Omar Khan

Tell us a little about yourself and your previous experience.

I work as a Technical Recruiter at Sensibill and had been to BrainStation as an Industry Partner a few times. I really liked seeing what people were doing and learning here, and I was on a self-learning journey as well, so I thought it was time to take the plunge myself.

Did the company give you time off to earn the diploma?

The company [I work at] gave me the time to complete the program, and I'm going back there to be a better Technical Recruiter, with emphasis on the technical. Toronto is a tech industry hub in Canada and North America; we're growing as an ecosystem and I think if a company wants to hire the best people, or if a Recruiter wants to do a good job, you have to speak the right language. With the stuff I've learned here and knowing what I knew before I came here, I will do a much better job.

What was the highlight of the program for you?

It’s the friends I made on the way. I met some really cool people here, and the Instructors were really great. For someone who’s been trying to teach himself, you get lost in how much stuff there is out there, and having structure really helped – BrainStation definitely provided that.

I'm already having better conversations with people about concepts that I previously only sort of understood. Now I can dig in a little bit deeper.

What was the biggest challenge?

Impostor syndrome is a real thing, so it’s hard to feel like you really know something after such a short period of time. But, then you build something, it starts coming together, and you actually see it happening – it's quite satisfying.

What are your thoughts on Demo Day?

It’s pretty awesome. For my job, I spend a lot of time just talking to people at career fairs, but it's nice to talk about something that’s your own instead of trying to sell something – it's super satisfying.

Would you recommend BrainStation’s Diploma Programs to others?

It helped me a lot, and I think if you're thinking about taking a program it will help you too. I'm already having better conversations with people about concepts I previously only sort of understood. Now, I can dig in a little bit deeper. If you are trying to learn something and not making as much progress as you'd like, then this is the place to be because they will throw you in the deep end and help you along the way.