Master’s Degree Final Project Opens High-Tech Employment to Students
In recent years “a student’s life” has come to describe many young people who study during the week and work in odd jobs, without a high income. A new program developed by Avigail Aharon, a Master’s degree student at SCE - Sami Shamoon College of Engineering, can change this reality for undergraduate engineering students at the college by helping them work as software checkers in high-tech companies while they are still students.
“In 2016 I completed my bachelor’s degree in software engineering at the college”, recounts Avigail Aharon. “In my last year of studies I began working as a software checker in a company that detects security breaches in wifi networks. From there I advanced to additional positions in other companies in the south, mainly as inspection manager at two startups in the Gav-Yam Negev Advanced Technologies Park”. In the course of her work Avigail understood that she had not fully realized her academic studies and decided to return to the college for a Master’s degree in software engineering. “I decided to pursue a Master’s degree because I had an opportunity to continue to develop professionally in the field in which I work. I wanted to reach a level of excellence in the software field and to be exposed to new and broader fields, especially with the establishment of the Gav Yam high-tech park and the IDF move to the Negev”.
“I returned to the college because I knew and liked the lecturers and enjoyed my time as an undergraduate”, said Avigail. “For my Master’s degree project I decided to go in the direction I knew well from my undergraduate studies, and that I see today among students at the college. I built a social project aimed at helping students find work in high-tech during their studies at the college. Many companies today are looking for software inspectors, and many hire the services of people abroad because the work does not require physically coming to the office or specific work hours. For these reasons this type of work is very suitable for software engineering students who know how to conduct rapid quality inspections, and can do so in their free time. I am in contact with several companies located at the Gav Yam Park, and I am of course open to other offers”.
In Avigail’s project students will receive payment for every “bug” they find in the system – thus the company will enjoy low cost but very high quality service, and the students will benefit from work in high-tech while still in college, and from the flexibility that suits students. Many students currently work as waiters or in odd jobs, even though the high-tech park is nearby. The project enables SCE students to enter the high-tech world and gain hands-on experience in these companies, beyond what they receive during their studies”.
