Swinburne University Labour Market Analysis Report CAR20001

This report presents a comprehensive labour market analysis of the network engineering profession, focusing on the Australian context. It begins with an industry research and analysis section, exploring the demand for network engineers, relevant demographic features, and the impact of technological advancements like AI. The report then critically analyzes Microsoft Corporation as a potential employer, detailing its organizational structure, demographic features, and its alignment with network engineering roles. An investigative interview with a professional in the field provides insights into job market trends, required skills, and salary expectations. The report concludes with an examination of career planning implications, discussing the importance of primary and secondary data collection, research limitations, and strategies for future professional development. The analysis highlights the competitive nature of the job market, the importance of continuous skill development, and the need for adaptability in response to technological changes.

Labour Market Analysis
Student Details
9/29/19

Labour Market Analysis
Contents
Industry Research and Analysis.................................................................................................2
Organizational Research and Critical Analysis..........................................................................3
Analysis of Investigative Interview...........................................................................................4
Implications of Career Planning.................................................................................................5
Bibliography...............................................................................................................................7
Appendix....................................................................................................................................8
Interview................................................................................................................................8
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Labour Market Analysis
Industry Research and Analysis
The term labor market refers to the market or the place where there is abundance of labor
who are looking for employment as well as the presence of employees are there to provide
them jobs. The selected profession is Network engineering and for that, the labor market
related to this profession is research and critically analysed. Its implications on various career
decisions are also analysed (Jackson, 2014). The profession needs in depth knowledge as well
as good exposure of the network administration. Selected geographical region for this
profession is Australia.
Network engineering is a career that deals with the planning and implementation of various
elements related to computer networks. In this profession the network engineer is facilitates
with the skills of overseeing the networks of computers like assessing the data, wireless
network services, etc. According to head labour department Australia annual report of 2018,
the demographic features that are require by new entrants of this field are the age from 20 to
29 around as the individuals are getting selected on this age in best possible manner (Anon.,
2019).
Another expected demographic feature of network engineering job is the expertise in subject
like the knowledge of software, their designing, network connections, etc. The selected
region is Australia hence the demographic features of Australia are also considered while
selecting the job in this profession such as the rate of employment, safety and security in
Network engineering jobs, etc. It is expected by new entrants of this profession to look deep
into these factors then only go for network engineering jobs in particular organizations.
It is important for every individual to select a profession by analysing the labor conditions of
the geographical reason in which the individual is planning to work in future such as the
selected region is Australia for Network engineering (Scientist, 2014). On analyzing the
labour market of Australia, it was identified that there are more appointments of Millennial as
they have good knowledge about the technology and recent trends of market. This recent
trend in Australian market is boosting the speed of working as well as facilities the changing
most productive manner.
On the other hand, recently the appointment of employees in network engineering profession
is also based on their knowledge of artificial intelligence. AI is a new concept that has spread
its branches in all over the world. In Australia as well it is advised to the network engineers to
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Labour Market Analysis
build up their understanding about various types of AI they can use in their profession. This
is giving them boost in their salaries as well as career.
It is expected for future employees of Network engineering profession to have good
knowledge of their profession as well as must possess skills like analytical thinking,
exploiting new technologies easily, very good knowledge of artificial intelligence, knowledge
of computer languages, etc. In future it is advised them to build up their understanding level
of learning and reviewing new network connecting theorems as this can give them hike in
their network engineering career in Australia soon enough as compared to others (Mello,
2015).
Organizational Research and Critical Analysis
Network engineering is the profession that deals with the engineering of various virtual
networks of computer and things related to it. The selected organization in which it is best for
new entrant to apply as network engineer is Microsoft Corporation. In Microsoft Australia,
the new entrants of network engineering profession must apply. The link among them is that
the Microsoft Australia is a technology company that deals with major software worldwide
and on the other hand, network engineering is the profession, which facilitates the working of
software, hence this company serves best for its future network engineers (Attar et al., 2012).
