gradmalaysia IT Careers Guide

SECTOR SNAPSHOT

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT)

Despite rumblings of job cuts for IT roles amongst big tech companies in the post-COVID-19 economy, demand for IT talent is still incredibly strong. Technology is everywhere and plays such a huge role in our lives that employers both big and small cannot help but be on the lookout for skilled IT professionals in various disciplines.

Whether you’re building websites, apps, or software; mapping out complex computer networks, shoring up an organisation’s cybersecurity infrastructure, developing games, or exploring the untapped potential that AI and machine learning models hold, you’ll have no shortage of opportunities as a graduate breaking into an IT career. This is a line of work that opens doors not just in Malaysia, but around the world as well.

EMPLOYERS CHALLENGES PERKS

Employers offering IT roles span across all sectors and industries. These include large tech platform companies (e.g. Microsoft, Sea, or SAP), technical consultancies (e.g. Accenture), and tech service providers (e.g. Maxis), or any organisation that relies on tech to do business - ranging from MNCs to small-and-mid-sized companies and startups.

Technology evolves constantly, with new platforms, hardware, services, and best practices regularly rolled out at a fast pace. The onus will be on you to keep up and constantly upskill yourself or risk being left behind.

Experimental technologies like AI still require tremendous trial and error before they can be practically rolled out to a broader market. There are also constant ethical concerns surrounding how tech implementation has affected our livelihoods and the way we value the world around us.

Being surrounded by likeminded, inspired and creative tech professionals with problem-solving strengths, all centered around a culture of growth and incremental innovation, will ensure that work is never boring.

With tech professionals in such high demand, employers typically offer very attractive salaries and benefits to attract and retain top talent, as well as numerous opportunities for professional development and career advancement.

CONTENTS

EDITOR

Ivy Simon

DESIGNER

Anis Amsham

EDITORIAL

Ivy Simon, Jevitha Muthusamy

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Anis Amsham, Cordelia Wong

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Jason Ng, Vivien Chai

CLIENT RELATIONS

Nor Fatihah Huzaimah

MARKETING & EVENTS

Alfred Leo, Izzaty Sabri, Vimala Shanmugam

PUBLISHER

Isaac Hee

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Sector Overview

Before applying to positions you are interested in, learn the basics of the IT industry

6 Reasons

To Work in IT

here’s never been a better time to work in the IT industry than right now! However, if you are still on the fence about it, here are some reasons to seriously consider starting your career in this industry.

TECH IS EVERYWHERE

Service providers are no longer the exclusive sources for IT graduate hires. Businesses of all sizes now seek to incorporate IT platforms into their operations and automate services using technology. Since it can be more sensible to have in-house expertise rather than continually having to outsource for even the smallest services, many businesses are now hiring inhouse technology teams to suit their needs.

For instance, because they must constantly maintain and secure their IT infrastructure, banking and financial services organisations are some of the biggest employers of IT graduates. Employers in the aerospace, defence, and security industries are also constantly on the lookout for cutting-edge tech talent. Numerous new positions and opportunities have also been made possible by the booming e-commerce industry, notably in the field of mobile commerce.

In short, a career in IT allows you to work in any industry, given the crucial role that technology plays in every aspect of our lives today.

INNOVATIVE WORK

Technology advances at an incredible rate that results in new developments almost every few months. Consider, for instance, how the retail industry has moved from brick-and-mortar storefronts to online commerce. Or how cloud computing, mobile apps and blockchain have massively transformed the financial services industry.

As an IT professional, you will often find yourself working at the forefront of these innovations. Working on the technology that drives these continual developments and changes will offer you plenty of learning opportunities, as well as insights into future market trends from a tech perspective.

GENEROUS PAY

IT professionals are incredibly in demand in the market right now, with the number of job vacancies available far outstripping the supply of candidates. IT professionals can expect to receive incredibly competitive remuneration right from the start.

As you gain more experience and real-world exposure to various in-demand IT skillsets, your compensation may increase rather significantly. You may even be offered opportunities to work for betterpaying companies outside of Malaysia, whether in-person or remotely.

04 POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH

Employers in this sector are renowned for being incredibly generous with training opportunities, giving graduates a multitude of options for career advancement. This is because the global IT skills shortage is typically in midlevel and higher positions rather than at graduate stage. So to plug the gap, employers are investing a lot of time and money to train up junior hires to fill those positions.

Graduates can make use of the training offered to either explore different specialisations for exposure, or to specialise in a specific field of interest straight away. An IT analyst, for instance, may pursue the credentials to work as a certified technical consultant, or even transfer to a different field like cybersecurity instead.

05

RECESSION-PROOF WORK

As the past 2 years of COVID-19 have shown us firsthand, the IT industry is not only a safe space during tough economic climates; it may actually even grow aggressively when times are bad too! Given how crucial technology is to markets and governments worldwide, there will always be demand for IT professionals regardless of external market factors.

In particular, cybersecurity positions are among the IT jobs that are thought to be most recession-proof. Other famously recession-proof IT areas as well are networking and systems administration, and software design and development.

Technical consulting is another job area that thrives during recessions too. Companies will always attempt to use technology to automate functions or reduce costs during tough market climates. So technical consultants will work with clients to advise them on software and technical solutions that meet their needs, as well as assist with the implementation.

06

YOU DON’T NEED AN IT DEGREE

More and more IT employers are hiring graduates from any degree background because they recognise the benefit of staffing their workforce with people trained to think in different ways. This is most common for businessfocused roles, such as consultancy. However, some large IT employers also have programmes teaching nontechnical graduates to code.

Another popular pathway into the industry for non-IT graduates is to take conversion courses to learn coding and other necessary technical skills. Some conversion course providers even work directly with IT companies to ensure that their students work on real-world IT problems, and those companies may headhunt them for full-time roles later.

Finding the

Right IT Company and Job

raduate positions in IT and related fields can be found across a variety of industries, including major IT corporations, technology consulting firms, the public sector, and investment banks.

GRADUATE PROGRAMMES OR DIRECT ENTRY?

Larger IT employers conduct graduate programmes where they hire a number of graduates each year an onboard them via structured training schemes. These programmes normally last between one and two years and can either be focused on just a specific role, or can include a number of “rotations”: periods of time spent in different departments, teams or job roles.

Programmes like these are great if you’re the type who thrives best in a structured learning environment, or want to explore a wide range of job roles before settling in on a specialisation.

By contrast, smaller businesses (or SMEs) typically hire graduates directly into entry-level positions. Contrary to big IT corporations, smaller businesses may be more focused on a single technological field rather than providing a wide range of services, making them suitable locations to start if you already know the area of IT you’d like to specialise in.

Though there will be less chances for structured learning with a smaller employer, and you will have

to take the initiative on your own upskilling. However, you will likely get opportunities to have more direct control and ownership of the projects you work on in exchange. This differs from larger companies, where multiple teams work on various aspects of complex projects and applications and your work is just one part of a larger whole.

02

CONSIDER EMPLOYERS IN THE NON-IT INDUSTRY

IT jobs aren’t only just found in tech companies. The finance industry is also heavily reliant on technology. As a result, many banks, insurance companies, and professional service organisations like the Big Four accounting firms also offer technology graduate programmes designed exclusively for graduates with degrees in IT.

Other employers with IT jobs outside of the IT industry include the public services sector, media companies, the retail sector, and engineering companies. You may find plenty of hidden opportunities in interesting niches of work if you broaden the scope of your search.

WHAT KIND OF WORK ARE YOU INTERESTED IN?

Consider the type of work you want your employment to entail to help you narrow down your alternatives. Do you want to focus on coding, or do minimal to no coding at all? Would you rather focus on business side of IT or find a role that straddles both the commercial and technological side of things? Do you like to work on projects with longer deadlines or would you rather solve problems every day?

Remember that this choice isn’t set in stone, and you can always change career pathways in the future once you gain more work experience. However, if you are really unsure about the type of work you like to do, joining a graduate programme that rotates you across a variety of job areas may be your best bet.

WHERE (AND WHEN) DO YOU WANT TO WORK?

The type of technology career you choose affects how mobile you need to be.

For instance, if you work as an IT or technical sales consultant, expect to travel a fair bit (whether domestically or internationally) for client meetings or technical consultations. If you are in IT services, you may have to work on-site in a client’s own office for the duration of your project with them – sometimes even on the weekends.

By contrast, if you take a highly technical position like developer or software tester, you’ll probably work primarily from the same office with very few opportunities to step out. Roles which straddle the technical and business side – such as project management – may still require some travel. But that varies employer by employer.

Try to be honest when evaluating your desired level of mobility. Regular travel may appear quite glamorous at first, but it can be quite physically and mentally taxing if you have to do it very often.

Another factor to consider is whether you prefer working in an office or at home. Remote working is great if you’re the type who needs complete focus and minimal distractions, but it may cause issues if you’re working on projects that require constant coordination between team members.

Plenty of international employers now hire for fully-remote IT roles. Though the pay (or company name) may seem attractive, make sure to pay special attention to the working hours. For example, a U.S.-based company may require you to work according to American time. Make sure that’s a lifestyle change you can sustainably commit to before you accept.

KNOW WHAT THE EMPLOYER WANTS

Don’t assume that just because you have a degree in IT, you can apply for any graduate position. Although there is admittedly a global IT talent shortage right now, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take job applications and employability seriously, in comparison to graduates applying for jobs in other areas like business or finance.

Considering the demands of the position and what the company expects of you personally will help you decide whether you are really a suitable fit for the job and your chosen employer. It will also highlight the “additional” abilities and qualities you’ll need to possess, such as soft skills and programming languages. This will help you figure out what to focus your learning and upskilling on as well.

IT Career Without a Tech Degree

All degrees are accepted for graduate jobs in IT and technology. Here’s how non-IT graduates can gain the skills they need for IT careers.

If you’re a non-IT graduate who’s keen on transitioning to a career in IT, then here’s some good news. A recent study by the Harvard Business Review and labour market research firm Emsi Burning Glass showed that an increasing number of tech companies worldwide have dropped degree requirements for roles and are now focused on skills-based hiring instead.

How to Start an 01

LEARN A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE (OR LANGUAGES)

To qualify for most IT jobs, you will need to know at least one programming language. Some of the most popular programming languages to begin with are JavaScript, Python, C, C++, or C#.

sign up for a conversion course. Some, like the one run by 42KL, are even tuition-free – provided you can pass their screening process.

Don’t worry about where you learned to code or whether a course is “accredited”. Employers don’t really care about that. All you need to prove to them is that you are ultimately fluent in your chosen programming language.

Essentially, if you can prove you have the technical and soft skills an employer requires, you have a good shot at landing the job! So as a non-IT graduate, here are a few steps that you can take to acquire the skills you need for a career in IT.

Python and JavaScript in particular are regarded among the easiest programming languages for novices to master, as they are both beginner-friendly and practical. JavaScript is mainly used for frontend web development, and 97.8 percent of all websites utilise it as a client-side programming language. Python is an all-purpose language that can be used for many different things, including web development, prototyping, automation, or data analysis and visualisation.

You can, of course, choose to pick up other languages like PHP or SQL. However, it’s wiser to stick to object-oriented languages (e.g. Javascript, Python, C++, etc.) to start, as those are most in demand among employers right now.

You have multiple options to pick up programming languages, whether it’s taking modules at university, joining online courses on sites like Coursera, or even following YouTube tutorials meant for beginners. If you’ve already graduated, you can

02PROVE YOUR PASSION FOR TECHNOLOGY

Recruiters tend to be more convinced that you are suited for the job if you can demonstrate how you actively sought out opportunities when it comes to IT. So be on the lookout for chances to showcase and improve your skills.

Once you’ve learned a programming language, you can start out by developing and publishing small projects or online apps. You can also take part in hackathons or other IT-related events, join online communities and take part in open-source programming projects, or search for internships in the field.

