Haseeb Mustafa is a Back End WordPress developer and UI expert on the Computan team. He knows the ins and outs of WordPress and is a fine markup developer. In today’s Behind The Coding post, Haseeb dishes on high tea, different pranksters in his family, and why he’s interested in different currency exchanges.
Hi Haseeb! How are you?
I am good thanks, Sajeel…how are you?
Good thanks. Ready to go?
Yup.
Ok, what are the last 3 things you Googled and why?
1 – US dollar exchange rate
2 – Great Britain pound exchange rate
Why the interest in exchange rates?
I think the world economy is dictated a lot by exchange rates. Obviously, where I live (Pakistan), we have huge inflation rates and the exchange rate of the American Dollar and British Pound seem to have an effect on inflation and of course how far one’s income here goes.
Very true…are you into economics at all apart from that?
Not really no! I just check exchange rates pretty often.
Ok got it!
I also Googled your name
You Googled me? Why?
Well, I knew we were talking so I thought to be prepared.
I guess that makes sense. When was the last time you stayed up late to solve a hard problem?
Not too long ago. Actually, I was having a hard time converting simple HTML to JavaServer Pages (JSP). It wasn’t super-difficult to do, but for some reason, I was having difficulty previewing JSP pages on my local machine.
How did you solve it? Did you solve it?
Yeah, I did! Using Tomcat and ZAM. Using web apps in Tomcat.
Nice. Who are 3 people you’d like to have dinner with and why?
Mainly my parents and my wife. We’d have different dishes. Either a buffet or high tea.
Wait a minute. Do you go for high tea? That’s a thing in Pakistan?
Yes, it’s one of the many British traditions you still find here (England had colonized Pakistan and India for centuries). People go out for high tea often.
What exactly is ‘high tea’ in your view?
I guess it’s different for everyone. To me, it’s an after-work tea and light meal.
Sounds like dinner to me
You always talk about eating though!
We eat often! It’s imperative to discuss this necessary thing for survival. Speaking of which what food do you eat besides high tea?
I’m a big fan of a special lamb curry – Dumba Karahi.
When was the last time you cried tears of laughter?
I do that often when with cousins on my mom’s side. Actually, a few of them are like comedians!
Really? Like professional comedians?
It seems like it. I will tell you more on that later.
Ok! Looking forward to it. What do you love about coding?
Coding has definitely grown on me over the years. Honestly, in school, I was more interested in extra-curricular vs. being into coding. I love that coding pushes a developer in so many different ways. Like sometimes there is a volume of work to do, sometimes the problem is small but takes a lot of time because you don’t know how to solve it and then the great art is somehow explaining this to a customer or colleague! The main thing I love is converting thoughts to code. Building something out of nothing.
Where were you when you first saw a computer/laptop?
I was 7 or 8 years old. In school. Saw a desktop in the computer lab. I’m into games a lot and had The Lion King and Need For Speed on my first computer. I would play one, get bored of it and then play the other and kept going back and forth between those two games.
That’s an economic phenomenon did you know that?
Really? What is it?
It’s the law of diminishing returns. You use one resource, in this case, your computer game, and the utility, in this case, your enjoyment of that game, goes down the more you use it.
That is true! Now I know the Law of Diminishing Returns in economics to go with my basic understanding of currency exchanges! Hahaha
What is something your teammates don’t know about you?
There’s a lot actually. One colleague who I sit next to when I’m in the office (Sajjad Ali Khan) knows that I am a little lazy to get up and get things I need.
That’s an endearing habit.
Hahaha yes. It’s also not the only one. I am usually really late for appointments.
That’s a common trait amongst developers let's be honest.
I am an extreme though. Like I was 2.5 hours late for my own wedding
What? How did you manage that?
It wasn’t my fault actually. One of my cousins, the comedians I told you about, took my wedding suit and kept it with them for a while and caused the delay on purpose. He was irritating my dad and brother by delaying the entire proceedings, but he didn’t care. All in the name of a good joke.
That’s a great prank as long as it’s not happening to you!
It wasn’t funny at the time I can assure you of that!
Very true.
I’m also a cricket player. Most teammates know that I am a good bowler, but they don’t know about my batting ability!
