Our 60 year old Institute continues to grow and we are now an ICT professional community of more than 9 500 members. Regrettably, however, only a very small percentage of that number is actively engaged in the affairs and activities of the Institute. For us to be a vibrant, thriving community of practice, we need to have more members getting involved and developing themselves: more members applying for our SAQA registered and IFIP IP3 accredited professional designation (PMIITPSA) thereby personifying and exemplifying the “ICT professional” (knowledgeable, competent, ethical, offering high value, etc.).  We also need to see more eligible members attending our Chapter and Special Interest Group events, as well as those events held at the National level, such as our Annual General Meeting and Annual IITPSA President’s Awards event.

Members (and others) often ask us what value there is in being a member of IITPSA. More often than not, these are members who have not sought to engage with the Institute in our programs and events, and are often poorly informed about them, simply because they have not taken the time to page through the vast amount of information on the website, or join in on the IITPSA social media platforms.

The Institute’s programmes and activities are aimed not only at members, but also at the broader community (through activities such as the Computer Olympiads, Women in IT Forum and Bursary and Scholarship programmes, to name only a few). Our Institute is only as strong as the collective, and we thus both appeal to and challenge all our members to not only engage more fully with the Institute, but to become proud and true ambassadors for the IITPSA and everything that an ICT Professional stands for!

Until next time…

Tony Parry
CEO – IITPSA