Mairi Manzil

Blog about Business, Technology, Education & Training, Career, Sport, Health, Fitness and Lifestyle

October 2019

Merry Christmas to everyone in advance, there are many Christmas ideas when it comes to celebration. Decoration or party, tree or lighting, gifts or songs, shopping or dining out, play or movie. Everyone is busy celebrating Christmas Morning, Christmas evening or Christmas night. There is detail in this article which will help you to prepare yourself for Christmas and celebrate it.

Merry Christmas

Christmas is observed not only by Christians but but other religions too, because Jesus Christ was respectable to all the religions, however celebrations are different for every religions on 25th December every years, which is observed as public holiday in most of the countries around the world and some countries have holidays seasons with Christmas.

How to Celebrate? 

There are many events taking place during Christmas, but most of the times the we celebrate it at our home with our close family members, it is necessary to do everything by ourselves. Following is what will help us to decor our house and keep everyone happy including food, party, songs and gifts.

DIY Christmas Ideas

Do It Youself is one of the intersting part one it comes to Chirstmas there are various ideas like below;

  • DIY Organic-Looking Christmas Wreath
  • DIY Christmas Stockings
  • DIY DIY Wooden Christmas Tree Forest
  • DIY Christmas Table Runner
  • DIY Wooden Advent Calendar
  • DIY Chritmas Sweaters 
  • DIY Christmas Card Holder
  • DIY Christmas Lights Wreath
  • DIY Paper Gift packing
  • DIY Pinecone Ornaments


Christmas Decoration

Decoration starts two months before the Christmas day, cleaning of grand father house starts and the renovation work gets completed and then decoration starts a week before the Christmas.

Christmas Gifts

Exchanging gifts and giving present is always interesting part of the day. But to make it surprise is always great. For kids most of the the times playstation or xbox was demand and for little young a smart phone mainly an iPhone. But, making gift giving simpler is always reasonable for parents and keeping it less costly, there are many options to buy gifts online and at stores like Walmart or any other place. It is important to keep balance, therefore gifts for everyone and valuable gift for everyone is not possible for majority of families. So keeping gift less costly and helping poor families will make this day. Sweaters for loved one (Handmade) was always considered the best gift specially Europe, Canada, United States and North America and other northern hemisphere countries, but Countries like Australia, NewZeland, South Africa and southern hemisphere countries consider light jumper dress as the best gift.

Christmas Lights

Christmas Tree from Christmas Tree Farms is always decorated with lighting, special Christmas tree is always decorated with light, many economical light options are available in stores like wall mart or online store like amazon and expressible. Store timings is always concern during Christmas, but most of the time stores are working on normal timings however online stores are best options.
Christmas Fashion
Men and women, girls and boys all want to look cool on Christmas day, having a nice and attracting dress will make you charming, but girls also have special arrangements, their headband, hair band, bracelet and Christmas Nails, everything is arranged prior to the big day.

Christmas  Eve

An evening and a day before Christmas Day is the festival called Christmas eve it is as important as Christmas Day.
Christmas Day Worship
Early morning prayer and blessings is always considered as an important part of the day.

Christmas Day

During the day there are many activities, picnic, visiting friends and relatives,Christmas games. theater and drama and Christmas Movie is very common. Visiting parks and museum is optional.

Christmas  Party

Now the party begins, Christmas Music or Christmas Song is the best part of the party, everyone enjoys in the party.

Christmas Cards

Very common till 90s and later after internet became popular then e cards were sent via email, but these days a message on whats app or Facebook is considered as Christmas card, one of the Christmas greeting card looks like this
merry christmas image

Merry Christmas Images

In addition to Christmas cards, everyone tries to share the best image of festive. Seems like there is competition, however, there are many artists who want to paint and shows their creativity with respect to Christmas day.

If you have any Christmas story please share with us, we will publish it at Mairi Manzil.

Today on 23rd October, 2019 is last day of OFSEC - OMAN FIRE, SAFETY AND SECURITY EXHIBITION. This exhibition has attracted many visitors from public and private sector. Industries included oil and gas, transportation, infrastructure, construction, utilities, government, businesses, education institutes, home owners. This exhibition covered cutting edge innovative technology and cost effect products and services. 

Oman is focusing on safety of locals and residents and have government has also put restrictions on renewals of various licenses until businesses or property owners ensure safety of the buildings or area under their management, which is helping ELV business in Oman to grow. .
Most of the home users were seen in this exhibition who were mainly looking for Fire & Safety, Access Control Systems, CCTV and Home Automation Systems.

