21923 - SCTE Broadband Aug2023 COMPLETE v1 (1)

30 Vol. 45 No. 3 - September 2023 Issue Jakup Ratkoceri is Director of PLM, FTTx Systems at Technetix and Professor at UBT (University of Business and Technology in Pristina, Kosovo). In the mid 2000s Jakup took several SCTE Training Courses which, by his own admission altered the course of his career forever. We talked to him about his journey. What has your involvement with the SCTE done for your and your career development? The SCTE opened a huge number of doors for me. It was big deaI, it really was. Especially for countries like Kosovo where, after the war, we were only just getting back to normal. And then after a few years as a young aspiring engineer, to get these kinds of opportunities just to look beyond Kosovo, just to visit big shows, meet people, have dinner with people that have built this industry - it was surreal sometimes and very inspiring. One of the reasons why I am here today is because of the SCTE. I have nothing but great things to say about you guys, because that’s the truth, it’s not that I just want to say something nice just for the sake of it. I can’t overstate how big a deal it was for us, and when I say us, it doesn’t mean just me, but for whole IPKO. I was in IPKO for 14 years and I know every year people were looking forward to your training programmes to see who was going to be picked up to go to ANGA, or to other shows because SCTE has sponsored us, to the tune of three or four different shows over the year. These opportunities, for us to go outside to meet people, to see the how industry is moving was key because we are a small country. I can see how passionate you are about this. Exactly. If you don’t have this support you’ll never get out. You’ll never be able to really see the world and meet the people and get inspired by that. I will always be grateful to the SCTE and to you all. I feel at home with you guys really, I mean it. SCTE Training Initiative By Melissa Cogavin, Managing Editor, SCTE SCTE interviews its alumni from the industry Jakup Ratkoceri is Director of PLM, FTTx Systems, Technetix