A Leader's Mind Part 4: Faiz A. Farooqui, ADoE

The Beginning

I first found out about programming when I was in high school, and I was hooked from the start. I was fascinated by how a computer could be instructed to do all sorts of things, and how programming required logic: something I always enjoyed. The fact that behind every website or app there is usually a programmer who wrote some sort of code that makes it work captured my interest. I wanted to know more about what was running under the hood, so I started off on my journey as a developer.

I have always been a curious person who wanted to learn more about programming and it specifically interested me as I had to apply logic. I was playing around with C++, PHP and occasionally javascript. The combination also taught me a lot about databases and network protocols which contributed to a good understanding of how the internet works and what goes on. I started taking up various things from programming, and web designing, to working with data sets and implementing projects that are currently running on the internet.

My Journey at GeekyAnts

After I finished my school, I joined a college and completed my graduation and was ready to explore what the world holds in store for me. I started looking for jobs and found one with a well-known technology company which was GeekyAnts and when I started, the company was still in its nascent stages.

I started my career at GeekyAnts as an associate software engineer and it has been a great journey for me. I learned a lot and it helped me to develop my skills. I received guidance throughout which helped me to shape my professional life and Pratik, the MD of our company, has a huge role to play in shaping me as a developer and paving my way to become a leader. In my time here, I have contributed to some major projects which helped me hone my skills as a software developer and broadened my horizons.

My lessons which shaped me as a leader…

The experience of working with GeekyAnts was that of a lifetime, the lessons learnt at work are still with me and help me along my career path. I have managed to climb the corporate ladder and having successfully done that I intend to pass this on to those who are following in my footsteps.

Delegation of duties and responsibilities is one of the most important lessons to be learned from my past. Each team member should be ready to break the job down into smaller tasks, which can be delegated to other members. It also helps in increasing productivity as well as in cutting down on time spent overall.

Going forward…

As a leader, I believe that the ability to inspire and encourage others to strive for greatness will help you lead a team on a path of success. To be a successful leader, you must be able to motivate others and teach them properly and that is what I intend to do.

Time is the most essential resource. One thing I would like to impart to those following in my footsteps is to try to complete a task in less time compared to before as time progresses. This will give them the confidence and it is a matter of time before they will reach the next step in their career with some more experience, knowledge and understanding of the field and this can help us grow together not only as a team but as individual developers.