Program to Encourage Qatari Youth to Join the ICT Field
Career-seekers flocked to Doha’s Exhibition Center last month, seeking new job opportunities and hoping to discover their future at the annual Qatar Career Fair. With Qatar’s ongoing economic boom, the choices were dizzying. In the middle of the exhibition hall there was a glowing green booth that stood out and invited people to explore their ambition. On top, you could see a huge sign that said: TumuhaTEC (which means ambition in English).
ictQATAR’s ICT Professions and Promotions Program officially unveiled Tumuhatech at this year’s Career Fair. TumuhaTEC, which means ambition, is a program aimed at encouraging Qatar’s youth to pursue a career in information and communication technology.
With talent needed in Qatar’s growing ICT sector, ictQATAR recognized the need to attract local youth to the field and help them grow their careers in ICT. “We hope to raise awareness about a diverse range of roles available in ICT and show the excellent career prospects and earning potential,” explained Yazen Al Safi,Tumuhatech’s Project Manager and Senior Specialist at ictQATAR’s ICT Professions Promotions Program.
“We know Qatar’s youth are ambitious and have lofty career aspiration, and through this campaign, we want to tell them that ICT can help them reach their goals and even exceed them. We want to show them that ICT is the industry of the future.”
At the Career Fair, the TumuhaTEC booth made the exciting ICT career options come to life by having Qatari and expatriate role models from a variety of ICT careers on hand to talk to the career-seekers, sharing their career paths and plans for the future. Professional that participated included IT lawyers, academics, computer programmers, ICT policy makers, systems engineers, web developers and graphic designers. Also at the booth, a video of career options was shown, along with an interactive “Digital Garden,” where visitors could take a personality test on an iPad te see what ICT professions would best match their interests and aspirations. “The main thing we wanted to do with this booth is to ensure visitors actually experience ICT and not just come to know more about it,” explained Al Safi.
“We also made sure that our booth was fully accessible to people with disabilities. ICT has an amazing connecting and inclusion power, and we wanted to be certain this was reflected in the visitor experience. The TumuhaTEC featured sound vibration technology, enabling people with hearing impairments to place their elbows on a special table on which the sound will be transferred from their hands to their ears. It also had accessible i-walls, in which the camera tracked hand movements.” “I wish someone had done this project for me” explained Zainab Hadi, a recent college graduate and Project Coordinator at ictQATAR.
“During my university years, knowing the different ICT career options that existed would have helped me and other students consider a really exciting field. It has been really great to see the positive reaction toTumuhatec at the Career Fair and I hope it leads to some of these great students pursuing a career in ICT.” The TumuhaTEC campaign will continue, with a booth planned for the upcoming QITCOM conference May 24-26 at the Doha Exhibition Center.
ictQATAR is also looking into ways to expand the campaign into schools and universities, as well as employment and recruitment services. if you are interested in exploring a job in ICT and finding out what exciting opportunities exist, follow TumuhaTEC on Twitter @tumuhatech or email them at tumuhaTEC@gmail.com.
