Despite having strong credentials on paper, Munopa Rukure had unsuccessfully applied for over 150 tech roles, but it was only after completing a joint study and work program through Swinburne University that she, along with 18 other women in her cohort, finally secured a job.

For two years, they studied while working as Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud support associates, a role described by the company as “a dedicated and disciplined technical expert [who] plays a crucial role in delivering an exemplary customer experience…. [and] identifies and resolves complex technical challenges encountered by customers using AWS to build solutions.”

It’s a dream job for Rukure, who had struggled to secure a cyber security role despite acquiring a laundry list of skills, obtaining Diploma of IT and Bachelor of ICT degrees, and working in customer-facing roles for Harvey Norman, Samsung, and Apple.

In 2022, she enrolled in a two-year apprenticeship offering three days’ paid work embedded with AWS cloud support teams while she studied for Swinburne’s Diploma of Applied Technologies (Cloud Technologies).

“Before the program, the consistent feedback I received was that I was that I was qualified on paper, but lacked the hands-on experience employers sought,” she explained, noting that the program “offered the invaluable chance to get that critical experience through comprehensive training, while being employed.”

Ultimately, all 19 of the women in her cohort – run by Swinburne and AWS under the federal Department of Education’s Women in STEM Cadetships and Advanced Apprenticeships Program – had enough skills to secure permanent roles with AWS soon after they graduated.

The program “is intended to uplift underrepresented groups and cultivate a more inclusive future for the cloud computing industry,” explained Simon Elisha, chief technologist for public sector with AWS.

That company has already launched a second apprenticeship intake as it continues working to bolster the presence of women that, Elisha said, bring “dedication and diverse perspectives [that] will undoubtedly enrich AWS’s teams.”

It’s a more positive outcome than that experienced by many who come to ICT for its storied high salaries and unlimited career prospects, but find employers unwilling to take a risk on inexperienced staff no matter how well trained they are.

Indeed, despite broad interest in tech jobs – the Tech Council of Australia’s Virtual Work Experience program, for example, saw over 3,000 completions in six months – a recent government review found that many would-be tech workers can’t get interviews because 90 per cent of Australian STEM roles require university qualifications.

Putting a finger on the equality scale

That’s much higher than in comparable countries – reflecting Australia’s tardiness in transforming traditional university-dominated learning pathways for a tech industry where women and other minority groups are regularly sidelined by entrenched, impossible expectations.

Arguing the case for change, the Future Skills Organisation (FSO) last month released a Workforce Plan 2024 that pilloried the industry for persistent shortcomings including “minimal buy-in, commitment and investment for co-design and co-delivery from industry”; “flawed training designs focused on compliance rather than outcomes”; and a “lack of trust in the system”.

The FSO also lamented “limiting, overly linear pathways into tech jobs that do not cater to workforce re-entry” – an issue that has disenfranchised women unable to spend unpaid years at university hoping to one day secure a graduate job at workplaces the FSO called “ignorant” of their needs.

Degree apprenticeships strike a balance by enabling people to support themselves through paid professional roles while building job-relevant skills – an approach South Australia’s defence industry has adopted after the University of South Australia this year joined BAE Systems and Ai Group to launch a Software Engineering Apprenticeship program in which students spend 80 per cent of their time working, and 20 per cent studying at university.

Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox called it “the perfect way to commence a professional career” by giving companies “skilled and experienced workers who can fit seamlessly into their organisation as professionals and future leaders.”

By tailoring the programs to the needs of both the university and future employers, Willox said, they “appeal to a bigger and more diverse pool of students by opening the profession up to people who may have the capability, but not necessarily the means or the interest to study full-time while not earning an income.”

“Grateful” single mother Afshan Siddiqui credited the flexibility of the Swinburne program for helping her study and work while meeting her family obligations – what she called “a positive step towards change and empowerment of women in tech careers”.

That’s a positive outcome in a cyber security industry where years of well-meaning diversity initiatives have struggled to close the pay gap, improve diversity and boost the representation of women past 17 per cent.

Employers are welcoming innovative ways to engage interested women who simply can’t countenance the industry’s previous expectations and endemic shortcomings.

Industry-aligned training is working well for Monash College, a Monash University adjacent vocational institution and FSO partner that in August launched an 18-month Diploma of IT (Cyber) course whose outcomes include Cisco, ISC2, and other certifications.