



Science the key to control the future: Google


Alan Noble

As year 12 students across the country mull over their university entrance scores, they will be faced with a big decision on what course to choose.

Some will decide to try their hand in one of the many diverse subsets of science or engineering courses, but the worrying reality is that too few students consider a technical career.

As the next generation of Australia's workforce use their smartphones and tablets and chat over social networks, this trend of declining interest in science and technology suggests the uncomfortable question: are we going to be a nation of creators of the future, or just the consumers of it?

Of course it's a great thing that Australians lead the world in the use of new technology and devices. A recent report showed Australians were the biggest adopters of tablet computers while the uptake of smartphones is the second highest in the world, after Singapore. Increased technology use brings improved productivity. But the bigger potential for economic growth can only come through becoming a nation of creators. The solution lies partly inside the humble maths and science classrooms.

Maths is a bellwether for the related disciplines of science, technology and engineering, including information technology. Yet high school enrolments in maths and science in year 12 continue to fall, and those who do still choose to study the subjects are more likely to eschew the more advanced forms. When it comes to performance, a recent report into Australia's year 4 pupils showed the nation ranked behind 17 others in maths while it was behind 21 others in science.

Clearly, more needs to be done to make science, technology, engineering and maths interesting to students - and that means making it relevant. One study from the Office of the Chief Scientist shows students don't see the real world application of these subjects. For example, of those studying science, only a third thought science was almost always relevant to their future and less than half (47 per cent) thought it almost always relevant to Australia's future. For students not studying science, just 1 per cent thought it was almost always relevant to their future while 42 per cent thought it was never relevant. This led the country's chief scientist, Ian Chubb, to ponder how many students finished the survey and then used smartphones without thinking about the science behind them.

Through the program Computer Science for High Schools (CS4HS) - which funds universities to provide professional development and training to high school teachers - we often hear from staff that it's hard enough to keep up with the latest advances in technology, let alone develop compelling classroom content for it. Another challenge is the lack of a national approach to computer science in high schools, hence the need for a national curriculum and a national approach to training.

Universities under CS4HS have begun to bridge this gap by showing teachers how they can develop classes that have students building and programming robots or showing them how they can create their own mobile app. When students begin to realise that it's this same "science" that builds Google products, and other services they use every day, these subjects seem a lot less remote.

Careers in sciences don't have a great reputation. I come across many students who show a keen interest in working for Google, but baulk at being a software engineer despite Google being an engineering company at heart. Google and the rest of the industry have a healthy demand for workers, so there's clearly a mismatch between what employers need and what future employees want to do.

Of course not everyone wants to be a software engineer, but science, technology, engineering and maths education are the building blocks to a whole range of industries, such as healthcare, finance, manufacturing, energy and resources. Many of the world's best-known entrepreneurs are engineers: just look at Google and Facebook. These skills are vital to the innovation economy and essential if we're to become a nation of creators in all areas.

So to the class of 2012, my plea: there is a difference between using a smartphone and creating an app that reaches millions of people (and the economic activity that's associated with it). There's been a lot of support behind the idea that Australia can have its own Silicon Beach, but we're going to need you - and your skills - to help build it.

Alan Noble is the engineering director for Google Australia and New Zealand.


  • The reality is that the perception of career opportunities in what americans call STEM (Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics) is poor. With good reason.
    Even if you do get a job, the quality of the job is not high and there is little job security.
    I am 58 years old (BSc(Hons),PhD Sydney), I have published over 70 papers in plant physiology and membrane biophysics as well as a few education papers and I have never had a real job. I was an author of one of the chapters in the NSW Biology textbook. I have over 12 years post-doctoral research experience as a post-doctoral fellow in Scotland, USA (Cornell & Washington State), Canada and Australia. I have never had a real job. I now too old to ever get one in Australia.
    I few years ago I got an Endeavour Executive Award and went to Thailand for 4 months. They offered me a job without me asking and I took it. The pay is not good here but I have a lab, a little grant money and students. PSU-Phuket is glad to have me.
    I could not recommend science as a career to anyone who is not independently wealthy. Those who try to encourage young people into STEM should sit down and quietly search their consciences about what they are doing. The last entry-level academic job I applied for in Australia (2010) had 400 applicants - that is completely sick.
    There is another thing I have noticed over the years that is also bad news. It is harder and harder in the biological sciences to find a male student who is any good.

    Dr Raymond J. RITCHIE
    Prince Songkla University-Phuket & Sydney University
    Date and time
    December 26, 2012, 12:52PM
    • If you pay them they will come.

      Date and time
      December 26, 2012, 1:25PM
      • The problem is cultural more than anything. Like the previous poster, Dr. Ritchie, I also have a PhD, but in computer science.

        Academia wise, as Dr. Ritchie suggests, is ultra competitive. But there are still lots of non-academic jobs, given the right STEM areas. Mathematicians, physicists and computer sciences are sought after in the financial sector, for building financial models and automated trading algorithms. Same bunch plus biologists and medical doctors are greatly in demand in systems biology and bioinformatics (using maths to construct biological models and analysing gene and other biological data to predict diseases etc). Maths + sociology gives rise to social network analysis and recommendor systems - think Google, Facebook, Apple, music recommendation services and even your humble supermarket. Essentially, large established companies like banks, supermarkets or IBM to start ups all need people with maths skills and sometimes computing skills. Lots of jobs, but not in Aus unfortunately.

