“Your Career Advisor” is responding this week to:

• Where should I be looking next after years of self employment? (e)

• After a BSc. in Agriculture and an MBA, how to proceed? (e)

• Should I go for an IT certification before graduating? (d)

All reasonable questions related to careers, skill development or employment related issues – sent to advisor@skill-link.com - would be addressed in this section every week.

Q1: Where should I be looking next after years of self employment?

I am in my mid thirties, born to an Egyptian father and a Syrian mother. I lived all my life in a Gulf state with the exception of my university years, since I studied in England and obtained BSc. in Computer Systems & Electronics in 1990. After my father's death in the late eighties we did not have a home to go back to, this we discovered during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, which coincided with my graduation year.

So when coming back to Kuwait I realized that we needed a home base, hence left Kuwait in the early nineties after working for three years their with a multinational IT company in its software support division. I first went to Cairo, however I found it was too tough for me to fit in, so I went to my family in Syria were I settled in a small town where I got married and had kids, basically made a home.

In Syria I worked as a freelancer consulting some companies when purchasing computers and software related to their business. I also worked and invested in real estate by establishing a partnership with a local company to invest in vital coastlands. I think I made some good money in the past years, now projects are still being offered in contracting and commercial transport, but the economic situation and rules keep changing. I would like to resume a career in IT. I think it is a waste of my degree, which I worked hard to get; I also miss the IT business.

I am interested in employment in the Gulf region mainly in UAE, which is of course the dreamland of the millions, and the Arab IT capital nowadays.

I am the type of person who likes to learn new things everyday; I like to deal with challenges everyday and to keep my mind working all the time hence reaching a consultant level in the field. The field that I like most within the IT function is networking from A to Z building and design. I also like research and project coordination.

D. S. (Syria)

Replying:

Dear Mr. S.

Some of us are destined to be on the move every few years. While it could be an emotional burden for a number of people, others find it a way of life or rather challenging.

You anxiety or rather soul searching to return to the world of IT should not be attributed to your interest in not wasting your university degree and subsequent experience. We think that degrees should not dictate one's professional life. What you are most likely facing is a slow economy in Syria and hence the need to go back to full time employment as opposed to running your own business. And since employment salaries in Syria would probably be way below what you are used to earning, you rightfully thought of seeking opportunities in the Gulf (UAE or other).

The big challenge is that for the last few years you have been out of the cutting edge technology loop as a free lancer in Syria. Additionally you were involved in numerous other non-IT related businesses, from which you undoubtedly gained useful experiences and skills but not IT related.

So what could be your options?

• Our understanding from numerous sources familiar with Syria is that the country is gradually opening up. It is also embarking on a major drive, sponsored by the President of the Republic to upgrade its telecom and IT infrastructure and industry. While that might take some time, by being there with a good education and early formation years, you have a competitive advantage. Numerous multinational companies will be bidding for telecom and IT projects in Syria, and they cannot be flying in all staff from abroad. Similarly large companies in various sectors will start to emerge and establish presence in Syria, these will need to purchase, install, maintain and manage their computer / networking infrastructures. Who will be serving them? Again another window of opportunity.

• Egypt has currently a more advanced IT industry than Syria. It also has numerous arabized and/or localized IT solutions that are more affordable than the competing products from the West. Since you belong to both cultures/countries, you may be representing some Egyptian IT businesses in Syria. The former may not be keen to invest in a direct presence, they also know very little about that market, hence another window of opportunity for you. This is more emphasized by the fact that you are an entrepreneur and not just an IT professional (a good combination in this case).

• On a wilder perspective, the situation in IRAQ will not remain as it is now forever. Once it is settled one way or the other, this country will have a huge IT gap to catch up on… that however represents a long-term window of opportunity.

• You may have noticed in the above suggestions we tried to match your interest in IT with your advantage of knowing the Syrian market. We kept the option of seeking a job in the Gulf to the end since we believe that your age bracket (mid thirties), your current exposure to the latest in technology (or lack of it) and knowledge of the local market there (specially that you did not express a strong desire to go back to the country you grew up in) might not make the task of finding an interesting employment opportunity easy. We may be wrong of course in our assumptions, but thought it useful to manage your expectations.

Our last point concerning how up to date your IT knowledge is could be partially mitigated by obtaining the appropriate certifications, such as in Microsoft and or CISCO (since you indicated your interest in the networking field). However, we believe your concern would be more of becoming a manager of a business or an operational unit in a corporate entity rather than a skilled technical professional.

We are not sure how much the above was useful to you, however it is the best we could in light of the information provided.

Good Luck

Q2: After a BSc. in Agriculture and an MBA, how to proceed?

I am a Lebanese who graduated in 1998 with a degree in Agricultural Engineering from St. Joseph University. I have also enrolled in a part time MBA program jointly offered by St. Joseph University and two French Universities (Paris- Dauphine University and the Pantheon Sorbonne University), which I completed in 2002.

