia 36
CompTIA 36
Internet Society of Australia 36
National ICT Australia 36
Insider info
What jobs could I do? 41
What do real people say about their jobs? 42
Lorretta Elias – IT support officer 43
Lily Lo – Software test analyst 46
Saul Bryan – National IT manager 47
John Twyman – University computer systems officer 50
Raymond Allo – Senior Oracle database analyst 54
John Turnbull – IT consultant 58
Victoria Morrison – Instructional designer 62
Ben O’Hara – Configuration specialist 66
Darren Gray – Director of professional services 68
Daniel Cheney – Web programmer 71
Aaron Stacey – Senior project manager 74
Barry Thompson – IT security consultant 77
Indrik Kalnins – SAP basis manager 81
Stephanie, Analyst programmer 84
Keith Pereira – Systems engineering manager 87
Nigel Moreton – System engineering director 90
Tim Leach – Manager, technical marketing, Bangalore, India 93
Ready, set, go for it!

What qualifications do I need? 101
vi
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University courses 102
Bachelor of Science in Information Technology 107
Industry support for universities 108
What if I don’t get the marks for university? 109
Sydney Institute of Business Technology 110
Multiple criteria entry 110
TAFE courses 111
What can I expect to learn at TAFE? 112
How long does it take? 113
Will a TAFE qualification guarantee a job? 113
TAFE and university – what’s the difference? 113
TAFE and university credit transfers 114
Industry-based courses 114
Industry certification 114
CompTIA 115
Oracle 117
Microsoft 118
Cisco 119
SAP 119
Experience has to match up with certification 121
How do I get that job? 122
How are people recruited? 122
Recruitment agencies 123
Networking 124
Graduate programs 125
Graduate prospects 127
Government recruitment 128
Online recruitment 128
The online application process – in the flesh 129
What are recruiters looking for? 129
Meet some recruiters 130
Melissa Tuckwell – HiTech recruiter 130
Daniel Buckley – Hays IT Recruitment 131
Stand out from the crowd 132
Create an outstanding application 133
The résumé 133
vii
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Tips: Résumé writing 135

The cover letter 136
Tips: The cover letter 137
Selection criteria 137
Tips: Selection criteria 140
A final word on your job application 140
How can I stand out at the interview? 141
The three Ps of interviewing 141
Preparation 142
Presentation 142
Performance 142
Top 10 dos and don’ts 145
Dealing with disappointment 146
What can I do right now? 146
Do your research 146
Get a grip 147
Be flexible 147
Expand your horizons 147
Buzz words 149
Appendix 1 153
Comparative starting salaries of various professions 153
Appendix 2 154
Michael Page International salary tables 154
Appendix 3 157
About TAFE certificates and diplomas 157
Appendix 4 159
Oracle certification 159
Appendix 5 161
Sample job advertisements 161
Appendix 6 163
Sample résumé 163
Appendix 7 164
Sample cover letter 164
viii
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About Career FAQs
Want to choose your ideal career but don’t
know where to start?
Will Santow, Managing Director, Career FAQs
Career FAQs publishes a diverse range of career books that focus on Career FAQs
different professions, industries and lifestyles to make the search for ■ real jobs
your perfect career that much easier. ■ real people
■ real experiences
Each book profiles real people doing
Don’t end up in
real jobs and talking about their real
someone else’s life, experiences – the good and the bad –
a career choice is as from the day-to-day routine of working
much a life choice as a life through to the more dynamic
vocational decision. aspects of a job. In addition to this,
Career FAQs books feature practical
information about qualification requirements, the key educational
and training institutions, industry bodies and support organisations,
earning capacity and job-hunting tips.
With all of the above covered in each book, it is easy to see why
Career FAQs provides a dynamic new approach to finding the
right career.
Career FAQs was conceived in 2004 as a result of my own quest

to settle on a particular career path through my 20s and early
30s. At times of career angst or just indecision about where I
should go for my next move, I would try to get my hands on
empowering, high-quality, up-to-date career information that
related specifically to the market in which I wanted to work. I
could find nothing. When I asked around, the only thing I found
was a shared frustration amongst many of my contemporaries.
The Career FAQs books will address this critical information and
educational gap and so reduce the future mismatches between
career–lifestyle aspirations and career–lifestyle realities.
ix
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The range of Career FAQs titles is constantly expanding as we

continue to talk to people who have carved out interesting and
dynamic careers and to hear their stories in their own words.
For a list of current titles, please visit our website,
www.careerfaqs.com.au.
Best of luck with finding the right career for you!
Will Santow
Managing Director
Career FAQs
Thank you!
A special thanks from the team at Career FAQs to the many
people who have contributed their time and shared their
experiences and insights to help make this book possible.
It is always inspirational to find people who are willing

to give of themselves, particularly their time – a scarce
commodity for most people today – to help make a
difference to others.
That you all gave so willingly and provided such compelling

insights into your working lives so that others can make
better informed career choices is truly appreciated.
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How to use this book
All Career FAQs books are structured with a similar layout, so if fyi
you are familiar with one book, you will be able to navigate easily Career FAQs books that
through all the others and find the information you need quickly are grouped by theme and
focus on a particular lifestyle
and easily. choice or personality type,
such as Xtreme, have the
Our books profile real jobs and the people doing them to provide
three sections covered for
a broad overview of possibilities. It is not a definitive list but is each of the extreme jobs
intended to provide some insights into what it can mean to work in listed.
these particular roles.
Career FAQs books are divided into three main sections.
‘The big picture’ provides an overview of the industry,

employment opportunities and salary scales. It provides
information about the main employers and the variety of support
organisations that exist.
‘Insider info’ profiles the personal experiences of people who are

currently working within the profession. It allows you to discover
what people working within the industry say you should expect
from working in different jobs at various levels of seniority. fyi
‘Ready, set, go for it!’ tells you how you can get the appropriate Many words, phrases and
acronyms are defined in
training and experience to ultimately get that job you want and
buzz words at the back of
guides you through the process of gaining employment. this book.
Style elements are used in Career FAQs books to help you navigate
through the information.
cv is a snapshot of a person’s career pathway –

it shows some of the key job stepping stones
along an individual’s career path that led to
the current position
detour indicates that another Career FAQs title has

more jobs of this type
find out gives you directions to find out more about a

more particular topic or organisation
xi
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provides additional information or an interesting

fyi
fact and provides directions to relevant appendixes
is used as a margin note to help clarify the

glossary
meaning of a word (in bold typeface) within text
– also defined in buzz words.
are jobs in the industry or profession that, at the

hotjobs
time of writing, are in demand
in is a short profile of a specific job, with

brief characteristics such as salary, qualifications,
number of hours worked, the ability to balance
personal and work commitments and the flexibility
afforded by the employer
explodes popular myths surrounding a particular

MYTH career choice
fact
myweek is a day-by-day overview of the typical work-

specific activities required of an individual in a
particular job
jobs that have an unconventional, interesting

or out of the ordinary focus
q&a tells the story of real experiences of people

working in the industry
highlight some of the issues associated with a

tradeoffs particular career – such as difficulties or obstacles
that you might face in the featured industry
xii
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The big picture
Why information technology?
Believe that your dream job may not even have been thought of yet?
Think reality is OK as it is but it could be digitally enhanced (or at
least tweaked a bit)? Keep reading! Maybe you have always just been
interested in computers, or have grown up with the Internet and can’t
imagine life without it. Maybe you’ve got digital design skills, or you
have a knack for programming, or would like to turn your hand to
creating computer games.
Whatever your motivation or your background, it has probably become

clear to you that computers and IT are going to be a big part of your life
and of the world you live in. IT, including the Internet technologies, is
having, and will continue to have, a huge impact on all kinds of careers,
occupations and professions, so that even if your work is not strictly
within the IT field, it is increasingly likely to have an IT component.
Computer technology has changed the world more than almost any
other single invention in the last generation. Think electricity, the
Industrial Revolution, or the printing press. Computers and IT are right
up there in the same league as the basis for whole new industries
and occupations. This is a big part of the attraction of an IT career and
many of the professionals interviewed echoed the sentiment.
Want more quality career resources

from Career FAQs for FREE? Click here 1
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:1 13/3/06 2:41:57 PM

I like dealing with new situations, learning new things, handling

new challenges, and using my analytical ability.
Raymond Allo, Senior Database Administrator, Oracle
It follows that careers in IT have enormous scope and variety. A lot of

jobs that are advertised today hadn’t been thought of 10 years ago,
when Java was just an island and chat was something you just did on
the phone.
With the advent of broadband, the growth in home networking,

3G mobiles, digital downloads, and the perennial quest for ever more
advanced computer systems, the variety of jobs and kinds of career
paths available continue to proliferate.
All of this is too much for just one title, so this book will pay special
attention to those occupations that are identifiable as part of the IT
department of a business, rather than, say, the graphics department,
or the marketing department. We’ll cover those in other editions,
although a web programmer and an instructional designer are
included in this book.
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T h e big pic ture
What do IT people do?

IT roles require many different skills and qualifications. At the more
‘technical’ end of the spectrum, in programming, software and
network engineering, strong mathematical and analytical skills are
essential and it is safe to say that these roles are very intellectually
demanding. While some of our interviewees were self-taught natural
programmers, most believe that success in complex programming
roles requires tertiary qualification.
However, there are opportunities to use many different abilities in the IT

field. For example, technical writing requires an ability to put technical
concepts into words and, while you don’t need programming skills to do
it, you need an in-depth understanding of IT concepts and terminology.
Support, help desk and network administration require the ability to

grasp technical concepts and learn high-level computer skills, but equally
important is the ability to relate to people on their level, to understand
their requirements and to help them feel at ease with the technology. fyi
The abbreviation IT
Project management and system architecture require in-depth
– information technology:
knowledge of computer systems, but, just as important, a flair for is used throughout this
managing people, budgets, processes, clients and stakeholders. Strong book rather than the often-
used ICT (information and
managers may not be particularly good programmers, and vice versa.
communications technology)
or the rarely used IT&T. They
Consulting and contracting, which are more common in IT than in many
all refer, more or less, to the
other professional areas, are often more about your ability to understand same field.
the business requirements of a situation, and how the technology can
be applied to it, than they are about programming ability.
The IT roles discussed in this book regularly perform the following

tasks – and more:
■ programming, software development and analysis
■ technical writing, e-learning and instructional design
■ consulting and contracting in a variety of roles
■ database administration, development and programming
■ help desk, support and network management
■ web design, programming and back-end web development.
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:3 13/3/06 2:41:58 PM

What does it take to be a good

IT professional?
To find out what it takes to work in IT, we went straight to the source
and asked IT professionals themselves. Despite the tremendous
variety of roles on offer in the IT world, the following characteristics
came through time and again.
■ Passionate
■ Curious about what makes things tick
■ Self-motivated
■ Meticulous and conscientious
■ Adaptable and versatile
■ Analytical
■ Intuitive
■ Committed to learning
■ Self-disciplined
■ Goal-focused
■ Diligent and industrious
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T h e big pic ture
It would be nice to offer a shortcut or a secret way to succeed in this

business without being smart and working pretty hard, but we’ve been
unable to find it (although luck, good fortune and being in the right
place at the right time certainly play a part).
On the upside, the people we spoke to love what they do – including

tackling IT’s many challenges.
What’s happening right now?

At the midway mark of the first decade of the new millennium, the
general employment market was at a 29-year high. The IT jobs market
has continued to recover from the downturn triggered by the ‘dotcom
crash’ of 2001. The Olivier job index of July 2005 shows the growth in
IT jobs that started in December 2003 is continuing. Over the 2004–05
financial year, a 55.75 per cent growth rate was recorded.
The dotcom revolution isn’t over either, not by a long shot, and in fact
we may look back in 10 year’s time to find that it really started only
in 2005 and 2006. Yahoo, a bellwether New Media stock, and Apple
Computer, both of which have been subject to considerable stock
market scepticism over the years, reported their biggest ever quarterly
profits in 2005. Google was recognised as the world’s most highly
capitalised media company and the NASDAQ reached a four-year high. fyi
NASDAQ stands for the
Current size of the profession National Association
of Securities Dealers
Automated Quotation and
Locally, for the latest year in which figures are available (2002–03), is the computer system for
the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found a total of 235 696 the second-largest equity
market in the US. The
Australians employed in specialist IT businesses. Of these workers,
NASDAQ composite index
69 per cent were permanently engaged in computer consultancy measures stock prices for
services. companies traded on the
exchange, which tend to be
The IT industry is said to account for around eight per cent of high technology stocks.
Australia’s gross domestic product (Australian Computer Society
2002–03). This figure includes IT and telecommunications
professionals. Research and development expenditure in IT was
estimated at $1439 million during 2002–03.
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:5 13/3/06 2:41:58 PM

Information technology, I believe, is what drives society and

has the greatest impact on society compared to everything
else. In the past it was the inventions of the printing press,
the telephone, the radio, television and the Internet. We are
heading towards pervasive computing. There are endless things
that IT will change in future. It is the driving force for change
and is here to stay.
Professor Heiko Schroeder, head of the School of Computer Science and Information
Technology at RMIT University
At the beginning of 2002, total IT imports were valued at $20 billion

annually, compared to imports of:
■ motor vehicles (non-industrial) – $9.9 billion
■ fuels and lubricants – $8.8 billion
■ textiles, clothing and footwear – $4.8 billion
■ food – $4.7 billion
■ books, toys and leisure goods – $3.2 billion
■ household electrical goods – $3.2 billion.
Another factor The Australian Computer Society (ACS)

estimates total IT employment across
to consider is IT
sectors, including the automotive,
employment in
biotechnology and construction industries
non-IT sectors.
and business and professional sectors, at
750 000 jobs. As will become clear throughout this book, IT opens
doors to a whole range of different occupations in different industries.
What are the job opportunities?

IT jobs can be found in every business sector and in just about any
company. If a business doesn’t have a website these days, it doesn’t
exist for many people who rely on the Internet to find information. So
if you are interested in IT, there are thousands of jobs that you could
do. Here are just a few.
IT jobs are a significant category in the employment market. The

sector has grown strongly, albeit with a large downturn after the
dotcom crash in 2001. Post-crash recovery is sustained and has been
strong throughout 2005. And while there are no actual skill shortages
in IT, there is healthy demand for many IT skill categories.
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:6 13/3/06 2:41:59 PM

T h e big pic ture
The 2004 Department of Workplace Relations survey notes strong

demand for professional skills in certain markets. New South Wales
stands out as a strong centre of IT employment nationally, particularly
for well-qualified and experienced professionals with a portfolio of
skills, good knowledge of the market and a strong personal network.
It is a candidate-short market at the moment. Those with the

right skill sets can have three or four opportunities to choose
from and, in some cases, name their price.
Jane Bianchini, Director of technology, Ambition Recruitment and Consulting
According to recent government surveys of skills shortages, there are

no listings for IT skills while there are shortages in plenty of trades
including plasterers, pastry chefs, plumbers and electricians as well
as professions such as radiographers and speech therapists, among
others. So if you can’t cut it in IT, there’s always pastry making ...
While there may not be too many shortages, employment levels are
high with very low unemployment levels.
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:7 13/3/06 2:41:59 PM

On the other hand, over the 10 years to August 2004, employment for
IT professionals rose by 110 200 or 124 per cent – a strong growth rate
of 8.4 per cent per annum, compared to the 1.9 per cent per annum
across all occupations. According to the Department of Workplace
Relations, average unemployment among IT professionals in August
2004 was 3.8 per cent (source: http://jobsearch.gov.au).
Australian Computer Society (ACS) estimates are higher at 7.2 per

cent, based on polling of their membership in 2002–03.
Competition for jobs is also a factor to consider when thinking about

a career. It appears from the figures and the information about
competition for jobs that there is every chance that you will get a job
in IT – if you have the right qualifications and experience.
The Seek job search website offers an indication of the numbers of

jobs being advertised in an industry. The following table shows the
approximate numbers of various job categories in December 2005.
Approximate no. of jobs on

Job title
Seek @ December 2005
Analyst/Programmer 2000
Business analyst 1000
Engineer (hardware) 140
Engineer (software) 400
Help desk support 700
Internet/multimedia design & dev 200
QA testers 650
Technical writers 70
Source: www.seek.com.au, December 2005
While such information does not give you any idea of future trends, it
does give an overall picture of the types of jobs on offer and the skills
and experience needed to do the jobs.
According to the 2004 Department of Workplace Relations survey of

78 recruitment agencies, representing 122 employers, an average of
28 applications were received for each IT vacancy, of which an average
of 5.8 were considered suitable for the position. The moral here: make
sure that you get the skills and build your experience so that you are
one of the 5.8 considered for the job.
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Hot jobs now

Some insiders say that the web services environment is getting very
big and that demand for C# (a Microsoft programming language) is glossary
also increasing.
Y2K stands for:
One of the challenges of getting into IT is the difficulty of selecting a – Year 2000 and refers to
specialty which is going to be in demand. In the late 1990s, a lot of people the suspected computer
thought that the Internet business would sweep ordinary retail aside and bug that would crash
computer systems
forever change the way we are educated. Not to mention the doomsaying worldwide at the start of
around the ‘Y2K’ bug, which was supposed to cause aeroplanes to fall the millennium. Google
search to find out more
from the sky and the hospitals and banks to close down. (Then again,
about this fascinating story.
maybe this would have happened if there hadn’t been a fuss about it.)
We know now that many of these predictions were way off the mark and
that after the dotcom crash many who had prepared to be e-commerce
managers and webmasters found the going very hard indeed.
IT business analysis
IT business analysis is a growing field and has the massive
advantage that it relies on more than raw IT skills. The ability
to relate business objectives to IT in a very detailed functional
specification is more highly sough than simple coding skills and
furthermore is often the hardest thing to offshore. Very good
written and spoken communications skills along with excellent
team playing ability are vital ‘soft skills’ in this career path. TAFE
offers units in Business Analysis and related skills required for
many of these roles.
Business analysis jobs can lead to jobs in Project Management,

Intermediate Network Administration, DBA and hardware/software
infrastructure roles, e-business management, IT manager,
Operations Manager, Unix Admin, team leaders ... there are many
such roles in the current market up to about $120K at the upper end.
Senior IT positions
Senior positions include roles such as Senior IT manger, Project architect,
Data modeller, Programming team leader, Senior network architect, and
so on. Such jobs can attract salaries in the range of $100 to $130K.
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:9 13/3/06 2:42:00 PM

In the corporate sector there are many higher salaries paid for
various kinds of IT/business specialty, particularly in the finance
sector. Along with greater management responsibility, specialist skills
required include network security, computer security and information
architecture. Many such roles have tough selection criteria requiring
postgraduate qualifications and very specific experience.
Contract work
Contracting is a style of employment that is widespread in the IT
industry. For many IT workers, particularly applications specialists and
project managers, a period of working as a contractor is very likely
and by some estimates up to 80 per cent of all IT jobs are held by
contractors (Computerworld website data).
IT contractors are typically brought in for specialised roles that have

a limited duration. They are paid on an hourly or daily rate which can
be a very good rate indeed if you are well qualified, experienced or
certified in an in-demand skill.
Contracting can be a good living, but it has its issues. You may be
‘self-employed’ or work through an agency.
If you are self-employed, you are ‘your own boss’ to some extent and,
provided you realise all of the implications of this and organise yourself
accordingly, you can maintain a good lifestyle. Elsewhere we have
looked at how some successful consultants manage their business.
The downsides are, firstly, little job security. A contractor can typically
be let go on the basis of an agreed notice period – a week or two – and
often works in a business only for several months before moving on
glossary to the next project. Contracts may be cancelled due to factors outside
your control and you will find yourself looking for work.
ATO means:
– Australian Tax Office Secondly, if you are a truly self-employed contractor, that is, not
ASIC means: working through an agency or bureau, then you have to be your own
– the Australian Securities bookkeeper. You have to manage your own tax and super – and this
and Investments
Commission, a body that
takes a lot of attention to detail and some practical knowledge of
regulates companies and payroll management. Don’t underestimate what is involved with this;
finance in Australia. if you do, you can end up with fines from the ATO and ASIC, and a lot
of extra paperwork and hassle.
Contractors theoretically work on short-term projects. However,

in practice, some contractors end up at a workplace for years
(particularly with IT). When this happens, it is hard to distinguish them
10
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T h e big pic ture
from casuals – they are paid for the hours they work but receive no
benefits such as sick leave or holiday pay. If they are knowledgeable
contractors with a lot of practical experience, they may end up in
functionally senior positions in the sense that they have a lot of
responsibility and may be indispensable to the organisation. Yet they
have no real authority to delegate or manage other people in the
workplace. It is easy to get into a rut in these situations.
The Government has frequently attempted to regulate IT contracting

by declaring that, after a certain period, contractors need to be treated
as employees for tax purposes. However, despite sporadic attempts
to enforce this over the years, contract employment has become the
norm in many places.
Agency contracting
A very common form of contracting is through an agency which
charges an overhead in addition to your hourly rate, in return for
placement in the position and looking after tax and super. Margins
on your hourly rate vary from 15 per cent up to 40 per cent, so
if you are being billed out at $35 an hour, the agency may be
invoicing the client for $50 or more. From your viewpoint, a good
agency relationship is worthwhile because they do look after your
tax and super payments, and often get you repeat assignments.
The contracting and recruiting industry has frequently been

subject to criticism in the past for questionable practices,
and has formed the ITCRA – the IT Contract and Recruitment
Association – the main aim of which is to ensure professionalism
and a code of ethics in the industry.
Be aware that, if you are contracting, you need to allow for

time between jobs and for annual leave. For the latter, you will
generally not receive any allowance, so you need to take that
into consideration when working out your actual remuneration
for the year. (Also, remember, no sick pay, no public holiday pay,
although you will usually get paid for all the hours you work.) The
Contractor Rates Guide takes this into account by giving yearly
salary estimates of hourly rates based on, first of all, 48 weeks per
year and then on 35 weeks per year based on a 37.5-hour week.
11
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Consulting
detour A consultant is a professional who provides expert advice in a
Find out more about overseas particular domain or area of expertise and there are many consultants
jobs in Career FAQs Global. in IT according to www.wikipedia.org, the Internet’s communal
www.careerfaqs.com.au encyclopedia. Often brought in to advise on solutions to specific
problems, consultants build up their knowledge and perspectives over
time, and many specialise in very specific areas of IT, such as security,
architecture, interfaces or useability.
Like contractors, consultants are often self-employed, which means they

have to manage all the usual aspects of running a small business, as well
as keep up with new developments in their areas of expertise. We asked
Ian Benjamin, a consultant to the consultants, what consulting involves.
Ian Benjamin – Consultant trainer

Ian’s company, Consultant Training Australia, works with consultants
from a range of industries to help them understand what’s involved
in going out on their own. Ian has written a book, Consulting,
Contracting and Freelancing¸ which covers the issues involved in
consulting and freelancing and running your own business, including
pricing, marketing, planning and more. Ian runs workshops around
Australia as well as speaking at and facilitating workshops for
business groups, consultancies, legal and accounting firms.
q&a
What are the main differences between being a consultant
and being a contractor?
A consultant is usually called in to devise a solution to a problem,
or recommend a course of action, while a contractor will implement
it. In this sense, consultants add more value to the organisation
as they have ‘solved the problem’. They are able to do this as they
have a wider outlook than that required for implementation and they
are prepared to take the risk of being accountable for the solution.
Normally, contractors work within parameters that have been initially
devised by the consultants.
Sometimes consultants will present a solution that they then
implement under contract, so the one person does both functions and
there is a certain amount of crossover.
What are the main advantages to being a consultant?

Being your own boss – there’s a great sense of freedom and autonomy.
12
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T h e big pic ture
Consultants are usually able to stay clear of ‘office politics’. You

have a certain freedom to work your own hours, although most self-
employed consultants work pretty hard. You can choose to work out
of your home office, and, to some extent, how much work you want to
do. You have more choice as to which jobs to take, and which clients
to work with.
Finally, there’s a lot of variety. You are exposed to many different
challenges and situations over time. This also becomes part of your
value to the client, because it gives you an important perspective
on situations.
Are there downsides of being a consultant?

Cash flow is one. You need to allow for gaps between contracts,
especially in the early stages of your consultancy. It can be a big
change for someone who has always received a regular salary and it
requires planning.
Being prepared to work alone is important. Some underestimate the
importance of the social side of their employment.
What are the vital ingredients necessary to start out as a

consultant?
You need specialist skills and knowledge which you can apply for the
benefit of clients. In IT, this will often be something over and above
general technical skills, usually requiring experience, judgment and
acumen. You also need more than one area of specialisation. If you’re
a network specialist, and for some reason the market goes quiet in
that area, you need something else to fall back on. In my experience
you need about three areas.
Communications skills are very important. You need to be able to
demonstrate empathy and understanding of your client’s situation,
using their language. You also need to be a very good listener – clients
are often not entirely sure of what they are after and you have to
discern their real needs.
Persistence is also required. You may need to make many approaches
to organisations to gain one engagement.
And you need to be organised. Get a bookkeeper and make sure you
keep your paperwork up to date. Be punctual and always keep your
commitments.
How do you find work?

That’s a major part of your occupation if you’re a consultant! You need
to develop a business plan, and a methodical, thorough approach to
promoting your services. Networking is all-important; stay in touch
with people you have worked with, with industry associations and
through the Internet. Be clear about what you do and what you have
to offer. You will need to develop stationery, business cards, and, of
course, a website.
13
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How much can a consultant make?

Well it is hard to generalise; it depends on the demand for your
services, your ability to promote yourself and connect with your
clients, the type of client you work with and a number of other factors.
I have a chapter on pricing issues in my book, Consulting, Contracting
and Freelancing.
If you’re a qualified professional, think in terms of rates for
professional services such as accountancy or legal opinion. So if
you’re seasoned and have high-level skills in in-demand technologies,
you can charge thousands of dollars a day, or hundreds an hour. But it
is not an easy matter.
As a guide, find information on what hourly rates are being offered for
particular types of skills, and then consider that you are offering these
skills without the ‘overhead’ of superannuation and leave pay and so
on that an employer would have to find for a regular staff member.
And if you’re dealing with clients directly, they are paying neither
‘agency fees’ nor recruitment fees over and above your costs.
A big part of the skill of being a consultant is knowing how to
build your professional practice, how to deliver value and charge
appropriately for it, how to bill and collect. If you’re the type of worker
who likes to have all of these things looked after by someone else,
you’re probably not cut out for consulting.
Overseas opportunities
IT is a global industry and most of its core technologies have been
developed by companies that operate worldwide. Healthy tech-sector
detour industries have developed over the last two decades in India, Ireland,
Canada and Scotland, while the United States tech sector remains the
Find out more about source of much of the world’s IT industry.
overseas jobs in Career
FAQs Global. To live and work in a country definitely requires some language proficiency.
However, as the global standards and programming languages are the
same everywhere, core IT skills are standardised around the world.
Ireland’s tech sector is booming with software development

accounting for 33 per cent of GDP and employing more than 90 000
people according to the Silicon Republic website. As for working in the
United States, a special class of visa called the E-3 was announced
in 2005 and is available only to Australians for work in specialised
occupations, including many IT occupations.
14
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Women in IT
Think IT and most people, rightly or wrongly, think of the stereotypical
nerdy geek – or rather a male nerdy geek! However, as with all
stereotypes, they rarely reflect reality. Women do work in IT, although
there is concern that many are leaving the industry or deciding on
other career paths.
Five years ago, women held 35 per cent of the IT jobs. Today, that
find out
figure has dropped to 20 per cent according to the Chief Information
Officers’ Executive Council. Having a proportionate number of women
more
www.siliconrepublic.com/news
in IT is seen as crucial to the industry.
www.jobbankusa.com
Women are articulate, excellent communicators and very good www.jobsabroad.com
at analysis. Without them IT will be without the balance that is
required for it to mature as other industries have. We do not
want to see our industry be stereotyped as males doing geeky,
nerdy work.
Con Colovos, Executive Director, CIO Executive Council
15
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IT career challenges
An oft-cited difficulty in IT is information overload. IT is a field
that is constantly changing and very demanding in terms of
keeping up. Along with information overload, there is also the
difficulty of knowing what specialties are going to be in demand.
The industry is renowned for rapid change so there is a risk that
what you learn today is out of date tomorrow.
There are opportunities and possibilities aplenty, though there

is also strong competition, not only among local job-seekers
jostling for a place at the table but from overseas workers. Global
factors, such as off-shoring and outsourcing, and the influx
of skilled migrant workers, can affect IT job opportunities in
Australia. An example of this is the outsourcing of call centres to
places such as the Philippines and India. Many local jobs shifted
to these places are with large corporations who have outsourced
their call centre facilities to cheaper overseas contractors.
While there are some great career choices in IT, there is no sure-
fire route to career fulfilment. The variety and challenges of IT
are indeed fascinating, even if job security is not always assured,
and if you can handle change, are not afraid of hard work, know
your way around the complexities of an operating system, or can
come up with original ideas, there are some great opportunities.
How much can I earn?

