Zainab Fahim is not your run-of-the-mill hacker, finding her way to the hacker community after making a switch from her childhood dream of going to medical school. Facing high and traditional standards in the  tight-knit community she grew up with in Panadura, Sri Lanka, she had always believed her future lay in the field of medicine. However, in the midst of fighting depression, Zainab found herself at her lowest point, struggling to find direction without her childhood dream of studying medicine. She knew something needed to change, and “after hitting one of the lowest points in my life, I found my way through technology.”

Initially skeptical of the world of coding, Zainab realized early on the power technology has to shape lives. “The power to build, bring ideas to life, to solve real world problems, to be able to create a change” motivates Zainab. In 2019, Zainab signed herself up for an inter-school hackathon. There, she took the opportunity to work on an application addressing issues close to home, including mental health, unemployment, and poverty. Zainab says “the power teens like us had in attempting to solve a real-life problem was truly a mind-blowing experience.” While she did not place in her first competition, she found inspiration and a passion for hackathons which she still has today. From that very first hackathon in 2019, Zainab has gone on to compete in a number of online hackathons, including AthenaHacks in 2022. Working with a team of women from the United States and India, she says the hackathon has particular sentimental value to her.

“In coding, I found my worth,” Zainab says, continuing, “I found the channel to show I can still achieve in life. I found a voice to tell others and myself [...] that things will get better.” She says she wants to share that with others, since joining MLH’s discord, she has “tried to pay forward the kindness that I was shown in my first hack.” 

She has continued to pursue her passion for coding, and is currently enrolled in her first year of an undergraduate degree in Software Engineering from the University of Westminster. Her short-term goal is to apply for the MLH Fellowship this fall. As Zainab continues to grow in her hacking career, exploring the world of DevOps and familiarizing herself with Linux operations, she has kept her eye on the bigger picture.

She says “as a Sri Lankan living through one of the country’s worst economic crises, ranging from fuel and electricity to the food crisis, I want to show that despite those constant power cuts” and the “crippling economy, we—the future of Sri Lanka, will keep showing up.” Bringing others into the hacker community, especially those who have not traditionally had the same opportunities to pursue a career in tech, is critical to Zainab, who says one of her biggest goals for the future is to “share this joy with so many more young women who believe their life is limited to raising a family.” 

The hacker community has had a profound impact on Zainab, and while her specific career goals have fluctuated from wanting to be a front-end developer to full-stack to DevOps, she’s always kept focus on her primary goal of helping young girls with a background like hers find their way into technology. Zainab is leading by example, helping to set up a hackathon at her high school in order to give the next year of students the same life-changing hackathon experience she had. She has stayed involved by joining her university’s chapter of Women in FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software), and says the one thing that won’t change is her “burning desire to reach out to so many young girls who I know would be saved and filled with purpose if only they had the opportunity.”