Apply less, better
Should I apply for this job? The honest job-fit checklist
Should you apply for this job? Find the knockouts, separate must-haves from nice-to-haves, and decide before you spend an evening on it.
Blog
Honest, practical guides to applying for jobs in Egypt and the Gulf.
Product & PM
Comparing Analytics Giants: Mixpanel, Hotjar, and Google Analytics
How I use Mixpanel, Hotjar, and Google Analytics together: what each is good at, and how combining them once raised our conversion rate by 50% in a week.
Product & PM
From A Different Angle: Agile or Waterfall
Not another definitions post: when I choose Agile (products, time-and-material, early delivery, experiments) and when Waterfall wins (fixed budget, compliance, sequential work), from years in the field.
Right to work
Probation period in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt: what the law says
How long probation can last under UAE, Saudi and Egyptian labour law, how it ends, resigning or changing jobs during it, and what to check in your offer.
Right to work
Experience certificate in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt: what the law says
When your employer must give you an experience certificate in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, what it must show, the Qiwa and MOHRE versions.
Startups
Pre-sales Strategies for Software Professional Services Startups: A Comprehensive Guide
Eight things I learned doing startup pre-sales: proposal options that fit different budgets, buzzwords with substance, honest estimations, assumptions that prevent scope creep, and payment terms that keep cash flowing.
Startups
Deciding Between Custom Development and Purchasing Off-the-Shelf Solutions
Buy or make? Lessons from Etisalat, EFG-Hermes, Beltone, ITWorx, and Inetum on when custom development pays off and when an off-the-shelf tool wins.
Startups
For Startups: Calculating Team Costs in Software Development (A Comprehensive Guide)
Fixed, labor, overhead, travel, communication, bug, and selling costs, plus time sheets: a field guide to calculating (and optimizing) what your software team really costs.
Startups
How Startups Can Handle Bad Debts: Navigating Through Troubled Waters
What a bad debt is, the five methods for estimating it, the four types, and how to collect each. Researched notes from a software person learning finance.
Startups
How Startups Can Use RFI, RFP, and RFQ
RFI, RFQ, RFP: which request when? A quick breakdown of the three procurement documents and when a startup should use each.
Startups
For Startups: Effort Assumptions in Software Development Estimates (A Comprehensive Guide)
Assumptions make or break a software estimate: how I define workflow, integration, website, and chatbot assumptions so delivery and testing don't blow up later.
Startups
The Unusual Common Pitfalls for Planning Software Proposals & Projects
Planning software delivery across countries? The traps I keep seeing: forgotten official holidays, the myth of the 8-hour workday, unplanned leave, and why proposals should be planned in weeks, not dates.
Startups
Laying the Groundwork: Aligning Strategy with Vision
Before hiring a development team, align four things with the company's strategy: partnerships and certifications, tools and budget, product and service focus, and technology adoption.
Startups
My Guide for Effective Crisis Management: A Step-by-Step Guide
A practical recipe for handling a software crisis: analyze past incidents, prioritize system-wide issues, communicate honestly with the client, and close with an incident report.
Startups
Layoffs Alternatives: A Personal Experience Towards Compassionate Alternatives
Alternatives I watched companies use instead of layoffs: hierarchical salary reductions, company-wide cost ideas, retraining, internal moves, outsourcing, and dignified exits.
Startups
Startups, Uncertainty and Layoffs: Nip the Bud Strategies
How leaders should communicate during uncertainty and cost-cutting: proactive messaging, consistent channels, and honest follow-ups that stop rumours before they grow.
Leadership & teams
Mastering the Hiring Process: Crafting the Dream Team
How we ran hiring interviews for a professional services team: a three-part structure, questions that reveal how candidates think, and feedback even for those we didn't hire.
Leadership & teams
For Startups: My Controversial Interview Process to Craft Your Dream Team
How I run hiring interviews: three parts covering soft skills, technical depth, and ramp-up, designed to understand how candidates think, not just what they answer.
Leadership & teams
Navigating the Fog: How to Cope with Uncertainty and Its Impact on Mental Health
What uncertainty does to your mind and the strategies that helped me cope: mindfulness, information gathering, preparation, and knowing when to ask for professional help.
Leadership & teams
Dealing with Toxic Management as an Employee: Shielding Your Sanity
Spotting toxic management early and coping until you can leave: practical mechanisms for staying sane, documenting everything, and knowing when it's time to go.
Right to work
How to apply for jobs in the UAE: a step-by-step guide (2026)
How to apply for jobs in the UAE: where jobs are posted, your CV and cover letter, the MOHRE offer and work permit, Emiratisation, probation and notice.
