This year’s two 2024 Sydney Big Day In events involved over 1000 students from a wide range of NSW schools on March 20 & 21 at University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

The Big Day In is a series of events around the country run by the Australian Computer Society Foundation that encourage students to consider a career in STEM.

I had the privilege of being the opening keynote presenter for both days and sharing some of the research around the skills that are required to thrive and establish a career in STEM and many other industry areas. We also ran a special Adobe Express activity that involved the students creating an image with the Gen AI Adobe Firefly capabilities of their dream job.

Professor Vicki Chen, Provost & Senior Vice-President, UTS and Dr Ian Oppermann, Industry Professor both set the scene and welcomed the students on both days. Other key presenters included:

• Valessa Basic (Australian Signals Directorate)
• Naomi Perera (Google)
• Mark Flanagan (Animal Logic)
• Aeesha Bello, Holly Craig & Jack McCowan (Wisetech Global)
• Dan Bowen (Microsoft)
• Lieutenant Bridget Free (Defence Force Recruiting)
  

More information about day 1 can be found here and day 2 here.

I would like to thank my colleagues on the ANZ Adobe Edu Team Kaitlin Hartley and Molly Turner for helping me at the Adobe stand and being such great photographers.