Hi Sohail! How are you?
I am good Sajeel. How are you?
Good thanks! What are the last three things you Googled?
Bed set designs
Are you building a bed set?
Hahaha, no, no. My wife said that my son needs a new bed set and she and I also need a new one.
Were you able to find them?
Yup, we did. Ordered him a new bed and a king bed for us.
A king bed! That’s great
Yeah, we are moving our old bed to another room after it gets repaired and getting a new one.
Sounds great! What else have you been Googling?
HubSpot Modules debugging
What do you mean exactly?
I mean, my colleague (Hassan Raza, backend developer) and I were building some email templates in HubSpot, but they weren’t working, so we were looking for a debugging tool to debug the code.
Ok! What else?
Adobe Indesign online opener. I was asked to estimate a potential project that had some Indesign files to review, but I’m not a designer.
Right, and you don’t have Indesign on your computer, probably.
Exactly. So I went online, found an Indesign file opener, and opened the file.
Did the Indesign file opener work? Sometimes they don’t work.
Nope, it didn’t work.
Hahaha! That’s too bad.
I ended up installing Indesign and got it done!
When was the last time you sat after hours to solve a hard problem?
Not really to solve a ‘hard’ problem. But I spent some time after my shift ended preparing an estimate for a mobile app project.
Understood.
Yeah, it seems in the past several weeks for whatever reason I’ve had 7 or 8 estimates to put together, project planning for teams, and everything. It’s been a transition to helping teammates solve problems instead of getting problems to solve on my own.
Yes, that’s right. You are more of a mentor, planner, and project manager type of person as opposed to a core developer nowadays. Do you miss the core development projects?
Sometimes yeah, but at this stage for me, it’s good to be in this type of role talking to different team members and helping them solve different kinds of problems.
I agree! Who are 3 people you'd like to have dinner (dawaat) with at the same time and why?
I thought about this one a lot, actually (laughing).
Hahaha! Ok great. Who are they?
Ishfaq is one person I’d like to have dinner with for sure.
Who is Ishfaq to you?
He is my old tuition (study hall) teacher. He is a very straightforward and knowledgeable person. He is the person who taught me how to code after my FSC studies. In 3 or 4 months he taught me how to code in C++.
Nice!
I enjoyed that, and he unlocked my interest in coding.
Who else?
My primary teacher Ms. Lubna
Wow! That’s an interesting choice. Why Ms. Lubna?
I still remember her face. She was a very polite lady. She taught us, kids, very well and gave me a good base for learning.
Did she give you the love of learning?
Yes exactly.
And who would be the third person?
You might be surprised…Elon Musk
Elon Musk! What do you like about him specifically?
I like how he initiates things. He took Tesla to the next level, same with Space X. I like his tenacity and that he never gives up.
That’s a good point. While Elon Musk wasn’t the founder of Tesla or PayPal or Space X he definitely took them to the next level.
Yes exactly.
When was the last time you cried tears of laughter?
2 weeks ago. We had a few old friends at home for dinner. Lots of fun. My special friend Zubair Gohar Qureshi came.
Yes! I know you are friends with Zubair Gohar and Zeeshan Ahmad on the team. Zeeshan didn’t come?
Hahaha! He may have started a fistfight. Zeeshan is good at that.
Tell me about your relationship with Zubair. Zeeshan is a straight forward person. What kind of person is Zubair like?
Zubair is a fun guy. Whenever I am with him we have a lot of fun together, long talks and can hang out for hours. He’s a family friend. I know his brothers, parents and everyone in his family.
When was the first time you saw a laptop/computer
At an Internet café. I got an assignment in school that required a computer and didn’t have one. So I went to an Internet café. I didn’t even know how to start the computer but the Internet Café owner showed me how to start it and use it.
What did you do when you first got on it?
I think I searched for something related to my studies or schooling probably.
When did you get your first computer?
Probably shortly afterward. In the final semester of my studies. I remember it was a Pentium 3 and I learned how to install Windows 98.
It didn’t come with Windows 98?
Well, my friend installed it, but after he left I uninstalled it and learned to install it on my own. I also installed Windows XP too. Both Operating Systems were running at the same time.
Hahaha! That is pretty neat. What is something your teammates don't know about you?
Car enthusiast and I like to travel on a bike. In my spare time, I research cars, car prices, and what new cars are coming out on the market.
So you are into cars?
Yeah! I even look at old car models to see what price ranges they are in, so perhaps I could buy them.
Interesting!
Most teammates don’t know my true nature.
What do you mean?
Well, in December 2021, we went on a company trip. Most guys seemed to think I was a severe and strict person, but they found the opposite!
You’re not a serious person?
I mean, generally, of course, work is serious stuff, but I am a really friendly and fun-loving person who likes to joke around a lot.
You guard your fun-loving nature pretty well, as far as I can tell. We’ve worked together for 6-7 years, and I consider you more on the serious side.
Hahaha…. because our talks are always serious. Most people think I’m serious, but I am really not!