An international perspective puts IT grad in the box seat

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An international perspective puts IT grad in the box seat


Daniel Stokes-McKeon knows from experience how the international borders are coming down for Australian graduates with world-class skills. Fresh from completing a combined Bachelor of Science in Computing Science/BA International Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney, Daniel will soon leave his Lindfield home to take up a job with the Tokyo office of Macquarie Bank. For Daniel, the Macquarie job, which starts next month, is the culmination of long-time passions for both technology and Japanese culture. The first started as a youngster when his dad brought home an Apple IIe from a garage sale and the second was fostered by taking Japanese as a subject throughout his high school years. The International Studies component of his five-year combined degree included a year studying overseas in Japan - the kind of opportunity that UTS offers to more of its students than any other university in Australia. In the fourth year of the degree Daniel went to Obirin University in Tokyo where he was awarded a scholarship from the Japanese government to help with his expenses. "I was at Obirin for ten months studying Japanese language and culture," Daniel said. "That experience enabled me to understand my IT degree from an international perspective. "It helped me to recognise the subtle differences in working with people from different backgrounds and cultures and made me realise that you need to change the way you work to adapt to those differences. In addition, I met so many great people and made so many good friends that I'm still in contact with today." Once back in Australia Daniel then had the industrial training component of his IT degree to complete. He got a job at the ABC where, before the end of his placement, he was offered a permanent position in the Applications Services division. All this before even finishing his course! "I found that all my work experience helped me to see how the stuff I was taught at uni was actually used in real world situations. Having so much work experience under my belt before even finishing my course gave me such an advantage over other graduates." Early in 2006 Daniel attended an information session on graduate positions at Macquarie Bank. After speaking to the presenter about international work opportunities Daniel found out that Macquarie Bank had recently created a new IT graduate position in their Tokyo office. Perfect! Daniel followed up on this conversation, sent in his resume and after a series of interviews and rigorous psychometric testing, he was offered the job. "I will be working in Macquarie's Information Services Division (ISD)," he said. "ISD is responsible for managing Macquarie's technology infrastructure, supporting, maintaining and enhancing existing business systems and delivering and deploying new systems, technologies and services. I will be working in the team that supports the Macquarie Securities Asia business in Japan." Wednesday 27 September 2006