A New Zealand tech giant has taken aim at ‘misconceptions’ surrounding the tech industry, as new research shows a big gap between interest in IT and the number of Kiwis actually studying it.

The research from Datacom reveals that 40 percent of Kiwis have considered a career in tech, but enrolment for technology courses remains low, with only five percent of all tertiary students specialising in IT.

To drive the increase of Kiwis taking up tech, Datacom is debunking what it calls ‘misconceptions’ about tech opportunities, skills and career progression, to encourage more tertiary students to consider the world of tech.

In New Zealand the digital skills gap is large, with a million workers needing to be upskilled with better digital capabilities within the next year.

Around 97 percent of Kiwi businesses say they need to upskill staff but only 25 percent are undertaking upskilling.

About 5000 new tech roles are being created in New Zealand every year, but only 2000 students are taking IT degrees annually.

Datacom says the discrepancy is resulting in lost opportunities to grow the country’s tech exports and GDP.

Almost half (49 percent) of Māori and Pasifika respondents to Datacom’s research showed high levels of interest in studying for a career in technology.

However, despite the high interest only four percent of employees in the tech industry are Māori and less than three percent are Pasifika.

Justin Gray, Managing Director of Technology Services at Datacom, says Aotearoa needs more students to pursue tech-based tertiary education, especially those from diverse backgrounds.

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“The technology industry not only needs more talent, it also needs different perspectives and more diverse thinking to accurately reflect the society it is designing and building products and services for,” says Gray.

“It’s encouraging to see such a high proportion of Māori and Pasifika indicate interest in tech, but we need to create more pathways to turn that interest into action.”

Datacom’s research also reveals 32 percent of Kiwi women are considering studying tech.

“As an industry and a country, we also need to work on how we can encourage more women to pursue tech careers,” adds Gray.

“While we are seeing positive change and more women getting into tech than ever before, there’s more work to be done to encourage young women to take up tech courses and pursue careers in the industry.”

Gray adds that the low tertiary enrolment numbers come with the misconceptions about the industry.

He says that the industry is hampered by the misguided stereotypes that are depicted in popular culture, such as sitting in a dark room and a screen of rolling numbers.

“That is nothing like the reality of the work we get to do,” he says.

“Technology roles in New Zealand are diverse, engaging, and collaborative. Employees create solutions for some of our country’s biggest challenges, utilising technology, creativity, and innovation to develop them.”

He rejects the stereotypes and says the industry has thousands of jobs with strong career progressions and the “opportunity to work on game-changing projects”.

“The technology industry has so much to offer, and we would encourage more people to think about choosing study options that will set them up to be part of this incredible sector.”