I’m a female Egyptian software engineer. Here are 5 lessons from the start of my engineering career.

My name is Alaa, I’m an Egyptian frontend software engineer from Suez in Egypt. I work remotely for Upwork, building their freelance platform. I want to share 5 lessons I’ve learnt so far from my early career. I hope they help you discover your path or make your first steps into your career easier.

1. Leadership mindset is about finding solutions

My first job after I graduated was with Intouch.com, an Irish company which has a branch in Egypt. I moved to El Gouna, a coastal, touristy place in Egypt, about 400km away from my home. In the first days, I found it was really hard. It was a new experience where expectations didn’t match reality and I couldn’t adapt and perform well.

But then, the CTO had a talk with me and he changed my way of thinking. He pointed out that the mindset of leaders when they face a problem, is that they first take their time to understand the problem and try to think of possible solutions, then go to their boss showing the problem along with the possible solutions.

After that I started to think through all the problems I faced. I started to make suggestions and my voice was heard and I had the support for that. Things began to change. I’m really grateful for my time there, for the awesome colleagues, the learnings and the journey. But especially to the CTO for challenging me to be more self-reliant and take responsibility for the changes I wanted to see.

2. Don’t compare yourself to others: understand your own journey

While I was a part of the Manara cohort, I also had a full time job, working 8 or 10 hours a day. After work, I had to go home and solve even more problems, as part of the curriculum. I saw many teammates that were solving so many leetcode problems. I thought, wow, I can never reach this amount. I was frustrated. I wanted to mimic what others were doing. This was a mistake.

I had to change my mindset. I started to reflect that others have different situations. I was encouraged by seeing them insisting on finishing their assignments and keeping up with the program. This made me eager to continue and not stop fighting, but I realized this doesn’t mean that I should perform exactly like them.

I focused on my personal abilities, rather than thinking of others. My journey will be different, my journey must be unique. I don’t need to imitate anyone.

I think many people compare themselves to others. I notice it especially with Egyptian women, who compare themselves to men, feeling that we aren’t qualified. But these feelings are false. Focus on your own journey, you will go a lot further.

3. Ask for help, instead of thinking that you can do everything alone or quitting

I was struggling to keep up with everything during the Manara program: I missed deadlines, because I had a fulltime job. I even almost quit, because I wasn’t able to find the time and deliver my tasks the way I wanted. I struggled with problem-solving. I felt like I wasn’t qualified, that they made a mistake to accept me.

I had this feeling and intended to stop. But then Mai, Manara’s Program Coordinator stepped in. The type of support from Mai was fascinating. She was always giving me another chance. She really believed in me: she knew that I was doing my best, and that it was just the struggle to keep up with the assignments and the homework. I had discipline, attended lectures, and tried to engage. When she saw this, she didn’t give up on me, until the very end.

I graduated late (after 6 months instead of 4). I thought it would take a long time to get my job. But it only took 2 months of job hunting. I was one of the very first people to secure their dream job!

I’m so glad that I opened up to Mai, instead of trying to do it all by myself or just giving up. If you are struggling with anything in your life, find someone who you can talk to. It’s really worth it.

4. Find mentors. It can change your life.

Manara took me to the next level in terms of soft skills. The level of experience of the lecturers and mentors was amazing. I was able to take lectures from people at Amazon, Google, Facebook and mentors in high positions. My technical mentor was Hailey Yoon — CTO of IO21, a Dubai based startup developing innovative software. She was great.

My English mentor was a female engineer called Rawan who works at Spotify. My sessions with her were the most interesting and valuable thing during Manara. Our sessions were focused on communication in English. She taught me how to think about interview questions, even if I wasn’t prepared for them, and how to make my answers to the point, while expressing myself without too much jargon. She was so professional and eloquent.

I went into my interviews feeling confident and prepared thanks to Rawan and my other mentors. I don’t think I would have gotten the job at UpWork if I didn’t have their support, so I can really say that mentorship changed my life.

5. Trust your own instincts

My passion for computers started when I was young. I loved playing games on our PC, things like Call of Duty, Medal of Honor, and James Bond. When I entered high school, people were asking me what I would do. I knew I wanted to study this weird machine called a computer! But at the time here in Egypt, electric or civil engineering and medicine were the most prestigious subjects to study. Computer Science wasn’t seen this way.

I focused on getting the highest score possible at high school, and later I would decide what to do. Hence, I got the highest score in my school exams (99%),then I told my parents “I got the scores you want, now I’m joining the college I want”.

And that’s when I started my journey with computer science. Luckily my parents were open minded and supportive. With the help of my elder brother, we convinced them that computer science is the future.

Six years after my first day at university, I couldn’t be happier or prouder with my choice. I trusted my instincts and followed my passion and success came with that!

Conclusion

My career isn’t the longest so far, but I’ve already learned a lot — from graduating during Covid, to working far away from home in my first job, and now working remotely in my own city with an international tech company that I respect and admire.

Manara has been a huge support for me in my journey. I appreciate that Manara respects the fact that many of us want to stay in our countries and find a job that is tailored to our specific situation.

I hope my story and my tips will have some relevance to your journey and life. And I wish you all success and happiness in your own personal journey.