I hope you may be already aware that Engineers Australia is sponsoring the forthcoming Asia Pacific Software Engineering Conference (Sydney 30 November to 2 December 2010). This continues EA’s long standing association with software engineering conference in particular the Australian Software Engineering Conference (ASWEC) which takes a break in 2011. Please support APSEC if you are able to do so: the College is making an opportunity available to students to attend a session to allow them to meet software industry leaders and to network in an activity associated with software engineering conferences which has become known as “Smart Minds”.
Unfortunately EA is not readily associated with Software and indeed neither with ICT: changing that perception will require persistence and a proactive approach by volunteers and staff. We should be concerned that an engineering organisation such as ourselves is not associated with Software Engineering because it’s the engineering skills applied to software that can deliver optimum outcomes in ICT projects. Unfortunately we hear all too often about the software projects which do not meet requirements (in various ways) and we rarely hear of successful ones. Why not submit an article to eMonitor describing successful software and ICT projects you have been involved in and the important role of engineering for that project?
It has been interesting to hear our Eminent Speaker for 2010 Dr Terry Stevenson, CTO of Raytheon Australia on the topic of “Engineering Leadership required in the development of complex systems”. Whilst Terry has completed most of his tour, it is hoped that a video of this presentation will be available on the EA website soon. This should be of interest to all engineers, especially software engineers. Watch the website for details of further presentation dates.
The website should be ITEE College’s window to the College membership and the wider ICT community. When people seem unaware of the software engineering activity of EA and cannot locate the information on the website I become increasingly concerned that the website is not doing what it should. It’s something the ITEE College should excel with however it needs someone to take ownership and drive the content: anyone interested please let me know.
Finally on software I am hoping sufficient interest in Sydney Division around APSEC 2010 might enable launch of a Software Engineering Forum similar to a very successful initiative started in Perth and more recently in Adelaide. The forum becomes a regular opportunity for leaders and other proactive engineers to share issues, solutions and network with other software engineers. If you are interested in such an initiative in your Division please let me know.
Peter Hitchiner
Chair ITEE College Board
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