ICT career track awareness amongst ICT graduates

Authors:
Andre P. Calitz;Jean H. Greyling;Margaret D. M. Cullen
Affiliations:
NMMU, Port Elizabeth, S. A.;NMMU, Port Elizabeth, S. A.;NMMU, Port Elizabeth, S. A.
Venue:
Proceedings of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists Conference on Knowledge, Innovation and Leadership in a Diverse, Multidisciplinary Environment
Year:
2011

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Abstract

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry is constantly evolving and new technologies are continuously being introduced. The new technologies create new ICT positions, such as Social Networking Manager, IT Architect, Knowledge Manager and Web Specialist. Existing job descriptions such as Systems Analyst, Project Manager and Programmer still exist. ICT graduates today can pursue a large range of ICT careers. The IS2010 ACM curriculum guidelines provide a range of Information Systems career tracks that students could pursue on completion of a specific degree program. ICT students graduating from tertiary institutions are generally not aware of the possible ICT career opportunities and career tracks available and are uninformed about the job descriptions of a computing professional. The research study conducted among Computer Science and Information Systems under-graduates and post-graduates indicated that the students were generally ignorant of possible ICT career tracks and opportunities available in industry. The study showed that there is a significant statistical difference between career knowledge students indicated they perceived they possessed and their actual career knowledge. Academics and students need to acquire a thorough knowledge of ICT career paths and career tracks. The paper suggests methods to educate and provide the relevant information on ICT career opportunities to new ICT graduates and educators.