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Official blog of Bangladesh Open Source Network

Bdosn at New Model University College to Unveil the Ways and Possibilities of Women Friendly Workplace in the Information Technology World

It’s terribly unfortunate that even in this day and age, women have yet to be completely incorporated in the tech world. The territory is still considered male-dominated, with women occupying less than 30% of tech jobs. To bring a change in this scenario, there should be a great contribution from both govt. and non-govt. sector. From this concept, ICT camp was organized specially for women at New Model University College under the initiative of Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) on 12th November, 2019.  A total of 92 undergrad female students of this college participated in this camp. This camp was designed with four sessions throughout the day. The camp was inaugurated by Md. Ruhul Amin, Principal of the college. Also present were Mahmudul Hasan Rizvi, head of the college's computer science and engineering department, and Jasmine Akhter, assistant program officer of BdOSN.

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The first session of the camp was "Career Opportunities and Growth at BPO for Women". This session includes the brief discussion about the opportunity for women in the workplace of BPO industry. Sabrina Haque, Process Head of BPO Operations and Quality Control Management of Impel Service and Solutions Limited, a leading BPO company in the country, has conducted this session. Sabrina Haque commented that a woman can work in this field only if she has the mentality of team management, spontaneous attitude, the mentality of proving herself and basic knowledge of information technology. Science or non-science, students of any department can build their position in BPO industry with basic knowledge of information technology.


Achia Nila, the founder of Women in Digital, also conducted the second session of the camp to unveil the huge door that opens the door to women's work in the information technology workplace. This session was entitled with “Opportunities for girls and women in ICT World”. In the current age of information technology, women are now working in equal rhythm with men, using skills such as artificial intelligence, block chains, big data, programming, etc. She encourages students to become entrepreneurs by applying their innovative thinking.
She also cited the example of his own organization as all the workers of her organization is female. She mentioned that there are many jobs being created for women in Bangladesh. All they need is women skills and awareness as well.”


Another session on digital marketing titled “Digital & Social Media Marketing as a Career” was conducted by Ruhul Amin Rony, Head of Digital Communications at SSL Wireless. He has been working with digital marketing for more than 10 years. He gives students a complete idea of ​​how easily product acceptance can be increased through market analysis.


The last session of the camp on graphics design and freelancing was conducted by Emrazina Islam, co-founder of Emrazina Technologies. The session was entitled with “Graphic Design to Freelance Career Design-A path to discover”. She gave students ideas on the topics of graphics design and freelancing. Women are now opting for areas like outsourcing through image editing, logo design, etc. She said that anyone starting with a basic idea can build a career in this industry.

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Beside the ICT camp, a three-day long programming camp and a career talk has been organized in this college. Programming Camp named Grace Hopper Girls Programming Camp has been organized with 41 participants where 31 participants are female students on 13, 14 and 16th November, 2019. Through this camp students acquired knowledge on the programming language, online contest, online platform and online judge. After this camp, students took place in an online programming contest. The winner of this contest were awarded with certificates and crests.

To provide a clear concept about what the current and future profession might look like and the required skill for surviving this new world of technology, a career talk has been organized in the same college on 16th November. Munir Hassan, head of Youth Program, Daily Prothom Alo and general secretary of BDOSN conducted this event.The prevailing trend of the current job, half of it will disappear within the next few years. There will be new workplaces where there are only opportunities for technical job such as Big Data, Machine Learning, Block Chain, Cyber ​​Security, Data mining or Artificial Intelligence. The market will occupy around 1 crore new jobs in the next 20 years. Munir Hasan said that those who prepared themselves, they would survive in the world of technology. He told the students that in order to survive the next day, you must be a problem solver. If you can find a smart solution to those problems which exist in all around, then there will be entrepreneurs, chip designers, robotics experts, cyber specialists or data scientists.

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Public university students have many opportunities to prepare themselves for the current job market, but students of national universities are lagging behind. With that in mind, BdOSN has organized an ICT camp, a three-day long programming camp and a career talk. Under the three years project uner BdOSN aims to promote a pool of skilled women worker who can lead the future economy of our country. 

