Outsiders: It is possible to reach high-tech not only from Ramat Hasharon and 8200

The Israeli high-tech industry is mainly associated with the central region and with graduates of the IDF's intelligence and technology units. This is true, of course, but the following stories prove that it is possible otherwise: kibbutzniks, settlers and Arabs meet at the start-up

Ilana Stutland

07/07/2022

Thursday, 07 July 2022, 15:29 Updated: Saturday, 09 July 2022, 09:56

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High-tech workers' office (Photo: ShutterStock)

Most of the high-tech industry is located in Gush Dan.

Those who come from a social or geographical periphery, and do not know the right people who can link it to the field, often have to make an effort to find an equal job and become part of the industry.

But sometimes, apart from talent and connections, you also need a drop of luck and an employer who knows how to assess and identify your potential.

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Lior Katz.

Matrix Technology Director Testing and Automation (Photo: PR)

Gentle violation

"My bronze was a delicate violation. I had no connections and nothing," says Lior Katz, 54, Matrix's director of testing and automation technology, a former cowboy from Kibbutz Geshur in the southern Golan Heights, who commanded a herd of 800 cattle.

At the age of 30, he left the kibbutz and moved to the center.

"In my first job interview at an automated testing company, they asked me about my experience," he says.

"I said I worked in the morning, they asked if I meant programmed mornings. I said 'cows' mornings that do mo'. I don't know how I went through the interview. I was accepted, and after working there I progressed to Amdocs, and from there I moved on."

"To this day I ask myself why this even happened. I was interested in the field of computers. I studied computer science while working as a morning person. When I actually started working in the field of computers, at first I was quite in the market. "B, and in general I was in the market.

At first people also did not understand how Boker fits into the high-tech industry, 'What are you doing here?'.

I know it takes luck to be accepted.

Then there was also a time when people were looking like crazy for high-tech workers. "

Six years ago, Katz left the center and moved to Metula." Today I am a hybrid worker, coming to offices in Herzliya once or twice a week.

Today, with the hybrid model, it is possible to live anywhere, "he says.

Liron Brimmer, Solutions Architect on the CTO team of the Matrix technology company (Photo: Gil Muskel)

"Most high-tech companies and their large customers are in the center of the country, so most of the jobs in the field are also in the center. In the periphery there are fewer jobs that offer work, although it is possible," says Liron Brimmer, 55, solutions architect on the CTO team at Matrix. Hashahar, which belongs to the Upper Galilee Regional Council.

Brimmer, a native of Ayelet Hashachar, left the kibbutz after military service, and made the connection to high-tech while already living in the center of the country.

Eight years ago, she returned to live on the kibbutz.

"We see all kinds of initiatives and high-tech centers being built in the periphery, north and south, but most jobs are still in the center. It is important to connect the periphery with more efficient transportation to the center and also connect the center to the periphery," she says.

"Nowadays, those who live in the periphery, it is not easy for them to find a job in high-tech, unless they choose to spend many hours on the road. Of course there are cities that are more connected to the center, but for example where a train even a train does not reach."

"Thanks to Corona the whole issue of working from home is a little more acceptable today, or possible, or employers are open to this model. But it is still quite complicated in many ways and it is difficult for companies to apply it and move more significantly to this model. I myself was lucky in that respect. Eight years to the kibbutz, so this model was not yet acceptable to work from home. But thanks to a principal who was very approachable to me based on a relationship of trust, this was made possible. I can do it alone, but here and there there were projects she gave up on me so I would not have to be on the roads all day, and it somehow worked.

"In Corona, as mentioned, the world has joined me a bit, and my work from home has become much more significant in terms of integration in projects. The company's activities - even just courses and lectures - that once took place in the center, today some happen in zoom. I feel somehow lucky in this section. "I would travel twice a week, roof three times a week. Now even less than that."

Nazem Awida, Product Management Director at Aqua Security (Photo: Iran Ben Sheetrit)

The high-tech agenda

Members of the Arab sector who want to integrate into high-tech sometimes have to go through another hurdle.

"The challenge for the sector - who live not only in the periphery but also in the center - is to be able to find the first place that will employ them," says Nazem Awida, 49, from Taibeh, product management director at Aqua Security, which develops information security solutions for cloud environments.

