Shahaan Shaukat – Web Developer
Shahaan is a Developer with a big personality and a ready smile. He’s also big on expertise, stays focused, and is a fast problem-solver – essential ingredients for a top Web Developer. Shahaan keeps up-to-date with the latest dev advances and technological innovations and genuinely loves his work.
He joined us in May 2023 and over his 13-year professional career he’s built hundreds of complex feature-heavy websites and landing pages that not only look great, but also get terrific results and achieve high user engagement. Incredibly, Shahaan’s journey to become a programmer began during a social cricket match in Pakistan when he was a teenager. Let’s get to know more about Shahaan.
How did you become a Developer and tell us about your first Dev job?
I used to be a part of a lower middle-class family when this journey started. I was a kid in Year-9 in school in Pakistan and I remember we were playing cricket in one of the parks in town where one of my friends told me that his cousin “creates a website and when people come to his website, he gets dollars.” That was the line which stuck in my mind because normally kids from poor family get mature and responsible earlier. So I was eager to do some work and help my father and family. That was the day I decided to choose this field. I studied, did some programming on sites, and a few years later, Sir Sohail Tariq, gave me a chance in his company as an intern. He then hired me, which started my programming career on a professional level.
Were there any other careers that you thought about pursuing?
To some extent I can say that I always wanted to become a programmer since I was in my mid-teens. Yet, on top of that there is one thing which I am passionate about and that is media entertainment. I like to sing, I love to make clips, and I always wanted to be a singer. I actually still write and record in my spare time and have released a few of my songs online.
Do you have a motto in life?
My motto is to give my parents all those things which they missed in their peak age while bringing us up. Unfortunately, I lost my father from COVID-19 and I couldn’t fulfill all his wishes or prove myself a good son. But I want to honour my Father’s legacy by doing something good whenever and wherever I can. I believe no one can love you more than your family, so I love my family the most.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Both of my idols – my brother Afzal, and Sir Sohail who gave me my first start – told me never to use any piece of code in the wrong way, and to always be ethical and honest in my job. When I moved to Australia in 2018, Sir Sohail on the day of my flight gave me the most precious personal advice that we are Muslim and it should be visible in my every action and that no-one should be able to think badly about it.
What does an ‘average day at the office’ look like for you?
No two days are really the same as sometimes there is urgent work to do and I just power through it and don’t stop till it is done, whether I’m working remotely or at the office. And I look forward to the majority of days in the week where I work at the Orion office, as every day there is like a party and every team member is an amazing party person in their own different ways.
What advice would you give to a young web developer who’s just starting out?
First you need to Learn and increase the font size of this word by gaining more and more knowledge – and then remove the character ‘L’ from the word. So, the bigger your learning, the better your EARNING.
What do you like doing in your spare time? What happens on weekends?
In my spare time I love to clean my place and organise everything so that it’s tidy and well-ordered. After work I’m often immersed in my home-studio environment doing my music. On the weekends, I drive for people, not to make money, but to meet new people and to travel around this incredible city of Sydney.
Fave series/movies/musicians? What are you streaming and listening to these days?
My favourite series is ‘Prophet Yosuf’, my favourite movie is ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ and my favourite Musician is Arijit Singh and I am currently streaming on loop a new song by Arijit called ‘Ruaan Ruaan’.
If you were able to have a secret power, what would you choose – and why?
I want to have a secret power to make people happy. I can’t bear to see anyone sad and it starts hurting me inside. I always want smiling people around me, so having this power would help me transform people.
What are a couple of interesting facts about you that you’re willing to share?
For seven years I was a part-time announcer on MAST-FM 103, one of Pakistan’s leading radio stations, based in my hometown of Faisalabad. I went by the name ‘R J Shani’ with R J standing for Radio Jockey. Another thing is that I love acting and singing and have done some videos, and I want to be on the ‘big screen’ one day. Who knows, but you have to dream, right?
