Blog: VET Kickstarts Careers in the Technology Sector
Written by Cara Jenkin
Australia’s technology sector needs so many more skilled workers, that supply cannot currently keep up with the pace of demand.
More than 25,000 workers are required in the next five years to work directly in the technology industry.
The Future Skills Organisation’s Technology Workforce Plan reveals the sector currently employs 338,000 people, which is forecast to rise by 7.4% by the end of the decade.
It outlines technology is Australia’s third-largest industry, contributing $167 billion towards the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021.
By 2030, the tech sector activity is forecast to contribute more to GDP than the agriculture or manufacturing industries.
However, it was not this important role that technology jobs play for Australia’s future nor the job opportunities that drew cyber security analyst Kai Baharthah-King into the career.
He simply saw it as the “coolest career” in which he could stop cyber criminals and defend his country.
RELATED: Christopher Fitzsimons’ story
Kai learned about the career during a cyber security career workshop run for school students and says he was “totally hooked” immediately.
“I started practising, doing some online challenges and learning as much as I could. I totally loved it,” he says.
“I liked programming when I was younger but … cyber security is a lot different that a lot of other computer fields.
“Rather than using and maintaining the system you need to know the core internal mechanics of how everything works.
“You need to be fast at it as well – the difference between stopping a cyber attack and not can sometimes be minutes.
“It’s finding the needle in the haystack to stop the problem and stop the attacker before they damage anything else.”
Kai chose to start his career pathway into technology with a Certificate III in Information, Digital Media and Technology through TAFE, as at age 15 and halfway through Year 10 at school, he was able to enrol in vocational education.
To start his career via a university degree, he would have had to wait another 2.5 years until he had finished high school to apply.
He continued vocational study with a Certificate IV in Cyber Security, then as he started his Advanced Diploma of Cyber Security, employers came knocking on his TAFE’s door looking for stand-out students to hire.
His name was put forward and at age 16, he was employed as a cyber security analyst by Woodside Energy, where he still works three years later.
“It’s been totally awesome,” he says.
“The job’s always changing. You have your base skills and you get to constantly learn about new things.
“You get to combat live attacks. I get to watch other people try to break things and you get to stop them while they’re doing it.
“You get to see the impact you have defending your organisation and the people in it, so I find it really rewarding and really valuable as well.”
Cyber security analyst is one of 34 technology occupations in shortage nationally, alongside jobs such as DevOps engineer, web developer, penetration tester, system analyst and developer programmer.
The broader occupational group of database and systems administrators and ICT security specialists has one of the sector’s largest jobs growth to be forecast in the next 10 years, of about 20 per cent.
The Australian Government wants the nation to become a world leader in cyber security by 2030, releasing the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy to help realise its vision.
Vocational education and training (VET) is seen as a key way to train this workforce, particularly as it can help workers to be job-ready more quickly than higher education.
As technologies are rapidly evolving, a worker’s skills can quickly become outdated if they do not have work experience. Traineeships, such as those offered by group training organisation MEGT, can help students combine work with their vocational study.
Students can gain university credits for their vocational qualifications such as advanced diplomas, helping them to gain higher education degrees faster if they choose to.
Kai says if he decides to pursue a bachelor degree, which he believes employers look for when hiring or promoting workers into senior positions, his previous study will be recognised a prior learning, cutting 1.5 years off his study time.
However, Kai says that is not the only benefit of studying VET.
“It’s self-paced learning and your enthusiasm drives your learning and how much you want to learn,” he says.
“Rather than waiting for tasks to be given to you or explained, you can research it and figure it out yourself and ask questions that extend your knowledge.
“TAFE really gives you the core skills and the mindset to be able to sort the problems and work it out. I have more hands-on experience via TAFE.
RELATED: Daniella Surya’s story
“I think the TAFE pathway works really well but it’s not considered as much traditionally. It’s a different pathway that can get you ahead of your classmates as you’ll have qualifications that will help you get the job.”
That will all help Australian workers to meet the skills gap more quickly than through other methods of workplace training and education.
“I think VET has been an absolute game changer for me because it’s kickstarted my career,” Kai says.
“I now have a stable job in a career I want to be in, doing all the work that I want to be doing and absolutely loving it and that was all from going through the VET system.
“I didn’t have any qualifications, I was 15 when I started, and by 16 I had completed by certificate III and IV, starting an advanced diploma and I was hired by my employer at 16 years old – that doesn’t normally happen.
“I credit VET for giving me the opportunity to make that happen.”
READ MORE ABOUT WHAT IT TAKES TO WORK IN CYBER SECURITY AND OTHER TECHNOLOGY CAREERS AT FUTURESKILLSORGANISATION.COM.AU
Cara