Careers involving digital technologies are booming: combined with some entrepreneurial knowhow, and you have a recipe for developing new career pathways for Indigenous youth.
The opportunities for nurturing an Indigenous start-up culture were highlighted this week in the KPMG report Igniting the Indigenous Economy.
Now, Careers with Code, a national careers magazine produced by STEM-specialist publishers Refraction Media in partnership with Google, spotlights 9 of the best technologies created by entrepreneurial Indigenous Australians and Kiwis.
It includes the augmented reality app Digital Rangers, developed by Indigenous-founded enterprise Indigital, which uses object, location and image recognition to trigger stories on your phone.
Also featured is Virtual Songlines, game-style software that creates an immersive 3D, virtual reality experience that allows you to explore the culture, arts and heritage of Indigenous Australians.
The Trakka mobile app, created by Indigenous Consulting Group working with elders and youth from the Fremantle community, allows you to keep up to date with information on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural events.
Grant Straker’s Straker Translation service, is an online service for the translation of 80 languages for a range of sectors from business, to legal and tourism.
The top 9 list of Indigenous top tech entrepreneurs includes:
1 Virtual Songlines software
2 Digital Rangers
3 Welcome to Country iphone app
4 Whanau Tahi software
5 KidsCoin online educational program
6 Trakka mobile app
7 Straker Translations website
8 iWork Jobsite
9 Code Avengers program
For the full list and more information, visit the free online edition of Careers with Code. Images are available here.
“The internet, automation, smart sensors – all of today’s digital technologies contribute about 8% of economic output in New Zealand, while in Australia that contribution is set to grow from 5% to 7% by 2020. Most of this growth will happen outside the areas traditionally associated with tech – like agriculture, health, finance, education,” says Sally-Ann Williams, Google’s Engineering Community and Outreach Manager.
“Careers are no longer as straightforward as they used to be. It used to be that if you studied medicine you’d go on to become a doctor, or if you studied accounting you’d join the professional services.
“Today, those traditional outcomes aren’t always the norm. Digital disruption is creating a workforce with a greater intersection of disciplinary skills. Areas like finance, advertising, law and agriculture, for example, are increasingly overlapping with core skills in computer science.”
Dedicated to improving diversity in careers with computer science, Careers with Code smashes stereotypes about the ‘nerdy programmer’ and what computer scientists really do.
Half a million copies of the magazine have been distributed to students in Australia, the United States and New Zealand since the magazine’s inception in 2014.
“Careers with Code is about combining computer science skills and computational thinking with goals of global change, new fields or students’ own interests to help them prepare for a future in which digital disruption is constantly shifting their career focus,” says Refraction Media’s head of content, Heather Catchpole.
“Careers with Code is about creating visible role model and job paths for everyone that shows that computer science skills can take you into vastly different career areas, and are essentially creative jobs where you can be part of a collaborative effort, or lead the pack.”
Click here to read the list of 9 Indigenous top tech entrepreneurs.
Click here to read Careers with Code 2016.
Click here to order copies of Careers with Code 2016 in print.
For more information or interviews, contact Heather Catchpole, Co-founder and Head of Content at heather@refractionmedia.com.au or on +61 401 068 975
