Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Challenges of a high-tec world
N. Dilshath Banu
People say that the globe has become our neighbourhood. Just a click of a mouse…and bingo... you’re connected to the world. You can communicate with a person who would be millions of miles away. At the same time, you would also be profiting by business transactions without even meeting your customers. This is the face of globalisation and at the core of globalisation lies Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

Although, most of us are in the era of ICT and most of us wanted to pursue further studies in the ICT field, only few of us have the adequate knowledge to swim into ICT. To give a better understanding on ICT, the Leo Club of Colombo Millennium organised a seminar for students regarding moving into the winding road in ICT. This seminar was held on March 31, at the Mahanama College Auditorium at 10 a.m. Around 30 schools in Colombo participated in this seminar and the guest speaker was K. Ramathas, the Chairman of the British Computer Society (BCS), who counts 30 years experience in IT.

“When it comes to ICT, there are many fields and it can be very confusing selecting a field. So we thought of organising a career guidance seminar for the school children,” said Leyon Aponso, the Project Chairman of the Leo Club of Colombo Millennium.

“In every field there’s an input to ICT. Lot of people think that if you know to tackle ICT, you’re an ICT professional. In many instances, they are learning to use ICT, but not practice IT as their profession. If you don’t know to use ICT in this era, you would be considered illiterate. And many think that programming is the whole of ICT,” said Mr. Ramathas.

ICT can be divided into Hardware and Software holds Mr. Ramathas. “If you take the soft ware, you’re into operating systems, networking, compilers and one of the top posts you can reach is being a Software Architect. In this job you are expected not to fix something which already exists, but to be creative and innovative.” The other options are Designing and Maintenance.

When choosing your career, it’s very essential to note that your institution gives you what you want. Institutes such as Singapore Informatics, Sri Lankan Institute of Information Technology(SLIIT), Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology(APIIT) and the National Institute of Business Management NIBM), are the most acclaimed in this regard, according to Mr. Ramathas.

“You should first start with a Diploma in IT and if you are keen to pursue a career in IT, you can do your Higher Diploma and then climb up to the Degree level,” said Mr. Ramathas adding that ICT is a constantly changing field and updating ICT knowledge is of utmost importance.

Apart from being innovative, a good command of the English Language is vital. A believer of job satisfaction, Mr. Ramathas stressed, “Apart from liking the field, you should have the knack for it. You may like to work in ICT for instance, because it pays you well. But you may not have the knack for it.”

Speaking to some of the participants, they said that this seminar was very educative in understanding the challenges of tomorrow’s Techno World. And if you need any help or clarification, you could contact Mr. Ramathas at BCS on 2665261 or 4736741.

Top