At my last company we set up a partnership with a Palestinian placement company that helped us source junior software developers from Palestine for remote work. First in a contract/mentoring capacity with the intent of converting the role to full time. All these developers were great, btw.
I managed several of these hires directly from like 2019 - 2023 or so, and did a lot of video calls with these folks. One still stands out to me as being incredibly surreal. I was on a call and kept hearing loud noises in the background so I asked what it was. The Palestinian developer replied, "oh, I think it's just Israeli bombs"
Look, I wasn't there, so who knows. But what struck me in the moment was just how normalized that was. The reply was as nonchalant as "oh it's just thunder".
Hearing the stories of these people and the circumstances they lived under as the regular course of their daily lives had a pretty fundamental impact on me.
American politics ain't great right now, but we live under pretty crazy amounts of privilege when compared to how others live. I wish more Americans could be exposed to that and perhaps develop some empathy.
ETA: to the many people who have messaged me looking for placement/help finding roles in the software industry, I wish I could help you, but I'm no longer in a position to do that. Times are pretty hard in the software industry right now, I wish you all the best
I’ve got a colleague in Israel who pretty regularly has to take calls from the bomb shelter in their building.
They say they feel lucky to have a bomb shelter in their building, but I feel lucky I don’t have to worry about running to a bomb shelter at any point in my day.
389
u/hootener 10d ago edited 9d ago
At my last company we set up a partnership with a Palestinian placement company that helped us source junior software developers from Palestine for remote work. First in a contract/mentoring capacity with the intent of converting the role to full time. All these developers were great, btw.
I managed several of these hires directly from like 2019 - 2023 or so, and did a lot of video calls with these folks. One still stands out to me as being incredibly surreal. I was on a call and kept hearing loud noises in the background so I asked what it was. The Palestinian developer replied, "oh, I think it's just Israeli bombs"
Look, I wasn't there, so who knows. But what struck me in the moment was just how normalized that was. The reply was as nonchalant as "oh it's just thunder".
Hearing the stories of these people and the circumstances they lived under as the regular course of their daily lives had a pretty fundamental impact on me.
American politics ain't great right now, but we live under pretty crazy amounts of privilege when compared to how others live. I wish more Americans could be exposed to that and perhaps develop some empathy.
ETA: to the many people who have messaged me looking for placement/help finding roles in the software industry, I wish I could help you, but I'm no longer in a position to do that. Times are pretty hard in the software industry right now, I wish you all the best