EASYUNI Ultimate University Guide 2013 July Issue | Page 79

Interview

Industry

Information Technology

Muhammad Imran
Kunalan Abdullah
Director - Talent
Multimedia Development
Corporation Sdn Bhd (MDeC)

IT jobs are said to be among the most sought after as
market research shows that this sector is going to grow
manifold in the future and are going to see a surge in
demand. However optimistic the situation is, when the
economy slows down, IT workers are among the ?rst to
be laid off. What’s your view on this?
The diffusion of information and communication technologies
(ICTs) across all economic sectors is placing new demands
on workers’ skills. The changing skill set is both expanding
employment opportunities and imposing new demands on
every level of employees. In today’s job market, basic ICT skills
are considered essential for people entering the workforce
and for those trying to ?nd a better job. The present labour
market indicators shows that ICT skilled workforce form
a strategic asset that spurs economic growth, promotes
competitiveness, and improves business productivity.
The effective use of ICT for businesses and industrial
processes and on the knowledge, competencies, and skills
of current and fresh hires have direct impact on a country’s
economic achievement and Malaysia is no exception. ICT skills
are not only required for jobs in the information technology
(IT) sector but the demand for them cuts across sectors and
job types. ICT skills are increasingly important in sectors
beyond the ICT industry such as agriculture, construction,
education, and service industries. The contribution of ICT jobs
in our labour market is prevalent and its contribution for GDP
is signi?cant.
The information and communications technology (ICT)
sector has led the way to a tentative recovery for the global
economy, in the process accelerating the world’s transition to
a digital economy and society. ICT posted a strong showing
in 2011 with a growth rate of 8.7% in global spending to
emerge as one of the fastest-growing sectors coming out of
the Global Financial Crisis of 2009. This expansion is expected
to carry forward over the next four years with a Compound
Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) exceeding 6.0%. (World
Information Technology and Services Alliance - WITSA’s Digital
Planet 2010).

This alleviates the myth that during economic crisis, ICT
jobs are the ?rst to be cut and so forth. ICT jobs are able
to weather the economic crisis. It is common for industries
to pursue effectiveness in operations during economic
uncertainties and this is primarily done through investment
in technologies which is ICT-driven. Hence, the job for ICT
professionals are either not impacted at all or even becoming
more signi?cant and lead to growth in this scenario.

What are the career options and salary trends for the
IT sector?
ICT jobs and roles are not unique to the ICT industry alone.
Usage of ICT is pervasive across all sectors of the economy.
Statistics produced by the National Statistics Department
indicates that there are more than 500,000 ICT professionals
in the Malaysian labour market. Is this suf?cient? De?nitely
a no, with the pace our economy is growing! Thanks to the
forward-looking strategy of our government, by implementing
and following through the economic transformation agenda.
The economic transformation activities alone are expected to
create a record 3.3 million new jobs by 2020. If one zooms into
the various projects related to the economic transformation
programmes, it has a signi?cant number of activities, which
are directly ICT-centric, or ICT-enabled. We envisage a large
number of new ICT-centric jobs created as part of the 3.3
millions jobs.
The country rolled out the National ICT Initiatives under
the ambit of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) through the
formation of MDeC. There are more than 3,000 MSC-status
companies focusing on information technology activities,
creative multimedia and ICT-enabled services known as Shared
Services and Outsourcing (SSO). These companies alone have
created more than 120,000 jobs in the last 13 years and they
are expected to expand further. These companies forecasted a
compounded average employment demand growth of 26% in
the next couple of years.
New investment in the MSC spurred by the positive
economic and business environment of the country as a whole

EASYUNI Guide 2013

77