The IT industry is often perceived as away of making lots of money. Bill
Gates is renowned for his millionaire status. A few years after Microsoft’s
original float in 1986, the company had created more than a thousand
millionaires. Many IT companies gave their employees share options
(in the business) as well as their remuneration for work done. With
the dotcom bust, however, the shares in many companies became
worthless overnight. Google’s current share price values the company at
more than many giant corporations of the industrial age. Who knows
what kind of opportunities will materialise in the IT world in the years
to come?
16
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Not everyone who goes into the IT industry is going to make millions.
In fact, salaries in the IT industry are subject to wide variation. There
are some very highly paid positions in strategic areas, such as high-
level systems integration for the banks, or online consumer strategy
for the big media groups; these are executive-level positions.
At the other end of the scale, entry-level positions are hotly contested
by something of an oversupply of IT graduates, so salaries in the
routine areas of network admin, system analyst/programmer, and
these kinds of jobs, have been flat or have even fallen over the last
several years according to several sources.
This table shows the different salaries of the people we spoke to for
this book.
No. of
Age Approximate salary No. of years
Position title years in
group as at 30 June 2005 ($) in job
profession
23 IT support officer 38 000–47 000 .5 2
24 Test analyst 38 000–45 000 2 2
26 IT manager 65 000 1.5 1.5
27 Senior web programmer 60 000–70 000 4 9
29 Computer systems officer 50 000–70 000 2 6
30s Senior project manager 75 000–150 000 1 8
33 Configuration specialist 50 000–60 000 6 7
35 Director professional services 160 000 approx 4 13
37 IT manager 100 000 7 15
40 Instructional designer 75 000 1.5 7
40s Technical marketing manager 100 000+ 1 22
$650–$1200 daily
45 IT security specialist 5 20
(contract rate)
47 SAP basis consultant 120 000 1.5 20
Research and development
48 150 000 2 15
manager
Career FAQs survey, 2006
Depending on your skills and knowledge, experience and the demand

for your specialised expertise, the sky is the limit. From IT support
officers earning about $38 000, to security specialists on $1200 per
day, there’s a huge range of possible incomes.
A 2005 IT&T salary survey conducted by IT recruiters Ambit lists entry- glossary
level software development jobs in C++ or VB at $45 000. The Hays C++ and VB are:
Salary Survey puts a junior help desk person on about the same level. – programming languages.
This salary information is corroborated by our interviewees.

IT - 120306.indd Sec1:17 13/3/06 2:42:02 PM

.NET developers get $20 000 more, or around $65 000, probably
glossary
because they’re in short supply. An entry-level Oracle developer is
.NET stands for: valued at $55 000, the same as a junior technical writer.
– Microsoft’s web service
environment. A web services developer or a general business analyst can earn
around $90 000. Unix or Citrix (operating systems) engineers work in
Sydney at about the same mark.
Applications architects, applications development managers and

corporate IT managers can earn about $120 000.
Of those interviewed in this book, Darren Gray, Director of professional

services for Webraska, and John Turnbull, Director of his own consulting
company, both easily exceeded these incomes. Contractors such as
Barry Thompson bill in excess of $1000 per day. So there is real money-
earning potential in the business, although it’s by no means easy.
And there are many opportunities in the larger world of IT that cannot
easily be categorised or even forecast because computers and digital
communications are pivotal to the massive social and economic changes
that the world is going through at this time. Michael Page International,
a recruitment agency specialising in IT jobs, produces annual salary
surveys. In 2005, IT salaries were divided into three sectors:
find out
more ■ commerce and industry
See Appendix 1 to see ■ banking and finance
how IT starting salaries
compare to salaries of ■ IT&T and consulting.
other professions.
Michael Page International
The Michael Page survey shows that in the commerce and industry
salary surveys for IT jobs sector of IT jobs, a first level helpdesk analyst can earn between $35
in 2005 are shown in 000 and $55 000. The same type of job in banking and finance or
Appendix 2.
IT&T can earn up to $75 000. Such salary surveys as these not only
www.ambit.com.au/
salaryindex/it&t.asp
show the different incomes possible but also indicate the jobs that are
currently in the marketplace.
www.hays.com.au
Salary information is also available on job websites such as seek.com.
au providing salary ranges and the requirements of many IT positions.
However, you will frequently see the phrase ‘salary dependent upon
experience’ indicating the recruiter does not want to put a fixed value
on the potential package. This suggests that the company will make
an offer in response to the types of applications that come in and the
experience and quality of the applicants.
18
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The following table shows some of the jobs on seek.com.au listed in

December 2005.
IT job, location Salary

Junior ASP/SQL developer – Sydney $38K base + 9 % super
C#/NET developer – Sydney $60–90K
Senior J2EE developer – Large Oracle environment – Sydney $80K–$100K
J2EE developer – Brisbane up to $95K
Technical support, graduate position – Sydney $44 600 package
IT help desk support – Melbourne $40–$50 + super
Technical consultant – Newcastle $400 a day + super
Coder – Melbourne $50K–$60K
Senior software engineer – Brisbane Up to $100K package
Mainframe systems analyst – ACT $67 814–$91 621
Software systems developer – ACT $52 386–$58 307
IT jobs on seek.com.au, December 2005
When a salary range is shown, this indicates the remuneration is

dependent on the experience and qualifications that the candidate
has. More experience will attract the upper end figure.
19
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Who are the main employers?

IT specialists and support staff are spread through every sector of
business and government. A quick roundup of the main employment
areas includes:
■ General commercial IT
■ Corporate IT
■ Banks and financial institutions
■ Tertiary education
■ Government
■ Not-for-profit organisations.
General commercial IT
glossary Opportunities for IT jobs are available wherever people are using
computer technology. IT specialties exist across all industry sectors,
SME means:
from engineering and manufacturing through to entertainment and
– Small to medium
enterprise or, a company the arts, retail, wholesale and healthcare.
that employs fewer than
500 people A large employer in the ‘general commercial’ sector is retail sales.
Given the extent of computer use in Australia in businesses and in
the home, retail outlets are a source of IT-related jobs given that
salespeople need to have some understanding of computers, their
capacity and functions to sell them.
20
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T h e big pic ture
Marketing and promotional jobs also exist side by side with the large
IT sales sector. In such jobs, technical IT expertise is not the main
component. Rather, your skills to market and promote the product
are valued. This is an example of how you can work in the IT industry
without actually having an IT-specific degree.
In the SME (small to medium enterprise) sector, there is a constant

requirement for IT management, network design, help desk and
support roles. Think of a current type of business in which employees
don’t use computers on a daily business – they are the only ones in
which you are not likely to find demand for IT skills!
There are also specialties too numerous to list across industry sectors,
in disciplines as diverse as financial management, computer-aided
design and graphics, inventory control and warehousing, retail POS
(point of sale) systems and general business-management applications.
Accordingly, the skills in demand in general commercial IT are

typically IT management, network management and administration, IT
purchasing, system management and backup, and the all-important
security management. Skills in demand will include Windows Server
Administration, Unix, Java/J2EE, Windows desktop configuration
and support.
Corporate IT
Corporate IT is continuing to recover from the dotcom downturn
that occurred from 2001 to 2003. Recruitment company Hays sees a
continuing modest recovery in demand, putting upward pressure on
salaries, and notes strong demand for project managers with solid
understanding of methodologies such as J2EE and .NET, system
architects and network engineers.
The corporate sector generally demands fairly high-level qualifications

among IT applicants. You will notice that nearly all advertisements for
senior positions such as IT architects, data-modellers and senior network
engineers will stipulate tertiary qualifications as a required criterion,
although they will sometimes consider ‘equivalent experience’.
21
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In addition to the J2EE and .NET skills mentioned above, there is solid
demand in corporate IT for Cisco-certified network engineers; Oracle/
Peoplesoft/SAP consultants and database analysts (DBAs); Unix,
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) skills.
Over the past 20 or so years, the use of IT solutions for business

transactions, internal communications, stock control and other
business practices has grown exponentially. Not so long ago, few
companies had websites. Today a web presence is an important part
of a business’ corporate identity (and often income generation). All
this means that IT is essential to the efficiency and profitability of a
business and as such highly valued as are the people that implement,
develop maintain and service the IT requirements of a company.
detour
Working for a corporate can also have the added advantage of travel.
Find out about jobs that travel
in Career FAQs Global. Many multinational companies have offices around the world and
www.careerfaqs.com.au are happy to relocate those employees who want to explore different
countries and cultures.
Banks and financial institutions

A number of factors are driving IT employment in the financial sector.
First of all, internet and telephone banking are now offered by

every bank and financial services company. Banks are looking for
competitive advantages and differentiators and some, for example
ING Direct, have built their entire strategy around online services.
Secondly, banks have a major investment in mainframe systems which

are too expensive to replace, but must be integrated with all kinds of
new current client/server and web-based applications. This is driving
demand for system architects, integrators, business analysts and
programmers.
Finally, compliance with the Financial Services Reform Act 2001

requires the banks to formally certify that their staff are qualified to
talk about the investment and superannuation products being offered
to the public. This has generated big demand for e-learning and
learning management systems.
Banks and financial services companies pay top hourly rates for
consultants and contractors. But it is one of those fields where
previous experience in the sector is preferred: nearly all of the job
advertisements will stipulate this and recruiters will nearly always
22
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T h e big pic ture
refer to it as a selection criterion. If you want to get into the financial

services sector, look for degree streams incorporating financial
services disciplines and apply for entry-level positions in the sector,
for example on a help desk.
A strong and ever-growing employment category in the financial sector

is that of business analyst. An analyst provides a highly detailed and
focused step-by-step analysis of the processes involved in all facets
of banking operations – from depositing funds, issuing a super policy,
opening an account to managing a transaction. These meticulous
records and the corresponding documentation are requirements of
the Act. Experienced senior business analysts can get an hourly rate
of $75.
Tertiary education
The tertiary sector is a very large IT employer in its own right. Every
Australian university has a considerable investment in IT infrastructure
for everything from student records to the library to teaching and
learning systems. Although the pay scales are somewhat less than
in the financial or corporate sector, tertiary sector IT workers enjoy
excellent employment conditions and a diverse range of professional
specialisations.
University IT covers everything from large-scale systems used in

university administration and enrolment processes, through to ultra-
specialised applications used for all manner of academic disciplines,
through to support for university students and staff – all of whom rely
on computers.
Those considering an IT career should not overlook the career possibilities

offered by universities and other institutes of higher education.
The key points about a university IT environment are, first, the sheer
diversity of people and projects with which you’re likely to be involved,
and, second, the satisfaction of working with people who are genuinely
interested in what they are doing for its own sake and not only for
the ‘bottom line’. Although universities operate in an increasingly
commercial environment, there is nevertheless a major commitment
to research and education which provides a completely different type
of atmosphere to that encountered in the world of commerce.
Universities, both in Australia and elsewhere, have been at the

frontline of many leading-edge developments in IT, partly because
of the presence of gifted and innovative researchers and thinkers,
23
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:23 13/3/06 2:42:04 PM

and also because of their own specialised requirements. The name

glossary
of Sun Microsystems comes from an acronym for Stanford University
CERN means: Networks. The World Wide Web was invented by an academic
– the Conseil Europeen pour researcher at CERN in Switzerland, primarily as a means to share ideas
la Recherche Nucleare, the
with other researchers. Many important aspects of Unix have been
European research lab where
the Web was born developed in university environments.
Universities employ a range of programmers, analysts, database

managers, network engineers and IT managers, usually called computer
find out systems officers (CSOs), in this environment. Universities are typically
more very diverse technological environments with a wide range of systems
Discover the history of the often connected by way of very high-speed network connections.
World Wide Web at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
world_wide_web
Pure research and learning
The more academically-inclined postgraduate wishing to pursue
‘pure research’ in the IT disciplines, even acknowledging the
commercial difficulties involved, will still find there are some
fantastic learning opportunities and job opportunities at
advanced facilities such as the University of Sydney’s newly-
opened Multimedia Labs and at the advanced computing
labs dotted around the country’s engineering and computer
science departments. The possibilities are truly endless, even if
sometimes work can be hard to find. And, who knows what you
could discover or invent?
Aside from Business IT there are a whole range of specialisations in

IT research so don’t discount the roles within academic computing.
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T h e big pic ture
Government glossary
All Federal and State departments use computer and Internet BSC is:
technology and government is a major employer across the spectrum – the industry body for IT in the
of IT roles. Government sector pay rates are quite competitive and United Kingdom. It provides
service and support to the
the conditions generally equal or are superior to those offered by the IT community – including IT
corporate and financial sectors. practitioners and employers
of IT practitioners.
Look for federal public service IT jobs in the Australian Public Service
Gazette. State public service IT jobs are advertised on the various
government websites and in the major Saturday newspapers.
An IT credential that is in demand in the government or public sector

is the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) qualification. ITIL comes from
the UK-based British Computer Society (BSC) Information Systems
Examination Board and provides a methodological framework for
understanding large-scale IT implementations, help desk management
and issue escalation, change management and software rollout. ITIL
is a relatively short course which, if undertaken in conjunction with find out
network administration or other IT management programs, forms a more
useful qualification for public sector IT. www.afsd.com.au
www.rba.gov.au
Not-for-profit organisations www.australian-universities.
com
There are some people who want to combine their professional www.psgazetteonline.gov.au
qualifications and their passion for a cause. Many people working in www.bcs.org
the not-for-profit sector are doing just that. This might mean working www.goodcause.com.au
in Australia for any of the major or small charities, in organisations that www.pathwaysaustralia
protect the environment, or working overseas for an aid organisation. .com.au
www.probonoaustralia
Salaries in this sector are sometimes not as high as in the corporate .com.au
world, but working for an organisation that is making a difference has
www.volunteeringaustralia.org
its own rewards.
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What are employers looking for?

Companies that employ IT people are looking for skills that will ensure
that their computer systems are maintained and function well. More
and more, the running of business relies on the IT systems working
effectively and efficiently. Employers are looking for energetic, highly
motivated employees, who enjoy solving problems and work well
in teams.
Meet some employers

Let’s have a closer look at what some business managers look for
when recruiting IT personnel. An understanding of what employers are
looking for will help you to plan your education and skills acquisition.
We interviewed some employers of IT people from different business

sectors to find out what they are looking for.
■ Janice Ma, Westpac
■ Fiona Hathaway, Microsoft Australia
■ Michele de Laine, Centrelink
Janice Ma – Westpac
In her position as IT graduate manager at Westpac, Janice is involved
in recruiting new IT staff through the bank’s graduate program and
from applications in response to job advertisements.
q&a
What are you looking when you employ people to work in
your IT department?
We look to employ people who are motivated, energetic and can
embrace change. Individuals should have the appropriate technical
skills and also the soft skills, such as communication, as IT people are
expected to liaise with our business partners on a day-to-day basis.
People who have similar values to Westpac – teamwork, integrity and
achievement – are looked upon very favourably.
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T h e big pic ture
What are the main IT jobs that people do in your company?

There are at least 99 types of roles within IT. This includes Database
administrators, Analyst programmers, IT stream leads, Solution
designers, help desk administrators, Project managers, Business
analysts, Program office managers, Project coordinators, Information
security consultants, and Infrastructure engineers.
How many people work in IT at your company?

In Sydney, Westpac IT has over 1000 employees.
What do you feel young people considering a career in IT

should know about the industry?
The perception of having a role in IT is often of someone sitting alone
and programming behind a desk. This is no longer true. The roles in IT
have changed – now IT staff work closely with the business, assisting
the business drivers in enabling change within the organisation.
In your opinion, what are job opportunities like in the

industry right now?
In my opinion, there are lots of job opportunities within the IT industry
because there has been a dramatic drop in the enrolments in IT
courses at universities.
How has the industry changed?

The industry is ramping up again – businesses need IT to assist them
in meeting their goals.
What personal attributes suit people who want to work in

the industry?
People who are innovative, energetic, motivated and embrace change.
What’s the best thing about working in IT?

At Westpac, it would have to be the people, especially the team-work
aspect. Also, it’s great having the opportunity to work on interesting
projects and seeing these implemented.
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Fiona Hathaway – Microsoft Australia

As recruitment manager for Australia and New Zealand at Microsoft
Australia, Fiona coordinates recent graduates moving into many IT
positions at this branch of the multinational corporation.
q&a
What are you looking when you employ people in the
industry?
At Microsoft, we look for highly energetic people with initiative and
drive; people who are smart and practical in their area. The most
important talents we seek from our applicants are genuine passion
and curiosity about technology, creative thinking and the desire to
work hard alongside some great minds in the industry.
find out How do you recruit people?
more It is best if you apply for a specific advertised opportunity. Online
To apply with Microsoft applications are preferred. A proportion of the people we employ
online, go to come referred to us by someone they know who already works for
www.microsoft.com/australia/
Microsoft – our employees often recommend Microsoft to their friends
careers
and acquaintances as a great place to work. Generally we only use
recruitment agencies for specialist senior roles.
What do you expect from them in terms of applications

and interview?
We need to see a basic CV that details what you have been doing and
what your interest areas include, plus a copy of your transcripts. We
would only expect a CV of two to three pages in length. Microsoft does
not ask you to fill out a specific application form. You can expect a
minimum of three interviews, and perhaps an initial HR phone screen.
What types of jobs are in demand? What specialties are you

most interested in for your business?
A number of different careers exist at Microsoft. Basically there are
four large groups: sales, marketing, technical and support (such as HR,
finance). We look for energy, intellect, and creativity, and ask that you
share our core values: integrity, honesty, and a passion for customers
and what technology can do for them. There are also some key jobs at
Microsoft.
■ Product Solution Marketing Managers, who work as the internal
and external spokespeople for a particular product, its solutions
and associated market issues.
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T h e big pic ture
■ Technical Account Managers, who own the support relationship

with Microsoft’s most important customers; they have a thorough
technical understanding of our products and the infrastructure
which supports our products. Through highly proactive engagement
they are constantly alert to opportunities which develop, improve
and maintain those relationships.
■ Technical Consultants, who help make sure business customers
who adopt Microsoft technologies experience a seamless,
intelligent and effective service – so they can enjoy all the benefits
Microsoft frameworks and technologies can bring to their business.
■ Account Managers, who are in a sales role within the organisation
and have primary responsibility for the overall Microsoft relationship
with a set number of customers in a specified industry segment.
■ Partner Account Managers, who deal with the companies Microsoft
works with to access the customers in the market. The main
responsibilities of Partner Account Managers are to manage
relationships with Microsoft Partners and also manage our ability to
provide technologies and services to our large corporate customers.
■ HR Managers, who work with Directors and Senior Managers. The
HR Manager’s key responsibilities are to develop and deliver the
HR strategy aligned to the overall business strategy, in addition to
providing HR consultancy services to business units across Microsoft.
In your opinion, what are job opportunities like in the

industry right now?
IT is a constantly evolving market segment so we believe it is an
excellent career choice for young people.
Technology will never stop developing and Microsoft is at the
forefront of these developments. The need for technical specialists to
contribute to this constant drive for improved business performance
via IT initiatives will remain. In the last 30 years software has provided
amazing capabilities and power and the software of tomorrow will
build on the already-powerful capabilities we have today to continue
to deliver and change our daily lives.
We believe this means if you enter the IT industry, particularly with
Microsoft training and certification, you can look forward to a broad
suite of career opportunities which can take you forward within
Australia and overseas. The IT industry is a truly global marketplace
and the skills you develop are as much in demand offshore as locally.
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How do you suggest people wanting to break into the

industry get in?
Whether you’re already in a career or still in school, there are many
resources available to help you learn more about IT careers. A good
way to start is to identify IT jobs that interest you, find out about the
skills you will need for that job, assess your current skills to identify
what you must learn, and then access the training options that will
help you build the skills you need.
We have an intern program for recent university leavers who get the
opportunity to work in our business for a 12-month period. This is
fantastic for the intern as it gives them the opportunity to experience
working in a global IT organisation and build up their practical skills.
Microsoft employs 15 to 18 interns nationally each year.
What personal attributes suit people who want to work in the

industry?
At Microsoft, we believe it’s the people who design, develop, market,
sell and support our products who make us the company we are.
We’re always looking for individuals who are passionate about the
technologies of tomorrow.
What’s the best thing about working in the industry?

Working in IT is always interesting, challenging, creative and fast
moving. It has good travel opportunities and great financial rewards.
IT is a great industry which allows you to work with the latest
technologies and you get to play with cool stuff!
Any negatives?
Not that we can think of.
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T h e big pic ture
Michele de Laine – Centrelink

As the Business Manager in the Strategic Recruitment & Diversity
Section of the Workplace Capability Branch at Centrelink, Michele is in
a good position to tell us about the state of play for the recruitment of
IT professionals in the public sector.
Centrelink is a Commonwealth Government Agency that has as

its purpose ‘serving Australia by assisting people to become self-
sufficient and supporting those in need’.
In her job, Michele looks after recruitment policy for all positions at
Centrelink. She also has a broader perspective on the opportunities
in this sector from being involved with several interdepartmental
committees relating to IT recruitment, retention and skill development.
q&a
How many people work in IT at Centrelink, and what types of
employment are there?
Within any government agency there are different types of staff:
ongoing or permanent staff, short-term or temporary staff,
contractors, and shared people whom we borrow from other
departments or agencies.
Centrelink employs roughly 2500 ongoing IT staff. This is out of
about 27 000 staff altogether at Centrelink, so the IT group is a very
significant percentage of the overall staffing of the organisation. It
is absolutely fundamental to Centrelink’s ability to be able to deliver
services to the public. IT is the enabler that allows Centrelink to
deliver services on behalf of 22 key agencies and distribute more
than $44 billion in assistance to the Australian community each year.
Centrelink’s customer database holds 260 billion data items. This is
because all of the transactions individual customer service officers
have with customers, and all of the payments require IT systems to
underpin them
What are the opportunities like in the public sector right now?
The recruitment of IT people is generally something we are quite
concerned about – this is because there are not enough people studying
IT any more. The numbers have really tapered off since 2000. We are
particularly interested in getting more young people and more women
into IT studies so that they become available for us to recruit later on.
The pool of people currently available in the IT labour market is also
small. A lot of the agencies with larger IT sections, like the Australian
Bureau of Statistics, Australian Taxation Office, Child Support Agency,
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and Medicare Australia, are also fishing in the same pond. So there’s
quite an issue in terms of being able to procure the people we need.
A number of interdepartmental committees have been set up to look
at what we can do about this shortage of IT staff. One committee,
which I am involved, in relates to the Department of Human Services,
which includes Centrelink, Medicare, Child Support Agency and some
smaller agencies in its portfolio. Both Centrelink and Medicare are
very large IT employers and, through the committee, a number of
short-term loans of people with particular skills to meet short-term
needs in one or other of the agencies have been made.
It’s called skill share, and is intended to maximise the use we
glossary collectively make of people within the Department of Human Services
portfolio to meet short-term IT needs. A person might work for
Skill share means:
Medicare, Centrelink, or another agency, and they will respond to a
– the short-term movement
short-term vacancy advertised on our Intranet if they feel that they
of staff between different
government agencies during a have the skills and experience. That gives them the opportunity to
skills shortage. move so that they can broaden their experience. They can make a
specific contribution and see how things are going somewhere else.
Why should people work for Centrelink?

Centrelink is the biggest IT shop in the southern hemisphere, so if you
think of almost any kind of IT specialisation, we’ve got it. That means
that there are many IT career opportunities at Centrelink. People who
work for Centrelink often don’t need to go to other agencies or other
companies because they can build a career within the one agency. We
have the opportunities to specialise so it’s possible to move around
many times and not be bored.
A lot of people join us because they want to make a difference. Most
people in Australia have been touched in some way by Centrelink
– they might have experienced bushfires, needed farm assistance or
have unemployment requirements or been at university and received
Austudy. So people have had that experience and want to give back to
the community.
What’s the difference between working in the public and

private sector?
glossary The main difference is that when you join government you have the
AWA means: opportunity to directly contribute to improving people’s lives. The
scale of IT projects, particularly in a large agency like Centrelink, is
– Australian Workplace
Agreement, an individually rarely matched in the private sector.
written agreement between When you compare the public sector overall to the private sector, the
an employer and employee
salaries available in the private sector are often much greater. That
covering the employer’s salary
package and other conditions causes us some difficulty. We do use AWAs to try and balance the
of employment. difference in some fashion where we can and to reward people in ways
that appeal to them.
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T h e big pic ture
The good news is that all government agencies are linked. When
you join an agency, you actually join the Australian Public Service
(APS) and so you can potentially apply for jobs in any public sector
department or agency. Entry into one of the agencies, such as
Centrelink, means that you have the opportunity to move across the
whole of the APS. And that is very, very large. This also means that
staff have the opportunity to build a long career in the APS – either in
a single agency in Centrelink’s case or across agencies – and to do a
broad range of roles within that. Very few private sector organisations
can offer that.
What areas of IT in particular do you see as being in demand?

One of the areas in which we have trouble recruiting staff is
mainframe, as universities don’t tend to teach that. Centrelink’s major glossary
payment systems depend on being able to support the mainframe.
Mainframe means:
The trend in the way that IT applications work is that there are a
lot more web-based solutions being developed and offered at the – a powerful computer that
can support many users
moment, so we need people in that area in particular. Mainframe is
connected via terminals
not sexy as it is regarded as old technology – young people like web- simultaneously.
based but we need to support both. Centrelink has a hybrid system.
J2EE means:
Skills in J2EE are needed as with many other employers.
– Java 2 Platform Enterprise
What attributes are necessary for someone to work in IT Edition, an environment for
at Centrelink? developing and deploying
web-based enterprise
The Centrelink website (under Working in Centrelink) has information
applications online. It
about the range of job opportunities and the criteria used to assess supports HTML and Java
applications. There is detailed information there about the IT Graduate Applets and Applications.
Program.
In terms of qualifications, we prefer not to employ people who have
done a very broad degree that includes only a little bit of IT. We
usually recruit people who have got a full IT degree. We require people
to have at least the equivalent of an Australian three-year degree
and that has to have been acquired in the last couple of years for the
person to be eligible for the graduate program.
Having said that though, it’s usually pretty competitive and that is on
par with what happens in all graduate programs, not just in IT.
People need to be particularly marketable in having a solid degree,
with good results. And they need to sell themselves with examples
to support their claims. Work experience with IT and in other areas
always helps – doing something for a community organisation, or
part-time work is really, really useful because you get a taste for
what happens in the workplace. It means you are not coming into the
workplace totally cold.
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In terms of personal attributes, I think historically people looked

find out
more at IT people as being technicians and having only technical IT
skills. We need people to have a blend of the technical IT skills and
About job opportunities in the
communication skills, so they can communicate with the business
government sector
owners and relate to their fellow team members. You can’t develop
www.centrelink.gov.au a solution or understand what the business wants unless you can
click on ‘working at
Centrelink’
communicate effectively with them. So they need a range of people
skills as well at IT/technical skills.
www.psgazetteonline.gov.au
www.australia.gov.au How does Centrelink recruit people?
Centrelink’s biggest intake of staff within the IT area is through our IT
graduate program in which we currently recruit roughly 100 people a
glossary year in two intakes. Centrelink seeks out employees in a number of
ways – we liaise with universities, attend career fairs, and encourage
The Australian Public our staff to let their friends know that there are vacancies. We also
Service Gazette means:
advertise on the Centrelink website, through online recruitment
– a publication that includes portals such as seek.com, through the press, and in the Australian
jobs for all government
Public Service Gazette.
departments and agencies.
The most important thing in the

programming language is the name.
A language will not succeed without a
good name. I have recently invented
a very good name and now I am
looking for a suitable language.
D.E. Knuth, 1967
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T h e big pic ture
What support organisations exist?

