Nadeem Ahmad

Nadeem is the team lead on Computan’s Shopify and E-commerce team. He helps build really unique things in Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, OsCommerce and others as well. Plus he’s always laughing and having a good time doing it. In this installment of Behind The Code Nadeem talks to us about his 3 Fs - ‘Friends,’ Fonts and Far-away places.

Hi Nadeem! What are the last 3 things you Googled and why?

Hi Sajeel! I searched for solutions to font-rendering issues in Safari

Some fonts weren’t loading properly?

Yes, actually Safari has rendering rules which are different than other browsers. Some fonts don’t display properly, and it causes bugs in the code.

Were you able to find a solution?

Yup! I just did it before joining the call.

Nice! What else were you Googling?

A client was looking for a shipping app for Shopify

What did you recommend?

I recommended Intuitive Shipping and Advanced Shipping Rules. Both are very good at calculating shipping rates based on customer tags and locations.

Those are two of your favorite shipping apps?

Yes absolutely.

Have you ever thought about building a Shopify App internally?

Yeah, I think it would be great. There are whole companies based on Shopify apps.

What should we build an app on?

I think we should build a Migration App.

Why?

It would be good to build an app that does migrations because it would expose our team more to products, orders, and customers.

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

Well, it’s not hard to remember. I was working on a task to send bulk campaigns from the native Magento backend. This wasn’t possible without using a Magento extension or plugin.

So then we had to go to the extension market?

Yes exactly. The store was hosted on the Adobe Commerce Cloud so we could not use PHPMailer or some function like that.

So what did you end up doing?

I used the .DIGITAL extensions which are integrated officially into Adobe Commerce Cloud. Simple solution, but since Magento acquired Adobe, there have been significant changes.

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

I would like to have dinner with 6. Is that ok?

You are a team lead. I guess we can bend the rules for you slightly.

I’d like to have dinner with Ross, Rachel, Joey, Chandler, Monica, and Phoebe.

Hahaha. You would like to have dinner with the cast of ‘Friends.’

Yes! Exactly.

Which Friends character are you like the most?

Chandler.

Why Chandler Bing?

Because Chandler never takes things too seriously. He’s also the most fun.

I could see that. Why do you like Friends?

I have seen every episode at least five times. I love the series, and it’s the ultimate mood switcher for me.

I’m more of a Seinfeld fan.

I have not watched much of Seinfeld. But I wish I could erase all my memories of watching Friends and rewatch it repeatedly.

So when was the last time you cried tears of laughter? Watching Friends?

Hahaha, no no. I was playing cards with friends…

With those ‘Friends’ or other friends?

Hahahaha…other ones. Whoever lost the game had to do a prank.

What was the prank?

I told you I wasn’t going to tell.

Come on. It’s not that big of a deal!

Ok. We had to do 20 jumps, knock on our neighbours doors late at night and then run away.

You are a grown man! This isn’t something grown men normally do!

Yeah, I know. Actually, the group of friends I was with I has known since I was 8 or 9 years old. When we are together, we become kids again.

It’s good to have that spirit, Nadeem. What do you love about coding?

I love that coding is always changing. The constant change keeps me energized. Keeping up with product enhancements and tools is really important.  

What are some new tools specifically that you are interested in?

I am really into new versions of Shopify tools for Shopify Plus. There is nothing boring in that world.

It really is constant change. Where were you when you first saw a laptop/desktop?

During my 10th grade exams. I was in my hometown and I saw a desktop computer.

What did you do on it?

It was mainly used to watch movies I think

What were your first impressions of the computer?

Honestly I had no idea what it did. Since it was only being used for movies and TV shows I thought it was a device that could show movies and TV shows without cable or a VCR.

Hahahaha! Well, it turns out you were right!

Yeah maybe I saw the future hahahaha.

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

I love to go for hiking and adventures and I love to drink coffee and tea.

What is the highlight of your hiking career?

I went to the base camp of Rakaposhi in the Himalayas. It is one of the tallest mountains in the world!

Wow! I didn’t know you were that big of a hiker!

Yeah. Being in nature, listening to birds and wildlife. I find it really relaxing!