During my undergraduate studies I worked on a part time basis in our family company that is specialized in the sales of household appliances and cars. After graduation I worked there full time. I have also been managing some vineyards for clients, and lately I started cooperating with a local bank working on a part time basis in assessing credit / loan applications from clients.

What I really like is to have a career plan, but none of the jobs I am currently practicing seems to provide me with this. Where should I be looking?

E. G. (Lebanon)

Replying:

Dear Mr. G.

You are working in an interesting combination of jobs/roles: durable consumer goods trading, agriculture and credit! This coupled with having two totally different educational degrees provides you with a lot of experience to draw on and a higher than average range of options.

What you did not express in your message is what you think you are really interested in, and the fields / roles that really excite you. Since you provided us with what you do not like, let us start from there. Sales/trading in a family business seems out (you may however like sales/business development in a different set up); managing a plantation does not seem to your liking and credit assessment (one of the most interesting functions in banks) is not high on your priority list.

You must then select the generic type of roles / jobs you like, to be able to zoom in on interesting opportunities. In general, job types could be categorized under the following:

Selling jobs:
These are business development oriented, where you are convincing another party to by or use services or products. Under this category, sales, account management, account executive, brokers, customer relations (in some cases) jobs fall. They are needed in every organization, since no business can survive without selling. You should note that "purchasing" sometimes fall under this category, if one has to negotiate with suppliers (in other words "sell" to them) why they should extend to him special terms or preferential treatment.
If you are shy, or hate the "persuasion", "persistence" and need to "follow up" on leads required for these jobs, then they are not for you.

Analytical jobs:
These are more intellectual by nature and require more thinking, problem solving and interpretation of facts. Under this category would figure jobs such as: research (marketing, securities, etc..), credit, cost accounting, financial planning, systems analysis, consulting, lawyers, insurance underwriting, engineering design, media reporting, logistics etc.. These suit more individuals who are above average in intelligence, like to read and do not mind sitting on a desk for long hours.

Performing/ Delivery jobs (for lack of a better name for this category):
These are more of jobs requiring performing a certain function (that does not require selling or analysis/research) and forgetting about it after working hours. These jobs are not very intellectually or mentally demanding, they just require a pleasant personality and performing a set of assigned tasks. Under this category one would find many banking jobs (tellers, customer services….), secretaries/office managers, administration jobs, some accounting jobs (others will fall under the Analytical category), customer service in general (whether in an express courier company, an internet company or a hotel's front desk), air line ticketing etc...

Creativity jobs:
In this last category, one must be both talented and enjoying thinking out of the box. Thus eager to come up with new things and keen on being different. These jobs would include advertising (creative department), graphics design, architecture, performing arts, writing etc.
The people in these jobs work all sorts of hours and thrive on the excitement of delivering something attractive or unique.

While various people may categorize jobs differently, the above may be a starting point for you to think where your heart is and your capabilities can deliver. All types of jobs are important and in demand. The key to a professional's success is to do something you like, where your job becomes more of a hobby rather than a duty you have to fulfill.

As we started by saying, you have a good education (both under graduate and post graduate) and your employment exposure so far has given you a descent business insight and perspectives. It is now up to you to develop your own very short list, based on which you could start targeting specific opportunities. While a field related to agriculture would definitely represent a relative advantage to you, do not get to hooked on this… as you have probably realized.

We hope the above was of some use to you.
Good Luck

Q3: Should I go for an IT certification before graduating?

I am a 20 year old, third year student in Cairo University's Faculty of Engineering (Computer Department).

Do you think that getting a Microsoft certifications such as MCSD or MCSE would be appropriate for me and would help find a job either during my university years or after graduation. Given that I have strong background regarding the content of the 2 tracks and it will not be hard for me to get through them?

A. N. (Egypt)

Replying:

Dear Mr. N.

In the information technology field and in a number of other professions, certification could be as important as academic studies (and sometimes more). It comes second to hands on experience. Hence, it is useful and should provide you with an added competitive advantage in the job market for IT professionals; specially when it is a highly regarded and frequently requested certification such as Microsoft's.

Let us first quickly (for the benefit of our visitors) outline the two you mentioned:

The Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) credential is the certification for professionals who design and develop business solutions with Microsoft development tools, technologies, platforms and the Microsoft Windows DNA architecture. The types of applications MCSDs are able to develop include desktop applications and multi-user, Web-based, N-tier and transaction-based applications. The credential covers job tasks ranging from analyzing business requirements to maintaining solutions.

On the other hand, the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) credential is the certification for professionals who analyze the business requirements and design and implement the infrastructure for business solutions based on the Microsoft Windows 2000 platform and Microsoft server software. Implementation responsibilities include installing, configuring and troubleshooting network systems.

Which one to choose from, depends on your liking and inclinations. Are you more interested in application development (hence MCSD) or the more technical aspects of things. You may wish to plan receiving your selected certification close or soon after your university graduation time. In other words if you should graduate in 2004, you would rather have a 2004 certification as opposed to a 2002 one.

We hope the above was of some use to you.
Good Luck

Note from the editor: 
Employer names and inquiry sender names were withheld for confidentiality

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