Gaining work experience as an intern is by far the most ideal way to further develop your technology skills and acquire experience from the industry. Keep an eye out for internship and work opportunities in the technology sector that

accept applications from nonSTEM and non-technical students. A tech internship will not only show employers that you are serious about a career in IT, it will also help you determine whether a career in the tech industry truly is the best fit for you.

FOCUS ON TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

Beyond just coding skills, tech employers are on the lookout for soft (or transferable) skills in candidates as well. Some of the main soft skills that they look for in new hires are problem-solving skills, teamwork skills, analytical skills, and being innovative.

Non-tech graduates may also bring different strengths to the table, compared to those who studied IT or computer science. For example, a music graduate may possess the ability to recognise patterns easily, whereas a graduate in English may have strong analytical skills and an eye for noticing errors. These are all skills that tech employers value too, since having a variety of past experiences and thought processes on their tech teams may open doors to a wider range of solutions to problems.

Keep developing your soft skills through work experience, assignments, hobbies, or extracurricular activities. Tech is still in the business of serving people, after all. So you’ll need to be a well-rounded individual if you hope to work with other people to develop solutions that the market needs.

PROMOTE YOUR SKILLS ONLINE

Promoting your skills and presence online may give you an advantage as a candidate. Two platforms you can consider using are GitHub and Stack Overflow.

Stack Overflow is a public forum where you can ask questions about computer programming and receive responses from users around the world. You will likely visit it often to get help in troubleshooting your code as an amateur programmer. But being an avid user helps you to build a name and increase visibility for yourself. Registered Stack Overflow users can increase their ranking through upvotes by providing good answers to questions posted by another user.

Tech recruiters often search Stack Overflow while screening potential candidates. If you have a decent reputation on there and a post history of well thought-out questions and answers, you can point recruiters towards your profile there as further proof of your interest and skills in tech.

GitHub is an online repository for code, so you can upload past programming projects on it as proof of work. Many tech companies do check the platform to scout for new hires, so make sure your profile is publicly visible. You can also link to your GitHub profile in your CV or LinkedIn page so recruiters can easily view your past works.

05

LOOK OUT FOR TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Employers who hire non-IT graduates will often invest time in training them. While methods of training may vary, it typically involves a mixture of “classroom” learning, work shadowing, and project work. Some may even run in-house courses to teach new programming languages to incoming graduate hires.

Before applying, you can look at the training that is on offer at the tech company and consider how the training would fit you and add to your expertise.

During the job search and interview process, feel free to ask employers about how the training they offer can help you fill selfidentified skills gaps as well. This may reassure them that you are aware of what your strengths and weaknesses are, and where they need to spend more time helping you to become a more productive hire.

Breaking Into a New Career

Take a look at our tips to hone your CV, cover letter, and learn how to tackle IT interviews and assessment centres in order to distinguish yourself in the recruitment process.

Crafting A

Strong Cover Letter for IT Jobs

Use your cover letter or cover email to highlight relevant skills and experience to potential employers.

IT employers often still request a cover letter and CV as part of the job application process. Whether it’s attaching it with your CV as an add-on, writing your cover statement in an online application form, or sending a cover email to a smaller IT employer; this is an additional chance for you to demonstrate your abilities and interest in the job while highlighting particular qualities that might not have been immediately apparent on your CV.

The maximum length of a cover letter shouldn’t exceed one side of an A4 sheet. If you’re uploading a cover statement on an online form with a word limit, that might be even shorter. So, how do you promote your expertise and skills and persuade recruiters in just a few paragraphs? Here are some tips:

RESEARCH THE EMPLOYER

Spend some time learning about the company you are applying to before you begin drafting your cover letter. You should learn about the company’s business strategy, culture, and beliefs, as well as the range of products and services it offers. You can do this by checking an employer’s website or their company social media accounts.

The more you know about your target employer, the easier it will be for you to identify what points would be most relevant to them in your cover letter.

BE SELECTIVE AND DON’T OVERWRITE

While it may be tempting to list all of your technical abilities and accomplishments from university, internships, and elsewhere in your cover letter, don’t go overboard. A cover letter should not go longer than one page, or three to four paragraphs.

Be selective about the information that you include in your cover letter. Firstly, identify the top three or four qualities that the employer is looking for. These qualities can include your passion for technology, your technical or programming knowledge, and your soft skills. Then, focus your cover letter around those qualities while writing it..

PROVIDE EXAMPLES

It doesn’t hurt to give recruiters examples from your academic, professional, and personal life to demonstrate that you possess the abilities, attributes, and experience they are looking for.

As a rule, don’t repeat examples already listed in your CV. Use your cover letter to highlight separate examples/experiences which you couldn’t include in your CV instead.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS EMPLOYER?

Remember to explain why you choose this particular organisation. Avoid clichés such as “you are a world-leading corporation.” Your employer research is essential in this situation since it will enable you to give specific points about the company’s culture, strategy, or potential for career advancement, and how this appeals to you personally.

By including details like this, you show recruiters that you are genuinely interested in the company, and not just blindly applying for jobs.

DO A FINAL CHECK

Once you’ve finished writing your cover letter, always remember to check your work before handing it in to recruiters or employers. Have a friend, family member, or careers services staff proofread it for grammatical errors, ease of reading, and style.

Having typos in cover letters can give recruiters and employers the wrong impression, and raise questions about your professionalism and attention to detail. Just like with coding, it’s important to be thorough in your pre-deployment checks.

CVs to Highlight

Your Technical Skills

When applying for jobs in tech, make sure your CV focuses on relevant details for the role at hand.

Though many large tech employers now use online application forms when hiring new recruits, you may still be required to upload a CV as part of the hiring process. Smaller employers will often require CVs as well, so don’t neglect the importance of a good technical CV in catching recruiters’ attention.

It takes skill to put together a strong technical CV that will appeal to IT recruiters, but the key is to keep it well-structured and focused on relevant details. Here are some tips to help you out with yours.

CUSTOMISE YOUR CV

You should always customise your CV specifically for each job you apply for. Avoid spamming recruiters with a generic one-size-fits-all document. A good technical CV showcases your relevance for the job in clear and concise terms.

Tech jobs are very competitive, and the reality is that recruiters will only look at yours for as little as 30 seconds before coming to a decision. You must catch their attention by providing details and evidence that you fit their hiring requirements and demonstrate your suitability for the position.

BE SELECTIVE AND DON’T OVERWRITE

You should always customise your CV specifically for each job you apply for. Avoid spamming recruiters with a generic one-size-fits-all document. A good technical CV showcases your relevance for the job in clear and concise terms.

Tech jobs are very competitive, and the reality is that recruiters will only look at yours for as little as 30 seconds before coming to a decision. You must catch their attention by providing details and

evidence that you fit their hiring requirements and demonstrate your suitability for the position.

You should include the following sections in your technical CV: Personal information

Relevant technical skills and abilities

• Educational background and any degree modules relevant to the position.

Relevant past projects, work experience, and general skills.

• Any relevant extracurricular activities, interests, and/or certifications.

Your CV should be no more than two pages long. List your points in reverse chronological order – starting with most recent experiences first, and then working your way backwards from there.

You are free to choose the order in which you put your sections and how you want to title them. However, try to place the sections that best demonstrate you have the ability to perform the job you are applying for in eye-catching positions, and allocate the most space for those sections. For instance, if a job requires good customer-facing skills,

don’t hide your internship working at an IT helpdesk on the second page!

FOCUS ON RELEVANT TECHNICAL SKILLS

You don’t need give an exhaustive list of all of your technical skills. Focus on the ones that the employer and the role requires and don’t include anything that isn’t relevant or might be outdated. Here’s an example:

Technical Skills

Programming

• Java, Javascript, C, C++, Python, PHP

Database

MySQL, SQL Server, Interbase

Miscellaneous

• Windows Server 2019, Linux OS, UNIX utilities, Microsoft Office (Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Word)

Try to organise your technical skills in categories to make it easier for recruiters to see the range and types of skills you have at a glance. Feel free to arrange your skills in the way that you feel will best showcase them.

DESCRIBE YOUR TECHNICAL EXPERTISE

It isn’t enough to just list your technical skills. Use the past experiences sections to describe how you put those skills into practice, and to give recruiters an understanding of your level of expertise. For example:

Work experience and projects

Placement developer, Question Technologies, industrial placement (2017-2018)

• Contributed to the development of the March 2018 update for Question Technologies’

• Responsible for implementing improvements to the user interface and conducted indepth research into methods to increase the software’s accessibility functionality.

• Demonstrated strong teamworking skills with colleagues in the development team, which was necessary for discussing requirements and solutions to complex problems. Communicated with, and offered technical support to, a wide and varied client base.

For each piece of experience you list, include a brief description of your responsibilities and achievements. Keep the focus specifically on your own actions, as opposed to talking in general terms about what your team or peers did.

You can give examples from projects that you worked on in university, at work, or even on a personal basis. What matters is that they give practical examples of your technical skills at work, as well as showcase an ongoing interest or passion for working with technology.

Not all computer science and technical degrees have the same course content, so it may also be useful to briefly describe the modules and projects you have completed under the educational background section - especially if they are applicable to the position.

If you’ve obtained any additional computing or technological credentials, describe them briefly as well so recruiters get a better idea of what they’re all about.

DON’T NEGLECT YOUR SOFT SKILLS

Technical skills aren’t the only thing that recruiters look out for! Many tech employers place similar value on soft skills too. Some of the common soft skills that tech recruiters look out for are:

Good communication skills

Teamwork skills

Good time management

Adaptability and being a quick learner

• Creative thinking and problemsolving skills

Don’t forget to describe moments where your soft skills were applied in your past experiences. For instance, give examples where you had to learn new skills, work together with a team in order to achieve a goal, or overcame a tough problem as a group.

TALK ABOUT PERSONAL INTERESTS

People often treat the personal interests section on their CVs as an afterthought, but this is where you can further showcase your technical and soft skills to potential employers.

What you do in your free time can tell recruiters a lot about you. So don’t be afraid to include any clubs, groups, or events that show how you’ve developed your skills or demonstrate that you have a genuine interest in tech.

CVs that list activities like hackathons, code jams, and tech meet-ups tend to get the attention of recruiters. If you’ve held positions of responsibility in student clubs or societies (even if they’re non-tech related), those are good evidence of your soft skills at work as well. If you’ve taken online courses, feel free to highlight the more interesting ones as well.

These details might seem petty for some, but to recruiters, it is contextual information about what you do in your spare time.

BE ACCURATE

Make sure you thoroughly double check your CV before sending it to potential employers, just like how you would check code before deploying it! Pay special attention to these:

• Your grammar and spelling.

• Making sure your writing is easily understandable.

You’ve provided all the details that the employers are looking for.

• You didn’t leave the name of another company on your CV. If possible, try to have your CV “peer-reviewed” too. Get a friend or family member with good attention to detail to cast a second set of eyes on it. They might spot some errors you may have missed. Need

LISTS

for IT Jobs: What to Expect Technical Interviews

Technical interviews are usually more detailed and precise than conventional interviews, and employers often look for certain technical skills in candidates.

If you’re applying for a graduate job in IT, employers may ask you to join a technical interview. A technical interview is often different from other kinds of conventional employment interviews. In technical interviews, employers are looking to draw out your experience and knowledge to see how well you would match the role and how easily you can tackle unfamiliar scenarios.

Some employers may hold technical interviews separate from their general interviews, while others may just include technical questions in a general interview instead. Regardless, their main goal is still the same.

The types of questions you can expect to encounter at a technical interview will typically include:

• Behavioural questions

• Situational questions

• Education questions

• Experience and skills-based questions

BEHAVIOURAL QUESTIONS

Technical interviews typically start off like any other interview would: with a series of general and behavioural questions, that are designed to find out more about the candidate and how they will fit in with the role and company culture.

You can use the STAR strategy: Situation, Task, Action, and Result, to structure your answers based on the past experiences that you have. That is, describe the situation you were in, explain the task you were given, discuss the actions you took to complete that task, and then identify the results that came from it.

