Launch HN: Manara (YC W21) – Connect Middle East engineers with global companies
111 comments
At Repl.it, we interviewed interns via Manara and was mind-blown by the quality. We've given offers to two and I know at least one will be joining us soon. I think Manara has a potential to transform the global developer market. Very excited for them!
Awww... I know they both loved Repl.it too - they love what you're building and Faris made a really positive impression on them!
Oh WOW thanks a lot!! We love it when we get multiple offers from the same company - extremely excited about our Repl.it placements :))
Is repl.it hiring outside NA time zones? I checked the postings a while ago, and all of them specified PST +- 3 IIRC.
We're starting to! We have people outside and as long as they overlap for 3-4 hours we should be okay. Will make it official soon.
Damn, that's great! Unfortunately, I don't think IST would overlap, so I guess I'm still out of luck.
I'm in the same boat. Before Covid finding a company which would hire me (American) while living in Istanbul was easy. Now the competition with unemployed Americans has made me leave the tech industry, as I'm no longer employable.
Hi, Laila. Congratulations on the launch. I'll share this (Algiers, Algeria).
One of the problems people here have is getting paid from companies abroad. I think it would be good to conduct interviews with people who may be having the same problem, and either offer a solution or explain it on the website. Many people work as freelancers, and the way they get their money is Herculean.
Also, many, especially here, neither are Arab nor identify as such [native population and ethnicity before 7th century invasions]. Many also do not share the language or other common attributes. Therefore, if you're not ethnicity based, but based on the "region", I guess North Africa, and Middle East are the terms that would work better.
Again, congratulations. There a lot of very talented people in these countries who will not work abroad for different reasons. Staying not to leave family behind is a very, very, common reason. Making remote work easier for them, whether positions or ease of payment, is huge.
This is encouraging even for those who are willing to move but aren't invited to because they haven't reached the skill level required for an employer to incur that cost, and they haven't reached the financial level to incur that cost themselves. I guess your product hits that niche as well.
One of the problems people here have is getting paid from companies abroad. I think it would be good to conduct interviews with people who may be having the same problem, and either offer a solution or explain it on the website. Many people work as freelancers, and the way they get their money is Herculean.
Also, many, especially here, neither are Arab nor identify as such [native population and ethnicity before 7th century invasions]. Many also do not share the language or other common attributes. Therefore, if you're not ethnicity based, but based on the "region", I guess North Africa, and Middle East are the terms that would work better.
Again, congratulations. There a lot of very talented people in these countries who will not work abroad for different reasons. Staying not to leave family behind is a very, very, common reason. Making remote work easier for them, whether positions or ease of payment, is huge.
This is encouraging even for those who are willing to move but aren't invited to because they haven't reached the skill level required for an employer to incur that cost, and they haven't reached the financial level to incur that cost themselves. I guess your product hits that niche as well.
Hi! Ahlan! Azul! Really appreciate your bringing these issues up.
Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions. For now we are managing payments for companies that hire remotely by wire transferring the funds ourselves. In other words, the companies send the money to our US entity and then we do the transfer. We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ and https://www.letsdeel.com/. Are you familiar with those? What do you think? Btw Pilot is also a YC company that initially planned to be a full-time remote work marketplace, but switched to facilitating payments because there was such a big need there.
You’re right of course that in North Africa (the Maghreb) many don’t speak Arabic nor identify as Arab. When we call it “the Middle East and North Africa,” we also get feedback that it’s inaccurate. I wish there were a better word! We’ll keep iterating until we get it right.
PS: My co-founder Iliana has spent lots of time in Morocco and some in Algeria… and can’t wait to go back! She speaks some darija… and picked up a few words of Berber. :)
Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions. For now we are managing payments for companies that hire remotely by wire transferring the funds ourselves. In other words, the companies send the money to our US entity and then we do the transfer. We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ and https://www.letsdeel.com/. Are you familiar with those? What do you think? Btw Pilot is also a YC company that initially planned to be a full-time remote work marketplace, but switched to facilitating payments because there was such a big need there.
You’re right of course that in North Africa (the Maghreb) many don’t speak Arabic nor identify as Arab. When we call it “the Middle East and North Africa,” we also get feedback that it’s inaccurate. I wish there were a better word! We’ll keep iterating until we get it right.
PS: My co-founder Iliana has spent lots of time in Morocco and some in Algeria… and can’t wait to go back! She speaks some darija… and picked up a few words of Berber. :)
>Regarding payments, this has been coming up and we’ll need to pick your brain as we develop solutions.
My contact information is in my profile. I'll forward to some people I know who had several problems with that. The last one I talked with worked with a company in the U.K. with the restriction the "worker" had to have a bank account in their country of residence, not in any other country. Explanations on exchange rates below. They know more about this, and know more people in that situation.
>We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ and https://www.letsdeel.com/. Are you familiar with those?
Unfortunately, no.
What I also meant by payment problems is the disparity between the conversion rates in banks and on the streets. The disparity can be huge, so if you wire X euros to someone's bank account, it is automatically converted to the local currency at rate X and they get Y, when they could get 1.6Y or 1.7Y (60% or 70%) more on the streets. A 70% delta is a lot.
Some networks have developed to enable people to get the full "street value" of their money.
>When we call it “the Middle East and North Africa,” we also get feedback that it’s inaccurate.
Well, as someone in Algeria, if I were looking for work and visited the site and it said: "You're in North Africa", that's a fact of geography. It said "Hire the best Arab software engineers", I'll think "I'll forward the link to Arab software engineers I know since they're specific".
There are a lot of competitions, hackathons, or events that use this terminology, and I know many very talented people who do not participate because it's not for them. They'd rather go to another continent, and they do, where their ethnicity is acknowledged than submit a form that contains an inaccuracy that perpetuates a denial they've been facing for a long time. You are trying to optimize for brevity and clarity and you have to put something on the page, and I get that. I'm just saying and I think that you have lived through enough exclusion and non representativity that you understand that a message on a landing page that excludes you defacto kind of stings.
>PS: My co-founder Iliana has spent lots of time in Morocco and some in Algeria… and can’t wait to go back! She speaks some darija… and picked up a few words of Berber. :)
Well, I don't need to tell you that you are welcome. Hit me up if you are around. You might find the students groups to be interesting. In the meantime, I'll float the site around.
EDIT0: I sent it to someone who has a group. They sent the following:
> Them: Too bad, I'm an infrastructure engineer.
They're specialized in "Microsoft, VMware, IT infrastructures, etc."
EDIT1: Sent it to the admin of a group of around 7.4K engineers and technicians (not just software). Some might be interested and share it to their networks.
My contact information is in my profile. I'll forward to some people I know who had several problems with that. The last one I talked with worked with a company in the U.K. with the restriction the "worker" had to have a bank account in their country of residence, not in any other country. Explanations on exchange rates below. They know more about this, and know more people in that situation.
