Conversations with Turkey's Career Pioneers – Barış Ruacan

The second guest of this week’s conversations with Career Pioneers is the General Director of Qualcomm Turkey, Barış Ruacan. Mr Ruacan, initiating his speech by introducing himself explained that he studied civil engineering, obtained his MBA in America and that he benefited a lot from his engineering education in his professional life. Mr Ruacan began his career in the Silicon Valley then realising that the mobile phone sector offers appealing opportunities he began working for Nokia and came back to Turkey to establish the Turkey branch of the firm.

Mr Ruacan talked about the ongoing activities of Qualcomm and explained that the company produces processors which serve as the brains of all smart devices. The course of technology, their ongoing projects were amongst other topics he mentioned. Mr Ruacan explained that they are obliged to learn new things continuously and need to focus on future instead of focusing on today. He pointed out the importance of working effectively.

When it came to career planning, he advised the students to choose a field which pleases them and to find a good mentor. He stressed the advantages of being a part of the TED community which has a large network. He emphasized the lack of qualified and experienced technical professionals in Turkey and underlined the importance of specialization and producing extra values that create a difference.

Mr Ruacan reminded that knowledge of nanotechnology and Chinese would provide good opportunities in the future and added that experience in finance and marketing to certain extend would also be an advantage. He concluded the conversation by answering the questions and shared his e-mail address with the students.