There are a number of organisations to assist and support IT
professionals. The best starting point for each is of course their website.
Australian Computer Society

The ACS is the recognised national association for ICT professionals,
attracting a large and active membership from all levels of the IT industry.
The ACS is the public voice of the professional and the guardian
of professional ethics and standards, committed to ensuring the
beneficial use of ICT. It is an active lobby group on issues affecting
the industry and seen as a relevant and credible commentator.
Professionals join the society to keep their skills and knowledge up
to date, hear challenging new ideas and concepts, participate in peer
group activities, and extend their professional networks.
Australian Information Industry Association

Full members of the Australian Information Industry Association
(AIIA) are producers or providers of software, hardware and services
for computers, telecommunications, office systems and electronic
information systems. Affiliate memberships are also available for
companies which have interests and objectives in common with the
IT industry.
Australian Society for Computers in

Learning in Tertiary Education
The Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary
Education (ASCILITE) is a society for those organisations or people
involved in tertiary computer-based education and training, including
educational interactive multimedia. It aims to provide a forum for
discussion of the many issues facing tertiary educational use of find out
technology. Part of their charter is to promote research and evaluate more
existing technological processes that provide flexible delivery of www.acs.org.au
education in the tertiary sector.
www.aiia.com.au
ACSILITE collaborates with the Australian Society of Educational www.ascilite.org.au
Technology (ASET) to produce a joint journal.
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Association of Professional Engineers,

Scientists and Managers, Australia
The Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers,
Australia (APESMA) is a Quality Certified employee organisation and
provides an array of career, financial, information and lifestyle services
to members.
CompTIA
CompTIA stands for the Computer Technology Industry Association.
With strong links to government and other stakeholders, CompTIA
aims to improve industry growth, develop educational and industry
standards and professional competence in the IT industry.
As IT is a global industry, CompTIA represents IT worldwide. It has

offices around the world in Amsterdam, Beijing, Brussels, Dubai,
Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Sao Paulo, Singapore,
Tokyo, Toronto and Washington, D.C., and in Sydney.
Other specialist industry groups include the Australian Multimedia

Interactive Industry Association (AIMIA), and the Australian Internet
Industry Association.
There are also a large number of user groups and special interest
groups (SIGs) for various aspects of IT.
Internet Society of Australia

The Internet Society of Australia (ISOC-AU) is the Australian chapter of
ISOC and was founded in 1996 to help promote the use of the Internet
in all facets of the Australian community: business, professional,
academic and in the private sector.
It is a not-for-profit organisation that has membership for individuals,

and organisations. Discount memberships are available for students.
find out
more National ICT Australia
www.apesma.asn.au
www.aimia.com.au
National ICT Australia (NICTA) is an ICT research centre formed by
the Federal Government and the Australian Research Council. With
www.iia.net.au
consortium partners, the Australian Capital Territory Government, the
www.comptia.org
NSW Government, the University of NSW and the Australian National
University, NICTA is set up to attract, develop and network ICT talent in
a world-class research environment.
36
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:36 13/3/06 2:42:07 PM

LEAD THE FUTURE.
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The Networking Academy program utilizes a blended Discover the difference the Cisco Networking
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Academy graduates are better prepared for networking
and IT-related careers in the public and private sectors,
as well as for higher education in engineering,
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cisco.com/asiapac/academy
Copyright © 2003 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Networking Academy, Cisco, Cisco Systems, and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks
of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document or Web site are the property
of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1203R)
Centrelink is a
customer focused
organisation. Behind the scenes,
we have many opportunities for
professionals to contribute to the
delivery of services to the Australian
Community.
Our people are:

• Social Workers
• Auditors
• Project Managers
• Customer Service staff
Who are we? • Business Analysts
Centrelink is a vital part of the Australian • Researchers
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• the biggest single purpose call centre
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Centrelink administer around 140 products entrelink,
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ur website
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Want to get ahead in the IT industry?
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IT PRO AUSTRALIA IS YOUR IT CAREER CONNECTION.

JOIN TODAY BY VISITING WWW.ITPRO.COMPTIA.COM.AU
©2006 The Computing Technology Industry Association. All rights reserved.

“Your Potential. Our Passion”
PRODUCT TECHNOLOGY SPECIALISTS, INFRASTRUCTURE

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Key criteria includes:
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Imagine having the resources to influence tomorrow’s reality – today. At Microsoft, we are seeking
people whose ideas can make a difference, individuals who thrive on the opportunity to think
creatively and be empowered to deliver. Live on the verge of
If you’re ready to discover your full potential and believe that working in this great industry is supposed
the next big thing.
to be fun, we invite you to explore the unlimited adventure of a Microsoft career.
It’s amazing what you can do here.
Imagine having the resources to influence tomorrow’s
reality — today. At Microsoft, we are seeking people whose ideas
can make a difference, individuals who thrive on the opportunity
2004 & 2005toAustralian

think creatively and be empowered to deliver.
Employer of Choice
If you’re ready to discover your full potential and believe that
Australian HR Magazine’s awards
working in this great industry is supposed to be fun, we invite
you to explore the unlimited adventure of a Microsoft career. It’s
World’s amazing
Most what Respected Company
you can do here.
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All Microsoft career opportunities are posted daily to our website

at www.microsoft.com/australia/careers Applications are to be
submitted through the website and only shortlisted candidates
will be contacted. Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer.
Insider info
What jobs could I do?
To help you get the inside story, we have interviewed a number of IT
professionals who represent the diverse array of jobs available in this
industry. While these jobs by no means represent all the options, they
do provide you with some idea of what the following different roles
are about.
■ IT support officer
■ Software test analyst
■ IT manager
■ Computer systems officer
■ Senior Oracle database administrator
■ IT consultant
■ Instructional designer
■ Configuration specialist
■ Director of professional services
■ Web programmer
■ Project Manager
■ IT security consultant
41
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:41 13/3/06 2:42:08 PM

■ SAP specialist
■ Analyst programmer
■ Systems engineering manager
■ System engineering director
■ Manager technical marketing
What do real people say about

their jobs?
We asked people in IT about their careers and the type of work they do.
What came out strongly in the interviews is that most IT professionals

find their work interesting and varied. They tend to work very hard at
keeping up their skills and the knowledge base that IT requires.
Nearly all singled out ‘variety’ and ‘challenge’ as positives in their

careers. They all seem to enjoy having to deal with a range of issues,
problems and situations. That said, there are IT options that won’t
require the same kind of high-wire proficiency – library technology
and database administration may offer less hectic routes into IT
professions and offer a good deal more routine than some of the high-
wire IT acts. None of them said that working in IT is a pushover.
42
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:42 13/3/06 2:42:08 PM

In s ide r in fo
Lorretta Elias – IT support officer cv accounting >>

insolvency >> telephone
There are three things to know about being a support officer or a help
desk operator. Firstly – it is generally pretty hectic! People can be very support >> IT traineeship
demanding when they have their own deadlines and issues, and often >> IT support officer
they’ll want things done yesterday.
Secondly – you have to know your stuff. Nothing is more uncomfortable

(for either side) than being on the help desk but being unable to help.
Thirdly – a lot of IT careers start on the help desk!
Lorretta Elias is an IT support officer with Tyco Health, a public

company that supplies healthcare products. In her early 20s, Lorretta
single-handedly runs the company’s help desk. A typical day involves
answering frantic phone calls for help, handling general enquiries and
providing desktop support to about 250 users.
Two years ago Lorretta withdrew from a Bachelor of Business degree

to forge an IT career and gain her Microsoft Certified System Engineer
(MCSE) certification. She also completed a TAFE Certificate III in Network
Administration. She has been in her current position for six months.
q&a
What do you like best about your occupation?
I enjoy interaction with people – I really like helping people sort out
their technology issues. I like networking as a discipline and keeping
track of technology issues. I like being the one who can sort things out
for people. It’s a good feeling!
Are there any difficult issues in your job?

Occasionally you do get difficult or abusive customers – the worst are
the ones who think they know a lot more about it than you, or anyone!
Also, dealing with older equipment approaching end-of-life can be
trying at times.
Briefly describe a particularly interesting matter or project

you have been involved in.
I have been working on creating a new installer image to create a
software build for the new laptops the company is bringing in. That
has been really interesting. Plus I have been working on a custom
deployment profile for Microsoft Office.
Custom deployment profile ...?

That’s a ‘standard installation’ which puts all the right Microsoft Office
components for a new workstation on a CD-ROM. You have to know
what you’re doing to create these.
43
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:43 13/3/06 2:42:08 PM

What do you wish someone had told you about the IT

industry before you started on this career path?
Well, in my case, how interesting working in IT is! When I left school, I
was persuaded to do a general business degree in accounting, which
wasn’t what I really wanted to do. I worked in accountancy as part of it
and frankly it was pretty dull.
Anyway, I was determined to get into IT. I got a job at a company
called DataCom – doing Microsoft telephone support – through some
friends, who recommended me for it. That got me started in the IT
business and I haven’t looked back.
How about work–life balance? Does your role allow for that?
To be honest, it is an issue sometimes. I am a single operator in this
MYTH place and it takes a lot of work to keep up. We have an issue-logging
working in IT gets system and I am responsible for everything on it, along with the phone
you a big salary calls and the other projects. So yes, I am very busy, and sometimes
the hours are long, but I like the business.
I got into this position
What type of person do you think best suits your sector of the
through a traineeship
fact
program in schools industry?

and was paid a very I guess having the right attitude is first and foremost. You have to have
low hourly rate. a real desire to help people. You have to be patient, and you need to
be able to relate to people on their level. When your users start to tell
you how you should be doing your job (and this does happen quite a
bit!) then you really need to be patient and not come back at them. It’s
great training in patience and communicating with others.
You also have to be interested in the technology, and be motivated to
learn and keep learning.
44
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:44 13/3/06 2:42:09 PM

In s ide r in fo
What should students know about working on a help desk in

before choosing it as a career? brief
Before getting into IT they should give a lot of thought to what IT support officer
exactly they want to do in this discipline – whether it is programming, $$$ 40K–45K

business management, or support and help desk. They are all very quals MCSE
hrs/wk 40+
different kinds of work and you should be honest about what your
life–work fair
strengths are and what is going to suit you.
flexibility not much during
What do you think is the most important thing you can do to the week but few,
if any, intrusions
advance your career? on the weekend
Well you need both experience and certification to be in this kind of
role. I got my MCSE certification, which took a couple of years, but
it is an important part of the role. I’m thinking about going back to glossary
university again in the future.
VPN means:
But the most important thing is you have to love what you do! – virtual private network
providing secure logins for
Are formal qualifications necessary or optional for someone
remote staff.
in your position?
For support roles it is optional – you can get these jobs if you have the
knowledge and pick up experience on the job.
myweek
Creating users Handling footprint enquiries and

policy stuff
Deleting users accounts
Helping with VPN Staff liaison meeting

Weekly review and look-ahead
Building machines, Socialising

Ghosting Dancing
Hobbies – cars and snowboarding
Installing printers
Relaxing at home with the cats
45
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:45 13/3/06 2:42:09 PM

cv casual work, retail Lily Lo – Software test analyst

and hospitality >> IBM
Lily is in her early 20s and is a senior software test analyst at Access
volunteer, Sydney Olympics
Testing Centre in Sydney. A graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in
>> university trainee Computer Science, Lily started as a casual software tester before
program >> consulting >> moving into her current position.
casual software tester >>
software test analyst
q&a
What do you like best about your career?
There’s a lot of variety; every day is different. We test a lot of different
kinds of software applications for a range of clients. Also we test off-
site, at the client’s office, quite frequently.
And least ...?

Having to test really buggy software! Also having to test specialised
applications that are difficult to understand.
What type of person do you think best suits your type of

work?
People who are persistent and patient and have an eye for detail.
It also helps if you can ‘think outside the square’ when it comes to
testing how software should work.
What should students know about software testing before

choosing it as a career?
Computer science graduates have a misconception that testing is not
in a specialty when it actually needs specialised skills. You have to have
brief a genuine interest in testing as a discipline. Some who have trained to
Software test analyst be software developers think that testing is a ‘step down’, but it is a
$$$ around 45K specialist skill in its own right.
quals BSc Computer
Science & Has being a test analyst lived up to your career expectations?
Technology (USyd) Yes, very much.
hrs/wk usually 38
life–work fine, this position What aspects of your degree studies were especially relevant
rarely goes over to test analysis?
normal hours
The subjects that were most relevant were Usability Design, Systems
flexibility limited but good
government Analysis, Database Design and Project Management. I didn’t much
conditions enjoy programming languages – found it tedious.
46
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:46 13/3/06 2:42:10 PM

In s ide r in fo
Saul Bryan – National IT manager cv casual shop

assistant (school) >> IBM
Working as an IT manager is the ultimate goal for many people in IT.
office assistant (UK) >>
The position is typically responsible for an entire IT department – the
systems, software and people. Many IT managers have worked their computer sales (uni) >>
way through the ranks, either as programmers and system analysts, or computer sales manager
through help desk management, or a variety of other routes. (uni) >> consultant >>
NSW IT manager >>
IT managers need to know a lot of stuff – sometimes they complain
national IT manager
that it’s too much stuff! They work across a broad range of topics,
embracing networking, operating systems, some programming,
server management, plus people skills, prioritisation and project
management.
Saul Bryan is National IT manager for Counterpoint Marketing which

is classified as an SME. Specialising in FMCG (fast moving consumer
goods) food services, Counterpoint Marketing operates Australia-wide.
Saul oversees all IT-related operations in the company. His roles
encompass IT project management as well as maintaining file-servers
and programming itself.
Saul graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of

Science degree in Pure Mathematics and Computer Science. His IT
career began 15 years ago when he took a casual job as a computer
salesperson. Saul joined Counterpoint seven years ago, after working
as an independent IT consultant for a few years. He’s now in his late 30s.
q&a
I make a difference and have a great deal of freedom. I try lots of
different things; my job is varied. The people are really nice. It’s
satisfying when you solve problems.
And least ...?

When lots of things fail all at once and the stress levels go up. When
people become aggressive and unreasonable ... or blame you for
things that are beyond your control.

Project managing the development and roll out of a handheld sales
automation system for our 300 staff. Then rewriting the whole
thing myself!
47
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:47 13/3/06 2:42:10 PM

What type of person do you think best suits this industry?

Personal attributes – excellence in communication, openness to
problem solving, ability to handle stress, keen to learn.
Skills – all those required to do your tasks. Depends what they are.
In our case, it includes a lot of programming as well as more routine
things such as server configuration and maintenance.
Aptitude – ability to find problems and find a resolution.
What should students know about IT management before

It is very varied. The education system breaks jobs into neat
defined tasks, but the real world is not always like that. Database
administrators might do some desktop support, and web designers
might help out with network administration. Server work sometimes
MYTH requires out-of-normal-hours work. Some management sees IT as
information ‘plumbing’ and not really very important. It’s also hard
computers are
to keep up with as the industry and the technology is constantly
infallible
evolving. You have to make an effort to keep yourself informed.
fact
Has your current career choice lived up to your expectations?

They aren’t!
Yes, I think so ... maybe because I had an open mind! If you expect to
only do a limited number of tasks you may be disappointed.
What is something you had to learn the hard way?

If you want a job done properly, you have to do it yourself. If it’s
important and you have to delegate it, oversee it carefully.
What can people do to advance their IT career?

Use a computer to do as many different things as you can! On a home
computer, set up a network, start a website, program a database. Play
and learn and create demos of what you can do. You never know when
what you have picked up will be useful, and you will have a deeper
understanding of more IT-related subjects. Also, continue to read
industry magazines such as Australian Personal Computer. Buy books.
Which part of your studies did you enjoy?

I discovered a love of programming at school, and I still enjoy it.
Interestingly, I learnt SQL at university and found it very difficult – but
now it’s a breeze! (And essential for a lot of the systems we use.)
Are formal qualifications necessary?

Some training is required, as it shows an ability to learn. However, as
a hiring manager, I am open to someone who has industry experience
versus just qualifications.
Are there any ways of getting into the industry or your

position apart from completing a degree?
I got into my position as an IT consultant, doing contract network
support. Before that I had experience as a sales consultant and then
manager at a computer store at the university. So one job can lead to
another – starting out as a salesperson can lead to greater things.
48
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:48 13/3/06 2:42:11 PM

In s ide r in fo
Are there any particular recruitment processes that

candidates should know about?
Go to trade shows, like CeBit and speak to people. In Australia it’s quite
a small industry in some ways, and personal networking is important.
What are your tips for preparing an outstanding job application?

Consider that someone may have a hundred résumés on the table and
yours is one of them! It must be clear and well laid out. It should have
enough detail to show what you are capable of without being a novel
– try to limit it to two or three pages, tops. For IT people, references to
online demos, websites, etc, that you might have done, are effective.
Show a bit of your personality in the résumé, and spend some time on in
it. It is important! brief
National IT manager
Can you recall anything you did or said at an interview that
$$$ good
you feel made you stand out from other candidates?
quals BSc (Computer
I was honest about my abilities, and enthusiastic. Admitting that you Science and Pure
don’t know something is fine as long as you show that you are keen to Maths) (USyd)
learn about it. hrs/wk 40–50

life–work OK, work does
Have industry networking, personal contacts and professional not intrude too
much on my home
organisations helped you to get to your current position?
life apart from the
Absolutely. Work colleagues become friends, and they can provide occasional weekend
opportunities. If I look at my own career, I can see personal contacts flexibility limited – I generally
as a major factor in all my job changes. work office hours
49
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:49 13/3/06 2:42:11 PM

cv computer sales John Twyman – University computer

representative >> degree systems officer
studies >> computer
John is a senior Computer Systems Officer (CSO) at the School of
systems officer >>
Geosciences at the University of Sydney. In his late 20s, John exudes
university computer
a palpable sense of excitement about his work – even though he was
systems officer
originally studying astronomy, not IT!
John switched to a major in IT instead, and graduated with a Bachelor

of Science in Computer Science and History and Philosophy of
Science. While studying, John worked as a computer salesman. After
graduating, he took up a temporary position as a relief officer at
the university. That led to a permanent position, which he held for
several years. John moved into his current position at the School of
Geosciences three years ago.
The field of geoscience requires the use of a range of specialised

software, such as GIS (Geographic Information Systems software),
which John maintains across several student access labs. As the
system administrator, he’s responsible for the configuration and
upkeep of the labs.
He also provides desktop support services for everyone (admin and

academic staff and students) along with consulting on a wide range of
IT issues for various people and projects within the school.
q&a
What do you like most about your occupation?
Engaging with students! I find working with honours students
particularly rewarding, as they are experienced but still ‘new’ enough
to be retain their youthful enthusiasm. Plus the honours year is very
demanding and it is rewarding working with them.
I also enjoy running the IT orientation workshops, which provide students
and faculty with an introduction to various applications, for example
bibliographic software, word processing and graphics packages.
The school is involved with a fascinating range of programs – for example,
the Angkor Wat restoration project being coordinated by UNESCO.
This involves universities from various parts of the world, and also
people from all different kinds of backgrounds – human geographers,
cultural anthropologists, to name a couple. And we are involved with
other interesting projects in Antarctica and the South Pacific.
50
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:50 13/3/06 2:42:11 PM

In s ide r in fo
What do you like least?

Well, I suppose the plain old desktop support part of the role: dealing
with user problems, and accommodating a broad range of users with
varying skills. The job never finishes in some ways.
Also department roles such as CSO tend to have limited scope
because the bigger projects tend to happen on a university-wide level,
so you sometimes feel a bit out of the action.
And I should mention dealing with viruses and security updates!
These matters waste a lot of time that could be spent doing
constructive things.
find out
more
Geographic Information
Systems software
www.esri.com
UNESCO Angkor Wat project
http://portal.unesco.org/
culture
51
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:51 13/3/06 2:42:12 PM

What about work–life balance?

On the whole the work–life balance is excellent. On the other hand,
sometimes the responsibilities of the job mean that it does encroach
on my private time – and you don’t get reimbursed for it.
How is working at a university different to the corporate

world?
Our union has been able to negotiate very good working conditions
including annual leave loading, ability to accumulate leave, leave
without pay and rostered days off. So while the pay may not be
commensurate with that in the corporate sector, the conditions make
up for it, and the work is very interesting.
industry in terms of personal attributes, skills and aptitude?
You need to be outgoing, a good communicator and able to relate well
across the school; have a willingness to learn; be able to appreciate
the context for the technology. Also you need to be end-user-centric
– be able to see things from the user’s viewpoint rather than becoming
over-absorbed in the technology.

in That it’s okay not to know everything! When I first got here I was very
brief reluctant to admit that I didn’t know something about a particular part
University computer of the job. After a while I began to see that no-one knows everything
systems officer and it’s okay not to know things, provided you know where to find out.
$$$ 50K–70K
Are formal qualifications essential for a CSO?
quals BSc (Hons)
(Computer) (USyd) Qualifications are described as ‘optional’ in my job but most university
hrs/wk 40+ CSOs tend to be qualified.
life–work work sometimes
intrudes
Are there any ways of getting into the industry or your
flexibility conditions are position apart from getting the qualifications?
generous when I At the university, academic staff sometimes move into IT through
have time to take
advantage of them!
their research and interests – especially School of IT staff. Help desk
experience can also provide a route.
52
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:52 13/3/06 2:42:12 PM

In s ide r in fo
myweek
Deal with requests for help with Upgrades to server software

software
Check and download latest virus
Job tracking and resolution definitions
Follow-up on issues and handle Get quotes on software and
phone requests server for student lab
Review security alerts issued by

Run orientation/training
AUSCERT
workshops
Purchasing requests – hardware
Project meeting for remote and
and software
off-site users
Software licence review
Play sport
Security committee meeting
Go to the pub with friends
Help staff with computer issues
Watch rugby and cricket when
they’re on TV
Relax by cooking and reading
53
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:53 13/3/06 2:42:12 PM

cv junior analyst >> Raymond Allo – Senior Oracle database

junior programmer >> analyst
Oracle analyst programmer
As a senior Oracle database analyst (DBA), Raymond works as a
>> senior Oracle database
consultant and troubleshooter for big programming and systems
analyst
jobs. He has worked with Oracle since it was first released, and now
specialises in solving difficult problems.
His clients include government departments, like the Office of State

Revenue, large corporations such as Tomago, and telcos including
Optus, Telstra and Alcatel.
In his late 40s, Raymond has been in the IT business since the 1970s,
initially in Europe and now Australia. He has the Dutch equivalent of
a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) degree, and then entered
a ‘cadetship’ with the airline KLM. Here he worked as a junior system
analyst and programmer before working his way up through the ranks.
When Oracle came out he ‘took to it straight away’ and has been
involved with it ever since.
q&a
What particular advice do you have for people wanting to get
into Oracle as a career path?
Well that’s a big question. Recently I was working with a guy at a telco
who had put himself through Oracle certification. And I advised him
to leave – which he was thinking about anyway – and get broader
experience. This particular installation was only making use of a small
aspect of Oracle and so if he stayed in that position he would not get
a lot of broader experience. While certification is important, hands-on
experience in different areas is also really important.
Oracle has grown a lot. When I was first involved, it was just a
database management system. Now it is a whole lot of specialised
applications – Oracle financials, Java, data warehousing, lots of things.
It is becoming very specialised and is too big now for anyone to be
across all of it.
So now it is important to get knowledge of some of the other aspects
of what you are working on – say if it’s Oracle Financials, it is good
to have some background knowledge of the financial industry,
accountancy principles, and so on.
So you would recommend hybrid degrees that offer IT and

some other discipline like finance?
Definitely!
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In s ide r in fo
What do you wish someone had told you about the industry
before you started on this career path?
I didn’t expect to have to do so much reading and research – it takes a
lot of work to stay on top of it all. Actually, to begin with, it is important
to read the product documentation, the manuals. A lot of people don’t
bother; then they ask me where I learned so much! I spend a lot of time MYTH
researching, keeping current and doing Google searches and so on. Oracle DBAs have
got it made
I enjoy solving problems and troubleshooting. I like dealing with new It can involve a lot
situations, learning new things, handling new challenges, and using of routine work and
my analytical ability. A requirement of my role is the need to know there’s competitive
pressure, especially
many facets of a situation – Oracle skills for sure, but also networking,
from ‘off-shoring’ which
fact
applications, and general software development. can reduce your rate.

You have to commit to
And least ...? continued learning.
Dealing with difficult problems can be frustrating at times and
requires a lot of persistence and patience.
Do you work through agencies or direct for clients?

Both. I find quite a few jobs through my network but I also work for
some agencies from time to time.
Does this job allow you to achieve the work–life balance that glossary
you wish for? Production system means:
Oracle DBAs work too many hours! We tend to do a lot of after-hours
– a live database with real
work – sometimes you can only work on production systems outside
customer data in it.
business hours. Problems can take hours to fix. You may have to run
tests that process overnight.
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What type of person do you think has the best chance of

getting to be an Oracle DBA?
I came up through the ranks in traditional programming – data
modelling, system engineering, software development and system
admin. You learn a lot of the tricks and traps this way that you can’t
get by over-specialising. So I think you have to have a lot of general
skills otherwise you’re not across the whole system – it is like a
mechanic who is looking at the engine, not the whole car, when the
problem is in the suspension or something!
So I believe that becoming a good DBA will take five to six years
including one to two years of general software development
experience, plus a lot of reading.
I think many employers have an unrealistic expectation of graduates,
that they can be a DBA when they finish training. Business knowledge
can be harder to get than the technical details which you can look up
in the manual!

Absolutely – I would do it all again! I like the intellectual challenge
of problem solving. There are long hours but it is flexible – no-one is
standing over me watching the clock. I get to choose which jobs to
take on and when.

I suppose to be really methodical. When you’re younger you take a
lot more chances but in this work what you are doing is so ‘mission
critical’ you can’t afford to be slap-dash. For example, you may be
troubleshooting some big problem in a large financial organisation’s
real-time database, where everything you and the development team
do is simultaneously being documented. As you are working with
the functional spec documents and everything else, you have to be
completely methodical.

in your position?
Well, put it this way ... I got into an industry-sponsored scholarship
program organised by some big companies because they felt the
computer science graduates they were getting were not very ‘real-
world’ tuned, so to say. So I got to put computer science principles
into action straight away. I started system analysis and learnt a lot of
important principles over four years of study at senior level.
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In s ide r in fo
Have your formal qualifications equipped you for the reality in

of working life? brief
The formal qualifications have prepared me to an extent, but there is Senior Oracle DBA
a lot you have to pick up on the job. Communications skills are also quals BSc (Computer
important. Science) (The
Netherlands)
Are there any ways of getting into the industry or your hrs/wk 60–70
position apart from getting formal qualifications? life–work fair, there can be
long hours and often
It’s very difficult! You have to commit to learning and train yourself in a
work needs to be
number of specialisations. done after-hours.
Computers in the
future may weigh
no more than 1.5 tons.
Popular Mechanics, 1949
The MacBook Pro (2006 release)

weighs in at 2.54kg!
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cv engineering cadet John Turnbull – IT consultant

>> quality engineer >>
If you’ve got the right mix of skills, knowledge and attitude, IT
sales engineer >> project consulting can open doors into the higher levels of all kinds of
manager >> business organisations, as well as providing independence, a good lifestyle,
consultant >> consulting and, if you’re good, excellent rates of pay. It gives you a lot of freedom
manager >> pre-sales and constant variety, among other things. And the unique thing about
manager >> IT consultant consulting in IT is that you can get into business as a consultant while
still in your 20s; in any other sector a consultant is expected to have
grey hairs!
John, in his early 40s, is managing director of a consulting company

called Customer Connect Australia Pty Ltd, which he founded three
glossary years ago. He has 18 year’s experience in IT. Customer Connect
designs and implements strategic business solutions, enabled by IT,
FMCG means:
for a range of companies in the FMCG, pharmaceutical and technology
– fast moving
consumer goods. sector. Below, he details how he built his consulting business into a
profitable professional services company.
q&a
What does your job entail?
As principal in a consulting company, I have to cover lots of bases. I
stay in touch with the clients and partners, design the methodologies
and solutions, give presentations to generate new clients, and work
on implementations on client sites. I am out on the road a lot. Until
recently I worked only from a home office, but we have just moved to
serviced offices in North Ryde.
What do you estimate the typical salary package for your job
to be?
Well my daily rate is $2300.
That’s a pretty handsome daily rate. How many chargeable

days a week would you consider satisfactory?
Currently this is running at about four to four-and-a-half days a week. I
don’t have a lot of time off!
But then, we have a lot of very specialist skills and knowledge and,
more to the point, we’re able to come up with solutions to complex
requirements very quickly. Plus our experience is cumulative – a lot
of what we develop can be re-used – checklists, templates, processes
and so on. The people we work for know when we come in that we will
get through a lot of work very quickly.
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In s ide r in fo
Also we deliver what we promise. This is really, really important for a

consultant. We make sure we understand the situation correctly, make
the right recommendations, and then go the extra mile, if necessary,
to ensure that the job is finished as promised. I can’t stress highly
enough how important this attitude is in consulting work.
What do you like best about your occupation? People say that
being a consultant you can be your own boss.
I wouldn’t put it that way. I regard the client as ‘the boss’! But, that
said, you still have lot of freedom to decide how to go about things.
And you do avoid a lot of the office politics that is found in many
organisations.
And least ...?

There are times when the client is not able to set up the project in
a way that we feel is right. For example, we advised a client not to
proceed recently because our implementation was being managed
through the IT department, and we didn’t feel comfortable that the
department had a grasp of the business imperatives. So, basically, we
terminated our involvement in the implementation.

We did an implementation for a national distribution company. At
the time, their entire sales force was using a card-index system they
carried in their cars to take orders and file information about their
retailers. It was cumbersome and outdated and the flow of information
back to management was very haphazard.
The project involved upgrading the national sales force to a handheld
computer platform, training the reps in how to use it, and designing
the back-office implementation. It worked really well, and the reps
just loved it.
There have been a few teething problems with things like car kits, but
the reps say ‘whatever happens, don’t take the PDA away!’ It was a
rewarding experience; we did a lot of work with the reps to ensure that
the technology would make a difference to their day, and it paid off.
Does this job allow you to achieve the work–life balance that
you wish for?
I still work from a home office a lot of the time, so it is good in that
respect. But you have to be disciplined, because, working from home,
you can spend so much time in your office that you see even less of
your family. But generally speaking, the work–life balance is good.
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What does your working week look like? Do you work a

MYTH 40-hour week?
Usually a bit more than 40! I generally start around 7.30 am with
consultants can
email, reviewing the day ahead, planning phone calls. I might print out
transform your
some presentation materials or work on last-minute preparation in my
company through IT
home office.
They have an important Then it’s in the car and on the phone, on the way to a client site. I’m
role to play but are part
out onsite around four days a week, but I find I need to spend at least
of a ‘bigger picture’.
Transforming business half a day a week on looking after the office – admin, accounting,
means doing things forward planning.
differently – and this
We work either half days or full days at a client site, then it’s back
fact
means people and

processes, not just in the car, making calls again on the way home. Once I get home, I
technology. normally do another round of calls or email, and finish up with a final
prep for the next day.
industry in terms of personal attributes, skills and aptitude?
You have to be self-disciplined, especially when you’re starting out. It
would be very easy to take time out or not spend it efficiently. If you’re
a consultant, your working behaviour needs to be an expression of
your professionalism even, or especially, when there’s no-one looking
over your shoulder at what you’re doing.

