Graduate Profile: ICT Graduate Success: From an early age, John Ngui always wanted to learn more about the technology that would shape today’s sophisticated digital world and decided that a career in ICT would fulfil his vision.
John successfully obtained a UQ scholarship to pursue a Bachelor of Information Technology (First Class Honours) program at The University of Queensland and has never looked back. Initially, John chose UQ as it has an excellent academic record, has collaborations with research bodies and industry partners, offers programs that are world class and provides superb resources and opportunities for students. “I chose UQ as it seemed like a great place to study, had a pro-active student body and sporting facilities that were among the best there is,” he said.
John selected the Bachelor of Information Technology program at UQ as it had an excellent reputation amongst his peers, offers majors in many different areas of ICT and is underpinned by a strong research effort. “The foundations and concepts that I’ve learned and been exposed to during my studies have helped me tremendously,” he said. “The content of the program kept pace with the advancement of technology and market needs which placed me in a strong position in the employment stakes,” John added. 
Once completing his undergraduate qualification, John decided to embark on an Honours year at UQ. This proved to be a worthwhile challenge for John with his Honours thesis paper published in the Australian Conference on Software Engineering (ASWEC) in 2007 “The formulation of this thesis involved patience, hard work, in-depth research and perseverance all of which have assisted in my ICT career,” he said.
Upon graduating, John was firstly employed by the Earth Systems Science Computational Centre at UQ for one year and since this time, John has been employed by Suncorp as a business analyst. “My main responsibility is to understand the needs of the business and to translate them into a viable I.T. solution for Suncorp,” he said. “In other words, I’m the middle man between the actual business and I.T. aspects of Suncorp.”
UQ I.T. graduates are extremely sought after by employers and having a qualification from UQ has so far presented John with many opportunities in his chosen industry. “My advice to potential I.T. students would be to constantly acquire new knowledge and have the ability to adapt to changing work environments in order to improve job performance and productivity,” he said. “Completing an industry-based student internship during your UQ studies will also assist in your future I.T. career,” he added.
John’s ultimate goal is to start up an I.T. consulting company and foster the development of technology in the local market. John says his motto is to always give your very best in everything you do in life to achieve your dreams while not forgetting important people around you. During his studies, John strived for excellence and didn’t get discouraged easily during his journey into the I.T. industry.
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UQ graduate Ben Appleton is working as a software engineer for one of the world's most recognised companies:
After obtaining a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (first class honours and University Medal) and Bachelor of Science(Mathematics), and completing his PhD in image analysis in 2005, Ben joined Google.
Google is the provider of the world’s best known Internet search engine. Since 2005, Ben has worked on a number of high profile projects, including Google Maps.
“I was attracted to UQ because of its strong name internationally, which opens up a host of opportunities for graduates,” Ben said. “I found that the first year of Engineering gave me the opportunity to try out a few specialisations and to find out where my passions were.
“UQ supports a wide range of combined degree programs and I really enjoyed the interplay between my studies in engineering and in mathematics.” Ben said UQ had one of the strongest engineering programs in Australia. “A UQ Engineering graduate has the opportunity to study anywhere in the world,” Ben also said. “The thing I enjoyed most was working with my fellow students and lecturers – it really motivated me to excel.”
When Ben moved into postgraduate studies he worked with researchers from UQ and CSIRO and found that there were always interesting problems to solve. “I enjoyed seeing my research published in highly respected journals and getting the opportunity to present it at international conferences,” he said.
Ben, who is now based in Sydney, said he was working among some of the brightest minds in computer science. “I’m constantly surprised at how theory from my studies finds its application in my day-to-day work,” he said.
“Working at Google is a lot of fun; there’s plenty of smart people to work with and you’re solving a new problem every day.”