By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A trail-blazing Berwick IT student says she is keeping her options open – after all, the jobs of the future may not even exist yet.
Amy Thompson is one of 35 young innovators to have won Westpac Young Technologist national scholarships.
More than half of the awardees are female – a deliberate push to fast-track more gender and socio-economic diversity into technology.
Ms Thompson is already seeing positive change in her first-year class at RMIT University.
“There’s quite a number of girls in my course, many more than I expected.
“In my view, there needs to be more diversity in gender and more cultures because everyone has so much to offer.
“Having a more diverse mindset in the technology industry will create many more opportunities.”
Ms Thompson has an interest in app and website design, with plans to move into IT management.
She was always encouraged to follow her passion for computing as a student at the all-girls St Margaret’s School, Berwick.
“All of the girls were incredibly smart and had such an idea of what they wanted to do in the future.
“They were driven to go into technology fields.
“We had the largest IT class of girls that the school had so far.”
There’s a lot of options to explore in the dynamically changing IT environment, whether it’s in 3-D printing or in a coding lab.
Ms Thompson isn’t sure of where she’ll land, though it probably won’t be in a “back room” writing computer programs.
Already through her scholarship, Ms Thompson said she’d met inspiring past and present recipients, such as one designing prosthetics for war veterans.
She has lifetime membership to a Westpac100 Scholars Network to collaborate on Australia’s most pressing problems, as well as relevant work experience.
“I’m not really sure exactly what I’ll do. I’m leaving it open.
“In the future there’s going to be jobs that don’t even exist at the moment.”
The scholarship of up to $25,000 will pay off a fair chunk of her HECS bill for her IT course. It not only takes the financial pressure off, it makes Ms Thompson feel others have faith in her.
“It’s pushing me to do my best and take hold of my future.”
Westpac Bicentennial Foundation chief executive Susan Bannigan said the scholarship fast-tracked the development of young people from “all walks of life”.
“The future of work is going to be driven by technology so it’s critical we invest in young, innovative Australians to help build a strong pipeline of talent in the industry for years to come.”