Microsoft Corporation is a technology company that has it’s headquarter in Washington, US.
The company is among the top companies of world and engaged in developing the major
software. The CEO of Microsoft is Staya Nadella since 2014 and its founders are Bill Gates
and Paul Allen. The main aim of the company is to manufacture, develop, support, manage
various computer software and sell them. In Australia the Microsoft has, it is headquarter in
Sydney and many branches running across the Country. The company is operating with same
mission and vision with the employees of Australia and other countries. It has a wide range of
jobs directly or indirectly relating to network engineering profession. It is advised to
individuals who are looking forward to opt network engineering, as their profession must try
to apply in Microsoft Australia (Microsoft, 2019).
There are many demographic features of Microsoft Corporation, which attracts the
individuals having network engineering as their profession. The most favored demographic
features for selecting Microsoft Australia as the organization for Network engineering job
are:
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Labour Market Analysis
Work of the Organization: The work of Microsoft act as the big reason for Network engineers
to opt for this organization as there is a significant link between the job they are offering and
the required skills possessed by Network engineers (Krishnan & Scullion, 2017).
Size of the organization: The size of the organization is very big as it has its headquarters as
well as branches in all over the work. With the big size of the corporation, the working
capacity is also good, which has the vacancy more as compared to others, as well as the
growth opportunity is also there.
The success of Microsoft Corporation is based on the ability and habit of organization to grab
ongoing opportunities by brining change in their mechanism. Recently the development of AI
in the market enforced every software company to design their products in such way that can
bring innovation and creativity it goes for Microsoft. It has made many of its products based
on this new line of knowledge (Microsoft, 2019). Another trend is the rise in edge computing
technology. The company took some steps in Australia as well to brining these trends into
their functioning as effectively as possible.
Microsoft organization is a very fast growing organization as it is developing and changing
with time to facilitate with prevailing opportunities and producing competitive products. In
future, the trend of increased security issue as well as Data modification can provide
competitive edge to the company (Pyöriä et al., 2017). The security factor is important as
now day’s virtual networking is gaining its importance in every field. On the other hand, the
crimes related to virtual world is also gaining hence security and safety issue act as the main
factor of any software (Schaper and Others, 2010).
Analysis of Investigative Interview
In order to analyze the network engineering profession and its market trends in Australia an
in-depth interview of a professional of this field is conducted. The interview is attached in
this report as an appendix. The factors that are identified from interview about the new
insights into the labour market of Australia especially for Network engineers, skills needed,
salary range, types of available jobs in this profession, etc. These all information was become
clear from the personal interview of the informant (Wilkins & Wooden, 2014).
The informant has done Bsc engineering in the field of computer science and engineering.
The University of Moratuwa established a campus wide network in their university and
appointed informant as a system engineer there. She has been serving in this industry for 23
years until now. The informant has done PhD and has served various institutions like SLIIT,
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Labour Market Analysis
Sri Lanka Quality Assurance and Accreditation council. The informant was also appointed as
the director of board of SLIIT and developed the course for BSc and MSc degree of the
University. The informant is an expert of this profession as she has served many jobs and
their levels as a network engineer.
The information given by informant has provided some insights in the labour market of world
as well as of Australia. After the analyzing the responses of the informant it can be said that
knowledge about the network engineering profession as well as labour market are not
disclosed by the research secondary data. The interview has disclosed many features that
cannot be disclosed by any researches as it is based on the personal opinion of the individuals
and the situations of the prevailing policies of the market (Regional, 2019). The information
collected from informant and collected from research are almost same however some
contradict a little. As the research says that the network engineering profession provides
enough salary however increased demand of graduates bring salary rates down, this
contradicts the researched information (Samarasinghe, 2016). The information regarding
growth of IT sector as well as skills required for them is same from research as well as
interview; hence, it is expected from individual to grab those skills effectively.
