The economic downturn that has gripped the world since middle of 2008 resulted in a large number of people working online and thus making a career. Bangladesh as an ICT market is no exception to this situation. We are observing a definite popularity of outsourcing in our country, employing nearly 100000 people over the years. This is good news in terms of our reputation as a competitive market on the global stage, which is on the rise. In fact, Bangladesh stands among the top countries in the global market, becoming more and more likable for other countries to outsource their projects. Reaz Uddin Mosharraf, Secretary General of Bangladesh Association of Call Centre and Outsourcing, said, Dhaka would soon supplant its rivals as the biggest destination for online freelance jobs, quoting – “We have estimated the number to be around 100,000 and most of them are students with hourly income ranging between US$ 10 to $100”. He also said Bangladesh has been observing a steady 20 percent yearly increase in the number of English Language Students, which would further help compete in the world market.
Universities are delivering ICT graduates – about 3000 every year. As a result, the job market is getting increasing competitive each year. The current ICT scenario of our country makes students to enter the market as fresh graduates and choose Telecom, IT firms and etc for achieving career goals. This competition makes it tricky and confusing to choose between different fields. So for many, freelancing has emerged as a good career path. Most popular freelancing jobs currently in Bangladesh include – data entry (approximately 38% of total freelancers), Graphic Design, Web Development, Translation and Administrative Support.
Bangladesh has many world class talents when it comes to Freelancing. The following are among them, categorized by popular programming languages. Most of these top notch programmers have opened their own startups.
PHP :
- Hasin Hayder, Founder (Leevio)
- Md.Emran Hasan, Co-founder & CTO, Right Brain Solution Ltd
- M Rashidul hasan, Managing Director & CEO (Systech digital)
- Shah Imarul Kaeesh, CTO, Managing Director, Technobd Web Solutions Limited
JAVA :
- Mojahedul Hoque Abdul Hasanat (Masum), CTO, Therap BD
- N M H Tanveer Hossain Khan, IT Director, Tasawr Interactive
- Fokhruz Zaman, Director, Millennium Information Solution Ltd.
- Atiqur rahman, Senior Software Engineer, Therap BD.
.Net :
- Zohirul Alam Tiemoon, Training Consultant, BASIS
- Wahid Aziz Chaudhury, CTO, KAZ Software
- Razib Imran, BRAC University
Besides industry veterans, there is a constant supply of new uprising talents to the industry as well. BASIS – Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, annually recognizes top freelancing talents. The Freelancer awards were split in three categories – Group/Company, Individual and Student category. At each of the category four winners have been awarded. In the group category, awards winners in 2011 are
- Pixel Net Technologies
- Alpha Digital
- Sentinel Solutions Ltd.
- Alam Soft
In the individual category, the award winners are –
- Mohammad Al-Amin Chowdhury
- Faisal Farukh
- Enayet Hussain Rajib
- Md Zakaria Chowdhury
The following students won in the Student Category for BASIS Freelancer Award 2011.
- Md Shabbir Hossain
- Shaon Bhuiyan
- Md Khairul Alam
- Abdullah Al Zahid
It is evident that lots of possibilities are there. But still, Bangladesh is years behind its neighboring countries such as India, which has taken The Internet vigorously and has a much larger work base and also higher efficiency of communication in English. Proper support from the government is essential to expand the infrastructure within our boundary, which will eventually maximize net profit coming from this particular sector. In my opinion, enabling a free flow of information among the people of our country is vital in this case. The people are interested more than ever. So this would be the ideal time for the government to allocate a higher budget for this sector.
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