Lately there have been efforts made by the KPITB to empower the youth of the province with digital and entrepreneurial skills which will help transform the region into a digital hub. These efforts include the establishment of innovation labs as a part of the “Durshal” which hopes to increase the participation of the people of that province in the IT sector, bring about digital governance and encourage entrepreneurship by helping emerging businesses. The first innovation lab was inaugurated in Peshawar. It aims to provide training and resources where they can work together, research and develop innovative projects to help transform the province into a digital hub. The efforts to further the digital cause include initiatives such as Digital Youth Summit (DYS) which is organized by the World Bank and the KP IT board.
This year the KP Digital Internship Program was launched to provide the youth with an opportunity to gain experience and learn about the industry. There is an opportunity for graduates of Bachelors’ and Masters’ Programs in CS, IT or any ICT field to work in Software houses as part of this internship. While those with a BA or any other equivalent degree can opt for the internship in call centers. The best part of this is perhaps the fact that these internships are also available to those who have no previous experience and each intern will be receiving a monthly stipend of Rs. 14000. The internship duration is 6 months. The only catch is that they must have a KP domicile and must have graduated in previous years.The location of this internship is Abbottabad, Peshawar and other KPITB IT Parks all across the province.
The main areas of specialization include fields which are pivotal in furthering the digital policy of the province which focuses on two things, digital governance and digital economy. So the fields include mobile app development which is perhaps the most lucrative given that so many people have access to mobiles with 4g or 3g now. It also includes others such as web development, digital marketing system testing, graphic designing, game development, iOS development, 3D animator and call management. Those who intern in the call centers will also obviously learn about customer service and can perhaps further their careers with what they learn there.
The application deadline is June 5th and the form is available online.