Taking Australia’s Digital Pulse

This week the Australian Computer Society (ACS) and Deloitte released their 12^th annual Digital Pulse report . For the first time they found that IT workforce numbers had softened (0.3% decline in overall IT employment – down to 967,000 roles) somewhat, but demand remains strong in cyber security and for AI skills.

They suggest that the overall technology sector impact on our economy is huge at up to $476 billion, (18% of GDP) with a direct contribution of $142 billion, only behind mining and agriculture as a proportion of GDP. The Tech Council of Australia have a similar result for direct contributions, but measure the indirect differently, so they estimate a total of 8.9% of GDP. Note that the $142 billion is growing at 5% annual in real terms, so IT is growing fast even in a softening economy.

Either way, the results reiterate what we already know – technology is pervasive and an integral part of everything that we do in our work (and home) lives. Some of the examples they cite are that workers in financial services fields attribute 68% of their time (i.e. wages cost) to digital tasks, leading all the way down to agriculture at 24% (surprisingly high – perhaps reflecting the impact of IoT on agriculture) and accommodation and hospitality at 19%.

What they did not see yet was the expected decline in entry level jobs as a result of AI uptake as widely predicted and feared – it was seen more as a move of tasks within those roles. It emphasised how AI skills are becoming more a part of every technology worker’s role. AI is changing and growing at a never-before-seen rate – one comment made is that it takes a full time 5 day week worth of time every day just to try and keep across AI developments that are publicly available – there is just so much going on all at once.

The report spends some time on areas that are close to our hearts – professionalism, training and how people come into IT.

As IT Masters have always believed, 40% of IT workers come into the industry from non technical roles, via “self starting”, industry certs and on the job training. 29% are from university, 13% from VET and 18% are temporary or migration related. IT Masters courses for example have a far higher proportion of students who enter on the basis of their work experience than any other post grad courses at CSU. Cyber security in particular is one of the 3 top areas in which self-starters specialise. Industry certifications are the primary source of training for over 10% of IT workers.

On professionalisation, the report finds that workers with SFIA aligned training achieve premiums of 7.3% in their pay, and that the growing process of professionalisation helps to create recognised career pathways in the industry. They point to the recent Cyberpath initiative that is aimed at establishing entry pathways, aligning training with industry needs and creating clearer standards for skills and accreditations in cyber security.

The report has significant sections detailing how Australia can leverage our current digital advantages in AI adoption and capability, as a driver of productivity growth and jobs. Not only is AI as a specialisation growing at a rapid rate. But the impact of AI on every role is just starting to be felt and AI upskilling for all of us is a key component of growth.

Some of the implications for post graduate IT study from this report (which is extensively used by the government to guide their own forecasting each year) is:

• Cyber security in the age of AI is more important than ever – the two fields are drawing ever closer.
• AI skills need to become as embedded as using Word or Excel for all job roles, not just those of us who work in technology all day.
• It doesn’t matter really which field you come from, IT welcomes people from all sorts of previous careers, through a variety of pathways, including industry certifications, VET and university.

If you are thinking about studying cyber security, AI or any related IT fields then there is no time like now to get on board, with our two new AI subjects focused on deploying AI in your organisation and using/fighting AI in cybersecurity. You can find more information on them here, including how to take them as a standalone subject.

Our next intake is in November and by then we should have more good news on AI – keep watching this space, or speak with one of our course advisors – they’ll help you map out a pathway that suits your needs.