Meet Aaron Gilman, currently living in Tel Aviv and a relatively new Michigan contribution to Israel’s Start Up Nation.
Aaron was raised in Dexter MI, studied Finance at MSU, and, after graduating, was living in Royal Oak while working at Chrysler and GM in financial analysis. After 4 years working in corporate Michigan, he was interested in a career change and some new challenges. Arriving just at the right time, he received a random email about a program called ITC, Israel Tech Challenge. ITC, is a nonprofit high tech academy inspired by the IDF’s 8200 Intelligence Unit, offering in demand training in the areas of employable technology from software development to data science. Aaron was accepted to the elite 5 month coding bootcamp program (approximately 5-10% of applicants are accepted), in English, with both Israelis and foreigners. He was immersed in a field that was new to him, offering a huge advantage for advancing in the global hi-tech ecosystem.
Aaron had been to Israel as a teen on family visits as well as on Birthright while at MSU, but realized that living here was a very different reality, “While I wanted to try to live in Israel, I realized that I had to be able to succeed professionally.” Aaron is pleased that ITC offered him a good career change, but the journey was extremely difficult. In the high demanding program he was taught new theories, skills and programs daily but the healthy and supportive learning environment is what encouraged him. Once he completed his 5-month course, including a 2 month internship in an Israeli hi-tech company, ITC assisted with his job placement. His internship was at OTTOPIA, a startup that offers safe and cyber-secure solutions for remote vehicle operation. After the internship, he was offered a fulltime position at the company, where he has been since the summer of 2019.
As Aaron says, “the job is both fun and stimulating and an amazing experience. The company has nurtured me and taught me and even though I didn’t have a degree in engineering or computer science, they are giving me interesting projects; the ITC program gave me the opportunity to go on this path.” As for the Israeli start up culture, as opposed to a corporation in Michigan, he finds that the pace is faster, very creative and Israelis are very motivated, think out of the box and very open to receiving foreigners and immigrants. He feels that the atmosphere is much friendlier and not as hierarchical.
It’s challenging moving to Israel without relatives, but he has been embraced by his colleagues and his Birthright friends, “I have no family here, but the Israelis that I met on Birthright 4 years ago have become my family.”
Aaron does not know what the next few years will bring and reevaluates every few months as to how both his social and professional life are working out as to where he will settle.
Wishing Aaron lots of luck in Tel Aviv, Michigan or wherever his talents take him.