My Developer Story

I was probably six years old when my father brought a computer home. I don’t really know why he even needed it at the time, but it introduced me to a whole new world. I started with playing arcade games like Tekken 3 and GTA Vice City. We didn’t have proper internet at home back then — no Wi-Fi or broadband. Instead, we used to connect our Nokia phone via something called Nokia PC Suite, and imagine surfing the web using 2G. I didn’t know anything about the internet other than browsing the same one kids’ site — Ibtada.com (omg! it still exists). My father used to download PDFs and was creating a kind of book library for himself for research.

I wasn’t a “computer guy” growing up. I used to read kids’ magazines like Naunehal (نونہال), Taleem-o-Tarbiat (تعلیم و تربیت), Phool (پھول) and Sathee (ساتھی) (lowkey i still wanna read). I don’t remember watching a lot of cartoons as a kid. Yeah, we had a TV but with only two national channels. I do remember watching shows like Ultimate Spiderman, Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars that aired on national TV.

YouTube was probably banned in Pakistan that time. When I first used it, the internet was too slow to stream anything. It used to take some dog years to download a video on 2G. But I wasn’t frustrated — it just felt normal to me. I didn’t even know internet could be faster than that.

Later, when I was eleven, we brought another device and experienced 3G internet via SIM card. I remember begging my father to recharge and get me a data bundle — 1GB for a week for 60 rupees. Around this time, I discovered Computing (کمپیوٹنگ) magazine, which became a nexus event for me. It was full of computer hacks, softwares, tech news and programming tutorials etc. I used to read every page — even if I didn’t understand anything. This is the reason I'm still into tech and software development. I was so fascinated by the idea of coding and how it could create magic on the screen.

One day, I discovered PowerPoint. I thought it was the only software on Earth for me. I used to make drawings, logos, software concepts etc. I was doing things that PowerPoint wasn’t even supposed to do. It is the reason I developed a solid design sense early on.

My journey with computer science could’ve been much more interesting if my parents hadn’t wanted me to become a doctor. I studied medical for the next four years. I continued to do little software hacks to impress my classmates or even teachers, but I didn’t actually learn anything meaningful — no real coding.

Anyway, I barely managed to pass college, to be honest. I tried so hard, but my grades still weren’t good enough to continue in the medical field. This time, my parents let me choose what I wanted to do in university, so I chose computer science.

Continue...