Meet Ahmad Hassan, or AH as we call him. He’s a senior Front-end Developer with skills in both HubSpot and WordPress. Ahmad is a fun-loving team member who dishes out quite a few pranks on teammates but is also the victim of many fun pranks too. Mainly because he loves to laugh. In this installment of Behind The Coding Ahmad talks to us about his love for the road, his relationship with his cousins, and why he wears plastic glasses.
Hi Ahmad! How are you?
What are the last three things you Googled and why?
Best fuel-efficient car.
Ok! I think I know why, but can you let me know?
Because of the rising gas prices, I want to exchange my car for a Honda that gives around 20-24 kms/liter (approx. 0.098 miles/gallon).
Fuel prices are way too high. Have you considered going electric?
Not yet, but they are getting really popular.
Agreed. What else have you been Googling?
How to get rid of migraines
Yes, why is that?
As you know, I have bad migraines for random reasons. They cause me to vomit and generally feel miserable.
I thought they only came in the summer months.
Not necessarily. They come in all seasons, and they are painful.
How do you manage them now?
Not with anything scientific, unfortunately. I just rest for a few hours in a dark room, and I feel better.
Stay healthy, Ahmad. What else have you been Googling?
The best places to visit in Northern Pakistan
Nice! Are you planning an exotic adventure?
Yes! I love to travel and go on long journeys with friends. Laughing, joking, and talking about life.
Why Northern Pakistan?
There are many beautiful areas there. Honza and Gilgit, for example. The temperatures are cooler. Not like Canada, obviously, but very manageable. Not to mention the mountains!
I understand! When was the last time you worked after hours to solve a hard problem?
There was a very complicated custom WordPress Theme development job that our team got assigned. The client gave us a really tight timeline which means we had to skip some steps we like to do.
Can you elaborate?
Yes, normally we send all of our WordPress dev projects to Kiran, Farhan, Asif, Bushra or Ahmar (Computan’s internal QC team), but the client asked us to skip our internal QC.
Uh-oh.
Yes, uh-oh is right. That put us behind, and there were a lot of tasks to do. So I joined the team and handled a lot of front-end tasks with a few teammates. Long story short, we put in a few weekends and were able to get it done.
I remember that, and it was a lot of work! It was a great team effort, though.
Yes definitely.
Who are 3 people you like to have dinner with three people at the same time, and why?
My 3 cousins – Nouman, Bilal and Usman. Nouman and Bilal are brothers. They are my mom’s brother’s kids. Usman is my dad’s sister’s son.
So one set of your cousins knows your other cousin?
Yes! They know each other. We all grew up together and have similar interests. We are also at similar spots in life.
That’s nice, Ahmad! What would you guys eat?
We’d do a rooftop BBQ. Just the 3 of us.
What about your wife? Your kids?
No wives or kids! They stay at home usually! Hahaha.
Oh, man. When was the last time you cried tears of laughter?
I often do this with Nouman, Bilal, and Usman. On long drives, we laugh a lot and have a lot of fun.
That’s really nice, Ahmad. What do you love about coding?
I like coding because you can do it from anywhere. Remotely, in an office, on the patio or wherever. All you need is WiFi. Most importantly, there is very little human interaction 😊.
Hahaha! What do you mean by that?
I mean, as a developer, we can get lost in the code and not have to worry as much about dealing with different personalities and people. We can simply focus on the code. They have great colleagues like Project Managers, Team Leads, or Customer Success Managers who can interact with customers!
That is a fascinating perspective, Ahmad. Where were you when you first saw a laptop/desktop?
I was 11, and we got a desktop for my brother. He was studying computer science at University. After watching him use it for a month, he installed some games.
What games?
Need for Speed, Metal Slug. Classics. Metal Slug we had to use floppy disks to install!
You are showing your age now Ahmad!
Hahaha. That’s ok.
What is something your teammates don't know about you?
They know a lot about me since I’ve been a part of the team for a long time (5+ years). But they don’t know that I am irresponsible!
You? Irresponsible? No way.
Yes! I misplace things constantly. Like my keys. I can’t even remember how many times I have forgotten my glasses or had to replace them.
Why do you have to replace them?
I leave them on my bed, and my little toddler finds them and throws them around.
That’s an expensive mistake!
It certainly is. That is why I wear plastic glasses now most days!