Duration

Exhibition started on 21st October, 2019 and is ending Today on 23rd October, 2019 at Oman Convention & Exhibition Center, Muscat Sultanate of Oman.
OFSEC has engaged local and international businesses, various local companies have showcase best solutions in Oman. If you have not yet visited please visit and get up to date knowledge of Fire, Safety and Security products.

IFSEC 2020

If you want to participate in bigger version of this exhibition then IFSEC International is never to miss. 4th Edition of the world's leading security event which is taking place 19-21 May 2020 in London. Where UK and Europe's leading integrated security solutions will also be showcased.

New Version of iPhone has two  models iPhone 11 pro and iPhone 11 pro max which are currently available in almost all the popular mobile stores in Oman. Since September 20, 2019 when iPhone 11 was released, many people in Oman showed the interest to upgrade their existing phone to newer and better model.

iPhone 11 prices in Oman

Store/Seller
iphone11 Pro
iPhone 11 Max
Offer
Omantel
474.000
585.000

Lulu
539.000
619.000

Sharaf DG
470.000
539.000

Cleopatra
457.000
501.000


The specifications of iPhone 11 are below;

Storage

64GB, 256 and 512GB

Weight

188grams for iPhone 11Pro and 226 grams for iPhone 11 Pro MaxScreen Size : 5.8" and 6.5" respectively

Camera

12 megapixels Ultrawide with 2 times optical zoom and 10 times digital zoom. Tue depth with various other features Panaroma Photo upto 63 megapixels. Video recording upto 4K with up to 60 frames per second.

Cellular and Wireless

Gigabit class LTE various other bandss with Bluetooh 5.0, Wireless ax and WiFi-6 with longer WiFi Coverage and bandwidth.

Power and Battery

Depends on video and audio play back with calling. With Video playback (streamed) from 11 to 12 hours, with video playback non streamed  18 to 20 hours and with audio playback from 65 to 80 hours. Which maxes it 4 to 5 hours longer than the previous version of iPhone x.

Dubai is hoping that Expo 2020 will unite the world, including in excess of 200 global members and a large number of individuals. Once year 2020 will beging, everyone will have a close eye at UAE specially Dubai one of the seven emirates of United Arab Emirates. 

Expo 2020 a dream of residents

Celebration has already started in UAE and individuals and businesses are excited to welcome the global trade exhibitors in Dubai. Because, since the time it was announced that Dubai will be hosting World expo, businessmen and individuals got hopes during crucial time for economy, 2019 still is the year of hopes and big dreams and 2020 will be the years when these dreams will come true.
expo2020-dubai

Mr. Hussain Al Jassmi from UAE and Mariah Carey from United States will be the Ambassador and will lead the live show in Expo 2020.

People in Dubai are expecting that it will be the full year of celebration and excitement, becuase till now they have been busy in achieving in milestone. Construction and development of country specially Dubai many tourists attractions are now available in Dubai which will not only attract expo visitors but locals too.

Expo 2020 Tickets Sold out

Special ticket offers were sold within two hours where people from 80 nationalities bought them and it gave organizers hard time as they were not expecting the huge demand. People without ticket will not be given access to Burj Park. However, the celebrations will be in all the emirates including Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quain, Ras Al Khaimra, Fujaira and Abu Dhabi where more than 100,000 artists will be performing .

One of the the theme of Expo 2020 is no to single use plastic bottle, which means that EXPO 2020 will provide free drinking water in paper water bottles to all visitors, performers and staff.

Keep visiting our website for more updates on EXPO 2020 Dubai.

Oman is one of the most peaceful countries in the world. Expatriates and Locals are living together here. Nature has gifted many places to Sultanate. That is the reason it is one of the most popular tourists destinations in the world. Outdoor sports if also one of the reasons that most of tourists visit Oman. However, locals and residents of Oman also love outdoor sports.

Cycling is one of the most popular sports in the region. Riding was always considered as fun, but this is one of the most important recreational actives. 

Cycling-in-MuscatFridays and Saturdays early morning 3:00 AM onward cycling in various parts of Oman starts. Individuals and groups are riding for fitness, challenge races and fun. This is a lifestyle of many people of differnt ages in Oman from 5 years of age till 90 years of Omanis and Expatriates can be seen riding in Oman on two wheels specially during weekends.

Weekend Cycling Groups in Muscat

Most of the cyclists gather at Shati Al Qurum (Parking lot near Cost Coffee) GPS Coordinates are here : 23.615975, 58.462492.
There are various groups with differnt start time (5:00 AM , 5:15 AM, 5:30 AM , 5:45 AM, 6:00 AM) and most of the groups are welcoming everyone.  But before you join make sure your average speed, because there are some professional cyclists group where they average on flat road 45 km/h. 

What are the most popular cycling routes in Oman?

omani-cyclistFlat Routes

There are couple of flat routes

18th November Street - Al Mouj R/A

One of the most popular flat route for cycling is 18th November street, depending on distance you want to cover. From start point till Ghubra and back, or up to Al Mouj Round . Total distance is 40km, but you can turn around from Ghura traffic light or Azaiba traffic light for smaller distance.

Seeb Corniche 

If you want to try long distance flat route Shati Al Qurum to Seeb Corniche which is 80KM Loop. This distance is perfect for those who want to do flat long distance, and at the same time you get chance to see various popular places of Muscat.

Climb the Hills

Oman has many mountains and roads are hilly, some of the routes for cycling are very challenging and need really strong endurance for climbing the hills, some of the popular hilly routes in Muscat are here.

Muttrah Loop

If you want to do a serious training then Shati Al Qurum to Old Muttra loop is great. You can start from Shati Al Qurum Car Parking, take left from opera house traffic light and follow Corniche road till you reach Qurum round about and then take left to the Qurum Heights Road. Challenge starts from there will three small hills until you reach Muttrah cornich. The you pass from old Muttrah to small hilly roads after Sultan Palace towards Sidab and downhill to Al Bustan. From Al Bustan towards wadi Al Kabir 200m climb is one of the most challenging hill. Then downhill to wadi kabir and following same route to Qurum Heights and Back to Shati Al Qurum. This is total 40km distance with elevation gain of 500m.

Yiti, Bandar Al Khairan

If you are a serious cyclists then following above Muscat Hilly road you can turn left from Al Bustan towards Yiti and Bandar Al Khaira, this is one of the most challenging route in Muscat region, the lap distance with above + Yiti is 80km + Bandar Al Khairan 100 km. 
Shangrila Al Hamriya Road.
muttrah-corniche
If you follow Shangria take right towards Yiti and instead of taking left for Yiti follow straight which will take you to Hamriya after 10KM. This road is also challenging with 3 hard climbs of 50 to 80 meters.

Al Khuwair to Amerat Road

This is hardest climb of Muscat, not many cyclists would try this but those with good fitness level and training are doing it on regular basis, speaking to Suleman Al Allawi, one of the most popular triathletes in Oman has told that this is challenging but every cyclist must do it to see if he is a good cyclist. The climb is 400 to 500 and distance of climb is 4km. You have two choices here either to come back after reaching the top (where you get city view as well) or you can continue towards Amerat town.

Ruwi - Al Amerat

Following first route you can continue from Ruwi and then take left for Al Amerat which makes this additional 40KM distance with small hills, or you have choice to directly start from Car parking in Wadi Adai Roundaout (Shell Petrol Station Parking Lot) and then can continue to Al Amerat city mainly till police Station which will make this distance 40km or you can continue to Al Salil area on Quriyat road which will be harded and total distance 100km. 

Cycling Events in Oman

There are many cycling events in Oman, most popular one is Tour of Oman. 

Tour of Oman

This event is similar to Tour de France, it is a well organized and Government sponsored events. Of course not for every cyclists, only professional teams from world participate in this event.

OCA Championships 

Oman Cycling Association also organizes Races in Oman. There are 8 races in a years and participants are awarded points too. To participate in race you must get the membership in OCA, you will be provided UCI License which will cost OMR : 10/- to participate in each race you will need to pay OMR : 3 as participation fee.

Oman Triathlon Community 

This is one of the most popular Social Club in Oman for triathletes they are doing workout training weekly basis but there are many races which are organized by Oman Sport Zone, some of the popular races are Azaiba Triathlon, Shangri-La Triathlon and Sifa Triathlon. Though the races are for triathletes but if you are cyclists you can just do cycling.
cycyling-group-oman

Sharqiya Region Cycling Event

Al Sharqiya region organizes races every July where distance is around 150km in 5 stages.

Whether you are doing cycling for fitness, fun or for serious sports. Oman is the best place for it. If you have not yet started cycling buy one and start doing it. You will love Oman more than now.

Public Speaking is one of the most important skills of Today's leaders, but many business professionals have fear of Speaking in public, this is natural but not to worry. Even experienced speakers also face the fear of facing public.  But once you treat the stage as your home and audiences as your friends then you will able to release your fear. 
Once you feel you have no fear of speaking and you are comfortable, still need to know how to connect with audiences,  like adding sizzling and humor to your speech. In other words, making content of speech interesting. Moreover, the subject, structure, pattern, style, tone, speed, vocal variety, gestures, facial expressions and many other skills are subset of public speaking.

