Victoria is cementing its status as the IT "hub" of Australia, with a number of recent announcements promising to create hundreds of IT jobs in the coming months.
Between 425 and 700 jobs will be up for grabs in Melbourne when the NBN Co’s Network Operations Centre (NOC) becomes fully functional in early 2011.
Digital post-production company, Cutting Edge, also recently announced its expansion to Melbourne creating 65 new jobs in Victoria.
Greythorn managing director, Richard Fischer, told Computerworld Australia the 18 months had seen many IT jobs in Victoria filled by those who came from other states, such as South Australia, Queensland and even Sydney where the IT job markets had ‘softened’.
According to Fischer, Victorian universities offer excellent IT courses, so much so that a significant number of graduate recruitment programs, even those for national companies are typically undertaken in Victoria.
The state's reputation was recently bolstered by the announcement of a new partnership between networks engineer Huawei and RMIT University, offering 500 students education over the next three years into the company's networking products, and an additional 1,500 students with education in Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technologies.
“IT study for local and international students is popular in Melbourne and therefore that leads to the attractiveness for employers to fish in the pool where there is plenty of talent, I think it’s the volume of IT graduates that is attractive to employers in Victoria,” Fischer said.
Cutting Edge’s chief financial officer, Matthew Lawson, agreed, citing the calibre of talent as a key factor of the decision to open the new facility in Melbourne.
“There’s serious talent in Melbourne in our sector and a strong culture of continually pushing the boundaries to succeed in global markets,” Lawson said.
Victorian ICT Minister, John Lenders, claimed the Government’s relationship with the industry and the education sectors were key to ensuring graduates were job-ready.
Fischer reiterated this, attributing Victoria's leading position in IT careers to the Government’s involvement with universities and the IT industry.