Is it what you set out to do?
I am very happy in this role but I found my way here over time. I knew
I wanted to run my own business one day, and I like getting things
done so project work is good. Working with clients to improve their
business is very rewarding, and IT allows you to do a lot more these
in days than when I started with my first ERP (Enterprise Resource
brief Planning) implementation.
IT consultant
What are your formal qualifications?
$$$ $2300 per day I did a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) at the University
quals BE Mechanical
(UTS), MBA (UNE) of Technology, Sydney (UTS), and then a Master of Business
hrs/wk 40+ Administration (MBA) at the University of New England (UNE).
life–work fine – work from
Briefly outline the steps that got you to your current position.
home office and
have time for family I did Mechanical Engineering because I wanted to build things. I was
flexibility my schedule is trained as a cadet with a large industrial concern and got a lot of
quite flexible but broad experience in many facets of their organisation – including sales
requires attention
mainly during experience, which is a very important part of a consultancy. I then took
business hours on some project management roles starting with engineering projects,
then moving to IT projects.
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In s ide r in fo
There’s a bit of a backlash against MBA studies. Would you

recommend it?
The MBA really gave me an in-depth understanding of corporate
structures – what the different departmental roles are and how they
interact. People are sometimes critical of the MBA but I find the
understanding it gave me was indispensable in the work I do now.
myweek
Work with a client on education Meet with a prospective client

materials for their analysts
Project planning with a client who
Meet with a partner to discuss a is evaluating CRM vendors
new opportunity
Review and approve specifications

Put together a business change
for a pharmaceutical client’s CRM
specification for a client’s CRM
implementation
implementation
Prepare presentation for a seminar

Admin – emails, payroll run, invoicing
and accounts
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cv sales consultant Victoria Morrison – Instructional designer

>> recruitment consultant
Instructional design involves the analysis of learning needs and the
>> health and fitness
subsequent development of instructional materials.
consultant >> fitness centre
Victoria is a contract instructional designer for private companies,
manager >> software
corporations, government departments and training providers. She
trainer >> learning and
also has experience in technical writing and e-learning. She is in her
development consultant >>
early 40s and has seven years experience in IT. She has spent the last
training and documentation
18 months in a full-time instructional design role.
manager >> instructional
designer
q&a
I like using my creativity to develop training programs and
instructional aids. I really enjoy the writing and editing aspect of
my work as well as organising material so it is logical and easier
to understand. My work involves liaising with a variety of people
– including my clients, subject-matter experts and learners – equally,
and it involves spending much time at my computer, working
independently. I like this mix of working with people and working by
myself.
And least ...?

As a contractor, work can be inconsistent. The worst part is heading
towards a deadline (which usually means working longer hours)
and needing to be available for interviews for the next role. As an
instructional designer, I work on a project basis. My least favourite
part of the job is working on projects where the project management
is poor, something that is very difficult to predict before beginning a
contract.
to be?
About $60K to 100K with an average being $75 000. Hourly rates start
at $45 (although people will try and recruit for less!) and I have heard
of people earning up to $70 per hour.

Recently I redeveloped some e-learning courses created for a
company. My objective was to make the courses more interactive
and more instructionally sound. I did a lot of research into learning
theories and what the e-learning environment had to offer. I applied
what I had learned to the redevelopment of the courses and also
created a guide for the company to developing e-learning courses
based on instructional design principles.
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In s ide r in fo
Most people in organisations – that is, your clients – have no
understanding of what effective instructional design is! Be prepared to
make recommendations and then use your influence and negotiating
skills to gain acceptance. Also, be prepared for projects with small
training budgets and long wish lists! Finally, be prepared to act
consultatively.
you wish for?
When I tell people I work as a consultant/contractor, they often think
I have options to work my own hours and/or from home. The training
element of many organisational projects is one of the last things to be
implemented, however, so the instructional designer and trainer are
often contracted towards the end of the project. This means I usually
work towards tight deadlines and part-time is definitely not an option!
If anything, the hours tend to be longer, to ensure the deadline is met.
This is sometimes balanced by time off in between projects.
industry in terms of attributes, skills and aptitude?
An instructional designer will need interpersonal skills – they have to
be able to communicate with people at all levels in the organisation.
They need to be assertive when required and to take onboard
feedback. They also need planning skills, and must be organised,
adaptable, and show good attention to detail.
In terms of their technical skills, they should have intermediate to
advanced Microsoft Office skills (specifically in Word and Outlook)
and good computer skills generally. Strong writing skills are essential
– ideally, they should have formal instructional design qualifications
and a Certificate IV in Workplace Assessment and Training.
What should students know about your industry before MYTH

choosing it as a career? all company
Anyone contemplating a career in instructional design will need to training will be
keep an eye on technology. The more up-to-date you are about online online in the future
learning delivery options, the better. Remember that although there
Online training is suitable
is lot of fuss around e-learning, it will never fully replace classroom- for some learning needs
based training. – not all. You will often
fact
combine a number of
Most learning and development professionals and general formats to deliver the
instructional designers do not have technical authoring and/or design best training solution.
skills in multimedia products. However, most e-learning instructional
designers come from a multimedia design background. Consider
carefully where your strengths and interests lie!
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As a kid I just wanted to be a ballerina! I did not know what I wanted
to do when I left school. I completed a degree and moved through
several jobs in several industries for several years. During that
time, I recognised that I liked helping new staff learn jobs that I had
been taught. Naturally, I thought my teaching method was better! It
occurred to me that I enjoyed training others and I decided to formally
qualify in adult learning. The area of training and development is
always interesting to me because I can see that I never stop learning.

I learned not to try to guess what a client wants; to never begin
a project without clearly stated deliverables. A mistake I made in
the past was to develop material that already existed within the
organisation. Now, if my project manager does not have clearly stated
deliverables, I organise a meeting for all project stakeholders; the
purpose of the meeting is to reach agreement regarding what I have
been hired to produce.
What do you think is the single most important thing you can
do to advance your career?
Hold at least one job (it could be a casual job you had as a student)
where a major part of the role involves delivering excellent customer
service. Throughout your career, you will have customers – be they
internal or external – so you need to consciously develop these skills.
You will be asked at job interviews to talk about your customer service
skills, even if the job you are interviewing for is not specifically a
customer service role. Customer service skills include interpersonal
skills, assertiveness skills, listening skills, skills in managing
expectations and even coaching skills.
What are your formal qualifications and which educational

institution awarded them?
I have a Bachelor of Health Administration from the University of New
South Wales (UNSW) and a graduate certificate in Organisational
Development and Training from Southern Cross University.

in your position?
There’s a wide range of educational levels in instructional design
and training. The minimum qualification is usually a Certificate IV in
Workplace Assessment and Training. Many people in my field hold
Master’s degrees in Adult Education, Organisational Development,
Organisational Communication or similar.
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In s ide r in fo
Which subjects or aspects of your study did you enjoy or not

enjoy? Have your formal qualifications equipped you for the
reality of working life?
My postgraduate course was very relevant to the work I do. There
are several other options now available to me for further study. in
My undergraduate degree simply taught me I wasn’t interested in brief
managing hospitals! Instructional designer
Are there any particular recruitment processes, practices $$$ Up to $55 per
hour, or a salary of
or systems for this industry that candidates should know $70K is achievable
about? for these roles
quals Bachelor of Health
At interviews for instructional design roles, a portfolio of work may be
Admin (UNSW),
helpful. Beware of copyright and confidentiality issues though. Grad Cert in Org
Dev and Training
What are your tips for preparing an outstanding job hrs/wk 40
application? life–work fair – hectic
Read the job advertisement well and write a cover letter that shows when deadlines
are looming
how you meet the essential criteria. Use a brief bulleted list. This
flexibility good, current
takes time but it makes it easy for the person reading your application role is limited to
to see how your experience and skills relate to the role. office hours.
myweek
Teach early morning fitness Start writing new topics

class
Editing and formatting the document
Work on a help desk reference Teach fitness class
manual for a banking client
Go to movies with my partner and
Organise meetings some friends
Meet with the help desk Writing, meetings

Trainer to review progress Reviews and editing
Continue writing and Send basic version of manual to
reorganising material help desk trainer and system
project manager for review
Go for a run Go to dance class
Housework, shopping and socialising

More writing
Teach fitness class
Meet with the system
project manager Go out to dinner, maybe a club
Go to dance class
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cv desktop support >> Ben O’Hara – Configuration specialist

system administrator >>
Ben O’Hara is configuration specialist at a private company,
networking manager >>
Whitesmiths Pty Ltd, which supplies software to telecommunications
Unix configuration manager companies in Australia and overseas.
>> configuration specialist
His job is to configure a variety of computer systems and networks in
accordance with the requirements of the projects that Whitesmiths
are implementing for clients. The role requires in-depth knowledge of
networking, operating systems and configuration across a variety of
platforms including Unix, Windows and OSX.
Ben is in his mid-30s, and has been in his current position for six
months. He launched a career in IT seven years ago, with a desktop
support position.
q&a
What do you estimate the typical salary package for your
kind of job to be?
There is a big range for these kinds of jobs. Around $50 000 to
$60 000 is average but I have heard of salaries up to $90 000,
depending on the kind of company and what you’re required to do.

It is very varied; there isn’t too much routine. I have to work across
Windows, Perl, Apple WebObjects and varieties of Unix – maybe all on
MYTH the same day.
you can afford
And least ...?
to specialise
The documentation. I have to generate the documents that describe the
You’re often required to configurations; it is very time-consuming and not what I enjoy doing.
work across systems and
are expected to know What about work–life balance?
fact
about a lot of systems. I occasionally do extra hours and some weekend work, but I don’t
You can’t just be a Cisco
mind it, and my partner also does the same. It’s much better than the
specialist any more.
job I had in a website hosting company, which really was 24/7 – you
could get calls at three o’clock in the morning.
industry in terms of their attributes, skills and aptitude?
You need flexibility, versatility and wide horizons – this kind of job
won’t suit someone who is over-specialised or unwilling to take on
new things.

On the whole, yes, it works well.
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In s ide r in fo

If you don’t like your job, leave it – don’t just stick it out. I’ve made the
mistake of sticking with a job for the sake of it.

I did a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science at Macquarie University. I
intended to become a teacher but got into IT instead.
in
Are formal qualifications necessary or optional for someone brief
in your position? Systems configuration specialist
I have Microsoft Certified Professional and Cisco Certified Network $$$ around 60K
Associate qualifications and the knowledge is useful but the hands-on quals BA (Computer
experience is really indispensable. Science)
(Macquarie),
Are there any ways of getting into the industry or your position MCP, CCNA
hrs/wk 40 on a good week,
apart from getting the qualifications mentioned above? sometimes more
I have known a number of TAFE-qualified people. I have also met life–work occasional
a number of self-taught individuals. For example, there is a senior weekends and
security consultant to the banking sector who does not have a lot of extra hours
flexibility pretty well 9 to 5
formal qualifications but is very good at his job.
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cv project leader Darren Gray – Director of professional

telecoms >> technical services
specialist >> telecoms
Darren Gray is in his mid-30s and has been working in IT for 13 years.
project manager >>
He’s now Director of professional services (Asia Pacific) at Webraska,
director of professional
an international company that supplies GPS navigation- and location-
services
based services for wireless carriers and service providers.
For example, the Webraska engine powers the popular Whereis.com

web service, which allows you to look up maps and calculate travel
routes for addresses all over Australia.
Webraska’s products are at the leading edge of software development.

As Darren explains, this has both upsides – constant innovation and
‘green fields’ opportunities – and downsides – dealing with technical
issues that no-one else has ever faced, and being a long way out
ahead of the market. Darren himself is responsible for professional
services for the entire Asia–Pacific region.
Dull, it ain’t.
q&a
What does your role entail?
It covers a lot of things. Basically, I’m responsible for seeing that
projects and solutions are delivered on schedule and maintained
according to plan. I have input into product marketing and also do
some business development. I oversee a number of other contractors
and project managers – the number varies according to what’s on. I am
frequently involved in architecting technical solutions or vetting the
solutions of others – in particular when it comes time to integrate our
technologies with those of a customer.
How long have you been in your current position?

Four years. Over this time I have been based in Germany and Italy as
well as Australia.
What do you estimate the typical salary package for such a

job to be?
In the range of $160 000 to $200 000 per annum.
What do you like best about your role?

It’s leading-edge technology. Webraska is a very innovative company
in a new field. There are always new prospects, and new possibilities.
It’s an exciting company to work for. I also like working for a company
that makes a difference in the community – our partnership with
Intelematics, for example.
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In s ide r in fo
And what do you like least about the area?

It is sometimes difficult to be thorough and as diligent as you would
like, due to deadlines and general commercial pressure. fyi
Briefly describe a particularly interesting matter or project The RACV (Royal
you have been involved in. Automobile Club of Victoria)
Working with Intelematics has been interesting. This is a company is the motoring services
formed by the RACV and NRMA to develop advanced ‘telematic’ services organisation in Victoria
– vehicular safety and security systems, in-car information systems, The NRMA provides
and the like. Together we developed a Telematics Services Hub, which roadside motoring service in
New South Wales.
includes tracking, a guidance call centre, and intelligent processing
engines. For example, a car will send an alert if its airbag is triggered, if
it has been stolen, or assist the driver if the keys are locked in the car,
and so on. We can track the car and can dispatch emergency services.
In a leading-edge company, you have to learn almost everything on
the job. There is very little pre-existing literature or training courses
for these technologies because it is all new.
you wish for?
I work from my home a lot, which offers flexibility but also allows work
to intrude at times. Also, I am theoretically always on call, although
fortunately our technology and architectures are robust and my
involvement is very infrequent.
industry in terms of their attributes, skills and aptitude?
You need to be prepared to take initiative and come up with ways of
getting things done that may not have been thought of before. You
cannot be a ‘pure’ manager or project manager – you must really
understand the technology and the market.
You also need to be very thorough, to ensure that things are done
completely and properly right through to the end.

It has in some ways, but the industry itself has been a disappointment
in other respects. The company has been through some difficult times.
It was ahead of the market and learned from tooling up too much too
soon. Fortunately this allowed us to broaden our portfolio and then
concentrate on what the market really required.
Before choosing this job I considered the future and worked back. If
you think of five to ten years from now, location-based services will be
everywhere – not just as a useful tool or for entertainment, but also
for safety. Someone has to get it there. Webraska was the company to
get it there. My expectations have not changed.
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What do you think is the most important career quality you

can have?
Integrity. Your reputation depends on getting the job done and
providing a working solution. And customer focus – seeing the
situation from the customer’s view, not from the viewpoint of the
company or the technologist.
It is also important to understand the complete solution – not just
in focus on one aspect. For example, it is important to understand how
brief the technology, the market, the commercial realities, and the project
Director of professional services all mesh together.
$$$ 160K Are formal qualifications necessary for your position?
quals BE Computer
(Newcastle Uni) You definitely need the discipline that comes from degree studies in
hrs/wk variable the field. Also, I am glad I did Engineering, as distinct from Computer
– sometimes Science, in particular for its emphasis on general and specific problem
regular office hours,
solving in the real world.
sometimes more, a
lot of overseas travel
Which subjects in your degree course did you feel were
life–work lots of travel
interstate and most useful?
some overseas Telecommunications, Project Management, Economics and
flexibility I set my own Programming. Again, because it was in Engineering, there was an
schedule and
work from home
emphasis on chip-level programming which provides some really
useful and transferable skills.
myweek
Sydney – home office Formal meetings to discuss technologies

and pre-sales technical solutions
Review contract terms for
forthcoming project Company strategy and product
meetings
Manage projects and project
managers (recurring) Catch return flight to Sydney
Sydney
Up early for teleconference with
Architect or review solutions for overseas contacts to prepare
projects work packages
Phone conference with project
Review technology updates from
management teams
Webraska offices overseas
Onsite visits
Melbourne Spend time with family
Meet for update at Webraska head See live bands and movies
office Go to church
Onsite visits Relax at home, walk, and swim
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Daniel Cheney – Web programmer cv network admin/

developer >> outsourcing
Daniel is a ‘back-end programmer’ – his speciality lies in the database
and programming code that delivers the data to the webpages >> software developer >>
designed by the graphics team. A Microsoft .NET specialist, Daniel web programmer
also worked on a groundbreaking AFL site, which was among the first
to provide real-time score updates and live team info way back in the
mid-1990s.
Now in his mid-late 20s, Daniel has been in IT for almost 10 years. For
the past four years, he has worked as a programmer for Gravity Max,
a web company working on the cutting edge of Internet technology.
For example, Gravity Max built an amazingly efficient online rental
catalogue site (try it and you’ll see!) for Kennards Hire.
q&a
What do you do in your job?
I’m a lead software developer for Gravity Max, and I mostly work on
server-side software in Microsoft.NET, ASP, SQL and related tools.
to be?
It’s a wide range, depending on the kind of organisation and the kind
of work you’re doing. In this environment, $65 000 up to $75 000 is
normal, but I have heard of people getting nearly $100 000 in some
jobs.

I like working on real products, and the challenge of writing good,
re-usable code. I like problem solving and coming up with solutions to
challenges.
Re-usable code?
That’s code that can be put to another purpose in a program other
than the one that it was written for. This is an important ability for
a programming company as it means a better return on investment.
Gravity Max is pretty good at that.
What do you like least about it?

Stress levels can be high if you’re working on a number of projects
and there’re deadlines to be hit. Technical issues can be stressful
– diagnosing and fixing bugs, those kinds of things.
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What’s an example of a particularly interesting job or project

you worked on?
One that comes to mind was the official AFL website that I worked
on at News Ltd before I started here. Some of the features were
groundbreaking when they were introduced, like user-registration
databases and results tables, among other things. And it was, and is,
a really popular site – one of the most-visited sites in Australia.
The long hours! I enjoy my work but it takes a lot of concentration over
long periods. Don’t be a web programmer if you want an easy job!
Does this mean you find work eating into your home life?
Well you do the occasional long shift, particularly if there’s a big job
on, but mainly I’m talking about the energy level and job commitment
you need. I’m not too concerned about the work–life balance aspects
at this stage in my life.
You have to have the attitude to take ownership of problems, rather
than leaving them to someone else to solve.
You have to work to a high standard, and do things the best way,
which is often not the easiest way. You have to be thorough and you
have to be knowledgeable about the issues.
What should students know about your industry before

It’s very competitive to get into web development, especially after the
dotcom crash. You have to be constantly up-to-date, keep abreast of
MYTH what’s going on and stay current.
all programmers are
Is working in IT matching your expectations? Is this the
antisocial ‘nerds’
career you set out to do?
I wasn’t certain what I wanted to get into while I was at school. I was
fact
The people I work

with are actually actually interested in biology but I got good marks in IT at HSC level.
pretty normal!
What is something you have had to learn the hard way?
Planning my time, scheduling and learning how to deliver what
I promised. It’s very easy when you start out to make too many
promises and over-commit, and find that you can’t deliver.
What do you think is the most important thing you can do to

advance your career?
Well it’s a combination of experience and degree studies. To get more
experience a portfolio helps – if you can put together a portfolio of
what you have worked on it makes it easier for people to assess you.
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I did a diploma in IT at TAFE and then several years part-time of the
Computer Science degree at Macquarie University. I didn’t graduate
at Macquarie and found the TAFE experience more useful in terms
of hands-on experience. It was a friendlier environment with people
more willing to help, and there was a lot of emphasis on problem
solving, which has been useful. The university approach was a bit
theoretical I felt.

in your position?
I’d say that they are important, even if they are just TAFE-level. As I
said, it’s a competitive market.
Are there any particular recruitment processes, practices in

or systems for this industry that candidates should know brief
about? Web programmer
I’ve found work through both industry contacts and online job
$$$ around 65K
searches. quals IT diploma (TAFE)
What are your tips for preparing an outstanding job hrs/wk 40+
life–work long hours and
application?
not much time
First, have a portfolio! Second, address the requirements of the job. for socialising
It’s easy to make the mistake of just talking about what you have done flexibility limited, work
and what you’re good at, when the interviewer is trying to match you demands occupy
a lot of time
up to a list of requirements.
But what ...

is it good for?
Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems
Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
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cv electronic warfare Aaron Stacey – Senior project manager

operator, Navy >> barman
Aaron has worked in his job at Fujitsu Australia for one year. At 34,
>> duty manager >> Aaron has been in the industry for eight years, managing projects of
trainee project manager >> growing complexity. He likes being the person ultimately responsible
project manager >> senior for the implementation of a project, as well as managing his team.
project manager
q&a
How long have you worked in the IT industry? What was your
job before this one?
Eight years. Previously I worked at a company called EDS as a project
manager. Both jobs entail working on projects of varying size and
complexity.
What does your current job entail?

I manage various projects – up to 10 simultaneously – ranging
from network upgrades (installing new WAN and LAN technology
hardware) to installing and implementing new Microsoft development
environments involving multiple servers covering development, test
and production functions.
What is the salary package for your job?

$75 000 to $150 000 – Project management roles vary depending
mostly on experience, level of responsibility and how critical the
project is to the business. I am currently earning about $130 000+.
Can you tell us about your working environment? How many

people do you work with and how do roles intersect?
My job is very team-oriented. The varying size of the projects usually
determines the size of the project team. While sometimes just one
technical resource person can work on a project, teams can involve up
to 50 individuals, such as technical resources, technical specialists
(LAN, WAN, programmers, architects), auditors and administrators.
Onsite with the client, a typical team I work with is comprised of other
project managers, program managers, a service delivery manager
(first point of contact for clients), account managers (higher level
client liaison) and project team technical resources. Depending on
the type of project we are working on, other technical resources
and specialists located at Fujitsu sites may be involved. We all work
together to ensure we deliver the projects that have been agreed on
with the client.
Currently, onsite I have two technical resources to assist with projects.
I report in to both the program manager and service delivery manager.
Depending on the projects I could have 10+ technical resources and
specialists working on simultaneous projects that are based offsite.
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What do you like most about your job? MYTH

The responsibility of being the person ultimately accountable for IT is full of propeller
the delivery of a project. I enjoy the challenges that are associated heads and there
with this responsibility and working with different, cutting edge and
is no-one with a
changing technologies.
sense of humour
What do you like least? While there are many
The responsibility of being the person ultimately accountable for the very technical-minded
fact
delivery of a project! Sometimes long hours are required to ensure the individuals, the vast
majority of people
project is delivered. The various challenges associated with managing
are fun and social.
various technical resources who can be working on simultaneous
projects can be demanding. This job entails a bit of juggling and
people-influencing skills. It can also get a bit uncomfortable wearing a
suit or at least shirt and tie in summer!
What is an interesting project you have been involved in?

An asset management project that involved auditing a client’s assets –
mainly hardware – across eight countries. I had to liaise with different
teams in countries involved. I had to put a project team together that
had members from each country, define and gain agreement from the
client on the scope of the project, and complete the project working in
various time zones and with different nationalities.
What project are you working on right now?

A large upgrade of my client’s critical business applications.
What aspects of the IT industry interest you in particular, and

where do you see the growth opportunities?
I am interested in networking, both LAN and WAN. This area also
offers growth opportunities because of the technology currently
evolving that will enable information to move faster and more
efficiently. An example that I have come in contact with recently is
Riverbed Steelhead, a WAN acceleration appliance.
What qualifications do you have? Do you feel they are

necessary for your job?
I entered the industry without university qualifications and gained
find out
experienced on the job. It would have assisted me if I had completed
some prior IT qualification or course. During my time within the IT
more
industry I have completed a number of related courses. I am also in Read more about courses
the process of completing the Project Management Institute (PMI) offered by the Project
Management Institute at
course is one of the best qualifications which for project managment
www.pmi.org
is recognised around the world.
What do wish someone had told you about the industry

I wish that I had acquired more technical IT knowledge before I
entered the industry.
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in Does your job allow you to achieve the work–life balance that
brief suits you?
Senior project manager Some companies are more flexible than others with working
$$$ 130K+ arrangements including things like working from home. Currently I am
quals on the job training contracting which doesn’t allow me the normal benefits or flexibility
hrs/wk 40–60 associated with permanent employment.
life–work work I am still able to
actively participate in How many hours per week do you work?
team sports a couple Between 40 and 60 hours, depending on project requirements and
of times a week
after work hours client expectations.
flexibility I am contracting What are your ambitions? Where to from here?
which doesn’t
allow me the I plan to move up to program manager – the position I report to now. I
normal benefits or would also like to work on larger projects. A long-term goal would be
flexibility associated
with permanent
to become a manager of a project services group.
employment
Are there any other pointers that you think would benefit
young people considering this career path?
I believe that the remuneration is well worth the effort and patience
involved in my profession.
myweek
Check emails and technical resources Check emails

timesheets for billing purposes Plan projects
Complete project status reports Attend meetings
Plan projects Plan projects
Evening: Play touch football Evening: Run or go to the gym
Check emails Check emails, plan projects

Attend meetings Follow up technical resources and
confirm current work status
Follow up technical resources and
confirm current work status Plan projects
Evening: 7pm Play oz tag Timesheet
Check emails Do housework

Attend project team workshops Shop
Attend meetings Go out for dinner
Speak to technical resources Play sport
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Barry Thompson – IT security consultant cv pipeline controller

>> programmer >> IT
Barry is a specialist IT security consultant for one of the ‘big four’
writer and columnist >>
banks (he can’t say which due to contractual obligations), and has
been for the past five years. A long-term finance sector contractor and programmer >> media
consultant, Barry has almost 20 years’ experience in the IT industry. manager >> IT security
His work history includes working for the Pipeline Authority in South consultant
Australia, as a programmer in the financial sector and for a university.
He enjoys the challenges of his work so much you could almost call
his occupation a hobby! Well, perhaps not quite.
Barry, who’s in his 40s, works on some of the most cutting-edge

systems in the finance sector. He and the others in the team examine
banking systems end-to-end, figuring out how they could be
compromised or, you guessed it, hacked.
q&a
What do you do and how do you do it?
I contract through IBM to one of the major banks, working in a
specialised consultancy. I’m one of a team of twenty people examining
security from end-to-end for all kinds of banking systems – web-
based, consumer, but also in-house and client-server systems of
various kinds. Our job is to figure out how the system could be hacked
or compromised, either by an external hacker or by a staff member
– whatever.
What do IT security consultants get paid?

I’d say a minimum hourly rate of $65 up to $120 an hour for a very
experienced operator. Daily rates could be $650 up to $1500.

The mental challenge. It’s really like detective work, using your intuition
and all your experience to see where the holes are in a system. And
they’re complex systems you’re dealing with, which may incorporate
information and data-flows from different areas in the bank.
And least ...?

Losing the battle with the client when they won’t follow through
because of money concerns and you have to finish up testing before
you’ve really gone through everything.
What’s a particularly interesting project you’ve worked on?

The bank introduced a portal offering a whole range of web-based
services to customers. We replicated the whole infrastructure in a test
lab – the whole environment with firewalls, switches, web servers, the
works. Very fascinating project, pulling all that together.
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How did you get into the IT business?

I left school and started a trades apprenticeship but realised I
wanted to do something more mentally challenging so I changed to
Mechanical Engineering at TAFE. That was going fine and then towards
the end of that course we did a module on Introduction to Computing
– back on an old Tandy micro-system. I thought, whoa, what’s this ...
I was just amazed by it. So I got into programming Fortran, Pascal,
Assembler and various projects.
I was working for an infrastructure group in South Australia at the
time but I basically decided I wanted to get into the IT business. This
was the late 1970s. So I went to Sydney and sent my résumé to a few
agencies and got offered a job at Macquarie Bank, and ended up there
for four-and-a-half years.
you wish for?
I sometimes work fairly long hours – worked for 16 hours the other
day but then billed them for two days’ work. I don’t mind the hours, I
get the occasional call on the weekend but mostly they are free. I am
studying for my Certified Information Systems Security Professional
(CISSP) certification at the moment, which takes a bit of time.
You have to be passionate about what you do and genuinely
interested in the work. But I am a firm believer that you also have to
have a life outside work, otherwise it affects your ability to relate. I
suppose the other quality is not being formulaic and being able to use
intuition to solve problems.
What should students know about your specialty before

Security consulting is difficult in that it is a very specialised area
that requires very broad knowledge – so it requires both specialised
and general skills. But I would say that you would have to come up
MYTH through the programming and software development processes. You
the world is full of really need to understand software engineering and networking on a
deep level. Being good at using a GUI (Graphical User Interface) is not
clever computer
going to cut it, I’m afraid.
hackers
There are some clever
hackers, but not many. When I joined Macquarie Banking I had no idea what wholesale
A lot of the damage banking was about. Then they showed me the trading floor, and I
fact
is done by kids who thought, wow, what’s this!? And it’s been really interesting, ever since.
download hacking tools
and play with them. So I didn’t know what to expect, but I’ve really enjoyed the way it has
turned out.

