From Pakistan to Python, Genesys Works Gives Young Programmer a Huge Opportunity

“September 27^th, 2009.” The date rolls without hesitation off of Muhammad A. Khalid’s tongue—the day he arrived at O’Hare from Pakistan. His family had had a good life there, with his father working as a computer programmer and Muhammad and his siblings dedicated to their schoolwork. Then, things changed. Threats came. There was a targeted killing in Muhammad’s neighborhood. Eventually, he stopped going to school “because we feared for our lives.”

Muhammad A. Khalid

That flight to Chicago, the result of four years’ hard work by Muhammad’s father to obtain a visa and escape from a rapidly deteriorating political situation, was a huge opportunity for Muhammad. A second major opportunity came the summer after his junior year of high school, just three years later, when he decided to join Genesys Works.

After immigrating to the United States, Muhammad’s family had to start over. His father was unable to find work in Minnesota, and though he was always interested in computers, Muhammad didn’t have a clear path for developing his own technical talents. That is, until he found Genesys Works. The eight week business and IT boot camp finally gave Muhammad the opportunity he needed to get real skills. Genesys Works staff helped him go even farther. Recognizing his desire to program, Muhammad’s summer instructor introduced him to online training resources that would help him develop his abilities. After the summer, Genesys Works kick-started his career early by placing him in a year-long internship with Capella University in downtown Minneapolis. Within weeks of starting at Capella, he had designed macros to shorten his team’s routine tasks, impressing colleagues with twice his experience.

Muhammad quickly realized his next step: learn the programming language Python and start tackling something bigger. He had already seen a problem that needed solving, a bloated manual process for editing batches of websites. With the help of his co-worker Chris, he developed a solution to the slow process. Now, his team is poised to implement the script he wrote, making a two-hour process take mere seconds.

His dream now is to design operating systems, and the programming work he does daily at Capella keeps him on the track to achieving that dream. As he puts it, "Genesys Works has provided me the confidence, the skills and that extra step that I needed to succeed.  It is a wonderful opportunity that should not be wasted." 

If you are a current high school junior and you’d like to benefit from Genesys Works, apply online at www.genesysworks.org/twincities. The application deadline is March 13.