May 13, 2024
Year after year, we secure funding from ISC’s FNIYES under the First Nations and Inuit Skills Link Program. This gives us the opportunity to support our communities in hiring a youth tech support person for their schools. When I started working for Atlantic Canada’s First Nation Help Desk (now Atlantic First Nation Tech Services) in 2010, I was funded by the same program. This opportunity changed my life. In 2 years I was able to prove myself in that position and was offered a full time job by 2013. Without this program, I would not be where I am today. In my position at AFNTS, I have the opportunity to assist in the hiring and mentoring of youth in our communities. I wanted to highlight one of our youth hired this year who is just as eager to learn and support others as I was back then. For more info on the FNIYES, visit: https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1100100033607/1533125081187
In terms of how this program is impacting current FNIYES participants, below is some feedback from one who is certainly making the most of this opportunity!
From Issac Sacobie - FNIYES participant and Technical Mentor at Esgenoôpetitj School
Qey, my name is Isaac Sacobie and I’m from the Wolastoqey community of Bilijk, just outside the City of Fredericton. I’m 23 years old and am currently employed as the Technical Mentor at Esgenoôpetitj School, in the Mi’kmaq community of Esgenoôpetitj First Nation. My hobbies include playing sports of all kinds, going for runs, and movie watching. I have a Highschool Diploma from Fredericton High School. Before moving to Esgenoôpetitj, I was employed in St. Andrews, New-Brunswick at the St. Andrews Biological Station or SABS, for 3 years on a science contract where we did various forms of research and analysis. Through that job, I was able to take courses and obtained my SVOP(Small Vessel Operator Proficiency), ROC-MC(Radio Operator Certificate), Marine First-Aid, Transport of Dangerous Goods, OCAP(Ownership, Control, Access and Possession) and my Fish Husbandry(UPEI) certifications.
While being employed at Esgenoôpetitj School, I feel I’ve continued to develop key skills such as taking initiative rather than sitting back waiting for specific instructions. I’ve also been challenged to look at solving problems in a different manner as the solution usually isn’t obvious with technology. Thirdly but probably most importantly, this position within the school has given me the opportunity to sharpen my person to person communication skills - not only with adults but with the students too. Being a voice they listen to has really shifted my way of thinking and understanding to be able to connect and establish bonds, which has resulted in me feeling more employable as a result. I feel more employable not only in the IT department, but in general. This job has helped maintain and broaden my computer literacy knowledge while opening my eyes to further opportunities within the IT sector should I decide to pursue an education in this area.
Throughout my employment with Esgenoôpetitj School, I’ve had the good fortune to be exposed to other positions that one would initially assume are not IT related. This experience has made me realize that most jobs in a school have at least some IT component. I’ve also never seen myself as an IT type of person but if you compare it to setting up devices, wifi, or general tech appliances at home the difference is negligible - you’re just doing it for an organization.
While this position has been very informative and exciting, I personally still don’t know what I would like to do afterwards. Having said that, this has been an amazing opportunity to develop new skills within IT to add to my toolbelt, as well as continuing to sharpen other skills that I haven’t used in a while. Thanks to this job placement, I would now consider applying for a position within the math or science departments when I pursue further education after discovering how IT is mixed in.
Overall, my time at Esgenoôpetitj School has been very enjoyable. While there were some growing pains when I started having to learn programs and making multiple mistakes multiple times, it’s been rewarding to see the excitement of the students when they’re able to learn something tech related, or say I’ve encouraged them to look into something they’re now interested in.
For me, the most positive aspect of this program is getting to know the students, their interests around school and around technology because not everyone wants to go to post-secondary for a degree in biology or math. Some would rather learn how to code or design objects in 3D space which could lead to a full-time career in a field of their choosing in the future.
As for feedback for the program, I think having some sort of a dedicated onboarding session or two would have really helped with direction when I started because I was picking up where someone else had left off and didn’t know what had been partially completed or not in the past. Plus, I had to get to know my colleagues as I’m not from the community of Esgenoôpetitj, which took a little bit longer than I thought.
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