>We’ve also been looking at https://pilot.co/ https://www.boundlesshq.com/ and https://www.letsdeel.com/. Are you familiar with those?
Unfortunately, no.
What I also meant by payment problems is the disparity between the conversion rates in banks and on the streets. The disparity can be huge, so if you wire X euros to someone's bank account, it is automatically converted to the local currency at rate X and they get Y, when they could get 1.6Y or 1.7Y (60% or 70%) more on the streets. A 70% delta is a lot.
Some networks have developed to enable people to get the full "street value" of their money.
>When we call it “the Middle East and North Africa,” we also get feedback that it’s inaccurate.
Well, as someone in Algeria, if I were looking for work and visited the site and it said: "You're in North Africa", that's a fact of geography. It said "Hire the best Arab software engineers", I'll think "I'll forward the link to Arab software engineers I know since they're specific".
There are a lot of competitions, hackathons, or events that use this terminology, and I know many very talented people who do not participate because it's not for them. They'd rather go to another continent, and they do, where their ethnicity is acknowledged than submit a form that contains an inaccuracy that perpetuates a denial they've been facing for a long time. You are trying to optimize for brevity and clarity and you have to put something on the page, and I get that. I'm just saying and I think that you have lived through enough exclusion and non representativity that you understand that a message on a landing page that excludes you defacto kind of stings.
>PS: My co-founder Iliana has spent lots of time in Morocco and some in Algeria… and can’t wait to go back! She speaks some darija… and picked up a few words of Berber. :)
Well, I don't need to tell you that you are welcome. Hit me up if you are around. You might find the students groups to be interesting. In the meantime, I'll float the site around.
EDIT0: I sent it to someone who has a group. They sent the following:
> Them: Too bad, I'm an infrastructure engineer.
They're specialized in "Microsoft, VMware, IT infrastructures, etc."
EDIT1: Sent it to the admin of a group of around 7.4K engineers and technicians (not just software). Some might be interested and share it to their networks.
Hi, Iliana responding this time. I can’t emphasize how much we appreciate your feedback! You’re totally correct about the word “Arab” - we should’ve caught that and am glad you brought it to our attention.
The situation with the exchange rate in Algeria is a real problem. Like you said, the banks’ exchange rate is much lower than it should be. When I was there I spent a day with a friend’s friend who runs a side business exchanging money, so I saw some of what this looks like on the ground. I’ll reach out now to pick your brain more on this topic.
Thank you again for your feedback & for spreading the word! So grateful.
The situation with the exchange rate in Algeria is a real problem. Like you said, the banks’ exchange rate is much lower than it should be. When I was there I spent a day with a friend’s friend who runs a side business exchanging money, so I saw some of what this looks like on the ground. I’ll reach out now to pick your brain more on this topic.
Thank you again for your feedback & for spreading the word! So grateful.
You're welcome. I just sent the link to someone who can be very useful: he has experience working in freelance and probably can share many problems from the field. He also has lead a youth organization here and placed many people in internships and positions in companies all over the world, has been around, and has a deeper understanding of the several hurdles, from visas to payment problems.
Sweet! Thank you
> What I also meant by payment problems is the disparity between the conversion rates in banks and on the streets.
This is also a problem where I live (Nigeria).
It's exhausting explaining black/parallel currency markets to clients/employers in countries with more stable currencies. Way too often I get the knee-jerk reaction that I'm doing something shady/illegal.
This is also a problem where I live (Nigeria).
It's exhausting explaining black/parallel currency markets to clients/employers in countries with more stable currencies. Way too often I get the knee-jerk reaction that I'm doing something shady/illegal.
Hi @filleduchaos, a Nigerian here, pls, if you don't mind could give few pointers on how you scored your first few foreign jobs. I've sent out so many resumes and cold emails, I have as many rejection letters to prove so. I know there's sth I'm not doing well. Currently studying all sorts of Algo books. Thank you
Don't miss the "Who Wants to Be Hired" and "Freelancer" threads that get posted each month by this auto account: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=whoishiring.
The Jan threads are now closed (HN threads close to new comments after 2 weeks) but there will be another one on Feb 1. No guarantees, of course, but people definitely get work that way.
Good luck! I hope you find something soon.
The Jan threads are now closed (HN threads close to new comments after 2 weeks) but there will be another one on Feb 1. No guarantees, of course, but people definitely get work that way.
Good luck! I hope you find something soon.
This is what Manara candidates often have experienced too, even when they're excellent. It can be very hard to get the attention of tech companies if you're applying from a country they don't usually work with, especially as a junior engineer. Some companies get 2k applications/role so the resumes go into an automated system to be processed.
Manara solves this problem by setting up partnerships with companies for our candidates. Have you thought about joining Andela?
Manara solves this problem by setting up partnerships with companies for our candidates. Have you thought about joining Andela?
I know, right?! People who haven't experienced it don't get it. I think the knee-jerk reaction impacts Nigerians especially unfortunately. (My parents used to live in Nigeria and when my dad tried to buy something on eBay, they froze his account. Later when he lived in Venezuela, people were more sympathetic.)
So are there any solutions we should be looking into beyond cash transfers / Western Union? Are any startups working on this problem?
So are there any solutions we should be looking into beyond cash transfers / Western Union? Are any startups working on this problem?
There's https://sendcash.africa - it uses cryptocurrency to facilitate transfers to (Nigerian and Ghanaian, but there are plans to expand throughout West Africa and beyond) bank accounts from anywhere. It's powered by Buycoins (YC S18) - maybe you could look into working with them?
Thank you! Will check in with them when we're exploring more robust payment solutions. Hopefully by then they'll have solved this problem & expanded to North Africa etc...
filleduchaos, that's a badass handle.
>It's exhausting explaining black/parallel currency markets to clients/employers
What's the delta like there between parallel/official rates?
>It's exhausting explaining black/parallel currency markets to clients/employers
What's the delta like there between parallel/official rates?
It fluctuates depending on how far up its own behind the central bank has its head, but usually isn't too bad - it can stretch out to ~1.5x while the official "market" is in denial, but usually stabilises at about 1.2x to 1.3x depending on currency and source.
I've settled on maintaining a domiciliary bank account (denominated in USD) - SWIFT transfers take a few business days, but that's not a problem for steady income and clients can usually be persuaded to eat or split the fees. Plus it's easier to tell people I prefer to receive and hold USD than to explain the state of the economy. Also WorldRemit recently added same-day direct-to-bank deposits of USD in Nigeria-based USD-denominated accounts; I've only received money that way a couple of times though.
