This week, first President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hinted at the possibility and then Treasury and Finance Minister Berak Albayrak announced the 1 Million Coders Initiative. Albayrak said that anyone can sign up to the 1milyonistihdam.hmb.gov.tr website and then start their lesson at the Communication Technologies Institution’s (BTK) online course website. He added that there will be new lessons added soon. The point is to reach 1 million people and teach them coding. People will be certified and their CVs will be forwarded to any firms which would be hiring coders. Before writing what I think about the initiative, let me state that this sounds awfully familiar, from its name to the structure.
Turkish firms are somewhat used to crises - at least more than many developed countries. However, the COVID-19 crisis is unlike anything we have seen so far and believe me Turkish startups and entrepreneurs have seen it all, from terrorism to military coup attempts, from disastrous earthquakes to slumpflation. As the founder of Mutlubiev, Tayga Baltacıoğlu wrote on Twitter that peace time is over, now it is time to be a wartime CEO.
The coronavirus got billions of people stranded at their homes. According to the latest Endeavor Turkey survey, around 90 percent of firms are working from home.
The pandemic hit us all in various degrees. Some of us are just remaining at our homes getting bored out of our minds, but some people are losing their jobs, losing their houses, losing their health, losing their loved ones and some are losing their lives.
Last week I wrote about online education. The day after that all schools were closed in Turkey. Only a handful of institutions were ready for it. It means that millions of students will have to stop their education as well.
I am sure that all the technology journalists have always been volunteer promoters of online learning. For me, e-learning has always represented equality. Why should a child get a worse education than another, just because they were born in a different country or city? Equality in getting the best education possible is what will save the world.
I had the opportunity to peruse the Motobike Istanbul 2020 fair before it opened its doors to the public. It was a blast and a must-see for anyone who is interested in motorcycles or bicycles – or anything with two or three tires. To see so many beautiful and unique designs and new technologies in one place is a privilege.
I am a big fan of decentralization. I love the prospect that one day, all our energy production, distribution and usage will be decentralized. I believe that people and communities should govern themselves without the intervention of a central authority who plans everything. But the Turkish Education Ministry is testing my belief in decentralization.
In Robert College I thought that being ethical, transparent and accountable were the core values of being a modern person. However, as I grew up, I realized that those values were usually undermined in the real world.
