Ahmed has successfully completed his studies in software engineering (with an average score of 86/100) at the Sami Shamoon College of Engineering in Beer Sheva; however, he is currently working as a locksmith assistant. Najib has graduated with honors (with an average score of 91) from the Beer Sheva College of Technology, where he studied electronic engineering, electrical engineering and computer engineering. He is serving today as a supervisor in charge of a supermarket checkout line. Bassam graduated summa cum laude (with an average score of 95) from the Beer Sheva College of Technology, having completed his studies in software engineering. He has found work as a customer service representative at [the Israeli telecommunications provider] Bezeq. Adel, too, graduated summa cum laude (with an average score of 98) from the same college, where he studied electrical engineering. He is working in a packing house. And they are not the only ones. Close to 100 engineering students graduate every year from the various colleges in southern Israel, where the Bedouin population is concentrated. However, the high-tech industry, which is still considered one of the major growth engines of Israel, is not rushing to engage their professional services.

“The reasons for this situation are complex,” explains Ibrahim Sana, who heads the first-ever tech startup in the Bedouin sector. “By and large, the Bedouins are studying in colleges, as only very few of the applicants from the Bedouin community are accepted to universities. Unfortunately for them, university graduates have an edge in the labor market, so that already at the very start, they find themselves at a disadvantage compared to university graduates vying for jobs [in the high-tech industry].” 

And the other reason, Sana notes, is racism. “I am sorry to have to say it, but that’s the way it is. Interviewers are biased by prejudice and stereotypes. Bedouin applicants have to excel and outshine all other contenders to be passed to the next stage of screening.” Failing once and again to find their place in the profession they have studied, Bedouin graduates lose hope and some of them give up for good and do not even bother to keep sending their résumé to potential employers. 

“As they have to make a living, they end up taking whatever job there is,” Sana goes on to explain. “For the most part, the jobs offered them have nothing to do with what they have studied. Only a few of them are lucky enough to find a suitable job in the [high-tech] industry, in spite of, and notwithstanding their background.”