I've settled on maintaining a domiciliary bank account (denominated in USD) - SWIFT transfers take a few business days, but that's not a problem for steady income and clients can usually be persuaded to eat or split the fees. Plus it's easier to tell people I prefer to receive and hold USD than to explain the state of the economy. Also WorldRemit recently added same-day direct-to-bank deposits of USD in Nigeria-based USD-denominated accounts; I've only received money that way a couple of times though.
I appreciate these public comments on logistics issues like exchange rate and the sharing of service providers very much. As a freelancer in Viet Nam, this came up multiple times whilst I started out and even though my rate delta was only about 20-25%, that was already something.
Best of luck to you two.
Best of luck to you two.
Hey! I'm co-founder of Boundless, thanks for the mention :) Happy to chat more if you need - [email protected].
Congratulations on getting Manara up and running!
Congratulations on getting Manara up and running!
Thanks so much! Claire McHugh of Axonista was the first person who mentioned you to us. You've got a strong reputation! We'll reach out :)
Ah, good stuff!
Would diffidently reach out :)
CurrencyCloud might be another good option. https://www.currencycloud.com/
Disclosure: We (Apollo Agriculture) share an investor with them, so I've met a couple of their folks at social events.
Disclosure: We (Apollo Agriculture) share an investor with them, so I've met a couple of their folks at social events.
Thanks for flagging them - hadn't heard of them previously.
"Also, many, especially here, neither are Arab nor identify as such."
Came here to say the same -- I grew up in the US, but my family is Kabyle and you definitely don't want to call my father Arab!
Came here to say the same -- I grew up in the US, but my family is Kabyle and you definitely don't want to call my father Arab!
Totally - really appreciate you guys for flagging this.
Edit: edited this now in the text above!
Edit: edited this now in the text above!
The whole thing looks great though, really happy you're working on this!
Aww thank you! It makes us happy to work on this too. Interacting with talent in the region is just so heartwarming.
out of curiosity, how would he define himself?
I believe it would be Kabyle, like myself.
Yeah exactly, my family identifies as Kabyle and the majority of them still live in Béjaïa.
(Also, hey! First time I’ve run into another Kabyle on HN)
(Also, hey! First time I’ve run into another Kabyle on HN)
cool! thanks
Sounds like a terrific idea. I saw the growth of this sort of thing in Argentina and other South American countries once some companies started investing time and money there. A fair amount of the popularity was attributed to sharing highly overlapping time zones with the US. I imagine this has a similar advantage for European customers.
You may get some mileage out of talking with Globant (https://globant.com) or a similar company in South America to hear what their experience was. They have a different model, but do a lot of the same things you've outlined.
You may get some mileage out of talking with Globant (https://globant.com) or a similar company in South America to hear what their experience was. They have a different model, but do a lot of the same things you've outlined.
Yes! Totally right about the time zone benefits (although some of our talent is willing to adjust to US time zones, the employers rarely seem to believe it).
Also true about the fact that this sort of thing has sprouted in other regions, including South/Latin America. We've been trying to connect with them & share lessons learned because we think there's a big need in this space & we should all help each other succeed. I'm not sure I understand how Globant is similar to us though, is it an agency?
The ones we've spoken to so far that are pretty similar to ours (last-mile prep for job placement) include: PestoTech (engineers in India), PAZ.AI (refugees in Europe), Shift.org (veterans in USA), Insight Fellows (data science in USA), Talently.Tech (devs in LatAm), Laboratoria (women in LatAm), Outtalent (devs in Eastern Europe).
So far it seems to me that they're not far ahead of us, but nevertheless they've made enough progress to share some important lessons. First, it's important to start with and maintain quality. Quality for candidates means getting a job that's much better than what they would've gotten on their own, within 2-6 months of meeting our requirements. On the demand side, quality means that candidates meet or exceed the expectations of their standard talent selection process and performance post hire. Second, it's important to take a talent-first approach because that's what attracts the top talent. This includes being careful not to charge the talent an unreasonable rate. Employers may not all pay for the talent at the beginning when we're establishing our reputation, but ultimately that's where the main financial opportunity is - and charging a subscription fee ensures long-term mutually beneficial relationships.
Of course there's also the outsourcing agency/staff augmentation model that has existed for decades in Eastern Europe and South Asia... Andela is a more recent/visible example in Africa. Those are more easily profitable, but we've avoided that approach for now because we see that the top engineers prefer to work directly for great companies (whether remotely or on-site) and it is more beneficial for their career growth to do so.
Also true about the fact that this sort of thing has sprouted in other regions, including South/Latin America. We've been trying to connect with them & share lessons learned because we think there's a big need in this space & we should all help each other succeed. I'm not sure I understand how Globant is similar to us though, is it an agency?
The ones we've spoken to so far that are pretty similar to ours (last-mile prep for job placement) include: PestoTech (engineers in India), PAZ.AI (refugees in Europe), Shift.org (veterans in USA), Insight Fellows (data science in USA), Talently.Tech (devs in LatAm), Laboratoria (women in LatAm), Outtalent (devs in Eastern Europe).
So far it seems to me that they're not far ahead of us, but nevertheless they've made enough progress to share some important lessons. First, it's important to start with and maintain quality. Quality for candidates means getting a job that's much better than what they would've gotten on their own, within 2-6 months of meeting our requirements. On the demand side, quality means that candidates meet or exceed the expectations of their standard talent selection process and performance post hire. Second, it's important to take a talent-first approach because that's what attracts the top talent. This includes being careful not to charge the talent an unreasonable rate. Employers may not all pay for the talent at the beginning when we're establishing our reputation, but ultimately that's where the main financial opportunity is - and charging a subscription fee ensures long-term mutually beneficial relationships.
Of course there's also the outsourcing agency/staff augmentation model that has existed for decades in Eastern Europe and South Asia... Andela is a more recent/visible example in Africa. Those are more easily profitable, but we've avoided that approach for now because we see that the top engineers prefer to work directly for great companies (whether remotely or on-site) and it is more beneficial for their career growth to do so.
"how Globant is similar to us though"
Their business model isn't similar, but their methods are. They are a development house, somewhat similar to say, ThoughtWorks. But, they spend a lot of time with new hires, many straight from university, training them. Not just technically, but "US business speak/culture", helping them with the CV that's presented to potential clients, understanding schtick-of-the-day stuff like "Scaled Agile" and so on. And client-specific training, like how to speak FinTech, Insurance, Airline, or whatever.
Their business model isn't similar, but their methods are. They are a development house, somewhat similar to say, ThoughtWorks. But, they spend a lot of time with new hires, many straight from university, training them. Not just technically, but "US business speak/culture", helping them with the CV that's presented to potential clients, understanding schtick-of-the-day stuff like "Scaled Agile" and so on. And client-specific training, like how to speak FinTech, Insurance, Airline, or whatever.
Gotcha! That's great (and a good reminder for us to reconnect with ThoughtWorks too :) We'll have to see if Globant would be willing to share some lessons learned with us.