Dealing with office politics!
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Well in the end I didn’t graduate – my TAFE course ended while I was
still trying to find the units I needed to study to complete it – but then
I got into Macquarie Bank and I’ve continued to learn everything I find out
needed from the workplace. Although I am in the process of getting more
the CISSP qualification, it’s been the ‘University of Life,’ I guess!
About the CISSP qualification
What do you think is the most important thing you can do to www.isc2.org
advance your career?
Broaden your picture. Read as much as you can. Get interested in
topics and follow them up.

in your position?
Well from what I have said you can make that judgment – although
I was very fortunate to have found the original opportunity and
Macquarie, and the IT world was a lot younger then. I would say that
qualifications and degree studies are important.
Have your formal studies equipped you for the reality of

working life?
I found mechanical engineering really useful for general training on
how to do things. Programming and networking were indispensable
for what I went on to do. As I said, my experiences in TAFE with
learning programming were fundamental.
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in Have industry networking and personal contacts helped you

brief to get to your current position?
Of course. There have been times that I have sent my résumé to
IT security consultant
agencies and found a position – like the Macquarie Bank example
$$$ $1000 per day
– but on many other occasions it has been through word-of-mouth and
contract rate
quals Fitter/Machinist, personal contacts.
Mech. Eng.
Certificate
(TAFE); CISSP
hrs/wk 40–50
life–work long hours: try to
have good social life
flexibility work hours that
project requires
myweek
Working on three or four Conference call with Melbourne

projects at various stages of office
development Whiteboard session to divide up
the testing
Juggling priorities and working
out schedules Chase up security patches and
alerts for trial
Finalise specifications for a web

Complete tests from
portal test
previous weeks
Do presentation and make
recommendations to
project manager
Keep working on test plan

Spend time with my family
Finish report on last week’s tests and friends
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Indrik Kalnins – SAP basis manager cv software/hardware

designer >> remote
Indrik Kalnins is a SAP specialist with a background in electronic
and systems engineering and 20 years’ experience in IT. Originally control systems, gas
from Adelaide, he has been living in Sydney for the last five years or fields >> designing and
so, where he is a SAP Basis Manager with Dairy Farmers. He’s held implementing SCADA
this position for 18 months. Here he talks about his day-to-day role remote control telemetry
coordinating systems and information from a national network in a >> data communications
busy FMCG environment. network design >> system
engineer >> consulting >>
q&a SAP consultant >> SAP
basis manager
What does your role entail?
Maintaining the company’s SAP systems, installing upgrades and
enhancements, installing new systems whenever required, and
monitoring all of the systems on a daily basis.
to be?
SAP consultants and managers can get from $80 000 at the less-
experienced end of the scale and up to $120 000 for experienced
operators.
What do you like best about SAP management?

Dealing with the complexity and variety of work, particularly
implementations and rollouts. It’s a great feeling to get everything
humming.
Anything you don’t like about it?

The routine side of the operation – code changes, routine testing, that
kind of thing. It’s a bit ho-hum, but overall there’s enough going on to
keep it interesting.

We’ve recently installed SAP Solution Manager, which collects data
from many satellite systems and stores it in a unified format. This
is a technical management system for overview and monitoring of a
big range of data sources. It’s a very advanced business intelligence
system and a great piece of software engineering, a real pleasure
to work with and it provides a lot of really great management
capabilities.
How about work–life balance in your role?

There is some weekend work but time off is given in lieu. I’m very
much in charge of my own schedule in this role; if I have to work
after-hours, it’s because it is better to do that task then, not because
someone else tells me what I should be doing.
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MYTH What type of person do you think is best suited to SAP

SAP is a road consultancy?
to riches Someone with good analytical and diagnostic skills. Someone who
can keep cool and be methodical and disciplined in their approach to
SAP is a solid,
systems.
fact
interesting career
path that is relatively People say it is very hard to get into the SAP world. How does
well paid.
a student go about it?
Well I would say, look for an entry-level position and get skills on
the job, then take on more responsibilities. In terms of background
knowledge and the kinds of skills you need to get into SAP, I would
say a solid grounding in RDBMS, networking and communications
engineering, and a thorough understanding of software development,
software development life cycle, code libraries, and the like.
glossary What is something you had to learn the hard way?

If you’re managing a big installation, be very careful about changes
RDBMS means: in products and systems! There are things you can do that have big
– Relational database consequences in these kinds of systems, and despite roll-back and
management systems. backup systems, you have to be very methodical and scientific in your
approach.

Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the University of South Australia.
Since then I have done quite a bit of industry training, including Novell
a while back, and about six SAP courses over a year or so.
in How was the SAP training?
brief SAP education courses are good quality, they have been delivering
SAP specialist training for a long time and they know how to do it. There’s lots of
$$$ around $115K hands-on training and a strong emphasis on sound methodology.
quals BE (Electrical) (SA)
hrs/wk 40–45
life–work not too bad, hours in your position?
are generally Well they’re a practical necessity. I suppose you might work your way
predictable, I set
my own pace
in through experience, but it is a competitive field.
flexibility good – work I should point out that I was recruited into SAP by a senior manager
from home office
frequently
who could see my potential for it, but it took some persuading at first
– three interviews, actually! But I’m glad I listened to him.
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In s ide r in fo
myweek
Modify security to enable addition

Work from home to monitor a of new company codes and profit
system change in the evening centres
Run after-hours processes Send performance data to third-
party software provider in the US
for fine-tuning of replication code
Operations handover Research archiving bugs

Brief IBM on what’s coming up Staff mentoring session
Systems security briefing
Send updated procedures to IBM

Review backup schedule
Fix memory allocation problem
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cv casual checkout Stephanie, Analyst programmer

operator >> cosmetics
Five years ago, Stephanie went from university into the graduate
consultant >> graduate recruitment program at Macquarie Bank and now works for the bank
recruit >> analyst as an analyst programmer.
programmer
q&a
What does your job involve?
I work within the Project Delivery team so predominantly I work
on projects which enhance or maintain existing workflow systems,
B2B and integration processes. I am involved in all stages of the
development lifecycle from analysis to implementation and interact with
glossary everyone from end users, business analysts to database administrators.
B2B means: What qualifications do you have?

I have a Bachelor of Information Technology specialising in Software
– an abbreviation of Business
to Business, referring to Engineering from Australian National University (ANU), Canberra.
the exchange of products,
How did you find out about the graduate program and what
services or information
between businesses. did you have to do to be recruited through the program?
Macquarie gave a presentation at the ANU for potential graduates. I
then filled in the application form and had an initial interview with the
human resources division.
After this, I came to Sydney for two interviews with different
Macquarie divisions that were recruiting graduates. One of these
divisions requested a follow-up phone interview and I was offered a
graduate position with them.
What are the benefits of the graduate program?

The main benefit was starting with and meeting the other graduates
through induction. As we work for all areas of the bank, I now have
contacts in those areas.
We also completed a series of training courses together such as
servicing a challenging client base and email communication which
provided us with a grounding for future training specific to our
individual roles.
What do you think made you stand out from the rest of the
graduates?
Studies and academic achievements combined with extracurricular
activities.
I had a summer student position at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
I also had a part-time job throughout university and I volunteered for
the Olympics as an IT volunteer working with IBM staff. This showed
that I was socially active and able to juggle commitments successfully.
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In s ide r in fo
What about the salary range for this position?

$65 000 to $76 000 after five years. Macquarie Bank also has a profit-
share system for bonuses, which is performance-based.
What do you like most about your job?

The team environment we work in ensures that there is always
someone to learn from, bounce ideas around with and have a laugh
with. There is a diverse mix of people with different levels of expertise
and experience.

Being woken up by a pager at 3.00 am when I am the on-call support
person.
We have transaction processing running every night and if something
goes wrong I need to wake up to fix it.
What interesting projects have you been involved in? Can you
tell us why it was interesting and what you did?
We created a process that allowed third-party systems to electronically
submit loan applications. This meant no data entry was required by our
staff and we could automate a lot of the business rules.
It was interesting as it was the first time we had connected B2B and
the benefits achieved were staggering – we managed to take a one to
two day process down to four to five minutes.
I was involved with the design of the XML file we receive, building
validation rules and workflow process changes.
What aspects of IT interest you in particular, and where do

you see the growth opportunities?
As long as the general economy is strong and companies have money
to spend, I believe all areas of IT will grow.
For us, I believe we will spend a lot of time automating manual tasks and
increasing the number of B2B connections. This will allow us to interact
with our partners more effectively and produce efficient processes.
I am interested in the growth of XML and its uses. This includes
the ways in which it is implemented, the number of standards (and
development of those standards) that use it as a base and the
efficiency that can be gained from it.
What do you wish someone had told you about IT before you
started on this career path?
Most people you will meet outside of work don’t really know what a
career in IT involves. If you said you work as an accountant, there is
some grasp of what you do day-to-day, however when you say you are
in IT, you just get blank looks.
Also, beware of being on-call. Nothing makes you wake up quicker
than a beeper going off at 3.00 am.
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How does your job allow you to achieve the work–life balance
that suits you?
We have a flexible work environment which allows me to fit in gym
and appointments around work. You do have to be disciplined though.
There is a never-ending list of outstanding work so you need to ensure
you keep your life balanced.
How flexible are your work arrangements?

Staff retention in my area is very good. We have a number of staff who
have been here longer than five years and even a couple longer than
15 years! I think this is due to the flexible work hours (we have quite a
in few part-time staff as well), the team atmosphere and the willingness
brief to help each other.
Analyst programmer
How many hours per week do you work?
$$$ 65K–76K Average between 40 and 45 hours.
quals Bachelor IT (Software
engineering), ANU What are your ambitions?
hrs/wk 40–45 I want to continue to be challenged by my work and continue to
life–work excellent
develop applications.
flexibility good – on occasion
the pressure is Most developers eventually progress to become a project manager
on and work is
or an IT architect. I would prefer to continue to improve my skills as a
my only priority
developer and stay in that role.
myweek
Produce design documents Produce overall design solutions for

for small to medium projects
development tasks
Exercise – swimming and pilates
Develop unit testing code
Integrate testing across Review user acceptance tests

applications
Update test plans
Develop automatic unit tests
On-call roster – 2 hours system

Review colleague work (code
support outside business hours
and documents) (every 6 weeks)
Liaise with the business users Skiing in winter, dinner out with
to determine requirements for friends, ice-cream and movies,
small to medium changes every three months – project
implementations on the weekend
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In s ide r in fo
Keith Pereira – Systems engineering cv electrical fitter/senior

manager technician >> computer
communications engineer
Keith works for Cisco Systems, a company that provides products,
>> technical marketing
services and solutions that help businesses to get the best benefit out
engineer >> engineering
of their technology systems.
team leader >> systems
engineering manager
q&a
What does your job involve?
I manage the sales engineering staff to ensure we meet sales and
team performance targets. I work with the telecommunications service
provider sales team, comprising eight sales people, three sales
managers and 12 engineers. I report to one of the sales managers and
the engineers report to me.
What qualifications do you have?

No tertiary qualifications, deferred university many years ago.
What is an average salary package for this type of work?

Managers can earn between $100K and $150K.

Ability to influence and help the careers of my team, while
participating in the sales process.

Confusing, conflicting processes supposedly aimed at streamlining
the job.
Could you describe an interesting project you’ve worked on or

have been involved in recently?
We interviewed 15 potential system engineers (SEs) for an internship.
We picked the candidates by telephone from 75 initial candidates, and
selected the 15 by their ability to ‘sell’ themselves on the phone. Then
we put each one through a one-day session of face-to-face interviews,
role-plays and presentation abilities, to assess their present skills and
ability to work quickly under pressure. We awarded four internships
from the 15 candidates, but I believe all 15 will do well regardless due
to their personalities and drive.
This was an interesting process because we found a strong correlation
between interview skills, role-play and presentation skills; people
who are naturally comfortable – confident in themselves – tend to
naturally sell themselves and thus enhance their attractiveness
(aptitude) for jobs, no matter what the situation.
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What aspects of your industry interest you in particular?

The service provider (SP) market is undergoing incredible change,
under attack from new competitors and even new technologies. Even
their current customers are becoming competitors. This change is
incredibly interesting, as it will shape the communications future in
Australia which will look vastly different to what exists now. No-one
has a clear view of what the final outcomes will be.
Where do you see the growth opportunities in this industry?

IT networking as a whole is a huge growth industry, spurred by
changes in the availability of data through new access methods and
the rapidly diminishing cost of equipment. Consumers and business
can acquire computers and communication devices that support voice
and video, along with very high data processing power.
The Internet now provides virtually free long-distance voice calls and
already supports video. Today’s growth areas in service providers are
in the mobile and access area: voice, SMS, MMS, chat, mobile video,
voice-over-IP, 3G type services, a huge shift to high speed broadband
away from dial access. These changes create opportunities for
innovative products, like broadband TV and video, but also change the
way people spend their leisure time and their cash, possibly affecting
places like games arcades, cinemas, video stores and music retailers.
Businesses will find cheaper networking services offering more
sophisticated facilities and better security, yet will face similar
challenges to the SPs as competitors will leverage the newer services
as they get cheaper. Thus, service companies who can quickly adapt
to filling the new requirements with interesting products that leverage
these new access technologies, will succeed.
or your job before you started on this career path?
My career has been a series of accidents, good fortune and some
planning. I have been fortunate to have had excellent mentors and
supporters and I regret not taking some of their advice, which could
have increased my success even more. I wish someone had told me
that, while stock markets always rise over time, they also always fall
dramatically when least expected.
Does your job allow you to achieve a work–life balance that

suits you?
My current role allows more time to plan since it is less reactive to the
immediate needs of customers and salesmen. This allows me to better
control the work–life balance mix. Where possible, I take time out when
overseas on the job, and this substitutes for the need for short vacations.
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In s ide r in fo

We have a very flexible work arrangement; since projects can often
be very time-critical, staff often take work home and do not come to
the office. Cisco provides home-office facilities like broadband and
laptops to most staff so this allows us to work flexibly.

As an engineer I used to work about 65 hours per week; as a manager
I work between 45 and 55 hours per week.
What are your ambitions? Where to from here?

I’d like to keep some of my technical skills up-to-date though this is a
challenge as skills weaken when not used. While I am now effectively
a supervisor, I’d like to get back to being an ‘individual contributor’ in
the future, perhaps in another department. I like to teach and coach,
so this may be the next role I aim for.
Is there any comment that you think young people

considering this career path would like to know about the
industry? in
There are many types of jobs and many employers in the brief
telecommunications industry, and none are ideal. Choose a job that Systems engineering manager
interests you, learn all you can on the job, make yourself useful to $$$ 100K–150K
the people you work with and have fun. The money you earn early on quals none
is less important than the enthusiasm you show and the people you hrs/wk 45–55
meet and help. Success in all forms will come from the expertise you life–work work to live, not the
other way round
develop and the support and guidance returned to you by your clients,
flexibility 7/10
friends and colleagues that you’ve helped along the way.
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cv apprenticeship in Nigel Moreton – System engineering

radio and electronics >> director
field service engineer >>
Nigel has worked in his current job for 10 years. As a system
technical support engineer
engineering director, he is part of senior management and is
>> national operations
responsible for creating and managing teams of people providing IT
manager >> customer
solutions for ANZ.
service manager and
operations manager >>
system engineering director
q&a
What does your current job involve?
I provide strategic direction and delivery of change programs that
support sales and business operations. I create and manage team
structures to provide efficient and effective support for ANZ customers
and partners.
Can you tell us something about your working environment?

I report into an executive team that consists of 10 senior managers or
directors who lead the various business operations including sales,
human resources, support, marketing and operations.
I have two senior consulting engineers reporting to me directly, who
define technical strategies and architect technical solution.
There are six system engineering managers who manage the 70-plus
pre-sales engineers spread throughout Australia and New Zealand.
I work with these managers to set engineering development,
engagement and operation strategies.

Engaging with engineering team members, creating tools or programs
that help engineers operate more efficiently or effectively. Helping
others to succeed.

Nothing!
What interesting projects have you been involved in?

Alongside a team of Cisco engineers, suppliers and media
consultants, I created a showcase environment for our customer
and partner community that promotes IT technology as a solution to
business issues.
I was involved in creating sales and marketing messaging through
the use of multimedia technologies that identifies business issues
(awareness) and defines how IT technologies can be used to solve
today’s business issues (resolution). I also created and designed the
building infrastructure, the messaging and the technology to deliver it.
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In s ide r in fo
What aspects of your industry interest you in particular, and MYTH

where do you see the growth opportunities? IT is not about
IT solutions help increase business efficiencies so they can meet the
people but more
demands of their customers. I enjoy delivering technology to improve
about systems,
the way people work, live, play and learn.
zeros and ones
The growth opportunities for the networking industry of today and
Technology helps people
into the future will be the continual convergence of disparate systems
fact
improve the world for
onto one IP (Internet Protocol) network infrastructure delivering secure everyone, so it is very
access to information (data, voice and video) anywhere at anytime. much about people.
An example of this in use today is our ability to make phone calls over
the Internet.
What do wish someone had told you about the industry or

your job before you started on this career path?
I had good advice and followed it ... don’t underestimate your ability,
strive for success, never give up, believe in yourself, maintain your
integrity at all times.
that suits you (if it does)?
You have to balance your work–life commitments and most companies
will offer an opportunity for you to create a balanced environment. For
example, I try to arrange my working week so that it fits within the five
business days, this means I start work at 6 am in the office and finish
not later than 7 pm. This allows me to have more freedom to be with
the family on the weekend.

My company offers a range of non-monetary incentives, family
support programs and flexible work hours. It also depends on the
individual. I suggest working with your manager to tailor a program
that suits you and the business.

60 hours plus.
When travelling internationally it is very easy to never stop working
due to varying time zones, this is where you need to create a working
balance.
What are your ambitions? Where to from here?

Continue to help others around me.
91
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in Is there anything that you think young people considering

brief this career path would like to know about the industry?
System engineering director There are boom, bust and build-out cycles in any industry, but
$$$ very good for if you enjoy technology and people, information technology is a
high performers very rewarding career. This industry is not all about engineering.
quals apprenticeship
Technology on its own is not a solution; technology enhances
– radio & electronics;
product management business/life solutions. This is a fast-paced industry where change is
courses the norm and opportunities and challenges are met daily, providing
hrs/wk 60 + travel variety. Like any business it has its support areas – sales, marketing,
life–work work 12-hr working
education – therefore there are opportunities to diversify throughout
day and weekends
if critical or travel your career.
myweek
Management meetings on Project work – various current

change or strategy projects
Sales meetings on bookings Engineering meetings on internal

and activities and external development and
customer success
Travel – one week in four Meetings/presentations with

customers, partners, vendors
General administration
Travel Family activities
Problem solving various Model boat building

phone calls and email to solve
Music
immediate issues
Walking
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In s ide r in fo
Out of the box
In any profession, there are people who use their

qualifications and experience to do something different,
exceptional or unconventional. Others may combine
their passion for a cause, a sport or a special interest
with their chosen career.
Tim Leach – Manager, technical marketing, cv apprentice electrical

Bangalore, India fitter >> trainee technical
officer >> technical support
Tim Leach has used his IT skills to work in Australia, the US, China
representative >> network
and India for networking giant, Cisco Systems. His career has moved
controller >> network
from a trade apprenticeship through to senior IT management, partly
engineer >> customer
because he has always taken advantage of the training and further
support engineer >> network
study opportunities his workplaces offered. Nowadays, Tim can be
in five countries in as many days, creating networking solutions for consulting engineer >>
customers all over the Asia–Pacific region. Living and working in technical marketing engineer
Bangalore presents its own challenges, but with the help of his local >> manager, technical
staff, Tim is finding it very rewarding. marketing
q&a
What’s your job title?
I’m the Manager, Technical Marketing, Customer Proof of Concept
Labs, for Cisco Systems.
How long have you worked in this job?

Seven months in this particular role, and six years with the same
department/program.
How long in the industry? What was your job before this one?
If different, how so?
I’ve had 22 years in the IT and communications industry.
Before this job, I was an engineer in the same department but based
in Sydney, Australia. The difference now is that I get to manage people
who are working in my previous role.
Briefly describe what you do in your current job.

My department basically facilitates a test drive service for Cisco
System products.
When Cisco has a large deal on the table, one of our customer proof
of concept labs (CPOC) is engaged. My engineers work with Cisco’s
account teams to design and build a demonstration that shows the
93
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proposed equipment being used as the customer would use it. We

then carefully plan a customer visit where we bring the customer
to our lab for up to a week and demonstrate their future network to
them. We call it Test Driving Your Network.
My job is to manage a small team of engineers that plan and conduct
these demonstrations.
How did you get to live and work in Bangalore India?

My working in this job came via my involvement with the same
program within Cisco for the past six years. I first worked with the
CPOC program in Cisco’s Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, North
Carolina, USA between 2000 and 2003. My role then was as an
engineer and I conducted the customer visits to the labs.
When Cisco decided to roll the CPOC program out worldwide, I became
involved in starting CPOC labs in other theatres. This involved opening
CPOC labs in Sydney, China and now India. Normally my role had been
to project manage the conversion of an existing facility to work within
our program’s guidelines and then move on.
When Cisco decided to build a facility in Bangalore, I also was
involved with the project management and design of the facility. I was
then offered the opportunity to manage the facility.
What’s it like living and working in another culture?

There are several challenges and some surprises.
Most of the challenges stem from a combination of things. English is
widely spoken in India but not by everyone. People such taxi drivers
and manual labourers don’t speak English and may only speak one of
the 18 local Indian languages.
The culture is fairly laid-back and a little disorganised. It’s quite
common for bookings for taxis or hotels not to have been recorded. Or
for appointments generally not to be kept.
India has a large contingent of servants. It is difficult to get used to
people always rushing to help you with insignificant things such as
opening doors, cleaning up after you or pouring drinks. You get used
to hotel staff throwing things out because they don’t recognise them
(such as receipts), drinking a lot of flat beer or constantly having your
conversation disturbed by waiters in restaurants.
As in a lot of countries, foreigners are seen as people with money.
Most transactions require a certain amount of negotiation before they
can take place.
All of the above do make some minor things quite stressful. Catching
a taxi to the office can be very frustrating at times. Often my taxi to the
office, although booked the night before, won’t arrive and will then
arrive on the days that I don’t need it.
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In s ide r in fo
Working overseas, how is your salary package organised?

glossary
I am quite fortunate and have managed to maintain my Australian
salary so that is about the average for a CCIE-qualified engineer in CCIE means:
Australia. I also get my board and lodging paid for as well as my meals
– Cisco Certified
and flights paid for. Internetworking Expert.
People in the same position as me who are local employees in India
appear to be earning 1/3 to 1/5 of my Australian salary.

I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing our department successfully
complete a customer demonstration and a customer providing good
feedback. To me, this tells me that our operation is on track, we have
the right people in jobs, we have built a good facility and we have
generally implemented the program properly in India.

Fairly simple things that take little time to accomplish in Australia can
take significantly longer in India. Tasks, such as getting some data
cabling installed. may not always be completed correctly the first time.
Often such things need to be escalated before they can be resolved.
Also finding good short-term accommodation can be a problem.
Bangalore is booming and the reputable hotels are often full. We
are often required to book unknown hotels or apartments. It’s not
uncommon to arrive at a hotel to find no recorded booking or that you
are sharing a serviced apartment with several others.
What interesting projects have you been involved in?

Probably the most interesting project was building the CPOC facility
itself. Although we used an internal department to project manage the
building work there was still a lot of organising that had to be done by
me and my peers. Observing the way that my colleagues interacted
with other departments and subcontractors gave me a good insight
into the Indian business culture.
This experience proved to be useful when the facility opened and we
were required to interact with other departments and customers. We
opened our facility in December and have demonstrated networks
to seven large customers. It is very interesting to see the advanced
infrastructure that Indian enterprises and service providers have
planned for the future.
What aspects of the industry interest you in particular, and

where do you see the growth opportunities?
IP communications interests me greatly. I feel like is one of the biggest
growth areas in IT at present. Just about every form of communication,
be it data, voice or video is taking advantage of the internet and related
technologies nowadays. This change creates many opportunities
for people to work with these technologies. Certainly in India these
technologies are a major growth area and provide many good career
95
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opportunities. Many of the international companies located here take

advantage of these technologies to communicate internationally. This
has created opportunities for people to work with these technologies
at enterprises, service providers and equipment makers.
that suits you (if it does)?
My job does allow for work–life balance, however it does require us to
work to meet deadlines at time. Often when preparing for customer
visits we need to work late at nights or during the weekends. We then
take extra time off in the following weeks to make up for that time.
One drawback of such a job is the technology can be addictive. You
can find yourself engrossed in what you are doing and lose track of
time, only to find that what you thought was 7 pm is really 10 pm.
Where to from here? What are your ambitions?

I feel that facilitating demonstrations for Cisco is a good fit for me. I
feel it gives me an opportunity to use all of my skills, from electrical
engineer and photographer through to musician. I can see myself
staying in this part of the business.
What qualifications do you have? What university? Do you

feel they are necessary for your job?
■ Associate Diploma of Electronics Engineering
■ Electrical Trades Certificate
■ Certified Cisco Internetwork Expert (CCIE).
My formal qualifications were primarily obtained via the TAFE system.
For me the associate diploma course gave the right balance of practical
and theory. Most of what I learnt was easily applied to the workplace.
It is important to keep yourself marketable. To me, experience gained
on the job is as important as formal qualifications. You should know
in
brief the most marketable skills in the marketplace and find some way
to learn the technologies associated with these. A good job should
Manager, technical marketing provide you with ample self study material as well as at least two
$$$ can’t complain training opportunities per year. It is important to keep evaluating your
quals CCIE, Associate
job to ensure that you have good learning opportunities. If not you
diploma
hrs/wk 50–55
should strive to work for a company working with such technologies.
life–work technology can Now that I am in a management role, I intend to use my training
be addictive!
opportunities to learn more about management. I would also like to
flexibility 7/10
start an MBA via distance education in the next few years.
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84310_SEK0092F_250x176 16/12/05 5:08 PM Page 1
What we offer
Along with new intelligence comes new thinking, new knowledge and new opportunities.
The University of Canberra’s state-of-the-art courses and commitment to building
outcomes is your ticket to a valued career in information technology.
Information Technology is an ever-evolving field. Our courses are industry relevant and
ensure you have the knowledge and skills to succeed in the real world. A degree in
Information Technology, Software Engineering or Business Informatics will provide you
with the fundamentals to start or continue your career in the IT industry.
The University of Canberra also offers double degrees in Business Administration/

Business Informatics and Information Technology/Commerce to broaden your career
even further.
Choose your university well,

make the intelligent choice.
For more information

P: 02 6201 2417
F: 02 6201 5231
E: isecourses@canberra.edu.au
W: www.blis.canberra.edu.au
think of a world where robots play soccer without remote control.
think of a world where search engines find what you really want.
think of a world where computers automatically diagnose
lung disease to assist doctors.
think of a world where
commuters on a bus or
train can surf the web and
check emails. think of a
world where computers
use artifical intelligence
to track the spread of
the cane toad in
remote places
researchers
can t easily
reach. think
of driving
a car which
uses GPS and
maps to get you
the best fuel
economy. think of a
world where mobile phones know
you re in a meeting and
automatically go to silent mode.
think of being someone
who can change the world.
think ahead.
think UNSW COMPUTING
where all this already happens.
BIOINFORMATICS
COMPUTER ENGINEERING
COMPUTER SCIENCE
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
CRICOS PROVIDER No.00098G
Ready, set,
go for it!
What qualifications do I need?
Entry into IT may be achieved by a variety of means, including through
formal education, career breaks and experience, or a combination of
these. Luck plays a part, as does intuition and timing. Bill Gates, founder
of Microsoft and Steve Jobs of Apple and Pixar fame both dropped
out of university and did brilliantly. Some talented programmers or
entrepreneurs have invented businesses in their bedrooms or garages
that launched a powerhouse career, while others labour on in obscurity. fyi
Taking all of this into consideration, the best advice is: find what you Some employers consider a
like best and can do best and then get qualified in doing it! Some of high degree of proficiency in
Microsoft Excel crucial.
our interviewees found their way into good careers through sheer
talent and not a little luck, but more of them have a solid academic
base behind them. All agreed that the right qualification can set you
apart in a crowded market. So let’s look at what is available ...
In broad terms, there are three main education and training options
for entry into the IT industry:
find out
■ university courses
more
■ TAFE courses www.mbaguide.com.au
■ industry-based courses.

