Syria: An Untapped Goldmine of World-Class Programmers

Although I am originally from Syria, I left my home country 46 years ago as a child with my late father to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There, I completed my primary, middle, secondary, and university education and entered the world of programming in 1986. Since then, I have only visited Syria three times—totaling just 75 days in 2003, 2006, and 2010—and had very limited interaction with Syrian programmers.

Throughout my long career in Saudi Arabia, I worked with programmers from a wide range of nationalities—Arabs, Asians, Europeans, Americans, and South Americans—especially during the early days of the internet revolution. This gave me a broad perspective on global programming talent.

What I never expected, however, was what I discovered just a few months ago.

After retiring from full-time work for several years, my financial situation became modest. Still, I couldn’t stay away from my lifelong passion for low-level programming and processor-level development. So, I began writing technical booklets about C++, Assembly, Artificial Intelligence, Python, and TypeScript—languages I’ve mastered over the years. I published them for free using Overleaf and LaTeX. Some were successful, others less so, but the process introduced me to something far more valuable than downloads: talent.

I reached out to a few computer engineering graduates from Syria via LinkedIn, asking them (for a fee) to help review and edit some of my technical booklets. And the results were absolutely stunning.

I was blown away by their proficiency—not just in advanced programming languages, but also in their structured, accurate, and creative approaches. These were people who had trained and worked through 14 years of devastating war, economic hardship, and social instability, and yet their skills rivaled—if not exceeded—those I’ve seen from developers around the world.

This wasn’t a one-off experience. I soon began working on a new project and hired more Syrian programmers. To my astonishment, I found professionals capable of handling machine-level programming and compiler engineering—with outstanding precision. I hired them for part-time roles with extremely reasonable pay given the caliber of expertise involved.

I even hired a talented female developer specializing in AI to review one of my AI-focused booklets. She restructured the entire work, added illustrations, and elevated it to a whole new level of professionalism. Another programmer took over the development and ongoing support of the project’s online presence, delivering excellent results.

I’m sharing this personal journey with one goal in mind:

To alert European and international companies to a powerful, highly underrated source of software development talent: Syria.

This is not just a patriotic statement. Despite being Syrian, I was away for nearly five decades and had no prior insight into the talent my country had quietly developed. But now, I say this with full confidence and professional objectivity:

I have never encountered such skill, accuracy, and passion for programming in any other nationality I worked with.

This truth is already known by companies in Europe and across the world who have hired Syrian refugees or residents in recent years. These programmers have proven themselves to be on par with global developers—and in many cases, more dedicated, more affordable, and more innovative.

So, to company founders, hiring managers, and tech entrepreneurs looking for the perfect balance between quality and cost:

Give Syrian developers a chance. You will not regret it.