GET INTO IT ROUND TABLE DINNER

Get Into IT!!

On Tuesday 29 July 2008 the Ballarat ICT Cluster, in conjunction with National ICT Careers Week held the first Ballarat 'Get into IT' Round Table Dinner at the Greenhill Enterprise Centre. The evening brought together over 60 participants including some of our most successful and ambitious ICT professionals and local students considering a future career inInformation, Communication and Technology.

National ICT Careers Week

Studying computing and communications is the start to a rewarding, interesting and social career anywhere in the world. During National ICT Careers Week, ICT companies, professional associations, women in ICT groups, TAFEs, universities, state and federal government agencies showed opportunities for young people in ICT to start here, go anywhere. For background information on Ballarat’s participation go to www.ballaratict.com.au/getintoit. For further information on National ICT Careers week see www.aiia.com.au.

Event Report

Master of ceremonies was Greg Simmons, Lecturer at the School of ITMSat the University of Ballarat. Guest speakers included Cameron Woolfe and Emily French.

Working with a global company
Cameron, an IBM manager in Ballarat, was one of the first IBMr's to work in Ballarat starting with IBM in 1996. In his current role as a Security Manager he manages a national team of security professionals which includes: forensic investigators, ethical hackers, perimeter defence security engineers, security threat assessors and a 24X7 security operations centre. Students were informed of opportunities and programs that IBM offer to provide IT students at the University of Ballarat with a theory and practical balance to their learning which will ultimately lead to more attractive application when they complete their degree.

Working with a dynamic SME
Emily is a Senior Design/Production supervisor at RU Advertising. Emily gave a great insight to students about the different opportunities she undertook which all together created the path to get her where she is today. Emily travelled and worked in Switzerland during 2001 prior to commencing a graphic design/multimedia degree at the University of Ballarat, graduating in 2004. Was awarded a Ballarat Arts Foundation grant in 2005, which enabled her to fulfil a unique opportunity and travel back to Europe to visit the Museum fur Gestaltung 'Poster Collection' in Zurich. Emily was invited to design the 151 poster and billboard. These experiences and where Emily is today proved to be inspiring and thought provoking to many of the students in attendance.

Profiling the ICT Sector

As part of National ICT Careers week the ICT sector was profiled in a number of ways.

National media included:

Trends and Prospects in the ICT Industry
www.ballaratict.com.au/cb_pages/news/Trends_article2008.php

Industry Support for National ICT Careers week http://www.ballaratict.com.au/cb_pages/news/industrysupport_ictweek.php

Local media stories which were published in the Ballarat Courier

Tuesday 8th July 2008- ICT careers night for youth
http://www.ballaratict.com.au/cb_pages/courier_article_ICTnight_2008.php

Saturday 26th July 2008- Young encouraged to get into IT.
http://www.ballaratict.com.au/cb_pages/courier_article_getintoit_2008.php

Participating firms and sponsors were profiled during the Get into IT!! Dinner

Click here to view the rolling PowerPoint presentation.

Outcomes

The evening was highly successful for Ballarat's first 'Get into IT' Round Table Dinner. Attendees, both industry and students (and Parents), were impressed with the information they received and conversations they had.

The focus of the evening was on promoting the ICT industry to local students through guest speakers and one-on-one interaction with ICT Professionals.

Students liked being able to speak to different people in the industry and get an insight on the diverse areas of IT work that are available in Ballarat. Students were excited about the quality of the 'awesome' showbags, with each student in attendance receiving a 2 GB USB from Telstra Country Wide, amongst many other IT related goodies donated by local businesses. One student was glad that the evening showed the many aspects of IT, stating that many people think that IT is just for computer geeks.

Industry guests at this event were extremely pleased with the enthusiasm of the 'young people'. Industry representatives enjoyed sharing their experiences with some of the students and were impressed by the amount of well thought out questions coming from the students.