Hiiraan Online

by Ahmed Yassin
Saturday, January 26, 2013

We need to educate our children to prepare them for the future by studying in order to compete for the highest demanding jobs in today’s market whether they live Somalia or outside of Somalia. Every year the United States, Europe and the Middle East bring to their countries, more than 60,000 people from India or other countries that are educated and/or trained specifically in technology and medicine. We need to identify the highest demanding jobs in the market today and what is coming tomorrow so we can always aim to improve the lives of our children.  We can always follow the new trends and evolution of the market and direct children so they can be leaders not followers.

I have seen a lot of Somalia people who have graduated from universities but can only find employment as taxi drivers or parking lot attendants because they didn’t study for the jobs that are in demand today. 

There are more than 100 technology certifications and they are all highly in demand; for example, Microsoft alone has almost 20 different certifications and so does Cisco.   There is a technological position called Cloud Engineer. In this occupation, you can work with big organizations and live anywhere in the world that has internet access and still do your job. We know that the United States operates drone airplanes during military combat. This force is driven by technology.

There is a technology firm I associate with that brings at least 5,000 Indian engineers to the United States for contract opportunities every year.  Those employees earn $80,000 to $150,000 dollar a year. It takes six months or less to educate these employees.

Our children can be educated between six to nine months to earn this kind of income. They can get contracts outside of our country if they can find no opportunities within our country. Also, other countries will sponsor them because there is a demand for these fields. To educate 100 students, it will cost 0 dollar. The only training equipment they need is a virtual lab that can be used from anywhere there is access to the internet.

We don’t have to be in Somalia to educate our children. There are so many ways that we can help our children today. Technology allows us to communicate and guide them step by step, such as using Video Conferencing and Web Conferencing.  We need to set standards and let our children know that if they don’t take control of their lives and educate themselves with our help, they will fail in life.

Here are some examples I saw last year, when I went back home after 20 years:

I went to Somaliland in July of last year and when I was coming back I met two Indian engineers at Berbera Airport while we were waiting for the airplane. I spoke to one of the engineers and asked where he came from and what he does for a living.  He stated he came from Puntland and was working for a telecom company installing equipment. Also, he mentioned that he was coming back after 3 weeks to work on contracts that were worth $150,000. He would be working for two months to fix some more equipment. In addition, he would be training four Somalia persons on minor troubleshooting technics.

I asked him if he was going to train those young Somalia persons how to fix the equipment if there is a problem and he responded to me “No, only to troubleshoot so I can keep my customer”.   I told him what I do for a living and where I live. He asked me for my contact information and if I could work with him on different contracts in Africa. I told him that I am not ready at this time.

I spoke to the other Indian engineer and asked him where he came from and what he does for a living. He told me that he had been working in Somaliland for two year as a graphics designer and he was coming back after one month.  I asked him how much does he earn and he told me more than $100,000 a year. 

Approximately two months ago, I met another United Kingdom architectural engineering in Atlanta, GA who is working for SAMCable in Somaliland. A friend of mine introduced me to him while I was in Somaliland. Based on the conversation that I had with him regarding the field that he is working in at SAMCable, and because I consider myself an expert in that field, if he was in the United States, his skills and use of terminology would not allow him to secure a job making more than $200.000 dollar a year, as he quoted as being his salary.

We can help our children to prepare for the future so can they take the lead in our country, nearby or neighboring countries and the world.

We can always say to them, ”If you are the smartest person among your friends or associates, you need to  meet new friends and associate who are smarter than you to advance your knowledge and quality of living.  If you fall and you can look up you can get up.