Meet Haseeb! Or, as we call him, Morbius The Living Vampire. Like Morbius, the superhero, Haseeb does his best nightly work and sleeps all day. He’s a talented Project Manager who specializes in Dev Ops and WordPress. In this episode of Behind The Coding, Haseeb talks about why Google is his friend, the special friend he found on the cover of a science book, and a special car ride.
Hi Haseeb! What are the last 3 things you Googled?
Sajeel, you have known me for 10 years, and you know that Google is my friend.
I know you guys have a special relationship!
Yeah. Whenever I am stuck, I turn to my friend Google.
So, what did you Google?
I was using Google Translate to translate Japanese words.
Really? Are you learning Japanese?
Not really! My cousin was speaking Japanese words. He watches Anime and tells me all these things in Japanese. So, I thought I would research them to understand what he was saying.
Ok! What else were you Googling?
I was Googling the Vomit Song.
What!? What’s the vomit song?
I don’t know the official name of the song, but it’s a really loud song in a foreign language. To people who don’t speak that language, it sounds like the singer is vomiting, but obviously, to the people who speak the language, it probably means something. I can’t believe that it came up on Google! 😊
I am nervous to ask what the third thing you Googled was….
The third thing I Googled was the most demanding names in the world to pronounce.
Hahaha! You have some fascinating Googling habits!
There are some exciting names in the world. Learning about them was a lot of fun.
Ok, when was the last time you worked after hours to solve a hard problem?
You guys call me a vampire for a reason. My shift is from 12 PM to 9 PM, but I usually don’t come until 6 PM and finish my day at 3 or 4 AM.
Yeah, you always come late and stay late.
Yeah, that’s true. At 2 AM, though, it gets late, and, as you said once, I start inventing new words! The last time I stayed extremely late was to help deploy our Timeoff Management System for the HR Department.
Who are 3 people you'd like to have dinner with at the same time and why?
Can I have 3 different dinners?
Sure Haseeb!
The first dinner would be with you and your parents in the cold weather.
Wow! That could be fun.
Yeah, your parents founded the company. Enjoying a nice winter dinner with the 3 of you would be great. I would love to meet your family. I admire their story and their successes.
I’m honored that you would say that, Haseeb. What would your other dinner be?
The other dinner would be with Armin Van Buren, Muhammad Ali, and you.
Me? I don’t deserve a seat at the table with you, one of the greatest musicians and the greatest boxer of all time!
There’s another dinner too
OK, who is that with?
My dad would come from Heaven, and we would have dinner together. Me, you, my dad, and your dad.
Haseeb, I am honored, but why would I be at all three of these dinners?
Hahahaha, because I’d expect you to pay for them all 😊.
Hahahaha…that’s the only reason?
It’s the primary reason 😊.
Fair enough hahaha. When was the last time you cried tears of laughter?
I am crying tears of laughter right now!
Hahahaha, me too. Ok, when was the second last time you cried tears of laughter?
You, Hassan Hashmi (WordPress team lead), and Mohamed Kassem (Project Manager – WordPress and Devops) were in Hassan’s car once. We were looking for a nice restaurant to eat at, but couldn’t find one. So we ate McDonalds in the car and laughed and made fun of each other. It was one of my favorite memories we have had together.
That was a great car ride.
I ordered a burger with no tomatoes and got a burger with 2 tomatoes.
What do you love about coding?
Code is poetry…
Come on, Haseeb, hahaha.
Ok, you got me. That wasn’t my line.
I know you.
I love urgent tasks. The more pressure or the more critical, the better for me. I love being the one to solve the big urgent tasks.
That’s one of your specialties! When was the first time you saw a laptop/computer?
It was on the cover of a science book.
Hahaha!
Yeah, when I was a kid. It said that computers were for calculation. This is funny because some people say the word ‘Haseeb’ means calculation.
What about when you saw a real computer?
I saw a computer in the lab. It was love at first sight. I saw it, it was blinking at me, and I was attracted to it.
Hahaha! That sounds quite romantic.
It was! Haha…we have been together ever since.
Apart from the above crazy stories, what is something your teammates don't know about you?
Most don’t know that my father used to run a motorcycle repair shop and that I can repair motorcycles independently. I am also a competitive Tekken game player.
I knew both of those things.
Well, I know some karate and used to be able to do brick-breaking. I used to read a lot of books too!
Children’s books?
Hahaha. No, no real books Sajeel!
