What exactly is Information & Communications Technology?

0 comments IT Recruitment

May 08

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) refers to the merging of computer, telecommunication, and audio-visual networks. There are significant economic advantages for organisations to keep a single unified system so this concept of technological convergence is what makes the ICT industry a booming one. There is never a shortage of ICT jobs.

The difference between ICT and IT (Information Technology) is that the IT industry is concerned with managing information whereas ICT focuses on how technology can help organisations use information. IT and ICT therefore go hand in hand.

ICT jobs can come in the areas of business technology, infrastructure, and application development. There is a therefore a wide and varied range of roles, responsibilities and opportunities in ICT jobs.

Business Technology jobs include for positions such as business analysts, IT project managers, program managers, IT managers, and IT executives.  These ICT jobs are concerned with finding technological solutions to aide an organisation in being commercial and competitive. Some examples of recent business technologies are cloud computing, virtualisation, Microsoft upgrades, biometric authentication (such as voice-prints for phone banking), next-generation security systems and firewalls, solid state disks for information storage, green technology such as smart grid sensors, and hybrid servers.

Infrastructure jobs, on the other hand, are all about logical problem-solving, technical knowledge and systems design. Some examples of ICT jobs in this strand are in: help desk support, IT support, storage, systems administration, systems engineering, and networking. International companies such as Microsoft are always offering ICT jobs in infrastructure. Here is an example as a guide:

Position: Senior Systems Administrator for Microsoft

Salary: Up to $100,000 package available

Location: North Sydney

Required experience, skills, attributes:

  • Minimum of four years Microsoft Server Administration experience
  • Demonstrated experience as 3rd level support to Desktop escalations
  • Windows 2003/2008, Exchange 2003 / 2007
  • Strong knowledge of SQL Server 2005
  • SharePoint Administration experience
  • Excellent communication skills
  • Industry certifications such as MCSE would be advantageous

Application development jobs include positions for software engineers, software developers, analyst programmers, team leaders, designers, architects, test analysts, application supporters and testers. These ICT jobs are heavily based in areas such as web and software design. Here is an example of a job in application development:

Position: Mid-level .Net Developer

Salary: $60,000 – $80,000 base salary

Location: Sydney

Required experience, skills, attributes:

  • Previous .Net (C# ASP.Net) web based development experience
  • Strong Web development experience with HTML 4/5, CSS 2/3, Javascript, JQuery, JSON, AJAX, etc.
  • Strong SQL database skills (T-SQL a plus)
  • Previous experience in an online environment or in a digital agency is highly desirable
  • Excellent communications are essential (written and verbal)