My Journey from Lost Engineer to AI Leader in Egypt
Sometimes the best career advice sounds counterintuitive. Here's why chasing passion nearly derailed my career—and what actually worked.
The Passion Trap That Nearly Broke Me
"Follow your passion." "Do what you love." "Pursue your dreams."
I heard these mantras throughout my career as a petroleum engineer, and they nearly destroyed my professional life. I was passionate about energy and engineering, but passion without career capital? It's just wishful thinking.
Despite three scholarship opportunities (two engineering master's degrees and an EMBA from the USA), I couldn't land a job or even an internship. The passion hypothesis had failed me spectacularly. As Cal Newport argues in "So Good They Can't Ignore You," most passions don't translate to viable careers, and enjoying something doesn't guarantee fulfillment when it becomes your daily grind.
The Moment I Stopped Chasing Dreams and Started Building Value
In 2018, I attended TOA Berlin—not because I was passionate about tech, but because I was desperately seeking opportunities. That conference didn't ignite sudden passion for AI. Instead, it showed me something more valuable: a field where I could build rare and valuable skills that the world actually wanted.
This wasn't about following my heart—it was about recognizing opportunity and committing to becoming exceptional at something with genuine market demand.
Career Capital: The Real Path to Professional Freedom
What Newport calls "career capital"—rare and valuable skills that make you indispensable—became my north star. Instead of asking "What am I passionate about?" I started asking:
"What skills can I develop that are both rare and valuable?"
"Where can I create genuine value for others?"
"How can I become so good that people can't ignore me?"
I started learning AI and coding at a "later" age, driven not by passion for programming, but by recognition that these skills were becoming increasingly valuable.
Beyond Passion: Finding Your Professional Ikigai
The Japanese concept of ikigai—your reason for being—offers a more complete framework than simple passion-following. True ikigai exists at the intersection of:
What you're good at (or can become good at)
What the world needs
What you can be paid for
What you love
The key insight: you don't need to start with love. You can begin with any of the other three circles and develop genuine fulfillment as you build mastery and create value.
I entered AI through "what the world needs" and "what pays well." The love came later, after I'd built competence and started seeing real impact.
Building Skills, Not Chasing Dreams
I focused on deliberate practice—pushing myself to uncomfortable levels of difficulty. I chose agentic AI and no-code solutions not because they excited me emotionally, but because I could see their market potential.
The result? I positioned myself in AI before it became a global phenomenon, earning the career capital to choose meaningful work.
From Career Capital to Impact: Building People of Data
Once I had sufficient career capital, I gained leverage to choose truly fulfilling work. I founded People of Data to address the gap I consistently saw in the market—people asking "How can I get into this field?" and companies asking "How can we leverage our data?"
We've trained 300+ graduates across 5 AI courses, with most participants getting hired or acquiring new skills. We built the People of Data app to connect businesses with talent, and I'm now running an AI venture builder developing solutions across education, healthcare, marketing, and more.
This fulfilling work became possible only after building substantial career capital. The autonomy, creativity, and impact I enjoy aren't the result of following passion—they're byproducts of becoming exceptionally skilled at something valuable.
The Hard Truth for Egypt's Future
Egypt's greatest asset is our young, talented population. But talent without strategic direction wastes potential. If we shift from passion-first to value-first thinking, we can build the career capital to compete globally and establish Egypt as a regional AI leader.
Your Path Forward
If you're feeling lost in your career:
Stop asking what you're passionate about
Research what skills are becoming valuable
Choose one area where you can become exceptional
Commit to deliberate practice, not casual learning
Build real projects that create genuine value
For those in Egypt's emerging tech economy, here's your strategic roadmap:
For Coding Enthusiasts: Learn CrewAI—it's transformational for building agentic AI systems that will reshape how businesses operate. The best part? Andrew Ng offers free courses on deeplearning.ai that teach you everything you need to know. This is a powerhouse of education that can help you build world-class AI solutions.
For No-Code Builders: Master n8n for workflow automation and agentic AI without extensive programming. Companies desperately need these solutions, and you can create tremendous value (and income) by helping businesses automate their operations and decision-making processes.
Both paths offer massive opportunities and don't require traditional CS backgrounds. Agentic AI will change the world—position yourself now.
The Real Secret
The most fulfilling careers aren't found by following pre-existing passions. They're built by developing rare and valuable skills that give you leverage in the marketplace. Passion often follows mastery, not the other way around.
Career capital first, passion second. Skills before dreams. Value creation before self-actualization.
This approach transformed me from a lost petroleum engineer to an AI leader building Egypt's tech future. The question isn't what you're passionate about—it's what you're willing to become exceptional at.
What will you choose?
Youssef Kamal built career capital in AI and data science, giving him leverage to found People of Data and establish an AI venture builder. He believes career capital, not passion, is the key to both professional success and meaningful impact.