The Dark Knight. That’s what we call Sajjad Ali Khan. He solves problems his way; nothing much scares him; he’s opinionated and generally only talks when spoken to. In this installment of Behind The Coding, Sajjad tells us why he’s upset with Sajeel, the two things he likes about coding, and his best moments so far at Computan.
Hi Sajjad! What are the last 3 things you Googled?
Hi Sajeel. The last thing I Googled was the average raises given to software engineers.
Ok, I know why you Googled that.
I wasn’t happy with the salary raise you guys gave me, and I wanted to compare it to other companies.
And what did you find?
Nothing major, but I am not satisfied with my raise, Sajeel.
Why is that?
It was the same thing last year. Computan gave an annual increase to everyone across the company to cover the increase in the cost of living expenses. I am grateful for it, but it was just before my performance review. The same thing happened this year.
Yes, that’s right, Sajjad, I know.
2 years in a row, I felt my raise could have been higher, but it was lower because of the company-wide increase. I know it’s not like that, but still, that is how I feel.
I appreciate your thoughts, Sajjad, and I am sorry you feel that way.
Don’t you want to know what else I Googled?
Sure!
How can I improve if I am demotivated?
Obviously related to your raise?
Yeah, of course!
What did your research tell you?
The research said to spend time with friends and family and not worry too much. But of course, I am still worried about it.
Well, Sajjad, we did the best we could. We are lucky to be able to provide multiple raises to employees each year, including you. I know it could have been timed better in your case. I acknowledge that, and if we get a chance to do them again, we can try and look at doing them in a different month or in a different way.
Really? Would you do that?
No promises, and of course, we will make those decisions as a team, but we can certainly try.
Thanks, Sajeel. I appreciate that.
No problem, Dark Knight! When did you last work after hours to solve a hard problem?
That was in April 2023. I worked the night shift from sunset to sunrise doing front-end WordPress development on a job we were behind. It involved creating Gutenberg blocks out of designs. It was not difficult work, but it was a lot of work. It required me to stay late.
Yeah, I remember that project! Who are 3 people you'd like to have dinner with at the same time, and why
I want to eat with Shakeel, Wahab and Faisal.
What is your relationship with all 3?
Shakeel is my brother, and we live together. Wahab and Faisal are friends from school. We would do a BBQ at home.
What kind of meat would you eat? Chicken? Fish?
Beef Sajeel, of course! Beef is my favorite.
Hahaha! Got it. When was the last time you cried tears of laughter?
That would be my 2 favorite memories of being a Computan team member.
Wow! What were your two favorite Computan memories?
The two company trips to Kashmir and Swat. There was so much laughter, team bonding, and friendships built. I enjoyed those moments.
They were magical.
Definitely, they were.
What do you love about coding?
I like coding a lot. I like the challenge of coding and trying to get everything right. It’s fun to code and makes it hard for QC engineers to find bugs in my code.
Hahaha! Do you like to make life hard for the QC engineers?
Yes absolutely! I love that in coding, there is a way to show your true quality and do quality work.
It's all true, Dark Knight. When was the first time you saw a laptop/computer
It was 1998. I went to an Internet Café and saw a Pentium 1. I was probably 10 or 11 years old!
And what is something your teammates don't know about you?
They know a lot about me, and they know nothing about me!
Why is that?
I like to keep my work life and personal life separate.
That’s fair. What is something we don’t know about you, Dark Knight?
I have a terrible temper.
Really?
Oh yeah, for sure. People at home are afraid of my temper. Not here, though.
Hahaha! Nope, not here.
