Published on the 09/10/2014 | Written by Newsdesk

The IITP has, at the opening of the ITx conference, announced the launch of the Information Technology Certified Professions (ITCP) certificate. IT has long played a critical role in business but, unlike finance and law, until now, there has not been a specific professional certification for senior IT professionals, making it hard for employers to measure the skills of prospective candidates.

The ITCP certification will be operated independently by the IITP and is part of a global initiative to “professionalise” ICT. It will not only cover ICT skills and knowledge that demonstrate competence in the field, but will also cover responsibility, accountability, communication skills, leadership, ethics and an understanding of relevant legislation.

The announcement was accompanied by an exhortation by IITP President Ray Delany that IT professionals should “rise up” against IT professionals who don’t take the ethics of IT seriously.

The Honorable Steven Joyce, whose Economic Development portfolio is also responsible for ICT, was unavailable to speak at the conference since he was being sworn in to Parliament. Sam Mann, Professor of IT at Otago Polytechnic, stepped in to the breach to talk about the skills that employers are looking for in IT graduates. He shared the results of a survey which compared IT students learning and career expectations with potential employers’ requirements. It revealed that students believed their technical skills were most important, but employers value most highly the ability to work in a team, to solve problems and communicate well verbally. Mann concluded his address, saying that education institutions are changing what and how they teach in order to meet business needs but are open to having more conversations about what else can be done.

The thriving New Zealand high-tech economy was also the focus of Mary Quin’s speech. As the CEO of Callaghan Innovation, she took the opportunity to discuss her organisation’s role in “making New Zealand a place where talent wants to live” by supporting the high tech industry in developing its ideas in to products. She emphasised the availability of R&D support for all high-tech businesses in New Zealand (not just New Zealand-born companies) – “that’s r&D with a small ‘r’ and a big ‘d’”, she said.

There has been some controversy on who received grants from Callaghan in the latest round of grants, principally stirred up by TradeMe founder Sam Morgan. Quin would only say, however, that government designs the policy and Callaghan implements it. She called for the IT industry to be less fragmented and to use Callaghan Innovation as a connector and partner as well as a place request grants. She also reminded the audience that there was funding available for student internships too.