IT community from Central Asia: IT community of Uzbekistan

Shavkat Karimov, city — Tashkent, head of IT Community of Uzbekistan, @cinedictum, itcom.uz

About the Community

IT Community of Uzbekistan is a group of people specializing in the development and use of information technologies, united to develop Uzbekistan's IT industry, improve the quality of IT products and services, exchange experience and knowledge, popularize IT in the country, and develop innovative technologies to improve people's quality of life.

Our community was created with the goal of uniting IT specialists both within the country and abroad. We strive to create world-class products.

IT Community of Uzbekistan plays a key role in the development of the industry. We facilitate the development of professional connections and the implementation of innovative technologies.

We were founded in mid-January 2023 with the aim of uniting all IT professionals in the country, as well as those who want to enter this field or are simply interested in it.

In a year and a half, we have become the largest and most well-known IT community in Uzbekistan and have launched several innovative projects, which I will happily describe below.

Our team consists of more than 300 volunteers working on a voluntary basis to develop the IT sphere in Uzbekistan. This is an association of talented enthusiasts who enjoy working together for a common goal!

Our main tasks include supporting IT education, facilitating the employment of specialists, helping startups and freelancers, developing scientific and technical initiatives, and strengthening cooperation between different market participants.

IT Community of Uzbekistan positions itself as part of the global IT community, so we are present on LinkedIn — an international professional network with more than a billion users.

Here are the main tasks of the IT community:

— development of the IT industry: improving the quality of products and services, developing new technologies and solutions, as well as supporting and training community members

— exchange of knowledge and experience: we are considered a place where people can discuss various technical topics, share advice and problem-solving solutions

— support and development of technologies: our task is to promote the development of technologies, develop new solutions, test them, and provide feedback to developers

— development of new technologies: we strive to develop innovative technologies that can improve people's quality of life, with a particular interest in the development of AI

— training and skill development: we offer various courses, workshops, masterclasses, educational materials, webinars, and other resources that can help participants develop their IT skills

— career and business assistance: we help university graduates and junior specialists with careers in IT, as well as with developing freelance activities, or with launching and growing their startups.

In our community, you can learn new things and share your knowledge and experience, gain experience and develop your career, build connections and teams, discuss ideas and create technological products, receive help, investments, and mentorship — and all of this for free.

Community Members

The IT community includes and welcomes IT professionals and those who want to become IT specialists:

— students and schoolchildren

— junior developers

— experienced professionals. As well as those who are simply interested in this field. Our doors are open to everyone.

IT Community of Uzbekistan already has more than 11,000 people, from the Minister of Digital Technologies and the Director of IT Park Uzbekistan to large entrepreneurs, top managers of various IT companies, rectors of almost all IT universities and other educational institutions, students and schoolchildren, and various IT specialists.

These are programmers, project managers, designers, copywriters, product managers, marketers, business developers, team leads, entrepreneurs, and others.

To join our community, simply add yourself to our group on LinkedIn.

Events for Community Members

We have held a series of events, conferences, and hackathons, including:

— the first in Uzbekistan and perhaps in the world GPT Hackathon — a unique series of Learn 2 Learn workshops

— a two-day IT eco-festival that brought together 8,000 participants

— an eco-hackathon with a prize fund of 45 million sums

— a two-day Hacknovation 2024 hackathon with more than 100 teams and 450+ participants, and a prize fund of $4,000

— a nine-hour conference marathon Design Science, which was attended by hundreds of participants from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, and other countries.

We also participate in ESG projects, such as cleaning the Botanical Garden, plogging, and blood donation on Blood Donor Day.

All events of our community — professional conferences, hackathons, educational programs, meetups, as well as quality content — are available to participants for free, and anyone can participate.

How the Community Helps with Development

As part of our IT Girls project, together with Albison Group and Amity University, we trained 200 girls in frontend programming over three months of intensive courses.

Together with Alena Vladimirskaia and IT Park Uzbekistan, we have already conducted two three-month courses on IT recruiting, with 30 people trained in each. Almost all of our graduates were employed.

Exclusively for our volunteers, we held masterclasses with various top specialists in their fields, such as Turakhmat Turakhmetov, Igor Kim, and Ivan Doronin.

We are also recording our own IT Talks podcast, having already released 34 episodes with the most interesting people in the Uzbek IT sphere, as well as our compatriots working in the world's most famous technology companies, such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Stanford University students, successful IT entrepreneurs, and other heroes.

We share knowledge and information on our channels: this is a group, as well as a page on LinkedIn, channels on Telegram and YouTube. During this time, we have published almost 800 posts with a total of 1,300,000 views.

Successful Projects

Currently, the Fintech Hackcelerator is underway with a prize fund of 300 million sums, which we are organizing together with BRB Bank, Amity University, and Yandex. It will last for a month and end on September 12, 2024.

Plans

We have several large projects planned for the community over the next 12 months. Starting from October 2024 and through March 2025, we plan a six-month project called IT Community Roadshow, where we will travel with our masterclasses and workshops throughout the country, to all 14 regions. A university or organization in each region is already preparing to welcome us. We will fill the gaps in access to quality education in the regions.

We are also preparing for a large educational project, aiming to train 10,000 people with one major Japanese foundation.

We are launching the ready-made IT Intern project, which already has 10,000 users, in cooperation with IT-Bilim and Epam Uzbekistan.

In August, we are also launching the experimental podcast IT Kids, and together with Yandex and U-ENTER, we are conducting a conference on starting a career in IT.

We are expanding our ambassador program; we are already represented in every region and in many universities that teach IT, and now we will begin to gain momentum in our work with them.

This year, we are launching our internal volunteer professional development program called Future Leaders. As well as conferences, hackathons, meetups, IT debates, masterclasses, and courses. We are proud of what we have already achieved, but this is just the beginning!

Contact information for those who want to join the community or propose cooperation: LinkedIn, Telegram, itcom.uz.