Introduction

Hello, World! I am Syed Kamran Ahmed. 👋

Most people who meet me professionally start by calling me "Syed" which makes sense - it appears first in my name. 😅

But I actually prefer to be called "Kamran".

(Fun fact: "Syed" is more of a title in Muslim names rather than a first name.)

I have put together this blog to share a little about myself - how I work, what I value, and how can I add value if we collaborate.

My Story (so far)

I was born in Patna, Bihar, India, and completed my high school there.

For my bachelor's degree, I moved to Aligarh and studied Electronics & Communication Engineering at Aligarh Muslim University (2018–2022).

Until high school, I was a bright student - always a front-bencher and in the good books of my teachers.

But college changed the dynamics completely. Instead of obsessing over grades, I spent most of my time in my room, programming and building things I enjoyed - whether it was cli tools, bots, automation scripts or a programmatic solution to a problem I faced.

Despite that, I still managed to graduate with a final CGPA of 8.2/10.

One of my most mischievous college memories? Ordering a pizza during a lecture and eating it at the last bench with a friend while class was in session.

During college, I interned at several early-stage startups and in my final semester I even worked as a Founding Engineer at a pre-seed startup - Nooble which was based in Singapore.

My work has always revolved around Backend Development and DevOps.

After graduating, I joined Glints as a Backend Engineer and have continued to grow with the company.

Currently, I serve as a Senior Software Engineer, handling backend development across multiple projects.

How I Work

I don't have an ideal work environment template (not to be confused with work culture).

From what I have observed, my productivity remains the same - whether I am working from a backyard garage or a high-rise office. As long as the WiFi is good, my surroundings don't matter much.

Being an introvert, too much socializing drains my energy and can make me unproductive. You won't find me taking frequent breaks either, as they tend to disrupt my rhythm.

I enjoy breaking things down logically, but I also have a habit of going down rabbit holes when something fascinates me.

I work best under tight deadlines to deliver things I have direct control over, where pressure helps me focus.

When communicating within a team, I prefer async communication whenever possible and well-documented notes over quick calls, unless the issue is highly specific to the person facing it.

When discussing issues, I expect the other person to come prepared with both - the problem they encountered and the solutions they have already tried but it didn't help fix the issue.

Shubham has written a great guide on this: An Engineer's Guide to Asking Better Questions on Slack

How I Can Add Value

Untangling The Sphagetti

Bugs, design flaws and cryptic error messages do not scare me - I see them as puzzles waiting to be solved.

If something is broken, I will figure out why and make sure it stays fixed… at least until Murphy's Law decides it's my turn again.

Making Things Faster, Not Just "Work"

I am not a fan of slow queries, bloated APIs, or deployments that feel like rolling dice.

I like optimizing things - whether it's cutting down response times, streamlining CI/CD, or making sure the system doesn't buckle under peak load.

Helping Others (Without Just Saying "It Depends")

I love a good tech discussion, especially when it leads to practical solutions instead of just a philosophical debate.

If you ask me for help over a technical issue, I will expect you to first tell me what you have tried to fix it - because a simple "it doesn't work" doesn't work haha.

Automate. Optimize. Move On.

Repetitive tasks annoy me.

If something can be automated, scripted, or made 10x easier, I will probably do it - not just to make things more efficient, but mainly so I do not have to keep doing it manually in the future.

Closing Thoughts

Like any well-architected system, I am a work in progress - iterating, improving, and occasionally rolling back bad decisions.

If you have made it this far, congrats! Either I kept you interested, or you are really good at skimming.

Either way, if you want to chat about backend stuff, devops, why temporary code lives forever, or just want to argue about tabs vs spaces, feel free to reach out.

Oh, and one last thing: