Prospect of IT ethos beckons

The graduate youngsters of different public and private universities selected for developing as future IT leaders have vowed to become entrepreneurs to run businesses of their own and make their contribution to the booming country's IT sector, reports BSS.
A month-long frenzied and excited training on the soft skill and hard skill basics has encouraged the 150 youngsters and built their confidence to become entrepreneurs instead of looking for a job or going abroad to seek fortune.
Wearing white shirt and black trousers, the smart looking Qamrul Islam, Tasinul Abrar, S M Akbar and Ali Emdad were talking to the state-owned news agency last week at the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD), Comilla about the outcome of the training organised by Leveraging ICT for Growth, Employment and Governance (LICT) Project from May 29 to June 27.
"There is no doubt about the positive impact after obtaining the soft and hard skills training especially on communications, team building, negotiation, emotional skill, etc. that has brought a significant change in my mind and prompted me to take a decision to be an IT entrepreneur in future," said an optimistic 27-year-old Qamrul Islam, one of the fortunate 150 youngsters who had the opportunity for the training through a competitive online examination early May this year.
Graduated in EEE from the IBAIS University, Qamrul was scared about his future even before his joining in the training under FTFL programme due to failure of thousands of EEE graduates into job market for long.
"I heard many troublesome stories from unemployed graduates who are passing through hardship failing to get a job during the last few years," he said adding, "Even I could not manage job despite my desperate and frantic efforts to get a job during the last eight months".
Qamrul said "one day I saw an advertisement in the newspapers about joining FTFL programme for becoming IT leader. I took no time to apply and finally selected facing competitive online exam and viva and participated in the training at BARD."
The one month soft and hard skills training imparted by reputed teachers and IT experts like Dr. Farhad Anwar, IBA, Dhaka University, Expert in Corporate Training and Learning, Human Capacity Development and Hospitality Management Jisu Tarafder, IT Expert Fokhruz Zaman and Sarker Abul Kalam Azad, English Teacher of Independent University, Bangladesh Moin Uddin Chowdhury , president Bangladesh Organisation for Learning & Development ( BOLD), Quazi Ahmed have not only stirred up Qamrul to find path for better future, but also to many of the 150 young graduates.
The one-and-a-half-hour class of ICT Secretary Md. Nazrul Islam Khan (N I Khan) on entrepreneur development raised the expectation and inspired the students to become IT entrepreneurs.
"Yes, I will be a leader in the IT sector and meet you owning a BMW car" Saugata of North South University said in reply to N I Khan's question about how many of you want to be an entrepreneur and ride a BMW car?
Ishrat Sharmeen who graduated from Noakhali Science and Technology University said classes on interactive communication, negotiation skills, creativity, innovation, and business ethics were the attraction of the participants who want to make their fortune in the IT sector.
Echoing the same Tasinul Abrar and Israt Sharmeen who came from Noakhali Science and Technology University, S M Akbar and Ali Emdad from North South University and East West University said that they have already been able to overcome the shortcomings of interactive communication and remove fear to interact with anyone through this hectic training.
The professional training for another two months and staying with IT industry for next two years will add more value to become self-dependant, they added.
"It's been an awesome journey . . . there are so many lessons that I have learnt" said Tasnul Abrar. He said that the students who received training here have earned a lot of confidence to work independently.
Most of them have opined that after staying two years with the IT industry, they want to say good-bye to job.
Communications Minister Obaidul Quader, ICT Additional Secretary Kamal Uddin Ahmed, Executive Director of Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) A S M Ashraful Islam, ex-cabinet Secretary Dr. Saadat Hossain and Md. Abdul Aziz ndc, Information Commissioner Md. Abu Taher, LICT Project Director Md. Rezaul Karim, ndc, ex-President of Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) Mostafa Jabbar, CEO of Bdjobs Fahim Mashrur and President of Bangladesh Association of Call Center and Outsourcing (BACCO) Ahmedul Huq visited BARD to inspire the future IT leaders.