He grew up in Taibeh and still lives there today, and says "once you get a foothold, then things start to flow and the transition from company to company becomes easier," he says, adding: "There are stigmas about the periphery, about the sector, but once a person makes connections, then It's starting to roll out, and a friend brings a friend. That's what happened to me. Most of my incarnations in the field have been like this. Most of the recruitments are in high-tech. "

"I have been in high-tech since 1994, for almost 28 years. I studied at the School of Practical Engineers at Tel Aviv University and did a degree in computer science at the Open University. I was lucky, and already as a student I was able to find a job. , Because as mentioned, they were looking for someone who spoke Arabic. Then there were really few people from the sector who worked in high-tech.

At that time it was really unusual, they did not talk about it in public. Today there are more ads. From the sector who work in high-tech and also those who study the field and express interest in it. Even more parents are now pushing their children to do so, because high-tech is constantly being talked about in the news. In the last decade I see more interest "There is more emphasis on that. But the number of people in the sector who deal with it is still relatively low."

Awida adds: "Now, after the corona, people from the periphery have had difficulty reaching the center - the center has reached them. This period is very good for workers, because there is a shortage and easier to absorb. "It's already 50% accepted. '

Shira Zeltzer, co-founder, marketing and organizational culture manager of the software development company, Cambium (Photo: Noam Or)

Shira Zeltzer, 38, a psychologist, co-founder, marketing and corporate culture director of the software development company, Cambium in Yeruham, also decided to help guys from the periphery who want to engage in high-tech.

"Our motto is no traffic jams, no elevators, and no parking lots. Look how long it saves," she says.

Zeltzer, a religious mother of six, was born in Alon Shvut and grew up in Moshav Kfar Pines.

For ideological reasons, she moved to Yeruham in 2003, and in 2010 she opened the company with her husband, David Zeltzer, who serves as CEO

.

"We are a project company that sets up development teams dedicated to companies that are in the center of the country and do not always find workers. The company currently employs about 80 workers. Most high-tech jobs are currently in the center. "If you compare the situation to what it was a decade ago, then what is happening today is at a revolutionary level. A decade ago, for example, there was no high-tech park in Be'er Sheva. We are Yeruham, south of Be'er Sheva.

“For those who live in the south it means over 100km in each direction per day.

While Corona's story has opened up companies to be more flexible, and also made it easier for employees to apply for jobs in the center of the country, people still spend long hours on the roads.

It is either to be willing to spend hours on the roads, or to copy the place of residence, or to be like us that we decided as an ideology to establish 'Cambium' in Yeruham and create high-tech jobs in the Negev as well.

It came from our private desire to stay and live in the Negev, to raise children and also to have a life outside of work.

It gave us motivation to set up the company.

We have seen that every year the Negev produces hundreds of high-tech graduates from Ben Gurion University, from the Sami Shimon Academic College of Engineering, from the Sapir Academic College in Sderot.

There is tremendous potential for employing high-tech people in the Negev.

The amount of referrals we get for each job is insane.

Many people would like to stay in the Negev and not move to the center.

There is a certain character to life here, the pace is different, there is communality.

Not so fast want to give it up. ”

"Most of them grew up in the Negev: in Yeruham, Beer Sheva, Dimona, Arad, Ofakim. There are also those who came to the Negev by choice out of a desire to combine work and community, but this is not the critical mass for our workers. We feel that our workers come to stay "At the center, which suddenly offers me more, then we immediately move to it. Of course, it also challenges us, because we have to meet the standards of the market."

Ram Yonish, Director of Contrast Security in Israel (Photo: Rami Zranger)

Benefits of the periphery

"As an employer that recruits employees, I see a very strong advantage for someone who grew up in the periphery, because these are people who fight to succeed. I really like and respect that," says Ram Yonish, 49, director of Contrast Security in Israel, which provides solutions for cloud applications in development.

He grew up in Kibbutz Beit Hashita in the Harod Valley, left the kibbutz at the age of 21, and was one of the founders of CloudEssence, which was sold to Unicorn Contrast Security, and is based on the company's development and sales center in Israel.

"Giving positive weight to people who come from the periphery is not only my personal agenda but also of the whole society. Contrast sees this as a positive thing," he says.

"Recently, for example, I recruited someone who fought to get to where she is and not someone who was the most standard choice for her. As an employer, I see a lot of value in people coming from the periphery - geographically and / or socially - and fighting to get where they are."

Unish adds: "Speaking of connections, then of course connections help. For several years I volunteered at a college that helps people from the Ethiopian population enter high-tech, giving them training not just technological, but the goal is to eventually get as many friends from the Ethiopian community into the industry. My goal

as

a mentor was to connect them, use my connections and help them meet the relevant people in the industry. So obviously theirs is more difficult, and it does not matter at all if they live in Tel Aviv or Kiryat Gat. His friends. "

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Tags

• Hi-Tech

• periphery