Aligning Computer Professional Skills With the Nation's Needs

Greetings from the Australian Computer Society (ACS), Canberra Branch Hub, where I am taking part in an ACS Professional Standards Board meeting. ACS sets the standards for the education of computer professionals in Australia, and in conjunction with sister societies, world wide. In the usual bureaucratic processes of being on any committee, it is easy to forget how important the work is. We need to ensure what Australian universities and vocational institutions teach is what industry needs, and aligns with international standards. We also need to ensure that working professionals can keep up with developments in the industry, either individually or through their employer. All of this has to be acceptable to Australian governments, and industry. 

Being professionals, we first try to find an existing standard, but often have to enhance, or on occasion, write the standard from scratch. Not surprisingly new technology requires new skills of computer professionals, such as blockchain, and quantum computing. These are relatively easy to address. More surprising, and much harder, are soft skills, such as emotional intelligence. How do we define these, help professionals get them, and perhaps hardest, convince people they need them. Recently an assessment question I wrote for students was criticized by one of my colleagues as not being "academic", because it concerned soft skills. I look forward to being able to say "We are required to teach and test these professional skills".

The work of the board on skills standards goes all the way from high level definitions, down to how to document this, using digital badges, in electronic portfolios. This may all sound very esoteric, but it can result in someone being hired for a job much more quickly, a company getting a contract, a nation increasing productivity, and citizens being safer.

Join the Dots Career Planning

Greetings from the Australian Computer Society national office in Sydney. I am here for two days of meetings of the ACS Professional Standards Board, and the Accreditation Committee. I am on the Board, which sets standards for computing professional education in Australia, and am sitting in on the committee which accredits individual degrees at universities. 

During the break I went out for a coffee, and got chatting with an entrepreneur from a company in the start-up center ACS Harbor City Labs, at the other end of the floor. They said they were thinking of going back to finish their degree, which they left 15 years ago, and asked if that was feasible. I suggested their old university would be delighted to have them back, but they should not expect much credit for courses completed so long ago. They might instead apply for direct entry to a masters, based on experience. This got me thinking about the many staff in this situation, and how we can help them recognize their experience, and not have to do introductory courses.