SITUATIONAL QUESTIONS

The interviewer will usually provide you with a few hypothetical situations and you will be asked to resolve or respond to the problem. With these sets of questions, the interviewer is looking to determine whether you have thought ahead about upcoming challenges that might arise in your work and how you would handle them.

Similarly, these situational questions can be answered by utilising the STAR strategy. Some of the questions that you can be asked include:

What would you do if you were given a task and were unsure about how to complete it?

If a project is due for deployment in X number of days, what steps would you take to meet the deadline?

How would you deal with a difficult colleague to accomplish a given task?

EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS

When an interviewer asks you about your educational background, they are trying to determine if the technical education and training you have has sufficiently prepared you for the job you’re applying for.

To prepare for these types of questions, make sure to brush up on your past coursework before the interview – especially on topics/ modules which are most relevant to the job you’re applying for. You should make sure to highlight any additional certifications, coursework, training, or achievements you have when answering these questions.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS-BASED QUESTIONS

The interviewer will ask you about your past experiences working in IT and grill you on relevant skills. They may also use visual aids for these, such as asking you to review some code on the spot, or having you find something on a database schema. Do your best to keep your answers as simple and easily understood as possible. If you have to describe technical concepts, make sure your audience understands what you are referring to.. You should also always walk interviewers through your thought process step-by-step.

TIPS TO ACE YOUR TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS:

• Explain your answer: Most technical questions have a correct answer. To make your answer stand out from the other candidates, elaborate on your problem-solving process and the reasoning behind it.

• Brainstorm solutions to a problem: Don’t get stuck at coming up with only one solution to a problem. Some technical questions have several possible answers. You should explain how you use each method to reach the desired solution.

Be honest about what you don’t know: In this case, honesty is the best policy. Be frank about questions that you do not know the answer to. However, you should explain what you would do to find the answer to the problem if you faced it at work.

• Prepare to prove your skills: Sometimes you will be asked to prove your skills through brainteasers, coding challenges or other on-the-spot tests. Remember to explain the process and steps you took to reach your final solution.

Do’s and Don’ts IT Interview

You are more likely to succeed in a job interview if you are aware of what is and isn’t acceptable during one. That being said, don’t just focus on your answers to interview questions, as an interview is a two-way process between you and your potential employer.

Remember that an interview is a chance for you to assess your recruiters as well! You should ask intelligent questions of your own that reflect on you as a candidate, and also help you decide whether the position and the company are a suitable fit for you.

BE PROACTIVE

A job interview should be a decision-making process for both you and the hiring managers. Interviewers want to feel confident that you fully comprehend the position and believe it is a good fit for you. You should take every chance you get to find out more the position that you are applying, and to get a good understanding of the job.

You can start by asking the specifics of the day-to-day responsibilities, training and development opportunities, what past/current employees have been working on, and your interviewers’ backgrounds (if they are working in the field you are applying for).

MAKE USE OF YOUR INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Since IT professionals often work on projects in teams, your interviewers will be trying to determine if you can communicate effectively with others.

Be polite and respectful, speak as clearly and simply as possible, and clarify points when in doubt. Use language and terms that come more naturally to you, instead of trying to pretend to be someone you’re not. Your goal is to give your interviewers the impression of a

responsible and mature applicant who knows how to communicate with others in a professional setting.

EMPHASISE YOUR SKILL SET

What else can you bring to the table as a graduate in technology or computing? How do you intend to demonstrate the skills that you possess? These are some of the questions in your interviewers’ heads that you will have to address.

Use the opportunity to emphasise the technical skills, programming languages, or capabilities that you are most confident in, while giving examples to show how you’ve applied them in real life. Don’t be shy about selling yourself by talking about your strengths – that is literally what interviews want you to do!

Don’t neglect your soft skills as well. Make sure you highlight examples showing how you used both technical and soft skills to achieve goals (e.g. working with a team of other interns to troubleshoot bugs in an app). That will make you stand out as a good candidate.

BE TRANSPARENT

As a fresh graduate, no one expects you to be experienced in

your field or to know everything about it. So there is no shame in admitting to your weaknesses in specific areas. What is most important is that you are willing to learn and improve on your weak points.

You can do this by highlighting to interviewers how you used past activities to overcome previous weaknesses, such as taking online courses, joining extracurricular activities and so on. Likewise, you can also talk about the steps you would hypothetically take to solve an unfamiliar problem or fill a knowledge gap.

BE EAGER

You should always demonstrate genuine enthusiasm for the job that you are applying for. You could have the right credentials and expertise, but without the drive and motivation for doing the job, employers will not think twice about turning you down.

Most employers want to hire people who are motivated to make a difference in the company and the industry, and who genuinely want to be there with them. Make sure you can demonstrate to interviewers why you find the job you’re applying for interesting and engaging, and how it motivates you.

Knowing the unspoken rules of job interviews is key to securing a graduate job with tech companies.

BE PASSIVE

Interviewers usually have a set of questions that they follow when they are conducting interviews. While you shouldn’t disrupt the flow of the interview by asking nonrelated questions or interjecting with unrelated topics, this doesn’t mean that you should passively answer only what is asked of you either. You should work within the questions and try to sell your abilities and skills during that time, as you see fit.

You must first determine the relevant skills and qualities required for the job in your pre-interview preparations, and be sure to mention them all throughout the interview. Even if recruiters do not specifically ask about them, you can still work them into your answers to other questions. For instance, if they ask you to identify the latest technical trends in the industry, you can slip in points about how you’ve tried to acquire the necessary skills to prepare yourself for those developments too.

Also, keep in mind that your interviewers may not be the same people who reviewed your job

Don’t:

application. They might not have had much time to study your application beforehand, so don’t assume they are already aware of your past experiences and accomplishments. Don’t be shy about highlighting points from your job application again if you must.

At the end of the interview, recruiters will usually ask whether there is anything else you’d like to add. Make sure you take advantage of the opportunity to highlight any important topics you did not have the chance to discuss earlier, instead of giving a simple “No”.

BE ARROGANT

Recruiters think highly of candidates who are honest about their knowledge and experience, and respond positively to difficult questions. It is okay to ask for clarification when necessary, and you can even ask for a little extra time to think through your answer if you are thrown a tough question.

However, if you truly cannot come up with a satisfactory answer to a question, it is better to come clean about it. Don’t attempt to lie or bluff your way out of it, or argue with your interviewers about how

you think their premise is wrong. You should always assume that your interviewers are probably far more knowledgeable about the subject than you are. If they call you out on your bluff, it will not be a good look for you.

PRESUME ALL TECH JOBS ARE THE SAME

Even if you have set your heart on a specific role in the IT industry, you should still be prepared to work in a variety of roles over the course of your tech career, from project management or data analytics, to programming and development. Even if you don’t make the cut for a certain tech job, the hiring manager might still be assessing your suitability for alternative/future roles and positions.

With that said, if you have been applying for a variety of IT roles, don’t go in to every interview assuming your experiences and skill set are equally relevant and in-demand for each one. Make sure you walk in with a thorough understanding of each role and what it requires, and tailor your responses to interviewers accordingly.

Need more job interview advice?

Assessment Centres for IT Jobs How to Tackle

Keeping a level head and showcasing your professionalism is key to succeeding at assessment centres with tech employers.

The graduate hiring process frequently includes assessment centres. Employers gather a group of applicants, who will go through a series of exercises, tests, and interviews to determine whether they are qualified for graduate positions within the company.

A group setting makes it much easier for recruiters to evaluate how well you work with others, how you convince and persuade others, how people react to and around you, and how well you adapt to different given scenarios. Plus, it allows them to test and observe your capabilities and abilities on the spot instead of just interviewing you. This results in a much fairer and more efficient selection process.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Employers design assessment activities to test for skills and abilities needed by their the organisation. Often, you will be expected to complete some combination of the following:

• Group work exercises

• Presentations

Aptitude and psychometric tests

Business-related case studies (usually for more commercial IT roles like technical sales)

The key to succeeding is to actively demonstrate your commercial awareness—that is, considering the business contexts of your tasks and how your proposed solutions may affect the organisation. You must be prepared to justify this to your assessors throughout the process.

BE A TEAM PLAYER IN GROUP EXERCISES

Most companies value graduates with the ability to work in groups, as employees often have to collaborate with others in order to complete tasks. This is especially true in tech, where developers often work on projects in teams.

Group exercises test your problem-solving and communication skills, as well as your ability to work in a team.

Your goal is to promote yourself while also helping the group reach its objective. The easiest way to accomplish this is to establish yourself as a solid team member: someone who actively contributes work and ideas, but is also adaptable, willing to listen, and able to help others grow their ideas too.

COMMUNICATE CLEARLY IN PRESENTATIONS

You may be required to give a presentation at some assessment centres, typically to a mixed audience of candidates and assessors. Here are some guidelines:

If you have the ability to choose a topic, choose one that you can speak about naturally and with a decent degree of knowledge.

• Create an outline for your presentation. Not only will this help keep your thoughts organised, it can also help the audience follow along with your presentation.

You can write down notes in any format that you find convenient, but you should never, ever read from a script. Don’t attempt to cram too much information in or your audience will start to lose interest.

Your body language can significantly impact your presentation. Try to stay calm and collected, avoid fidgeting, and don’t back away from your audience.

• You could be asked to use PowerPoint slides or charts. If you are tasked with putting together a presentation on the spot, make sure you factor in time for a quick practice run.

DEMONSTRATE YOUR APTITUDE THROUGH TESTS

Psychometric tests are used by employers to evaluate whether or not you possess particular traits and abilities needed for the job. Even if you took these tests during the application stage, you may be required to retake them during the assessment centre so recruiters can double-check your results. There are various types of tests to expect.

The first type is ability tests, which are designed to evaluate whether you have the basic competencies for the job you are applying for. These can include programming tests, numerical and verbal reasoning tests, or logical problems.

The second type is aptitude tests, which test your ability to learn something new. Candidates who can pick up new skills faster are in high demand because employers need their staff to be adaptive and flexible.

The final type is personality tests. These assess your typical behavior and preferred dayto-day approach to situations. Employers use this to determine how well you might fit in with existing teams.

DEMONSTRATE PROFESSIONALISM BY HELPING OTHERS SUCCEED

Lastly, always remember that you are evaluated against the employer’s criteria, not competing with other candidates. Work together with your teammates and fellow candidates and support each other in order to complete the tasks set. Avoid being overly competitive or trying to tear each other down.

It is entirely possible that everyone who passes the assessment centre walks away with a job offer, since you were all already shortlisted beforehand. You never know who might end up being your colleague tomorrow!

Need more assessment centre tips?

Sector Essentials

Here are some additional insights that can help you prepare for a career in the IT industry.

Regardless of what area of IT you choose to specialise in as a graduate, there are a few key industry areas that you should be aware of as an IT professional –whether in Malaysia, or elsewhere in the world. Even if you don’t plan on specialising in any of these areas right now, you would still benefit from having at least a basic working knowledge of them. It is also important to stay up-to-date on developments within these areas as you advance in your IT career.

In particular, here are three key IT areas that graduates should take note of.

Key IT Areas that

Graduates Should Be Aware of

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial intelligence (AI) has generated lots of buzz over the last few years. It is still a developing technology right now, but its implications on how we live, work, and play are just beginning to be seen. AI is being applied in various stages across a wide range of fields, including ride-sharing apps, smartphone personal assistants, image and speech recognition, navigation apps, e-finance, assembly lines, and much more.

By 2025, the AI market will be worth US$190 billion globally, with over US$57 billion expected to be spent globally on cognitive and AI systems in 2021. New jobs will be created in development, programming, testing, support, and maintenance, as AI becomes more commonplace across industries. However, only 26 percent of Malaysian businesses have truly embraced AI in their work at the moment, according to a research conducted by market intelligence firm, IDC and Microsoft in 2019. In a 2020 article by international management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., it said that up to 50 percent of work found in the country can potentially be automated.

What this means is that there will be huge demand for AI expertise among local IT professionals in the years to come. HR consulting firm Kelly Services estimates that Malaysia will need one million digital professionals by 2025, in order to keep pace with the so-called Industrial Revolution 4.0 – that is, the digitisation of most economic industries as well as the widespread adoption of AI.