Preparing your Speech

Once you know what to deliver as speech (The topic). Get enough material on topic, research the data and then develop the structure of speech, which totally depends on the topic and content and the time you will be allowed to speak. Keep practicing it until you start speaking smoothly on stage. Practicing speech is important because you also need to know how to speech on unfamiliar topics. Where you will develop your knowledge first on that topic.

Public Speaking Develops other Skills

Many people say "Leaders are born not made". I will disagree to that, leadership is a skill that one needs to develop, some develop this from environment but some has to learn to develop this. Public speaking can help individuals to develop their leadership skills. Time Management skill is another key skill that one develops during preparation and delivering speech. Communication skill, non just verbal but not verbal communication skills are also developed while public speaking. In other words, your expressions are more than the words. Lastly, right tone and speed plays a major role in every day life. Therefore, public speaking helps to develop many skills.

Now you might have question. How to develop public speaking skills to which helps me to develop other related skills? Answer is Learn those skills. 

How can I learn these skills? There are half a million people who are developing their public speaking and leadership skills with Toastmasters International.

What is Toastmasters International?

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization teaching public speaking and leadership skills through a world wide network of clubs. Membership exceeds 358,000 in more than 16,800 clubs in 143 countries. Find out more at www.toastmasters.org 

Benefits of Toastmasters International

Toastmasters clucb will help you to improve public speaking skills, build leadership skills and you will be able to maximize your potential. I have seen many people who come with fear of speaking and within months they are able to speak without hesitation and without pauses.
Once you join Toastmasters club you will have many paths to chose and then you will have to prepare your projects and speeches and deliver them in front of other fellow members. 

Member in Club is titled as TM (Toastmaster). Here your public speaking and leadership journey starts.  You will achieve many rewards on completion of every step in path ways. 
Pathways is a structured content and skill development system where you have to chose one path and Complete multiple levels then you will be titled with the path that you have chosen.

While public speaking you will also learn leadership styles, speech on impromptu topics, improve vocabulary, improve your grammar and fluency, emotional intelligence and so on.

I am a public speaker, should I join Toastmasters?

If you are already motivational speaker, lecturer, public speaker or leader. I must say Toastmasters is right place for you. It helps to improve the public speaking skills. 
Once you listen to your speech you will get to know if you are distracting audiences and losing their attention. For example, how many repeated words you are using? How many filler words like ah... em.... er... you are using? If you listen to speech of world leaders or politicians you will notice they many times use ah..... during their speech which is effecting quality of their speech. 

I wrote this article to share my experience, I was giving lectures and presentations during my professional career but on known topics. I am member of Khimji Toastmasters Club in Oman and I am developing public speaking and leadership skills. After joining I realized the importance of Toastmasters and I am sure readers of this post will get benefit from their nearest Toastmasters Club. My recent speech was on DNA Sequencing, you can read the speech content from here 

Please don't forget to give your feedback to improve this post and future posts.

Many people are sending us queries and asking us about the prices of Huawei's P30 Pro in Oman. We thought to write a blog to help them to get all the list of all the options at one place and make their comparison and make quick decision.

Features and Specifications Summary ;

P30 Pro is flagship model of Huwaei with better camera lense and up to 5x optical Zoon. Screen is brighter and bigger 6.47 inches with rounded corners OLED display with FHD+ resolution. IP68 rating which means it can resist water and dust. With this phone you can take shots inside water for up to 1.5 meters depth for maximum 30 minutes. 

This device comes with pre-loaded Android 9.0 
8GB RAM and Various storage option.
40 MP Back and 32 MP front camera with various new features and specs.
4200mAh Non removable battery and type C cable for charging and data
Dual SIM, Bluetooth 5.0 and WiFi AC, Various other inbuilt sensors 

Above were summarized information on specifications and features which most of the people in Oman and Gulf are focusing on. Regarding queries about Android updates. You will still get the updates as this model was launch prior the decision, which means previous devices would still get the updates.

P30 Pro Prices in Oman

p30-pro-prices-oman

In Oman you have got various options, with warranty and without warranty, with screen insurance and with device insurance however choice is yours. Here is the list of service providers, vendors/dealers with prices in Omani Rials as on  October, 2019.
  1. Omantel Stores : 357.000 (Package + Installments)
  2. Ooredoo Stores : out of stock
  3. Sharaf DG :  249.900
  4. Lulu Oman : 294.900
  5. Cleopatra : 268.00
  6. Roumaan : 245.000 (128GB)
If above seems expensive to you, you can try the lighter version of P30 Pro called P30 Lite


What is the 4th industrial revolution 

Though there are various cities, regions or countries who have very good literacy rate but at the same time, some of these nations are not innovative, but some might have very low literacy rate, but those will low might be innovative. The reason is that we have been mixing skills and knowledge with literacy which means a literate person is not necessarily educated. Another problem is that generally and traditionally we have been working hard to get the piece of paper (a degree or a certificate) but we have forgotten that gaining knowledge and developing skill is more important than just earning a certificate by memorizing books.
We are living in a tech-savvy era where technology is transforming the societies in every second, economies have become digital, concept of digital cities is also becoming obsolete, but the concept of smart cities is being implemented, many cities globally has become smart cities. But question, what was their literacy rate? Of course, not more than some of the cities of under developed or developing courtiers, but what lead those cities to grow and sustain? It was the Education System, the Schools, colleges and universities who are helping them to gain knowledge and skills and just passing an exam.

IT Buzzwords in 2020

We are today in year 2019, where Big Data, Machine Learning, Artificial and Augmented Intelligence, Robotics, EIOT, Block-chain and various other new concepts are very popular, Data Science a subject is high in demand, because now “The Data is The New Oil”, and world needs the data scientists, but unfortunately we have not yet produced enough to fulfill the need of Industry. As a proof, in October 2017 , Jack MA (Chinese Richest person running an e-business Alibaba) visited Canada and met Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau they had a very good discussion on the same subject that how they are expecting gap in skills required vs skilled available, and they mentioned that in next 30 years, today’s students will not be fit for industry and they will not be able to fit for any job, in short, the education system which we are into will not help these today’s students to be part of a transformed industry.

Industrial Revolution in 2020

If you know about industrial revolution, we are into 4th Industrial revolution where most of students of 90s are not fit for jobs, and 5th Industrial revolution, most of the jobs will be replaced by robots, Blockchain, AI and ML based technologies. Though this also needs explanation that what those technologies will look like, it is simple driverless cars have already replaced drivers and there will be planes in future without pilot. Block Chain technologies will replace bankers, government service officers, immigration officers, Lawyers etc. Robots means precision, where a heart surgery will be so precise that human will not be able to do that correctly. Imagine how many jobs are going to be replaced?
Answer is short? Transformation in our Education System. Instead of producing degree holders, who can get degree or certificate by passing the exam with good grades but what if they will not be fit for industry, we must focus on helping them to learn new knowledge quickly, fit for industry doesn’t necessarily means doing job, but doing anything they like to do like job, business, consultant or any profession.
Today, in vast ocean of knowledge and various streams of subjects, it is not possible for an education institute to teach the knowledge, but it is important for them to teach how to learn new knowledge. Yes, you got it right, how to learn new knowledge is very important. Our traditional education system is obsolete, because it can teach a subject/filed of study, but one can’t gain knowledge. In my opinion, education institute should focus on teaching how to learn a new knowledge.
With innovation in technology all sectors are being transformed be it Medical, Hospitality, Transport, Telecom, Manufacturing or Education all the sectors are being affected and there is need for new professionals to join and those professionals who can learn anything quickly. This proves quick learners can somehow fit in future.

Method of Education System

Our Education system has traditionally been teaching by using maximum 3 methods or stages of transferring knowledge and most of the cases it is 1. In my opinion the method of education to be changed, I must mention one hear before I explain all is that teaching is a learning tool. I remember when I started teaching, I was able to learn more. So teaching is in fact part of learning and it should be part of education. We need to utilize all our senses to learn new knowledge, all the stages of learning are below;

Attending Lectures:

 here our listening skill will mainly used which helps us to gain maximum 10% of knowledge but the moment we don’t revise this will no more remain in our memory. If it is a plain lecture without any visuals, images then students will not learn much, that is the reason white board, charts etc. is being used because listening and visual senses are working so both together can help to learn 15-20%.

Asking Questions:

 During or after attending lectures, students must be encouraged to ask the questions that will help them to memorize from events, though knowledge is not necessarily to memorize but people tend to remember events, this will play role to improve knowledge from 20-25%.

Reading from Book:

 Once lecture is finished one must read it, or even just reading from book also helps but it gives only 15% of knowledge. But revision to stage 1 and 2, through book can help to gain 25-30%

Writing what you know:

 Once the person who learns new knowledge, starts writing what he learned in stage 1 – 3, he will improve his knowledge and his will further improve and by this stage he might have gained 30-40% of knowledge. Till this stage most of the educational institutes are focusing, but till this stage ever after various revisions maximum 50% of knowledge can be retained but it will be volatile.

