Hello, My name is Suat. I am from Turkye and working as a project manager in Lithuania. I am designing and managing European Union-funded projects. Also working with local and international organizations to arrange education and training activities. My story coming to Lithuania started with Erasmus+ projects. I have been here as an Erasmus+ exchange student and started as an intern at Efektas Group Company in Kaunas. Later, I have found a position here to be a full-time project manager.
Having digital literacy and digital skills helped me to find better opportunities for my career by making my life easier. To start living in Lithuania, you need to have some permission documents such as a bank account, health registration, an accommodation contract, and so on. I managed all my application processes by using online tools. However, when I compare the requirements of the new job opportunities, there is still a lack of digital skills that people should acquire, especially adults in terms of having digital literacy. Especially after COVID-19, the digital transformation had a strong impact on people’s all parts of life in Lithuania. According to the CEDEFOP data (2020), many job opportunities search for additional digital skills for employment. Although the Baltic states are famous for having strong internet infrastructure and many international start-ups and companies which are involved in Information and Technologies (IT) have been established here, such skills are increasingly essential in jobs where this was previously not the case.
Every single day, we wake up in the morning that a new technological device has emerged or new digital infrastructure has been built. I myself still feel incompetent by saying that I need to have more digital skills to train myself in order to find better solutions for my future initiations. I would like to develop myself such as website creation, artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies. I think that digital transformation will take place in every dimension of our life in the future. These are the points that I can see how having digital skills important in my life.