Encouraging the female students of Z. H. Sikder University of Science & Technology, Shariatpur in ICT based workplace

On 2 November, 2019 Grace Hopper Girls Programming Camp was held at Z. H. Sikder University of Science & Technology in Shariatpur. A total of 36 undergraduate female students of Computer Science and Engineering Department of the University are participating in this camp organized by the Bangladesh Open Source Network (BDOSN).  Due to the lack of practical application of the knowledge acquired by the students in our current textual education system, female students cannot be able to enter the work market. As a result, many female students drop out before entering the workplace. Therefore, if it is possible to empower these women students before entering the workplace, then women workers can contribute immensely to advance Bangladesh in information technology.

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From this idea, BDOSN has started a 3-year project where our female students from graduation level are brought to the umbrella of the education of information a communication technology and make them more skilled in IT sector.

In this connection, a two-day camp at the University of Science and Technology in Shariatpur provides a basic knowledge to solve any practical problems through coding to the students. The first day of the camp, students learned about the programming language what they need to understand any problem in programming and the concept of online platform and online judge in which a programming contest is occurred. And all day long they receive the training on how to solve a problem in a contest. The next day of the camp on 3rd November, they participated in an online programming contest where they had to solve some problems provided by the assigned mentor. On the basis of the performance of the students, first three position holder students were awarded by certificates and crests.

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University's computer science and engineering department chairman and assistant professor Mahfuzur Rahman and lecturer Alamgir Hossain were present there. The camp is headed by BDOSN's mentors Humayun Kabir and Masud Parvez.

After the day, a hands on job preparation workshop was held at that university to spread the information of our ICT based workplace among the female students so that they would not be puzzled after their graduation. Around 20 female students participated in this workshop.

Job preparation workshop at Northern University on the birthday of Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN)

A job preparation workshop was held at Northern University Mirpur Road campus located in Dhaka. Beside the workshop, BdOSN’s 15th birthday has been also celebrated in 24 October, 2019. Assistant Professor and Co-ordinator of the Faculty of Business, Md. Shariful Islam, inaugurated the event. Along with senior lecturer of the university Farzana Chowdhury, lecturers Oli Ullah Chowdhury and Mariyama Muafa were present there. BdOSN’s Chief Coordinator and Northern University Senior Lecturer Mahbuba Moni and Program Coordinator Muntasir Morshed were also present there.

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After the inauguration, the job preparation workshop was started for the 53 undergraduate students of the university. This workshop provides a thorough idea of ​​what skills are required before entering the workplace. The number of unemployed is increasing in the country due to lack of necessary skills even after completing studies at university level. Besides, there is limited participation of girls in the workplace. Many women students cannot enter the workplace even if they reach the university through social taboo and obstacles. For this reason, a survey by BdOSN found that these women drop out after the end of the study due to lack of proper guidance and skills. Bangladesh Open Source Network (BDOSN) has been working from the beginning to reduce the number of educated unemployed and degraded women. In its continuation, BDOSN has started the "Missing Daughter" program where various skills development training, job-preparation workshops, career talk, internships or 2-to-3-day job attachments etc. were organized to ensure the female presence in the workplace. Under this "Missing Daughter" program, Bangladesh Open Source Network is running a three-year project to make women skilled. Assistant Professor and Co-ordinator of Northern University Md. Shariful Islam said, "If women can prepare themselves for the workplace before the end of their studies, both women and men can equally contribute to the sustainable development of the country." He appreciated all its activities. The event was conducted by Shakhira Afroz, Asst. program officer of BdOSN. 

For Exploring a Better Employment Opportunity, A Job Exposure Visit is a Prerequisite

Having practical knowledge for a successful professional career is a must in the present context.  In this respect, a Job Exposure Visit can serve the purposes aligned to it by the motto of “Seeing is believing”. The students of City University totaling 20 got this opportunity to visit one of the most renowned BPO Company, Genex Infosys Ltd situated at Nikunja, Dhaka.

ESDG project of Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) has recently organized a Job Exposure Visit on 22 October, 2019 as a part of job placement with 20 female students of different levels of CSE department of City University. On the other hand, Genex, part of the IPE Group UK, is the leading outsourcing providers of customer experience management and trusted by world’s leading brands where they achieve results through transforming their clients' businesses with delivering excellence in customer experience. Moreover, they are experts in people interactions which gives them the edge in delivering a superior customer experience in every contact.

BdOSN in Comilla and Bogra with Grace Hopper Programming Camp

Two-day Grace Hopper Girls’ Programming Camp held at Comilla University, Comilla at 16 & 17 October and Pundra Science and Engineering Technology, Bogra at 21 & 22 October, 2019. These camps were organized by Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN).

This camp is organized mainly to improve the skills of programming for undergraduate female students. Now-a-days women students are not entering the workplace due to lack of proper skills while studying at university level with science and information technology. And BDOSN is working towards that goal.

Grace Hopper Girls’ Programming Camp Held at City University

Two-day Grace Hopper Girls’ Programming Camp held at City University, Panthapath, Dhaka. The camp was organized in collaboration with Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) and City University. A total of 40 students from the Computer Science and Engineering Department participated in the camp.

The camp is organized mainly to improve the skills of programming for undergraduate female students. Now-a-days women students are not entering the workplace due to lack of proper skills while studying at university level with science and information technology. And BDOSN is working towards that goal.

BdOSN in Rangpur to Increase Women's Participation in the Workplace

Women skilled in information technology can take Bangladesh to a unique height in the global market. Bangladesh can also be self-reliant. Establishment of equal participation of men and women in the workplace can be established. And for that purpose, Bangladesh Open Source Network is organizing various activities across the country.

In continuation of this, the three-day Grace Hopper Girls Programming Camp, a day-long ICT camp and a job-preparation workshop have been completed at Rangpur Engineering College in Rangpur Division. Rangpur Engineering College (REC) is affiliated by the University of Rajshahi. The camp was organized in collaboration with Rangpur Engineering College and Bangladesh Open Source Network.  These programs are organized to give an idea of ​​the huge potential that is open to graduate students in the information technology sector. A total of 65 women graduating students of Computer Science and Engineering Department and Information and Communication Department has participated in the three-day event.  

A Total of 308 Women Students from Sylhet and Dinajpur Have Been Trained Under the Initiative of BDOSN

Bangladesh Open Source Network (BDOSN) organized various events in Sylhet and Dinajpur to bring women forward for the equality of women in information technology. A total of 5 programming camps, 3 ICT camps and 3 job preparation hands-on training workshops were held at various institutions in Sylhet and Dinajpur to increase women's participation in the technology workforce by creating women's interest and skill development. This huge event started on September 14 and September 22 with an ICT camp in Dinajpur.

Collaborating with Industry Enable Students to Prepare for Future World of Work

Theoretical knowledge is not enough for making a good professional career. With an aim to go beyond academics, industrial visit provides student a practical perspective on the world of work. Following the same lines students of some renowned universities of the capital Dhaka got an opportunity of meeting the most popular company Rokomari.com.

Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) has arranged an exposure visit on 3 September,2019 with 6 female students of different universities. Rockmarie.com is an online based e-commerce company. A familiar name to thousands of book lovers across the country. There are numerous young people working in different departments of this organization.

New World of Work: Struggle Should Begin from Student Life

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All students need to experience the world of work, particularly work of the future, long before they leave their student life. In our country, it is commonly seen that students are almost always engaged in the pursuit of theoretical knowledge in the life of education. Or pay attention to study end. But they are not aware of what to do when this part is paid off. Rather, at the end of their education life, they fall into a confused state where they do not understand what to do. 

They take time to acquire the skills they need in the workplace after their student life for which they do not have enough time. Although male students can overcome this random situation in a very short time, it is not an easy path for female students. Because they have surround impedance. It is often seen that many girls drop out after their education life because of this condition cannot be overcome. Because they are unable to prepare themselves, they are not much visible in the workplace.

From this thinking, a hands on job preparation workshop "A Dream to Guide" was organized on July 27 and 28 July in the initiative of Bangladesh Open Source Network (BDOSN). The workshop was organized in the office of BDOSN with a total of 11 graduate women students. This workshop provides hands-on training on all the skills and concepts a female student needs to have before place herself on the workplace.

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Through this workshop, students get an idea of ​​the soft skills they need to get their dream job. Also find out how much digital literacy can help with their work. From applying for a job, to face an interview board which facts should be kept in mind also denoted in the workshop. In addition to the CV writing methodology, the job application process is discussed with the students.

The workshop was organized under BDOSN's three-year project "Enabling Sustainable Development Goals of Bangladesh for 2030-BdOSN". The BDOSN project will assist women in preparing themselves for workplace by conducting several workshops.