One of the problems we noticed in the Middle East & North Africa is a lack of agencies / development houses that do this at a high quality. In Eastern Europe lots of people go from college into a dev house for 2 years, and then qualify for great remote jobs (which usually require at least 2 years of experience).
We believe there's value to getting talent straight into the top tech companies, and that we will be able to develop a more scalable approach to teaching them these skills (communities are powerful & scale quickly). But it can be a challenge to get companies to hire engineers that have just graduated from college and have no work experience, so we'll need to find solutions to that. One approach that is working well for us is internships. Companies like Google have great programs and our talent has been doing really well interviewing for those opportunities.
One of the problems we noticed in the Middle East & North Africa is a lack of agencies / development houses that do this at a high quality. In Eastern Europe lots of people go from college into a dev house for 2 years, and then qualify for great remote jobs (which usually require at least 2 years of experience).
We believe there's value to getting talent straight into the top tech companies, and that we will be able to develop a more scalable approach to teaching them these skills (communities are powerful & scale quickly). But it can be a challenge to get companies to hire engineers that have just graduated from college and have no work experience, so we'll need to find solutions to that. One approach that is working well for us is internships. Companies like Google have great programs and our talent has been doing really well interviewing for those opportunities.
I love this because it empowers people in the MENA region to establish financial security and grow their careers at global tech companies. This will hopefully unlock resources for the much-needed entrepreneurship growth in the region
Thank you! And totally, the region's entrepreneurship scene is growing quickly. Our current YC batch has at least 5 companies from MENA. We're excited to be a part of (and unlock) this growth.
Just wanted to chime in to share that the original post is great but doesn't do enough justice to the talent. I've been working as an engineer in the Bay Area for 3+ years and found Manara about a year ago. During that time, I've closely mentored 6 engineers and mock interviewed several more. I think nearly every end-of-program mock interview I've given to Manara students are a "Hire" with questions of similar difficulty to those used at the big tech company I work for. Having gotten to know them very well now, it's clear to me that these really are a selection of the best engineers in the region (e.g. top performers in competitive programming competitions, hackers with more side projects than university projects, etc).
P.S. Also worth mentioning that this is some of the most exciting volunteer work I've done...it's a small part of what I do each week but it keeps me disproportionately energized even throughout the rest of my week!
P.S. Also worth mentioning that this is some of the most exciting volunteer work I've done...it's a small part of what I do each week but it keeps me disproportionately energized even throughout the rest of my week!
Thanks so much for sharing that! Glad you're having such a great experience on our volunteer team. We couldn't do this without people like you.
Wasalaam ukhti, from the other side of the fence. I'm in Israel, and would love to learn more, and see how I can help from here. It could be one of our small steps that helps move the needle on peace!
I'd like to introduce you to some friends in North America who will be very interested. Please check out my profile for an e-mail, and let's talk.
Shukraan habibti!
I'd like to introduce you to some friends in North America who will be very interested. Please check out my profile for an e-mail, and let's talk.
Shukraan habibti!
Thanks so much for your interest in helping! The best way to get involved is to visit https://www.manara.tech/get-involved. Can you also share that link with your friends in North America who would be interested? Really appreciate your spreading the word!
Speaking from the employer side, can you possibly mention some salary levels?
I know the topic is sensitive and difficult, but giving some indication here or on the website would be great. This is hopefully competitive with other low-cost locations for react//dashboards/enterprise-java etc
Hi, no worries, thanks for asking! Curious what you’re seeing are the salary bands in competitive low-cost locations?
We’re currently most familiar with the bands in Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, and UAE. What we’re seeing there varies widely, but can probably be thought of as breaking down into two separate scales/salary bands: those paid by local companies and by international companies sourcing talent in the region primarily for affordability, and those paid by international companies sourcing talent in the region primarily because they need strong engineers.
In the former, the band for junior engineers straight out of college with no work experience is ~$800-$1800/month. In the latter, it’s $2500-$4500/month. For senior engineers, in the former it’s around $5k/month and in the latter it’s $6k-$10k/month.
Of course startups sometimes seek strong talent but can’t afford the range, so they may pay on the lower end but make up for it with equity, career growth, etc.
We’re currently most familiar with the bands in Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, and UAE. What we’re seeing there varies widely, but can probably be thought of as breaking down into two separate scales/salary bands: those paid by local companies and by international companies sourcing talent in the region primarily for affordability, and those paid by international companies sourcing talent in the region primarily because they need strong engineers.
In the former, the band for junior engineers straight out of college with no work experience is ~$800-$1800/month. In the latter, it’s $2500-$4500/month. For senior engineers, in the former it’s around $5k/month and in the latter it’s $6k-$10k/month.
Of course startups sometimes seek strong talent but can’t afford the range, so they may pay on the lower end but make up for it with equity, career growth, etc.
Thank you for the response.
I am not the original commenter, but compensation was also my first thought and worry. Regardless, I still filled out the form and look forward to speaking to someone from your team.
The reality is that hiring is hard. It is doubly hard when you don't have a name brand company, and doubly hard again when you are not VC-backed and can't pay salaries competitive to those companies.
We're a tech company on our way to becoming independently owned again (after a small angel round many years ago), and bootstrap our growth according to revenue. This fact leads us to be very fiscally conservative (especially for a startup). A consistent pain point for us has been the fact that we need engineers to take on larger (or more) projects, but we can't afford them (they'd cost more than a project would bring), but we also can't take on these projects without more engineers, so we've been in a holding pattern unwilling to pull the trigger for quite awhile.
I presume this is not a new story to you. This situation is the only reason we cannot hire locally, we literally cannot afford it.
I am not the original commenter, but compensation was also my first thought and worry. Regardless, I still filled out the form and look forward to speaking to someone from your team.
The reality is that hiring is hard. It is doubly hard when you don't have a name brand company, and doubly hard again when you are not VC-backed and can't pay salaries competitive to those companies.
We're a tech company on our way to becoming independently owned again (after a small angel round many years ago), and bootstrap our growth according to revenue. This fact leads us to be very fiscally conservative (especially for a startup). A consistent pain point for us has been the fact that we need engineers to take on larger (or more) projects, but we can't afford them (they'd cost more than a project would bring), but we also can't take on these projects without more engineers, so we've been in a holding pattern unwilling to pull the trigger for quite awhile.
I presume this is not a new story to you. This situation is the only reason we cannot hire locally, we literally cannot afford it.
Thanks for sharing that. It is indeed really hard - and as startup founders, we understand! Just wanted to clarify that many of our engineers do want to work on startups with interesting missions… what matters most ultimately to them (and to us) is the team they’ll work with and the experience they'll get.
Laila is personally meeting with all of our potential new partners because we really care about understanding your customers’ needs & making sure that our solution addresses them. Will be interesting for you to discuss this with her. (Assuming you booked a call? You should have received an invite after you filled out the form.)
Laila is personally meeting with all of our potential new partners because we really care about understanding your customers’ needs & making sure that our solution addresses them. Will be interesting for you to discuss this with her. (Assuming you booked a call? You should have received an invite after you filled out the form.)
So in the past I read something similar. It's similar business but for Africa: https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/23/connecting-african-softwar...
Then something similar showed up again. But this time the business is for Europe, Asia and Latin America: https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/23/youteam/
Then I joked with my friend: "Maybe you should build something similar but for South-East Asia." (We live in SEA.)
Then the similar business showed up again today but for Middle East and North America. So I guess it's about time when something similar shows up but for SEA (or other parts of the world). :)
Then something similar showed up again. But this time the business is for Europe, Asia and Latin America: https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/23/youteam/
Then I joked with my friend: "Maybe you should build something similar but for South-East Asia." (We live in SEA.)
Then the similar business showed up again today but for Middle East and North America. So I guess it's about time when something similar shows up but for SEA (or other parts of the world). :)
Yes, there’s a growing trend of connecting tech companies to untraditional talent, including in emerging markets. This is for good reasons: talent is everywhere, there’s a growing need for it in the tech sector, remote work and/or relocations are easier than before, and untraditional talent is less likely to be successful going through traditional application processes on their own.
The vision of these organizations is similar, and they take slightly different approaches. For instance, Andela is an agency (they hire the talent) and YouTeam and Andela are both remote-only. We took the approach of helping talent reach their dream jobs whatever they may be (including jobs at companies like Google in Europe) because that makes it possible to attract the best talent, and because ultimately we believe that will have bigger impact.
I’ve seen at least one example in SEA so far: https://pesto.tech/ If you find others, let us know!
The vision of these organizations is similar, and they take slightly different approaches. For instance, Andela is an agency (they hire the talent) and YouTeam and Andela are both remote-only. We took the approach of helping talent reach their dream jobs whatever they may be (including jobs at companies like Google in Europe) because that makes it possible to attract the best talent, and because ultimately we believe that will have bigger impact.
I’ve seen at least one example in SEA so far: https://pesto.tech/ If you find others, let us know!
Hey Laila,
Congratulations on the launch. Your story is great and I love the premise. I myself am the Founder, CEO + CTO of a medical education company working on revolutionizing the future of meded-tech in MENA, so in the near future I'll be looking into hiring from your platform.
Be well and good luck!
Azib
Congratulations on the launch. Your story is great and I love the premise. I myself am the Founder, CEO + CTO of a medical education company working on revolutionizing the future of meded-tech in MENA, so in the near future I'll be looking into hiring from your platform.
Be well and good luck!
Azib
Would love to stay in touch, Azib! What's the name of your company?
In case any of the people you are working with are interested in open source, please direct them at FOSSjobs and our resources wiki page:
https://www.fossjobs.net/ https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/Resources
https://www.fossjobs.net/ https://github.com/fossjobs/fossjobs/wiki/Resources
Great - thanks for sharing!
Oh, wonderful!
How I wish this works for Africa as well.
Here in Africa (Nigeria) to get a good tech job can take like forever... I am so happy you're helping out. Cudos!
How I wish this works for Africa as well.
Here in Africa (Nigeria) to get a good tech job can take like forever... I am so happy you're helping out. Cudos!
You have Andela: https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/23/connecting-african-softwar...
Many devs in Nigeria avoid them now like you'd a viper.
Their layoffs are way too much and recently they've gone full gigs. They used to employ Engineers that work on foreign projects but ever since they came to the limelight and the main Nigerian co-founder left they've lost the good reputation they previously enjoyed.
TL;DR; It's no longer the place it used to be.
Their layoffs are way too much and recently they've gone full gigs. They used to employ Engineers that work on foreign projects but ever since they came to the limelight and the main Nigerian co-founder left they've lost the good reputation they previously enjoyed.
TL;DR; It's no longer the place it used to be.
What do you mean about going full gigs? Does that mean that the contracts that their engineers are working on now are no longer full-time engagements?
We'd love to learn anything we can from their journey. We know that growing can be challenging, so we want to start thinking now about the strategies that will be most successful for both our talent & our hiring partners.
We'd love to learn anything we can from their journey. We know that growing can be challenging, so we want to start thinking now about the strategies that will be most successful for both our talent & our hiring partners.
Congrats on the launch, Laila and Iliana!
Quick question: why are the companies with on-site jobs restricted to Europe and Canada (if they are in fact restricted)?
Thanks!
Quick question: why are the companies with on-site jobs restricted to Europe and Canada (if they are in fact restricted)?
Thanks!
Ah, that's not our restriction, that's the reality of visas for people from these countries. It's almost impossible for a junior engineer to get a visa to the United States. One of our candidates had a job offer at Amazon in the USA but couldn't get the visa. So he ended up at a startup in Germany instead.
So far our participants have ended up primarily in Germany and Poland, and we're seeing possibilities in Sweden, France, and the UK too. We're still figuring out what the Canadian visa situation is for junior engineers but it seems possible (probably best for them to apply for residency first and then get a job).
If you have any more insight on this do let us know!
So far our participants have ended up primarily in Germany and Poland, and we're seeing possibilities in Sweden, France, and the UK too. We're still figuring out what the Canadian visa situation is for junior engineers but it seems possible (probably best for them to apply for residency first and then get a job).
If you have any more insight on this do let us know!
We're also wondering if some other countries like Australia might be an option
Keeping you guys in mind the next time someone asks me for MENA talent. And if I want to hire some myself!
Thanks so much! That's interesting that people are already asking you for MENA talent sometimes. Under what circumstances does that happen?
When folks want to startup and ask for programmers but only get a bunch of snake oil salesmen who know "AI expertise" or "blockchain" but have a degree and background in marketing. Way too common in Dubai especially. Every time someone asked me, I always referred them to India or Pakistan, since I never knew where the Arab coders are. That is until now.
Oh got it, didn't realize you were in Dubai. Makes sense now! We've been happy to see a growing community of strong tech companies & startups there (e.g., Noon, Careem, Ziina) and were surprised to find how much they value our service. Even for companies intimate with the region it can be hard to identify the top talent, so they appreciate our curation & vetting.
Did u consider working with Israelis? I know it sounds far fetched but I'm sure many companies wouldn't rule out hiring Gazans remotely. Whether they can do so legally is another question, probably not.
Oh man, the name is unfortunate. It's slang for "babe" (for girls) in Greek. Also the last name of one of the most famous erotic comic artists (Milo Manara). Fun times!
oh yeah, we've heard about that recently from a Greek friend! Thankfully it seems like the Greek language is the only one in which our name has a weird meaning (at least so far), and hopefully it’s not offensive? Manara means “lighthouse” in Arabic. We did lots of user testing with various name options and this one was most positively perceived in Europe, North America, and MENA. Now we just need to get really great SEO to show up at the top of search results :)
The Greek is probably not a problem, nobody really uses that word any more (it's as dated as "groovy" is in English). Hell, the artist is the first thing that came to my mind, aloukissas is just an old-fashioned elderly gentleman.
At least in Italy everyone would just think of the illustrator.
Oh man that's too bad! We have one partner in Italy so far (Bending Spoons) and they didn't mention this to us though... maybe that's a good sign, or maybe they were too embarrassed!
It has to be said Milo Manara is a boomer and his popularity somewhat declined in the 2000s. Nowadays even people who are familiar with his mainstream output (from ads to cartoons made with Adriano Celentano) don't necessarily know his name or the fact that he became famous with erotic comics in late-70s/mid-80s. I would not expect anybody under 30 to be familiar with his name.
This is reassuring, thank you! Also probably clarifies why we hadn't heard of him. :)
They've a reputation for being a good place to work for (if a bit too SV-wannabe), especially in the context of Italy.
They probably didn't want to embarass you (and this isn't really a problem here, but it might be a serious issue SEO-wise).
They probably didn't want to embarass you (and this isn't really a problem here, but it might be a serious issue SEO-wise).
They (the co-founder Francesco Patarnello to be precise) were really wonderful to speak with & work with. They seem to have done a lot to grow the entrepreneurship & developer ecosystem in Italy, and are growing fast enough to need to hire from abroad now. They also have a really high bar for who they hire. Their process starts off with a logic test (nothing related to coding) which takes more than a day to complete.
(Curious about that by the way, since we have only seen one other company - Klarna - start with a logic test. Do you know if this is common? Is it an effective screening approach? In the USA people are sometimes wary of how standardized tests of this type may impact untraditional candidates in particular)
But back to your point - that name issue is really disappointing. We'll have to put some more thought into it but my first reaction is to do a little more polling to see how widespread this association is in our primary markets (MENA and countries that do a lot of hiring of software engineers, so mainly USA, Germany, Poland, Sweden, UK, Canada, Australia, etc)
(Curious about that by the way, since we have only seen one other company - Klarna - start with a logic test. Do you know if this is common? Is it an effective screening approach? In the USA people are sometimes wary of how standardized tests of this type may impact untraditional candidates in particular)
But back to your point - that name issue is really disappointing. We'll have to put some more thought into it but my first reaction is to do a little more polling to see how widespread this association is in our primary markets (MENA and countries that do a lot of hiring of software engineers, so mainly USA, Germany, Poland, Sweden, UK, Canada, Australia, etc)
Regarding the logic test: here it's not common at all (especially outside of programming roles, it could be argued that most programming questions are logic tests), but apparently there are recruiting firms that employ them along with other even more dubious tools like psychometric questions to gauge the ability work in teams.
Italy isn't a major source of software engineering positions and has systemic issues with companies being too small and unwilling to invest / partner with others / grow. My (non-quantitative) opinion is that that sort of approach doesn't work that well - hiring is far from a solved problem - but is likely less discriminatory than whatever hunch-based interview processes would otherwise be in place. I'd describe it as progressive-in-context.
Italy isn't a major source of software engineering positions and has systemic issues with companies being too small and unwilling to invest / partner with others / grow. My (non-quantitative) opinion is that that sort of approach doesn't work that well - hiring is far from a solved problem - but is likely less discriminatory than whatever hunch-based interview processes would otherwise be in place. I'd describe it as progressive-in-context.
Interesting. I didn't think of it this way previously, but after hearing your description, I'll interpret it a positive sign of their culture / forward-thinkingness.
And yes, we'll need to think more about the SEO strategy! What terms do you think people would use to search for us? When we explored this before choosing the name (and we were unaware of the association so we didn't even notice the first result) we figured that someone would enter "Manara developers" or "Manara engineers" if they didn't find us immediately when searching "Manara"
Hey, thanks for sharing your amazing journey! Whats the best way to contact you?
Hi Amir, this is Iliana, Laila's co-founder. :) You can reach us at https://www.manara.tech/contact. If you're seeking to hire talent, use https://www.manara.tech/hire-engineers instead. Thanks so much for your support!
Manara sounds like a beacon of light for the MENA engineers!
Congrats to you Laila and Iliana for the launch and I will definitely be sharing this with fellow Tunisian developers :)
Congrats to you Laila and Iliana for the launch and I will definitely be sharing this with fellow Tunisian developers :)
Thank you so much! We'd love to connect more to the Tunisian software engineering community. Will send you an email.
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There's a big caveat here: Middle-eastern engineers will have significant problems working with more liberal/woke companies. They have a strong tendency to be homophobic/transphobic/misogynist.
Last year I fired an off-shored team of 10 otherwise excellent Egyptian engineers because their homophobic statements on LinkedIn and in Slack made people in the company uncomfortable.
If your company's engineers lean more right-wing/republican, then middle-eastern engineers are probably a great untapped resource. If your company is more of a Silicon Valley company, they are a liability which can get you sued.
Last year I fired an off-shored team of 10 otherwise excellent Egyptian engineers because their homophobic statements on LinkedIn and in Slack made people in the company uncomfortable.
If your company's engineers lean more right-wing/republican, then middle-eastern engineers are probably a great untapped resource. If your company is more of a Silicon Valley company, they are a liability which can get you sued.
I think your one(?) experience with Middle-eastern engineers has unfortunately given you a bad impression, but I'm not sure that necessitates making such a dogmatic and blanket "caveat".
Following the logic in your own statement equating Republicans to Middle-eastern homophobes, mid-west engineers will(!) have significant problems working with more liberal/woke companies. They have a strong(!) tendency to be homophobic/transphobic/misogynist. They are a liability which can get you sued.
Does that sound like a correct, or even fair, assessment to you?
I'm a Republican software engineer from Kansas and it doesn't to me.
Beyond that, from my time living in Beirut and traveling the Middle-east I can assure you there are many, many liberal (in both the Western and US sense) and metropolitan software engineers who would have no "problems working with more liberal/woke" companies".
Following the logic in your own statement equating Republicans to Middle-eastern homophobes, mid-west engineers will(!) have significant problems working with more liberal/woke companies. They have a strong(!) tendency to be homophobic/transphobic/misogynist. They are a liability which can get you sued.
Does that sound like a correct, or even fair, assessment to you?
I'm a Republican software engineer from Kansas and it doesn't to me.
Beyond that, from my time living in Beirut and traveling the Middle-east I can assure you there are many, many liberal (in both the Western and US sense) and metropolitan software engineers who would have no "problems working with more liberal/woke" companies".
> I think your one(?) experience with Middle-eastern engineers has unfortunately given you a bad impression, but I'm not sure that necessitates making such a dogmatic and blanket "caveat".
I've directly managed 6 teams in Istanbul / Beirut / Cairo, another 4 in Belarus / Kiev, and one somewhere in Russia (I forget, it's been 20 years). Those in Belarus were by far the best, probably because they aren't mobile (it's very difficult to emigrate from Belarus into Europe or the USA). They work hard, are paid well and retention is great.
The worst were in Cairo, by far. I enjoy working with Istanbul engineers, but I steer away from Ankara / Konya teams because they tend to be conservative and just aren't great for startup environments, they're more well suited to work for the financial industry or the large retail holdings.
Beirut isn't a fair comparison, because it's a fairly liberal / western city (heck, they even do their day to day transactions in dollars instead of lira). Most of the engineers I've recruited there were also female.
And yes, my preference is to avoid mid-western / southern engineers. I don't hire people I wouldn't want to socialize with after work. I always vet hires and contractors on LinkedIn / Facebook. If I see pro-trump / anti-lgbt / proudly / qanon activity, their resumes are round-filed. If the firm's owners donated to trump, those firms are blacklisted.
I wouldn't hire you into the companies where I tend to work. If I worked in something more soulless like advertising / finance / government where I just wouldn't care about my job or employer, I would hire you because you'd fit in.
Call it discriminatory hiring, I don't care, my projects succeed, my teams are successful, and my engineers are loyal, some have followed me around for 25 years.
I've directly managed 6 teams in Istanbul / Beirut / Cairo, another 4 in Belarus / Kiev, and one somewhere in Russia (I forget, it's been 20 years). Those in Belarus were by far the best, probably because they aren't mobile (it's very difficult to emigrate from Belarus into Europe or the USA). They work hard, are paid well and retention is great.
The worst were in Cairo, by far. I enjoy working with Istanbul engineers, but I steer away from Ankara / Konya teams because they tend to be conservative and just aren't great for startup environments, they're more well suited to work for the financial industry or the large retail holdings.
Beirut isn't a fair comparison, because it's a fairly liberal / western city (heck, they even do their day to day transactions in dollars instead of lira). Most of the engineers I've recruited there were also female.
And yes, my preference is to avoid mid-western / southern engineers. I don't hire people I wouldn't want to socialize with after work. I always vet hires and contractors on LinkedIn / Facebook. If I see pro-trump / anti-lgbt / proudly / qanon activity, their resumes are round-filed. If the firm's owners donated to trump, those firms are blacklisted.
I wouldn't hire you into the companies where I tend to work. If I worked in something more soulless like advertising / finance / government where I just wouldn't care about my job or employer, I would hire you because you'd fit in.
Call it discriminatory hiring, I don't care, my projects succeed, my teams are successful, and my engineers are loyal, some have followed me around for 25 years.
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Great initiative Laila!
Interesting that the proportion of female CS students is so high in those countries, I imagine it's more like 10% in most Western countries. Based on you inside perspective, do you have any theories about why this is so?
Anecdotally, I've worked for a lot of startups in Scandinavia, and one in Jordan, and that one had the most women!
Interesting that the proportion of female CS students is so high in those countries, I imagine it's more like 10% in most Western countries. Based on you inside perspective, do you have any theories about why this is so?
Anecdotally, I've worked for a lot of startups in Scandinavia, and one in Jordan, and that one had the most women!
I've seen reasoning elsewhere along the following lines:
Because there is a stronger economic incentive in Middle Eastern countries compared to western countries, more women go into STEM fields.
Because there is a stronger economic incentive in Middle Eastern countries compared to western countries, more women go into STEM fields.
Could it also be that there is still a bit of a stigma in male circles, for that type of work? Traditional male stereotypes in the Middle East are still very, very well-entrenched; sitting at your desk "playing" with computers is probably not respected as much as elsewhere.
> Could it also be that there is still a bit of a stigma in male circles, for that type of work?
No it's not. You are actually considered a genius if you work in STEM in general
> sitting at your desk "playing" with computers is probably not respected as much as elsewhere.
I'd say this changed in the last decade a lot. But there is a difference between sitting home playing video games while jobless and working in STEM.
No it's not. You are actually considered a genius if you work in STEM in general
> sitting at your desk "playing" with computers is probably not respected as much as elsewhere.
I'd say this changed in the last decade a lot. But there is a difference between sitting home playing video games while jobless and working in STEM.
Laila has been in back-to-back calls since she posted this (thanks to everyone who filled out the form & booked a meeting with her!) so I'll share what I know on this topic.
The high proportion of women studying STEM is definitely not a reflection of men not being interested in these fields. Engineering of all types are admired in the region, and computer science has gained traction in the past 5 years. There's increasing participation in competitive programming competitions... and that's mostly men so far.
Until about 5 years ago both men and women in Palestine were pressured by their parents to study medicine. That has changed because people have become aware of the opportunities in the tech sector and the unemployment facing all other fields. There's an exam you have to take at the end of high school in Palestine called "tawjihi"... it's similar to the A-levels in the UK or the matural in Poland, closest equivalent in the USA would be the SATs. At one university I know of in Palestine, 5 years ago a "tawjihi" score of 78 could allow you to study computer science. Now it's 92+. So it's a more in-demand field amongst both mena and women. (That's one reason it makes sense to start Manara now: the pool of super smart talent in computer science is growing quickly.)
As for why women study STEM and do so well in it... Laila always tells me that it was so normal to her that she didn’t really think about it. Women studied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, etc at high rates. I remember telling a woman in Gaza once about the stereotype that we have in the United States that men are better than women in these areas, and her response was, "Are you kidding? We all know women are super stars in those fields."
The fact that women do well in STEM starts off early: it's the only region in the world where girls outperform boys in high school math (and again, not because the boys are underperforming).
I have a hypothesis for this but it’s really just a wild guess. I ran across one study in the USA in which middle school girls’ math scores improved dramatically & quickly as soon as their math classes were separated by gender (i.e., girls did better when studying this subject with just other girls). In countries like Palestine most elementary, middle, and high schools are separate for girls and boys, so that might be a part of the reason for girls' confidence...
The high proportion of women studying STEM is definitely not a reflection of men not being interested in these fields. Engineering of all types are admired in the region, and computer science has gained traction in the past 5 years. There's increasing participation in competitive programming competitions... and that's mostly men so far.
Until about 5 years ago both men and women in Palestine were pressured by their parents to study medicine. That has changed because people have become aware of the opportunities in the tech sector and the unemployment facing all other fields. There's an exam you have to take at the end of high school in Palestine called "tawjihi"... it's similar to the A-levels in the UK or the matural in Poland, closest equivalent in the USA would be the SATs. At one university I know of in Palestine, 5 years ago a "tawjihi" score of 78 could allow you to study computer science. Now it's 92+. So it's a more in-demand field amongst both mena and women. (That's one reason it makes sense to start Manara now: the pool of super smart talent in computer science is growing quickly.)
