An Alignment for the STEM Career Wheel
Keeping STEM Career information on track requires regular adjustments. Just as with maintaining good car health, so it is necessary to regularly survey and maintain Australian IT career trends. With the advent of AI and the many IT lobby groups, providing a unified and qualified overview to students about STEM career directions can be a difficult task.
Fourteen years ago, the ACS Foundation first created the STEM Career Wheel alongside the QLD governments digital careers initiatives. Since then, the Foundation has developed and maintained the STEM Career Wheel through 10 iterations. This year's update is a major revision as it adds new features including balancing the spectrum of STEM roles across these two parallel wheels.
STEM Professions 
STEM Trades 
STEM Career Map
Wheel 1: STEM Professions - Careers that generally require a university degree
Wheel 2: STEM Trades - Careers that generally require a vocational qualification.
Within the STEM Professions Wheel there are four quadrants that keep the wheel rolling
S = Science and Design Roles
T = Technology Services Roles
E = Engineering and Development Roles
M = Mathematical and Data Roles
Within each Quadrant there are 3 Key Disciplines.
S - Research and Communication
S - Digital Content
S - User Experience
T - Telecommunication / Networks
T - Cyber Security
T - Applied Technology
E - Infrastructure
E - AI and Automation
E - Software Development
M - Information Systems
M - Data
M - Industry Transformation
Then within each Discipline there are 3 core job role profiles. Each job profile includes a description, skill requirements, entry level Australian wage or salary expectations and a video of person in that role describing the tasks they do and how students can follow in their footsteps.
In parallel to the STEM Career Wheel, the Foundation also publish the STEM Career Map. The map aligns various TAFE and university fields of student and qualifications with the entry points for each job role. Furthermore, this revision of the career wheel and map aligns the content with three adjacent initiatives
The ACS GISP (Gateway Industry Schools Program - Queensland)
Map the STEM Career Wheel roles to the Australian Digital Competency Framework's approved framework - DigiComp 3.0 - Digital Competency Framework For Citizens
Aligning the STEM Career wheel with NSW Government's supported FSO imitative - #Let'sGetDigital Campaign.
The combined STEM Career Wheel and Map can be downloaded and printed free of charge for use in schools and other pre-career organisations. The STEM Career Wheel and Map will continue to be a living document that is revised with the assistance of industry as the STEM landscape evolves. The unchanging goal is to simplify and distil technical career jargon in a way that is more digestible for students to see, read, watch and apply.
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