IT - 120306.indd Sec1:101 13/3/06 2:42:28 PM

In practice, many people have experience with all of these, and one
of the best things about modern IT education is the extent to which
you can mix and match offerings from all three sectors. You can pick
up a thread at TAFE, do some core units, maybe get a Certificate III
or IV, find work, transfer to university on the basis of some credits for
your TAFE experience, graduate, find better work, then get industry
certifications in specialised subjects before moving up again. This is a
much more likely pattern of education and certification nowadays than
the traditional route of enrolment in one stream at one institution.
There is an absolute smorgasbord of educational offerings available in

the tech sector, so get a grip on what you’re good at, and look for the
best options out there to qualify in.
University courses
On offer at universities are undergraduate and postgraduate degrees
and graduate diplomas.
When Australian universities first offered computer science degrees,

the courses were pretty ‘out there’ – and employers stamped them as
irrelevant to ‘real-world’ information technology.
Now, a variety of tertiary qualifications in IT are available from

universities around the country.
Courses in IT are subject to frequent revision, and the titles used to

describe the content of each course vary from place to place. Many
broadly titled courses such as a Bachelor of Computer Science or
Software Engineering offer specialities that may become a major focus
during degree studies.
As the field becomes more differentiated, specialised degrees are

becoming available, with a particularly interesting development
being hybrid degrees. These are degrees in all kinds of schools and
disciplines that all have an IT focus.
In addition to undergraduate degrees, many universities offer

graduate diploma or certificate programs to graduates in other
disciplines needing IT certification.
102
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Re ady, s e t,
go for it!
There is no reason
anyone would want a
computer in their home.
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of DEC

during a WorldFuture Society meeting in Boston, 1977
There are many different IT courses offered by universities. In this

section, we summarise the following areas, look at their differences
and similarities, and match up courses with careers. We then look at a
specific IT course in detail.
■ Computer Engineering
■ Computer Science
■ Software Engineering
■ Informatics
■ Network Computing
■ Database Design, Administration and Programming
■ Business Information Systems
■ Internet Technology
■ Library and Information Services.
103
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:103 13/3/06 2:42:29 PM

The first area we look at is computer engineering. Although there is a

lot of crossover between the disciplines of engineering and computer
science, engineering focuses more on the development of solutions
to practical, technical problems – producing an outcome, or devising a
solution, within the constraints of available materials, know-how and
budget. Engineering is concerned with general principles which can be
applied to a wide range of situations and subjects, of which computing
is one. Engineering graduates are found in a wide range of occupations
in IT and elsewhere.
Computer science, on the other hand, is mostly concerned with

the theoretical basis of computers and information systems in
particular. It is a ‘science’ in that it has a strong research and discovery
component. Its fundamental disciplines are data, data transformations
and algorithms.
Computer science graduates are suitable for career streams requiring

a deep and detailed knowledge of systems theory, data structures and
the interaction of digital data streams and microchips. Faculties of
computer science are located at most Australian universities, notably
the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), the University of New
South Wales (UNSW), RMIT University, Monash University and the
University of Queensland (UQ).
Software engineering describes the requirements, design,

construction, management and ongoing development of software for
use in a wide range of circumstances. It applies the techniques and
knowledge of computer and information science to the development,
operation and maintenance of software systems. Software
engineering is highly recommended for students seeking careers in
advanced programming, application development and similar fields.
Infomatics is different from computer science or engineering as it is

concerned with the principles involved in gathering, manipulating,
storing, classifying and presenting sets of recorded information. Many
IT-related courses exist under the umbrella of Informatics. These
courses are for students who wish to work in IT in capacities other
than as a programmer, engineer or software developer – perhaps in
‘New Media’ as writers or critics, or as game programmers, system
analysts, technical writers or instructional designers.
The University of Sydney’s Bachelor of Arts in Informatics is aimed at

students who want IT training and ‘seek to acquire that training in the
context of a broad education in the humanities and social sciences rather
than in a degree where the main emphasis is on computer science’.
104
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Re ady, s e t,
go for it!
The University of Wollongong (UOW) offers advanced IT programs

in many of its faculties, not least of which is the award-winning
Multimedia Design Lab in the Faculty of Education.
Network computing concentrates on network architecture,

configuration, maintenance and troubleshooting. This stream is the
domain of Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA) certifications,
which are incorporated in many university degree streams, for
example at Queensland University of Technology’s Cisco Networking
Academy Program.
Cisco networking also comprises important parts of networking

courses at James Cook, Monash, UTS and UNSW, among others.
Other networking specialties include TCP/IP, IPX, network operating
systems and general network architecture.
Database design, administration and programming cover the

specialist skills required to understand, administer, program
and develop database technologies. They are suitable for those
planning to enter the Oracle world, seeking skills in Microsoft’s
SQL technologies, or seeking qualification in RDBMS (Relational glossary
Database Management Systems), online analytical processing, data
TCP/IP means:
warehousing and data modelling.
– a collection of protocols
that define the basic
Edith Cowan University is a member of the Oracle Academic Initiative,
workings of the Internet.
offering Oracle training as part of their undergraduate degree
IPX means:
structure. Monash IT and others also provide training in Oracle
– Internetwork Packet
technologies. Elsewhere, database science is taught as a stream Exchange, an Internet
within practically every undergraduate IT degree course protocol.
RDBMS means:
Business Information Systems (BIS) programs seek to combine a
– relational database
rigorous IT training program with training in business skills, with management systems.
the aim of turning out ‘rounded’ graduates with skills across both SQL means:
computer systems and various business disciplines. Typically BIS – a language that provides
streams offer sponsored traineeships and internships to provide an interface to relational
database systems
invaluable real-life experience in the business world whether it be in
finance, human resources or some other aspect of business.
Bachelor of Business Information Systems (BBIS) degrees are

available from many universities including the University of Sydney,
the Australian National University (ANU), the University of South
Australia (UniSA), Swinburne TAFE and RMIT.
105
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:105 13/3/06 2:42:30 PM

Internet technology is a topic which really deserves specialised

treatment, but we can say that many elements of Internet and WWW
technologies – including Unix and Server OS, scripting languages,
mark-up languages including HTML, XML and information design
– are strongly represented in undergraduate and postgraduate IT
courses. Victoria University of Technology offers a three-year Bachelor
of Science in Internet Technologies and Applications, as does the
University of Western Australia.
Many web-based software technologies are also taught as part

of industry training programs by, for example, Oracle, IBM, Sun,
Microsoft and others.
Library and information services refers to a specialised application of

find out Informatics, concerned with library classification systems. Librarians
more are professionals who manage and provide library and information
Informatics at UOW services by analysing, evaluating, organising and synthesising
www.informatics.uow.edu.au information to meet client needs. The role of the librarian focuses on
Cisco networking at QUT management, direction, policy formulation and applications required
www.cisco.fit.qut.edu.au to meet the information needs of clients.
The Australian Library Industry Library technicians work with librarians in the provision of library and
Association
information services. The role of the library technician focuses on the
www.alia.org.au/education
operational and technical aspects of the information or library service.
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Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

A snapshot of a degree program can be gleaned by looking at any
university website – most show the actual structure and courses that
are run.
UTS offers a typical four-year, full-time course covering all aspects

of computing and information technology. It takes a practice-based
approach to IT – with a mix of theoretical and practical content. As well
as gaining strong technical skills, students gain skills in problem solving
and teamwork. They also get to apply their classroom skills to the real
world through the course’s on-the-job training component.
The course can also be completed over six years part-time. A typical
full-time program is outlined in the table below.
Year 1: Autumn semester Year 1: Spring semester

Object-oriented Programming Object-oriented Design
Principles of Distributed Computing Distributed Computing Architecture
Networking 1 Networking 2
Information, Classification and Introduction to Collaborative
Control Systems
Data Structures and Procedural Systems Development Project
Programming
Database Fundamentals Plus electives
Requirements Engineering
Preparation for and Review of IT Review of IT Experience
Experience
IT Experience 1 IT Experience 2
Year 4: Autumn semester Year 4: Spring semester find out
Project Management and Quality Information Technology Professional more
Assurance and Society Log on to the UTS chat
Plus electives Strategic Information Technology forum ‘ask.it’ to have your
Planning Project questions about IT programs,
scholarships and entry
Plus electives
requirements answered by
UTS staff or students.
Bachelor of Science in Information Technology course structure
http://ask.it.uts.edu.au
Source: UTS website, www.uts.edu.au, 2005
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In semesters that include electives, students can choose either an IT

sub-major subject or an elective. IT sub-majors include:
■ Internet Working
■ Mobile Computing
■ Applications Development
■ IT Management
■ Computer Graphics and Animation
■ Software Engineering
■ Internet Business Technology
■ Electives can be as diverse as Aboriginal Studies, Business

Accounting, Economics, Employment Relations, International
Management, Physics, Statistics, Specialist Country Studies,
Marketing and Advertising Principles.
Industry support for universities

University departments now often collaborate with IT companies
(sometimes referred to as ‘vendors’. Such collaborations
include the Australian Apple University Consortium (AAUC) and
the Microsoft IT Academy program. These collaborations are
conducted via industry grants supporting lectureships from
companies such as Cisco and Ericsson, and through research
programs such as Microsoft Research Asia.
In so doing, university IT schools have sought to align their

curriculum and teaching methods more closely with commercial
practices; UTS – among others – places particular emphasis
on this. And despite the fact that recruiters and employers
habitually grumble about the unsuitability of recent graduates
for the ‘real’ job market, a professional qualification in the field
nevertheless remains a criterion for many job openings, and
many universities are making a big effort to provide hands-on
commercial experience for their students.
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There is often tension in the relationship between technology

companies and academic computing schools. For their part,
many schools don’t want to be seen as indebted to commercial find out
considerations and wish to preserve their intellectual more
independence and the academic purity of the subject matter www.australian-universities.
com
that emphasises knowledge for its own sake. On the other hand,
companies such as Oracle, Microsoft, IBM and Cisco have played Monash IT
www.mit.com.au
such a major part in developing many of the technologies which
underpin current developments that it is a challenge even to IT Masters
www.itmasters.com.au
teach certain IT subjects without reference to them.
The role of the technology company is one of the major factors

driving social change in the modern world. The business models
and general commercial sensibility of the technology sector
are having an influence over and above that created by the
technology alone.
This tension continues to exist between the academic and

commercial approaches. So be aware that in some cases your
university studies may hardly mention the practical, commercial
aspects of the vendor courses so you may study databases fyi
without much reference to Oracle, and networking without a lot
The CIO Executive Council
of mention of Cisco. is currently developing a
standardised tertiary course
However, some universities are collaborating with business. For to be completed at the
example, Monash IT offers many industry certification modules University of New South
either as short courses or as part of a degree program. Wales, Victoria University
and the University of
Also, the IT Masters Course at Charles Sturt University is a Queensland.
collaborative effort between the tertiary sector and leading The aim is to prepare people
to move into a career within IT
companies offering industry certification in a university environment. with developed business skills
as well as technical expertise.
What if I don’t get the marks for university?

For those who have not completed year 12 or did not get enough
marks to enter their first choice, some interesting alternatives
are available.
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Sydney Institute of Business Technology

The Sydney Institute of Business Technology (SIBT) on the Macquarie
campus provides an alternative entry stream into IT studies at
Macquarie University. This stream requires completion of Year 11 or
intention to enter at Year 12 level. The main focus is on business IT
with a range of course options covering Business Administration,
Commerce, Computing and Communication.
Multiple criteria entry

find out The Faculty of Engineering at UNSW has introduced a new entry
more scheme that looks beyond examination results.
Sydney Institute of Business
Technology Multiple criteria entry is a system that assesses the suitability of
http://sibt.nsw.edu.au potential students for an IT course in an interview situation.
Engineering Faculty, UNSW The interview helps the faculty assess motivation, attitudes and
www.eng.unsw.edu.au
commitment – in areas that aren’t necessarily reflected in a high-
school examination result.
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TAFE courses
Each state government is responsible for its TAFE institutions.
However, they all conform to national training standards. As such,
qualifications from any TAFE are recognised Australia-wide.
TAFE courses on offer include VET (Vocational Education and Training) fyi
programs such as Certificates I to IV and diplomas offered by TAFE TAFE NSW is the largest
colleges and private training colleges. vocational training and
education provider in Australia
TAFE courses are categorised into courses based on three different and offers a flexible and
entrance criteria. These are: adaptable curriculum through
a wide network of colleges
■ no standard educational entry requirements for a relatively low cost.
Classes are available part- or
■ an entry requirement of Year 10 or equivalent full-time, as classroom-based
or online units.
■ an entry requirement of Year 12 or equivalent.
However, anyone can reach the highest TAFE qualification. Once you
begin at TAFE, you can work your way up to a diploma and certificate
level if you continue to do well. If you get good results in a TAFE
course, these can also be useful if you want to change to a university
course at some stage.
IT-related courses with no formal educational prerequisites include:
■ Computer Accounting – Statement of Attainment
■ Computers for Life – Statement of Attainment
■ Computers, A First Course – Short Course
■ Computing Skills for the Office – Statement of Attainment
■ Information Technology Certificate I.
Year 10 or equivalent entry IT courses include:
■ IT Applications – Certificate II
■ Client Support – Certificate IV
■ Database Administration – Certificate IV
■ Help desk – Certificate IV
■ Network Administration – Certificate III
■ Network Management – Certificate IV
■ Programming – Certificate IV
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Year 12 or equivalent entry IT courses include:
fyi ■ Business Analysis – Diploma
TAFE runs programs ■ Database Design and Development – Diploma

designed to assist placing
graduates in the workplace, ■ Knowledge Management – Diploma
such as industry seminars
and introductory sessions. ■ Knowledge Support – Certificate IV
TAFE is also responsible for
traineeships that may offer ■ Network Engineering – Diploma
work experience or job-
placement programs. ■ Software Development – Diploma
■ Systems Administration – Diploma.
Enquire at your local TAFE about availability of any course of interest as

the entry criteria can be flexible and are subject to frequent revision.
What can I expect to learn at TAFE?

TAFE courses are offered in modules and you are able to choose
from a large range of subjects and combine them to create a unique
learning pathway.
TAFE is very strong in hands-on and practical skill education,

particularly network management and system administration.
The following example from the curriculum for Queensland’s TAFE

Diploma in Network Administration will provide you with a snapshot:
Unit Outline
Install and Configure a Defines the competency required to carry
Network out installation for the network hardware and
software and initial configuration
Build an Internet Defines the competency required to design
Infrastructure and implement an Internet to provide
services to client users
Apply Skills in Project Defines the competency required to
Integration manage the eight functions of project
management to best meet or exceed
project objectives throughout the project
life cycle
Install and Optimise System Defines the competency required to apply
Software aspects of systems optimisation
Install Network Hardware to Defines the competency required to plan,
a Network manage and support the installation of new
components in a network
Install Software to Defines the competency required to plan,
Networked Computers manage and support the installation of
software to networked computers
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How long does it take?

The time taken to do a course varies with the level of the course.
As a general guide, courses range from about 18 weeks full-time for
Certificate I courses to two years full-time for Diploma courses. Part-
time attendance takes longer. Statements of Attainment may take only
a few part-time weeks; many short courses can be completed over
several days.
At TAFE you can choose full-time, part-time and other flexible study
and attendance options to suit your circumstances. For example, in
some courses you can start full-time, find a job in your chosen field
and finish your study part-time. In other courses you can study at your
own pace from home, or wherever you choose.
Will a TAFE qualification guarantee a job?

TAFE qualifications are well regarded, and the knowledge they provide
is useful – sometimes indispensable – but because entry is fairly open
and the fee structure very affordable, a TAFE diploma is not regarded
as an elite qualification. But they are an important building block in a
career plan, and can serve as your foundation to an IT career.
TAFE and university – what’s find out

more
the difference? TAFE NSW
www.tafensw.edu.au
There is a degree of crossover between TAFE and university
TAFE Queensland
IT courses, particularly in practical IT skills. Subjects such as
www.tafe.qld.gov.au
Network Management and Router Configuration will naturally be
TAFE Victoria
very similar at TAFE and university.
www.tafe.vic.edu.au
Generally speaking, a TAFE course will concentrate on the TAFE Tasmania
skills and knowledge required for a job role or function, and a www.tafe.tas.edu.au
university will provide a more in-depth understanding of the TAFE South Australia
principles underlying the topic, as well as higher-order skills in www.tafe.sa.edu.au
thinking, reasoning, research and presentation. This is because TAFE Western Australia
university IT departments have an academic heritage based on www.tafe.wa.gov.au
a imparting a certain depth of knowledge and a solid theoretical
foundation to the disciplines they teach.
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TAFE and university credit transfer

A number of credit transfer agreements have been created between
TAFE NSW and Australian universities. These arrangements
allow students to claim ‘advanced standing’ to specified
university courses including those offered by Central Queensland
University, CSU and UNSW. This means that if you complete
a number of units at TAFE level, you are able to transfer to a
university degree stream in a related area at these universities.
Several of our interviewees have TAFE experience and/or

qualifications, and note that there is a fair degree of commonality
between many of the subjects taught at TAFE and university,
particularly in skills such as network administration and desktop
support. However as we shall see, the university approach does
offer a greater degree of variety and depth of instruction.
Industry-based courses
There are many pathways into IT other than university and TAFE.
Industry associations and certifications (sometimes referred to as
vendor certifications) are popular pathways.
Industry certification
The role of the major technology companies in shaping the IT
landscape is very significant. In times past, important discoveries have
generally originated with breakthroughs by researchers, scientists
and inventors, to be subsequently exploited by commercial interests
for competitive advantage; but in the computer industry, many of
the major innovations have been intended as commercial strategies
from the outset, and have emanated from the laboratories and design
suites of commercial companies such as Apple, Cisco, Microsoft, Sun
and IBM, among many others.
Microsoft, for one, has obviously had an enormous influence on the

way IT has developed. Indeed, they can be said to have pioneered the
business practice of succeeding by establishing technology standards,
de facto if not always de jure. Cisco practically defines inter-networking
and routing. Sun invented Java, and in one stroke changed the nature of
network computing. IBM invented the hard drive. Aldus invented desktop
publishing, and Adobe, Photoshop. Apple gave the world usability, without
which none of it would have been much good. And the list goes on...
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The entry-level courses offered by the Computer Technology Industry

Association (CompTIA), Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) and
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSE) programs are
excellent starting points for anyone wanting to get a foothold in the
industry, but again, try to combine them with your work experience
wherever possible.
The costs involved in higher-level certification in technologies such as

Oracle and SAP are comparable to those for full-time tertiary units and
generally require both experience and prior qualification in foundation
technologies. The ideal path for many of these certifications is employer
sponsorship opportunities, however Rhonda Bassett, Oracle Australia’s
Delivery Manager, observes that ‘there is an increasing trend in the
education industry of tertiary institutions tying up with technology
vendors to include product training into standard curriculum’.
However, if you can get experienced and certified in Oracle, Cisco, or

SAP, these provide excellent career paths in IT. As for MCSE certification,
it is practically a mandatory requirement for network administrators and
architects, help desk, support and numerous other job roles.
Most certifications must be renewed regularly or as systems change,

usually by written exam. This means you (or your employer) must
maintain an investment in ongoing professional education.
CCIEs are valued because the certification is challenging to

get in the first place, and also challenging to maintain. A CCIE
must be recertified every two years by completing a written
exam that covers the most important current technologies. So
although I achieved CCIE status in 1998, I need to know about
today’s technology to maintain my certification status. Being a
contractor, I have to pay for my own recertification, but for
a relatively small investment (about $400) I can keep these
important letters after my name.
John Dillane, CCIE (Routing and switching) #3419, Network designer
CompTIA
CompTIA is an industry association and certification organisation
founded in the United States in 1982 to advance the IT industry, and
supported by a number of vendors. CompTIA has also developed an
internationally recognised curriculum of certifications outlined below.
CompTIA certifications are supported and recommended by many
companies, including Microsoft, as prerequisites for further certification.
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■ A+: Geared toward hardware technicians that have at least six

months experience. Achieving an A+ certification tells employers
that you possess ‘the knowledge, skills, and customer relations
skills essential for a successful entry-level (six months’ experience)
computer service technician’.
■ I-Net+: Recognised as a baseline technical knowledge specifically

designed to certify entry-level Internet and e-commerce technical
professionals. Those holding i-Net+ certification demonstrate
knowledge and competency in Internet basics and clients,
development, networking, Internet security and business concepts.
■ Server+: Validates the knowledge and abilities of individuals with

18 to 24 months of experience with Industry Standard Server
Architecture (ISSA). Server+ certification establishes the person’s
ability to install, configure, diagnose and troubleshoot server
hardware and network operating systems.
■ Linux+: The Linux+ certification validates technical competency

and provides a broad awareness of Linux operating systems. Those
holding Linux+ certification demonstrate critical knowledge of
installation, operation, administration and troubleshooting services.
■ Network+: The Network+ certification validates technical

competency in networking administration and support. Those
holding Network+ certification demonstrate critical knowledge
of media and topologies, protocols and standards, network
implementation and network support. This certification is geared
toward those with nine months’ field experience in network
administration and support.
In Australia, CompTIA has launched an ambitious international

program called IT Pro. This program seeks to realign IT training with
industry requirements by:
find out ■ Developing strong industry communities and providing a sense of

more identity, excitement and pride in the IT professions;
CompTIA
www.comptia.org/certificaion
■ Linking training and performance to ensure that IT skills training
matches industry requirements;
Check out what IT Pro
Australia offers at
■ Attracting new entrants to the IT industry, in recognition of the
www.itpro.comptia.com.au
importance of IT as a driving force in the global economy in all
kinds of industry sectors;
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■ Supporting teachers in schools through a range of programs

including support programs, industry networking, and other
professional development initiatives.
The IT Pro initiative is sponsored by leading IT vendors including Apple

Computer, Microsoft, Cisco and Hewlett Packard.
Oracle
In the United States, Oracle courses are distributed online by Oracle
University, which in Australia is called Oracle Learning.
The Oracle Learning homepage is a portal to the complete range of

find out
Oracle learning resources. Details of the entire suite of subjects across
the Oracle product range including database design, application
more
Oracle learning
server, development tools and e-business suite, and more, are www.oracle.com/education
provided on this site.
Oracle Learning offers a variety of training formats including

Instructor-led Training, Live Web Classes, Self-Study CD-ROM and
Self-Paced Online.
The Oracle Education curriculum is too lengthy to be summarised

here; see Appendix 4 or refer to the website for further details.
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Microsoft
Microsoft Certified Professionals find career opportunities throughout
the modern enterprise, education system or business.
The following provides a brief introduction to Microsoft Certifications.
The Microsoft Certified Architect Program (MCAP) targets practising

solutions architects and infrastructure architects who successfully
apply frameworks and methodologies to create an architecture
through the entire IT lifecycle.
Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technicians (MCDSTs) have the

technical and customer service skills to troubleshoot hardware and
software operation issues in Microsoft Windows environments.
Microsoft Certified Systems Administrators (MCSAs) administer

network and systems environments based on the Microsoft Windows
platforms. Specialisations include Messaging and Security.
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSEs) design and implement

an infrastructure solution based on the Windows platform and
Microsoft Windows Server System software. Specialisations also
include Messaging and Security. MCSE is practically a mandatory
requirement for many network administration, help desk and IT
management roles.
Microsoft Certified Database Administrators (MCDBAs) design,

implement, and administer Microsoft SQL Server databases.
Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) are qualified instructors certified

by Microsoft to deliver Microsoft training courses to IT professionals
and developers.
Microsoft Certified Application Developers (MCADs) use Microsoft

technologies to develop and maintain department-level applications,
find out
more components, web or desktop clients, or back-end data services.
Microsoft Certification Microsoft Certified Solution Developers (MCSDs) design and develop
www.microsoft.com/learning
leading-edge business solutions with Microsoft development tools,
technologies, platforms and the Windows architecture.
Microsoft Office Specialists (MOSs) are globally recognised for

demonstrating advanced skills with Microsoft desktop software.
Exams are administered by independent testing organisations at

locations worldwide. There are a variety of registration options via
the web or at a specific testing centre site. Select your area of study,
testing program, and region.
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Cisco
Cisco make the routers which form the backbone of the Internet.
One of the world’s most successful companies, Cisco dominates
the market for IP routing products and Cisco certification or product
knowledge is a necessity for network professionals.
Cisco offers three levels of general certification: Associate, Professional,

and Expert (CCIE; representing the highest level of achievement).
Various paths (or tracks) such as Routing and Switching, Network

Security, and Service Provider are available so individuals can match
their certification path to their job role or industry.
In addition to general certifications, network professionals can enhance

their core networking knowledge by achieving specialist certification
in technologies such as security, IP telephony, and wireless.
Cisco certifications include:
■ Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA)

■ Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP)
■ Cisco Certified Internetworking Professional (CCIP)
■ Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
■ Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)
■ Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP)
find out
■ Cisco Firewall Specialist. more
More are available in, for example, Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) Cisco certification
www.cisco.com
and Voice over IP (VoIP).
University of Queensland’s
Cisco Networking Academy
SAP
www.cisco.fit.qut.edu.au
SAP is the leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) software
development company with a huge installed base all over the world in
manufacturing, mining, distribution and enterprises of all kinds.
Experienced and certified SAP consultants and managers are in steady

demand Australia-wide, where their skills are put to use in banking
and finance and many other corporate settings.
Entry into SAP consultancy is quite difficult to achieve, however a

strong undergraduate qualification in computer science, engineering or
in software engineering and development is an excellent preparation.
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SAP’s education program is highly regarded in the industry and is

delivered internationally by a network of training providers and
increasingly by e-learning.
The SAP solutions certification is available for specific SAP solutions.

Certification exams are taken after completing the appropriate SAP
Solution Academy course and case study, or the equivalent SAP
find out standard curriculum at a SAP training centre. Those with significant
more experience implementing a SAP solution can take the exam without
CIW courses and completing the course work.
certifications
www.ciwcertified.com Those who have completed the SAP Solution Academy or SAP
SAP certification solutions training classes can take the technology exam to become a
www.sap.com Certified Technology Consultant. Those with significant experience in
New Horizons administers
Basis, SAP system administration, or R/3 database administration can
CompTIA in Australia take the exam without completing the course work.
www.newhorizons.com
The development consultant certification is available for individuals who
are developing applications to interface with other SAP solutions. After
completing the necessary Solution Academy courses, the technology
exam is taken to become a certified development consultant.
With the rapid expansion of the computer and computer systems in

all business applications, it is no wonder that there are many more
certification programs that are designed to help industries and
businesses run their IT departments.
The Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) program is another vendor-

independent, industry-wide program with a specific focus on Internet
technologies.
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The Internet Webmasters Association (IWA) also runs online,

fyi
instructor-led classes through its website.
API stands for application
Both groups have a comprehensive range of classes in all things programming interface.
Web – HTML, JavaScript, server technologies, database for the web,
technical writing, web imaging, and more.
IBM manages a massive certification program across areas encompassing

software (Websphere, Lotus, Tivoli and DB2); hardware (AIX and IBM
server technology); and other areas including e-business hosting services,
grid computing, IBM infrastructure systems architect and many more.
Sun provides certification in the Java programming language.
The Standard Edition (J2SE) provides compiler, tools, runtimes and

APIs for writing, deploying and running applets and applications in the
find out
Java programming language. more
The Enterprise Edition (J2EE) manages the infrastructure and IWA
supports web services to enable development of secure, robust and http://iwa-hwg.eclasses.org
interoperable business applications. IBM certifications

www-03.ibm.com
The Micro Edition (J2ME) is used for consumer and embedded devices
Sun Microsystems
such as mobile telephones, PDAs, TV set-top boxes, in-vehicle
www.sun.com/training
telematics systems and a broad range of embedded devices.
Experience has to match up with

certification
Getting industry certification without corresponding career
experience will not guarantee career success. Candidates light on
commercial experience but with certifications gained by online
courses and similar means are often frustrated in the job market.
Think of each element of certification and experience as like

the pitons that rock-climbers use to tackle a cliff. A certification
is like one piton and provides a foothold. The next step should
be to find some way of putting the certification to work, which
will make the next piton. Then some additional qualification
can be driven in – building on your experience. In the end, you
may have qualifications from TAFE, university and industry
certification programs, which will lay a solid foundation to your
career plan, provided you can demonstrate how your knowledge
has been put to work.
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How do I get that job?

So, you’re in your last year of an IT university degree or TAFE
certificate? Or maybe you’ve already qualified. What now?
There are some very important principles involved in applying for IT

jobs which are often overlooked.
First, as the song says, ‘accentuate the positive’. You don’t

have to exaggerate, and you should definitely never fake your
accomplishments or lie about what you’ve done. You may think that
it will give you an advantage but honesty is by far the best policy as if
you’re caught out it will not help your reputation at all.
Concentrate on the positives – be confident in your ability, know what

you’re good at and where your strengths are, and write your résumé
accordingly. There are times and places to be self-critical, but this is
not one of them! So, avoid ‘hype’, but use strong, positive terminology
and project a confident image. Avoid negatives – don’t dwell on tasks,
roles or jobs which you are NOT suited to or comfortable with. Don’t
be self-deprecating in your résumé. (We’ll look at more pointers about
your résumé below.)
Let’s take a closer look at the recruitment process.
fyi How are people recruited?

