In 2020 the SWITCH SEA project launched with four economies. The project aimed to support the career development goals of women and gender diverse people working in the technical sector.
In 2022, SWITCH SEA wrapped up, and the Switch! project took its place. Switch! expanded to two additional economies, including Laos. In addition, the Switch! project held annual National Events in which the participants from that economy could network and share knowledge.
Phetmany Inthalangsy: Discovering a broader world
“All of these have changed my life and improved my family’s conditions, brought me into a wider society, and given me new experiences and great opportunities that I never thought I would ever receive. Everything I gained from this project made me realize that the more I improve myself, the more I can accept the negative aspects and reach out to fix them. It is the initial step that opens us up to more opportunities, ‘the more I learn, the more I gain’.”
– Phetmany Inthalangsy, 2023 Switch! participant
Putting myself out there
I learned about the Switch! project from the Notice Letter from the Lao National Internet Center (LANIC) that was sent to my workplace, the ETL Company. The HR division then distributed it to my division. After I read the notice letter, I looked up information via a few channels (search engines, Facebook and other social media).
I discovered that it fit my interests perfectly. I was eager to develop my skills and try new things, but I faced a lot of obstacles, especially financial and other day-to-day issues. In the end, I decided to apply, hoping to give myself the chance to see the broader world, improve my knowledge and develop my skills, with the ultimate goal of a better future for my family.
Immediately after joining the Switch! Project I discovered this “broader world”. I met a society of people with a similar technical background and a similar understanding about the environment – probably because we were women, and all came from the ASEAN, region, so we shared a lot of understanding. I was able to tackle aspects of a negative mindset about myself, and realize my own value through reflection. Developing my skills helped me boost my confidence. I took many courses on Network Security, even though I am a programming geek. This made me realize that a programmer also needs to know this kind of knowledge on Network Security and Cyber Security, so that I can improve security aspects of systems that I program as much as possible.
I was also exposed to different ways to improve public speaking and leadership skills. This is very important and useful for me to respond to different types of people and better blend in the community, in particular with my colleagues. More importantly, I received support to join English classes; I am so happy and thankful to have this support; it is my dream to learn from native speakers and to gain more confidence even though I never had a chance to learn it as a child. To my surprise, after the first 3-month course, I dared to speak English in public, and the result was impressive; I received compliments from people surrounding me. I maintained that momentum to take the second English course. The even better result revealed itself, and I passed the first round of job interviews with one international organization; now I am in a probation period.
This has transformed my life.
Maintaining an emphasis on programming
The programming courses were the most relevant to my career. They really helped update my knowledge to keep-up with the industry standards, which indeed strengthened my capacity at work.
I believe these higher skills will lead to a better life, and that’s proven as I deployed what I had learned to my career, which made me visible to big organizations in the market. Our technical Internet industry is moving fast, if I had not had the support from this project, I would have had limited means to develop my skills. I could have studied the concepts and theories, but could never have obtained or learned from real, experienced experts.
As I consider my needs as a programmer, I have concluded I need to expand my horizons to cover networks and security; so when I program, I can make the final system more complete. More importantly, I clearly notice that I am so much more confident in speaking and blending in with the community and colleagues.
Along the same lines, I gained more confidence in English public communication skills. The real-life proof is in the above-mentioned job interview, where I had to illustrate my technical skills of programming and communicated purely in English. My current duty is as an IT Programmer, so I have to work with overseas service providers, mainly located in Australia.
Change as a new standard
All of these have changed my life and improved my family’s conditions, brought me into a wider society, and given me new experiences and great opportunities that I never thought I would ever receive. Everything I gained from this project made me realize that the more I improve myself, the more I can accept the negative aspects and reach out to fix them. It is the initial step that opens us up to more opportunities, “the more I learn, the more I gain”.
The APNIC Foundation’s Switch! Project has led to better changes in my life. I also joined one mentoring course that helps in adjusting my mindset to keep improving, looking after my own self and my duties better.
I can’t imagine these changes would have happened without being involved in the Switch! Project. I trust that what I have gained and obtained from the support of Switch! Project will be exercised and used in the long-run.
Project participants are encouraged to share stories of their progress. This account has been lightly edited.
