Jeremiah is a front-end and HubSpot developer who loves to take designs and turn them into reality. In this week's Behind The Coding, Jeremiah tells us how his two passions – song-writing and coding are related, how his 'first date' with a computer got him into trouble, and why you shouldn't underestimate semicolons.    

Ok, Jeremiah – First question… What are the last three things you Googled and why?  

I Googled:  

  • Siddarth Shukla – He's actually an actor in some movies I like. I read he died and wanted to find out more details.      
  • Dil Ko Karaar Aaya ('My Heart is At Peace') – I actually Youtube'd it…not Google! But Siddarth Shukla is in the music video, so after I learned about his death, I thought I'd watch the video in tribute.     
  • CSS Animations - I actually Google this often. I look for different animations and transitions in CSS that I can use in projects I'm working on.      

What Was the Last Big Problem You Solved at Work?  

Actually, I was helping a friend with one of his projects this past weekend. He is building a progressive web app. We were working in JavaScript and minified the code. After minifying, we noticed there were a few spaces throughout the code, and the code stopped executing. We un-minified everything, looked at each line, and compiled everything. A semicolon is a powerful thing. If it's not there, it can break the entire code. A somewhat useless piece of punctuation in the English language, but a very powerful one in the world of development.       

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

Sounds strange, but I'd like to have dinner with my mom, dad, and brother. We stay together but rarely eat together. I like to work late in the evening, and my folks and brother sleep pretty early, so we have very little overlap. I think the last time I talked to my dad was probably a week or so ago and only for 10 minutes. He's usually out in the morning, and I'm sleeping. Then he wakes up, and I'm out at work, exercising or doing other things. The positive thing is that when we do talk, there's more to share!   

When was the last time you cried tears of laughter?  

About six months ago, a group of friends and I went to Kalam Valley. I hope a lot of people can relate to the fun you can have when a group of good friends makes time to go out to the mountains or on a trip somewhere. You'll be laughing on the way there, while you are there, and the way back. I don't remember any specific jokes… just remember laughing like crazy all the time. Definitely recommend everyone take a 'friends trip' like that once in a while.    

What was your first experience with a computer?    

I was 8 or 9 when a teacher showed us a computer. I was super excited about that. Teachers said we wouldn't need to use pens and paper anymore, and the world would be digitized. Then I got in trouble…  

Wait, what? Did you get in trouble?  

Yeah! I took the mouse, hit the Start button, and saw the 'Shut Down' button on the Windows machine. I thought, 'let's see if this does anything.' So I pressed it, and the monitor turned off. The teacher came over and asked me, 'What have you done?' I don't think she knew what I did either.  

What do you love about coding?  

The daily challenges. Every day there is a new problem to solve…that keeps my mind active. I like the idea of learning new things every day. There are no dull moments. I love that there are always new technologies and a slew of problems to solve with those new technologies. Even learning new ways to solve old problems is fun. Applying different strategies to solve different problems is the best thing about coding.  

That's the thing! People always compare coding to math. To me, math is very binary – like 1+1=2. It is black and white, but coding… I mean, there are so many ways to solve a problem.  

Exactly. There are different ways to express yourself in coding and in music.     

What Is Something Your Teammates Don't Know About You?  

Well, on the topic of music, actually, my teammates don't know that I'm into music.  

Isn't everyone into the music of some sort?  

Yeah true… I mean, I play quite a few different instruments – guitar, piano, tabla, and harmonium, for example. I am self-taught.  

Did you teach yourself four different instruments?  

Yeah, my parents got me a toy keyboard when I was 5 or 6. They saw me playing it and got me a 66 key keyboard. I taught myself the notes and the chords. Most of the time I play guitar and piano.  

How did you self-teach yourself? YouTube?  

Haha! I didn't have access to YouTube when I was 6. I would just try to listen to songs and try to play the melody of the songs. Then when I got a full keyboard, I had Internet access shortly after and started to learn songs on YouTube. A deep desire to play certain songs was the way to learn for me.  

What about the guitar?  

I visited a cousin one summer weekend, and he was playing acoustic guitar. I thought that was interesting. I bought a guitar the day we got home and was playing within a week. Like the piano, I picked up from YouTube.  Acoustic Pahadi is the channel I paid the most attention to.