Group Discussion: 

This is most important in class rooms, discuss with your fellow colleagues, group study, discussion on topics and listen from others, this helps to clear various ambiguities, and this helps to improve your knowledge by 50% up to 60%. This stage plays vital role but in most of the education institutes this is stage is missing.

Presenting:

 The most important is presenting what you have learned, teaching others will help to gain more and in-depth knowledge, unfortunately this stage is thought to be for teachers, in fact this is for everyone, that is the reason we see that most of the professionals are not good speakers, because they have never got chance to present their knowledge or speak in public, though public speaking is a soft skill but this is a tool to gain technical knowledge and this will help to gain up to 80% of knowledge.

 Answering Questions: 

in 6th stage there might be many questions asked by those who are listening you, and it is always good not to answer the question one doesn’t know and come back by saying, “I will come back to you on this”. To answer and to find the answer to the question being asked will help to gain 90% of knowledge. And for sure one can’t get 100% knowledge because it is an evolution, and revision of all stages can help to improve.
 Above is standard learning method, which every education institute in the world must adapt, but most important is that what knowledge are we transferring them, what basics are we teaching them. Basics of English Language is ABC, basics of mathematics is 1234 but basics of robotics?
There are many schools in developed countries who have introduced Raspberry PI3 as mandatory tool for students to learn robotics from 1st standard, this computer is said to be ABC of robotics, programming or computers. 
I will enlighten this further in some other post, but to end I must say, can our teachers teach the students what should be taught today? Answer is yes and no both.
Today anyone can study from distance using e-learning platforms, teachers can use that platform but as I mentioned 7 stages of learning, e-learning misses some of the stages and e-learning can’t be considered as best tool, that is the reason e-learning or distance learning has not yet replaced education institutes. But at the same time, it is important for teachers to learn new knowledge to teach their students, and students should be taught how to learn new knowledge.
You can teach programming to students, but he can develop many programs using that language, same way you can teach students how to write an essay, once he learns he can write essay on any topic. Therefore, teachers must apply the same logic for transferring knowledge.
“In this age of technology, where everyone can’t learn everything, so teach the students how to get new knowledge than focus on learning only specific subject”


Future of Information Technology Job market is always a concern of many IT Professionals globally. The pace at which technology is growing no doubt the industry will need many qualified professionals. 

If we look at the IT Industry boom in 90s we could see C and C++ language skills were most demanded Programmers. Then Computer Operators and Network Administrator. Trend changed in between 2000 till 2010, Web Developers, App Developers, Database Experts and Integration experts were highly demanded by industry and Java as programming language remained on top. 
future_of_it_jobs

Since 2010 till 2020 programming languages changed and I can clearly see Python is at top but there are languages like Java, Java Script, PHP etc remained under discussion with Data Science, Big Data, AI and Block chain buzz words at top. 

But what is going to happen in 2020 onward. Technology and Industry experts are saying that Computing Technology will still grow and will enable many invention in various industries but Information Technology experts will still be highly demanded. But the major concern is that what kind of Jobs will be available and whether today's professionals/students will be fit for tomorrow?

I predict 2020 till 2030 highly Data Scientists will be highly demand with various skills including programming language like R and Python specific to data science. Then Block chain and AI Technology will still grow making the highly demanded skills. Therefore, today IT Professional should focus on programming skills like Python, R, Swift, Go, Kotlin, Java Script and Java. Data Science which was buzz word between 2007 till 2014 is now getting very popular and still many experts are needed for big data.

In conclusion, If you are building your career in Computing, Information and Communication Technology, make sure you know, your career path. Here is the list of designation in various fields within main, that can help you to remain on right track in your technical career path. I am sure the following designations will remain in market till 2030;

Information Technology has totally changed the way we saw it before internet and smart gadgets and with Invention of computing and internet together, every sector, every industry and everything around us has changed and it still changing at rapid pace.

Today data is the new oil.
Where volume, velocity and variety of data kept growing creating a big data, it worked as not only enabler for various other technology but also triggered many other inventions. Data is said to be the new oil, but I will disagree, I must say it is more than the oil.

But my concern is always about the right human resource to understand these technology trends.


We will need to make sure that we as an individual are fit for the industry, second decade of this century is going to end soon, and new decade will bring new challenges as what we learn today will be obsolete in few days as new technologies are going to emerge.

"Technological Unemployment" is no more a buzz word, it has been happening for a long time and in next decade, self driver cards, robots, etc will be taking human jobs, but those who are equipped to program robots will be needed by industry. 