Leadership & teams
Balancing Leniency and Logistics: A Guide to Managing Team Vacations
A lenient but organized approach to team vacations: clear notice guidelines, shared calendars, and a contingency day in sprint planning.
Job boards and forms
How to apply for jobs in Egypt: job sites, your CV, the labour law and fake offers
How to find and apply for jobs in Egypt: Wuzzuf, Forasna, Bayt, LinkedIn and the government portal, CV norms, probation and notice under Law 14 of 2025.
Right to work
How to apply for jobs in Saudi Arabia: a step-by-step guide (2026)
How to apply for jobs in Saudi Arabia: where jobs are posted, Saudization, the CV, licences, work permit and Qiwa contract, and how to spot a fake offer.
Leadership & teams
This Is How I Do It: Performance Evaluation Processes
How I run performance evaluations: transparent criteria, 360-degree feedback, individual development plans, and continuous feedback instead of a yearly surprise.
Right to work
Is your UAE job offer real? How to check it before you pay or travel
How to check a UAE job offer letter is real: the MOHRE serial number and barcode, the costs the employer must pay, and the signs of a fake offer.
CVs that fit the region
Photo on your CV: yes or no? A country-by-country answer
Photo on your CV, yes or no? For Gulf and Egyptian employers, often yes; for the UK and US, no. A country table and what a good CV photo looks like.
Leadership & teams
Navigating Leadership: The Art of Supporting Managers at All Levels
You're responsible for the quality of your relationship with your manager. A practical take on Feiner's leadership laws, with my own experiences of bad and good bosses.
Leadership & teams
Leading Through Change: A Guide to Managing New Development Teams
My recipe for taking over a struggling development team: listen first, understand the clients, find quick wins, document everything, and build individual development plans.
Apply less, better
AI job interview: what Graham Dot Zip's 'I Sent an AI to My Job Interview' teaches job seekers
Graham Dot Zip's AI rep inflated his CV and lowballed his pay in a viral AI job interview. What to let AI do in your job search, and what to keep yourself.
CVs that fit the region
Cover letter for UAE jobs: format, length, and what not to claim
A cover letter for a UAE job is short, specific, and every claim in it is provable. The format that works, the length to aim for, and the sentences Gulf recruiters are tired of reading.
Leadership & teams
From Experience: How to Manage a Remote Team Efficiently
Six years of managing remote teams: what worked on communication, trust, and goal-oriented work, and the clauses a remote work policy needs.
Leadership & teams
From Onboarding to Mastery: Elevating Team Talent Levels
How we turned onboarding into continuous growth: weekly knowledge sessions, mini courses, and a step-by-step plan to raise a team's talent level.
Leadership & teams
How to Retain Top Talent: Proven Strategies for Learning and Growth
The strategies that kept my teams from leaving: learning opportunities, clear growth paths, work-life balance, and genuinely personal management.
Apply less, better
Job search burnout: Blake Scholl's 'gratification window' applied
Job search burnout isn't only about hours. Blake Scholl's gratification window, applied to a long search: near milestones you control and roles you fit.
Leadership & teams
Welcome to the Team: My Onboarding Process
How I onboard new hires: an initial discussion that challenges preconceptions, a shadowing period, gradual task assignment, and knowledge sharing that continues after hiring.
Apply less, better
Tailor your CV to each job, honestly
Tailoring your CV works: recruiters skim, and ATS filters search the posting's own words. How to tailor by selecting, re-ordering and re-wording what is true, never adding what isn't.
Job boards and forms
Expected salary and notice period: how to answer (UAE, KSA)
How to answer 'expected salary' and 'notice period' on UAE and Saudi job applications and in interviews, and what the labour law says about notice.
CVs that fit the region
ATS CV for UAE and Saudi jobs: what matters, what's a myth
What an ATS-friendly CV for UAE and Saudi jobs really needs: plain structure, the posting's own keywords, honest content. And why white-text tricks backfire.
CVs that fit the region
Arabic CV or English CV? What Gulf and Egypt employers want
Arabic CV or English? When to send each in the Gulf and Egypt, why a bilingual CV rarely works, and how to write Arabic that reads naturally.
CVs that fit the region
CV format for Saudi Arabia and the UAE: photo, date of birth and visa status
Gulf recruiters expect personal details that Western CVs leave out. What to include on a Saudi or UAE CV, what to leave off, and why one CV can't serve both.
Right to work
Saudization requirements 2026: a guide for expat job seekers
What Nitaqat and Saudi profession localisation rules mean for expat candidates in 2026: which roles they affect and how to read a job posting for them.
Job boards and forms
Wuzzuf profile tips: set it up once, properly
Wuzzuf profile tips: what each section does, the ones most people rush, and why a complete, honest profile beats applying to everything.