The government has established guidelines for how various economic sectors can use AI, through initiatives like the Malaysian Digital Economy Blueprint (MDEB) and the Malaysia Artificial Intelligence Roadmap 2021–2025. In addition, the National Industrial Revolution 4.0 (4IR) Policy aims to increase the nation’s output by 30 percent across all sectors by the end of 2030, with AI playing a big part in achieving that goal.

An equally-important subset of AI is machine learning, which is the process of training AI algorithms to recognise patterns in order to improve the AI’s decision-making abilities. There is currently a huge demand for professionals in this area of work around the world, and adventurous local graduates may find many such remote opportunities with companies abroad.

Malaysia’s technological landscape has changed due to the pandemic, digitisation, and shifting consumer habits.

CYBERSECURITY

Though cybersecurity is certainly not a new line of work in IT, this particular industry is growing even bigger than before, partly due to the continuous emergence of new threats.

With the COVID-19 pandemic catalysing a greater lasting shift of our lives (and personal data) online, so too have hackers’ attempts to gain unauthorised access to all that data increased in frequency and intensity. It is therefore crucial for companies to keep improving their cybersecurity systems as technology advances over time. This makes cybersecurity one of the most lucrative fields in the IT industry.

In the 2021 National Budget, the Malaysian government allocated more than RM27 million for investment in the nation’s cybersecurity infrastructure alone. Likewise, the top 10 percent of available IT jobs in Malaysia are cybersecurity-related, according to HR consulting firm PERSOLKELLY.

On average, career growth for cybersecurity-related jobs tends to be three times quicker than other tech jobs. In Malaysia, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has partnered with the international technology and information security organisation ISACA to address the lack of cybersecurity specialists

in the country. Malaysia recorded only 7,866 cybersecurity knowledge workers as of 2018, and aims to grow that number to at least 20,000 by 2025.

As cyberattack-related news continue to make headlines across the world, countermeasures and preventive measures will be key concerns among businesses of all sizes. If you are an IT professional working on web-based or webhosted systems and applications, a working knowledge of basic cybersecurity principles will be key regardless of your area of work.

DATA SCIENCE

In the era of Big Data, companies need professionals who are able to sort through and interpret the vast amounts of data they collect from users and translate them into actionable insights. That is where data scientists/analysts and big data specialists come in.

Data science and AI often go hand-in-hand. For instance, the demand for quantitative analysts and data scientists is growing along with machine learning and AI development at FinTech firms, investment banks, hedge funds, and other financial services providers. These experts create and maintain sophisticated models that can sort through and interpret

massive amounts of financial data. Additionally, they can create datadriven trading programmes, create algorithms with quantum computing, and automate financial procedures to reduce the need for human involvement.

In Malaysia alone, there is already high demand for data science professionals. According to a report commissioned by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corp (MDEC), the big data analytics (BDA) industry in Malaysia is predicted to increase from US$1.1 billion in 2021 to US$1.9 billion (about RM7.85 billion) in 2025.

Candidates that are keen on entering this field should be well-versed with production-level machine learning. A strong command of programming languages like R, Python, and MALLET is also required. In addition, those who are looking to enter a career in data science should also have experience working on projects that involved massive data sets and have practical knowledge with technologies like Tensorflow and Dialogflow.

Technical skills are essential in IT jobs, but soft skills will help you succeed in the workplace. Find out which ones are key.

While a career in IT requires specialised technical knowledge and abilities in order to properly carry out the job, this doesn’t mean that those are the only skills required. Tech recruiters are always on the lookout for soft skills in candidates. They can make the difference between a candidate who is simply a good fit for the job, or one who can potentially become a leader and valued team member later on.

Soft skills are skills that aren’t technical or specific to that particular job, but are often about how you relate to other people. After all, if you can’t work effectively in a team or communicate concepts to clients, how does that benefit your employer? Here are five key soft skills that tech IT employers are particularly keen on.

Must-have

Soft Skills IT Employers Want

#1

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Contrary to popular belief, IT is not a career where you can be completely introverted. IT systems and platforms are only relevant if they are used and applied within a business context. So you must be able to communicate effectively with people across all levels of your organisation if you want to get the job done.

Almost every IT career demands solid communication skills, both verbal and written. You will need to listen to and understand others’ problems and challenges, and be able to explain technical concepts to non-tech people. If you work as a developer, you must be able to work well in groups and convey your ideas effectively. In client-focused IT roles, you must also communicate clearly with clients to understand their problems and define solutions for them.

How to show good communication skills:

Be clear, concise, and confident with verbal and written communication

Understand your audience and tailor your communication to them

• Be empathetic to others and consider their views

Think before you speak and choose your words carefully

#2 PLANNING AND ORGANISING SKILLS

The IT industry is a project-oriented one, so you are more likely to be effective and productive at work if you know how to plan your time around tasks.

Many IT occupations are dynamic, allowing you to switch between a variety of projects and duties. Sometimes you might need to handle multiple projects at one time, which is when multitasking skills become extremely valuable. Being

able to chunk and prioritise your daily responsibilities effectively is just as important as being able to keep track of things like your schedule and to-do lists.

How to show good planning and organisation skills:

Show how you map out a project and allocate time into its individual tasks

• Prepare contingency plans in the event of sudden challenges and issues

• Demonstrate how you structure a task or project

#3 PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS

Working in IT usually involves identifying and defining problems, determining the root causes, and then gathering relevant information to develop appropriate solutions. However, problem solving skills are about more than just responding to technical issues when they arise!

True problem solvers are able to anticipate problems before they happen, and suggest relevant fixes and enhancements to offset those. They may also suggest improvements or streamline existing functions to ensure systems and platforms run more efficiently –resulting in a better service and user experience, and most importantly: satisfied clients.

How to show good problem solving skills:

Demonstrate that you can take a logical and analytical approach to dissecting problems

Show that you can view problems from a number of angles and offer possible solutions for each case

Show that you can anticipate potential bugs, user issues, or disruptions and act to prevent them from happening.

#4 RESILIENCE

The IT industry is constantly evolving. New tech trends or best practices constantly come into play and phase out old ones. On top of that, you can also expect to encounter all sorts of ambiguous technical problems or client demands with no clear solutions.

Resilience is all about being willing to keep experimenting through trial and error until you achieve a desired outcome. It is also about actively upgrading your technical knowledge and skills on a regular basis while not being too attached to older methods of doing things. In the fast moving tech industry, being resilient is key to ensuring you stay employable throughout your career, and still keep yourself motivated throughout.

How to show you have resilience:

• Demonstrate that you have the determination to achieve an end result no matter what.

• Show that you can keep your optimism and enthusiasm even when facing tough problems.

• Prove that you can bounce back quickly from set-backs. Show constant efforts to keep learning new skills or upgrading your current ones.

#5 TEAMWORK SKILLS

Tech employers typically assign staff to projects in teams. So, teamwork skills are essential for sharing knowledge, establishing relationships, and supporting all the people involved in a project. Aside from interpersonal skills, teamwork may also involve leadership qualities. That is, considering and responding to others’ behaviours and motives, adapting yourself accordingly, and stepping up to bring your teammates along with you.

Another subset of teamwork is project management skills. A good project manager must be able to establish professional plans, set and achieve targets, and collaborate with colleagues to overcome project challenges. This is especially key if you hold a leadership role in your team. It is a skill that will be indemand throughout your IT career.

How to show you have resilience:

• Show that you can build and maintain positive working relationships.

• Demonstrate how you share information with others while showing respect for alternative views/opinions.

• Prove how you have contributed to keeping projects on track and achieving a final goal, while working co-operatively with others.

Show how you have considered and identified what motivates others, and how you lead by example.

5 Programming

Languages IT Graduates Should Know

Regardless which field of IT you decide to work in, knowing at least one of these popular programming languages is crucial!

With so many programming languages to choose from, which ones should you prioritise as an IT graduate?

Though tech employers do hire across a wide range of programming languages, there are a few that are more commonly used by businesses right now. Having a working knowledge of one or more of these will be key in helping you secure a job in the tech industry.

JAVASCRIPT

Commonly used in: Web development and software engineering

One might argue that JavaScript is the programming language that will never die. It is one of the most widely used back-end programming languages, making it incredibly useful to learn.

JavaScript is used as a clientside programming language by 97.3 percent of all the websites. This is because JavaScript is a text-based programming language that can be used on both the client and server sides to create interactive web pages. It adds interactive components to websites that engage users in the same way HTML and CSS give structure and style to web pages.

Benefits of JavaScript:

• It has a well-organised codebase that provides enhanced productivity and readability.

• Easy to learn and is highly in demand.

• Platform independence and greater control of the browser. Provides user input validation features.

• The top companies using JavaScript are Microsoft, Uber, PayPal, Google, Walmart, etc.

PYTHON

Commonly used in: Web development and writing machine learning script

Python has been dubbed one of the easiest programming languages to use compared to others because it is very beginner-friendly. What sets Python apart from other programming languages is how programmers write their commands in-line using English keywords instead of columns, which speeds up the coding process.

Python is also known for its adaptability, allowing it to be used for almost anything. It is used to develop a portion of the software stack at big companies like Instagram, Google, and Facebook

because of its practicality and flexibility. It is also frequently used as the back-end for online services, machine learning, and data science platforms, besides being used as a web application scripting language.

Additionally, a variety of Python frameworks like Django, TurboGears, and Flask can assist programmers in creating complicated applications. Because of its simplicity in application, Python is widely regarded as the language of the future for software development. It serves as the main coding language for more than 80 percent of developers.

Benefits of Python:

• Easy to learn and code.

• Has extensive libraries and frameworks that support a plethora of applications. Incorporates variants of Java and C like CPython, Jython, etc.

• Has native GUI support.

• Companies working with Python: Intel, Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, etc.

C/C++

Commonly used in: Computer engineering and software development

C is unquestionably one of the hardest programming languages to master, due to the complexity of the language used. C is mainly used to create many types of applications and operating systems such as Windows, Photoshop, Git, and Python interpreter.

Despite its complexity, C is widely used as a foundational programming language before transitioning to learning other languages. People who work on Microsoft and Windows today still use C/C++. It works great for applications built using Unity 3D, making it a versatile solution for video game developers.

Compared to the past, newer developers don’t pay as much attention to C, as high-level languages such as Python, Java, and JavaScript are easier to learn

and save time by requiring less direct code to be written. Even so, there are still some key advantages to learning C that developers can definitely benefit from.

Benefits of C/C++:

• A good way to understand foundational programming concepts. Making software in C enables you to apply and comprehend more complex ideas from computer science such as Mutex, Semaphore, atomic operations, inter-process communication and shared memory.

• Essential for interacting with hardware: The embedded software industry makes extensive use of C. Even operating systems, middleware, and firmware use it. Many realtime operating systems (RTOS) are also written in C.

• Enhanced productivity, performance, and security

• It is the most secure programming language Companies working with Java: Amazon, Adobe, Flipkart, Instagram, etc.

C#

Commonly used in: Game development and smartphone app development

C# is a programming language that runs on the .NET framework and was developed by Microsoft in 2000. Although C# can be used to develop nearly anything, it excels at creating Windows desktop apps and video games. In addition to being useful for creating mobile applications, C# is also useful for creating online applications. Apps created in C# may run on practically any mobile device thanks to cross-platform solutions like Xamarin.

Commonly used in: Software engineering

Java is sometimes considered a simpler version of C, in that it is another common foundational programming language. Don’t confuse Java and JavaScript though, as they are completely different. Java is a compiled language whereas JavaScript is an interpreted language. Java has a similar syntax to C and C++, but is easier to understand and has fewer low-level features because it is interpreted automatically by compilers and virtual machines.

Java is used in a wide range of industries, including banking, retail, financial services, big data, and many more. Large financial institutions like hiring Java programmers to create applications that can automate daily transactions. Java is currently used on more than three billion devices around the world.

