Ali Doggaz

For having kickstarted his coding career just 6 years ago, Ali Doggaz has amassed an impressive arsenal of life experience. In his career, he has already worked as a Mission Analyst for the Tunisian Space Association, finished second in the Tunisian Association of Mathematical Competitions and Culture’s national mathematics Olympiad, and worked in software engineering with acclaimed AI firm Vneuron.

Currently studying at Tunisia’s National Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Ali initially built his coding skills by getting involved in a number of clubs. He has continued to grow as a programmer ever since, working part-time as a software engineer for start-up venture Data For Brands, all the while staying active in the hacker community. In February of 2021, Ali and his colleagues from the Tunisian Space Association won the KiboCUBE competition, organized by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in coordination with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, and will be launching their satellite directly from the ISS by 2024. And to top it all off, he’s also completed the competitive 12-week MLH Fellowship.

Ali believes the impact of the hacker community has been instrumental in leading him down his career path. Through the hacker community, Ali says he has “been exposed to success on a daily basis.” During his 2021 Major League Hacking (MLH) Fellowship, Ali was able to work with talented hackers from all over the world. Touching on his experience in the MLH Fellowship, Ali states: “It was truly an eye-opening experience, as it taught me a lot about myself, technology, and how real-world projects are conceived and created from scratch.” In fact, he enjoyed the MLH experience so much that he wanted to share the experience with other hackers, and subsequently joined MLH as an Admissions Specialist, helping to interview and select the best candidates for the MLH Fellowship from the thousands of applicants the program receives.“I am extremely happy to see the impact that I’m able to have on the fellowship” and on future candidates, Ali says. He has since worked his way up to the role of Senior Admissions Specialist.

Ali is giving back to the hacker community in more ways than one. He has big ambitions, dreaming of one day becoming the Tunisian Minister of Technology, and leading a golden age of technology in Tunisia. He is already leading by example, contributing work to the Tunisian Space Association for the second-ever Tunisian satellite. He credits the “resourceful and brilliant engineers” he has worked with there as further inspiring him to make Tunisia the “number one country in Africa in the space industry.” He continues to be fully dedicated to his craft, working part time as a software engineer while founding his own company, 619 Street, which aims to connect fashion retailers across Tunisia. Ali also seeks to provide a platform for young Tunisian fashion designers to promote their work. 619 Street is slated to fully launch in the summer of 2022.

His hard work has continued to pay dividends. Recently, out of more than 10,000 applicants, Ali was selected as one of 36 recipients of the prestigious Thomas Jefferson Scholarship Program. He will be traveling to the United States for the 2022 to 2023 academic year to study software engineering. “I am so proud to be a cultural ambassador for my country,” Ali says, “and I can’t wait to live this experience and represent my country overseas!”