A commitment to the Wairarapa region and passion for opening up opportunities in the IT sector has resulted in MyTrucking joining a new Wairarapa Skills Leadership Group for Technology/Professional Services.
MyTrucking head of development, Ivan Bozich, is representing MyTrucking on the group, which is a sub-committee of the Wairarapa Economic Development Strategy (WEDS) committee.
While the group is in its infancy, it has big aspirations, with the goal of generating IT skills and interest in the Wairarapa.
As a software company based in the Wairarapa, this is a perfect fit for MyTrucking.
“We have a number of things planned, but our first foray is to try to get kids in school to be interested in an IT career,” Ivan explains.
“The group started meeting last year to discuss how we can develop IT skills in the region, and keep them here, and ask how do we make the Wairarapa attractive to attract and retain people with those skills?
“We want to encourage people to take up careers in IT and came up with a strategy to engage with schools and get students interested.”
The first step is encouraging local colleges to join an eSports league, and MyTrucking is sponsoring local Kuranui College.
Ivan says there are synergies between gaming and tech. “Where tech is going, business systems and gaming are coming closer together. In a virtual reality world, we will see the two systems starting to merge. People interested in gaming will come closer to doing business systems too, and I think that’s when the power will really be.”
He explains eSports is an online virtual sports league where teams work together in multiplayer mode to score points in games such as online battle arena (MOBA) and first-person shooter (FPS).
“Teams join up virtually and play each other, just like a real sports game. We are running a league so teams get on the ladder and have a position in the league competition.”
Virtual gaming has many benefits, such as hand eye co-ordination, teaching students how screens and keyboards work, and providing social interaction as all players have headsets and are talking to one another.
He hopes MyTrucking employees will eventually meet up with the students from Kuranui, and explore how the skills they have learned can be leveraged and built on.
The motivation to take part was quite simple. “MyTrucking is committed to the Wairarapa and, for us to be successful, we have to have people in the Wairarapa working for us. We want to make this a Wairarapa success story.”
Personally, IT has been a rewarding career for Ivan since 1984, and he jumped at the opportunity to give back.
“We need to bring on the next generation and it’s important to encourage people to continue the good work New Zealand does, as we have always punched above our weight on the world stage when it comes to IT.
“In the Wairarapa, a lot of young people feel they have to leave the region after school and get a job elsewhere if they want to get into the tech sector. We want there to be opportunities here for them to stay and get jobs in the region.”
