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Siam Hossain, founder of online coding bootcamp GetMeHired, shares his journey from Bangladesh to the USA and into entrepreneurship.
Siam is the founder of GetMeHired. Before that, he founded HigherStudyAbroad, a platform connecting international students with mentors and built a thriving community of 190k members. Siam originally came to the U.S. from Bangladesh for his Masters degree, and later became an AVP in software engineering at T. Rowe Price, an investment management company.
We cover Siam’s discoveries as an international student while studying for his Master’s degree in Texas, how that led him to found two companies, and his path to entrepreneurship while working as a software engineer.
Episode Highlights
How Siam got started with his first company
Siam started HigherStudyAbroad, a mentorship platform for international students in Bangladesh and India, based on his own experience applying to study in the USA.
Having spent a year going through the process, he came back to share his experiences and this resonated with many others, with his original Facebook group growing to over 185,000 members.
With this traction, he matched students with mentors, helping them study abroad.
On taking career risks
After getting his Master’s degree, Siam moved to New York City to pursue software engineering. Initially unsuccessful, he eventually found his way through a mentor and bounced back to a career as a software engineer before working on his companies full-time.
On taking risks in general
“If there’s something you want to try, go do it since there’s not much to lose” – Siam.
In the grand scheme of things, whatever you end up worrying over won’t be that important, so it’s better to try.
Plus, side projects help. You can have the stability of your job and pursue your passions.
Siam’s advice for Founders looking to start out
- life is short, take it lightly – don’t take things too seriously
- don’t let the concept of “play” get lost – you should do what makes you happy; it’s easy to look at ideas, both professionally and socially, but you have to have fun along the way
- enjoy the process – it’s about the journey, not the end result
More about Siam
You can find Siam on Twitter or siam@getmehired.co
GetMeHired is an online programming and job hunting bootcamp for international students studying in the U.S.