Emiratization: Developing future technical experts

UAE Nationals currently account for only around 0.34 per cent of the private sector workforce despite multiple government initiatives that were put in place to increase this percentage. Such initiatives include allocating over 20 per cent of the national budget for education, and providing specialized training through various programs. Injazat currently implements several UAE National Development Programs to set new standards in Emiratization and help UAE Nationals become technical experts and masters of their respective professional domains.

The company’s commitment to the professional growth of UAE Nationals is evident through programs such as the Network and Security, Project Management, Consultancy, Service Delivery Programs, among others. Developed by The Injazat Institute (Ti²) in collaboration with the leadership of Injazat’s Network and Security team, the Network and Security Program is made up of two components; a Fast Track component for existing members of the Network and Security team, and a Development component for new members.

An outstanding achievement of the program’s Fast Track component is the results demonstrated by Ms. Huda Al Dhaheri who has obtained the prestigious Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP) certification. Ms. Al Dhaheri is one of the few UAE nationals to obtain such certification, which she received after already acquiring her CCNA and CCNA Security Specialization certification.

Raising the bar

The objectives of the Development component of the Network and Security Program are to:

• Identify UAE Nationals from areas across the organization (outside the Network and Security area), who have high potential to be professionally developed in Network and Security-related technology
• Progress them towards specialized roles and help them become qualified, active, and productive members of the Network and Security team.

At the end of the program, all successful participants will not only be technically certified, but will also have the required level of technical expertise and operational experience to carry out their specified roles and responsibilities efficiently.

To achieve this, development is carried out through a combination of two parallel activities:

• Instructor-Led Training (ILT) and Examination Preparation support to assist candidates in obtaining professional certification
• On-the-Job Training (OJT) and Professional Coaching, where each of the candidates is assigned to shadow a Subject Matter Expert (SME) from within the team who will support the developees and guide them in carrying out their
  assignments.

Bringing in results

The program was started in August 2009 with UAE National Developees, and has been progressing extremely well. This is evident through a number of remarkable achievements:

Four candidates have obtained their Certified Cisco Network Associate (CCNA) certification; Ahmed Al Romaithi, Mariam Al Ali, Mohammed Bin Amro is due to obtain the CCNA Security Specialization shortly while Sara Al Buainain has already obtained CCNA Security Specialization certification. The other candidates are assigned to a specialized area within Network and Security as specified within their Career Development Plan (CDP). The three areas that these candidates will be targeting are Network, Security, and Voice. Further professional certification in each of these areas will be organized and managed by Ti² individually for each of the candidates.

The individual success stories of Injazat’s UAE Nationals within this program and other technical initiatives developed by Ti² are only part of the many achievements of Injazat employees. Such accomplishments will be showcased to celebrate the triumphs of these hardworking, motivated and ambitious individuals.