It is identified form the interview, which is there is wide range of opportunities prevailing in
market regarding network-engineering profession; however, there are many other factors,
which can affect the individual in diverse ways (Anon., 2019). It was identified from the
interview that in Australia as well as world market there is more supply of graduates for the
increased jobs, however the jobs are not enough for every graduate. The competition is
getting tough day by day to fight for a particular good job. Another factor is that due to
increased supply of labour the salary packages are also negotiating and comparability not that
high. There is another factor, which is no satiability of job as companies are fighting
recession worldwide as well as in Australia and lying off employees on a larger scale
(Banfield & Kay, 2012). These factors are not disclosed from the research about this
profession in Australia and considered very crucial for better future career path of
individuals.
Implications of Career Planning
The planning of career in this highly competitive world is very important. One can consider
many factors while planning their career such as the target subject, college or university and
the sector private or public the individual prefers to serve in future.
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Labour Market Analysis
In order to plan the career and identify above-mentioned factors the required data and
information are collected with the help of two methods that are primary and secondary. With
the help of primary data collection method the interview of a professional engineer is
conducted and with the help of secondary data the articles, magazines, websites are searched
for review of literature (Australian Government, 2019).
The labour market of Australia is researched by exploratory research style, however there
were some limitations that were faced by researcher while this research are that the time
involved in research was must as well as the involvement of more cost was also there. The
researcher also faced the problem of geographies as the research was very big but single
person cannot cover a big sample from a wide area.
There are limitations of this research however, the required information are gained effectively
during this process. It is expected from researcher to understand the prevailing differential of
the labour market of Australia in particular profession. It is expected from researcher to gain
as much skills as he or she can about network engineering profession so that the researcher
can compete effectively in future. Another thing is that the researcher must increase the
geographical region of the profession if he or she wants to grow globally.
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Labour Market Analysis
Bibliography
Anon., 2019. Australia: Emploement and Labour Law. [Online] Available at:
https://iclg.com/practice-areas/employment-and-labour-laws-and-regulations/australia
[Accessed 2019].
Attar, M.A.A., Gupta, P.A.K. & Prof.D.B.Desai, 2012. A Study of Various Factors Affecting
Labour. Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 1(3), pp.11-14.
Australian Government, 2019. Australia's national workplace relations system. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ag.gov.au/industrial-relations/australias-national-workplace-
relations-system/Pages/default.aspx [Accessed 17 September 2019].
Banfield, P. & Kay, R., 2012. Introduction to Human Resource Management. 2nd ed. Oxford
University Press.
Jackson, D., 2014. Factors influencing job attainment in recent Bachelor graduates: evidence
from Australia. Higher Education, 68(1), pp.135-53.
Krishnan, T.N. & Scullion, H., 2017. Talent management and dynamic view of talent in small
and medium enterprises. Human Resource Management Review, 27(3), pp.431-41.
Mello, J.A., 2015. Strategic Human Resource Management. 4th ed. Cengage.
Microsoft, 2019. Home Page. [Online] Available at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-au
[Accessed 30 September 2019].
Pyöriä, P., Ojala, S. & Saari, T., 2017. The Millennial Generation: A New Breed of Labour?
Sage Open, 7(1).
Regional, A.B., 2019. Internet Maximiser. [Online] Available at:
https://www.regionalaustraliabank.com.au/business/products/business-accounts/internet-
maximiser [Accessed 14 May 2019].
Samarasinghe, S., 2016. Neural networks for applied sciences and engineering: from
fundamentals to complex pattern recognition. Auerbach publications.
Schaper and Others, 2010. Entrepreneurship and small business. 3rd ed. Australia: John
Wiley & Sons.
Scientist, A.O.o.t.C., 2014. Science, technology, engineering and mathematics: Australia's
future. Australian Government.
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Labour Market Analysis
Wilkins, R. & Wooden, M., 2014. Two Decades of Change: The Australian Labour Market,
1993–2013. Australian Economic Review, 47(4), pp.417-31.
