The IT field has been dominated by men for many years but the 2012 Harvey Nash CIO
Survey has confirmed that women are also poorly represented in senior IT roles. Of the CIOs surveyed by Harvey Nash 35% said that there were no women in IT management in their organisation.
Interestingly, 51% of the CIOs thought that the relationships between IT and the business improved by hiring more women and that in the current environment, IT departments are increasingly focused on managing business relationships to achieve growth. When you consider these two facts, the demand for women in IT is only going to increase, and according to the data from the Harvey Nash Survey 76% of Australian CIOs recognise the need to encourage more women into their IT departments.
Course You Can (www.courseyoucan.com.au) is currently offering a Diploma of IT program in conjunction with Computer Power Institute. The program not only provides graduates with a nationally recognized qualification but also a number of vendor certifications which are highly sort after in industry. The program was started in Melbourne but it has been so popular that it is about to go national. Disappointingly only about 3% of students are women. With so many job opportunities in the field it is unclear why more women dont get involved in programs like those offered by Course You Can.
Course You Can CEO, Doris Humunicki said Working in the IT field offers a lot of job flexibility which women really appreciate. 90% of our own IT support is provided off site by our IT consultant. It is that type of job that doesnt need to be done 9 to 5 and most of it can be done remotely. I dont understand why it doesnt appeal to more women.
Maybe IT isnt the first professional that springs to a womens mind when she is pondering a new career, but with the current state of the job market and the likelihood for increased demand, at the very least it deserves due consideration.