Many employers still There are many ways that people find themselves in the job they
advertise in the major daily are doing. Recruitment is a part of the process as is networking with
newspapers, particularly people in the industry. As the Internet becomes more and more a part
on Saturdays. However,
look out for special IT of our everyday lives, so companies, government departments and
feature days, which have IT recruitment firms are using this medium more and more to find the
jobs and careers sections
right person for the job advertised.
and often advertise
graduate programs.
The many ways to be recruited into an IT job include:
■ recruitment agencies
■ networking
■ graduate recruitment programs
■ government recruitment
■ online recruitment.
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Recruitment agencies
The role of the recruitment company is pivotal in the IT jobs market.
So the odds are that if you’re looking to make your career in IT, you
will be dealing with recruitment companies.
Let’s take a moment to consider how recruiters operate. Recruiters

are paid by companies to find individuals for particular roles. The
traditional model will involve a fee based on a percentage of the
successful candidate’s first year annual salary; the more senior the
position, the higher the fee, which is typically 15 per cent to 30 per
cent of the salary figure. fyi
So, if a recruiter places an IT manager for $130 000, then the
Yes, there is good money
recruitment fee might be $20 000 to $30 000. in recruitment, but the
fees are generally under
Contract recruitment and agency placements are somewhat different, guarantee, which means
in that they will charge the client a rate which is typically 15 to 25 per that if the recruit leaves or
doesn’t work out in the first
cent greater than the hourly rate being paid to the contractor. So if year, fees are refunded or
you’re a contractor getting $40 an hour, your time is probably being another must be found at
invoiced to the client at $50 to $55 per hour. Many agencies provide the recruiter’s cost.
a number of contractors on a semi-permanent or project basis under

this kind of arrangement.
In return, the agency looks after your tax, superannuation and

insurance cover. It provides you, the contractor, the convenience
of having your employment managed and also offers the hiring
organisation a very flexible workforce, as contractors have no holiday
pay or security of tenure, frequently being employed on contracts
which allow for termination at short notice.
The reason recruiters are so central in IT in particular is that many of

the roles are highly specialised, involving technologies of which the
hiring company itself may have very limited knowledge – they often
don’t know exactly what they are looking for.
Furthermore as new trends and technologies have emerged with

amazing rapidity over the last few decades, sudden requirements will
emerge for which your organisation has no obvious precedent.
Say you’re an IT manager in a bank, and it becomes clear that Internet

banking is something the bank needs to stay competitive. You do
your research and decide that Java and various specialised software
applications are required. Relatively suddenly, you need a number
of experienced Java programmers with a background in banking and
mainframe integration – and Java has only been around for a few
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years! Plus you need some banking security specialists and a few
others with experience in the specialised applications that pull data
out of the bank’s old systems and display it in HTML.
You will need recruiters who understand your requirements, the jargon,
the required skill-set and the background of the likely candidates, and
who can place the advertisements, organise the interviews, and send
you a shortlist of programmers from which to choose. The recruiter
will have to understand something about the software you want to use
– certainly not the same kind of detail that a programmer needs, but
what to look for in a candidate – as well as knowing where to look for
candidates and how to describe the requirements. And in a specialist
area, this amounts to a lot of knowledge.
And that is how recruiters make their money.

fyi Large companies, organisations and government departments employ
IT staff as required, because they are growing or because of staff
Many IT jobs are performed
by contractors. See ‘What are turnover. Some may have specific programs for recruiting juniors at
the job opportunities?’ in The fixed times of the year.
big picture.
Less formal employment processes are just as rigorous and
competitive for job seekers as the more formal ones.
Job advertisements for IT workers appear in all the usual places such
as local and national newspapers and of course, online, on a regular
basis. Bulletin boards are also useful.
Networking
A great number of jobs are found through the ‘hidden job market’
– through colleagues, friends, co-workers, people you have worked
with before, and so on. It is not uncommon for an employer to ask
around and think over people they know before they start the arduous
process of formal recruitment. They might ask the question at a
meeting: know anyone who does ‘X’? ‘Hey, we’re looking for someone
who can manage the database for George. They have to know a bit of
SQL’ ... and so on.
Besides, most people are happy to employ someone they know or have
worked with previously. We are all comfortable dealing with friends.
Stay in touch with your university and school friends and associates.
As their careers develop, they will in turn develop their own networks
of opportunity and influence.
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Re ady, s e t,
go for it!
Work colleagues become friends, and they can provide

opportunities. If I look at my own career, I can see personal
contacts as a major factor in all my job changes.
Saul Bryan, National IT manager, Counterpoint Marketing
Another way of increasing the scope of your network is to get involved

in industry groups. There are industry groups devoted to various IT
specialities ranging from grassroots organisations, such as suburban
PC user groups, through to industry associations such as Australian
Interactive Multimedia Industry Association (AIMIA), Australian
Information Industry Association (AIIA) and the Australian Computer
Society. There are also special interest groups and user groups devoted
to popular computer platforms and application types. They all hold
regular meetings, business breakfasts and briefings which provide the
opportunity of meeting other users and like-minded individuals.
Graduate programs
Corporate graduate programs are a recognised pathway into
corporate careers. Their purpose is to place promising graduates into
organisational roles which employ their skills and attributes while
training them in corporate and business culture. Quite often graduate
appointments are rotated through a number of different departments
and positions in order to provide for an all-round understanding of
the business. Positions in graduate programs are hotly contested and
applications should be carefully prepared.
We have a very successful program. It was developed in
2000 and we now have quite a mature model whereby our
graduates have an opportunity to rotate to various parts of
the organisation whilst they are on the two-year program. The
program’s success is also due to the support that we receive
from the IT executive team.
We recruit around 1000 people just within IT each year. There
is a formalised process in place to ensure that it is a fair and
equitable way of recruiting graduates into the organisation.
The process involves applicants completing an initial application
(graduates should meet minimum academic criteria), online
testing and then attendance at assessment centres.
Janice Ma, IT graduate manager, Westpac
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The ANZ Graduate Intake Program is a good example of how these

work. The program receives anything up to 9000 applications each
year (undergraduate and postgraduate students), for positions
which number about 200 for the 2006 intake. Positions range across
the business from banking to accounting to IT in locations around
Australia and New Zealand. ANZ has an online ‘matchmaker’ program
which allows you to enter your discipline, location and desired type of
career and then provides options in response.
People from all kinds of backgrounds are considered. We take

into account sporting and extra-curricular achievements, as well
as academic record.
Kate Nash, ANZ graduate recruitment program
The bank employs a wide range of staff in technology disciplines,

including business analysts, system architects, programmers, web
developers, security specialists and many more. ANZ recruits IT staff
through a number of HR companies including TMP Hudson, Diversiti,
fyi and Robert Walters.
www.computerworld.com.au ANZ is just one of many companies, government agencies, and

http://jobsearch.gov.au/ corporates that have graduate recruitment programs. In general,
government/Gradlink.aspx? recruiters are looking for well-rounded graduates who can
demonstrate maturity and achievement in many facets of their life,
although in the case of aspiring IT professionals, qualifications in the
relevant discipline are expected.
Microsoft has two branches to its graduate recruitment program:

Internships and the Microsoft Academy for College Hires (MACH).
The Microsoft Intern Program is a 12-month program. Interns are

not rostered through different business groups or roles – they take
on a full-time role in the same team for the entire year. At the end
of the 12-month program Microsoft does not guarantee full-time
employment, although interns are considered for any suitable
opportunities that may arise. Many interns ultimately move out into
the industry after the year with Microsoft and gain experience with
Microsoft partners and customers.
MACH is an accelerated career development program designed

to recruit and hire high-potential new graduates from around
the world. This holistic program provides top graduates with the
practical skills and business acumen they need for active leadership
roles at Microsoft. Each year, Microsoft invites a select group of
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Re ady, s e t,
go for it!
undergraduate and MBA hires with from zero to four years’ work
experience to participate in a two-year ‘on-board’ training program.
Candidates receive supplemental MACH training and mentoring to
help them realise their full potential.
Graduate prospects
TAFE IT qualifications are well-regarded, however by no means
guarantee employment. Between 2003 and 2005, post graduate
IT unemployment rates from higher-level TAFE courses such as
Certificate IV, Diploma or Advanced Diploma fell from 32% to
25%, however remaining much higher than he average which fell
from 15% to 9% in the same period.
Notwithstanding these difficulties, experienced TAFE graduates

would be considered suitable candidates for many of the
positions described in the Salary Survey tables, for example
in tech support or programming, system/business analysis,
network management and project management.
Computer Science graduates experience a much greater than

average difficulty in finding placement, and also that median
starting salaries actually fell from $40 000 to $38 000 between
2001 and 2004 according to a Graduate Destination Survey (GDS).
The report which details this information also points to a recent
upsurge in overseas student commencements in Australian
tertiary IT courses including the fact that in 2004 more than
half of all students commencing local IT courses were overseas
students arriving through the Skilled Migration program.
If you want more information on the Skilled Migration Program as

it relates to IT opportunities, see Bob Kinniard, ‘The Impact of the
Skilled Migration Program on Domestic Opportunity in Information
Technology’ People and Place Vol 13, No 4, Monash University,
2005. Publicity given to this report has subsequently prompted a
review of the program by the Department of Immigration.
Note that there is a difference between ‘pure’ IT courses such as

Computer Science and Engineering and the ‘hybrid’ disciplines
offering business IT skills, such as UNSW Master of Business
Technology, which are subject to quite a separate analysis.
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Microsoft receives hundreds of applications for both our

internships and MACH programs. We know it can be very hard
to differentiate yourself when you are starting out in your
career as you have had little work experience. It’s important to
remember that everyone has something to offer so remember
to include the things that make you stand out – things like travel,
sports, hobbies, community service, awards and proficiency in
languages other than English stand out in an application.
Fiona Hathaway, Recruitment manager Australia and New Zealand, Microsoft Australia
Many university careers counsellors work with representatives of the

organisations that have graduate recruitment programs and can help
you in this regard.
Government recruitment
All levels of governments regularly advertise for staff in newspapers
and/or on their own websites as well as job sites such as Seek.
Every Thursday permanent government vacancies are advertised

in what is known as the Government Gazette. Increasingly the
hard copy publication is difficult to acquire because it is available
online. You might find a copy still at some public libraries. If a job
is not in the Gazette (online and printed version), then it does not
exist. Government departments and agencies tend to have their
own recruitment processes which vary slightly from department to
department. It’s important to contact the human resources section of
find out the department to find out exactly what’s required and what they want
more in the application.
www.seek.com.au
www.michaelpage.com.au Online recruitment
www.hays.com.au
An increasing majority of IT jobs are advertised and recruited online.
www.jobsearch.gov.au
The three main players – Seek, MyCareer and CareerOne – all have
www.psgazetteonline.gov.au
considerable resources on their websites including résumé tips,
www.jobs.wa.gov.au
recruiter profiles, job application tracking, keyword searching and more.
Sydney .NET User Group
www.ssw.com.au While it is a numbers game – it might take a lot of applications to
AIMIA start getting calls back – it is important not to indiscriminately fire off
www.aimia.com.au applications to every conceivable agency and vacancy. You want to get
AIIA noticed, but not as a nuisance.
www.aiia.com.au
www.mycareer.com.au Instead, apply for jobs which you genuinely believe you could get.
www.careerone.com.au Spend a few minutes tailoring your résumé, and keep track of your
applications online.
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Re ady, s e t,
go for it!
If you are called in for an interview on spec, ask the recruiter if there is
a copy of the advertisement you can look at. Agencies will sometimes
call people in just to put enough numbers on a short list, so make sure
you think you match the job.
The online application process

– in the flesh
Several years ago, the author went to an IT jobs expo that was
held at the Sydney Town Hall. I got there around lunchtime and,
as I had pre-booked online, squeezed past the big queue of
people winding down the stairs onto George Street. But then I
found out that the Big Queue of People Winding Down the Stairs
had also booked online, so I had to go and stand in the queue for
40 minutes or so, just to get in.
I got in. Place was packed. There were all of these exhibition
stands with the names of the recruiters that you see on Seek and
MyCareer around the perimeter of the Town Hall: Hays, Hudson
and the rest. Between me and every one of them, there were
rows of people, all waiting to speak to the recruiters behind the
desks. It was hard to move in there, it was like the sample-bag
pavilion at the Easter Show.
Suddenly it dawned on me – this is what the online job market

looks like in real life, in three dimensions. Normally, while you’re
sitting alone at your desk, uploading job applications, you
have no feeling for how many others are doing the same thing.
Here, at the IT jobs expo, it was graphically illustrated. There
was a sea of people here, wanting to get on board, in a room so
crowded you could barely move. When you made it to the head
of the queue, you might have a couple of minutes with a harried
recruiter before s/he said ‘Next’.
Welcome to the real world :)
What are recruiters looking for?

Companies that recruit IT professionals are looking for a combination
of skills, experience and attitude. As the IT market has matured, there
has been a shift away from emphasis on skills-only and towards skills-
with-experience-and-attitude.
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According to the recruiters we interviewed for this book, to work in IT

you will need:
■ skills that are in demand; this encompasses a wide range but keep
an eye on what the market is looking for
■ proof of your ability to work with a team
■ communications skills – able to understand and respond to

client requests
■ a professional attitude to your work which appears as punctuality,

politeness, appearance and thoroughness.
Meet some recruiters

Let’s have a closer look at what some recruiters are after when they’re
selecting IT personnel for their clients. An understanding of what
recruiters are looking for will help you plan your education and skills
acquisition.
We interviewed two IT recruiters:
■ Melissa Tuckwell – HiTech Recruitment
■ Daniel Buckley – Hays IT Recruitment.
Melissa Tuckwell – HiTech recruiter

HiTech is a recruitment company specialising in recruiting in the
IT, office support, finance and healthcare sectors. It was created
specifically to address the gap the founder perceived between IT job
requirements and common recruitment processes. ‘Technical staff may
specify a position title and assume knowledge that human resources
staff and managers do not have,’ company founder and CEO Ray
Hazouri says. ‘What we do is home in on those assumptions.’ HiTech
even helps some clients write job specifications where necessary.
With experience in the graduate market, Melissa is well placed to

discuss IT graduate recruitment.
q&a
Do you place many graduates?
It’s not a great number but we work regularly with graduates.
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Re ady, s e t,
go for it!
What are you looking for in IT graduates?

Well, obviously the résumé is very important. It should have details on
the kinds of projects they have worked on as well as academic results.
Personal interests are also important as it helps to fill out the picture
of the candidate.
What are some dos and dont’s for graduates?

Presentation and punctuality are very important, the same as for any
other candidate. You can’t dress like you do for university when you’re
in the business world! Graduates also need to communicate with
confidence. I suppose it may be due to inexperience, but it is often
difficult to get them to talk.
Daniel Buckley – Hays IT Recruitment

Hays IT is part of Australasia’s largest group of specialist recruitment
consultancies. Hays operates in 105 branches at 28 locations
throughout Australia and New Zealand, employs over 7000 temporary
staff every week, places over 12 000 people in a year. The business
has a turnover of $500 million each year.
q&a
What is the most important advice you have for IT graduates?
I would say – don’t try and get into contracting without some real
experience behind you first. This is the kind of experience you get with
a full-time graduate position.
Graduate positions provide a lot of experience in terms of understanding
‘company etiquette’, how to work in a business, and how to get along with
people, which you won’t necessarily get through academic experience.
Contractors, on the other hand, are expected to be seasoned operators
who can adapt quickly to a situation and fulfil a particular role often
without much time to prepare. So even though there may be contract
positions for which you have the skills, you’re better off getting some
full-time experience first. Graduates often don’t have the general
business experience to work without supervision, assess the situation
and produce the outcome, even if they have the technical skills.
What do you think of the overall IT job market for graduates

currently?
I think it is pretty positive. There is good underlying demand and
things have really picked up in the last 18 months, compared to
what it was like in the ‘tech wreck’ 3 to 5 years ago. Companies have
learned from those experiences and are acting cautiously, but the
overall trend is definitely positive. Salaries are steady or growing
modestly, while not spiralling like they were in the late 90s. So overall
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I think the IT employment environment is healthy.
What are the hot jobs and trends, in your opinion?

I’d say .NET (Microsoft’s Web Services environment) is getting very
big. We’re seeing a lot of demand there. There’s a lot of demand for
C# (a Microsoft programming language) as well. Web-based services
of many kinds are actually getting really big now, as distinct from the
late 90s when everyone was talking about them but nothing was really
happening yet. They are moving from being leading-edge to mainstream.
Stand out from the crowd

Now that you are familiar with the recruitment process and what
the managers in IT are looking for, it is time to focus on the actual
application so that you can stand out from the many others you will be
competing against for that job.
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Re ady, s e t,
go for it!
Create an outstanding application find out

more
There are two or three major components of a job application whether www.seek.com.au
you submit online, by email, or by the traditional but disappearing
www.mycareer.com.au/
snail mail. These are: advice-research
■ the résumé www.michaelpage.com.au

www.hays.com.au/career/
■ the cover letter resume.asp
■ responses to selection criteria.
The response to selection criteria is something that is very important

if applying for government jobs. It has a very specific structure that, if
you get it right, can make the difference between getting an interview
or not.
A good application describes in a clear and concise way an applicant’s

experience and qualifications. An employer’s first impression of a
candidate is through their résumé and there is no doubt that it counts,
so let’s start with what is involved in the all-important résumé.
The résumé
It is important to get your résumé right. It doesn’t have to be too long
or too detailed, but it does have to be formatted well, and show your
experience, abilities and qualifications.
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The following résumé example shows a very simple one-page format.
if you have a
[optional]
Age: professional
Terry Sample Date of Birth:
[optional]
121 Lyons Cres
cent
Nat iona lity: [optional] website, include it
Your name and Matraville NSW
2412
in your résumé
9561 4564
contact details Daytime Tel: 02
Tel: 02 9564 2564
Evening
e@email.com
Email: t.sampl
PR OF ILE , healthcare, and
PE RS ON AL financial services in major IT
experience in rd of success
iness analyst with trable track reco
lified and experienced bus er professional with demons environm ents.
Qua ors. Solid care ber of
a brief statement of turing sect nisations across a num
manufac variety of orga
ntations for a
project impleme
your career goals
e
SK ILL S Fortran and mor
ding COBOL, .
ronments inclu ed technologies
s in various envi ncials and relat
with programmer MS, Oracle Fina cial IT practices
.
Skills in working related. Knowledge of RDB age ment and finan
and ork man
recently J2EE nologies, netw legislation,
client-server tech superannuation
Knowledge of gy, unit trusts,
and terminolo
ting practices
about accoun issues.
Knowledgable and relat ed
ices Reform Act
Financial Serv
TO RY
your employment
CA RE ER HIS
ver Financial
Services, Syd
ney
history with brief job
s analyst, Clo ed
Senior busines multiple Unix-bas al
April 2002 – Cur
rent
ty of proj ects tran sitioning from
creation of func
tion description for each
lved in a varie Tasks involve e with technica
l
s analyst invo t-server suite. ess maps. Liais of the business.
Senior busines
to a sing le Win dow s-based clien
, flowc hart s and proc
e main divisions
role – begin with your
environments irements analysis across the thre
business requ s stakeholders went on time
or
specifications,
rammers and
with bus ines
ad of schedule
, rollouts all most recent role and
leads and prog completed ahe
ect milestones
Major achieve
ments: all proj
s and high leve
ls of user upta
ke. work backwards
use clear active language ahead of time
. Low erro r rate
s, Liverpool
Health Service
with verbs like ‘managed’, Business ana
lyst, Mercury
rance products
; adapting
– March 2002 of medical insu extensive
October 1999 es’ for a suite This required
‘negtiated’, ‘created’ inal ‘Business
Process Guid
es for Australia
n conditions.
specifications
and re-
Developed orig Can ada and the United Stat miss ion requ irements and
in Com
system from use tralian Healthcare Insurance met ers.
analysis of the
Aus
prod uct defi nitions and para
lth insurance
writing of hea
[...etc]
IFI CA TIO NS
AN D QU AL
ED UC ATI ON
ar School
your qualifications
Sydney Gramm
• Educated at
7
Eng, UNSW 199
• BSc Comp
Fina ncia l IT, UTS 2005
• Grad Diploma
1
You can see a full-size version of this résumé in Appendix 6.
Often resumes also include two referees. Referees are often people
in positions of authority who can vouch for your good character and
work practices. Always ask permission before including a referee. This
courtesy also prepares the person in case a prospective employer
calls for a reference check without notifying you.
You might have several résumé versions to match your main and back-
up job plans.
It is important to link your abilities with things you have accomplished.

Employers want to see evidence that your knowledge and certifications
have been validated in employment situations. It is not necessary to
exaggerate your abilities, just to show how in various employment
situations, you accomplished your tasks, aims and objectives.
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go for it!
Don’t ever lie about your experience, certifications or qualifications.

By all means accentuate the positive and minimise the negative, put a
positive spin on your achievements, but be straight about it.
Finally, don’t try tricks to draw attention to your application. Flash

animations and ornate web-based résumés are not usually differentiators,
unless you’re applying for a flash animator or web-design role.
Tips: Résumé writing

■ Spend time working on the layout, sentence structure
and content of your résumé as a well-presented
résumé can boost your chances of getting the job.
■ Be truthful and do not plagiarise anyone’s work.
■ Unless an advertisement states that training will be

provided, it is taken for granted by a prospective
employer that you have the skills.
■ Keep your résumé to two or three pages (standard).
■ If a company you have worked for may not be well

known, include a sentence to explain who they are
and what they do.
■ Consider using a professional résumé-writing service.
■ Write each résumé to fit the job that you are going

for.
■ Keep the master résumé as an electronic file and

update regularly.
■ Keep copies of each individualised résumé for

referencing when applying for similar jobs.
■ Learn to use white space – don’t overcrowd the pages.
■ Do not send a résumé that has not been carefully

proofread or waste employers’ time by applying for
positions in the profession that require essential
skills and competencies that you do not have.
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The cover letter

A job advertisement will usually have a list of requirements. The first
glossary thing the recruiter will do is sort applications that match the list with
those that don’t. Your application might get two seconds – a quick
TBC means:
glance will reveal whether it matches the specification or not. If it does
– to be contacted
match, at least you will go into the TBC list.
This emphasises the importance of the cover letter. The cover letter
should be brief – about two or three paragraphs – succinct, and it
must address the requirements of the position. Remember, it is about
your suitability for the job, not just why you want the job.
Terry Sample Your contact

121 Lyons Crescent details
Matraville NSW 2412
Daytime Tel: 02 9561 4564
Even Tel: 02 9564 2564
Date Email t.sample@email.com
6 January 2006
Employer’s name,
Mr Mark Smith
position, company Senior Consultant
and address ABC Recruitment Solutions
242 George St Sydney NSW 2000
Dear Mr Smith
Position and Re: Business Analyst Financial Services Company
reference number
for the position I write in response to your advertisement for this position in yesterday’s
Sydney Morning Herald. I wish to apply because the role represents an ideal
next step in my career, and because I believe I am an excellent candidate, as
my attached resume will demonstrate.
Your skills,
experience and I am currently employed in a similar position by Clover Financial Services
personal attributes however I wish to move to a larger organisation in order to make use of
that make you the skills I have acquired in my three years at Clover and from my recent
completion of a postgraduate degree in Financial Analysis.
suitable for the job
I have extensive experience with business analysis in both superannuation
and mortgage products, as well as a proven track record with Crystal
Reports implementation. I have been responsible for generating functional
specifications and requirements analysis over the last three years as well as
having similar experience in earlier roles. I am a dedicated team player who
enjoys the company and support of my peers while being able to manage my
priorities and work with minimal supervision.
Most of all, I am a committed professional with the skills and attributes the
job requires, and a strong determination to achieve an excellent outcome for
Closing statement
my employer.
Yours sincerely
Sign your letter
Terry Sample
You can see a full-size verson of this cover letter in Appendix 7.
Make sure that you write a different cover letter for each job that you
apply for. It needs to specifically address the particular requirements
of that job. To churn out the same cover letter for a number of jobs
shows a lack of interest that potential employers will not appreciate.
Click here for more FREE industry-specific

136 sample resumes and cover letters from Career FAQs
IT - 120306.indd Sec1:136 13/3/06 2:42:38 PM

Re ady, s e t,
go for it!
Tips: The cover letter

■ Write the letter to suit the job and the employer.
■ Standardise the formatting and keep fonts and

headings consistent with your résumé.
■ Vary the sentence structure. Don’t start every sentence

with ‘I’.
■ Be succinct – one A4 page well spaced and no more.
■ Get someone else to proofread the letter and suggest

improvements.
Selection criteria
Having a list of selection criteria helps the employer select the most
suitable person for the job because in responding to them, applicants
show how their previous work or experiences meet the requirements
of the job.
Who uses selection criteria?

Most government departments and some private-sector organisations
want information addressing selection criteria, in addition to the résumé
and cover letter in the application. Applicants must demonstrate and
prove that they have the qualifications and experience, as outlined in
the selection criteria, to advance to interview.
Addressing the selection criteria adequately can be the most

important part of your application for government jobs. This needs to
be done in a separate document to your résumé and cover letter and
may be titled ‘claim for the position’.
For the recruiting organisation, selection criteria standardise the

recruitment process by providing an objective measure of the
essential and desirable requirements for the role, thus reducing the
role of bias in selection decisions while putting the selection process
on a more scientific basis.
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fyi Where can I find them?
Make sure that the name you

You can find out the particular requirements of government jobs in
assign your selection criteria the application package which is available from the contact person
document is the same name or on the website. The application package usually outlines how the
you use when referring to it in
your cover letter or résumé. selection criteria should be answered. Find out if there is a maximum
length. Some departments do not want any more than a page per
criterion; others do not have any limit. While remembering that most
employers are looking for concise applications, one candidate for a
government job wrote 40 pages when responding to the selection
criteria for the position – and got the job!
Remember, for any job it is vital to address all the selection criteria as
this is one of the major ways employers select interview candidates.
For private sector jobs, the selection criteria can be addressed in
the résumé and the cover letter. For government jobs, a separate
document needs to be included as part of your application.
How do I respond?
If requested, the selection criteria document needs to be a separate
component of your application. Make sure your name is on the
document and that it has a name such as:
■ statement addressing selection criteria
■ selection criteria summary or
■ responses to selection criteria.
Each criterion should have a number and the exact wording from the
application package. The following ‘statement addressing selection
fyi criteria’ is an example of what might be required for a human resource
For most private officer position.
organisations, the selection
criteria for the job can be Many well-written responses follow what is known as the ‘star’
addressed in the cover method of response. For each selection criterion, make a general
letter and résumé. Check
statement about your ability to meet the criterion then focus on an
with the company to find
out their preference. example that has ‘star’ elements.
Situation Task Action Result.
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Here are two examples of the STAR response.
4. Excellent written communication skills
In my current position I have demonstrated a high level of written communication

skills in a range of documents, including:
■ Correspondence
■ Reports to management
■ Documentation of configuration procedures
■ Induction handouts for new staff
■ Guide to PC use
I add that in preparing documents I ensure that all written communication (both
internal and external) conforms to in-house style guidelines and is appropriate to
the intended audience.
The ‘Guide to PC Use’ demonstrates my writing abilities. I was responsible for

producing the guide, which was designed to help staff with general computer
problems – thus taking pressure off the help desk. Preparation of the guide
involved rewriting technical information to suit a general audience.
Management and staff welcomed the information in the guide and calls to the
help desk dropped by 20 per cent. The guide was later distributed to staff in all
Asia–Pacific offices.
5. Experience working as part of a team
I have worked in teams of three to 20. I was chairperson of the Neighbourhood

Environment Committee which had 10 representatives from business, government
and the community. The objective was to organise a clean-up day that would clean
up the streets, raise awareness and raise money for a charity for homeless people. We
signed up 100 volunteers who were assigned either clean-up work or community
awareness responsibilities. These objectives were achieved and $3000 raised for the
charity. Since then, it has become an annual event that has attracted more and more
volunteer participation. Last year, over 500 took part in the event.
My involvement on this committee is evidence of my ability to work well with

others. I enjoy a good rapport with team members and often volunteer for other
teams to help them meet deadlines.
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Note that the second response is not IT-specific. A new graduate

may not have experience working with a team although working in a
team of fellow IT students would count. This response not only shows
an ability to work in a team, but it also shows that the person has a
social conscience and is willing to give time to worthwhile community
pursuits.
Tips: Selection criteria

■ Be honest – do not make unsupported claims.
■ Make sure you understand the key phrases such as

‘experience in’ and ‘knowledge of’.
■ Give tangible examples of your claim (think STAR).
■ Make sure the examples are relevant.
■ Use active verbs and address all parts of the

selection criterion.
■ Check to find out the maximum length for each.
■ Use bullet (dot) points to show your ability to write

concisely and clearly.
■ Use language that is relevant to the position but avoid

excessive use of jargon.
■ Proofread your work carefully.
■ Get someone else to proofread it as well.
A final word on your job application

You may know already from your research or experience that job
advertisements often state that ‘only short-listed applicants will be
contacted’ and many applicants never receive a response. You will
sometimes get a nicely worded email saying something along the lines
of ‘even though we were impressed by your capabilities unfortunately
another candidate with skills and qualifications more closely matching
the position was selected ... ’. But don’t be discouraged. Persistence
and determination will win out. Keep trying. The right job is out there
waiting for you.
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How can I stand out at the interview?

