Behind The Coding – Muhammad Faran -HubSpot Integration Developer

Hi Faran! What are the last three things you Googled? 

Hi Sajeel. The first thing I Googled was the Oppenheimer and Barbie box office sales.    

You are a fan of movies, I know. Did you watch either of them? 

I am a huge Christopher Nolan fan! He is my favorite director. Barbie will appeal to a wider audience than Oppenheimer. 

Did you watch either movie, though? 

I’ll watch Oppenheimer soon. I don’t think I’ll care too much for Barbie! 

Hahahaha ok! What else did you Google? 

I Googled how many times a paper can be folded. 

That’s a strange thing to Google. Why? 

I was with friends and I explained to them that there is a maximum amount of times a paper can be folded.  They didn’t believe me. 

So you brought in your friend Google… 

Exactly! 

So, how many times can a paper be folded? 

22 times. 

Interesting! What else did you Google 

Skyfall by Adele 

Are you a fan? 

I am a huge fan of hers, yes. 

What do you like about her so much? 

She has a fantastic voice.  So many of her songs have huge power in them. 

How do you feel about her new songs? 

I haven’t heard as many of her new songs and focus primarily on the classic ones. I’m sure they are good though.

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

I worked night and day for several months on integrating the Aderant Legal Management System and HubSpot.   My daughter was born during that time too and I don’t feel like I slept for 3-4 months. 

Those were long days for sure. 

Thankfully we got through it and are on the other side now.  Those were some pretty heavy days, and I’m quite proud of our work. 

So is everyone else Faran! Who are 3 people you'd like to have dinner with at the same time and why? 

Well, my mom passed away before I got married and had children.  She was concerned with how I would turn out as an adult.  I would love to have dinner with her, my father, my wife, and our children. 

That sounds nice, Faran! What about siblings? Do you have any siblings? 

You won’t believe this, and I hope you are standing, but I have a cricket team at home. 

No way 

Yes, I am the 11th child out of 11 siblings.  

Wow! I didn’t know that! 

Yeah. I love cricket, and with my brother and sisters, we make up a whole cricket team. Plus, my dad has 28 grandchildren.  

That’s incredible and very unique. 

Our family is so big that we cannot do family get-togethers in 1 house.  We have to rent halls, and restaurants, or split up into different houses. Our entire family is like one big community. 

That is amazing, Faran. When was the last time you cried tears of laughter? 

I don’t laugh as hard as I used to.  I’m a little out of shape now. 

What does physical fitness have to do with tears of laughter? 

I can’t risk having too much fun! It will hurt my stomach too much.    

Hahaha! Ok fair, what do you love about coding? 

I love making a big impact and providing a big solution.  My first project was for a big multinational bank with 143 branches.  I presented my project and the managers and senior execs of this huge bank were looking at me like I was a magician.   

Sounds amazing. 

It was a huge client, and we worked with Natalie Portman. 

Wait, what? Did you work with the actress Natalie Portman? 

Hahaha, in some way. We built the application, and she was a spokesperson for the bank branch and the application. 

Very true, Faran! Nice collaboration.  When was the first time you saw a laptop/computer? 

In 2004. One of my cousins came to our city to live, and he was studying Computer Science. He stayed with us and brought a computer home to study and work. It was a Pentium 4. He had to share that with all 11 of us, though. So we each got time slots with siblings and got to play. I listened to music and played games. One thing I remember was the first call we made to my older brother, who was living abroad. We used Skype, and it was amazing! 

Skype was huge in the early 2000s. 

Yes.  Now they call it Teams, hahaha.  

Hahaha! What is something your teammates don't know about you? 

They don’t know that I have 10 siblings. 

I can certainly relate to them not knowing that!