From Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, Melkon is a new WorldSkills Champions Trust representative in Asia. At his young age of 20, Melkon Hovhannisyan is already the Chief Technology Officer of his own company.

Passionate about development, he started working in this field while studying in college and he eventually co-founded an IT company with some of his co-workers. Two years since they began, they already have more than 20 developers working with them.

While part of their work is providing services to local and international clients and partners to create and build applications or other programming services, their main goal is to develop their own start-up products.

“That is our passion. One start-up that we have been working on for the last two years is an educational platform for online learning, which will bring a new experience to online learning. Everything will be in one place: the meetings, the tasks, etc. You can register as a teacher, share, create your course, and students can join and learn using cutting-edge tools and AI to enhance effectiveness. explains Melkon.

Currently pursuing Computer Sciences at the European University of Armenia, Melkon admits that he loves everything related to IT and web development, “from creating simple websites, to building robust server side architectures for different users.”

His WorldSkills journey started in a regional competition where he won the gold medal for Web Design and bronze medal for Web Development. He then went on to compete in the skill competition of Web Technologies at WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition in Goyang, Korea.

“To compete in WorldSkills I had to practice a lot and know all the important elements, all the standards, even the finest details,” explains Melkon. “I learned a lot of new things and the best practices thanks to the whole team of WorldSkills Experts and trainers. It also helped to get to know other people and new mindsets, and to make new connections with other Competitors.”

During his term as a WorldSkills Champions Trust representative, Melkon wants to join the conversation around the wide range of skills that lead individuals to professional excellence. In the face of the disruptions driven by the eruption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across many sectors, Melkon believes that what will make professionals valuable will be “passion.”

“There are many things that AI can do instead of people, so people should be on top of things and continue skilling and try to always do their best. That’s something crucial that I would like to bring to the conversation,” he says.

Joining the WorldSkills Champions Trust was a way for Melkon to step out of his comfort zone. He claims that he has never been a very social person, and he thought this opportunity would force him to get out of the box, engage with people beyond his circle, be exposed to other cultures.

Get to know current and past representatives of the WorldSkills Champions Trust, and discover their skills stories.

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