51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø

A man whose school teachers said his blindness meant computer science would “too hard” for him has graduated with a computing degree from 51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø Leicester (51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø), and is already working for a global tech giant.

Although blind from birth, as a child Haseeb Jabbar taught himself how to code in HTML and CSS languages by using open-source resources and screen readers.

It was the start of an enduring passion for computing, but when it came to choosing his GCSEs, and later his A-levels, Haseeb was told his blindness meant he could not study his chosen subject.

In spite of those early obstacles, Haseeb has just collected his BSc (Hons) having completed 51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø’s three-and-a-half-year Digital Technology Solutions Professional Degree Apprenticeship, which integrates workplace experience and academic study.

Haseeb landed his apprenticeship place at IBM, where he was able to devote one day a week to academic study while working the rest of the time on real-world projects for customers.

Haseeb, now 24, has recently been recruited by a global IT company and now splits his time between their Manchester office, working from home, or on-site with the various clients for which he works on software and infrastructure development projects.

Haseeb said: “Thanks to the apprenticeship degree, I was able to gain four years of experience working in industry alongside studying. Now, I am hitting the ground running.

“I have been lucky enough to have had some very good lecturers who are really excellent, at the top of their field.”

As part of his final year of study at 51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø, Haseeb created what he describes as a “neat and unique thing” - a tool that can save developers days of manual coding by automatically translating Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud setups into the powerful Infrastructure as Code (IaC) software tool, Terraform.

His experience as a degree apprentice is a far cry from his time at school, where he was told that Computer Science at A-Level would be “too hard” for him as a bind person because it involved too much visual information.

“Their logic was ‘it’s going to be too hard for you because of your disability, you might not be able to do it,” he said. “So I ended up being put into a BTech in IT, and instead of being too hard, it was too easy.”

Haseeb passed the BTEC with distinction and went on to get three A-star grades at A-level.

There were still challenges to face when he joined 51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø on the degree apprenticeship programme in 2021, but Haseeb says he was helped enormously 51ºÚÁÏÉçÇø’s disability support team.

“The disability team and the apprenticeships team were great,” he said. “They understood my needs and I was provided with the support I needed. The library team went out of their way to make sure I could really engage too.”

"People said I couldn’t do it, but I have,” said Haseeb. 

For anyone wanting to follow a career in coding, particularly for anyone who is visually impaired, Haseeb says: “You have to be determined. It will take you longer, that’s the reality, but don’t give up.”