Being Open to Change: How a 6-Month Program Helped Shift my Mindset and Got Me a Job at Google.

My name is Mohammad and I’m from Palestine. My obsession with computers started in 6th grade. I loved playing video games and knew that I would like to work with computers. In high school, I had good enough grades to study medicine, however, I ended up studying Computer Engineering and after 5 years at Birzeit University, I got a job as a software engineer at a local outsourcing company and figured this would be my best option. I never thought I would be packing my bags to relocate to London to work at Google!

I have to thank my friend Anas who told me about Manara, the company that helped me get to Google. He was in Manara’s 2nd cohort and I saw how he had great job offers. He ended up taking an internship at Replit, which is a San Francisco-based company. I thought if he can do it, I can too!

As someone who hasn’t really had that much exposure to Western business culture, I found Manara’s program really challenging at first. Especially with all the cultural differences I was exposed to. At Manara, everything about the program is interactive and inclusive. You’re put into situations where you’re vulnerable and you’re encouraged to help out your fellow team members. It took a while for me to get used to this and I can honestly say after the program I realized how important the human aspects are, and how being part of a team is a good thing. Now, I’m generally more empathetic towards people.

As for my main supporter, I have to thank my mentor Will. He’s an experienced software engineer at Stripe — a global payment processing company. He spoke about his work with so much integrity and he’s so honest and passionate about what he does. That definitely transferred to me. He taught me how to express ideas in a structured way and how to speak and write in English at a professional level. Just from meeting with him regularly, my English improved tremendously.

Manara is the fastest and shortest route to your dream job. Yes, you might be able to eventually get there on your own, however, it would take much longer and you wouldn’t have the support of the community. What I always tell people is that you really don’t understand how life-changing Manara can be for you. I’m saying this on my way to Google!