Muaaz Tariq
MERN Stack Developer
I grew up in a village where all of my relatives worked in agriculture. My parents were the only ones in the family who undertook formal education and became educationalists professionally as well. It was because of their efforts that I was able to pursue higher education. I have two brothers, one of them is enrolled in a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering in Australia, while the other is seeking an MBBS degree in China.
I wasn’t into academics as much as my siblings, but I loved mathematics. I wanted to pursue my career in it too, but my parents wanted me to become an Electrical Engineer. As the rebel that I was back then, I left the house with stubbornness, which turned out to be a significant obstacle for me. I was depressed because I was away from my family, and then living in a hostel brought along its own struggles. I confided in my friends I was sharing the hostel with, and in the process, they became genuine friends.
After much struggle and back and forth discussion with my parents, we finally came to a middle ground where we decided that I’d pursue Computer Sciences and so I enrolled myself in FAST. It was a struggle at first because I was unfamiliar with the emerging technologies and because my heart still lay in algorithms and mathematical concepts. There were highs and lows throughout. I lost my best friend, who was always by my side during the tough times, and the high point was when I met a professor who became a mentor to me and helped me think critically.
Today I enjoyed developing code and learning new things and have realized that math is about critical thinking and so is coding. If not a lot, there is some similarity when it comes to problem-solving. Over time, I have developed a passion for it. My parents didn’t believe in me back in school because compared to my siblings, I was not a bright student.
They thought I was irresponsible and incapable of making good decisions, but I have come a long way and gained their trust, or maybe they have no other option but to believe in me because my other siblings are out of the country;). Struggles and conflicts aside, I owe my parents where I stand today. While freedom of thought is the most beautiful thing, in my opinion, giving the right direction to things is also a major fear