On 5th November 2016, IEEE Young Professionals Affinity Group of Bangladesh Section organized the first ever Young Professionals Meetup in Bangladesh at IAC, ECE Building, BUET. With an aim to strengthen the network between the Young Professionals of IEEE Bangladesh Section, the event was focused on career, leadership, academic as well as interpersonal skills.
Session 1 of the program commenced with a short welcome speech by Mr. Shams Shad Islam Khan, Chairperson of IEEE Bangladesh Section Young Professionals Affinity Group. It proceeded to an informative talk on “International Telecommunication in Bangladesh” by Mr. Hasibur Rashid, Director and Chief Marketi
ng Officer, NovoTel, NovoCom and InterCloud. Following this was a wonderfully interactive workshop on “Leadership and Career Choices” that shone light on multiple issues we face in our job lives. The workshop was moderated by Mr. Sudeendra Koushik. Vice Chairperson of IEEE Bangalore Section and Ms. Pragya Dixit, Entrepreneur and Co-founder at Prasu, who had come all the way from India to grace the program with their presence. After the workshop, Mr. Abdullah Ash-Saki from Chevron Bangladesh conducted a humorous and motivational workshop titled “Transition from Graduate to Professional” which highlighted the major problems faced by fresh graduates and possible ways to overcome those. This was followed by a short “Trivia Contest”. Session 1 concluded with an unusual but enlightening talk titled “From the Bottom of the Pyramid’ by Mr. Shaeek Ahmed, Engineer, Infrastructure Services at Mott MacDonald.
Session 2 of the event initiated with Dr. Md. Zunaid Baten, Assistant Professor, Department of EEE, BUET, e
nlightening graduates on the “Prospects and Challenges of Higher Studies Abroad”. He focused on the students who
want to follow an academic path right after graduation and guided them through the process. Scheduled next was a Brainstorming Session where participants were divided into four groups of different color. The groups were given individual cases categorized into Academics, Entrepreneurship, Government Sector and Corporate Marketing Sector and asked
to present a short argument on why they would follow the respective path after graduation. The group with the best supporting argument was chosen to be the winner. Ensuing this was a short but amazingly inspirational talk by Mr. Intekhab Sadekin, Tech-Manager, IT, IMS Health. Succeeding the talk was Mr. Almeer Ahsan Asif, Assistant Manager, Curriculum Measurement, Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC), who spoke about the “Art and Practice of Leadership”. The final talk of the day was one to guide young entrepreneurs in their path; a talk titled “Entrepreneurship – The Key to Success” by Mr. Tanvir Ehsananur Rahman, CTO, NovoTel, NovoCom and Intercloud. The concluding ceremony of the program was graced by none other than the respected Dr. Shaikh Anowarul Fattah, Chair of IEEE Bangladesh Section and Dr. Celia Shahnaz, WIE Co-ordinator of IEEE Region 10.
The various sessions of the program were dedicated to strengthening the network between the participating young professionals of Bangladesh and guiding fresh graduates in their planned career paths. The YP Meetup was a gathering to share and discuss intellectual and innovative ideas to foster the movement and goal of IEEE as well as IEEE Young Professionals. A total of 80 participants attended in the program. Through the counsel and direction of experienced speakers in their fields, the participants learned to hone their individual strengths and find their respective career paths.
