Wave-Maker Spotlight: Hossain Albgal

Over the next few months, we will be posting profiles on the amazing alumni that have come out of the Making Waves College and Alumni Program. These profiles are meant to both highlight our inspiring alumni and support other young professionals in understanding their own career path. If you have questions for us or our alumni, please post them below.

Today, the spotlight is on a conversation that we had with Hossain Albgal - an 7th Waver, graduate of University of California, Los Angeles, and employee of Google.

Describe your career path. What experiences provided insight along the way? Was your career path straight and planned, did you stumble into it, or was it somewhere in between?

I began my career the way I began my time on this earth: lost, cold, and confused. I had no idea what I wanted to do but I knew that I wanted to do it now. I interned at a lot of different financial institutions, volunteered at a few campus service organizations, and asked a bunch of people for advice. What I learned is that your first few jobs are for making mistakes. It’s important to use that time to figure out what you would enjoy doing everyday, what type of people you want to be surrounded by for about 50% of the next 40 years, and how do you want to grow as a person and professional. Through my conversations with accomplished individuals in a bunch of different fields, I found that there really is no prescribed path, and the longer you subscribe to that ideology, the more lost you become. Understand that a successful career is one that you carve for yourself. It's unique to your circumstances, interests, skills, and values and is entirely your own.

What advice do you give to those interested in your field and type of work? Are there any experiences and skills that you recommend them working on while in college?

For those interested in the tech industry, the strongest advice I can give to you is to look past the food and bright colors and really examine the work. It's easy to choose the company with the most glamorous set of perks. But like your iPhone 7, after a few months it just feels like your iPhone 6, this become your new standard. Channel your inner Dorothy and pull back the curtain to really consider whether you would enjoy what you would be working on every day. The tech industry is second to none in convincing new hires that what they will be doing will single-handedly change the world, but that is only the case a handful of the time. It doesn't mean you can't get there, but make sure to ask the hard questions, color the role accurately, and properly anchor your expectations.

What general advice do you have for college students still trying to understand their path?

Stop trying to find your passion. Or at least stop thinking of passion as the other half of a puzzle piece. I've found that a lot young graduates believe that what they were meant to do with their lives will make itself known to them much in the same way Cinderella found her missing Jordans. Any individual that you would consider to have discovered their passion: Steve Jobs, Kobe Bryant, Mother Teresa, Drake etc. most likely chose something they found interesting, engaging, or important and worked really hard at it every day for multiple hours per day. Discipline, work ethic, and good persistent habits is at the heart of tremendous impact and success. You begin to love what you are good at and what you find success in. If you believe that a bump in the road means you weren't meant to do something, you are not going to have a good time.

If you could give a piece of advice to your college self, what would it be?

1. Credit cards are not free money. 

2. Foster strong relationships with your classmates because they could become your most important asset in 5 years.

3. If you wait to make a resume until you need it, you're too late.

Did you or do you currently have a mentor? How did they support you personally and/or professionally?

I have multiple mentors, all of which serve a different and very important purpose in my development. One helps correct my thinking, another helps me consider career options, and another I use a general North Star for my career. Mentors, like your "passion" do not just fall in your lap. If you met someone interesting on LinkedIn, in your class, or on T.V reach out to them with one simple message "I am ambitious and hungry. I admire something about you. Can we grab coffee?". People are as eager to share what they've learned as much as they were to learn it.

What are your career dreams you have for yourself over the next 5-10 years? 

I hope that I can gather the skills, network, and competencies necessary to begin to tackle the problem of education inequality by my 30th birthday. I understand that that requires a great deal of time and investment, but I think it is important.

When you are 80 years old, what do you hope people say about you?

"He's still got that step-back jumper?!?" And that I helped whenever I could as much as I could.