“Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic” – Laini Taylor
The Journey…
It’s almost impossible to forget what that room looked like. Three small beds, adjacent to one another, an old reading lamp sitting on a wooden table at the corner of the room where I had my bed space. A scruffy-looking wall dented with dirt, with the blue paint almost wearing out. Mother and father slept in the bed spaces by the window. The heat at the corner of the room would have been bad for them.
I remember waking up in that room every night to study for a degree in Software Engineering. It was a constant struggle.
Apart from the heat, and the pain of having to watch my parents sleep in such an uncomfortable space, half the time I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even think I would succeed as an Engineer.
I come from a family of road transporters; that’s what we are known for. That’s what I was supposed to be known for, but I chose a different route.
A route I felt would create and bring a change to my family and to my province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, located in the northwestern region of Pakistan, and known as the tourist hotspot for adventurers and explorers, but is sadly lagging in the technological front.
That route pushed me into pursuing a career in computer programming, even though at the time, this decision was made at my peril.
Graduating with a degree in Software Engineering was a clear achievement, but I needed a foundation to build on, to start and maintain a career.
Family-run businesses are extremely common in Pakistani culture and are generally continued generationally. But as you have guessed, “software engineering” wasn’t exactly a trend in my family, which means I was the lone wolf, a solo ship sailing in the middle of a foggy ocean with no clear vision of which direction to go, nor who to send a signal to for help.
I dabbled in and dabbled out of different training institutes, programs and jobs, all the while learning and trying to grow professionally.
The journey was like walking on thorns; self-encouragement became the order of the day. At some point, I thought, “wouldn’t it have been easier if I had just gone into the transportation business? At least I could have had some sort of family guidance.”
The Breakthrough…
I wanted to give up a good number of times. I used to think studying to get a degree was hard, but it turned out, keeping that degree relevant was even harder.
At some point, I was almost deterred, but the thought of my parents and those sleepless nights kept me pushing.
When I landed my first job as a developer at SMSami Inc. Peshawar, which became the foundation for my breakthrough, I thought I wouldn’t last a week. My self-esteem failed me.
All I wanted to do was jump on the ride and enjoy some Java, Python, Ruby & PHP coding languages, but it wasn’t as effortless as I thought.
It took a lot of will-power to finally take the bull by the horn, and showcase the skills and knowledge that I had acquired over the years.
Part of what my experience taught me was that if you have to build yourself, you should enlarge your networks. This was exactly what I did, and it was during this little escapade of mine that I met the CTO, Gradely Nigeria – Femi Ibiwoye.
Femi is one of the most focused and cooperative fellows I’d ever come in contact with, I couldn’t have been more pleased to work with him. He welcomed me into the team and trusted in my capabilities.
Days, weeks and, months have passed, and here I am, soaring with the sense of gratification that comes with working with the team at Gradely. We have such a great rapport.
Even though sometimes our tasks might seem hefty and require a lot of logic to accomplish, we still persevere with patience and hard work.
Sometimes I wonder what a bug-free life feels like because It can be intellectually challenging to have to deal with a continuous stream of problems, and in software, this is just how things are. It’s impossible not to experience those days where it’s just too much to take in.
Nonetheless, this is the life I signed up for from the onset. A life of coding without limits and I’m grateful I towed this path. If you’re working hard and doing it patiently, trust me, you are guaranteed lifetime success.
Get to Know a Little More About Sami – Q & A
Q: What are you likely to be caught doing in your spare time?
A: I would say I’m addicted to nature. If I’m not “coding”, you’d probably catch me taking a walk in the fields and enjoying nature.
Q: If you could meet one person in history, who would it be and why?
A: Hazrat Muhammad (SAW), the best of all, because of the hard work he put into inspiring people to tow a righteous path.
Q: What’s that one thing most people don’t know about you?
A: I’m a very sharp-witted person, and I love to think my heart is completely pure with no negativity towards anyone.
INTERESTED IN MEETING THE REST OF THE TEAM? KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR OUR NEXT SPOTLIGHT, HERE ON OUR BLOG!
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Emediong Akpan, Content Writer
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Emediong Akpan
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Feeling proud….💗💗💗💗
wish you best of luck and thanks for mentioning
Mashallah , very impressive brother. You are one of my inspiration as well brother ❤️
This is such a wonderful read