TAFE NSW Information Technology student, Arianne Milan, is a recent recipient of the prestigious Australian Web Award, for her award-winning design of Parramatta Riverside Theatre’s new website.
The Australian Web Awards, founded in Western Australia in 2009, judge a variety of online ads, campaigns and websites. These technical awards of excellence encourage innovation and development in Australia’s web industry, which is worth $1.4 billion.
Arianne has recently completed a traineeship at web design company, Jala Design, during her Certificate IV in Web Development at Granville TAFE. Jala Design’s office is based in Bella Vista and focuses on managing websites and graphic design projects but most importantly, building client relationships.
During her traineeship at Jala, Arianne focused on content management, client communication, and coding. However, it was her recent web project to redevelop Riverside Theatre’s website that won her the ‘Entertainment and Events’ award.
Within the project, Arianne built forms and managed content, all whilst balancing quality assurance training. While Arianne has experience with university courses, the hands-on experience offered at TAFE NSW gave her a deeper understanding of web design:
“Mostly everyone within Jala Design had a TAFE background. TAFE gave me a lot more practical experience with industry professionals, and a lot of the work at Jala was based on the work I was doing in my studies.”
“Jala worked very hard to achieve this and it’s so cool that as a small team we were able to complete this with a major entertainment website. I am learning so much at Jala everyday! After the award, I want to continue developing websites and pursuing education.”
At Jala Design, Managing Director Jarrad Langdon has also completed several courses at TAFE NSW Hornsby. He advocates extensively for vocational education and training, as nine of his current staff come from TAFE NSW. Jarrad is also a member of the Australian VET Alumni Advisory Group and has previously mentored competitors at WorldSkills Australia. He also celebrates awards of his own, as a recipient of the gold medal for Website Design at the 2005 WorldSkills International Competition in Helsinki.
Jarrod expressed his congratulations and pride towards his newest staff member at Jala Design, “It was a no-brainer to keep Arianne on the team after her award and it definitely helped her application process here”.
However, he also spoke of the competitiveness for technology roles and the importance of candidates to focusing on building micro-credentials and soft-skills to stand out:
“Each time I’m looking to hire a new staff member, TAFE NSW graduates are a no-brainer. The skills taught are aligned to industry needs and standards, so they’re ready to hit the ground running. The pace of the sector is growing far more rapidly than it ever did – creating difficulty for women in particular to secure roles in an oversaturated market geared towards men.”
“I’ve found TAFE NSW also teaches those all-too-important soft skills and focuses on current technology standards. There’s a stereotype that IT workers are quiet and reserved, but building client relationships is an essential skill for success,” he said.
