Meet Adnan AlAkhrass, bread lover, self-learner, La Casa de Papel fan and one of our brightest Architects and Senior Team Leads. Continue reading to find out more about his lifestyle.
What is your current position?
I started at Aspire as a Sr. IOS Developer. After a couple of months, I was assigned as a Team Lead for the Mobile Team, Personal Coaching and Chat projects Team Lead for Jordan. After my first year, I was promoted to Architect and Senior Team Lead which is my current position, and I have been with Aspire for almost 2 years now.
Why did you choose IT?
I studied Computer Science because I love coding and creating apps, and I am passionate about being part of developing apps that makes life much easier for others. I started my career as a game developer and later on I moved to app development.
What are you particularly passionate about within your industry?
I love coding and mobile is the best option for me. While AI is getting a lot of attention and I am super interested in this. In the future, I hope to transfer to the AI field.
Why Aspire?
I saw that Aspire was one of the best companies in Jordan, especially regarding work flow and integrations. The process itself and experience you will get at Aspire is more valuable than others in Jordan.
What did your typical day look like pre-lockdown?
I start my day after I work out. I would usually wake up, work out and come straight to the office. I was also used to working from home from time to time. To plan my work and my teams tasks, we work in an agile manner and in sprints. I have 2 sprints planned for the month with each sprint usually taking 2 weeks. I have tickets and tasks distributed throughout the working day and these 2 weeks, so I know exactly what I need to finish and deliver. I always finalize my daily tasks and try to help my team members when they have questions. After work, I used to visit my family or relatives and when I arrived home, I would play video games or watch movies. On weekends, I like to have an outdoor barbecue, spend time in contact with nature and eat sweets (I try and eat healthy during the week).
Adnan in contact with nature visiting the Kursunlu Waterfalls, Turkey.
What does your day look like now that you are working remotely?
My day is actually the same as it was pre-lockdown. Now, I actually get to save time driving to and back from the office and I use this extra time on reading and learning new topics related to my profession and passion. Working from home has enhanced the feeling of responsibility for me and helped manage and arrange my time throughout the day.
Do you have any productivity tips for people that are starting to work remote?
Software engineering, like many other professions can be done from the office, from home, from a cafe or any public or private places. It’s all about time and self-management! Wake up early, set up a room inside the house as it’s your own office (if possible), make sure you have a good wi-fi connection, avoid getting distracted by surroundings (use headphones if possible), set delivery milestones for that day and don’t overload yourself with tasks or deliveries. These can be tweaked throughout the week as you learn your work pace.
What do you value the most about the company?
The experience that I get is the most valuable thing for me and of course the great teams I am working with, the company culture, environment, benefits, and appreciation, as well.
What is your favorite movie or series?
Lord of the Rings (all of them) has to be my favorite movie and series for sure is La Casa de Papel (Money Heist).
Image by AKCreatif from Pixabay
What do you like to do in your free time?
Sometimes I go and play football, I also love reading blogs or books that I download from Udemy. I always try to learn anything related to IT, I am a really curious person. I have an app that I use which gives you 1 or 2 random topics each day and tells you something about it and I really enjoy this kind of thing, it’s called Pocket Mobile Application. I also like to travel when possible.
Adnan traveling to the Antalya High Mountains during winter.
If you had to choose one programming language to use for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Python! I believe everything moving forward is going to be related to AI and Machine Learning and Python is the best for that, at least at the moment.
What is something that will surprise your colleagues?
In my workplace, I usually don’t talk much, I just focus on work. Sometimes people think that I am not an easy person to talk to. When people meet me after work or at a work event, they think I am completely different, easy-going and they become surprised.
You have 10 seconds to impress someone. What do you tell them?
I created an app where you can control everything from your mobile app, your car, your home and anything you can imagine, are you interested in talking to me?
PS: I still haven’t created this app, but I doubt that they would say no!
What is one thing you want to do before it is too late?
I want to design and build my own house.
Does a particular time in your career stand out?
When I got promoted to an Architect position.
What are your ambitions for Aspire?
The mobile team started with 6 guys in Aspire and we are growing. I want to have more employees and have more time to sit with them and train them. I want Aspire to have the best mobile development hub in Jordan!
What’s your biggest personal achievement?
Achieving the dreams I had when I was a kid which was to have my own car and reach the salary I dreamt of, to work in a field I love. Now all that is left is to build my own house.
What’s your biggest professional accomplishment?
Being an architect and learning everything myself through self-learning. You don’t have to wait for training, there are a lot of resources on the web, you can learn by yourself, so don’t create restrictions to achieve what you want and when you start going down this path, you will find that many will offer a helping hand.
What superpower would you like to have?
Flying so that I could be able to see everything from above.
If you had to eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Bread, I LOVE BREAD!
Bread – food picture provided from Freepik
What’s your life philosophy?
Work hard to gain more.
How do you think the workforce will change post COVID-19?
When employees have a sense of responsibility, it doesn’t matter if they are working from home or from the office if they are doing their job properly. Humans adapt to surrounding conditions. This is in our nature as humans, I think most people have adapted quite well to this change.
Any tips for new graduates?
For new graduates, I always tell them to spend more time on themselves in order to gain more experience. Graduates usually spend more time having fun and they should spend time learning things because the time to have fun can come after. You need to have the passion to learn because you have the energy now.
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