Native of War-torn African Country Reengineers His Career

Abdoulaye Fofana’s journey from war-torn Liberia to MIT illustrates the life-changing opportunities the Career Reengineering Program affords

Growing up in an impoverished country, Fofana believed that education was the key to a better future. When he finished high school in Liberia, he was fortunate to win a prestigious scholarship to attend college in Russia. He packed his things and moved far away from his friends, his family, his home, and his language.

To learn Russian, Fofana enrolled in the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute and then studied management information systems at the St. Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics. When he finished his master’s degree in 1995, Liberia was engulfed in a civil war that tragically took his parents lives. Fofana could not return home nor could he stay in Russia because economic conditions made finding a job impossible. Fortunately American friends arranged for him to come to the U.S. and join them in New York state.

In America, Fofana applied for and won political asylum and, in time, became a citizen. He honed his skills through area IT organizations until he landed a job at a financial consulting start up. After a few years, the company was forced to scale back operations and Fofana lost his job. That’s when he found the MIT Career Reengineering Program (CRP).

CRP attracts mid-career science and technology professionals who plan to re-enter the workforce, refresh their skills to stay relevant, or shift fields of concentration. Fofana wanted to upgrade his skills and rebrand himself by adding an MIT credential.

In the year-long CRP program, fellows usually take one MIT class in the fall but Fofana wanted more. “During orientation, professors presented exciting topics that made me think, so I chose two classes, not one, to help broaden my background into an emerging field.” He took Biomedical Computing and Database, Internet, and Systems Integration Technologies to help him prepare for a new career in the biomedical field focusing on large-scale clinical database design and modeling.

“Choose your course wisely,” he advises. “Find a course related to your skill set and background, so you can use your prior experience in a new field.”

The CRP experience includes career and personal development workshops and the fellows enjoy access to MIT lectures, conferences, events, and libraries plus their own student lounge. “I made some great friends who I know will stay in my life,” says Fofana

In January, Fofana gained valuable experience working as an intern for Globespan Capital Partners, a venture capital firm specializing in information technology. At a spring job fair on campus, he learned about promising openings and soon landed a job as a technology product manager in Oracle’s Health Science Global Business Unit. In this role, Fofana will help Oracle develop strategies to integrate health and life sciences and he expects the opportunity to lead to long-term career growth at Oracle.

“You need to explore your path,” he says. “If you know what you want, pursue it. I did.”