By Chioma Sonia Okpara

There is a pressing need to empower young and fresh individuals who are curious about tech with the necessary skills to boost their career success and enable them to make positive impacts in their communities and in their countries.

The current tech landscape is saturated with recycled veterans who are yet to perform an excellent job at paving ways for young fresh faces to carry on the IT transformational mission across the nations of the world. This is particularly evident in developing nations like my country, Nigeria.

It is necessary to equip curious young people with the skills that are in high demand given the increasing digital transformation and technology adoption of organizations. By assisting young individuals in harnessing cutting-edge technologies, optimizing endpoint data, and gaining skills like personal development and leadership, we are tasked will contribute to bridging the digital skills gap, while also contributing to strengthening organizations’ competitiveness, youth career development, and economic growth.

The technology skills gap is a well-known issue in Global education and employment circles. According to code.org, a non-profit dedicated to expanding access to computer science, in the vastly developed country such as the United states, there are currently more than 500,000 open computing jobs nationwide, but fewer than 43,0002 computer science students graduated into the workforce last year.

Last year, the White House claimed that the federal government alone needed an additional 10,000 IT and cybersecurity professionals.

For over 12 years, I have contributed my quota in this space by empowering every and any young individual that comes my way. I was curious about tech while studying pharmaceutics at the University until someone took a chance on me and introduced me to the world of tech.

Some of my engagements have successfully;

• Contributed to building a highly skilled workforce in the digital ecosystem; and
• Aided in youth professional development in their pursuit of developing their careers in the tech field. I have shared my vast knowledge on endpoint data optimization, and workforce transformation, in collaboration with local institutions such as churches and schools through networking and mentorship events that will connect young individuals with industry experts.

These actions have successfully equipped young Africans with the necessary skills to jumpstart their professional careers, while also providing them with personal development, goal setting, leadership, and self-confidence skills.

Okpara, an expert, wrote in from Lagos.