I have listed few buzz words of the decade, for sure one must know all of these but what cautions here is that what will be value of your skills, knowledge and education in next decade, are you fit for industry.

Below is the list of buzz words that will evolve further in next decade.

Data and Analytics

  • Data Mining
  • Big Data
  • Actionable Analytics
  • Block Chain
  • Chat bots
  • Personalization
  • Net Neutrality

Computing Technologies

  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • Quantum Computing
  • Robotics

Intelligence

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Machine Learning
  • Augmented Reality (AR)
  • Virtual Reality (VR)
  • Voice Recognition
  • Smart Industry 4.0
Every Subject Matter Expert (SME) either Doctors, Engineers, Scientist, Pilots, Construction Experts even expert of every field will need to learn Computing Technology, Programming, Robotics and Data Science program robots, in other words cloning robots with their expertise.

System of Education in many developing countries has fundamental weaknesses and imperfections. Education Departments are rarely focusing on latest trends of innovation causing serious issues in School Industry.

System of Education in Pakistan 

Today Pakistan is suffering because of various reasons and one of the major reasons is lack of skilled professionals, many may not agree with this but it is a bitter truth that we have to accept it. My major concern of writing this article is to enlighten Education system of Pakistan in general where literacy race is 47% estimated in 2019 and Azad Kashmir where literacy rate is 74%. Not just this Azad Kashmir has many degree holders (Bachelors, Masters and PhDs), but with no practical exposure and skills except few. Fact that Pakistan is ranked one of the worst countries in Education System, imagine where Aazad Kashmir will be, and our Education system will never help our nation and economy to grow, until we take some steps now.
system-of-education

If we see top brands and products in the world whether it belongs to Computer and its components, Plants and Machinery, Cars and Engines and other motor vehicle specific products and brands. Top electronics brands. Nothing is from Azad Kashmir or Pakistan, though Pakistan has less literacy rate than Azad Kashmir but still Pakistan has Industries and some products that are well known, but why nothing comes under Azad Kashmir. I will elaborate this further, somehow it is related to Pakistan, but my major target will be Azad Kashmir.

Firstly, Azad Kashmir’s total population is more than 4 million which is more than many developed countries in the world and literacy rate is also more than many developed countries in the world, but fact is that a single company in developed countries has more revenue annually than our 10 years development budget. We don’t have any industries despite many degree holders. Now there are many Questions in one’s mind. Why Azad Kashmir is neither a developing or developed region? Can Azad Kashmir become a developed region? Can Azad Kashmir have industries? Can we export our Products? Do we have products to export? Do we have ability to find natural gifts hidden in our soil? Answer is big NO. There is various reason, I will not discuss them all because these all can be treated like political issues, religious differences, caste system etc, but my major I will raise my concern on a specific area which is our Education System.

Our Education system has flaw, our system is producing degree holders, but not the Skilled professionals, we know how to debate on politics but we don’t know how to improve production of our crops which is less technical. We have many degree holders in Science & Technology, but we don’t have scientists who can convert natural energy in electricity. We couldn’t make dams or reservoirs where water is major visible natural source we have. 

I am not generalizing it, because we do have many Kashmiris who are living everywhere in the world and they are skilled, but the fact is that they got higher education either in Big cities of Pakistan or in Europe, US, Australia, Canada or any other countries.

If I list few random brands or products here e.g; (Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Google, LG, Canon, Kodak, Toyota, Honda, Isuzu, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Acer, Dell, HP, Garmin, Casio, Hyundai, Tanks, Helicopters, Micro Controllers, Computers, Servers, Washing Machine, Fridge, Television, Motor Bike, Cycle, Bottle, Crockery and Needle), the fact that can be seen from my short list is that we are even unable to manufacture a needle even we have Masters and PhD degrees. Now, you might be thinking we don’t have industries, I will not agree to it, tourism is our major industry but most ignored. This proves our degrees are useless, we got education but we didn’t get enough skills to develop our economy. Do you think Azad Kashmir can become Japan or China one day? I will say it can become if our Education System changes.

System of Education by Developed Economies

I discussed many times with many education professionals about Finland which #1 in world for education system followed by Japan and South Korea. These countries are producing skilled and technology specialist and degrees. Students from primary classes are focusing on developing their skills, even primary school drop outs can do some business without depending on anyone, and if you read about billionaires in the world, you will find most of them are college drop outs and have not even got their degrees, but because they had developed enough skill so they are billionaire today and many degree holders are standing in queue for hours to get job in their company.
Whiteboard and Blackboard concept is obsolete, though this is still being used as one of the tools for education but there are many other tools which such countries are using. 

