Ahmad is the resident creative guru on the Computan team. He’s designed websites, apps, cartoon characters, animated videos, marketing material, and probably many other things that I don’t personally know about. Not to mention he has a good grasp of HTML/CSS and photography. Whenever he’s asked to create something, his answer usually isn’t ‘no.’ In today’s Behind The Coding post, Ahmad talks about his love of long motorcycle rides, why he prefers to be behind the camera and not in front of it and why he really looks up to a few different teachers he’s had in school.
Hi Ahmad! Are you ready to go?
Hi Sajeel…yes ready.
Ok!
Yup.
Ok, what are the last 3 things you Googled and why?
1 – It really changes constantly! The first thing I Googled was a Turkish song.
A Turkish song? Why? I didn’t know you spoke Turkish.
I don’t speak Turkish at all! The song is a Turkish pride song.
Turkey is coming on strong with their entertainment
Yeah, their content is really good – some of it is on Netflix, some music. It’s really good stuff.
Ok, Turkish song first, what was the second thing?
I Googled how to fix my PC after getting a virus
We’ve all been there before!
Actually, I had a file to render in Adobe After Effects that wasn’t compatible with the new version of AE that we use. So I installed an older version rendered the video, but it didn’t take long for a virus to show up!
What is the third thing you Googled
I Googled the distance from Lahore to Kashmir
I know where this is going….are you planning a trip?
Yeah, I badly want to go! As you know I love doing long motorcycle rides through different terrains. I think a motorcycle ride from Lahore to Kashmir would be amazing.
How does a road trip on a motorcycle differ from one in a car?
You don’t ride a motorcycle, obviously 😊
No way!
All I can tell you is that it’s a different kind of physicality on a bike. Plus, you have to be extremely aware of your surroundings and what the road path presents you…then react to it. It is dangerous and exciting.
Obviously, this is not something you do with your wife and son, right?
Hahaha, no-no. This is a solo trip or with a small group of friends.
How do you manage to get the time for it? Do you have a book coming out soon on how to do this?
Nope. No book coming out. Very lucky to have a supportive family.
Interesting! Ok, who are the 3 people you’d like to have dinner with and why?
I have actually been planning on having a dinner party with 3-4 different teachers of mine.
What kind of teachers?
Different teachers from different school subjects – Maths, English, etc.
Why would you want to have dinner with different teachers?
They were my mentors for different things. I took a little bit from each of them. One taught me what it meant to be a professional, the others taught me life skills.
What kind of life skills exactly?
It’s hard to say. The best way I can explain it is that this group of teachers taught me how to think as opposed to what to think.
When was the last time you cried tears of laughter?
In July, we traveled about 1000 km in 1.5 days on the motorcycle. My body was breaking down, but the adrenaline kicked in, and we just started laughing about different things.
But you are on a bike all the time, even to get to work. How is that any different?
It’s funny. I get tired of biking in the city—traffic, roads, etc. But when I’m riding on the open road and nature, you get a lot of energy, and it is a lot of fun—lifting bikes over non-paved areas, the altitude. The best thing about a bike is the 360 view vs. a car or a jeep; you only get that standard view from the windshield.
Obviously, you are a designer more than you are a developer...
But I do know some development and obviously, hanging around here (Computan), I see a lot of what my teammates are doing.
Yeah exactly. Most people have one or the other – the design ability or the dev ability.
What is your opinion on those two unique things?
Coding is like solving a puzzle, and I love solving puzzles. In my view, coding is a lot easier for me than design.
Why is that?
Design requires me to constantly think outside of the box, always tinkering and trying to find a better way to express something.
Then if you throw people into the mix… like a customer for example, and you have to find out what they want.
Kind of like mind-reading!
Yes. What I might think when creating something is very different than what they might have had in mind. My ‘best’ effort could always be improved upon in some way without me knowing it.
Maybe I’ll come back to a piece a few hours after letting it sit, and some new adjustments will make it pop more than before.
How do you define it better though? It’s art…how can one form of ‘art’ be ‘better’ than another?
It is art, but we’re doing design as a profession.
When I design something for a client, I send it to Nabeel (Nabeel Zafar, another amazing designer on the Computan team) for a review or Brat (Bratislav Brankovic – HubSpot Development team Project Manager); they might come at it from a different angle.
Where were you when you first saw a computer/laptop?
I was a kid. Someone from my neighborhood got one, and I remember there was a huge buzz that someone on our street got this cool new device/appliance thing.
Really?
Yeah, it was a huge deal. I took a shower, wore special clothes and went to their house to see something really special! It was probably 2001 or something.
What did you do on the computer?
I played a game, obviously!
Hahaha! Everyone does that.
Lethal Enforcers. That was a great game. My dad bought me my first computer on Dec 24, 2002. I remember the date because I broke it.
You broke it? How?
I adjusted the date or something. I took it back to the technician, and he said it was a date/time virus.
Even now, you’re still getting viruses on computers.
Haha. I spent the whole day and night on the computer. I went into the C drive in Windows Explorer and was just going through different folders and subfolders on the computer to see what was in there. I fell in love with it.
What are some things your teammates don’t know about you?
There are a lot of things! I have been on the team for many years, but I don’t think anyone in the company knows that I write poetry. Mostly I write them in Urdu, English, and Punjabi.
Do you have any to share?
I don’t save most of them, don’t keep a lot of them, and lost a diary. But I do remember one…
Do something
Do anything
Do whatever you can
Face the problems of your life
Be a strong man.
That’s a really good one! We should put that up in the office somewhere and put your signature on it!
Maybe we can skip the signature part.
Why wouldn’t you want your name to be mentioned?
You know me. I don’t like the attention. Fame is kind of a fear of mine.
What do you mean?
Meeting a lot of people keeping relationships is a huge obligation of additional attention and something famous people have to bear. It’s their responsibility.
So putting the poem on the wall is a small step towards attention you’d rather not have?
I don’t know how to answer that… you know me. 99 percent of the time, I’d rather not be noticed or just people-watch.
Why though? These days everyone is looking for attention. Are you worried about becoming self-absorbed?
I don’t know how to answer that question, but I’ll leave you with a line from Allama Iqbal (famous Urdu poet) – if you are afraid of the ending, just change the beginning.
Words to live by Ahmad!
