Transitioning from Humanitarian Aid to Tech: Skills That Made the Difference
After years as a humanitarian aid worker, my journey into tech revealed surprising parallels between these seemingly different worlds.
In the wake of critical accountability failures, Meta expanded several teams, including those building public Trust & Safety. Having made this transition myself, I discovered that five key skills from my humanitarian background that proved invaluable in the tech sector:
1. Situational Awareness
Working in tech senior management is like playing 3D chess. You must constantly monitor real-world events, economic trends, and internal dynamics across numerous teams with evolving priorities. Making sound decisions requires processing a wide breadth of inputs quickly—something humanitarian workers excel at through years of complex emergency response.
2. Relationship-Based Influence
In tech, particularly without transparent incentive structures, work gets accomplished through relationships rather than authority. Exceptional communication, persuasion, and influence skills become your primary tools. People collaborate when they see mutual benefit, making the soft skills honed in cross-sector humanitarian coordination extraordinarily valuable.
3. Operational Efficiency
The public sector constantly optimizes for efficiency with limited resources. Tech companies, despite their resources, struggle with operational "franken-monsters" resulting from emergency fixes and reward systems that prioritize quick implementation over thoughtful execution. Those with public sector experience are uniquely positioned to help improve these systems.
4. Human-Centered Approach
While business needs drive decisions, there is no business without people. Humanitarian workers instinctively consider individuals, communities, and the cascading effects of decisions. This perspective is critical when evaluating platform and product impacts.
For managing in tech specifically, I recommend "Work Rules" by Laszlo Bock—the most important book for anyone making this transition.
5. Navigating Complex Systems
The experience of managing grants—with their overlapping policies, documentation requirements, and resource constraints—translates surprisingly well to tech environments. The ability to navigate complex systems while maintaining compliance and achieving objectives is a transferable superpower.
When facing moments of doubt during my transition, I asked my hiring manager why he chose me. His answer was revealing: he valued scrappiness and, specifically in my case, self-awareness.
To those in the humanitarian community navigating challenging times: your background has equipped you with more relevant skills than you might realize. Tough times don’t last, compassionate smart people do.