Today, digital skills are a crucial prerequisite for education, professional success and social participation. That is why we work together with politics and business on numerous projects for digital qualification across all age groups and areas of society. In our blog series “Qualified? Certified!” we speak to people who have taken part in various educational programs and have gained new perspectives with the help of the skills and certifications they have acquired.
grew up in Iran Yasmin studied accounting there and started a job as a system accountant after her bachelor’s degree – with a good salary, fast promotions, but no challenges. “The tasks were always the same. A robot could have done them”, says the now 30-year-old. At some point she asked herself: “Do I see myself in this position in ten years?” Her answer was simple and it was: no.
Taking a finance programming course led Yasmin to decide to take a new path, move to Germany and start a new degree. She quit her job in accounting, started working in a café, learned German, applied for a visa, traveled to Berlin and finally enrolled at the Technical University to study computer science.
But that was only the beginning of the challenges for the young woman. Among other things, inflation in Iran made it increasingly difficult for her family to finance life in Germany. The money that her father had deposited in a blocked account to apply for a student visa was used up after a year. Yasmin worked as a waitress again, earned her living alongside her studies and had more and more difficulties to keep up with her studies. At that time, she found out about the Berliner through a fellow student ReDI School of Digital Integration.
The non-profit tech school wants to create broad access to digital education. To do this, ReDI combines free basic programming and computer courses with a career program and the opportunity to work with the startup and digital industries. It’s not just about imparting knowledge, but also about building a network of students, graduates and tech executives. Microsoft is a partner of the school and is involved in numerous digital qualification projects to teach digital skills to people from all walks of life.
Yasmin applied to ReDI – and was accepted. “I was a student, worked 20 hours as a waitress and went to the ReDI School twice a week – that was a lot”, she remembers. But the effort should be worth it – although not without putting Yasmin to the test again first. This time due to the outbreak of the corona pandemic. With the onset of the crisis, she lost her job. “After a month every restaurant was closed, there was no chance of finding work as a waitress.” But losing his job wasn’t the only problem: since all borders in Europe were closed, Yasmin couldn’t travel back to Iran. “When I was looking for a job, I only got rejections, but I still had to pay my rent and insurance”says Yasmin.
Job entry via the ReDI School
“I was faced with a choice: either throw it all away and go back to Iran heavily in debt, or borrow money from a family member and do my best to pay it back.” Yasmin chose the latter, stayed in Berlin and at ReDI as a student.
“ReDI is more than meets the eye. There are mentors who will help you with your CV and support you in finding a job.”
One of the formats to bring learners and companies together is the ReDI HR Summit. Yasmin recalls that she was invited to the event, but had to work. But then she got the message from Paulina Munoz, coach at the ReDI School. She told Yasmin that someone asked for the best students – and Yasmin now has an interview the next day. Just be there and well prepared. During her job search, Yasmin had already taken part in several ReDI workshops and received valuable tips from the tutors on how to create a CV and how to appear confident in job interviews.
“I did a mind map and brainstormed, I wrote down all of the company’s requirements and tried to find similarities to what I was doing.” And when the interview started the next day, Yasmin shared exactly that – how she had overcome all the crises along the way and what that meant for her in everyday life. Already on the following Monday she received a confirmation. In August 2020 she started her new job. She did data cleansing and business analysis 20 hours a week. In order to get even deeper into this area, she applied for a new position a few months ago – with success. Yasmin now works as a working student in the Business Process Intelligence department.
I recommend everyone who wants to get fit for their own professional future to take a look at the wide range of offers from our initiative IT-Fitness. It helps people of all ages to navigate the web with confidence. With free online self-assessment tools and self-learning modules on topics related to artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, learners can acquire the most important skills for the AI age.
More information about our commitment to digital education and qualification can be found in this story.
A post by Astrid Aupperle
Head of Social Commitment at Microsoft Germany
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