Benefits of Java:

• Platform independence and object-oriented programming

The Unity game engine, created using C#, is the most popular video game engine in use today and is frequently used to build games. There are over 770 million active users of games built with the Unity engine. 90 percent of all Samsung Gear and 53 percent of all Oculus Rift VR games were also created using the Unity game engine.

Numerous features in C# make it simple to learn. It’s a sophisticated language that’s fairly simple to read. Additionally, because the language is statically typed, the code is verified before being transformed into an application. This makes it simpler to spot mistakes, which can be very helpful for beginners. Although the syntax of C# is more logical and consistent than that of C++, there is still plenty to learn.

Small and mediumsized employers can offer IT graduates myriad opportunities and ample room for growth.

As a fresh graduate, it can be tempting to only apply to larger tech employers offering brand recognition and structured training opportunities. However, don’t forget that there are plenty of jobs in tech available at small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) as well!

SMEs can range from new start-ups with just a handful of staff, to companies with anywhere from 50 to 200 employees. They make up more than 97 percent of all businesses in Malaysia, so you definitely won’t be short of choices when seeking employment with such companies.

Here are some reasons why you should think about giving IT jobs at SMEs a shot, and how and where to find such opportunities.

IT Jobs in SMEs Finding Graduate

WHY WORK AT SMES?

• You get wider exposure to areas of work

Because SMEs typically hire far less staff than big corporations do, staff there usually find their work spanning across multiple roles. For instance, as a developer, you won’t solely be working with code, but may also end up handling DevOps or doing basic cybersecurity work as well.

• You get to see the direct result of your work Tech staff in larger corporations are usually assigned to large complex projects in teams. Each team member may only work on certain parts of the project in isolation, making it hard for them to see what direct result their work has on the project as a whole.

At SMEs, you will typically work independently or with smaller teams, and thus get a more big-picture view of how your work contributes to the project. Depending on the employer, you may also get more direct ownership over your projects/tasks and play a key role in determining how to further proceed with them.

• You can hone your innovation and problemsolving skills

As SMEs often have to work with much more limited resources than larger corporations, forwardthinking ones recognise the importance of being innovative and creative with tech as a competitive advantage. Working in such an environment has benefits for you as a tech professional as well.

You may get the chance to drive innovation for your employer by experimenting with new technical trends or working on interesting niche projects. As SMEs usually work with smaller budgets, you will also have to consider how to make tech solutions as costeffective as possible. This will help you hone your entrepreneurial skills, which will benefit you in your future career.

• You may advance your career faster

Since SMEs have lower headcounts, you can potentially climb the ranks and take on new responsibilities a lot faster if you prove yourself.

You could go from being a rank-and-file developer one year to managing a team of other developers in the following year. Likewise, your employer could task you with handling an entire business area, or fast-track your promotion to a management role, depending on the business’s priorities. There are more possibilities that come with being in a smaller organisation than a larger one where you have to stand out against hundreds of other employees.

HOW TO FIND TECH JOBS WITH SMES

There’s certainly no shortage of entry level tech positions available on job portals or LinkedIn right now. However, the real challenge is finding an SME that matches your

values and can provide you the career growth you need. As such, you will need to put more effort into screening potential employers and hearing what they have to offer.

Here are some platforms you can make use of:

• University career centres and fairs: The career centre at your university may screen IT and tech employers before allowing them to engage with students. Using their services and attending university job fairs are a good way of finding a curated selection of SME employers.

• Specialist IT forums: Smaller employers often try and source candidates on specialist IT forums or online communities like Stack Overflow. Other members on such forums may also connect you with relevant opportunities or give you further insights on what to look out for in your search.

• Start-up events: If joining a startup SME is your thing, attending start-up events or pitch sessions is a great way to see what new ventures are out there. They are also a good chance to

meet with founders or company representatives to find out more about job and internship openings.

• Networking: Talk to everyone about your job search, including your family, friends, past internship employers, mentors, and even fellow students. You never know who might be able to put you in touch with a possible job opening.

TRAINING AND SALARIES: WHAT CAN I EXPECT?

SMEs typically offer less formal and structured training to tech staff compared to large organisations. The majority of it is done through onthe-job learning rather than a proper training programme. So the onus will be on you to take the initiative on your own learning journey.

You will often need to be in charge of your own upskilling and development, whether it’s actively learning from senior tech staff, or attending courses or conferences on your own time. Be sure to check with potential SME employers if they have training budgets set aside to assist you with this process.

As for salaries, the pay can vary greatly depending on the company and their area of business. However, on average, expect SMEs to pay less than larger corporations typically will. They may however compensate you with other things instead such as company equity options, more flexible working hours, annual incentives, or other such workrelated benefits.

Try and interview with a range of SME companies so as to get a better idea of the scope of offers on the table. Ultimately though, it is up to you to decide whether the tangible and intangible benefits you can get from working with an SME employer of your choice sufficiently outweigh any trade-offs in direct salary.

The tech industry has a wide range of job titles, which can sometimes make it hard for graduates to figure out exactly what some of those people do.

Here, we help you decode ten of the most common graduate IT job roles in the industry so you can better understand what they involve and have more meaningful conversations with tech employers.

IT Graduates Can Do Ten Jobs

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

Software developers build programmes, applications, and websites, as well as write and test code using development tools.

There are four main types of software developer: systems developers, web developers, mobile developers and automation developers. Entry-level developers usually specialise in one of these areas when they start out.

Developers also spend a fair amount of time talking to clients and co-workers to determine the type of solution or system required. So this isn’t just a job where you stare at screens all day! Expect plenty of interpersonal interaction in addition to the technical work.

Software developers often work in teams, so knowledge of integrated development environments, source code control management (e.g. Git), and proper issue management will be key to ensuring everyone can collaborate effectively.

SYSTEMS ANALYST

Systems analysts focus on how well software, hardware, and broader IT systems match the business needs of their employer or client. They optimise existing systems, come up with requirements for new systems, and may also help implement new systems and monitor their effectiveness.

Aside from technical knowledge, a good understanding of business goals is important, since systems analysts must also identify the costbenefit analysis of systems upgrades. They are also responsible for training users and conducting user acceptance testing and feedback.

Since the majority of the work is often done on-site or on clients’ premises, travel is a significant part of the job. Make sure you check with prospective employers about travel allowances or remote working arrangements if you are considering this line of work

While there are many career options in the tech industry, here are guides to some of the most commonly available IT jobs for graduates.

03

BUSINESS ANALYST

Business analysts are the bridge between technology professionals, business managers, and end users. Their main role is to identify how an organisation’s operations and processes might be improved through IT, and then recommending appropriate solutions.

This kind of work is projectbased, starting with analysing a client’s needs, collecting and documenting requirements, developing a project plan for a technology solution, and then overseeing its deployment.

As an analyst, you can either work in-house for a company (where you’ll work on projects for your own employer), or as a consultant (which mainly involves working with external client organisations). You may need to travel on-site to assess an organisation’s systems or to meet and interview stakeholders for research.

You don’t need a technical degree to get a job as a business analyst. However, you do need to have a strong working knowledge of technology and its implementations in a business setting.

04

IT SUPPORT ANALYST

IT support analysts assist users with technical setup and configuration, tech support, and troubleshooting advice via email, phone, social media, or in-person.

Professionals in this line of work either work in-house (delivering support within a particular organisation), provide ongoing support and services to other businesses as part of a maintenance contract, or on an ad hoc basis (e.g. removing malware from a user’s laptop or solving network issues).

IT support staff can work in a variety of settings, from traditional offices to universities to call centres. The type of work you will do varies by employer – for instance,

providing IT support for a software provider is very different from doing support for a company selling telecommunications hardware. You may be required to work shifts or go overtime if there is a critical emergency.

IT support roles can be open to graduates from any subject, but employers often favour those with degrees in IT – especially if the type of support work required is highly technical.

NETWORK ENGINEER

One of the more technically demanding IT roles, network engineering involves setting up, managing, maintaining, and upgrading communication systems,

local area networks, and wide area networks for an organisation.

On a day-to-day basis, network engineers mainly monitor network performance and ensure systems remain reliably online. However, they are also in charge of network security, data storage, database backup, and disaster recovery plans.

This type of work straddles both software and hardware. Network engineers can expect to work with software configuration, service packs, and patches as much as installing and maintaining physical hardware such as routers, switches, load balancers, or servers.

This is a very technical line of work, and you will acquire an additional plethora of specialised technical qualifications as you progress in your career. A degree in computer science or similar is often required for this kind of role.

IT CONSULTANT

Though the word “consultant” is often thrown around in a lot of jobs, an IT consultant more strictly refers to someone who provides their technical skills to external clients by developing and deploying IT systems for them.

IT consultants can be involved at any or all stages of the project lifecycle, including pitching for a contract, fine-tuning specifications with the client team, designing the system, leading all or a portion of the project, providing post-sales support, or even writing code.

As this line of work involves helping organisations upgrade or future-proof their IT systems, a solid and constantly-updated knowledge of the latest tech trends will be key to success. Having a flexible work approach is important too, as you may have to travel or work remotely quite often.

Although a technical degree is preferred in this line of work, it is not always required.

TECHNICAL SALES

This job area is all about selling hardware, software, or other IT services to clients. Day to day, the job involves phone calls and meetings with clients, drafting proposals, or filing for project tenders. There will be sales targets to meet, and commissions on top of your basic salary.

Even after a sale is closed, clients will still expect ongoing support from vendors. So your job in technical sales may also include post-sales support such as troubleshooting technical defects or issues, providing user training, or assisting with implementation.

Though this type of work is not as hands-on technically as other IT roles, strong IT knowledge is still required. You will, after all, need to have a thorough understanding of the product or service you are

selling, as well as be able to analyse clients’ technical requirements and recommend solutions for them to purchase.

PROJECT MANAGER

Project managers are in charge of organising people, time, and resources to ensure that an organisation’s IT projects meet the stated requirements and are completed on time or on budget.

Given the fact that almost all firms rely on IT, project managers may operate in any number of industries. A project manager should take into account the business objectives of the projects they manage, prioritise resources accordingly and make sure everyone involved is on track. This can be easier said than done, because project staff may be scattered across many offices and teams –especially in larger organisations.

This type of work requires sufficient experience and a good foundation of both technology and soft skills. You will need to work with tech development teams, assessing their skillsets and providing possible solutions to unplanned technical challenges, as well as communicating with higher level business managers and managing their expectations.

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UI/UX DESIGNER

UI designers design and layout web pages and user interfaces (UI), many of which include text, audio, images, graphics, and video clips. Their goal is to create pages or interfaces that users can consume or interact with as intuitively or seamlessly as possible – essentially providing a great user experience (UX).

Designers often work hand-inhand with web/software developers, who develop the code that brings their designs to life. However, both roles may overlap at times, with designers being tasked to

handle some aspects of front-end development as well.

Aside from a good eye for design and working knowledge of graphic design tools, designers must increasingly be able to interpret data as well. They must be able to study analytics tracking how users interact with a website or app, and use that data to inform future changes or adjustments to their designs for a better user experience.

QA ANALYST

Quality assurance (QA) analysts, also known as localisation analysts and test analysts; test apps, games, and other software to ensure that they are reliable, fully functioning, and user-friendly before release to the public.

This type of work could involve checking thousands of lines of code against a test plan to ensure that there are no errors at all, or intentionally attempting to hunt down bugs and glitches in the software before reporting your findings to developers. QA analysts could also recommend ways to improve a programme’s functionality and user interface.

There is also an additional subset of QA analysts who specialise in translation and localisation. Their role is to make sure that the software/ app is appropriately translated for the foreign market in which it is planned to be sold, is culturally compatible, or that the text is displayed properly.

QA analysts are usually engaged on a per-project basis. You can find such roles either in-house at companies with mass user-facing software products (e.g. game development companies), with dedicated IT outsourced service providers, or choose to freelance as one too.

Areas of Work

Find out about the various lines of work available in Malaysia’s IT industry

AND AUTOMATION

Though task automation has long been a key goal of software development, using artificial intelligence (AI) to more intelligently augment automated work processes is now the next frontier.

