Yous Samreth
When Yous Samreth was in high school, his mother migrated to Thailand to work for a low pay while his family struggled with debts. He felt hopeless, spending most of his time alone reading books without a plan for the future. He joined Digital Divide Data in 2013, and after six months of training and his first year of work, he received a scholarship covering 60% of his university tuition. He worked on three projects—scanning and digitizing newspapers, entering phone numbers into databases, and using Photoshop to remove backgrounds—building technical skills from almost nothing. In his third year of university, he left DDD for the Royal Administrative School, then joined government service at the Civil Society Forum under the Cabinet Office, bridging the gap between government and civil society organizations.
"Everything changed because of DDD," he says. "Those six months of training completely shifted my life." He became the backbone of his family, now paying his younger sister's tuition so she could finish university. He tries to give back by advising younger people to apply for scholarships and mentoring them for their academic path, guiding others who are in the same confused, financially challenged but capable position he once occupied. His advice for DDD: stay aligned with latest technological trends as Cambodia moves into the Industry 4.0 era, and reinforce English training; earlier cohorts, he notes, had stronger proficiency than recent graduates.
