My Learning Story: Mulham Soufi

The UN’s fourth Sustainable Development Goal is about access to quality education and life-long learning – both essential to bringing positive change into the world.

We are living in times of constant, rapid and profound change, triggered by climate change and digital transformation. To find the right answers to new questions we need to learn more, and maybe differently. Curiosity, creativity and critical thinking are as important as maths, IT, languages skills, etc... We need to be innovative and ingenious to build a just, peaceful and sustainable world for us and our children.

Learning needs well-run education systems, but it comes from inside the human being. It’s fun, but sometimes it’s painful. In preparation for the upcoming Ethical Leadership in Business event in June 2020, we have invited diverse people from around the world to share stories of their learning journeys. These stories offer inspiring insights and invite us to reflect on our education and life-long learning.

‘My Learning Story’ hopes to become a global learning experience, connecting people around the world as they share their stories of what we all do every day: learning to build a brighter future.

Interview with Mulham Soufi, developper and student at Ecole 42 in Lyon

Mulham, you are a student of computer programming at Ecole 42 in Lyon. This university works differently because you all learn from each other. What is its strength?

Studying at Ecole 42 is very rewarding, because you are not only in the role of recipient but also of giver. So we are not empty vessels to be filled, but can share our experience from the first day. It makes you feel competent, positive and useful. Once you are able to explain something, this shows that you have understood the material.

In addition, the people at this university are very passionate and open. There are only a few individualists. We know each other well, and this creates a good group and work cohesion.

What intrigues me is that you learn like in a video game, except that you yourself are the avatar?

Yes, the structure looks like a video game. You start at level zero and the goal is to reach level 21 (half of 42). Each level is more and more difficult to attain. Your level is visible to all the students enrolled in Ecole 42, whether here in France or around the world. This is motivating.

Where does your inner motivation to learn come from?

When something makes sense to me, then I want to learn it. I want to know how to develop computer tools that can improve the conditions of human life. For example, developing a website for an association makes sense to me.

What are the key competencies for the 21st century?

• Listening to oneself and others
• Encouraging others to do what they love
• Being aware of one's actions

What have you learned from the COVID 19 pandemic experience?

It has given me a lot of perspective. It's an opportunity to understand the economic mechanisms in our societies and what depends on them, to identify weaknesses in our response and potentially offer solutions. This helps me to occupy my mind in these uncertain times.

Who has taught you the most ?

My former employer, who I also consider to be my mentor, because she gave me a lot of self-confidence. Thanks to her, I decided to learn. She explained to me why it's important to learn and to have technical expertise.

What have you learnt from the times you have failed ?

The best lesson I've learned from failure is that it's just one step. It’s not one of two end products: fail or succeed. For example, as a developer, 90 per cent of my time I'm failing. The other 10 per cent I'm just happy to be able to try my programme.

What has life taught you?

Whatever the project, you have to go for it and the safety net will come. You have to trust each other. For example, I didn't know how to skate. One day I was alone in front of an ice rink in a public square. So I tried it. For the past year I've been skating three times a week and I've become pretty good.

You have twice taken part in the Caux Peace and Leadership (CPLP) programme. What did you learn?

I learned to take an interest in others. You meet people with very different challenges. Through their stories, you want to get involved in global issues: peace, the fourth industrial revolution, the environment, and so on.