It’s a Match! Zaid Zaim and ignore gravity
As children, we entered the world brimming with curiosity, eager to understand the mysteries of life and the world around us. When able to, we’d ask questions… lots of them. These questions tend to follow “who, what, when, where, why.” This is followed by diligent searching for the answer.
As someone once said, “Curiosity is the wick in the candle of learning.” This curiosity and desire to learn led Zaid Zaim to ReDI School, which his older brother introduced to him.
Struggling with his high school IT courses, Zaid decided to join ReDI to get additional support in understanding various concepts while also growing his skills. He viewed it as an opportunity for “real-world hands-on experiences.”
This decision opened a whole new world of possibilities for learning and growth outside the classroom.
“Through ReDI School, I was able to attend different events, conferences, and hackathons, which always crystallized in me the vision that there is big potential in this place and the idea of probably working here in the future.”
During these events, he learned of mixed reality technologies, which captivated him and left him wanting to learn more.
Inspired by this new knowledge, he was struck by the idea of a community project in which immersive technologies could be used to preserve historical sites, particularly in Syria, his home country. Using his knowledge from ReDI and previous conferences and collaborating with developers and artists, he was able to bring his vision to life.
Zaid’s involvement in this community project marked the start of numerous projects and ventures into technology. It led to many opportunities for him, including an invitation from ReDI School Munich to speak at TEDx Munich about his project. Giving a talk at TEDx Munich was “a great experience” for him and served as a valuable preparation for future engagements.
The enthusiastic audience suggested and reaffirmed Zaid’s goal of working in the tech field. Since then, he has been advocating for mixed reality and the possibilities of preserving historical sites.
Things kept moving forward for Zaid. “I started scaling up from local activities to global activities, and today, I work at a consulting agency called ignore gravity that specializes in developing leadership programs and start-up accelerators – my work focuses on leading community efforts, marketing in the XR and AI space and representing the company on global stages.”
For the fourth time in a row he was recognized with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award, currently for M365 / Mesh and Mixed Reality. The award is an annual recognition given by Microsoft to exceptional community leaders who share their technical expertise and passion for Microsoft technologies through community contributions, such as speaking engagements, content creation, and mentorship.
Zaid values continual learning and is currently studying at CODE University. He constantly explores what can become and is working on future developments that can help blend tech and reality.
In Spring 2024 Zaid made it to the United States for the first time in his life –
To Seattle, Washington, he was invited to speak and facilitate session at Microsoft Build on introducing developers into “Immersive Copilots” and learn first building blocks to build an XR app based on MeshToolkit and Azure OpenAI – helping developers build first immersive copilot and identify new interactive and creative ways to embody and communicate with AI
Networking has truly been the thing Zaid has valued most during his time at ReDI. He believes what Anne, the CEO of the non-profit, says: “It’s 50% what you know and 50% who you know.”
“I never imagined doing what I’m doing today at this scale, to be honest. I’m surprised by the possibilities and support offered by the community. I’m very happy about it. Opportunities are always coming up.”