An Interview With Ayaz Ahmed Khan

Mr. Ayaz Ahmed Khan is a highly accomplished and experienced Software Engineer working with a leading Software House at Lahore.

CodeWeek: Briefly tell us about you, your family background, your education from beginning to the last highest degree earned?

Ayaz: I belong to an educated family. Both my parents were in government job, my father being an engineer and mother being a science teacher groomed me to what I am today.

All of my education is Lahore based. I did Matriculation from Garrison Boys High School and Intermediate from Govt. Islamia College Civil lines. Then I got BS-CS degree in September 1999 from Punjab Institution of Computer Science (PICS). Subsequently I enrolled myself in MS program after 3.5 years of professional career in April 2003. Because of some professional experience, I was able to get most out of MS and polished many of my skills.

I am part of the Software Industry for the last 10 years. During this time I have worked in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and managed development for private and public sector. I started my career as Lotus Domino developer and developing groupware/workflow applications; mainly targeted towards office automation and collaborating workforce. Then I moved to Saudi Arabia and served HSBC for one year, — once again my work was in Lotus Domino. As the saying goes “Travel brings wisdom and knowledge”, this one year taught me many lessons; let it be living, relationships or professional career. In short — it kicked the child out of me and introduced me to the practical world in reality. Since then it has been a challenging and rewarding experience in my career. By the grace of ALLAH, today I am enjoying a satisfactory life.

CodeWeek: What attracted you to the specific field of Software Development?

Ayaz: I was never attracted to non-science subjects in school. In fact I was scoring above 90% marks in science subjects and at times below 70% in the rest. This contributed to my average marks in F.Sc. and barred me from admission in an Engineering University. My mother being a teacher analyzed my situation well and advised me to abandon any thoughts of humanities program. She also dissuaded me from enrolling in a simple graduation degree and asked me to start some science related professional degree program — hence the start of Computer Science for me. Later I found it to be ‘THE STUFF’ for me.

CodeWeek: What would you tell budding Software enthusiasts as to what is Software Development?

Ayaz: Software Development is all about logic, knowing the problem well, defining the path as clear as possible and satisfying the need in a feasible way. The success lies in understanding the business need, see if your suggested solution can help someone, can it really solve some problems ? For me the key to success of produced software is ‘Usability’.

CodeWeek: Tell us about major personal achievements in your life.

Ayaz: Success means satisfaction. I thank Almighty Allah, that today I am a satisfied person. I was able to deliver stuff required from me. I believe, I was able to deliver mostly up to the satisfaction of the User. During the last 10 years of my career, I switched technology three times; have served different business sectors and today I am enjoying a respectable position. I consider it my achievement.

CodeWeek: How would you advise youngsters who wish to join and pursue Software Development as a career?

Ayaz: There is no short cut to success. It is only the hard work which can provide you a firm foundation and guaranteed success. Spending some extra time today in theory, proper grip on computer science concepts, and knowing how-stuff-works is important. Today, development really looks simple because of many available frameworks; but we, as developers must dig deep to know as to how a program is working. Copy-paste is an art — do not use it with negligence, do not let it be your downfall. Use code-snippets and internet to assist you only. Do not move forward without knowing how a program is working.

CodeWeek: What is your broad perception about the Software Engineering community in Pakistan as it stands today?

Ayaz: Unfortunately, we are followers and afraid of change. We start developing in a technology when someone else has already become a leader and leave us with no option but to follow. I haven’t seen proper introduction of ‘Technology Change Management’ in our software houses.

Are we aware of some program produced by some Pakistani firm, individual or group that is accepted in international community? I am afraid I am not — I might be misinformed here. The point is that we haven’t announced ourselves as community. Pakistan is full of individual brilliances but not too well galvanized as a software Engineer Community! All of us need to think and act, to blend and coalese to be a solid Software Engineer Community.

CodeWeek: What would be your advice to the GoP regarding enhancement of the IT Sector?

Ayaz: Please … let some IT pros lead the IT Sector.

CodeWeek: What are critical points for sound Software Development?

Ayaz: Successful software is one that satisfies the user. No more, no less — doing exactly what is required. Think from a users’ perspective while designing interfaces. The technical details we all know well — can’t say no to best practices and SDLCs. Can we?

CodeWeek: What are major responsibilities of Development Manager or Project Manager heading a Team?

Ayaz: I consider ‘Project Manager’ and ‘Development Manager’ to be inherently different positions. By title even the role of these positions and their responsibilities are different. A Project Manager’s responsibility is to see the successful execution of a project i.e. complete the project within budget, time and meeting quality. Project Manager utilizes resources where the Development Manager may be one of them.

A Development Manager is responsible for the technical execution — the mentoring and monitoring. This includes the right use of technology, proper design/architecture, coding practices and keeping developers up-to-date with latest advancements in software engineering or technology.

CodeWeek: What are your personal professional plans for the immediate future for the next 10 years?

Ayaz: To grow myself with an ever-growing Software Industry. I have seen much variation in IT industry over the past 10 years, it is hard to predict future or plan something for next 10 years on individual level !