Many assume that being trained in computers equals immediate job opportunities. But the slump in the Information Technology (IT) market that started with the non-event of Y2K and the global economic downturn that followed the 9/11 bombings in the United States have left the industry on shaky ground.
The quick rise of dot.com and e-commerce ventures in the late 1990s and their crippling collapse in the past few years have also been wake-up calls for the IT sector.
But, despite the current gloomy outlook, it’s by no means the end of the road.
South Africa, as a developing country, can leapfrog many of the problems of more developed nations by optimising existing technological solutions and innovating new solutions to beef up the technology capital of the country.
Choosing a career in the field of IT calls for a careful assessment of market needs and arming oneself with a good base of qualifications to build on and update on a regular basis.
At the Midrand Graduate Institute, students are required to work with an NGO and use their IT skills to improve or enhance the operations of that organisation.
Managing director of the institute, Lizette Greyling, says that this kind of practical and community upliftment training is vital to get students thinking about applying their skills.
‘They will do things like write a software programme for the organisation or design an interactive website. It has to be something that adds value to the organisation,” she says.
The institute offers two degree programmes: a BSc Information Technology degree and a BComm Information Systems degree.
‘The Information Technology degree is more about computer science and working with networks, while the Information Systems degree is more about writing software programes,” Greyling explains.
Both courses come with a strong business component, including training in business skills, financial accounting and business English. There is also a communication skills course and another on human resource management.
‘We want to prepare them to use their IT skills in a business set-up because that is one of the open areas in the market today,” she says.
The institute revises its programme annually and uses an industry advisory board to assist with developing relevant course content.
‘We also use a mixture of full-time and part-time staff members who are involved in the IT industry and we have regular guest lecturers who also work with the students,” she says.
The Midrand Graduate Institute admits about 40 candidates each year and the cost of the course per year is R23 000.
Nolan Charles of the Icesa Group of Colleges in KwaZulu-Natal says graduates have to ditch unrealistic expectations about the jobs they’ll find as new graduates.
‘They may have to work as junior programmers, data capturers or in other such jobs at the low end of the scale to begin with. What is important is that they get a solid foundation of skills and then look to specialise after that,” Charles says.
But he is confident that there is room in the job market for graduates with an IT qualification: ‘Any business that isn’t computerised can be computerised and graduates need to learn to see these markets and create their own business opportunities.”
The college is currently involved with the Durban Chamber of Commerce’s survey to assess the IT needs of the province.
More than 50% of Icesa’s intake is made up of students who enrol for the college’s three-year Information Technology diploma. Students also have the option of getting a certificate after completing a two-year programme. The college takes in 160 students each year.
First-year students at Icesa can expect to pay about R8 000 a year and third-year students will pay about R12 000 a year.
‘We try to model our course along the lines of what the technikons are offering and revise them accordingly,” he says.
Third-year students undergo experiential training for two days a week for six months and Icesa brings in guest lecturers to expose students to those already in the field.
Cape Town-based Prestige College offers a one-year certificate course or a two or three year diploma course. The courses range from basic IT training on Microsoft, Cisco and Linux systems to training for network integration, web design and software programming. The college admits 600 students each year to all its courses.
‘On certain courses we limit the number of students that we enrol according to market demands. On our StudioMax course, for example, there are only 18 students,” says Eureka Olivier, training manager at the college.
The course programme is revised and changed every six months.
‘In IT things change very quickly. If you don’t keep your skills updated, you’ve got nothing,” she says. Olivier also believes there are exciting opportunities out there: ‘There is still a good demand for writing programmes and applications for the telecommunications industry and there is still significant spend on IT by the emerging black empowerment companies,” she says.
But a few words of warning for those with their eyes on a career in computers: there is a slew of colleges out there and even those that are accredited need to be personally checked out. Explore as many options as possible and get recommendations from people in the industry. Make sure the institution takes both a visionary and a practical approach to training graduates for the job market.