As for why women study STEM and do so well in it... Laila always tells me that it was so normal to her that she didn’t really think about it. Women studied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, etc at high rates. I remember telling a woman in Gaza once about the stereotype that we have in the United States that men are better than women in these areas, and her response was, "Are you kidding? We all know women are super stars in those fields."
The fact that women do well in STEM starts off early: it's the only region in the world where girls outperform boys in high school math (and again, not because the boys are underperforming).
I have a hypothesis for this but it’s really just a wild guess. I ran across one study in the USA in which middle school girls’ math scores improved dramatically & quickly as soon as their math classes were separated by gender (i.e., girls did better when studying this subject with just other girls). In countries like Palestine most elementary, middle, and high schools are separate for girls and boys, so that might be a part of the reason for girls' confidence...
It seems like there is correlation between patriarchal societies and having more women developers. I wonder why, maybe because anyway the society is patriarchal so there is not much difference between this field to others unlike in the west where all misogynist white males concentrate in this profession and all the good guys go to law or acting or wherever there are many women and everything is equal and rosy. But then you have to wonder why would those Arab women want to move to a horrible place like the western tech industry instead of removing their shackles and becoming a nurse in a hospital or work in HR of a big corporation, the places where women feel comfortable and equal in the west. It is a bit of a mystery.
Hi! What other societies have you seen with a high percentage of women developers?
From my experience, the ex Eastern Bloc countries. I am speaking about all the STEM fields, not just SWE. I remember that my mom (Romanian) was shocked when I told her that in my CS high school class (in Italy) we were all boys.
That's interesting. I'm half Polish and I know that there is a perspective that women do really well in science/STEM, but I don't think I've seen them participate at equal rates as men. And when I talk to tech companies in Poland these days, they say their engineering teams are predominantly male and they'd like to change that (which is one reason they want to partner with Manara!)
EDITED: Also, when I worked at Upwork as a PM, most of our software engineers were from Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc) and we had almost no women on the team.
EDITED: Also, when I worked at Upwork as a PM, most of our software engineers were from Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc) and we had almost no women on the team.
India, Israel, Russia basically anything that is not "west" but has some tech culture. They are still a minority but seems to do better. This is just my impression not some study but I think it is actually true. I am a bit sarcastic there and I got some ideas why it happens like that but serious discussion is useless since it became a political issue rather than something you can discuss openly, hence the sarcasm.
I grew up in a refugee camp in Gaza. My dream was to become a Silicon Valley software engineer. Eventually I hacked my way there successfully, becoming a software engineer at Nvidia. I like to joke that the hardest part wasn’t escaping Gaza in the middle of the 2014 war, but rather, my first interviews... which I totally bombed. ;)
Once I got to Silicon Valley, I was surprised at the lack of women. In Gaza, more women study computer science than men! I was also surprised to learn how hard it was for companies in Silicon Valley to attract the talent we needed. During interviews with candidates I’d often think, “I wish I could hire my friends in Gaza. They’d be great.”
That’s when I re-connected with Iliana. She and I had met in Gaza when she was running Gaza Sky Geeks (GSG), the first startup accelerator in Gaza. Her work was widely covered and has a few threads on HN including https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11858963. Iliana asked me “How can we produce more success stories like yours?”
I told her that engineers in the MENA region don't lack talent, but they lack other ingredients. They're mostly not aware of opportunities outside their region, and even if they are aware, they think you have to be a genius to work at a company like Google. Also, they have no idea what sorts of resumes recruiters want to see and don't have brand names to put on them. They don't have referral networks to get their foot in the door. And they're completely unprepared for the style of interviews that tech companies go for. As we talked further, it became clear that all of these problems would be fixable with the right kind of coaching and support, and that bringing this growing talent pool to the global job marketplace would benefit both sides (accelerating the success of global companies, while redistributing wealth to the region).
We developed an approach to address those gaps - and it worked. Just last week, 67% of the people we referred to Google for internships made it past the hiring committee (they’re now waiting for their job offers, so if you work at Google and have internship headcount, let us know!) We’ve heard Google interviewers say several times, “This is the best junior engineering interview I’ve ever done.”
I want to emphasize that we are not a zero-to-hero bootcamp. Manara is a career accelerator for skilled software engineers at all levels with a focus on junior engineers. Students learn the technical and soft skills they need to pass interviews and get introductions to companies with jobs that are either remote or on-site (in Europe or Canada). We charge an affordable fee to both candidates and companies, only if a successful match is made.
We focus on MENA (and specifically Arabic-speaking countries in the region) for a few reasons. On the business side, that's where we're from and where our connections are, so we understand the dynamics and have comparative advantage there. Second, the region has a huge opportunity: the youngest population in the world, 2x more university graduates than 10 years ago, women studying computer science at high rates (in some countries more women study CS than men: 52% in Palestine, 62% in Tunisia, 70% in Qatar), and so on. Third, it lends itself to scale. Our graduates have a high sense of affiliation and loyalty to the region, which means that as soon as we place 1 candidate at a company that’s growing, s/he comes back to us looking for 3 more to hire.
But we’re not building Manara just for business reasons; rather, we were motivated to launch Manara for social impact reasons. The unemployment rate for recent college grads is ~60%; for women who studied CS, it can be as high as 83%. It pains us personally to see highly talented friends of ours struggling to find (meaningful) work. We originally planned to build Manara as a non-profit, but after lots of research, we realized that a social enterprise approach would better support our mission: the pressure of becoming self-sustainable forces sharper thinking and execution, and will make it possible for us to deliver this solution at scale.
A powerful part of our impact is the community we are building. Students study in cohorts. Within each cohort, they compete to see who can solve more coding problems, and form strong bonds and support each other. Students also meet volunteers from tech companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Wayfair, Stripe, etc for mentorship and mock interviews once they achieve certain milestones (e.g., 100 questions on Leetcode). This leads to high motivation and retention. It also gives them access to professional networks like those Americans have when graduating from universities like Stanford. Often these networks later help them with their job hunting: just last week, a candidate got an interview at Uber thanks to a referral from one of our volunteers who works there.
Our volunteers love the chance to use their professional skills to mentor engineers from untraditional backgrounds. Several told us that they spent years looking for an effective way to contribute. One recently wrote to us, “I'm in awe of the work Manara is doing. I love interacting with my mentee and providing mock interviews - so thank you for giving me a platform to be able to support these students.”
If you're hiring, check out https://www.manara.tech/hire-engineers. If you'd like to get involved or join our newsletter, check out https://www.manara.tech/get-involved. Most importantly, we can't wait to hear what you think, wherever in the world you might be.
Over to you, HN!