Case study

Ian is a consultant with Time-On Systems and Infynergy Systems

Job pathway

Sales in hifi store > General all-round helper guy in Sydney World Wide > Xatnam Solutions (co-founder, Internet access and Web Development) >Time-On/Infynergy Systems (high-speed business grade networks)

Qualifications

Bachelor of Computer Science and Technology with honours in Information Systems

How did you end up working in your current job?

Four friends and I were talking about starting a company. Our skill sets matched so we decided to go for it.

What are some alternative jobs that you would be qualified for?

I guess I am qualified to be an IT consultant/Sales consultant because I would like to think that I listen well.

" Don't expect uni to teach you practical skills — industry will teach you that. Let uni be a place that fine-tunes your head to problem-solving. Learn how to learn at uni....."

What advice would you give to students who have commenced a Computer Science degree and want to get a great job when they graduate?

Don't expect uni to teach you practical skills — industry will teach you that. Let uni be a place that fine-tunes your head to problem-solving. Learn how to learn at uni.

What type of activities were you involved in at university and high school, and did they give you any skills that you use in your job now?

I joined a lot of clubs, societies, helped organised lots of events, but fundamentally my experience in working in groups has been the most important. It gave me a good understanding of the wide variety of human beings out there, how to work with them successfully (and unsuccessfully).

What was the most surprising thing about working full time in IT that you did not expect?

Everything seems to be a surprise these days.

If you could go back to the start of your degree and change anything you did since then, what would it be?

Maybe I would like to be a little bit more diligent. But all in all everything probably happens for a reason and I am happy with the way it panned out so far.

Where do you see yourself in five year's time?

My businesses stabilised, maybe another one in the pipeline, (shock-horror) married, maybe kids, but basically more grounded, stable and OLD!! And hopefully a little wiser.