CIT Open Night 2026 · AI will Byte!
Thanks for coming to CIT Open Night. Qualifications open doors, but proof gets you hired. Build both with CIT study, vendor certifications and home labs employers can see.
For school leavers, uni students and career changers building an IT career in Canberra.
How it works
Pick a CIT stream and build core skills that employers recognise.
Add an entry-level vendor certification to show you know the tools.
Build a home lab and publish what you learned. Show you can do it.
Study at CIT
CIT’s Certificate IV and Diploma courses cover each stream. Start at Foundation, then step up to Job-Ready when you’re ready.
Build, secure and troubleshoot networks. After the Certificate IV networking pathway you have the option to sit the Cisco CCNA (exam fee extra).
The Diploma expects both Certificate IVs (IT and Cyber), or equivalent experience.
Write code, build web apps, work with databases and automate tasks.
Learn to detect, prevent and respond to cyber threats, then move into security and ICT roles in small to medium organisations.
Add these with vendor certifications and home labs. See Evidence beyond certs and the 30-day plans below.
CIT’s Diploma pages state it has credit transfer arrangements with numerous universities, including relationships with ANU, the University of Canberra, ACU and Charles Sturt University. Confirm credit with the university before you enrol. Course details, fees and intakes are set by CIT, so check the course page before you apply.
Your roadmap
Not sure yet? Try a Statement of Attainment or a Certificate III. The Certificate IV pages above list the recommended starting points for each stream.
Outcome: you know which stream suits you.
Complete a Certificate IV and add an entry-level vendor certification, such as:
Outcome: one cert and one published lab.
Step up to a Diploma at CIT, or a Bachelor of Information Technology at university. Already working in IT? Your experience can count as evidence. Check each course page.
Outcome: a portfolio of two or three cert-and-lab pairs and a capstone write-up.
Exam names and versions change. Check the vendor’s site before you book.
What employers look for
A cert shows you know it. A lab shows you can do it. Employers want both, so pair them.
| Vendor certification | Home lab | What to publish |
|---|---|---|
| CompTIA A+ or Network+ | Build a small home network and fix faults you create on purpose. | Network diagram and a troubleshooting log: fault, cause, fix. |
| Cisco CCNA | Simulate a two-site network with VLANs and routing. | Config files, topology and a short “what broke” write-up. |
| CompTIA Security+, ISC2 CC or Microsoft SC-900 | Run a home security lab with central logging and a simulated attack. | Detection screenshots and a short incident write-up. |
| Microsoft AZ-900 or AWS Cloud Practitioner | Deploy a small cloud workload and make cost and security decisions. | Architecture diagram, cost note and security checklist. |
| Programming track (no single entry cert) | Build two small public projects. | Repos with clear READMEs, screenshots and a stated outcome. |
List the systems and accounts of a fictional business. Note what is in scope and what is not, and why.
Check your lab against basic security controls. Mark each one done, partly done or missing.
Back up a virtual machine, restore it, and record how long it took.
Send logs to one place, simulate an attack on your own lab, and show the alert.
Apply a hardening baseline, change one setting on purpose, then catch and fix the drift.
A simple spreadsheet linking each control to its proof, owner and review date.
Only test systems you own or legal training platforms.
Paid work, volunteering and community IT all count. Fixed a club’s Wi-Fi? Ran a small business’s accounts system? Write it up like a lab: the problem, what you did and the result. Career changers: translate your past work into IT terms such as process, tooling, documentation and customers.
The Australian Signals Directorate has evolved the Essential Eight into the ASD Essentials for enterprise IT. It groups systems by what they do and rates each control on whether it works: coverage, consistency, currency and quality of evidence. Essential Eight reporting still applies where a regulator or contract requires it.
It is the same idea as your portfolio. Showing a control is switched on is not enough. Show that it works. Read ASD’s case for change.
Weak: “Completed Security+.”
Strong: “Security+, plus a two-page write-up of my home lab detecting simulated brute-force attempts, and what I’d change.”
Weak: “Five forked repos on GitHub.”
Strong: “Two pinned projects, each with a README, screenshots and a clear outcome.”
Weak: “Read about the ASD Essentials.”
Strong: “Scoped a 10-asset lab, ran a gap analysis and kept an evidence register with dated test results.”
Weak: (career changer) “Ten years in retail.”
Strong: “Led a team of 12 and rebuilt our stock process. Now studying a Certificate IV and running a home lab.”
Do this now
Pick one track. Work one week at a time. Publish as you go.
Next step
Send your CV with links to your lab write-ups or projects. Include your cert dates and the CIT stream you’re studying or considering.
Course details, fees and intakes are set by CIT and change. Check the course page before you apply. Vendor names and certifications are trademarks of their owners, and exam details change, so check the vendor’s site.
