Our Black in Tech series features the career path & advice from Black professionals in the tech industry. In this Q&A, Abdiel Danastor, Software Engineer at Liberty Mutual shares his story.
Abdiel is a 2020 Hack.Diversity Alum. Founded in 2016, Hack.Diversity transforms the economy by breaking barriers and building access for the next generation in tech. More than 50 companies have chosen to partner with Hack.Diversity to tap into the full potential of the talent landscape and co-design impactful strategies to transform the workplace for all employees. Learn more about Hack.Diversity.
Where did you grow up and what were you like as a child? What did your parents do for work?
I grew up in Haiti, and as a child, I was really into playing soccer and video games. My life revolved around going to school and getting good grades so my parents would allow me to play soccer on the weekends and, hopefully, buy me new video games. My dad was a teacher, and my mom was a nurse who later became a pharmacy technician.
What inspired you to get into the tech industry?
My interest in the tech industry started at a very early age—I wanted to learn how to create my own video game. I used to play on a SEGA console, but one day, it stopped working, and I couldn’t fix it. My parents bought me a PlayStation 1 (PS1), but the fear of it breaking, just like my SEGA, stayed with me. That’s when I became curious about how to fix consoles or even create my own from scratch. This curiosity led me to want to finish school and become an electrical engineer.
After graduating high school, I moved to the U.S. in 2016 and enrolled at Boston International Academy to learn English. While there, a school advisor suggested I consider becoming a software engineer instead of an electrical engineer.
I ultimately decided to study Computer Engineering, and my advisor’s advice was spot on when I took my first class at Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. It was my first programming course, and I quickly discovered that I had a natural talent for it. My programming professor, who saw my progress, encouraged me to pursue a career in software engineering.
To further my career journey, I joined Hack.Diversity and was matched with an internship at Liberty Mutual Insurance. I later attended Wentworth Institute of Technology, where I earned my bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, and I have been working as a Software Engineer at Liberty Mutual Insurance ever since.
Can you talk about your experience as a Fellow at Hack.Diversity?
I became a Fellow at Hack.Diversity while I was still attending Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology. They visited our campus one day and gave an engaging presentation on how they could help students prepare for careers in the tech industry and become software engineers.
Hack.Diversity provided us with a network and technical hands-on experience, helped us refine our resumes and LinkedIn profiles, and prepared us for interviews. Once we were ready, we submitted our applications and Hack.Diversity matched us with internship interviews at different companies.
Hack.Diversity made the interview process much less stressful by ensuring we were well-prepared for both technical and behavioral interviews. Thanks to their support, I secured my first internship at Liberty Mutual in June 2020. To this day, I’m grateful that Hack.Diversity visited my campus for that career fair—it was a game-changing opportunity.
How did Hack.Diversity help you navigate obstacles you had to overcome along the way as a Black professional?
One of the biggest obstacles Hack.Diversity helped me navigate as a Black professional was my lack of confidence in my abilities. They provided mentorship and counseling that helped me overcome imposter syndrome. At first, I found it intimidating to even apply for a tech position, knowing that I had a foreign accent and fearing that I wasn’t good enough for the role. Hack.Diversity gave me the support and encouragement I needed to believe in myself and pursue opportunities with confidence.
Can you share the high-level responsibilities of your current position as a Software Engineer at Liberty Mutual?
For the last three years I have worked as a Software Engineer in Liberty Mutual’s Global Risk Solutions (GRS) department. Our team develops, maintains, and enhances API solutions that enable consumer applications to perform CRUD operations on digital content. We also build event-based solutions to transform and extract data from digital content stored in our databases.
What advice would you give to other Black professionals who are interested in joining the tech industry?
My advice for anyone who wants to join the tech industry is to not wait until you have everything figured out. Understand the basics of computer and software concepts, master one programming language (preferably an object-oriented language), have a growth mindset, and submit the application. My career so far has been a journey of constant learning and adapting to new technologies.