Firm launches Australia’s first IT apprenticeship program

An Australian consultancy firm has launched the country’s first formal apprenticeship program for the IT industry, in an effort to solve a skills shortage and reduce attrition rates.

Consultancy group 3W says the program, which operates similarly to a trade apprenticeship, works by delivering services from entry-level support staff to clients. The company then provides those staff with training outside of normal work hours, and enrolls them in a course for a Certificate IV in IT.

3W chief executive Bruce Mills says the work being performed by the apprentices is not unskilled call-centre work that is read from a script, but “real job training”.

“It depends on the client, but we are purely an IT contracting company. This is not call centre work, it is providing first level technical support. Whether this is face-to-face or over the phone, this is about learning the job and developing technical skills.”

He also says more practical experience for apprentices will reduce the amount of staff who develop skills as a help-desk worker, but then move on to other high-paying jobs.

Mills says the apprenticeship method should be considered by the entire industry, as it offers an alternative for high school students who do not want to enter a tertiary degree, or even for unemployed people looking to develop new skills.

“The market is split in two ways. One way is to do a degree, and the other is to do formal training with Microsoft or Cisco. That is all well and good, but in reality, a combination of commercial experience combined with qualification is far more powerful than just a degree or a vendor.”

He says this will help the industry in the long-term by solving a skills shortage and convincing employees to stay in a job for a longer period of time.

“It would be nice to see people reinvest in the industry and do things in this model. IT recruitment agencies and contracting agencies have done very little for a very long time, happy to take profits for not wanting to reinvest in new training.”

“We’ve got a skills shortage in our industry. IT was very sexy before Y2K and the tech bubble, but the entry into IT degrees is very low. Hopefully if this model takes off we’ll start to see good results.”