Ali Ahmed ’11
Schools Since WES
Sidwell Friends, UC Berkeley ’19, incoming MBA candidate at Harvard Business School
Current Occupation
Startups! I started a company that built software to help defense contractors identify patterns in their data. We were funded by YCombinator (W20 batch) and a bunch of angel investors including Kevin Lin (co-founder of Twitch). I then joined Brev.dev as COO and helped them grow for a bit. I’m now taking a bit of a break before starting my next role (again in tech, most likely on the growth side) before getting my MBA.
Future Career Goals
Running strategy for mid-size to larger tech companies! And later working on technology policy within government. But also tbd, life is long and I’m still young – all I know is I love everything tech.
Favorite WES Activity
Mrs. Earle and Mr. Elkassem’s excitement in their science classes were one of the reasons I got so excited about STEM early. Even after all these years, that’s what sticks with me so clearly today. I will never forget that, and it definitely rubbed off!
Favorite WES Memory
Our trip to Spain during my eighth grade year.
How did WES prepare you for your future?
As education continues the number of classes you take becomes less, but the depth increases. I took a ton of classes at WES that allowed me to get more exposure and excitement to different fields. (I learned very quickly that I didn’t like Latin but I loved ‘science’ and this one geography class that was really an economics/politics class.) Life decisions are never linear, but going into high school that general knowledge did help me narrow my electives, and eventually, in college, that’s what I ended up majoring in (computer science + economics).
