Climbing her way up
Toini Shikonga is an inspiration as she struggled to get work just like many other young Namibians. She worked as a security guard and never gave up; her talent was spotted by Pupkewitz Megabuild. She now works in their IT department.
Wetumwene Shikage
Shikonga was born and raised in Windhoek by her parents and she is the eldest of her siblings. Shikonga attended Mandume Primary School and A Shipena Secondary School and completed tertiary education at the International University of Management (IUM). Upon attaining her degree in business information systems, it was hard to get a permanent job in that area. She then settled for being a security guard at Omega Security Services in Windhoek. She was able to make some money to look after her siblings because her parents moved to the northern part of Namibia.
Shikonga is a junior IT technician whose duties include maintaining and repairing hardware equipment, maintaining the network environment, providing basic support and troubleshooting the software setup and installation, general housekeeping of the computer room and daily check-ups of the data centres.
Her biggest challenge is assisting computer users or clients through phone calls. Phone calls are not very effective, she says. Communication between her and the client gets difficult until she logs onto their system remotely to understand what the person on the other end is saying.
Shikonga describes a typical day in the office as strategic. “I always kick off my day with the server room check-ups, then attend to tickets assigned to me that determine whether I must visit the branch or deal with it remotely, monitor our branches’ network status, handle general user queries via phone calls and support my fellow senior technicians,” she said.
She added that having the opportunity to learn new things every day and taking initiatives makes her feel appreciated and heard in the friendly working environment.
Having the opportunity to work in an IT environment, dominated by men makes her genuinely happy and gives her courage to continue doing her best at any task at hand. Shikonga encourages the youth and those aspiring to follow careers that require attention to detail. “Life is not what you see but requires passion and determination. Nothing comes easy in life. Believe in yourself and the future, keep doing what you can do best for you.”
In future, Shikonga says she would want to own an IT company which can branch out all around Namibia but mostly in the rural areas.
“People in rural areas need support in many ways and opening an IT company will benefit them. I would like to offer short courses at an affordable price as we know IT is important, yet expensive. Technology is the future and if we equip the youth with technology then the future will be bright.”
Shikonga says if she could change one thing about the world, she would eliminate human greed. “Human greed is at the core of most of our world’s biggest problems. Greed is like a seed that grows into a poisonous vine, eventually dominating the human soul like an infectious disease, spreading to every corner of society ultimately, blinding us from the truth,” she says.
Shikonga was born and raised in Windhoek by her parents and she is the eldest of her siblings. Shikonga attended Mandume Primary School and A Shipena Secondary School and completed tertiary education at the International University of Management (IUM). Upon attaining her degree in business information systems, it was hard to get a permanent job in that area. She then settled for being a security guard at Omega Security Services in Windhoek. She was able to make some money to look after her siblings because her parents moved to the northern part of Namibia.
Shikonga is a junior IT technician whose duties include maintaining and repairing hardware equipment, maintaining the network environment, providing basic support and troubleshooting the software setup and installation, general housekeeping of the computer room and daily check-ups of the data centres.
Her biggest challenge is assisting computer users or clients through phone calls. Phone calls are not very effective, she says. Communication between her and the client gets difficult until she logs onto their system remotely to understand what the person on the other end is saying.
Shikonga describes a typical day in the office as strategic. “I always kick off my day with the server room check-ups, then attend to tickets assigned to me that determine whether I must visit the branch or deal with it remotely, monitor our branches’ network status, handle general user queries via phone calls and support my fellow senior technicians,” she said.
She added that having the opportunity to learn new things every day and taking initiatives makes her feel appreciated and heard in the friendly working environment.
Having the opportunity to work in an IT environment, dominated by men makes her genuinely happy and gives her courage to continue doing her best at any task at hand. Shikonga encourages the youth and those aspiring to follow careers that require attention to detail. “Life is not what you see but requires passion and determination. Nothing comes easy in life. Believe in yourself and the future, keep doing what you can do best for you.”
In future, Shikonga says she would want to own an IT company which can branch out all around Namibia but mostly in the rural areas.
“People in rural areas need support in many ways and opening an IT company will benefit them. I would like to offer short courses at an affordable price as we know IT is important, yet expensive. Technology is the future and if we equip the youth with technology then the future will be bright.”
Shikonga says if she could change one thing about the world, she would eliminate human greed. “Human greed is at the core of most of our world’s biggest problems. Greed is like a seed that grows into a poisonous vine, eventually dominating the human soul like an infectious disease, spreading to every corner of society ultimately, blinding us from the truth,” she says.
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