Md. Shahidur Rahman: My name is Md. Shahidur Rahman. I work as a Senior Manager at Teletalk Bangladesh Limited. My department is IT and Billing. I am an engineer by profession. Many people use mobile phones every day in Bangladesh. You make calls to your family in the village. You use the internet to check the news. You send messages to your friends. But you rarely see what happens behind the screen. There is a complex machine running in the background. My job is to keep that machine running. I look after the billing and charging systems. These are the systems that decide how much money you spend.
My work is technical. It involves constant attention. The charging system is the heart of a telecom company. It handles the money in real-time. My team and I have many responsibilities here. One of the main tasks is charging configuration modification. This sounds difficult, but the idea is simple. The company creates new offers. Maybe there is a special internet package for students. Maybe there is a bundle offer for the holidays. The system does not know about these offers automatically. We have to teach it. We configure the logic. We tell the system how much to charge for every minute or every megabyte.
If we make a mistake here, thousands of customers suffer. They might be charged too much. Or the company might lose money. We must be precise. We check our work many times. We modify these settings whenever the business needs a change. It keeps the job interesting. No two days are exactly the same.
Another big part of my day goes into troubleshooting. Technology is great, but it is not perfect. Problems arise. A service might stop working. A connection might fail. When this happens, we cannot wait. We have to find the solution immediately. We look at the errors. We find the root cause. We fix it. In the telecom business, time is very important. People expect their phones to work twenty-four hours a day. We work hard to ensure that happens.
I also maintain the backend database. Think of the database as a giant digital filing cabinet. It holds all the information. It knows who you are. It knows your balance. It knows your usage history. This database must be healthy. If the database gets corrupted, we lose critical data. We perform regular maintenance to keep it clean and fast. We organize the data. We ensure everything is stored correctly. This is a sensitive task. We treat the data with great care.
Software needs hardware to run. The charging system runs on powerful computers and servers. These are not like the laptops you use at home. They are industrial machines. But even they can have issues. Parts can get old. Fans can stop working. We perform regular health checkups on this hardware. We check the temperature. We check the performance. We want to catch a problem before the machine fails. It is like taking a car to a mechanic. Regular checks prevent big breakdowns.
Then there is the network. Our system does not work in isolation. It connects to many other parts of the telecom network. It connects to the towers. It connects to the banks for recharge. This network must be trusted. We monitor it constantly. We watch the traffic flowing in and out. We ensure the connections are secure and stable. If the network drops, the charging stops. If charging stops, people cannot make calls. So, monitoring is a continuous duty.
I also manage the billing system. This is slightly different from charging. Charging is often immediate. Billing happens in cycles. Many customers use postpaid connections. They pay at the end of the month. We generate these bills based on their usage. We have different packages for different users. Some pay for voice only. Some pay for heavy data. The system collects all this information. It then generates a bill for the cycle.
My job is to ensure this bill is correct. Accuracy is the most important thing in billing. No one likes a wrong bill. It creates distrust. We verify the data. We check the calculations. We ensure that what the customer used matches what they are asked to pay. It requires a sharp eye for detail.
You might ask about the current situation of this job in Bangladesh. The technology is updating very fast. New tools come out every year. The applications we use for billing are getting smarter. We have to learn these new technologies to stay relevant. In Bangladesh, there are companies that run these systems. That is where you need professionals like me.
However, I must be honest about the job market. The field is currently quite saturated. This is because of the nature of the work. You do not need a large-scale charging system for a small shop. You need it for a massive company. Only large telecom operators need this level of engineering. There are only a few major mobile operators in Bangladesh. Teletalk is one of them. There are a few others. But the list is short.
Because there are few companies, there are few positions. A billing team does not need hundreds of people. It needs a small group of experts. Once these positions are filled, they stay filled for a long time. It is not like web development where every company needs a website. This is a niche field. This makes it harder for new people to enter compared to other IT jobs.
But looking at the future, I am optimistic. The telecom field is now a basic need. Communication is a fundamental tool for modern life. It is like electricity or water. People will not stop using phones. They will not stop using the internet. As long as people communicate, companies need to charge for it. They need bills. They need systems to manage the traffic.
So, the prospect for this job will always exist. It is a stable career. The demand will not disappear overnight. The industry is established in Bangladesh. It is a strong pillar of our economy.
I often think about the next generation. Should young people be interested in this profession? My answer is yes. They should be very interested. The reason is the change in technology. We are moving towards modern systems like 5G. This is the fifth generation of mobile communication. It is not just faster internet. It is a completely new way of connecting devices.
Implementing 5G requires new skills. It requires understanding modern applications. It involves complex configurations that are different from the past. This is where young people have an advantage. They grow up with technology. They adapt to new software very easily.
For older professionals, learning a completely new architecture can be tough. We are used to the old ways. It takes effort to change our thinking. But a fresh graduate enters with an open mind. They can grasp the new concepts of 5G quickly. They can learn the modern coding and configuration tools faster than we can.
The industry needs this fresh energy. We need people who can handle the next wave of mobile technology. The work is challenging, yes. It requires patience. It requires a sense of responsibility. You are handling critical systems. But it is also rewarding. You get to work with the technology that runs the country. You ensure that millions of people stay connected.
If you are a student or a young professional, do not let the saturated market scare you. Quality always has a place. Focus on learning the new technologies. Focus on databases and networking. Prepare yourself for the modern era of telecom. The systems are waiting for you. The future of communication in Bangladesh will need your hands to build it. It is a serious profession, but for the right person, it is a great path.
– Author is Senior Manager, Teletalk Bangladesh Limited
