I was born in 1999 in Karachi, Pakistan and raised in a tightly-knit, middle class family. From an early age, I was fascinated by computer technology, for I opened eyes in a world where personal computing had already permeated the fabric of society.
Eventually, I grew up and finished my elementary and secondary education, never getting bored of my fascination for computers. We were amongst the early majority in Pakistan when my father bought an amazing machine into our home in 2004 called the 'Personal Computer' and from then on, things changed. Opening up my Desktop Computer and tinkering around with its components was one of my childhood fascinations, coupled with sketching futuristic cars and reading and writing fiction.
Throughout my ups and downs growing up, books and computers never left my side, and they continue to bolster me to date. Through the whims of fate, I ended up studying Business for my Bachelor's education, but my fascination for tech got the better of me. I found myself working for a technology startup in 2020 and the rest is history. Eventually, I ended up pursuing a Masters degree in Information Technology at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, where I am currently located.
What started as a way to redeem my childhood fascination turned into a career most call 'Product Management'. Seeing my eagerness to contribute and my business education, I was given a chance to work as the first product manager at a rapidly growing startup and what followed was a period characterized by immense growth.
Learning from the ground-up using books and online resources proved to be beneficial for me since I could learn from the best and experiment without biases or restrictions. I learnt a lot from my mistakes and feedback and eventually helped deliver amazing products for the organizations I worked with.
As I navigated the uncharted waters of product management, it dawned on me that my insatiable curiosity for technology and my propensity for problem-solving could be channeled into an even more technical and hands-on role. The intersection of technology and creativity, where innovation thrives, became a call I could no longer ignore.
While I have just started on my journey, I would like to share my learnings with the world to learn and grow together. Apart from Product Management, I am also keenly interested in Anthropology, Human Nature, Neurology, and Philosophy. In fact, the best way to know about me is to refer to my reading list.
My Curated Reading List (Product Management):
The Product Manager's Desk Reference - My First Guide into the world of Product; I keep a copy at my desk at all times.
The Product Manager's Sacred Seven - A book that goes a bit deeper into the competencies required to be a good PM.
Epic Alignment - A book on making sure the product delivery machinery works smoothly.
Inspired by Marty Cagan - Needs no introduction - one of the books that inspired the Product Management movement.
Mastery by Robert Greene - A blueprint to design your career and become one of the 'Masters' of your craft.
Escaping the build trap - A book on helping you become better at Prioritization - one of the key skills of being a PM.
Crossing the Chasm - A valuable book with valuable lessons in scaling products past the deadly 'chasm'.
Sprint - A book that has been instrumental in my career to help solvie complex problems in 5 days.
Continuous Discovery Habits - A Book on becoming better at Product experimentation.
The Lean Startup - A blueprint for using the dexterity and flexibility of early stage startups to fail faster and leaner.
My Curated Reading List (Software):
Modern Full-Stack Development: Using TypeScript, React, Node.js, Webpack, Python, Django, and Docker
Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time
The Art of Science and Engineering by Richard Hamming
Microservices Patterns by Chris Richardson
My Curated Reading List (General):
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
21 Lessons for 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
Behave by Robert Sapolsky
Fallen Leaves by Will Durant
Lessons from History by Will Durant
The Prophet by Khalil Jibran
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene