Software Engineer, Fadel, began his coding career when he joined 1337 Coding School back in 2018. Today, he’s at the heart of our Product Engineering Team at Gemography.
Let’s learn more about Fadel and his experience!
Can you tell us a little about your background?
Not quite the typical software engineer path. I graduated from Agadir’s Ibn Zohr University in 2016 and obtained my bachelor’s degree in Law. After that, I quickly had the opportunity to focus on what I really wanted to do, programming, because there was always a part of me that longed to tech and code. I’ve decided then to start learning how to code, took a couple of online classes, and worked on a few gigs and projects. In 2018, I was accepted into 1337 Coding School in Khouribga, Morocco. It was a unique experience that taught me a lot about computer programming, software engineering, and coding.
How long have you been at Gemography?
Just over almost 2 years! I was brought on in early 2020 as an intern working closely with the Front-end Development team, but was quickly invited into other projects and offered full-time, now I work with the core product engineering team as a Full-Stack Developer.
What attracted you to join Gemography?
I was attracted to what they do at Gemography because they have a unique way of standing out from other tech Moroccan companies. The mindset, team spirit, and shared passion for tech really set them apart. Even during the interview process with Zack (Head of Engineering and Developer Relations) and Salim (Engineer Lead), you could tell, everyone on the team is very friendly, good at what they do, and genuinely easy to work with.
Take us through a typical workday for you.
Our days are very flexible and dynamic. We are basically free to structure our day the way we want to complete the assigned tasks using Linear's sprint planning; the only constant we have is our bi-daily sync meetings with the whole product engineering team. Other days are spent coding and reviewing code. Overall, there's no micro-management. Managers show trust in you & let you take ownership of work.
What's your most favorite engineering project at Gemography?
Definitely the Gemography Talent Platform. It's powered by React, Express.js, GraphQL, Docker.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Spoiler alert: definitely not video games. Might sound boring but I like to invest my time into learning more about software engineering, as well as exploring new languages and frameworks.
What is one piece of advice that you would give to software engineers thinking of applying to Gemography?
Don't be shy. Ask questions. Reach out to everyone, even Yassine (CEO) or Adil (CTO), in fact, they're both very nice, down-to-earth, always there to answer any questions, and will always motivate you and push you to do your best.