Careers in 'Tech'
If you search for jobs in high demand in New Zealand at the moment, tech-based jobs such as web developers, software engineers and data scientists are listed as the most in demand and among the highest paid.
Tauranga in particular has a growing tech industry, and companies and startups just can’t find enough people to fill their growing roles. Even more traditional or non-tech based businesses have tech teams or departments that need people with technical skills. Yet many people aren’t aware of these roles or pathways that students can take to enter in such a highly rewarding field. Organisations like Priority One are concerned with growing Tauranga and have launched a Future of Work campaign, recently mentioned in the Bay of Plenty Times.
https://www.priorityone.co.nz/articles/id/2528
At Tauranga Girls’ College we offer courses in computer science and foundational computer skills for the workplace, currently called Digital Technology. From 2022 our subjects will be called Computer Science and Computer Administration. Students can take Computer Science from Year 9 to Year 13. This course offers NCEA Achievement Standards and University Entrance. Students can also take our Computer Administration course, which offers Unit Standards and is a great foundation for working in any type of work environment.
In our senior courses we have been focusing on local tech career pathways with a two day Python programming bootcamp at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology and a visit from Dr Jessica Turner and some second year students from the Computer Science and Software Engineering Department at the University of Waikato. Both of these opportunities have exposed students to possible local study options and given them the opportunity to hear from tech experts on their career pathways and amazing projects they’ve worked on.
One of our guest speakers at Toi Ohomai was Dr Kat Hempstalk who is VP of Data and Analytics at LawVu, a Tauranga based legal tech startup, now with three offices in the CBD and over 70 staff spread out across New Zealand and the world. Dr Kat is a Tauranga Girls’ College alumna. She shared with our students her experience from school to completing her doctorate in AI and Machine Learning at university and some of the amazing projects she’s worked on in well known NZ businesses like TradeMe, Xero and O’rein Healthcare. She is an inspiration and I hope that the class of 2021 will have more amazing alumna in tech like her.
More information about careers in tech can be found: https://nztech.org.nz/info-hub/technology-careers/
Or feel free to email me gjensen@tgc.school.nz
Grace Jensen
Teacher of Digital Technology - soon to be Computer Science