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ICT and the Professional

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Introduction

This presentation is about:

“the personal qualities and general characteristics necessary for a person working effectively within the

ICT industry and as part of an ICT team”

It’s NOT about ethics/codes of conduct which are covered in ICT4

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Working with ICT

Can broadly be categorised as:

Development personnel• Analysts and programmers.

People responsible for designing and producing new systems

Operational personnel• Computer operators and

support personnel. People who use the systems and keep them running

What sorts of jobs are available working with ICT?

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Qualifications There are many professional

qualifications available that allow the ICT professional to demonstrate their technical competence or specific skills within a particular field

Often though it’s personal qualities and general characteristics unrelated to ICT that allow an individual to progress within the ICT industry

Note: This is the key point in this presentation! Qualities can be as important as qualifications!

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Personal Qualities?

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Communication Skills Good communication skills are essential

These skills will include both oral and written communication

• Need to be able to discuss problems/solutions with clients who may be “technophobic” (oral)

• May need to produce clear and concise documents for others e.g. feasibility studies, technical guides etc. (written)

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Teamworking

• Teams are most effective when each team member is sensitive to the needs of the other members

• Effective teams will be cooperative and share ideas openly

• Only possible if each member is a “team player” i.e. able to listen as well as contribute

Most ICT projects are now managed by teams

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Management Skills

Project leaders don’t need technical skills!

• They have people working for them who have the necessary technical skills

• Their role is to manage people and resources effectively

• May include managing schedules or motivating employees

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Flexibility Many ICT professionals need to be flexible about both

the hours they work and/or their place of work

• ICT support workers for critical projects may need to “on call” when they are not in the office e.g. in case of technical problems outside office hours

• International software support workers may need to work “anti social hours” to answer queries from customers in different time zones

• Hardware support employees may need to visit clients “on-site” anywhere in the country (or aboard)

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Problem Solving

An analytical approach to problem solving is essential in almost all ICT careers

• Employees should be able to tackle problems systematically

• May be in the design of ICT systems e.g. programmers, analysts etc.

• May be in operations e.g. end-user support, after sales service

Some employers ask workers to take aptitude test to prove

they have these skills

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Creativity

The ability to think innovatively and creatively is a very important quality in some ICT careers

• A web designer will need to have a strong sense of creativity to produce new and visually exciting sites

• Programmers and project managers may need to think of new ways of doing things to utilise resources

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Attention to Detail

This is a particularly important quality in programming which requires precision. Seemingly minor deviations from designs can have very unpredictable effects

It is also important in data entry where incorrect data entry will affect the quality of information output (remember GIGO?)

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Integrity (Honesty)

Employees in the ICT industry may have access to sensitive information (commercial and personal)

It’s important that they are trustworthy and don’t misuse their position

The BCS (British Computer Society) has a code of conduct for ICT professionals which lays out rules they are expected to follow. This is covered in ICT4 but includes things such as:

• Rejecting bribes• Avoiding situations that lead to a conflict of interest

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Exam Tips At most you’ll usually be asked to

name and/or describe FOUR personal qualities

Make sure you give an example to illustrate each quality described in your answer

Make sure the qualities you choose relate to the question i.e. certain qualities will be more relevant to a project manager than a web designer and vice versa

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Revision Tasks

Use your textbook and Internet sources to make notes on the desirable personal qualities and general characteristics of an ICT professional

Complete the worksheet “Working in the ICT Industry”