Greener pastures in tech
By Kehad Snydewel
Green Enterprise MD.
Recently social media, newspapers, and newsfeeds have been inundated with happy graduates who crossed the finish line of their tertiary education. Caps, gowns, bright smiles, and thoughts of bright futures were everywhere.
Can Namibia absorb all these graduates? It’s a difficult question to answer and not one that I have a wholly satisfying answer to. However, if you look towards certain sectors, there are plenty of opportunities and vacancies. When analyzing our lives and society, I can say we have gone digital. From the products we use daily to the content we consume online, tech companies are increasingly influencing the direction of humanity and creating the solutions of the future. Namibia is no different in this. The future is tech-driven, and it is certainly where Namibia’s future and job opportunities lie.
The important thing to remember with university graduates is that they have shown the discipline needed to complete a course, diploma, or degree. Maybe not even linked to the field of STEM. STEM is a common abbreviation for four connected areas of study: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
A lot of people are scared to venture into STEM-related fields, but that is where the jobs and vacancies are. We need people to transition into these fields, especially women to understand that there is a place for them within the ICT sector and that technology can be the basis for a viable and worthwhile career. Women have a decisive role to play in shaping digital transformation and ensuring that it contributes to a better and fairer future.
At Green, we look to hire talented and smart people, graduates, and individuals who have proven their mettle in their positions. To quote the great Steve Jobs; “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
We take that to mean, if you have smart people on your team, you can teach them. Whether you are upskilling them in the ins and outs of coding, tech, software integration, and implementation, or further developing their technological knowledge. If you are smart, you will pick it up. That is how we empower and what we do at Green.
Namibia is at the precipice of a socio-economic boom, and we can move the business innovation needle forward by leveraging technology and getting our clients to embrace ICT to develop their organizations. The present developments in Oil & Gas and renewables in Namibia, require ICT services, innovations, and implementation at all levels. Green has a vision where we can help businesses and organizations transform and embrace the potential that Namibia is on the cusp of achieving. Like all sectors, this will be supported and propelled by ICT in all its forms. We need bright and smart people willing to embrace technology, venture into the unknown, and turn Namibia’s socio-economic potential into a reality.
If every graduate vies for the same job, it is unlikely they will be absorbed into the workforce. By broadening their search parameters, they may start contemplating careers that are not immediately obvious. The jobs are out there, Green and the ICT sector can attest to that.
