An IT career choice model
Research focusing on students’ Information Technology (IT) career choices shows that their decisions were influenced by factors, such as exposure to programming concepts at school level, culture, parents, teachers and role models. Theories relating to career choice have focused on individual charact...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists
2024-12-01
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| Series: | South African Computer Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://sacj.org.za/article/view/18327 |
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| _version_ | 1846127505312841728 |
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| author | Andre Calitz Margaret Cullen Malibongwe Twani |
| author_facet | Andre Calitz Margaret Cullen Malibongwe Twani |
| author_sort | Andre Calitz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research focusing on students’ Information Technology (IT) career choices shows that their decisions were influenced by factors, such as exposure to programming concepts at school level, culture, parents, teachers and role models. Theories relating to career choice have focused on individual characteristics and their environment. In South Africa however, there have been limited studies investigating the factors influencing students’ IT career decisions, specifically choosing study programmes in Computer Science (CS), Information Systems (IS) and IT. The aim of this study was to evaluate a proposed IT career choices model. A questionnaire was developed and distributed amongst CS/IS/IT first-year students at the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa and 205 students completed the survey. The data were statistically analysed, including Exploratory Factor Analysis. The study highlighted that students with high academic confidence and exposure to programming concepts at an early age, chose an IT career. The study further showed statistical differences between students speaking different home languages and genders in their perceptions about the IT industry and choosing an IT career. The main contribution of the study is the evaluation of a proposed IT Career Choice Model, based on existing theories, literature and the statistical results obtained from the study. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-245aeb747a33407db31a56fdda4b8da3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1015-7999 2313-7835 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South African Computer Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-245aeb747a33407db31a56fdda4b8da32024-12-11T16:28:40ZengSouth African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information TechnologistsSouth African Computer Journal1015-79992313-78352024-12-0136210.18489/sacj.v36i2/1832722741An IT career choice modelAndre Calitz0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2555-9041Margaret Cullen1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4225-4191Malibongwe Twani2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9901-5848Nelson Mandela UniversityNelson Mandela UniversityNelson Mandela UniversityResearch focusing on students’ Information Technology (IT) career choices shows that their decisions were influenced by factors, such as exposure to programming concepts at school level, culture, parents, teachers and role models. Theories relating to career choice have focused on individual characteristics and their environment. In South Africa however, there have been limited studies investigating the factors influencing students’ IT career decisions, specifically choosing study programmes in Computer Science (CS), Information Systems (IS) and IT. The aim of this study was to evaluate a proposed IT career choices model. A questionnaire was developed and distributed amongst CS/IS/IT first-year students at the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa and 205 students completed the survey. The data were statistically analysed, including Exploratory Factor Analysis. The study highlighted that students with high academic confidence and exposure to programming concepts at an early age, chose an IT career. The study further showed statistical differences between students speaking different home languages and genders in their perceptions about the IT industry and choosing an IT career. The main contribution of the study is the evaluation of a proposed IT Career Choice Model, based on existing theories, literature and the statistical results obtained from the study.https://sacj.org.za/article/view/18327it career choice modelcareer choice theoriesit career choice factors |
| spellingShingle | Andre Calitz Margaret Cullen Malibongwe Twani An IT career choice model South African Computer Journal it career choice model career choice theories it career choice factors |
| title | An IT career choice model |
| title_full | An IT career choice model |
| title_fullStr | An IT career choice model |
| title_full_unstemmed | An IT career choice model |
| title_short | An IT career choice model |
| title_sort | it career choice model |
| topic | it career choice model career choice theories it career choice factors |
| url | https://sacj.org.za/article/view/18327 |
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