Meet
Ahmed.

I was always told I could not do it. My GCSE and A-level teachers would not let me push for computer science because they thought I was not capable. Universities would not take me without a foundation year.

So I taught myself. I kept at it right up to clearing, and that is when Brunel gave me a chance. The work I had done on my own showed what I could do. I studied computer science there and graduated with first class honours.

I secured my first client while I was still studying, then took a placement at Egress in internal support. It was not a coding job, but I started building applications for the company anyway. They noticed, let me shadow their developers, and gave me my first junior developer role. I moved up to mid-level quickly, went on to Cazoo and Aviva, and today I am a senior full stack software engineer at Popp AI.

Alongside that I have been building businesses. Plenty of them failed, and some are doing well. Every one of them taught me something through trial and error, usually with people telling me I would not make it.

I did most of this as a one-man team, without the support I needed. What changed things was community: Somalis in Tech, and my mentor Abshir Ahmed, one of its owners, who backed me and pushed me forward.

For years I helped friends get into tech and start their businesses, informally, wherever I could. Eventually I realised it should be something bigger. Rise & Shine Mentorship is that: the help I did not have, open to everyone, and free.