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Dreaming of studying abroad, Deema Alayedh chose Northeastern University. She says it was a perfect match because it offered an undergraduate cybersecurity program and co-op opportunities to get work experience.
Growing up in Dhahran, a city in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province, Deema Alayedh loved mathematics and was curious about new technologies, from the early internet to bitcoin.
She took basic programming classes in high school and won a scholarship from Saudi Aramco, a majority state-owned petroleum and natural gas company, to attend advanced classes in computer science and prepare for the SATs in English for free.
Dreaming of studying abroad, Alayedh chose Northeastern University. It was a perfect match, Alayedh says, because it offered an undergraduate cybersecurity program and co-op opportunities to get work experience. She says she loved Boston and the diverse population.
“I traded sandstorms for snowstorms,” she jokes.
Alayedh, a 2018 graduate of the Khoury College of Computer Science, says her co-op experience gave her a tremendous professional boost.
“I’m blessed with all these different opportunities that Northeastern gave me. It truly made me the person I am today,” Alayedh says.
She completed a six-month co-op at Twitter (now X).
“I learned so much,” Alayedh says, recalling her work on the engineering team on various projects, including increasing the character limit of tweets from 140 to 280.
While at Northeastern, Alayedh also took up music as her minor in addition to math, produced short videos for NU TV and participated in a hiking club. She also attended entrepreneurial workshops and events.
Upon graduation, Alayedh returned to Saudi Arabia and was hired by Aramco, where she works as a senior network security engineer.“I’m very blessed to be working in cybersecurity and seeing not only the changes, but implementation of all the new technology,” she says.
Young Saudis have been energized by the Saudi Vision 2030, Alayedh says, a strategic plan that the government outlined to diversify its economy from oil production to remain an ambitious nation with a vibrant society.
This vision not only promotes inculcation of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, smart cities and cybersecurity into everyday life, Alayedh says, but makes empowerment of women one of the key priorities.
As a result, she says, the share of women employed in cybersecurity in Saudi Arabia surpasses that of the EU and the U.S., and Alayedh’s salary is on par with her male colleagues.
Alayedh is a board member at the Saudi Aramco Employee Association that works to improve the workplace and enhance employee engagement through cultural events.
Alayedh’s latest project is called Dirwaza, which means “an old door.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, she realized how hard it was to find traditional and designer Saudi Arabian clothing online.
She decided to create a digital marketplace dedicated to Saudi fashion designers and brands that would be accessible for shoppers anywhere in the world.
“The idea is that we’re opening the door for Saudi designers to the [rest of the] world,” Alayedh says.
In her native Saudi Arabia, Alayedh mentors female high school and middle school students, as well as young professionals in cybersecurity and invests in women-owned businesses.
“I love when I can help out someone else, especially the younger generation. It’s, I would say, part of my message in life,” she says.