Zeeshan is a Team Lead on Computan’s HubSpot development team. He provides the front-end expertise on the many hybrid HubSpot development projects that Computan does that involve HubDB, HubSpot custom objects, integrations, and advanced level front-end filtering. In this installment of Behind The Coding, Zeeshan takes us behind the scenes on legendary cricket games the Computan team partakes in, the one thing he Googles every day, and why he’s not in front of a computer most weekends.

Hi Zeeshan! How are you?

Hi Sajeel. I am good, thanks. Do you want to know what I Googled today or what?

Exactly! What are the last three things you Googled and why?

1 – Weather – I am always checking the weather where I live (Lahore). It’s a huge city, and some neighborhoods have rain or different climates than others. It helps me plan what I wear when I need to go out.

2 – Maldives

Wow! The Maldives? Why?

Yeah. A few of my friends are planning a trip there, and they want me to go with them. Before the pandemic, we went to Malaysia. They want to do the Maldives this time. I am on the fence about it due to the pandemic…we’ll see.

3 – HubSpot Business Units – In 2021, HubSpot released a feature called Business Units, and I was reviewing how it works for a client.

How Do HubSpot Business Units work?

Simple but powerful, really. You can finally manage multiple companies and brands under one HubSpot portal. So if Computan also has additional companies like Computan B and Computan C you can manage those additional companies under one HubSpot portal versus having to buy three different ones. It’s a really good tool that a lot of our clients will need. Of course, they might need to upgrade to Marketing Hub Enterprise to get it, but still.

Got it! What was the last big problem you solved at work?

Yesterday probably. We are facing an issue adding HubSpot line items and deal data in HubSpot email templates. I’ve never personally done that before, and due to security issues, HubSpot doesn’t allow for certain content to be dynamically populated in emails. Or we are filtering in emails, either. However, the client really needs it, so we needed to come up with some workarounds that also don’t compromise the security of HubSpot. Kind of another day at the office for us!

What do you mean by that?

I mean, HubSpot is a big and powerful application, but there are always clients who want to do more than what the system is intended to do out of the box.

I hear you…it’s kind of like being at a restaurant with 100 different types of burgers on it, but not being able to order one and just going and building your own burger instead.

That’s one way of looking at it, I guess. That’s definitely one of the things that make working here interesting. We always seem to find clients who want to push the limits of what HubSpot can do.

Speaking of burgers, who are three people you’d like to have dinner with and why?

Shaban Sarfraz – He used to work on our team for many years and is a great guy. We get along well.

Yeah, for sure! He’s definitely missed here. One of the friendliest guys you’ll ever meet. Who else?

My older brother, he’s a Laravel developer and generally works at night. Since I work in the afternoon, our paths rarely ever cross. He’s free when I’m not, and I’m free when he’s not.

And the last person I’d like to invite to dinner with, I guess, is you, Sajeel.

Me? Why?

Hahaha, we’ve never had a meal together before, and you’ve been talking about burgers for the past few minutes.

I am always talking about burgers, though.

There is this place called Monal in my town that is great. It’s a buffet with really good barbecue items. Better than burgers.

Alright, let’s go!

Deal

When was the last time you cried tears of laughter?

It happens pretty often, actually. Usually when I’m with my friends.

What do you love about coding?

I love that being a developer in HubSpot every day is different. Not only are there so many different areas of the platform to explore, but the product is always adding new features. With those new features come new possibilities, especially for developers. Working in a field where I have to stay up to date and get better at my craft is really interesting.

It’s like sports in that regard. Which I know is something you are interested in. Right?

Yes! I definitely consider myself a sportsperson.

Now at Computan, we have some intense cricket games. Can you share details of those here?

Haha...that is kind of a secret. You sure you want me to?

Sure! Why not?

We have set teams, and the teams always stay the same.

How are the teams set up? Is it front-end developers vs. backend developers?

Come on, that’s crazy—nothing like that. Basically, we play three overs (baseball equivalent of innings) each day at lunch throughout the week. We keep score, talk trash, winners get bragging rights!

How big a role does sport play in your life?

A pretty big role. On weekends I’m never near a computer. I am at different snooker clubs in town or at the cricket ground playing with friends.

Where were you the first time you saw a computer?

Probably 2002 or 2003 at school. The teacher showed us the MS-DOS Prompt from Windows XP.

Why would a teacher open up Windows XP to show you the DOS Prompt?

I’m not sure. That’s what I remember. I was probably 6 or 7 years old…maybe you can ask the teacher that!

Hahaha ok fair enough.

Generally, like most kids, I liked to play games on the computer – racing games like Need For Speed.