Graduate and intern IT roles
Information about the different options currently available in the University of Auckland's IT intern and grad programmes.
Start your career right here!
Software Development
What is it all about?
Software Development sits within our Applications department
and is focused on the development of new and existing applications. The
Applications department operates in an agile model, which involves teams of
various different specialists working together in a cross-functional,
self-organising team to produce solutions. This means our Developers work
alongside Testers, Business Analysts, Product Owners and other specialists, in
a collaborative way to produce results. After an initial induction to set you
up, you will get the opportunity to work on and deliver live production
commercial software from the first day when you join your team. We learn and
teach by doing!
What skills or attributes should interns or grads in this area should come with?
Interns and Grads coming into this area will ideally have
strong foundational knowledge of programming methodologies, however you do not
need to be a master coder just yet. The most important attributes are
curiosity, interpersonal skills, and the ability to communicate well with
others. Because of our large size and complexity, we can offer you exposure to
front end, back end and full stack, as well as an opportunity to grow your
skills in complementary areas like User Experience (UX) and Testing.
What are the common career paths?
Developer is the start of your career path and can
lead to a diverse lifelong journey of learning and creating. As well as
continuing to develop your coding skills, short term you will have the
opportunity to pursue different specialisations including Test Engineer,
Application Specialist, Functional Analyst, Engineer and SecOps.
Longer term, continued development of your skills and experience can open doors
into a range of technical and non-technical areas, including Solutions
Architecture, Digital Strategy and IT Leadership.
Testing & Quality Assurance
What is it all about?
The Testing and QA team are the ones who validate and ensure
that only high quality solutions/applications which are fit for purpose are
released in production. Like Software Development above, Testing and QA also
sits in the Applications department. The Applications department operates in an
agile model, which involves teams of various different specialists working
together in a cross-functional, self-organising team to produce solutions. This
means our Testers work along side Developers, Architects, Business Analysts,
Product Owners and other specialists, in a collaborative way to produce
results.
What skills or attributes should interns or grads in this area come with?
Attention to detail is key in this role, to spot the
anomalies, and an inquisitive mind to investigate issues – trying different
innovative approaches to find the cause of bugs and issues, and anticipating
all of the different ways end users will navigate and operate the system and
their likely behaviours to make sure the system is robust. In addition, an
understanding of testing methodologies, processes, tools and any exposure to
testing, creating or using test scripts, and testing automation would be very
valuable.
What are the common career paths?
It will be no real surprise that the short-term career path
from this stream is to become a Test Analyst or Test Engineer. In
the longer term, people build and enjoy entire careers in the Testing and QA
space, developing more specialised expertise like Performance Stress Testing,
Security, DB Analysis and progressing into more senior roles. Testing and QA
experience could also be valuable in IT Leadership, Cyber Security, Data
Scientist, Solutions Architecture, and a range of other technical and
non-technical areas.
Cyber Security
What is it all about?
Cyber Security is concerned with protecting the University’s
devices, data and systems from damage or theft. This work starts from the very
beginning of systems being developed, ensuring they are designed well to be
secure. It also involves monitoring our systems to identify issues and risks,
employing tools and techniques to remedy any issues and security testing. This
team can collaborate with various other teams across Digital Services and the
University. Within Cyber Security, there are a number of sub-areas including
Testing and Compliance, Incident Response, Audit, and IT Security Architecture
and Engineering.
What skills or attributes should interns or grads in this area come with?
As with the Tester stream above, attention to detail is
crucial in this role to identify patterns (and breaks from patterns), and other
anomalies. Curiosity and creativity are also really important in this role as
you seek to understand the cause of incidents, identify risks and anticipate
potential future threats. Starting with a basic knowledge of Cyber Security is
useful. Knowledge of Networks is also valuable to pursue the Testing and
Compliance pathway, and to open pathways into other cyber security areas in the
future.
What are the common career paths?
In the short to mid-term, this stream offers the potential
to pursue the Incident Response, or the Testing, Compliance or Audit routes,
developing into an Incident Responder or Security Analyst. In the
longer term, people can continue to develop their expertise and their craft in
either area, moving into more senior roles in those areas and taking on more
specialised work. Once more experienced, there is also potential to move into
the Security Architecture or Engineering areas. Cyber Security experience is
also valuable in a number of other IT areas, as well as IT Leadership roles.
Service Management
What is it all about?
Service Management is an industry-recognised set of
practices, processes and tools that support the IT organisation to deliver IT
services to its customers – in a consistent, efficient manner. This team looks
across the whole of Digital Services to understand and optimise how the
different IT services fit and work together and how the processes work from start
to finish. They are also concerned with the future, understanding and planning
for the needs of our end users at different points in time and ensuring we
continue to develop capability and capacity to deliver what will be needed. Service
Management at the University of Auckland also includes governance over the
services provided to the University and reporting on the performance of these
IT services (both assets and services).
What skills or attributes should interns or grads in this area come with?
As the customer experience is central to what we do, we look
for people that have an interest in customer experience, improving the way IT
services are delivered. We do this through trouble-shooting, analysis and
re-design of processes, so skills and interests in these areas are really
valuable, as is an interest in working with both data and technology. Good
inter-personal skills are also really important here, along with an analytical
mindset and a broad interest in IT. Unlike some other more technical areas, you
do not need to be doing an IT related degree to come into this area, so long as
you have the interests and qualities noted above.
What are the common career paths?
A junior role in Service Management can lead to Analyst and
Specialist positions in the same area. Service Management expertise is also very
valuable in a range of roles both within the IT sector and in other industries,
that seek understand how processes and services work and perform (and how to
enhance them), including Business Analysts, Functional Analysts, and a range of
Leadership roles.
Digital Experience – UX/UI
What is it all about?
Our Digital Experience team delivers human-centred design
services at the University and are helping to transform our digital services
for all students, staff and alumni. We help to ensure our software and systems
are usable, accessible and follow best practices, alongside assisting with both
Experience and Service Design when required. This multi-faceted area involves
working closely with our customers, delivery teams and stakeholders, using
human-centred design (HCD) methodologies to ensure digital solutions are
designed to meet customer needs and are delivering organisational strategy. In
this area, you will get exposure to the full software design process, gaining
an understanding of Interaction, User Experience and User Interface design.
What skills or attributes should interns or grads in this area come with?
Above all, we want curious, empathetic people who have a desire
to learn. Our team is made up of people from a diverse range of creative and design
backgrounds, and we do not look for people from specific degrees or
disciplines. We generally look for people who match some (not all) of the following:
- Have empathy and desire to solve problems for
people/ make the world a better place - Have excellent communication and collaboration
skills - Are comfortable receiving feedback and critique
on work and giving feedback to others - Are familiar with basic psychology concepts
around understanding human behaviors - Have some design skills/experience (particularly
if you’ve followed a design process in the past) - UX, UI design, prototyping,
user testing. - Have an awareness of computer science/software
engineering - in particular Human Computer Interaction and front-end
development - Have an awareness of diversity and equity - in
particular designing things to be used by as diverse an audience as possible
What are the common career paths?
A common career path is Digital Designer (in UX, CX, UI,
Experience, Interaction, Service, Product - the list goes on!). Depending on
your skills and passions, you can also develop into a Design Strategist, UX
Researcher, Front-end Developer or Digital Marketer. Digital Experience and Design
skills are also very valuable in a range of other industries concerned with
product design, customer experience, and quality.
Systems Engineering
What is it all about?
Systems Engineering focuses on the development of both
software and hardware skills for maintaining, designing, and building the
products that are an integral part of our wired world. In this area, you will
get exposure to to multiple operating systems, specialised software and cloud
technologies, combined with working within an agile framework makes this an exciting
and sought after area to start your career in.
What skills or attributes should interns or grads in this area come with?
Basic knowledge of various operating systems, network
infrastructure and virtualisation will go a long way, but the most important
qualities we look for is someone who does not give up. We also look for people
who persist in continuous learning and have a passion for sharing knowledge. If
you have a thirst for learning and a great attitude, we can teach you the rest!
What are the common career paths?
Systems Engineers are unique, as they understand the
principles underpinning the hardware of computing and embedded systems
technology, as well as the software that makes it “smart”. This means that
opportunities are as vast as the rapidly expanding industry areas where
innovative design and product development are prominent. Starting your career
in this area can might kick off a typical career pathway from Junior, then Intermediate,
then Senior Systems Engineer, developing more specialised expertise along the
way. People with experience in systems engineering also progress on to a range
of other technical areas and IT Leadership roles.