I’m always surprised, and I lowkey admire people who say their job is their passion. Like I hear a lot of developers saying coding is their passion. Bruh, what do you mean 😭 I respect the vibe, but I’m just here to make enough money so I can travel the world.

If I had 30 birr, I would spend 20 birr on the bus and go to Legetafo on an Anbessa bus just for a visit 😅 that’s how badly I want to travel.

That’s what keeps me coding through all the errors in the middle of the weekend.

Coder to Coder:

Client don’t have time to check if the backend is implemented or not….. Thank you.. !

I’ll be at two events back to back tomorrow: the Google AUC engagement at the African Union Commission and the Addis AI Forum at ALX.
If you’re coming, say hi! Would love to connect and grow my network.

ran into some issues and didn’t get the time to send my Ramadan wishes. Late is better than never.

To all my brothers and sisters in Islam,

may this month of Ramadan be the time that we draw closer to Allah, purify our hearts, and turn back to Him in tawbah.

may Allah make it a turning point in our lives for the better.

We take reaching Ramadan for granted, but it is truly not guaranteed. Truly not.
May we reflect on that and realize that we have been given another chance for tawbah.

Aminnn

I want to address something I am noticing the trend of building startapp and leaving 9-5 jobs. I do understand where it comes from, but people are quitting left and right and yes there are people who lock in and get results but there is also the other side where people loss their possession. Starting startapp is a a really difficult thing to do and it's rewarding if you succeed in that,but you should also be reasonable and logical.

I think you should have plenty of experience in the industry and try to solve problems where your users are willing to pay to avoid or eliminate the problem in hand.

#code@amuif_codes

This is an older episode of meri podcast where Mr. Milion talks about entrepreneurship. You can check it out if you want a deeper dive into whether entrepreneurship is really for you. There’s also a much more recent episode, but in that one he mostly talks about startup funding and related stuff.

https://youtu.be/LY3I66Mhr1E?si=v_yI3FmMMfV4H2ab

I used to stare at LeetCode questions for so long…
And if I didn’t understand them quickly, I’d ask AI for a hint.

It worked… temporarily but when I came back to the same problem days later, I couldn’t solve it again.
That’s when I realized .. I wasn’t learning how to think , I was learning how to finish.

So I changed my approach.

Now before I even touch my keyboard, I sit with the problem.

I try to truly understand it.
What is it asking?
What are the edge cases?
What happens if the input is empty? One element? Duplicates? Negatives?

Then I grab paper.

Honestly… I don’t think I can solve a problem without paper anymore.
I write the important details... I draw it... I simulate it.
I explain the logic to myself like I’m teaching someone.

Only after that do I ask:

Is this two pointers?
Sliding window?
Prefix sum?
Binary search?
Because most DSA problems are just pattern recognition in disguise.

Then I solve it the “dumb” way first ... brute force even if it’s slow.

Because brute force builds understanding...optimization builds performance.

After I find the first working approach, I pause again:
Can this be faster?
Can I reduce time complexity?
Can I remove extra space?

This mindset helped me a LOT ..especially in Codeforces.
Sometimes your first solution passes all tests locally…Then you submit it will Wrong Answer.
Because you didn’t think deeply enough about constraints or hidden edge cases.

I’m not perfect...Iam still struggling but this method changed how I approach problems.

#WorthSharing
#zaya_journal

I am not into DSA these days but this used to be my approach back when when I was in A2SV

May allah make us from people who will gonna benefit from the rest of the days 🤲

A2SV

In case this helps someone someday, I wanted to talk about my time at A2SV.

First of all, if you do not know what A2SV is, it stands for Africa to Silicon Valley Program. It is a nonprofit organization that prepares university students for big tech interviews like FAANG or MAANG.

I first heard about A2SV during my first year of college, and it was one of the reasons I chose AAiT. At the time, I thought being an AAiT student was a requirement because A2SV was only operating in AAU. Later, I found out that it accepts any AAU student. I was part of the G5 in person program. I would say I experienced A2SV during its bright days. Everything I am sharing here is based on my experience back then. I am not sure if the curriculum has changed since.

The Education

The first thing A2SV focuses on is data structures and algorithms. The first year is an intensive DSA program that lasts almost eight months, followed by a summer camp where you learn beginner development tech stacks. The course starts with beginner topics like arrays and strings and goes all the way to advanced topics like tries, advanced dynamic programming, and trees. If you want to become the Ethiopian Gennady Korotkevich, A2SV is the place to be.

When it comes to development, I would say A2SV lags a bit. You might learn more practical development skills by joining a local startup that ships products quickly. Again, I am speaking based on my experience from two years ago. It makes sense, though, since the main goal of the program is to prepare you for interviews, not to teach you how to build production level applications.

The Education System

The teaching and learning process is excellent. I would even suggest Mr. Birhanu Nega sit behind Emre Varol and see how Emre built and shaped the system. The resources are well organized, and the mentors take their responsibilities seriously. They track your progress one on one and truly care about how you are doing. If you fall behind for even a week, you will get on a call to figure out what you missed and what you need help with.

My favorite part of the lectures was the moon walk, though. 🙂 (You will not get the joke unless you are an A2SVian.)

The Perks and Benefits

Financially, A2SV is what made me rich enough to afford shawarma every few days. 😊 You get an unlimited monthly internet package until the end of the season. You also receive 100 birr per lecture from Monday to Saturday, as long as you are on time. During the internship period, we were paid a net 11,500 ETB per month. Who else would pay an intern that much in Ethiopia? Do the math for a three and a half month internship. And remember, this was two years ago. For comparison, campus cost sharing was 450 birr back then.

Opportunity wise, A2SV exposes you to people from big tech companies. Many senior developers and managers from big tech visited us. The fellow students you meet there are usually very driven and passionate. Through networking, you get exposed to many different opportunities.

I had more to say, but I honestly forgot after getting distracted by something else. I might need to get my ADHD checked. Anyway, this is enough for now. I can share more thoughts and suggestions in the future depending on your questions.

😭.

Allhumma Aamiinn 🤲

اللهم صلِّ وسلِّم وبارِك على نبينا وحبيبنا ورسولنا وقدوتنا محمدٍ عليه الصلاةُ والسلام

I am the brother..

(Iftar is in 2 minutes from now🙂)

By any chance, are you from St. Mary or do you have a friend there, or do you have any information about the workspace mentioned in the video? Is it really free for anyone? I saw people in the comment section of the video arguing. Some say it is only allowed for St. Mary students. I need your help if you have any information.