January 19, 2023: ‘Dotitude’, the university outreach initiative by leading technology company 99x, completed 2022 empowering more than 2,000 IT undergraduates across Sri Lanka. Dotitude has been in operation for more than a decade and has reached out to over 50,000 undergraduates during this time through multiple activities. In 2022, the volunteer-based initiative conducted 20 technical sessions through collaborations with universities and higher education institutes and supported many research projects.
Dotitude is a program driven by 99x in collaboration with universities, higher education institutes and the local ICT industry to empower university students. This initiative aims to build bridges between universities and Sri Lanka’s ICT sector. It provides university students with an unmatched experience by revealing available opportunities and creating platforms to learn as much as possible about new technologies and trends, and the soft skills necessary to be a successful IT professional.
“Empowerment fosters engagement and enables individuals in unprecedented ways. Not only do they become more confident and work-ready, but they also become more committed, strategic, intuitive, creative, and analytically competent. When it comes to local undergraduates, it is important to empower them with the required skills to face global market demands. Through Dotitude, we believe in empowering undergrads with knowledge on cutting-edge tech, new trends in the global ICT space and the soft skills required to not only be industry-ready upon graduation but be global-ready as well,” said University Relations Manager, Anura Adhikari.
The attitude of connecting dots is what matters for a fresher to achieve success in the industry. Dotitude by 99x helps with precisely this, guiding undergraduates to connect the dots that will shape their future. Understanding this, the Dotitude team along with other volunteers from 99x members conducted several workshops last year on a diverse range of technical topics to keep building up their IT knowledge. During 2022 alone, Dotitude conducted more than 25 sessions for undergrads. Apart from these sessions, the Dotitude team conducted mock interviews with undergraduates. They were given feedback on improving their interview-facing and resume-writing skills. Some of the prominent workshops were LinkedIn and CV writing, Test Automation with Selenium, QA industry and breaking the myths, DevOps practices and How to be a hero in the industry.
Furthermore, the ‘Internship 4.0’ program of 99x is an integral part of the Dotitude University Outreach Initiative. The program is focused on ensuring that an intern’s technical and soft skills exceed industry expectations. In addition to industry experience, the Dotitude team conducted mentoring sessions and assigned a dedicated mentor for each intern. Last year, the team received more than 1,000 applications and conducted 300 internship interviews.
Commenting on plans for Dotitude in 2023, Adhikari said, “The realignment of our existing initiative to help undergraduates is expected to continue well into 2023, which focuses on a more rounded internship method. Right now, we are focusing on global hiring and global mentoring. Previously, we had a few Project Leads and mentors on the project, but in this revamped version, we will have a buddy and a mentor. It will also be divided into shorter review phases to identify any issues from the student’s side earlier.”
99x, headquartered in Norway collaborates in developing, well-engineered digital products for the Scandinavian market. It welcomes the opportunity to contribute towards the broader business community, colleges and universities, working to build a great workplace for all.