Amman- 7 October 2018
GJU Alumni Abdallah Mola, Communication Engineering, Graduated First 2017/2018
What will my career path be?
When I first started my education path as a telecom engineer, I had no clear plan for my future or what career path I would end up following. I just went with the flow, slowly chipping away at my bachelor’s degree one semester at a time, thinking that simply completing my courses will give me enough knowledge, to be able to fit into the job market once graduation arrives. I was never so wrong.
Internship in Germany in Automotive Company
My wakeup call came when we as GJU students moved to Germany to seek internships. I ended up interning at Eberspaecher GmbH, one of the leading automotive suppliers in Germany and the world. I remember thinking to myself, what in the world is a telecom engineer doing at an automotive company? But after realizing that I was tasked to build a prototype system, that will connect the onboard vehicle air-conditioning system and heaters to a mobile application. I was stunned since I will be working on this system independently without any help from the team, I suddenly wished that I had paid more attention in my lectures and developed technical skills on the side as my colleagues were doing at the time.
After grinding my way through and having to relearn and go into more details of material that I had studied before, I managed to provide my team with a working prototype that would connect the AC system to an app over WIFI. Later on, I found out that my work and findings were taken into consideration when the company started to develop this product for the market.
Automative IoT Graduation Project
At that moment I knew there were more to telecom than I originally expected, I realized there is more to my major than just antennas and simple circuits with resistors and capacitors. I realized the world is striving for automation and internet of things, making everyday objects smart to help make our lives better. After this experience, I knew what path I wanted to follow and decided to build on my experience.
I based my graduation project on automotive IoT, with the help of my professors Dr Omar Hiari and Dr Ala Khalifeh, I was able to build a prototype that connect cars to the internet and make them smart.
IoT Hackathon
Upon a suggestion from my professors, I joined a hackathon for internet of things held by Umniah and Ibtecar. By the end of the hackathon, my project won third place in the competition and since then, caught the attention of Umniah and its business incubator THE TANK.
The Tank together with Ibtecar, have shown that this idea deserves more, and it can be made into a commercial product. Since then The Tank and Ibtecar, have given me mentorship business trainings, entrepreneurship guidance and access to events, conferences both internationally and locally.
SIMCAR Startup presentation at MENA ICT
Today I improved my idea further, by developing a better, smaller prototype with more functionality and features. As a result Umniah and the tank has given me the opportunity to present my idea and startup called SIMCAR at MENA ICT, one the region’s top events for innovation technology, held biennially in Jordan under His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein.
There I had the opportunity to promote my new startup, network with other companies, meet potential clients and venture capitalists. I am thankful for my professors and Umniah for helping get one step closer towards my dream.
SIMCAR: “Making cars smarter with IOT”. Please click here for more information.
