In light of recent events, we want to share a story with you of one of our favorite recent graduates from DevMountain Dallas.
DevMountain is much more than a sum of its parts. Our teachers, mentors, and staff work together and work with passion, to create an additive effect to DevMountain efforts. It’s sort of a 1 + 1 + 1 = 5 scenario.
DevMountain is a place where professionals who dedicate their time and efforts to make such a difference in people’s lives.
Recently at DevMountain’s Dallas campus, a web development student Samer Aladhami graduated from our 12 week program. Samer is a refugee from Iraq who now lives in Dallas with his wife and 3-year-old child. As a part of Texas Refugee Services, he was sent to Texas where he was faced with rebuilding his life in a foreign country, speaking an unknown language, and using his skills to provide for his family.
Samer was an electrical engineer by trade in Iraq, but as many refugees discover, it’s not easy to re-insert yourself, even with formal education (Samer attended university in Iraq), into a foreign workforce. Samer ended up working night shifts at WalMart and was extremely discouraged, even to the point of considering returning to his troubled country.
DevMountain provided a life-changing opportunity for Samer. DevMountain collaborates with the refugee center in Dallas and decided to offer a scholarship to refugees who could demonstrate the necessary aptitude to succeed as engineers in the tech field. Samer had to borrow a computer and struggled like most of our students do, but now Samer has as bright a future as ever. He has a marketable skill in a field that is in high demand.
At his hiring event, Samer talked to DevMountain’s CEO Cahlan Sharp. Cahlan recounts, “Samer thanked me for the experience he had been given. His eyes are filled with hope, and his smile is contagious. He struggled finding words to express how thankful he was, and I’m not sure I’ve ever been prouder of what we’ve built.”
It’s stories like these that drive our instructors, mentors, and staff to give each and every student their all. And it’s stories like these that touch all of our lives and give us a higher purpose to what we do. It is stories like these where we pride ourselves of being a part of something as great as DevMountain.