Tradition is not changing 

Our education system forces child to memorize the lessons and then our bogus exam system is actually examination of memory, not the skills, whereas in modern education system even primary school students are given projects to complete and their system is task based and practical, where students become innovate and some are able to invent something that never existed, that is where IOTs, Smart Technologies, Facebook and Google were invented. I am not criticizing here but can you please look by your self, how many degree holders we have BBA, BCS, B.Sc, B.Com, BA, MA, M.Sc, MBA, M.Com, M Phil, PhD and many were shining stars in schools and colleges with toppers, even many with 100% marks, but can you identify any of billionaire from them or even any millionaire, there might be few but I don’t know any of them?

We are in fact increasing number of degree holders but reducing skilled person, even if you see in Azad Kashmir, those who have never gone to school are doing very good business, but all degree holders are looking for Government or private jobs. And those who want to start the business they focus in only one Industry which is Education. We have few companies in Azad Kashmir which we can count on fingers but countless private schools and colleges.

Nonexistence of vocational training institutes is also one of our major problem. Our traditional qualification is a career disaster. We even don’t have career counselling and skill development plans and programs. We force our children to be Doctor and Engineer but we don’t show them other paths.

We have education system with no vision, Kashmir has enough natural resources which can help us to become developed region in the world where as Pakistan had strategic port Gawardar, but due to lack of our skills, other countries are taking benefit from that.
I can list various countries in the world who were worst than Azad Kashmir but today their skills are being demanded everywhere in the world.

Field of Study

We generally say Kashmiris are overseas they are professionals, trust me there are only few Kashmiris who are doing white collar jobs or doing their businesses. Most of Kashmiris are doing blue collar job, even Masters degree holders too. You can see in Gulf many Masters degree holder are working as security guard and many other odd jobs, and this is because of our poor planning because we had no vision.
When I talk about vision, I mean here vision as an individual, as a group and as a society, if a Person does M.A. Islamiyat, MA English or any other common discipline and expects to get a job in overseas on a senior level because has Masters Degree, it is not possible. Take an example of people from Philippines, who are qualified in Hotel Management, Sales and Marketing. Most of the companies in Gulf and other countries prefer to hire them, do we have any hotel management course, degree, diploma, certification?

You might have noticed I used degree or diploma. Yes, degree and diploma are in fact a proof of your skills, but unfortunately our education system awards degrees and diploma based on the grades that we get by passing exam. That is the reason even a master’s in computer sciences or Information Technology can’t even develop a mobile app, If you don’t agree just do a survey that I already did.
Even we didn’t learn customer service and hospitality, we are not able to give proper welcome to tourists, a shopkeeper can’t retain a customer. We have many tourist attractions but with no facilities. Because our youth is more educated and less skilled that they struggle and hunt for job, but due to lack of technical skills they are unable to earn without job.

What is solution?

Solution is simple, our traditional education system must change, we have to focus on activity-based learning, introduce new subjects that can help our future job seekers to get better placement. I have already mentioned in a different article about Education System and New Industrial Revolution. Matter that we teach is also old, we need to introduce new subjects, robotics and software programming should be taught from primary. Skill should be developed from Primary Education. Introduce Raspberry PI Computer in primary schools. Technology is cheap these days, schools don’t need to invest a lot in computer labs now School Bag is costlier than a computer. If you child wants to be a Doctor, he will still need to learn programming and robotics. Even every job in future will be replaced by robots (Pilots, Doctors, Chefs, Drivers, …. A long list), but who will program these robots? SME (Subject Matter Experts) and to produce subject matter experts one must have enough skills.

When I gave examples of Finland and other developed countries, I must give example of China as a solution, there education reform is not very old. They brought revolution in their education system, they learn engineering in their primary school. They provide basic engineering tools (screw drivers, solders, wires, testers etc) to their students in additional to color pencils and geometry boxes. How china is manufacturing electronics with precision? it is because their engineer learnt engineering from primary school when they were given devices to open and check what is inside. From a child progress up to 4th standard parents and teachers can analyze that what field the child will most likely to chose so they chose the field and start developing the competency from the childhood, but we take 12 years to decided which field of education student will chose. remember there are countless fields to chose from, but later you decide more confusion you will create. We must consider Chinese education system as a benchmark to develop our nation's skills.

To conclude, education reform is most important aspect for an economy to develop, though we have various problems, in our society like poverty, terrorism, energy crises, political instability, inflation and various other problems, and fact is that these problems will not end if we don’t develop a skilled nation. An educated, skilled and civilized nation can only bring change, and first change to implement is change in our education system.

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