Shafan H.P. Sugarman was attracted to coding and technology early on, learning QBasic at age 10 and building his first PC at 12. The youngest of five children, he grew up in NYC with his Jamaican mother and Jewish father, playing video games with his siblings before creating his own. Over time, his aptitude for technology evolved into a passion, a lifelong goal of exposing marginalized people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to the joys and financial independence that technology could afford them. Every professional position that Shafan has chosen is with the goal of empowering students, building teams, and using that growth mindset to bring new tech products to the marketplace.

Shafan’s extensive computer science background includes scripting languages such as Bash and Python, frameworks to Django and Flask, and cloud platforms AWS and GCP. Shafan’s work with Per Scholas involved overseeing and instructing tech student cohorts on the foundations of Linux Administration and AWS. One of his proudest accomplishments with the organization is being hand-selected as one of 247 individuals worldwide to become an AWS Ambassador.

Shafan’s utmost engagement with the big tech picture begins and ends with his students. Instructing them through the challenging work, inspiring them to achieve past prior expectations, and opening up pathways to financial success and new lives.