OzTech: Data graduates sought by WA government; NSW pours $1M into cybersecurity accelerator; Atlassian HQ gets off the plant

Data graduates sought by WA government

A 12-month project will see IT graduates working across Western Australia government agencies as part of the state’s 2021-2015 Digital Strategy.

The Interagency Data Science Graduate Program will seek graduates with skills and qualifications in data programming languages, analysis of geospatial data, statistical modelling, and data visualisation software.

Successful applicants will complete three four-month rotations among the participating agencies.

The state government aims to allow for graduates to help deliver “convenient, smart, and secure digital services to the WA community”.

Applications are now open and the program will start in February 2023.

NSW government pours $1M into cybersecurity accelerator

The New South Wales government selected cybersecurity accelerator CyRise to run the government’s $1 million cybersecurity accelerator program based in Sydney’s Tech Central.

As part of the program, CyRise will offer three-day boot camps, a 14-week accelerator program for startups, and a new scaleup program for later-stage scaling businesses. The expected result is that these will help companies sharpen their products, fine-tune business models, and boost their connections with international investors.

Another expectation is that, by increasing local companies’ profiles, New South Wales will attract cybersecurity talent.

Atlassian headquarters gets off the plant

Four years after the first plans around what the Sydney technology precinct, Tech Central, would become, the 39-storey building that will house Atlassian’s headquarters has gotten off the plant. The project is a partnership between the Australian giant with the New South Wales government, Dexus, and YHA, and it is now expected to open in 2027. In October 2021, when the build was approved, the expectation was for a 2026 finish.

The state government has high hopes for the building and expects it to drive “5,000 future technology and supporting industry jobs”.

In April 2021, Atlassian announced a “team-anywhere policy” which would ultimately mean “Atlassian’s 5,700 staff around the world can work from any location in a country where Atlassian has a corporate entity, where they have the legal right to work, and where the time zone they are in is broadly aligned with that of their team members”, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.

It is curious that after the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes around where technology professionals work from, with a big shift to home office, that Australia’s largest technology companies still support a build of this kind. Others behind the project include Afterpay, Canva, ROKT, and Safety Culture.

It is important to mention the building won’t consist of office space alone; it will also house retail, dining, and accommodation.