Experience guiding our learners

Early in November, the doors were opened for the Information Technology (IT) and Business Administration students ‘Next Steps’ event.

Five guest speakers from Taranaki industries came to share their experiences in their respected areas of expertise with our students and tutors from the following programme areas: Business Administration Technology, Information Technology and Business Information Systems.

Craig Meads, Computer Wise talked about his trajectory in the IT industry since he started working with mainframes, tapes, punched cards, and other technologies that were the basis of innovation that came later. He delivered a powerful message to the students, “at the end of the day, IT is all about meeting peoples wants and needs.”

Richard Coomber, an independent IT consultant, shared the Taranaki IT landscape outlining IT companies grouped by size, service demand, service provision, skills required, and IT platforms used. Richard shared tips around gaining employment with our learners. He emphasised the importance of including a portfolio of ideas, projects, and achievements in their CVs, to make them stand out when looking for employment.

David Apimrtika, Treefish, started his presentation by showing the students “the parent technology of current smartphones (an old commodore computer).” To demonstrate the technology supported new ideas, he presented the audience with a Raspberry Pi. This is a versatile tool to develop IT solutions. He highlighted the need to ‘think out of the box’ and be creative when developing a solution.

Two members of the local AdmiNZ association branch came along to offer inspiration and support to those students considering administration as a career.  Lisa Lowe shared with us her experience working with Mayor Neil Holdom in her role as Executive Assistant. She also emphasised the importance of being creative when developing a CV and during the interview. Teena Vinsen talked about building good relationships at work and learning how to use technologies (sometimes very quickly) to help other staff. 

They all agreed that learning doesn’t end after completing their studies. In fact that is where the ‘real life’ learning begins.

Earlier that day, the Information Technology L4 and L5 learners participated in a competition with they each developed a Web site and a programming code in Python.

After our guest speakers finished their presentations, the winners were announced. They shared their developments with the audience and received prizes. Congratulations to the following leaners:

First Place -

1. Nikki Bhana
2. Nathan Harris
3. Katie Stanford
4. Blair Johansen

Second Place -

1. Sapphire Hermanns
2. Jake Fever
3. Cameron Voss

Third Place -

1. Braden Mapley
2. Kian Watkins
3. Amy Rowe