Nathan Chatland
As with most educational endeavours and university courses, optimal personal growth and professional development are only obtainable if the theory taught in lectures is supplemented with practical experiences and exposure to engaging workplace scenarios. Being a third-year student at the University of Malta, I knew that finding a job in the industry related to my studies would be paramount to augmenting my education – particularly so if that job would be in an environment that stands out. In that regard, I am extremely fortunate to have spent the last 15 months working as part of MITA’s Strategy and Business team via MITA’s student placement programme.
I first started working at MITA in July 2016, being welcomed into an office environment that was far warmer and friendlier than I had anticipated it to be. All of my colleagues went out of their way to help me integrate quickly and feel at home. The atmosphere in the office and department was – and remains – fantastic, having more of a highly functional family feel rather than a mere workplace. My mentor, colleagues and head of department all invested time and effort into helping me to understand the nature and scope of the company’s processes and operations. Though slightly overwhelming at first, I was quickly able to get the ball rolling in terms of getting work done as guidance and helping hands were around every corner.
The work that I have been doing at MITA has been as interesting as it is varied. For the first few months, the core proportion of my work involved undertaking intensive research and compiling a comprehensive report with regards to the growth trends of Malta’s Digital Economy and the degree with which MITA and Digital Malta have contributed to this critically significant component of the nation’s economy.
As the new scholastic year began, I found myself balancing university life with a continued working experience with MITA which saw me contributing to the strategy team by researching pilot projects of emerging technologies (such as Blockchain and the Internet of Things) and reporting on their possible usage to the Maltese public sector. I was also involved in helping with the formation of strategy direction by researching Malta’s image and standing on the international investment stage, vis a vis the World Economic Forum and the Digital Economy and Society Index – reporting on which Key Performance Indicators should be targeted by the new strategy to help make Malta more digitally enabled and thereby a more attractive destination for international investment.
Around this time, I also contributed by compiling reports on EU strategic direction as well as on successful policies and actions implemented by other nations that could also benefit Malta. As the months progressed, I became involved in more hands-on work as my mentor urged me to give direct input with regards to researching and establishing successful and effective ICT governance frameworks and ICT policy implementation methodologies. The last few weeks of this Summer saw me support the strategy team in the designing of a new monitoring and governance system for ongoing government projects, while also working extensively on a system meant for use by project managers