IT Industry Day an Eye-opener for Students

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The IT Industry Day, hosted by the School of Management, Information Technology and Governance on the Westville campus, provided an opportunity for undergraduate and postgraduate students to interact with players in this industry and enlightened them on future career prospects.

IT lecturer, Dr Sanjay Ranjeeth, welcomed the more than 50 delegates, while Dean and Head of the School, Professor Stephen Mutula, opened proceedings.

‘To the students, this is a good opportunity for you to engage with the experts here today and explore a career path you can take. To the staff, I urge you to explore more opportunities and look into ways we can improve our curriculum to better the chances of employment for our students and to benefit the industry when students graduate,’ said Mutula.

Industry partners gave detailed presentations on their companies and the skills they look for in prospective employees. They included Mr Rishi Birbal, a Digital Architect from Microsoft Corporation; Mr Terrence Naidoo and Ms Celia Chawan; IT consultants for the Business Systems Group (BSG); and Mr Wassem Mohamed, a Systems Analyst for First National Bank’s Mobile Banking Division. Naidoo and Mohamed are UKZN alumni.

Final-year IT student, Ms Teshanya Moodley, said, ‘As a student who is unfamiliar with the working world and what IT roles actually entail, this information was highly valuable. I learnt how the concepts and technologies taught at university play out in industry.’

Students were directed to internet sites where they can submit applications for the graduate programmes run by the presenting companies. A large cohort of UKZN graduates are currently employed by FNB.

An immediate outcome of the event is that the Business Systems Group has extended invitations to students to attend job interviews at its Johannesburg headquarters in July this year. The exercise will be at the company’s expense.

Words: Lungile Ngubelanga

Photograph: Supplied