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Meet Usman! He is a mobile app developer at Computan.  He builds mobile apps on iPhone and Android and is a React Native guru.  In this installment of Behind The Coding, Usman talks about his interest in current affairs, what he’s working on improving, and what his strengths in cricket are.  

Hi Usman! How are you? 

Hi Sajeel.  I am good thanks and you? 

Good thanks! What are the last 3 things you Googled? 

The first thing I Googled was for a light bulb. 

A light bulb! Interesting.  Why? 

I have a white light in my house on my desk that I think is too bright.  So I thought a yellow light or a warmer light would be better.   

Ah, I see. 

Yes, so I was just checking out different lights.   

What else? 

Doctor Shahid Masood  

Who is Dr. Masood? 

He is a current affairs reporter in Pakistan.  I like watching him, reading his column and things like that.   

You follow global affairs pretty closely.  Why is that? 

I enjoy keeping up with the world and hearing about what is going on in different places.  It’s also good to learn about different places too.    

Ok! What else have you been Googling? 

I actually Googled the Google Drive login page to search for a document I needed! 

Hahaha! You Googled to get to Google 

Yes, in some ways! 

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

A few days ago.  We are building a mobile app that takes data from a custom PHP/Laravel application.  We were getting close to the deadline, so we worked through some last-minute bug fixes with the backend developer to resolve them.     

Who are 3 people you'd like to have dinner (dawaat) with at the same time and why? 

There are 3 people, including Ishaq Madni.  He is a world-renowned Maulana (scholar and teacher) who I learned a lot about faith, peacefulness, and religion from his online lectures.  He had already passed away when I learned about him. 

Interesting! Who else? 

I have had 2 really good friends since childhood.  Qasim and Aqib.  We have known each other for over 20 years.  We always get together still and talk about life, the world, and all sorts of things. 

What do you love about coding? 

There are quite a few reasons I love coding. 

Really? What are they? 

It helps me financially.  Obviously. 

Exactly, you do this for a living. 

Yes.  I love that this is ‘intelligent income.’  Income that I can earn while really exercising my mind. 

Intelligent income! I like that. 

Yeah.  I love that in coding, we increase our thinking ability when we solve a problem.  It starts with a simple thing, and soon, a product is built to solve a societal problem. 

You mean that one thing you love about coding is that once you build an application, it solves a requirement for someone in the world.  Like a business or a community or something.  Is that right? 

Yes.  That’s right!  

When was the last time you cried tears of laughter?  

It was about 2 or 3 weeks ago.  Qasim and I went to a park, sat down, and had fun on the swings. Like we were kids or something. 

Nice! Just a few grown adults were having fun on swings. 

Hahaha! Yes, that was the fun part. 

When was the first time you saw a laptop/computer 

I was 13 years old! One of my classmates had a laptop.  I was interested in it and just used the scrolling keys to move the cursor around.    

Didn’t you play any games or anything? 

Nope! Not at that time.  I was still new to computers and had never seen one before. 

Yes makes sense.  What is something your teammates don't know about you? 

They will know a lot about me now after this conversation! I am a big follower of current events and news.  Like most of my colleagues, I also like to watch and play cricket.   

Are you a bowler or a batsman? 

I am both! I am an all-rounder.