Master in the making
20 July 2010
Students from a variety of secondary schools arrived at Kangan Institute's Broadmeadows campus last Thursday for a chance to gain a greater understanding of a career in Information Technology at the Upload Your Future event held by the ICT department.
The event, which catered to students from Assumption College, Footscray City College, Roxburgh College and Salesian College, featured a range of guest industry speakers helping to communicate the broad range of career roles that an ICT qualification can lead into.
Terry McNamara, manager of ICT at Kangan Institute, said that job-seekers with these skills remain hugely in-demand by industry.
"By March 2009, 98 percent of Kangan Institute's 2008 graduates were either working in the industry or studying in higher education," Terry said, "Simply put, there are more job vacancies for ICT graduates in Australia than there are ICT graduates to fill them."
Kangan Institute has had particular success in this field, training a number of students who have since progressed to become finalists and medallists in state, national and international competitions - such as the prestigious WorldSkills awards.
One of the popular guest speakers at the event was Mark Flanagan, who has forged a career as an artist in the competitive videogaming industry working on software such as Colin McRae Rally 05 and Ashes Cricket 2009.
Mark provided a solid overview of the industry, outlining how games development requires a diverse range of people with different skills, talents and abilities to create a polished final product.
"A game like Assassin's Creed 2 or Modern Warfare 2 can take a team of hundreds to build, and cost many millions to develop," Mark said, "Sure you need programmers, but you also need people on the team with IT skills to fill up other roles as artists and designers, but also in marketing, management, and audio.
"Australia's quite a major player in the games industry and it's an industry that will keep on changing, and keep on growing," Mark continued, "If you're looking to make your mark in this business, you're going to have to grow with it."
Other notable speakers at the event included Darryl Rogan from DIIRD, Roman Kreychman from Ingram Micro, and David Taylor discussing privacy awareness on behalf of the government.
Organised by Ilia Tregoubenko and sponsored by Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development (DIIRD), Multimedia Victoria, and Australian Industry Group, the event was a firm success, with positive feedback received from a number of the visiting attendees.
For more information on ICT courses at Kangan Institute, contact Terry McNamara on tmcnamara@kangan.edu.au or phone 13 TAFE (13 8233).
