Hassan-Hashmi

Hassan Hashmi. HH as he is known on the team. Hassan is a certified guru for his teammates in PHP and a wizard in WordPress. In this installment of Behind The Coding HH explains his passion for sports, why he works late every day, and how electric tape and paper can be used to make sporting equipment.  

 

Hi Hassan! What are the last three things you Googled and why?

Let me check my history!

Hahaha! Really? I don’t think most people do that.

Well, you know me. I am an honest person, I guess! Ok, so we have….

1 – FIFA World Cup 2022

2 – FIFA World Cup Schedule

3- Cricinfo

You are really into sports. How did you get so interested in sports?

As a young boy, it’s just always around. My brother Mohsin and I are similar in age and played any game from a young age.

So you played all sorts of sports?

Yes! Field hockey, football (soccer), and cricket.

What is your favorite?

Being Pakistani, we are mad about cricket here.  

Yes! Obviously.

Growing up, we didn’t always have the proper equipment, so we made our own.

What do you mean you made your equipment?

I mean, we would make our cricket balls.

How would you do that?

We’d use electric tape and paper. Only when we didn’t have a tennis ball or some other ball handy.

And you organize a lot of the office cricket tournaments, competitions, and things of that nature. Looks like you have been organizing cricket events for a long time!

Hahaha! I guess so.  

Do you think your interest in sports helps you at work?

Absolutely. There are a lot of similarities between sports and work.

What are the similarities you see?

The spirit of sportsmanship, for one. Being courteous and professional in the office is the same way you have to act on the pitch, ground, court, or wherever. You take your manners with you wherever you go.

Very true, yes.

Competition too.

What do you mean by that?

I mean we are on one team at Computan and competing with other companies in the market, we are trying to be successful at work and also trying to attract new good players to our team. Management, of course, is trying to keep good players on the team too.

Absolutely! Yes

Teams at work and in sports are like puzzles. So building the right team in sports is very similar to building the right team at work. I like solving those things.

You are a big piece of the Computan puzzle!

Hahaha! I know, but a puzzle is only solved once all the pieces are right. That’s the challenge.

Agreed! When was the last time you worked after hours to solve a hard problem?

I stay late regularly! I like to work. It doesn’t matter if it’s to solve a complex problem or easy problem.  

Can you remember when a hard problem kept you after hours?

Usually, if there’s something I can’t solve, but as a TL, I usually stay late helping my teammates or doing code reviews. I like to review the work of the developers on my team and help them tidy things up late before perhaps sending things over to the client the next day.

Do you think that is something a TL should do?

Yes! We need to be the final check and balance of code before things go out the door.

Who are three people you'd like to have dinner with at the same time, and why?  

Only 3? Can I have 5?

Sure! For your HH, you can have 5.

I have five cousins, and we are all in the same age range and grew up together. I want to invite them for dinner.

Who are they?

Omer, Ali, Bilal, Usman and Moshin.

Do they all live nearby? How often do you meet?  

We met about 3-4 months ago! 2 or 3 of them live in the same town where I grew up, Bilal works in Turkey and I, of course, moved out of town!

You are a rebel!

Hahaha. Yes, I am.

What do you love about coding?

Without any hesitation, I can say problem-solving. I love having problems and solving problems with the magic of code.

Can you remember the first problem you solved?

You never forget your first Sajeel 😊.

Of course not!

The first program I solved was building a small calculator in school. Felt like a huge achievement, even though it was pretty simple.

It was a huge achievement looking back, though. You do this for a living now and are pretty good at it!

I never really thought of it that way, but you are right.

Where were you when you first saw a laptop/desktop?

Definitely in school. I was probably ten years old and found it very interesting.  

What did they show you?

The teacher showed us floppy disks 5 ¼ and 3.5-inch disks, Lotus databases, and things like that.

That is retro technology! What is something your teammates don't know about you?

They didn’t know I was on championship teams of field hockey, cricket, and football.  

Really? So not just cricket?

Nope. I have won championships on teams in field hockey and football also.

All while smoking?

Hahahaha….I wasn’t smoking at that time too much!