Dubai Careers Fair 2023
Supporting the Next Generation of IT Users in Dubai
Our Dubai Managing Director Rupert Walmsley was invited to take part at a Year 9 Career Fair at nearby school Dubai British School Jumeirah Park, giving students the opportunity to ask questions about what an IT company does, learn more about Rupert’s role and typical workday, and to better understand potential career paths.
The level of enthusiasm from the Year 9 cohort was impressive, and their approaches and communication styles already mirror what we see in the workplace; some very direct Q&A based, others more interested in understanding ‘why’ or asking about personal perspectives. Some shy, others confident. Hopefully they all got something out of their discussions.
Highlights for Rupert included:
- Being asked what the best bits about his job are (answer = helping people) and if his job is fun (answer = sometimes).
- Explaining the relevance and benefits of combining qualifications and experience rather than just relying on one or the other.
- Surprising a young man by apparently guessing his name (it was written on a sticker!) and school email address, then explaining how easy it is for hackers to start building a profile.
During conversations, some of the students answered some cyber / information security questions around the importance of personal data, and it was refreshing to see a good overall level of awareness around the importance of passwords, not over-sharing content on social media, and the financial and reputational impact that security incidents can pose. I suspect many of the students could teach adults a thing or two about these topics, so lets hope society’s cyber hygiene habits improve as the current generation of students become adults!
