My journey to Canada was quite the experience. My family is originally from northern Iraq, and we grew up living in Baghdad. We moved from Baghdad to Lebanon right before my last year of high school in 2014. I finished high school in Lebanon. It was during my first year of university that my family and I applied to come to Canada as privately sponsored refugees.

I knew there would be a lot more career opportunities in my field in Canada, but I also knew that it would be difficult for me to find work due to having no work experience, and being a newcomer to Canada.

Fast-forward four years and my application was approved. It was time to move to Canada. I had one year left to graduate from Lebanon, and I wanted to finish there instead of spending more years studying in Canada. So I was flying between Canada and Lebanon every semester.

During my time in university, I knew that eventually I would be in Canada. I knew that I needed to build some tech projects and learn things on my own. I created some cool small projects using the latest web technologies that I wanted to learn and become good at, keeping in mind that I was preparing for my job search in Toronto after I graduated.

I contacted Hatchways over the Christmas break and completed their assessments. Shums from Hatchways told me to contact him when I arrived in Toronto after graduating.

I arrived in late May, 2018. I had a job offer in less than 30 days!

Hatchways connected me to three cool startups in Toronto. I did multiple interviews with them. I liked all the companies, and the positions were exactly the kind I was looking for. I also applied for jobs on my own, but things were much faster with Hatchways. I didn't feel I had any disadvantage compared to other people applying for these jobs.

I am extremely happy with my current job and how things turned out for me. Hatchways accelerated things for me a lot, and I expect that they will do the same for many more people.