In recent years, AI has been a game changer for businesses around the world in automating areas such as big data analytics, delivering personalised purchasing experiences, and better customer service support. Artificial intelligence algorithms are also increasingly used to automate rote payroll, HR, and accounting processes.

The overall goals of developing AI are twofold. The first is to seamlessly automate mundane tasks so that humans can be freed up to focus on more cognitive, higher-value tasks instead. And the second is to more efficiently execute large data-driven processes that would otherwise take a human too much time to sort through.

CAREER OVERVIEW

AIA related degree in IT or engineering will give you an advantage if you are keen on working in this sector, but it is not required. What’s more important is knowing how to code, along with other soft skills such as situational and commercial awareness, client management, and project management skills.

There is a broad variety of employers in the playing field for this sector, including tech companies, consulting firms, or software providers. Larger organisations typically offer graduate programmes that allow fresh hires to specialise in artificial intelligence and other automationfocused technology. There are plenty of start-ups and smaller enterprises in this field as well, but those typically require new hires to take more initiative to learn on the job.

Much of the work around AI and automation at the moment involves building and deploying increasingly complex machine learning processes/ algorithms, and then “training” those to recognise and respond to visible patterns of human behaviour. Expect to do a lot of work with large datasets, isolating patterns for the machine learning processes to focus on.

Career progression is similar to that of a software developer. As you gain experience, you will be assigned to larger development projects, before moving on to project management and leadership responsibilities.

Further up the ladder, you may need to start liaising with clients to get a first-hand understanding of their problems. This is key to understanding what AI automation should more practically address, and where to focus future developments towards.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Numerous emerging technologies also have the potential to integrate into the overall automation ecosystem.

For instance, DevOps discipline, which is now standard process for how large development teams build and manage software, relies heavily on automation to reduce a lot of redundant work. Immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are increasingly leveraging on AI as well, particularly in sectors such as engineering (e.g. automated diagnostics for complex machinery), retail (e.g. interactive shopping experiences), and healthcare (e.g. presurgery diagnostics and telemedicine).

The increased rollout of 5G technology in the next few years will also open up new doors for automation. As 5G speeds bring lowered latency and thus faster processing and response times between devices, widescale implementation of AIenabled processes will become far more practical across all industries.

PROS AND CONS

Diversified field Highly experimental

Because AI and automation has broad-based applications across various industries, you can expect to see your work applied in interesting, cuttingedge ways that further modernise existing ways of working.

On the flip side, AI is still very much an experimental technology with huge room for improvement. You will need resilience as you face constant roadblocks and logical setbacks in training algorithms to respond in desired ways.

Build, test, and deploy systems that change how humans use technology for process-based work.

CYBERSECURITY

The global growth in the frequency of cyberattacks has resulted in an increase in demand for cybersecurity professionals.

With corporations and organisations growing increasingly reliant on IT and technology for transactions and communications, cybersecurity has emerged as a critical concern.

As a result, cybersecurity specialists are now in high demand across all industries of work. Their role is to develop and implement technologies, processes, and systems to secure all systems connected to the Internet, including software, hardware, and data, from cyberattacks.

CAREER OVERVIEW

Job roles in cybersecurity typically fall into one of three core categories:

• Consulting: Advising clients on strategies and best practices they can implement to protect their organisations. This includes conducting risk assessments to measure how exposed they are to potential threats.

• Engineering: Designing, building, and maintaining IT systems that are robust enough to resist cyber threats. These roles are usually project-based.

• Operations: Operational security (OpSec) professionals monitor IT systems for indicators of active attacks, and mitigate them accordingly. This also includes digital forensics — where you investigate clients’ machines or systems after an attack to try and trace its source, and penetration testing — where you simulate attacks to unearth potential vulnerabilities in a system.

While most cybersecurity specialists are employed by enterprises that provide IT services to other businesses, certain organisations such as banks and online retailers do invest in their own in-house cybersecurity teams. Work styles vary greatly depending on the role.

OpSec roles, on the other hand, often have a steeper learning curve and more irregular hours. For example, if you’re working at a security operations centre where clients’ systems are constantly monitored, you could be called in short notice to investigate or stop an active attack, or to advise clients on how to recover after a breach.

Graduates in this line of work are encouraged to obtain further professional certifications or to keep investing in relevant courses to upgrade their working knowledge. This is a constantly evolving field, so staying up to date on the latest developments and best practices is crucial.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

In Budget 2023, the Malaysian government has allocated RM73 million to CyberSecurity Malaysia (CSM) to improve monitoring, detection, and reporting capabilities in order to increase the nation’s cybersecurity resilience.

This is promising news for graduates keen on entering this line of work, as local employers and public sector agencies will be looking to strengthen and renew their cybersecurity practices in the face of additional government investment.

With that said, one key area of focus will be responding to the increased cybersecurity challenges of remote work. A 2022 study by UK-based Reboot Digital PR Services indicated that Malaysia is still one of the ten least secure Asian nations when it comes to remote working. Companies will have to invest more to plug security loopholes in their virtual private networks (VPNs) for remote working staff, or research new methods of setting up secure external tunnels to company infrastructure.

PROS AND CONS

A dynamic industry Irregular working hours

In this industry, there is never a dull moment because graduates have the opportunity to work with a wide range of clients, from governmental organisations to private companies.

It can be challenging to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals, and since issues and dangers can arise at any time, graduates need to be prepared to work extra hours in case of emergency.

DATA SCIENTIST

Help organisations make better decisions by collecting, analysing, and interpreting data.

As we use technology in every aspect of our lives, we log and generate vast amounts of data, which is captured by businesses, governments, and other organisations. However, all this Big Data is useless on its own unless someone analyses and interprets it in a way that organisations can act on. That is the role of data scientists.

Data scientists essentially help organisations manage and archive the Big Data they collect from users, while also analysing all that data for actionable insights that support organisational goals. This can range from helping businesses forecast consumer behaviour, find new revenue opportunities, and pre-empt fraudulent transactions, to helping government agencies plan resource allocation, forecast tax revenue, or identify potential national security threats.

Though data scientists should possess a solid background in computer science, modelling, and statistics, that isn’t all that’s needed! Having a keen business sense and the ability to communicate findings is crucial too, given that this role involves advising others on how to resolve business challenges.

CAREER OVERVIEW

Data scientists may have different functions depending on what industry/sector they are involved in. For example, a data scientist working with an e-commerce platform might analyse the types of items users browse, and then use this information to decide what types of advertisements to target the user with in the future.

Organisations typically start graduates off as data analysts. Your role at this level will involve sorting through and finding specific trends and patterns concealed inside enormous amounts of data. You may also be asked to create data models that can assist with important business choices, or write algorithms to automate datadriven decisions.

An increasing number of employers now run graduate programmes specifically onboarding or retraining candidates for data science roles. The main programming languages typically used within analytics, data mining, and data science are R, SAS, Python, and SQL; though knowledge of Java and C/C++ is important as well.

As data science is still a relatively new area of work, career progression pathways can vary greatly. Graduates may advance higher up the ladder into broader information management roles, or move horizontally into more specialised data analysis projects. There is also the option to eventually branch out into consultancy roles, using data to advise businesses more generally.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

With the proliferation of Big Data across all industries, data science is one of the most indemand areas of work right now, especially since Malaysia is still facing a high shortage of data professionals. This demand is projected to increase further, given that ICT spending by Malaysian businesses is expected to reach US$25.2 billion by 2023.

Cloud-based data storage and analytics platforms continue to be a key growth segment for the data science industry worldwide. However, it’s worth noting that not all organisations want their data stored on the cloud. Organisations may prefer to store sensitive data either offline or “nearline” (semi-online) for security reasons, and its important for data scientists to know how to manage data on such platforms too.

The work of data scientists is also becoming increasingly tied up with AI worldwide. As algorithms acting on data become more and more complex, the hunger for more Big Data to feed into machine learning models continues to grow, and the demand for more and more seamless automation of business processes increases.

PROS AND CONS Versatile Technological gaps

Because data scientists are in demand across all industries, you have the opportunity to work across a variety of sectors and fields.

Because Big Data is constantly growing and evolving, not every organisation is fully equipped to properly manage and access all the data it collects. Figuring out how to overcome these obstacles will be key to getting your work done.

FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY

Financial institutions rely heavily on IT systems in addition to a range of software to manage their transactions and offer their clients seamless and effective services.

For instance, banks run online banking platforms and e-payment gateways, insurance companies operate portals where clients can purchase and manage their plans, and investment firms use customised or off-the-shelf software to assist them in making judgements when it comes to executing trades.

Most financial institutions hire internal tech teams because they recognise how critical it is for them to keep ahead of other players in the business. However, as financial organisations’ needs evolve and become more sophisticated, it has become more popular to outsource financial software development and maintenance responsibilities to specialised companies instead.

CAREER OVERVIEW

Graduates interested in entering this industry can expect to work with technologies targeted at automating financial transactions, as well as those developed to support activities like as data management, exchanges, and transactions between financial organisations and their partners and clients.

Employers in this line of work typically fall into one of the following categories:

• Product suppliers: Organisations that sell financial products, such as retail and corporate banks, investment management firms, and insurance providers.

• Service providers: These are businesses that collaborate with product suppliers to facilitate trades, provide advisory services, and other kinds of support. This category includes e-trading platforms, financial advisors, actuarial businesses, and other business consulting organisations.

• Technology providers: These are external technology vendors who cater to the software and technology service requirements of financial product suppliers and service providers.

Work for IT professionals in FinTech typically centres on the following types of roles:

• Application development: Building and deploying apps and software to enhance an organisation’s service capabilities.

• Infrastructure: Creating and maintaining the systems and architecture needed to host an organisation’s software/platforms, or offering

consulting services to organisations on their infrastructure needs.

• Support: Assisting end users and troubleshooting problems with platforms when necessary.

Since this area of IT deeply linked with finance, you can expect plenty of interesting challenges. You can be working with complex mathematical models, Big Data sets, distributed systems, high-speed parallel processing, cybersecurity challenges, and developing graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that can visualise complex data in seconds.

Developers are typically involved on multiple projects at the same time, so even if you’re not working on huge back-end systems or new software, you’ll be spending time on minor projects such as improving current systems to make them more efficient and user-friendly.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENT

According to data from Bank Negara Malaysia, there were over 7.2 billion electronic payment channel transactions in 2021, a 30 percent increase from the previous year. Malaysia’s first digital banks were also announced in 2022, in addition to an ambitious five-year development plan.

These brand-new market entrants are anticipated to spark a surge of innovation in the banking industry and advance financial inclusion.

PROS AND CONS

Work satisfaction A demanding profession

Many FinTech professionals enjoy the fact that their work covers both the IT and finance industries. This gives them the chance to work with the latest technological developments and understand the latest financial market trends, as well as see how both might influence each other.

Demanding clients are a common occurrence in this industry, and keeping up with ongoing technological advancements is a constant challenge. Depending on your role, you may also be required to work odd hours, since systems and infrastructure can only be maintained after the banks and markets close.

IT professionals are crucial to advancing the efficiency and security of financial services through technological innovations.

GAMES DEVELOPMENT

There is no questioning the rise of the gaming business over the last few decades, as well as the impact it has had on the current generation.

According to a study conducted by MDEC in 2021, Malaysia is an incredibly lucrative gaming market, ranking third in Southeast Asia with an estimated value of US$786 million. Globally renowned gaming studios have also established operations in Malaysia, either directly or through engaging local outsourcing studios to contribute to the development of big-budget game projects.

CAREER OVERVIEW

IT and computing graduates will often have no trouble finding jobs in this field, as gaming companies are always in need of developers. However, it is still a highly-competitive line of work that requires extensive training and on-boarding.

There are often three main roles for IT graduates in games development. Larger studios can afford to hire staff to fill these individual roles, but smaller studios often require staff to wear multiple hats. They are:

• Game play programmer: Developers in this role focus on how the game plays from a user perspective, which will involve plugging in design assets and making sure the system is responsive and user-friendly.

