The Information Technology Professionals Association (ITPA) is buoyant about the latest employment data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) which it says shows IT industry employment in Australia has grown by 45% over the 10 years from 2006 to 2016.
And ITPA says the ABS stats reveal that there has been significant growth in “ICT Security Specialist” roles (up by 130% over 10 years and 50% from 2011-16) as well as “ICT Managers” (89% and 109%) and “ICT Project Managers” (22% and 94%).
ITPA points to what it says are some significant changes in the roles ABS grouped under the “Total Developers” block of categories which panned out to an overall increase of 24% in the last five years (34,880 to 43,221).
And, it also says the ABS report shows a 6% drop in “Multimedia Specialists” plus a 3% drop in “Analyst Programmers” – “balanced by over 8,000 new roles in the “Web Developer” and “Developer Programmer” categories”.
{loadposition peter}In addition ITPA says the past two Census returns show that in 2006, 184,041 Census respondents indicated they worked in the IT industry, with that figure growing to 222,644 in 2011 and reaching 266,631 in the 2016 data.
According to ITPA President, Robert Hudson, it is no great surprise that there has been significant growth and upheaval in the 2016 Census data for IT professionals.
“Our industry has had a massive impact on the world in the last 10 years and it is changing almost daily, so it is only natural that this transformation is reflected in jobs data,” Hudson said. “From the ABS data we can see that there are jobs being created in areas such as cyber security, managers of IT environments and in managing IT projects.
“Organisations of all shapes, industries and sizes are prioritising investment in technology that is in alignment with their business objectives. The IT professionals they employ are more critical than ever to enabling business success and efficient, quality service delivery.
“Growth in security and IT management are indicators of both the growing importance and complexity of the IT function. IT professionals have quickly graduated from being a mere provider of support systems to being critical to competitive advantage and risk management.
“IT is firmly on the agenda in Australian boardrooms and suitably skilled IT professionals are in demand,” Hudson says.
And according to Hudson there are important lessons in the Census data for people who are working in the IT industry and “strong indicators on how they can remain relevant through continual education”.
“IT is a great catalyst for change across the full range of industry verticals that make up our economy but those who work in the industry also have to ensure they acquire the skills that are in demand today. They have to be prepared to continue evolving with the industry.
“This is one of the key motivating factors in why we have developed our Certified Practicing Member (CPM) program which serves to verify the fact that IT professionals are undergoing training every year to continue developing their skills in line with new technologies and industry demand.
“For example, a recent Government report estimated Australia would need another 11,000 cyber security specialists over the next decade.
“This clearly illustrates what a great career opportunity Cyber Security presents – particularly to System Administrators who already have some experience in keeping IT systems secure.
“It also serves to demonstrate how important it is for Government, educational institutions and the industry to work together on making sure these skills are being included in graduate and post graduate study curricula at our leading tertiary IT faculties.”