        Anglo countries, unfortunately, do not really respect engineers and scientists. Good at maths at school - nerd and social outcast! Good at sport - legend. Look at the pay - doctors, lawyers etc gets paid much more than engineers and scientists in general. So why would bright kids want to study these? Luckily, it isn't like this all over the world. Japan, Germany and some other asian countries comes to mind where STEM are really valued, and you are respected for knowing things rather than looked on with suspicion. I like what the Chief Scientist is doing, but I fear that it is in vain - it is difficult to change cultural norms.

        Date and time
        December 26, 2012, 1:35PM
        • Unfortunately @Dr Raymond J. RITCHIE's comment sums it up. The reason that Mathematics, Engineering and the Sciences are unpopular is simply because young people see that there is little prospect of having a career in these areas, especially in Australia.

          And the demand for science and engineering graduates in related areas such as Finance is rather overstated. Most of the positions go to Business graduates. Sorry @DS. And anyway, who starts off on the hard path of studying physics or engineering to a PhD level, with a view to end up doing something completely unrelated, like number-crunching grunt work in a bank, while taking orders from a boss with a 3-year business degree who's skimming all the cream from their efforts?

          In good conscience how can anyone recommend this path, when a three year Human resources or marketing graduate earns more, with much better job security and promotion prospects in Australia? Simply, Australia has nowhere near the number of jobs to match the number of graduates we produce, probably in general but especially in the Maths and Sciences disciplines. [Which also makes the amount of recruiting we do from overseas criminal, by the way].

          It is frightening to realise that young people are simply responding to the incentive structures in a rational way. The problem will not be fixed by some clever marketing to make science or maths seem sexy or cool. It has been tried and it isn't working. Just ask the USYD Mathematics School for example.

          Date and time
          December 26, 2012, 3:59PM

            Dr Raymond J. RITCHIE (above)
            Is exactly right

            The only "science" related subject that get you a job is medicine/dentistry and maybe vet...

            the rest is a joke, most science grads get rubbish, low payed if any job and opinion security low pay no career opportunities. The only degrees worth doing are Med, followed by law.

            (and law is not that great)

            Engineering is a dead end as Australia, and the west do not make much, and in Asia they are paid crap. the mining "boom" was really not much in the way of employment and dollar value as well as job security.

            I have engineering, law and a medical degree from different unis (yeah a lot of study)

            Seriously do not do science or computer science or engineering until some one guarantees you a job and high wages and a viable career at the end of the study for life, which means do not do it.

            Don't sacrifice yourself to politicians "sound bite" we need more scientist while they cut back csiro and R&D tax credits. The reality is UNI is just to keep you of unemployment stats for a few more years and it sounds "good" and makes parents feel warm and fuzzy that we have more "science" students

            Date and time
            December 26, 2012, 4:55PM
            • One of the biggest problems is the lead ceiling. We get to a certain point in a technical career and if you are not a manager by then (Higher Education and Research companies excluded), you are looked at strangely and your career comes to a screaming halt in the belief that you must be a cost centre as you are not generating profits for the shareholders.

              Having worked at a couple of larger multinational IT companies, several of them have a career path but the great majority of companies do not give a toss if you wish to try to keep up your technical skills and abilities. Very few companies these days will pay for training, just look at the job ads, how many of them are busy stating specific requirements generally which don't match the role anyway.

              Most managers have no idea how to manage a technical person, most of us just get ignored, put in a crappy little office in the belief that this satisfies our every need.

              Any wonder there is a diminishing number of science/engineering graduates?

              Date and time
              December 26, 2012, 5:45PM
              • Google wants to pay Australians $100/hr for work they can get done in India for $5/hr, pull the other one ...

                Date and time
                December 26, 2012, 7:15PM
                • The links between revenue generation and the sciences requires further clarity before the ICT sector becomes attractive to undergraduates. Bright students seek to become doctors, lawyers and bankers largely because this link is well established - intellect and hard work will ultimately be rewarded with the means to become self sufficient. I also agree that Australia needs to start valuing intellectual creativity to avoid becoming redundant in the technological arms race. One only needs to look at the ITEE faculties of its major universities to see that our Asian neighbors are well ahead of the curve in this respect. Extractive industries and an over reliance on commodities, the price of which is established by a global market, will only hamper Australia's economic flexibility. A thought which might be shared by Mr Swan as he reviews the Budget projections.

                  Date and time
                  December 26, 2012, 8:19PM
                  • I love bigBill$ subtle paraphrasing of a line from Field of Dreams :)

                    I'm a professional Enterprise Software Engineer and part-time Android app developer with several modestly successful apps on the market. I too find it amusing when i see people describe themselves as "geeks" because they have all the latest tech gear and the coolest apps installed....

                    True geeks are the ones writing these apps, or various other software. Not the ones who simply have the most up to date apps installed on their latest iDevices.

                    In terms of job prospects, I find the technical market to be very good, especially in the contract space. This is in stark contrast to the impression given to me when i was at university studying software engineering 10-12 years ago, where everyone wanted to avoid being technical because of the fear of outsourcing. I've never had problems finding jobs ever since starting work, and my current company just cant find enough good technical people to resource their projects!

                    Uni students need not worry. There are plenty of tech jobs out there that pay well (especially for contractors) if you are good enough

                    Date and time
                    December 26, 2012, 8:53PM
                    • I can't believe this "we don't graduate enough science students" myth is still around. I completed my Physics BSc in 1996 (it got me a job in Operations Research for several years). Then I completed my Physics PhD in 2010 (and spent the last 4 years doing railway simulation modelling). Mildly amusing jobs but not quite the science that I trained for. As one who has spent many years looking for actual science jobs I can assure you there isn't much out there.

                      Date and time
                      December 26, 2012, 9:42PM

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