Growing up an expat, an immigrant, and an optimist meant embracing the journey — from one school to another, or perhaps country to country. My life has been about approaching each journey and encounter with curiosity and humility; since childhood, I was drawn to not just doing, but watching intently as others did their life's work, whether it be a car mechanic, a sketch artist, a cook, or a salesperson.

When the journey led you to an apartment with bare necessities and a typewriter, it became a great opportunity to pick up speed typing, develop a love for typography, and begin to put thoughts on paper at any point in the day.

And when the journey took a young adolescent to another hemisphere, it was an opportunity to discover new friendships and passions. For me, this meant discovering berries, papier-mâché, digital library catalogues, and organized sports. And with technology at your fingertips, it also meant tinkering with hex editors, virtual memory, and building PCs.

College offered incredible access — to wonderful teachers and lifelong friends, no doubt — but also intramural sports, art exhibits, and city life. On a free day, I would go door to door to see if local shops wanted a web storefront; there were also short stints as a valet driver, a mobile phone salesperson, an SAT tutor, and a salad-maker at the school cafeteria (sometimes working the back-kitchen prepping catering orders for university events). Not quite the same as my software internships or RA-ships, but each and every one of these experiences ties back into my work in some shape or form, to this day.

After briefly flirting with research and academia, I embarked on an epic journey at Apple, helping launch products that bring surprise and delight to both users and developers worldwide; this coincided with another amazing journey as a parent of two kids discovering their own journeys.

Today, I see myself as a team builder, a life-long learner, a champion for outcome-focused planning, a force multiplier, and, yes, an optimist. As a leader, I believe it takes effort to build an inclusive, empowering culture where folks are secure enough to engage with authenticity. Just as before, I still embrace new beginnings with genuine curiosity and a desire for deeper understanding.

And so begins this journey at DevRev where, hopefully, we can redefine the journeys of developers around the world.

Ahmed Bashir

Engineering

Approaching each journey with humility