IT Alumni Career Forum
Alumni from the School of Information Technology shared candidly about their experiences on campus and at work, at the School of IT Alumni Career Forum on 10 September 2019.
Two alumni speakers from different industry sectors were invited to share real-world industry experience with students from the School of Information Technology.
School of IT lecturer Dr Nik Nailah Abdullah moderated the forum intending to provide an opportunity for students to gain knowledge about career readiness, industry expectations, and specific job functions.
The topics discussed in the forum included ways to start building their portfolio at the university, explore a day in the life of an IT professional, and future trends in the industry.
Director of Software Architecture at Photobook Worldwide, Mike Kow, who has Monash interns working for him says the top 3 criteria he looks for when hiring fresh graduates are; willingness to learn, attitude, and the will to win. As per the Monash motto, Ancora Imparo, Kow stressed the need for continuous learning. Mike Kow also emphasised the growing trend of AI in the industry and the need for future computer science skills in AI.
Seong Han, a graduate of 2017, raised questions such as, “Have you participated in any other activities? How have you demonstrated yourself to be above average?” to get the students thinking about how they can improve and set themselves apart from the rest. He was also part of MUSA and advised students to be active, especially when in university but to also balance life outside the classroom with their studies.
Student feedback for the event was positive. They were able to learn from their seniors who are now doing well in the industry and how IT has a broader impact. Contrary to popular belief, IT roles are not limited to programming as the students learned that roles are now more diverse in the technology industry. Most importantly, they learned how IT professionals could also contribute to society in various ways from cybersecurity, to using AI such as machine learning to provide analytics, to simply building tools that can make the business process more straightforward. They also discovered more about the soft skills and attributes needed to succeed in the chosen career paths.