• Graphics programmer: Developers in this role are responsible for building or optimising an efficient graphics rendering engine, or tweaking technical features so that the game performs well on different systems.

• Back-end systems engineer: Developers in this role build the supporting systems of a game that aren’t directly seen by players. For example, this could include server-side logic and the login or billing functions of a large multiplayer online game.

Beyond these programming roles are other positions that support live operations, such as networking, security, and systems administration; as well as various members of art teams, such as animators, 3D modellers and environment artists.

Graduate-level newcomers typically begin as junior programmers working in teams with mentors, where they will pick up key skills necessary for the industry. Following that, recruits can specialise and become experts in their chosen field, or even lead their own team.

Talented individuals can also work towards taking on a production lead role. Such roles involve overseeing and managing the entire process of building a game, rather than concentrating on just one aspect of the development cycle.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

The video game industry is regarded as one of the most lucrative industries in the world, yet it is also quite unpredictable. The challenge is to stay ahead of the curve and satisfy customers as games and gaming continue to evolve.

Battle royale, augmented reality, and liveservice games are currently popular trends, while games like Fortnite have also demonstrated the benefits and allure of cross-platform gaming. There is also a clear global shift away from PC/console gaming. Only slightly more than 50 percent of gamers worldwide today play games on PCs and consoles, compared to 75 percent who use smartphones.

PROS AND CONS

An exhilarating industry Long hours

Working in the game development industry can be quite exciting because you’ll always be exposed to fresh innovations and development trends. Additionally, because programmers from all over the world are prepared to try out new ideas to enhance gaming as a medium, you can expect to be part of a field that is continuously striving to push the boundaries of technology and user experiences.

Unfortunately, this industry is also infamous for lengthy periods of brutally long working hours. While there is more dialogue ongoing now about game developers’ responsibilities to provide better worklife balance to their staff, graduates should still be ready to work long hours if they want to begin a career in this field.

Work with talented individuals from a range of disciplines who share a common passion.

Almost every sector in the world depends on the hardware development industry, since the ever-growing technological needs of the world are dependent on hardware being able to keep up with them. Opportunities for hardware development roles span numerous industries, including electronics, manufacturing, telecommunications, defence, and aerospace.

At its core, the hardware sector covers a broad spectrum of products, ranging from developing advanced semiconductor devices, fabricating chipsets for consumer electronics, to building and testing large-scale networking solutions.

The boom in mobile and “smart” technology has both revitalized and placed increased pressure on this sector, which faces the unending task of keeping up with global demand for more and more compact hardware, but faster and faster processing speeds.

CAREER OVERVIEW

Tech graduates keen on careers in hardware development can find opportunities in many industries, particularly with IT companies who have their own in-house hardware development divisions. On the other hand, there are also specialised service providers who focus entirely on hardware development for a small number of industries.

Given the robust technical knowledge needed for this sector, large hardware developing organisations usually onboard graduates through structured programmes. In such programmes, you can expect to be rotated among teams and sub-divisions to give you a bigger picture of an organisation’s hardware development operations.

Newcomers typically start by being assigned to existing projects with a small area of responsibility. You can expect to assist senior team members with their own tasks while receiving on-the-job guidance, before eventually being assigned to handle more technical tasks and projects on your own.

If the organisation you’re working with manufactures their own hardware, developers may also be involved in the production process at various stages.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

With the vast amounts of data that need to be constantly accessed or processed around the world, hardware developers are mostly focused on continually increasing device speed. However, working at higher processing speeds (i.e. 40 thousand million bits per second and above) often

presents enormous design challenges, more so since it is the role of hardware developers to push into previously uncharted territory.

There are also conflicting demands from the market due to prevalence of mobile and wireless technologies. Those need to be lightweight and have long battery lives, which is often very difficult to achieve as faster processors require more power and also produce more heat.

Lines between hardware and software development are blurring as well, as FPGA technology becomes more and more available. These are basically “empty” chipsets that can be programmed with firmware, allowing software developers to effectively build “custom” hardware on their own. Conversely, this technology also allows hardware engineers to implement routines on a processor that historically could only be done in software.

PROS AND CONS

Diversity

Graduates in this field can be exposed to a wide range of positions and duties, from designing electronic schematics and programming firmware/software, product testing, mechanical design (e.g. on cooling solutions) and design ergonomics.

Slow developing career

Career progression is often slower in this industry, as you will need advanced technical qualifications in order to advance further up the ladder past a certain point. Be prepared to invest in furthering your education, if that is the case.

Build the underlying hardware needed to live up to more rigourous technical standards and speeds.

HEALTH INFORMATICS

The goal of health informatics is to use technology to improve patient outcomes and ensure that people receive the best care possible. This can include aspects such as telemedicine, stocking and dispensing appropriate medicine, and ensuring on-time attendance at appointments. As advances in healthcare can immediately have a big impact on individuals in need, this sector is fast-paced and constantly chasing new innovations.

Potential employers in this industry can include government health agencies, medical technology, pharmaceutical, research, insurance, and private healthcare organisations. Working in this sector could involve facilitating the sharing of sensitive healthcare data across organisations, or putting healthcare into the hands of patients by allowing them to access their own medical records.

CAREER OVERVIEW

The majority of graduate-level positions in this industry usually require a technology degree, or prior experience with software and app development. Knowledge of how the healthcare industry works is not necessary – that’s something you’ll likely only pick up on the job!

The type of work you can expect as a graduate in this sector will differ depending on what kind of organisation you work for. For instance, a hospital or healthcare provider may require you to manage and archive data about patient records and treatment, a medical tech firm may have you building firmware for their products, or an insurance company may have you building data models to analyse trends in healthcare costs.

Careers in health informatics often combine ideas and expertise from information science, computer science, and healthcare. Professionals must develop an in-depth understanding of the technological infrastructure that supports healthcare in order to advance in this line of work. They must also understand the relationship between healthcare providers, government agencies, and certification bodies, and how technology can help bridge the gap between all three.

The ability to adapt quickly and change direction is highly valued in the sector, given how fast healthcare needs evolve. There is no single path for career progression, and you have options to specialise in specific areas such as software development, technical sales, or business leadership as you advance.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

The need to develop apps and easy-to-use patient-centric technology has increased. Historically, health informatics typically focused on desktop applications for medical and industry specialists. However, with the proliferation of more “smart” home medical devices, IoT devices tracking health metrics, and increased demand for telemedicine, health data now needs to be more easily accessible by patients and endusers. This has translated to a rush for mobile app development expertise in this line of work.

There is also increased demand for experience in new technologies such as machine learning and AI. The ongoing introduction of these technologies into healthcare is likely to be a game changer, and will have a significant effect on how patient care is planned and delivered in the future.

Lastly, this industry also has an entire specialised ecosystem of specialised suppliers who integrate with larger organisations or healthcare providers. For instance, there are businesses who develop data analytics platforms specifically for integration with medical devices, or companies who supply CRM software and telemedicine platforms for clinics and hospitals. Opportunities in this line of work may come from places that you least expect!

PROS AND CONS

Stable career prospects Long working hours

Healthcare is an evergreen recessionproof industry, and health informatics graduates can find stable work across a wide variety of healthcare and healthcare-adjacent employers.

Due to the fast pace and rapid innovation of this industry, work in this field can be quite demanding, and working hours often go beyond the usual 9-to-5.

Manage and build the data and information technology systems used by healthcare providers and hospitals.

IN MANUFACTURING

Technology and data can be used to assist businesses in streamlining their manufacturing processes.

Any business actively engaged in the manufacturing sector, from huge MNCs to smaller businesses, needs the support of a specialised IT department to ensure that their operations continue to function smoothly.

IT is critical for enabling “just in time” manufacturing processes and optimising inventory, both of which are key to increasing a manufacturer’s efficiency, cutting expenses and streamlining their supply chains. It is also crucial in helping manufacturers improve output – especially as manufacturing becomes increasingly automated and modern production line machines produce huge amounts of data that need to be analysed, acted upon, and archived.

CAREER OVERVIEW

IT roles in manufacturing typically require graduates with skills in areas such as software engineering, network engineering, software development, and computer science. The core responsibilities of an IT professional in this field may include quality control, developing and maintaining software for computer-aided design and manufacturing, as well as data sensing and logging.

ITNew hires frequently begin with technical tasks that involve maintenance and problem-solving for operational systems or IT networks that are used on a daily basis. You will usually be assigned to a dedicated team, where senior members will provide on-the-job training for the (usually purpose-built) systems you will be working with.

In order to advance your career, you can choose to specialise in a particular technical area in this line of work through postgraduate study or professional certification. Conversely, graduates can aim for managerial positions and concentrate on tasks related to broader systems planning, quality control, and monitoring.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Roles in this industry can be extremely specialised due to the different types of processes and equipment used by each particular organisation. An IT expert at an oil and gas company, for example, may find it challenging to transition to the pharmaceutical industry because the industrial processes involved there are extremely different.

However, if you do eventually specialise in a certain area of manufacturing IT, an alternative career path could be to work as an external tech

consultant for various manufacturing companies. Manufacturers will bring in specialists from the IT sector if such skills are required for specific projects.

Malaysia has a highly specialised, modern manufacturing sector. Electrical Products and Electronics (E&E), accounted for 34.4 percent of the country’s overall manufacturing output in 2021. Locally manufactured Machinery and Equipment (M&E) makes up four percent (USD 11.6 billion) of our national exports, and 85 percent of these manufacturers are SMEs.

Lastly, due to our huge oil and gas reserves and petrochemical feedstock, more than 10 percent of Malaysia’s overall exports are made up of chemical and petrochemical products. This is another key area of local manufacturing in need of IT talent.

PROS AND CONS

Working with cutting-edge technology Pressure

Fresh hires may get the chance to work with cuttingedge technology depending on the size and industry of the manufacturer. For instance, major organisations are generally more ready to spend money on the most recent IT infrastructure and systems to ease challenging supply chain procedures and processes.

Working in this sector has its challenges, including the tension graduates might experience when networks or systems suddenly fail. Allnighters may be required to bring the systems back online as quickly as possible because system failure can have a significant impact on supply chain functions and manufacturing output.

IN RETAIL & ECOMMERCE

Be part of the online transformation of selling and retailing consumer goods

Technology is now ubiquitous for nearly every task in the consumer retail sector, from sourcing new products and managing distribution networks, to in-store point-of-sale systems and maintaining online storefronts.

Graduates keen on going into this area of IT can expect to find work with three broad types of businesses:

• Online-only retailers (also known as “pureclick”) that only sell products from a website.

• “Brick and click” retailers that sell products in physical stores as well as a website.

• Online marketplace providers, who provide the web platforms on which individual retailers can list and sell their products.

CAREER OVERVIEW

The type of work you can expect in this sector will differ depending on whether you choose to focus on e-commerce, or on the broader IT infrastructure that supports retail businesses.

If you focus mainly on e-commerce, your main priority is to try and drive online sales by making the online shopping experience as good and easy for the customer as possible across all platforms. Typical responsibilities could include:

• User interface (UI) design and web development

Designing and building mobile apps

Developing technology to improve the online shopping experience.

• Integrating e-commerce storefronts with external systems

By contrast, if you work in IT for a “brick and click” retailer, you may be assigned to handle e-commerce tasks in addition to some of the following:

IT• Improving delivery and stock management systems

Engineering centralised accounting and control systems

• Developing and integrating new in-store technology, such as automated check-out systems

Maintaining the business’ underlying IT infrastructure

Large retailers and online marketplace providers may run graduate programmes to onboard IT hires. These could be IT-specific programmes specifically within their e-commerce division, or IT-specific programmes across their entire business to help you understand the role of IT in running a successful operation.

If the business has physical retail outlets, you may be required to spend time in-store to understand how things work on the ground, before being placed back at the head office. The work will likely also involve working with different departments within the business.