If you are well-dressed, punctual, polite, and confident at the
interview, you will already be ahead of many applicants!
Try to develop rapport with the interviewer by looking him or her in

the eye, listening carefully, not interrupting and ensuring you address
the task at hand (which may be different from your stream of thought
or from what you had expected).
It is very off-putting to speak to someone who appears absent-minded

or preoccupied. If the person interviewing you appears like this – and
it happens – there is not much you can do; but ensure that you are not
like it! Always be very ‘present’ in an interview, give the interviewer
your best attention, and concentrate on the situation at hand.
Don’t be pushy, but do be confident. There is a fine line between the

two: figure out where it is and don’t cross it. On the other hand, don’t
be servile, but do be courteous. In other words, don’t bow and scrape
but treat the interview as a privilege and an opportunity.
Politeness is a must – always consider the other person’s viewpoint

and whether you are making them comfortable. It is often said that
standards of courtesy have slipped in the modern world; be that as it
may, courtesy is extremely important in job interviews as indeed in all
of your professional life. fyi
Also never diminish your current or previous employer. You might If you are unsuccessful
at getting the job, don’t
have been treated badly by them but this is not information to share see it as a setback, but
with your prospective employer. You don’t have to sing their praises, an opportunity to call the
organisation and ask for
but don’t undermine them, criticise them or bring them down as it
some feedback. This can be
suggests disloyalty and lack of discretion. It’s a big turn-off. helpful when you lodge your
next job application.
The three Ps of interviewing
The three Ps for a successful interview are:
■ preparation
■ presentation
■ performance.
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Preparation
Good preparation helps ensure a successful interview. Research
the company: its size, sector and history and any other specific
characteristics. Get to know the key positions and the names of people
in them. This is much easier that it used to be thanks to the Internet.
If you know people working for the company, talk to them about
the company and their experiences. Use any contacts that you may
have. It is important to go into the interview fully conversant with the
company’s product, its values and business culture. Use your research
to differentiate yourself from the other job applicants.
Think through what the job might entail and be prepared to answer
questions which show your experience and knowledge match the
requirements. Be aware of the types of questions they are going
to ask, just as they should have a good understanding of what is
required in the position being offered.
Presentation
Show that you are inquisitive. Ask intelligent questions to explore
information about the company. This can help ‘sell you into the role’
and gives you a chance to find out more about the role and to make
sure that this really is the job you want.
It’s important that you come across as personable and interested in the
job. It’s okay if you’re nervous but try to focus on your strengths and
what you want to say rather than on your nervousness. Employers want
to know who you are just as much as they want to know your skills.
Presentation is also about how you look. You need to dress

appropriately and be well groomed. Wear simple, tailored work
clothes. Make sure your hair is washed and neat. Be aware of body
posture and your voice. Sit comfortably, but do not slouch. Speak
clearly. Make eye contact. Don’t forget to breathe!
If you are using a computer for the presentation, make sure there is
enough battery. Anything you present as part of your interview must
add to your presentation, not detract from it. If it is not relevant, don’t
present it.
Performance
Performance is all about making an impression. It is also about
knowing what the employer wants in your responses. This is where an
understanding of interview techniques will help you to shine.
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Interview techniques, like everything else, change with time according

to the latest trend. Behavioural interviewing is currently a commonly-
used interview technique. It follows the assumption that past
behaviour is a good predictor of future behaviour.
Behavioural questions encourage you to focus on your particular

abilities by offering examples of how you handled a particular
situation in a previous position. ‘Tell me how you deal with conflict
between co-workers’. ‘Tell me how you have solved a difficult
programming problem in your time as a games programmer with X’.
Again, reflect on your career experience and be sure you give a good
account of your experiences.
Employers aren’t necessarily looking for positive experiences – they

also want to know what you did when things went wrong. They are
looking for you to give honest answers and to have an ability to
see when things have gone wrong, to problem solve and learn from
mistakes. Past mistakes aren’t always a black mark if you can show
that you have learnt from them.
If you don’t feel on top of behavioural-based interviewing, do some

research and practise your examples. It’s worth asking someone with
behavioural interviewing experience to practise with you.
The simple things are also important in an interview situation: a good

handshake, eye contact, posture and a warm smile. The first moments
of an interview can make the biggest impression.
The way you project your personality is also crucial for a successful
interview. It is not always what you say but the way you say it.
Confidence is paramount but you shouldn’t be overly confident – and
certainly not cocky or arrogant.
You may also have to deal with difficult questions. Interviewers will
sometimes try and throw you questions to unsettle you or test your
mettle. Sometimes it is aimed at finding something out; sometimes
they are plain mischievous. You frequently get asked ‘what are your
weaknesses?’ Good answers include:
■ I tend to be overly conscientious.
■ I worry too much about my work.
■ I take everything too seriously.
Turn what seems like a negative (weakness) to a discussion of

a positive.
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find out When you’re answering questions, answer with the end in mind.
more Focus on the person, situation and requirements. If you get asked
Vipassana meditation helps
to talk about yourself, keep it reasonably brief and bear in mind
emotional equilibrium. what you are there for. Don’t succumb to the temptation of talking at
www.dhamma.org length about yourself.
Think about what sort of questions may be asked and work out what
you might say. Here are some examples.
Why did you leave your previous job?

I wanted a new challenge and a job with more responsibility.
What do you think your strengths and weaknesses are?

I learn quickly, I’m good with people, and I enjoy taking the initiative.
My weakness is that I find it difficult to say no if people give me too
much work to do.
Be prepared for the following questions.
■ ‘Why do you want to work for [company]?’
■ ‘Where do you see yourself in five year’s time?’
■ ‘What can you in particular do for [company]?
■ ‘What are your salary expectations?’
With regard to salary, be familiar with the salary range for the kind of role
you’re seeking, but aim at the higher end: it communicates confidence.
To recap, here are some basic strategies to help you successfully

negotiate the interview and come out the preferred candidate.
Research – visit the employer’s website and make note of some details
about the company. Prepare a list of questions to ask during the
interview such as questions about the team you will be joining and
projects you could be working on.
Rehearse – find someone to help you practise answering possible

questions to help overcome any pre-interview worries. This also
enables you to organise your thoughts and think about what you
would like to say in the interview.
Revise – make a checklist of all the documents you will need to

bring to the interview, the names and titles of the people you will be
meeting with, and most importantly make sure you know the date,
time and location of the interview.
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Retain self-confidence – leave some time before to relax before the

interview and make sure you are friendly and calm, no matter how
nervous or worried you may feel. Take care with your appearance
and avoid visual distractions such as overpowering fragrances, heavy
make-up or loud ties.
Respond – make sure you don’t interrupt anyone and keep answers
short, relevant and to the point. Maintain good eye contact and avoid
looking at the floor.
Top ten DOs

find out
1 Maintain a positive and confident attitude. more
2 Make sure you are well dressed. The MAPP service is
3 Listen carefully to questions and instructions. available at
4 Highlight what benefits you can bring to the company. www.assessment.com
5 Use your own real experiences to answer questions.

6 Show passion and enthusiasm for the position.
7 Make sure you promote your strengths and sell yourself.
8 Let the employer know you have a clear career plan.
9 Have an understanding of the job and what will be
expected of you.
10 Have a list of prepared questions to ask about the
company and the position.
Top ten DON’Ts

1 Don’t arrive late to the interview.
2 Don’t mutter or use too many ‘umms’ and ‘ahhs’.
3 Never leave your mobile phone or other electronic
devices on.
4 Don’t exaggerate your previous experiences or skills.
5 Never arrive unprepared with no knowledge of the company.
6 Avoid talking about negative experiences you have had.
7 Don’t act bored or uninterested.
8 Avoid answering questions with vague or confusing answers.
9 Don’t be unprofessional or impolite.
10 Don’t fidget or show how nervous you are.
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Dealing with disappointment

The job scene can be emotionally tough. If you see a job you would
really like and pin your hopes on it, the sense of rejection if your
application is not successful can be overwhelming. This is especially
so if you’ve been short-listed and interviewed and it seems to be
going well. It is easy to start thinking about what it will be like having
this job, what you will do when you have it – even to the point where
you put your other applications on the back burner. Then the call
comes in and you find out it went to someone else.
You have to be very mindful at this point. The reaction which follows
disappointment of this kind – and employment-related stress is a
major cause of anxiety – can be very disturbing. You can get quite
depressed and start to doubt your abilities and get caught up in a lot
of negative self-talk.
Realise that this distress is a natural reaction and that it is not actually
about ‘you’. You need to develop the capacity to allow anxiety to
happen without being too overcome by it or by overly identifying with
it. Remember, it will pass.
What can I do right now?

There are opportunities and possibilities aplenty in IT, but it is also
very competitive, not only with local job-seekers jostling for a place at
the table, but with global factors, such as off-shoring and outsourcing,
and the influx of skilled migrant workers.
Here are a few things you can do right now to get a step ahead.
Do your research
IT is a field that is constantly changing. Keeping up is demanding but
it can also be fun. You’re presumably in IT because you like it: keep a
lively interest quite apart from your career aspirations.
No-one can ever complain about lack of information, or other

resources, in this game. The free software that is out there is, simply,
fabulously mind-blowing. Don’t be blasé about it. Use your time to
experiment, play, create things, mess about. One of the great things
about personal computer technology is that it was created by very
creative people and is not a linear, straight-line technology.
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This fundamental but often-neglected advice is particularly important

for those considering a career in IT. Why? We are dealing with
the newest profession in a modern society. While it does have its
traditions and established practices, IT is extraordinarily fluid and
dynamic compared to traditional occupations. So it’s no longer
the case of following the family tradition. You may be taking up an
occupation that no-one has done before, let alone your family!
Get a grip
Get a firm grip on which of the many aspects of IT occupations your find out
particular strengths will equip you for. Consult vocational advisers at more
school or university. Be honest about your capabilities and learn to be The MAPP service is
self-critical without being negative (this is a tough balancing act!). available at
www.assessment.com
There are some valuable web-based services that can help with this.
Have a look at the Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential (MAPP)
service. You can take a test on this site for free, and the subscription
version, which is much more detailed, is not expensive.
Be flexible
While you might have to specialise, it is good to have several
strings to your bow. If you’re considering a career in programming,
network and database administration may be good back-ups. If
you’re a technical writer, being able to turn your hand to copywriting
or e-learning would be useful. Don’t be too precious about your
particular patch of territory; the market can be very fickle and the right
combinations of skills for being in demand can be hard to predict.
Expand your horizons

Finally, look for IT specialisations in association with other career detour
choices. As IT continues to expand and enable various kinds of
Find out about some other
industry and occupation, so too will it open opportunities for talented careers that may interest
professionals to become IT specialists in a chosen field. Financial IT you. Go to the Career FAQs
website and check out the
is already emerging as a vast subdiscipline with its own realms of list of titles.
knowledge and professional practice, and no doubt this trend will www.careerfaqs.com.au
continue to grow in other professions and skills as well.
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B uz z words
Buzz words
ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
ACS Australian Computer Society
AIIA Australian Information Industry Association
AIMIA Australian Multimedia Industry Association
APESMA Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists
and Managers, Australia
API Application programming interface
APS Australian Public Service
ASIC Australian Securities and Investments Commission,
a body that regulates companies and finance
in Australia
ATO Australian Tax Office
AusCERT Australian Computer Emergency Response Team
Australian Public a publication that includes jobs for all government
Service Gazette departments and agencies
AWA Australian Workplace Agreement, an individually
written agreement between an employer and
employee covering the employer’s salary package
and other conditions of employment.
B2B an abbreviation of Business to Business, referring to
the exchange of products, services or information
between businesses
bellwether the sheep with the bell around its neck. A bellwether
company shows where all the others are heading
BIS Business Information Systems programs seek
to combine a rigorous IT training program with
training in business skills, with the aim of turning out
‘rounded’ graduates
BSC British Computer Society, the industry body for IT
in the UK.
C++ a programming language
C# a programming language
CCIE Cisco Certified Internetworking Expert
CERN the Conseil Europeen pour la Recherché Nucleare,
the European research lab where the Web was born
CompTIA Computer Technology Industry Association
consultancy a business that offers its specialist services and
expertise for hire
CPOC customer proof of concept lab
CRM customer relationship management
CSO computer systems officer
DBA database analyst
ERP enterprise resource planning
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FMCG fast moving consumer goods, that is, frequently

purchased consumer products such as food
brands, beverages, toiletries and tobacco
GIS geographic information systems software
GUI graphical user interface
hybrid degrees degrees in all kinds of schools and disciplines, with
an IT focus
ICT information and communications technology
IP an Internet protocol
ITCRA IT Contract and Recruitment Association
ITIL IT Infrastructure Library is an IT credential in demand
in the government-sector.
J2EE Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition, an environment
for developing and deploying web-based enterprise
applications online. It supports HTML and Java
Applets and Applications.
Java a programming language with a Standard Edition
(J2SE), Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Micro Edition
(J2ME)
IPX short for Internetwork Packet Exchange, a
networking protocol
MACH Microsoft Academy for College Hires
mainframe a powerful computer that can support many users
connected via terminals simultaneously
MAPP Motivational appraisal of personal potential
MCAD Microsoft Certified Application Developer
MCAP Microsoft Certified Architect Program
MCDBA Microsoft Certified Database Administrator
MCDST Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician
MCSA Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator
MCSD Microsoft Certified Solution Developer
MCSE Microsoft Certified System Engineer
MCT Microsoft Certified Trainer
MOS Microsoft Office Specialist
network computing concentrates on network architecture, configuration,
maintenance and troubleshooting
PDA a personal digital assistant is a portable appliance
with features such as calendar, address book,
alarm clock and reminder features
PMI Project Management Institute
production system a live database with real customer data in it
R/3 database well-known integrated suite of applications
administration from SAP
RDBMS relational database management systems
SE system engineer
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B uz z words
SIBT Sydney Institute of Business Technology provides

alternative entry stream into IT studies at Macquarie
University
SIGS special interest groups
skill share the short-term movement of staff between different
government agencies during a skills shortage.
SME a small to medium enterprise is a company that
employs fewer than 500 people
SMS short message service
SP service provider
SQL a language that provides an interface to relational
database systems
TBC to be contacted
TCP/IP a collection of protocols that define the basic
workings of the Internet
telco telecommunications provider
telematics vehicle safety and security systems, in-car
information systems, and the like
VB A programming language
VoIP Voice over IP uses the Internet as a global
telephone network
VPN virtual private network providing secure logins for
remote staff
Y2K Year 2000. Refers to the suspected computer bug
that would crash computer systems worldwide at
the start of the millennium
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Appe n dixe s
Appendix 1
Comparative starting salaries of various
professions
Seeking full-time
Seeking full-time Further
In full-time employment, Median starting
Bachelor degree employment, not full-time study
employment (%) working part-time salary ($000)
working (%) (%)
or casual (%)
Agriculture 80.3 6.7 13.0 19.4 37.0
Architecture** 86.7 6.5 6.7 29.8 31.5
Building 91.0 4.5 4.5 25.0 35.0
Urb & reg planning 91.0 3.0 6.0 20.3 41.0
Humanities 70.7 11.1 18.2 34.4 35.0
Languages 74.9 8.3 16.8 40.2 40.0
Vis/perf arts 60.3 13.2 26.5 32.7 32.0
Social sciences 67.2 11.2 21.5 34.2 38.3
Psychology 70.5 10.8 18.7 44.2 38.5
Social work 80.2 7.6 12.2 8.1 40.0
Business studies 81.1 6.9 12.1 15.4 37.0
Accounting 86.9 6.7 6.4 11.1 35.5
Economics 86.1 7.3 6.6 32.1 41.0
Education 77.9 3.8 18.3 6.4 43.0
Education, post/other 84.3 3.6 12.0 34.7 39.5
Aeronautical eng 89.1 5.8 5.1 17.1 45.0
Chemical eng 83.1 9.6 7.3 18.9 45.7
Civil engineering 95.7 3.0 1.3 6.3 43.0
Electrical eng 87.3 8.6 4.0 13.2 45.0
Elect/Comp eng 78.3 11.7 10.0 14.0 43.0
Mechanical eng 89.5 4.8 5.8 9.4 44.0
Mining engineering 98.8 1.2 0.0 7.5 63.0
Other engineering 86.9 7.7 5.4 17.7 44.0
Surveying 95.4 2.0 2.6 11.5 40.0
Dentistry 95.0 0.8 4.1 10.2 65.0
Health, other 81.9 4.3 13.8 26.6 40.0
Nursing, initial 96.2 1.0 2.8 5.3 38.0
Nursing, post-initial 94.0 1.3 4.6 4.2 38.0
Pharmacy** 98.7 0.9 0.4 17.7 30.0
Medicine 98.3 0.6 1.1 13.1 48.0
Rehabilitation 90.0 3.1 6.8 13.3 41.2
Law 88.4 6.2 5.4 22.6 41.0
Law, other 84.6 6.1 9.3 17.4 38.0
Computer science 73.7 13.6 12.7 17.8 39.9
Life sciences 71.3 9.9 18.9 46.2 38.0
Mathematics 72.6 14.5 12.9 50.7 42.0
Chemistry 84.7 5.1 10.2 55.3 38.0
Physics 78.9 9.0 12.0 50.9 40.0
Geology 87.4 4.2 8.4 39.2 42.0
Veterinary science 94.0 3.6 2.4 6.7 37.0
Bachelor degree graduates: employment, further study and starting

salaries (%), 2005
* Base figure is group in full-time employment. ** Pre-registration
Reproduced with the kind permission of Graduate Careers Australia,
www.graduatecareers.com.au
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Appendix 2
Michael Page International salary tables
Source: Michael Page International technology salary survey, 2005, p5
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Appe n dixe s
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Appe n dixe s
Appendix 3
About TAFE certificates and diplomas
TAFE courses are rated within the Australian Qualifications
Framework (AQF). The AQF rating shows that the course adheres to
a standard governed by the Australian Quality Training Framework
(AQTF). This national framework standardises the educational level
represented with the various certificates and diplomas provided by
RTOs (Registered Training Organisations, such as TAFE colleges) and
ensures that the qualifications they issue meet standards and are
recognised nationally.
Note that certificates and diplomas can be studied progressively: a

certificate level can be used to provide the basis for the next level, and
so on up to diploma level (depending on the subject).
Certificates
Certificates range from level I to IV. Certificate courses usually relate
to different levels of skills within an occupation.
Certificate I
Certificate I courses teach the foundation skills required in some
industries, and are often the stepping stone to further qualifications.
Certificate II
Certificate II courses provide preparation for employment and/or
apprenticeships. They may also include traineeships with an on-the-
job component.
Certificate III
Certificate III courses teach well-developed skills in a range of
occupational areas. Certificate III courses are roughly the same level
as the former trade certificate courses offered by TAFE NSW.
Certificate IV
Certificate IV courses teach supervisory skills and advanced technical
skills which may build upon skills acquired in the workplace, a
Certificate III course or equivalent.
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Diplomas and advanced diplomas

Diplomas and advanced diplomas prepare you for work that requires
a broad range of complex technical skills and in-depth knowledge.
Diploma and advanced diploma courses often include training in
management, planning and evaluation, budgeting and finance, and
equip you with the knowledge and skills of the vocational area you
have chosen.
Graduate certificates and graduate diplomas

TAFE NSW offers graduate certificates and graduate diplomas. These
may be studied following the completion of a degree or an advanced
diploma. Graduate certificates and graduate diplomas usually include
extra training to build on your undergraduate program, or training in a
new professional area.
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Appe n dixe s
Appendix 4
Oracle certification
Job title Certification track guide
Database Administrator Oracle Database 10g DBA OCA
Oracle Database 10g DBA OCP
Oracle 9i DBA OCA
Oracle 9i DBA OCP
Oracle 9i DBA OCM
Special Accreditation: Managing Oracle 9i on Linux
Application Developer Oracle Forms Developer OCA
Oracle Forms Developer OCP
Internet Application Developer Rel. 6i OCP
Web Administrator Oracle Application Server 10g Administrator OCA
Oracle Application Server 10g Administrator OCP
Oracle 9i AS Web Administrator OCA
Oracle certification paths

Certification paths include:
■ Oracle Certified Administrator (OCA)

■ Oracle Certified Professional (OCP)
■ Oracle 9i Database Administrator Certified Master (OCM)
Oracle learning paths

Oracle organises its training material along Learning Paths
corresponding to career and job types including:
■ Database Administrator
■ Web Administrator
■ Java Developer
■ Portal Developer
■ Developer
■ Business Intelligence Developer
■ Data Warehouse Analyst
■ Data Warehouse Administrator
■ Functional Implementer
■ Technical Consultant
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Oracle product courses

Oracle training is also organised along product lines as follows:
■ Database
■ Application server
■ Development tools
■ Data warehousing and business intelligence
■ E-Business
■ Collaboration
■ PeopleSoft Enterprise
■ JD Edwards EnterpriseOne
■ JD Edwards World
■ Retek
For more details, visit Oracle Learning

www.oracle.com/education/getting_started.html
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Appe n dixe s
Appendix 5
Sample job advertisements
-
C#/.NET Developer
• Mid Level .Net Developers with min. 2 years exp. of
C#, working on large custom apps developments
• Financial organisation: $60–90k package
• Our client is based in central Melbourne
Our client, a leading financial organisation has several opportunities
for exceptional .NET Developers to join their growing team on a
permanent basis.
The responsibilities of this role will include systems design,
development, producing code and technical specifications, system
testing and writing documentation.
To succeed in this role, it is important that you have an excellent
track record in developing medium–large applications for major
corporations. You will be required to have the following skills:
- A mininum of 2 years experience in C#
- At least 2 years commercial experience in any of the following
languages-.Net/Java,C++ or VB6
- Strong skills in RDBMS – Oracle is preferred however SQL Server
or Sybase SQL skills will also be considered
- Experience with web and windows based GUI’s.
- A Bachelor degree (preferably in IT)
- Previous work experience developing in medium – large organisations.
- Excellent communication skills
This role would suit an individual with excellent teamwork skills, who
can think on their feet, is willing to go the extra mile and has the
ability to work under pressure.
If you have the right skills and experience for this role, please click
the ‘Apply’ button below, or email your résumé to:
michelle.jones@jobs.com.au
161
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Junior ASP/SQL Developer

PERMANENT OPPORTUNITY! Sydney CBD
38K Base + 9% Super
The Company
This rapidly expanding, privately owned company is an incentives provider
who reward individuals for their online contributions regarding personal
interests and desires as a consumer. This information is then provided to
marketing research companies.
They are looking for a talented individual who is passionate about ASP and
SQL development. Involved in the role will be numerous small to medium
autonomous projects that will revolve around the range of both internal and
external services of the firm. This is great challenge for an individual looking for
a change from their current line of development.
Your Skills
To succeed in this development environment ideally you will posess a
minimum of 6 months commercial development experience in ASP, SQL,
Javascript and a strong understanding of SQL server. Also required is MS
Office exp, a high level of patience and the ability to develop robust, high
quality code.
Tertiary qualifications in Computer Science are required.
If you wish to be considered for this opportunity, please click the ‘Apply Now’
button below or email your résumé to daniel@ITjobs.com.au
Senior J2EE Developer -

Large Oracle Environment
Senior Java/J2EE Developer with Oracle
Java/J2EE – JSP, Servlets, Struts, Eclipse, Junit, JRun, XML &
Oracle
$80K – $100K+
Australian financial institution requires a Senior Developer with 5 + years
commercial experience and excellent Java skills to join their team. It is a large,
data intensive J2EE/Oracle environment and the role will therefore require sound
knowledge of Oracle PL/SQL development, in addition to excellent hands on Java,
JSP, and Servlets. Just as importantly you will need to have a personable manner
and excellent communication skills to flourish in this supportive team environment.
This is an excellent opportunity for the right individual to take the next step up
in their career, or break into the financial services sector. There is also strong
emphasis on personal development and work–life balance, in addition to an
attractive remuneration package.
Please click the ‘Apply Now’ button below.
162
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Appe n dixe s
Appendix 6
Sample résumé
Terry Sample
121 Lyons Crescent Age: [optional]
Matraville NSW 2412 Date of Birth: [optional]
Daytime Tel: 02 9561 4564 Nationality: [optional]
Evening Tel: 02 9564 2564
Email: t.sample@email.com
PE RSON AL PRO F I L E
Qualified and experienced business analyst with experience in financial services, healthcare, and
manufacturing sectors. Solid career professional with demonstrable track record of success in major IT
project implementations for a variety of organisations across a number of environments.
SKI L L S
Skills in working with programmers in various environments including COBOL, Fortran and more
recently J2EE and related. Knowledge of RDBMS, Oracle Financials and related technologies.
Knowledge of client-server technologies, network management and financial IT practices.
Knowledgable about accounting practices and terminology, unit trusts, superannuation legislation,
Financial Services Reform Act and related issues.
C ARE E R H I ST O RY
Senior business analyst, Clover Financial Services, Sydney

April 2002 – Current
Senior business analyst involved in a variety of projects transitioning from multiple Unix-based
environments to a single Windows-based client-server suite. Tasks involve creation of functional
specifications, business requirements analysis, flowcharts and process maps. Liaise with technical
leads and programmers and with business stakeholders across the three main divisions of the business.
Major achievements: all project milestones completed ahead of schedule, roll-outs all went on time or
ahead of time. Low error rates and high levels of user uptake.
Business analyst, Mercury Health Services, Liverpool

October 1999 – March 2002
Developed original ‘Business Process Guides’ for a suite of medical insurance products; adapting
system from use in Canada and the United States for Australian conditions. This required extensive
analysis of the Australian Healthcare Insurance Commission requirements and specifications and re-
writing of health insurance product definitions and parameters.
[...etc]
E D U C AT I ON AN D Q U A L IFIC AT IO N S
• Educated at Sydney Grammar School

• BSc Comp Eng, UNSW 1997
• Grad Diploma Financial IT, UTS 2005

sample resumes and cover letters from Career FAQs 163
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Appendix 7
Sample cover letter
Terry Sample
121 Lyons Crescent
Matraville NSW 2412
Daytime Tel: 02 9561 4564
Even Tel: 02 9564 2564
Email t.sample@email.com
6 January 2006
Mr Mark Smith
Senior Consultant
ABC Recruitment Solutions
242 George St Sydney NSW 2000
Dear Mr Smith
Re: Business Analyst Financial Services Company
I write in response to your advertisement for this position in yesterday’s

Sydney Morning Herald. I wish to apply because the role represents an ideal
next step in my career, and because I believe I am an excellent candidate, as
my attached resume will demonstrate.
I am currently employed in a similar position by Clover Financial Services

however I wish to move to a larger organisation in order to make use of
the skills I have acquired in my three years at Clover and from my recent
completion of a postgraduate degree in Financial Analysis.
I have extensive experience with business analysis in both superannuation

and mortgage products, as well as a proven track record with Crystal
Reports implementation. I have been responsible for generating functional
specifications and requirements analysis over the last three years as well as
having similar experience in earlier roles. I am a dedicated team player who
enjoys the company and support of my peers while being able to manage my
priorities and work with minimal supervision.
Most of all, I am a committed professional with the skills and attributes the
job requires, and a strong determination to achieve an excellent outcome for
my employer.
Yours sincerely
Terry Sample

164 sample resumes and cover letters from Career FAQs
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84310_SEK0092D_250x176 16/12/05 2:40 PM Page 1

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Whatever your motivation

It follows that careers in IT have

ISBN 978 1 921106

Published by Career FAQs Pty Ltd

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National Library of Australia

Information Technology: Australia.

ISBN 978 1 921106 13 1

1. Information technology – Vocational guidance – Australia. I. Title.

Publisher: Sue Stevens

Career FAQs acknowledges the following copyright owners for permission to

Graduate Careers Council of Australia, www.graduatecareers.com.au

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From a commercial perspective, several years on from the height of

The IT profession is integral to bringing all of these developments to

IT - 120306.indd iii 13/3/06 2:41:54 PM

The blazing pace of digital advancement is also opening up new

Career FAQs is a wonderful new resource and I commend it to you as a

IT - 120306.indd iv 13/3/06 2:41:55 PM

The big picture

IT - 120306.indd v 13/3/06 2:41:55 PM

Fiona Hathaway – Microsoft Australia 28

Ready, set, go for it!

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Tips: Résumé writing 135

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Career FAQs was conceived in 2004 as a result of my own quest

IT - 120306.indd ix 13/3/06 2:41:56 PM

The range of Career FAQs titles is constantly expanding as we

Best of luck with ﬁnding the right career for you!

It is always inspirational to ﬁnd people who are willing

That you all gave so willingly and provided such compelling

IT - 120306.indd x 13/3/06 2:41:56 PM

these particular roles.

Career FAQs books are divided into three main sections.

‘The big picture’ provides an overview of the industry,

‘Insider info’ proﬁles the personal experiences of people who are

cv is a snapshot of a person’s career pathway –

detour indicates that another Career FAQs title has

find out gives you directions to ﬁnd out more about a

IT - 120306.indd xi 13/3/06 2:41:56 PM

provides additional information or an interesting

is used as a margin note to help clarify the

are jobs in the industry or profession that, at the

in is a short proﬁle of a speciﬁc job, with

explodes popular myths surrounding a particular

myweek is a day-by-day overview of the typical work-

jobs that have an unconventional, interesting

q&a tells the story of real experiences of people

highlight some of the issues associated with a

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Whatever your motivation or your background, it has probably become

Want more quality career resources

IT - 120306.indd Sec1:1 13/3/06 2:41:57 PM

I like dealing with new situations, learning new things, handling

It follows that careers in IT have enormous scope and variety. A lot of

With the advent of broadband, the growth in home networking,

IT - 120306.indd Sec1:2 13/3/06 2:41:57 PM

What do IT people do?

However, there are opportunities to use many different abilities in the IT

Support, help desk and network administration require the ability to

The IT roles discussed in this book regularly perform the following