One Step Ahead of the Game

Last week The Australian Computer Society (ACS) flew me down to Sydney to participate in the Young IT Board meeting. I’ve been an active member of Young IT for the past two years and its been a really great experience and I’m sure that the best is yet to come.

Around the table we had some of the brightest and talented Young Professionals in the country including two recipients of the Young Professional of the Year Award, one Young Professional of the Year finalist, two entrepreneurs and a partridge in a pear tree…well almost!

These guys and girls are really lovely people and we were all locked up in the one room to discuss what we could do to inspire, motivate and provide professional development opportunities for Young People within the ICT Industry. I love getting together with them twice a year just to share ideas and experiences from all over the country. Its quite inspiring and motivating.

So having said that, this week I thought I’d talk about the relevance of joining a professional society in your industry and use my involvement with the ACS as an example.

There’s two sides to joining a professional society - three if you count the finances involved in joining, but we’ll just focus on two for now.

The first side is how people view you. Being a member of a professional society means that you adhere to codes and ethics and that acts like a special guarantee that you are who you say you are, and you do whatever you say you are going to do. Offering a guarantee like this is gold in your professional lives as it means that employers will want to hire you as you’re perceived to be less troublesome and will bring direct results to your company.

The second side is what you get out of it. I should mention at this point, what you get out of your membership to a professional society is directly proportional to what you put into it. To realise the full benefits you need to be an active member and attend events, participate in discussion forums, and tap into the list of contacts available for you to expand your network.

For me personally, being a part of The Australian Computer Society has excelled my personal and professional development beyond my wildest dreams. The people who I have met along the way have opened up many doors for me, and also a couple of information windows as well! Whenever I need some information to do with my career or a IT technical question, I know exactly who to call for an answer. Even in this short time I was in Sydney, I met a graphics designer, a php developer and a software auditor, who I all hope to work with in the near future to expand BLKMGK’s services.

Then there’s the travel - all expenses paid for me pretty much! But don’t get me wrong, while they fly me all over the place, I’m expected to perform at a VERY high standard. This really doesn’t bother me as it fits in perfectly with my work hard / party hard philosophy, plus the people I get to work with are inspiring and motivate me to keep going with whatever I’m doing so that’s always a bonus.

In terms of Professional development, the ACS has a bunch of discounted courses that I can tap into to gain increased certification in whatever area I would like to specialise in. For example MSCSE, Project Management and also the Computer Professional Education Program (CPEP) which is a post graduate qualification that teaches you some hot topics that you can use instantly to perform better within your organisation. I think its a fantastic program, although I’m slightly biased as I’m the face of their new ad campaign.

Another benefit of joining such a society is that the membership fees should be tax deductible (but check with your accountant first!).

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you REALLY are serious about developing your career and putting yourself one step ahead of the game in today’s highly competitive society, then I challenge you to join a professional society in your industry and reap the benefits that it offers.

Dream, Build, Inspire, Lead!

AJ~

Author: AJ Kulatunga

Category:

professional development, ACS