Once training is complete, you will have the chance to specialise in a particular IT area. As you progress, you could move towards a management role overseeing small projects, and then on to a broader management role overseeing a range of day-to-day processes.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

The popularity of online marketplaces has contributed to the e-commerce market’s rising worth. The top Malaysian e-commerce sites, including Shopee, Lazada, and PG Mall, receive millions of visitors per month. By 2025, it is anticipated that the gross merchandise value (GMV), or the total cost of the goods traded on such sites, will comprise at least 35 percent of all retail sales in Malaysia.

Omni-channel retailing is another major trend presently driving this sector. Retailers with physical stores are increasingly enhancing customer experience with tech-enabled product personalisation and augmented reality. This includes marketing products to potential customers through a combination of offline retail with online stores, social media marketing, and mobile applications.

PROS AND CONS

Wide exposure

Because of how fastmoving this industry is, tech professionals often transition between functional areas rather quickly. Those who work in this field frequently point to the wide variety of their work as one of the benefits.

Slow career progression

On the other hand, a common complaint is that job advancement is typically slower in this line of work than in other industries, whether due to high turnover or an overall lack of roles for upward mobility.

Play a role in modernising and upgrading our country’s communications infrastructure.

Broadly speaking, the goal of the telecommunications industry is to make communication between end-users possible, wherever they may be across the world. This industry is divided into two sides. There’s the front-facing side, which includes everything that users see, from fixed-line telephones and broadband to mobile devices and apps. And then there is the backend infrastructure that allows the front-facing side of the industry to function, on top of the infrastructure behind the broader internet cloud.

Companies in this industry are typically split into hardware manufacturers (vendors) or service providers (carriers). Hardware providers include companies like Apple, Samsung, and Huawei, who sell and maintain the hardware and software the sector requires. Service providers include carriers like Celcom Axiata, Maxis, or TIME, who provide actual connectivity to consumers and businesses.

A third, less obvious segment of this industry are companies that offer IT consultancy for cloud computing infrastructure, such as Accenture and IBM. Though this segment focuses almost exclusively on working with other businesses or government bodies.

CAREER OVERVIEW

What responsibilities are assigned to graduate hires early on is usually determined by whether they work with vendors or carriers.

In the case of vendors,, IT graduates can expect to be assigned to technical positions, initially helping with hardware or software development before moving on to other areas to gain experience. You could be working on consumer-focused devices or apps, or industrygrade technology meant to be sold to other businesses or even carriers themselves.

On the other hand, although carriers usually offer a wider range of job options to IT graduates, most of them still call for specialised knowledge. As a result most carriers will usually run graduate or management associate programmes that include job rotations and mentorships, in order to onboard new hires into their operations.

Project-based work is the norm in this industry, and duties often include product testing, infrastructure setup or maintenance, technical sales and marketing, customer and client support, and research and development (R&D) of hardware and software.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

The Malaysian telecom market has shown rapid growth in recent years and is anticipated to continue expanding until 2025. The sector is expanding primarily as a result of the country’s growing urban population and the widespread use of mobile phones that enable 4G and 5G services.

Within the global telecom industry more generally, there is currently a shift away from expensive custom-made vendor hardware that is developed to be very good at a specific function, towards “commodity hardware”. These are generic, easily obtainable servers that are less expensive and can be modified into any item of network infrastructure as needed.

Another trend in cloud computing is the cointainerisation of virtual machines. This is the process of being setting up new machines in a data centre by as easily as clicking a button, turning them into whatever infrastructure you need at the moment, and then either deactivating or overwriting them with another function once you don’t need them anymore. For carriers, this means they can increase and decrease the size of their infrastructure according to user demand.

PROS AND CONS

Many different responsibilities Pressure

Due to the wide variety of job duties offered and the constant technological advancement in the field of telecommunications, work can be quite intriguing.

When networks go down, IT staff can expect to face intense pressure to fix the infrastructure or system, especially if it involves critical telecommunication functions.

OUTSOURCING

Because of how quickly technology develops and changes, some businesses may prefer outsourcing their IT needs because having to constantly maintain, retrain, and rehire in-house IT teams can get quite difficult and expensive. IT outsourcing providers exist to help companies fill these niches.

IT outsourcing service providers can offer a wide range of technology-related services. This can span from supplying hardware like desktops, laptops, and servers and integrating them with an internal office network, implementing and managing corporate software like Microsoft/Apple packages and SAP/Oracle, to helping clients build and deploy new apps or software. They may also offer training services and other supplementary technology to round out their offerings.

CAREER OVERVIEW

ITNumerous IT outsourcing businesses typically provide training programmes that let new hires experience various job functions in order to determine their preferences and skills.

Graduate employees will then be placed in a dedicated service team depending on their skills. These teams work with clients on specific tasks or technical functions, such as programming, network support, security, or systems integration.

Career advancement usually occurs in one of two ways: by specialising in a certain technical area, or by transitioning into project or service management. While them the former requires staff to develop sufficient in-depth expertise, the latter will require you to hone your customer-facing skills as you will be put in closer contact with clients and customers.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Many major international corporations have outsourced IT functions to Malaysia over the years, including IBM, Apple, HSBC, and Shell. Malaysia’s IT outsourcing industry has an advantage over other Southeast Asian nations due to a few significant factors, such as higher cost savings, skilled talent, business-friendly policies, and solid local digital infrastructure.

In Malaysia, the IT outsourcing client base is typically split between large corporations’ internal IT operations, or helping fill skills gaps for other regional third-party IT service providers. Some of the most common IT outsourcing services provided locally include:

Software development

Applications upkeep

IT advisory services

• Cloud server migration

• Infrastructure management (including in-house networks, data centre setup, and other aspects like data security)

Technical helpdesk assistance

With that said, IT outsourcing is not just the domain of large organisations. With the continued crunch of tech talent both locally and worldwide, an increasing number of local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are now outsourcing more and more IT functions to external vendors as well. This is one business area that is expected to continue growing as companies in Malaysia digitise more and more of their functions and operations.

PROS AND CONS

Growth and opportunities Exciting but taxing

Due to its rapid expansion and vibrant environment, this industry offers plenty of excitement for those who want to work there. You may have lots of opportunities for learning and building your professional network because clients come from a diverse range of industries.

It’s not unusual to finish researching a new tech trend or updating a system according to client requirements only to discover that it is already out of date. Working hours can get long too, since you may have to work around clients’ own office hours or according to their desired deployment deadlines.

Be exposed to working with a range of business-oriented technologies.

TECHNOLOGY CONSULTING

Design and implement IT solutions to help businesses achieve more profitable outcomes.

Technology consulting is all about advising clients on how they can use IT to achieve more effective, profitable, or cost-efficient business outcomes. This is a very client-facing line of IT work, requiring you to engage in-depth with clients to understand what they want to achieve for their business, and then propose solutions to clients according to their budget and needs.

Businesses across all industries employ the services of technology consultancies, usually for one of two reasons. Either they want to implement new/emerging technologies into their operations, or they are facing a business challenge that requires specialised technology to resolve.

CAREER OVERVIEW

The work of technology consultancies usually falls under one of these five categories:

• IT strategy and design: Helping clients stay relevant by ensuring their present technology is updated and can keep up with their corporate strategies.

• IT operations and management: “Renovating” and enhancing a client’s business and IT processes in order to increase time- and/or cost-efficiency.

• Enterprise architecture: Assisting clients in developing roadmaps for their long-term IT strategy. This includes a vision for the future, corporate technology standards, and a core technology catalogue.

• Sourcing: Evaluating whether a client should outsource specific IT tasks in order to streamline operations, and setting up such arrangements for them if needed.

• Integration: Helping clients solve complicated business challenges using either custom-made or commercially-available IT solutions.

Graduate hires typically begin their careers in project support or analyst roles, analysing a client’s current setup or problems and pulling together the information and data needed for their assigned team’s projects.

After gaining more experience, graduates may be given responsibility over a client or specific project function, such as designing, building, and implementing a custom-made system for a solution. As you gain more seniority, you may be assigned to handle key client accounts, or to lead a team of consultants through entire projects from start to finish.

Some consultants may also choose to become specialists in specific industry niches later on in their careers. At this point, they can choose to either remain attached to a larger consultancy firm, or break out on their own to start boutique tech consultancies.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

The COVID-19 pandemic caused major technology disruption around the world, forcing businesses across all industries to restructure their business models while taking into account the adoption of remote working, automation, and AI. This presents plenty of new challenges for technology consultancies, who need to guide their clients through such rapid changes.

In general, technology consulting isn’t just about IT. Although clients usually approach consultants with technology issues, those usually stem from a business problem of some kind. As a consultant, you must have a good head for business too, as there is increased demand for the work of tech consultants to provide more holistic solutions to clients’ overall business challenges.

Clients will also be looking to tech consultants to model the same solutions that they propose, so technology consultancies will often implement the latest best practices in their own work as well. It is important that you stay up to date on the latest trends in collaborative work and agile working methodology – especially in this era of remote work.

PROS AND CONS Wide exposure and numerous opportunities Work-life balance

Due to the projectand client-based nature of the work, you will be exposed to numerous industries and businesses, as well gain in-depth insights into their operational practices. This brings lots of opportunities for learning and building your professional network.

You can expect to work long hours on projects and implementing solutions. The constant travelling required for this job means that you will often go beyond the usual 9-to-5 too.

WEB DEVELOPMENT

Building solid and trustworthy online products and web presences for businesses.

Simply put, web developers are actually a type of software developer. They specialise in using web technologies to create websites (online pages for users to view and engage with content) and web applications (embedded online components that carry out a user function, such as email, instant messaging, online banking and online shopping).

Web developers usually specialise in either “front-end” or “back-end” development. The former is about working on the public-facing part of the website that users will interact with, while the latter is about working on the server-side, or building and maintaining the unseen functions of a website or its embedded applications.

There are also “full-stack” web developers who can do both front-end and back-end development work, though they might not necessarily specialise in either to the same depth as their dedicated front-end and backend counterparts.

CAREER OVERVIEW

There are certainly no shortages of entry-level opportunities for web developers, given how almost every business now needs to either maintain an online presence of some sort or offer online services to their customers.

As a graduate, proof of work is most important if you aspire to be a web developer. Having a diverse portfolio of projects which show off your technical skills – whether in front-end or back-end work – will be key to catching potential employers’ eyes.

Larger organisations usually start off junior developers in teams, where you will work on projects or build specific functions under the guidance of a senior developer or team lead. You will gradually be assigned larger or more complex projects as you gain experience with the company’s web products and services, and may eventually be tasked with leading a team of junior developers later on.

For smaller organisations or start-ups, progression will often be a lot less structured. You can expect to wear many hats or be required to learn on the job using your own resourcefulness and ingenuity. Be prepared to take a more handson approach to your own upskilling and career progression in such an environment.

Notably, web development as an area of work has one of the lowest barriers to entry compared to other technology careers. Though graduates with degrees in computer science, software development, or other tech disciplines are preferred, it is still possible to find a web developer

job regardless of your degree background as long as you have some practical knowledge of web development processes and know how to code.

TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

Cross-platform apps are currently considered industry best practice when it comes to web development. As users now engage with web content across multiple devices (e.g. laptops, smartphones, tablets, etc.) knowing how to build progressive web applications (PWA) or single page apps (SPAs) will be key to delivering seamless user experiences while minimising redundant development work.

There is also now an increasing demand for “all-in-one” web developers, since building a site or web app alone is not enough to get users to engage with it. Web developers would benefit from being able to incorporate practical applications of digital marketing, content management, as well as user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design in their work.

Cybersecurity is also another key area of focus for web developers. Given the rise in phishing, database breaches, and hacks on professional websites and web apps, knowing how to secure your work against external threats is critically important.

PROS AND CONS

Fast-paced Challenging

Many in this line of work enjoy being able to explore emerging technologies in order to build new products or reiterate existing ones. There is also great satisfaction in being able to see the results of your work implemented almost instantly.

On the other hand, keeping up with the rapid and relentless changes in technology and business trends can also be incredibly tiring and demanding over time, especially given increased expectations on web developers.