American information technology company IBM is well-known to technology-loving Australians and businesses that use major computing power and IT services.
Founded in 1911 and re-named IBM in 1924, the US tech company established an Australian Sydney-based subsidiary in 1932.
IBM, also known as “Big Blue”, currently employs more than 345,000 people worldwide. More than 70 per cent are employed outside the United States in countries like Australia.
The company’s commercial reach into the IT world is profound, covering cutting edge areas in IT such as cloud computing, software and hardware, AI, robotics, blockchain and quantum computing.
Katrina Troughton, the Managing Director of IBM Australia and New Zealand, is a life-long employee at the firm. She has spent more than 30 years working in many different roles within the organisation, before being appointed Managing Director in 2019.
Like other top tech executives, Katrina is keen to relay an exciting message about new trends that have emerged in the tech world. “Tech” was once the domain of people with university degrees or the right coding skills, but that has all changed. As tech becomes more and more part of daily life, the industry is more open to the broader community.
These days, companies like IBM want their people to have broad and diverse skills and backgrounds. Tech is not just about code. It’s about having the right mindset to learn new skills and contribute in different ways than many would not imagine a generation ago.
Indeed, the demand for people from all walks of life, including high school and TAFE graduates, is rising at IBM and other tech companies. University is not the only pathway to success these days.
Katrina did not know what she wanted to do for a career. At one point, she was happy enough to be offered a car as part of her job package.
But after Katrina joined IBM one of the reasons she stayed so long was because of the variety, the opportunity to take on new challenges and learn lots of new things, and also the chance of travel.
Although there were many who influenced Katrina, business executive David Thodey, the former CEO of Telstra and once managing director at IBM, was key.
Katrina is a New Zealander. (Born in WA, Thodey himself grew up in New Zealand and was educated there before crossing the Tasman.)
She recalls being impressed with Thodey’s idea that leadership is all about taking on challenges and not standing still. In the world of tech, with its rapid rate of change in systems and technique, that is a powerful fact to recognise.
This insight gave her the confidence to risk new things in her career.
The first test of this resolve was when she was offered a position in the Asia Pacific that required her to leave her job and the comfort of New Zealand. After a lot of thought, she eventually did so and took on a role in a team that employed about 20 people.
Four years later, they employed more than 500.
The risk she took at the outset delivered opportunity in the form of new choices to work elsewhere.
In Katrina’s worldview, there is a massive opportunity in embracing new opportunities. So long as you are willing to take the risk on, you are giving yourself the chance to discover new technologies, learn new skills and build experience which can grow your future career options.
This may require having faith in your judgment.
Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable might seem paradoxical. But that is a useful way to think about things, Katrina says. If you are in a role that does not make you feel a little bit uncomfortable then it probably is not the right job for you to continue to grow and develop.
Katrina also links luck to risk – you create your own luck by taking risks, being courageous and constantly learning. The willingness to learn is as important as the skills you have in the fast-changing world of technology.
Katrina remains passionate about an industry she has devoted her career energies to understand.
In her view, tech represents an amazing opportunity for someone looking for a career now because of the unprecedented demand for skills being created by Government and businesses focus on Digital Transformation, and the opportunities are appearing across many new technology domains like cloud and cyber.
No one knows what the industry will look like in 20 years. It’s exciting and changing fast but open to people with TAFE or a university degree or micro-credentials. In tech, you do not need 20 years to become an expert. So take the risk!