Mekonnen Kassa’s Tech Journey: Audience Questions

Audience Questions It was a great honor to have a conversation with Mekonnen Kassa on Habesha in Tech club. We spent close to 3 hours talking about his personal &  professional journey. It was an eye opening session where we learnt how  he was able share us his personal story starting from his life in  Gondar, Ethiopia. Mekonnen left Ethiopia during the Socialist Derg military was leading  the country. He was young & ambitious so he and his friend together  walked to Sudan, yes WALKED TO SUDAN. He was able to  escape the suffering in Ethiopia but the suffering in Sudan was there  waiting for this young new Refugee. After few years in Sudan living as a  refugee, Mr. Kassa was fortunate enough to come to the US with his  partner. That’s where he was able to start his English language class.  He also started working as a taxi driver. Mekonnen is polyglot. He speaks Amharic,  Tigrigna, Arabic, English. He loves learning new languages he tried to  learn Afan Oromo too, he probably need some course – feel free to give  him tips 😀. While he was attending his language class he was able to  learn about his deep interest about education, therefore, he went to University of Washington to study Mechanical Engineering. While he was attending school he also works as a cab driver. The  conversation he had with one of his frequent customers was the one that  changed his life. His customer was kind enough to tell him what his job.  Mr. Kassa used this opportunity to pitch what skills & trainings.  His customer supported Mekonnen by guiding him to prepare his resume and  get him an interview at Accenture (then Anderson Consulting). That how Mekonnen’s Tech Journey was  launched. You can call it fate, opportunity or luck: but Mekonnen was  able to capitalize on what he was given. After he joined Accenture, his  career took off and still going strong. He is currently a Senior  Director of Cyber Security Engineering at Microsoft. Mekonnen told us that he struggled to move up the ladder at  Microsoft. But he wasn’t able to understand why. He was doing everything  right and was a successful tech leader but that wasn’t enough to get  him promotion. But one day he insisted to get the right reasons so that  he can improve & move up the management ladder. That where  everything changed: he was able to change course and made changes on his  communication, leadership & interpersonal skills. That changed his  career. He is now a leader, a mentor, a coach. It was an honour to have a chance to chat with you. I can’t wait to  listen to our conversation again. It was very rich with your personal  story and tech Journey. Thank you 🙏🏾 so much for sharing us your  journey. Please listen to our conversation and share it with your network. Follow | Share | Comment | Like Website | Clubhouse | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter