Panui 29 september
Kia ora koutou IT professionals members and supporters. It feels like it’s been a quiet week in tech this week, or maybe the election coverage has overshadowed everything else? It is the time of year the mega tech companies hold their conferences in the US and announce new models, versions, features their customer base might be interested in adopting - we’ve all see the iPhone 15 hype, Oracle announced they are incorporating Generative AI features; Meta announced new smart glasses and their Snoop Dogg chatbot; Nintendo, Sony and Playstation all had big game announcements.
Immigration NZ announced two additions to the Green list this week, System Administrator and Database Administrator, two roles I have held in the past (Sun/AIX/VMS and Oracle/Sybase/Postgres respectively) back in the day when everyone had their own server rooms. So it was slightly surprising to see them prioritised today when Cloud deployment has significantly reduced the need for specialised capability increasing the need for Dev/Ops capability instead.
Degree level Apprenticeships - why we need them for digital technologies
I've spent a fair bit of my time on pathways into the workforce and recently have been learning all about Degree Apprenticeships. From the time I spend with Universities, PTEs and Technical institutes the key theme I hear over and over again is the need for a different model that recognises only a few privileged students can afford to study full-time, the majority needing to hold down 1,2 or 3 jobs. The current model of studying part-time and working part-time isn’t connected up or integrated, those part-time jobs are unlikely to be in the field of study and students are taking longer and longer to complete diplomas and degrees as a result. Other countries have already embraced work integrated learning pathways, one of these models is Degree Level Apprenticeships.
Here is Aotearoa NZ we think of Apprenticeships as only for trades people, a model whereby the student primarily works learning on the job while also completing courses to reinforce that learning. In the UK they have acknowledged the need for higher education to provide affordable accessible education including the prestigious Russell Group of Universities - which includes University of Cambridge and Imperial College - who in their latest report on themselves say:
"Apprenticeships create opportunities for students to study whilst working, meaning that an apprentice will benefit from both structured industry-led training and subject-expertise during their off-the-job training."
You will be pleased to hear there is some activity happening in both TEC and Te Pūkenga on how this model might work, we need our Universities to also recognise that higher education must be fit for purpose and accessible to everyone including underrepresented students and no longer a pursuit for those who can afford it.
We need employers to embrace this model too. The UK Office for Students describe degree apprenticeships as spending 20% of time on off-the-job training, and take up to 6 years to complete. This means employers will need to be able to create entry level roles, the government will need to put scaffolding and subsidies in place (as they have done for trade apprenticeship programmes) to encourage the uptake in STEM.
Perhaps this can go some way towards saving our universities as student unions have been calling for in recent months.
Bridging the Gap Podcast
Shining a light on the diversity of roles and fabulous people in our industry has been a really rewarding process for me so far. With 11 episodes out and 9 more to come in 2023 this will be a rich collection of short stories from a diverse range of folks across all roles in the industry.
This week I am recording short interviews with folks who are looking to be elected to the IT Professionals board at our AGM in October. So thought I’d highlight a few of our earlier episodes just in case you missed them:
- Selva Ganapathy on his career as a community manager - Spotify or Apple
- Elinor Sapir on working in Auckland, Silicoln Valley and Tel Aviv - Spotify or Apple
- Dani Wright on her career as a designer from fridges to websites and apps - Spotify or Apple
- Valerie Chan on moving from graduate developer into the SAAS product space - Spotify or Apple
Blogs this week
Peter’s editorial this week covers the latest leaders debate and the absence of technology this election - Paddy’s feisty debate with a sprinkling of tech. “Tech hasn’t had much of a look in this election campaign cycle, despite it being a pivotal time to make some decisions on tech skills, emerging technologies, STEM education, and how we want the digital economy to operate.”
He goes on to talk about NZTech’s latest manifesto which also inspired Brendan’s cartoon this week - Urgently Needed - expanding on Peter’s editorial.
Peter wrote earlier in the week on AWS’s $4Billion dollar investment in to Generative AI -
From Anthropic to Titan - AWS is going big on generative AI. It was only a matter of time before we saw them stepping into this arena. Interesting read.
Australia is calling for a National Digital ID scheme - is the topic of our guest blog this week. This expert opinion piece describes the scheme, discusses how it might work and provides the pros and cons, including the “honey trap for hackers”. If you are in Australia then there is a public consultation process on this happening right now. If you want to read more here is another good article.
No AI Wrap this week sorry folks.
For ITP Members
IT Professionals is a membership based organisation who is focused on growing and maturing the capability of those who work in our sector. It’s our AGM and election time of year and our constitution requires we hold elections for roles at both the national board and local branch levels.
This is a foundational aspect of our organisation, that those who set priorities and oversee the operations are elected by the members, from the membership.
At a branch committee level the role involves arranging events for your local chapter and assisting with thought leadership on local issues
The national board role is a governance role so characteristically holds greater responsibility and is a great environment to gain not-for-profit governance experience.
You can nominate yourself or a colleague via this form.
And a reminder to register for the AGM here.
NEW Lunch and Learns - our first webinar will be all about insurance (see below for details). This first one in the series is free for everyone but we will be moving these to ITP members only in 2024.
We also have Tech Chat Tuesday next week on Tuesday for ITP members next week, registration is here.
Events coming up
In Nelson Wakatu - go along to this great debate on the “Sunshine Wages” event next week. All welcome.
In Auckland Tamaki Makaurau - the Auckland branch is getting in before silly season with this End of Year networking event for members and students. An opportunity for members to connect and to provide students with sage advice on getting into the industry, what to expect from different roles and how to find jobs. We will have short lightening talks from speakers but the majority of the time is focused on networking and getting together to celebrate the year. Friday 13th of October. All welcome.
Lunch and Learn - all about insurance. Join me on this the first of our new Lunch and Learn webinar series with our current group insurance scheme broker Jake Walsh from Rothbury. If you are a contractor or considering contracting, own a small business or are considering launching then this is the webinar for you.
Tech news in brief
A small collection of articles worth reading this week.
Te Red Māori digital technology terms
This week I’ve chosen three things I do / take every day! The full list can be found here.
Login on = takiuru
Screenshot = kapomata
Selfie = kiriāhua
Finally. I am off to Waikato university in a couple of weeks to share in their 50 Years of Computing celebrations and joining their Women in STEM activities on Ava Lovelace day. I love that they have been teaching computing for 50 years and are celebrating the past and looking forward to the future.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone, Kia pai ō rā whakatā. Vic
