 He then moved to the United States earning a Master's degree in Public Administration in 1966 from the University of Southern California.Ali returned to Sudan and worked in the Human Resource Department in the Ministry of the Treasury (1961–1970) (Ali worked here since graduating in 1961 and then went to US to study by the government until his return in 1966), also worked as a chief in State Institution for the Cinema (1970–1971), then he worked as a lecturer in Intuition of Public Administration in Khartoum (1972–1973), and then chief and chief-editor in Housing Publishing in Khartoum University (1973–1983).Ali worked as expert and as a professor at Translation and Arabization Unit in Khartoum University (1983–1992).