It’s not uncommon for women to sacrifice their careers and dreams after becoming a mother. Many women leave the workforce on their own volition, while others are pressured to leave due to societal or familial pressures.
Here’s a story of one such mother who wanted “more from her motherhood.” Rehab Emam is a mother of two who lives in Egypt— where only 20% of the labor force is female — had an inspiring journey to achieve her childhood dream of becoming a programmer.
“I wanted to be a successful mother and also have a career. I wanted to do more with my life than just being a mother. I wanted to live my dreams and also help my kids achieve theirs,” said Rehab.
“It only started 18 months ago when I decided to work in the tech field. I graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in the late ‘90s, but never worked as an engineer. I got married and later managed a local business. The business was successively run by me for more than 17 years.
“I used to always dream about computer science, technology, and coding. I started looking around on the internet until I found egFWD (Udacity’s Government partnership in Egypt) and I started with the Data Analysis Nanodegree program (Advanced) as I already had some background,” she continued.
“Meanwhile, I started Digital Marketing from challenger to professional track (to document my learnings), marketed myself with the techniques I learned.
“I got to the pilot program on Freelancer.com, and that’s where I secured some gigs. A couple of gigs later, I was selected to work on a global project to estimate social-economic well-being in India using data science. Then, I moved from a part time job as a marketing assistant to a full time job. Now, I am the Head of Content and Knowledge at Omdena.
“This middle-aged mother, who secured her kids’ needs from her laptop, couldn’t be more grateful. Thank you, Egypt’s Ministry of Communications, egFWD, and Udacity.”
The partnership between Egypt’s Ministry of Communications, egFWD, and Udacity has led to more than 300,000 Egyptian learners up-skilling themselves in high-demand fields across the digital freelancing marketplace such as Data Science, Web Development, and Digital Marketing. So far, more than 10,000 graduates have joined the freelancing marketplaces and are ready to improve their lives and the digital economy of their country, Egypt.
If you are from Egypt, above 18 years old and interested in acquiring some skills that can help you get ready for the jobs of the future, then click here to join our egFWD initiative.
For others, check our courses today and enroll now.