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Labour Market Analysis
Appendix
Interview
C : Hi Professor Koliya , how are you , I believe you have read the letter I emailed you before
from Swinburne regarding this interview.
K : I’m good thanks and Yes Chamod I did and its great to talk to you and I’m very happy to
take part in this. Shall we begin?
C : Yes indeed
C : First let me start off by asking you as to how you started your career?
K : I graduated from University of Moratuwa, 1996 with a BSc Eng. In Computer Science
and Engineering. At that time, commercial use of Internet and allied technologies and
services companies to provide those services just started in Sri Lanka. University of
Moratuwa as a leading technological university established a campus-wide network and they
wanted to upgrade that network and maintain it to cater for increasing demand. I was hired as
a system engineer to Computer Services Centre of the University.
C : How long have you been serving in this industry ?
K : Approximately 23 years
C : How was it back in the day when you had just graduated and was in search on a job? Was
is challenging?
K : No. Because at that time demand for graduates were so high and supply of graduates were
very low. Moreover, some graduates joined foreign companies since worldwide demand for
quality graduates were very high in that era.
C : Just as I thought so. Well having a career for 23 years could you tell me a little about your
journey through the sector of IT.
K:I joined IT education sector after I got a PhD opportunity while I was working at
Moratuwa University. Just after PhD, I joined SLIIT, 2003, the only private higher education
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Labour Market Analysis
institute that were there at that time which specially focused on human capital development in
IT sector. I joined as a senior lecturer. Due to my commitment to the work and contributions I
made to enhance the IT education, I were able to climb up to the Dean, Faculty of
Computing. I was appointed as a director to the Board, held that position for 10 years.I
studied and practiced in the areas of course development, curriculum development, student
experience. I lead teams to develop curricula for both BSc and MSc degree programs. I edited
the subject benchmark document for Sri Lanka Quality Assurance and Accreditation Council.
What I experienced during these years is the industry is developing in a much higher rate than
the rate of change in curricula.
C: In your point of view what are the changes that occurred in the field of IT over the last 5
years?
K: Many sub sectors of IT grew immensely, and IT became a fundamental science where
everyone should learn in young ages. Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, IoT, Cloud
Computing, Data Science has gained much attention in recent past. Growing human
requirements and rapid development of computing power and allied technologies changed the
landscape of IT.
In the IT education sector Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) came into learning, heavy
use of online material by students and comprehensive learning management systems changed
the way students are learning. E-learning and m-learning came into everyday use. Students
can access material from anywhere and anytime improved learning from anywhere.
C : What do you think about the next 5 years of IT? How will it change?
K: Next five years is difficult to predict but development of AI , Cloud Computing and
machine learning will change the teaching learning environment to great extent. To name a
few, socially assistive robots can deploy in classrooms, students will be able to design the
course that they require by their own by showing their current competencies, degrees can be
obtained by following MOOC modules from different universities.
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Labour Market Analysis
C : Lastly Professor Koliya what is your advice for young undergraduates who will be facing
the labour market in the mere future? How do you feel we should prepare to gain and give
our maximum to and from this sector?
K:Now Industry needs more specialized qualifications rather than general qualifications,
since IT sector is growing in exponential rate. Domains get narrower day by day. As an
Example, even recently developed cyber security now has many sub domains under it such as
cryptography, compliance, security engineering, security management etc.
Therefore , Young graduates should be aware of their skill profile and seriously take actions
for continuous personal development to keep their skill profile up to date. This involves be
open to others, getting their feedback, analyze gaps, prepare action plans to fill those gaps,
and continuously benchmarking their profile with the industry expectation.
C: Thank you very much for your valuable time Professor Koliya , I have gained such a lot
from this , and as always it always a pleasure and a privilege to talk to you .
K: Not a problem Chamod, always happy to help. I wish you all the best of luck in your
future endeavors.
C: Thank you.
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