Temesgen is an experienced Engineer who develops software and hardware. He has contributed to the successful establishment of the EdTech lab at the Eritrean Institute of Technology (EIT) and worked on several projects that enhanced the campus internet services. He also volunteers as a teacher, teaching robotics. He is reputed for his time management, while his willingness to help individuals who practice his field of expertise is one of a kind. He is set to show every one that web designing could be developed by anyone who is keen to studying the field; especially at a young age.
• Thank you for your time! Please tell us about yourself?
My name is Temesgen kidane. I was born and raised in Asmara. After completing my 11th grade education, I went to Sawa with the 21st round to complete my high school education and fulfill my national service. At those times, joining the Computer Engineering department at the Eritrean Institute of Technology required outstanding grades, but because I scored 3.8 on the matriculation exam, I easily joined the Computer Engineering department. The main reason I chose computer engineering was that as a child I was always fascinated by the limitless tasks a computer undertakes , especially games and movies.
• How was your college experience?
I personally believe that college is where you build your future. The projects you work on have the power to decide where your future is headed. So I thrived to create and embarked on a lot of things that I assumed were useful projects. Some of the projects are; a small project about creating online shopping website and for the senior year project, I and my friends created a prototype of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). Moreover, I was also a part of a major project initiated jointly through the partnership of Eritrea and Finland. The main goal of the project was to create EdTech lab at the EIT and the team successfully founded the lab. The EdTech lab project was fully funded, so I had the opportunity to make an FM transmitter and later a pyramid hologram. Honestly, the EdTech project was a turning point for me; I have learned a lot especially the basics of robotics and I am still working with the knowledge I acquired back then. It was a lab where we were able to come up with variety of ideas and with the facilities we had, they were easy to execute. That journey lasted for three months.
• What happened after EdTech?
By the time the EdTech project was finalized, I had also finished my college studies and was assigned to work at the Beleza database center. After working for two years there, I was reassigned to the Asmara Duty Free Center. The reason I was reassigned was because they wanted to create inventory software to facilitate their activities. It was not just a simple inventory software, it also included monetary exchange rates. Additionally, I am currently engaged on projects that help the rest of the duty free branches around Asmara.
• On top of being a developer you are a writer too, enlighten us about that?
Yes I have also wrote a book. The reason that pushed me to write a book was that many computer engineering students always come and seek my assistance with their variety of projects. So I figured that I couldn’t reach them all and the only way to give them a guide all at the same time is by writing a book and share it with everyone. The book is called Web Development with Framework. It helps you to build your own website using Codeigniter. Not to sound condescending, but I want the people who work with me to know what I know, they should be able to understand and read the software I built, so that’s one of the reasons I donated the book. Anyone who is interested on web design and is not able to find my book could contact me and get it for free. I voluntarily teach robotics and so I started writing my second book. The book is a bit upgraded from what I teach but basically it’s about robotics and how to create one.
• How was your teaching experience?
The program is fully funded and anyone interested is welcome to attend the classes and learn for free. Most of my students are young and I like that because I believe that youngsters should learn the basics of web designing or building a robot at a young age. I don’t like the fact that anyone has to wait till college to get the basic knowledge of robotics and web designing. We start learning the basics in college and the time to build bigger projects could be limited. I hope we could reconsider situations like this and make college the platform for creativeness and path to the upgraded technology. So the program I am volunteering at could be one way to tackle such problems and I strongly advise people to attend. Also, I would like to note that it’s not for the young generation only anyone who is interested in making robots can join.
• Future plans?
As I said earlier, I have several upcoming projects with the Asmara Duty Free Center and I will continue teaching.
• Thank you and we wish you
Source: Ministry of Information Eritrea