Ahmad Awais Interview – WordPress Core Contributor, Front-End Fanatic

He is known in the community for his contributions building frameworks, plugin boilerplates, WPGulp, and also more than a couple of dozens of CMS-based websites and other web projects.

I have been fortunate enough to be introduced to the internet in the late 90s. That was exactly when I stopped playing computer games (as a kid) and jumped into computer programming. Later I ended up becoming an engineer and had freelanced for more than five years in the fields of graphic design (Logo design, Web Design, and then UI/UX) and development.

Throughout my career, I have worked with WordPress in many different positions, as a freelance web developer, contractor, consultant, senior software engineer, lead developer, and once as a manager. Currently, I build products and work with a few clients as a Full Stack Web Developer. I am deeply involved with the WordPress community; I have been contributing to the WordPress Core for every major release since WordPress 4.2; I love to write, talk, build and share everything about WordPress.

Like with everyone else, there’s more to the story here, I have written about it in the piece This Part of My Life Is Called … WordPress. If you prefer watching a video, I had a lot of fun talking to John Parkinson at WP.tv WP Community Series.

There are many things that I have done to improve productivity — I have kept more than 3 timetables per day to incubate any unforeseen variables (e.g. having three different schedules for if I wake up at 6 AM, 10 AM or 1 PM), and I have also used a lot of various apps to make things better.

Nowadays, I stay productive by using any of the following techniques

• I use Trello; I have a board which incubates the schedule of every single day of a month. I use checklists to keep track of my goals milestones and whatever I get done. Then there are four cards which enlist what I missed or achieved in the current week. I keep using the same cards for every single month — which helps me figure out my backlog, how much time it takes for me to do certain things and in every six months I analyze patterns to help understand how my brain works 🙂 — I know it’s not ideal, and it’s a lot of work, but I am wired that way. I love Trello.
• I use RescueTime to keep track of my time.
• Google Keep has become a part of almost my every other workflow. I have it installed on my Android, and since I use Google Chrome, there is a Google Keep app for your Mac or PC. I can save any thought anywhere via Mobile or Mac and share it with my teammates. Add to it, my notes and to-do lists are all synced across the devices.
• Off and on, I use the Pomodoro Technique. Since I use Trello, there’s a Chrome Extension called Pomello App which combines the Pomodoro technique with Trello. I also use a Pomodoro Time Mac app.
• I hate repeating things, which is why I build small scripts, workflows, CLIs to automate my work as much as I can. This keeps me interested in whatever I am working on, and I get to open source a good deal of my workflows. E.g. WPGulp, WP Customizer Snippets for Sublime, Labs (Work In Progress), etc.
• And last but not the least, I think it is completely OK to abandon all this workflow for a day or two and even a week, to avoid monotonicity.

Nowadays, I sleep at 9 PM to 11 PM and wake up at the most by 5 AM. Then I work till 12 PM to 2 PM and after that I cook food (relatively new habit to learn something new). More often than not I spend time binge-watching TV seasons, and then I hang out with my friends/partner to play Badminton (sort of an attempt to workout while playing).

I crave leadership and teaching. I do NOT write-off any particular career choice; I have like what I did as a freelancer, as an employee, and as an entrepreneur. I really have no issue with moving from one of these choices to another — none of them is superior or inferior to another. These are merely options for software developers (best viewed at 1920p resolution, otherwise just zoom out in Chrome to roughly 60%).

If you look at any developer or designer you admire, whose work inspires you, and whose approach somehow resonates with you, I promise you’ll find a person who does not think of what they do as just their job.

“As an entrepreneur, I get to choose when I work, what I work on, and if I work or not.”

Otherwise, I have recently bought a DSLR D5300 Nikon and have started taking lessons from a few professional photography courses at Lynda. There’s a whole new world out there, and so far I love it. I am planning on starting a CC0 stock images site and contribute to the open design community.

Did I mention, I binge-watch TV seasons, a lot?

There are so many new businesses which do not get enough air time in the WP Community, which are working on building incredible WP based products. Not to overstate the obvious but huge companies like 10up and Automattic are always playing their part in helping WP move forward.

That’s easy, “FAMILY”!

Also, there are so many choices out there, about what to do and what not to do, stay distinct and do build side projects, you might as well git pull —yourLifeTogether. 😉

“Do NOT hesitate to help a competitor. The more you give back to the community the more you grow.”