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How I got into programming

Hi everyone! I hope all of you are doing great. If you have been following my blog for a while and keeping a lookout at the comments then you might know a bit about me. If you don’t then today I am going to share my story.

Me That’s me πŸ™‚

I am freshman at Colgate university in upstate New York (more on this later). I have been programming since I was 12 years old and it all began because of an online multiplayer game called Club Penguin. I used to play that game and like every 12 year old I wanted to excel in it; the only problem was that you had to pay in order to get ahead of everyone else. I wanted to buy stuff without paying and that is how I came across a software called Penguin Storm. That software allowed a person to buy anything without paying a dime. Everything was well and good until I found that all of the stuff which I was buying was being displayed only in that software and wasn’t actually affecting the real game. This led me on a quest to figure out how that software worked.

It all began with Visual Basic

My research led me to Visual Basic and from there my independent study began. Initially I tried to get ahold of a teacher to guide my efforts but I soon found out that most of the people I knew weren’t supportive of the fact that a 13 year old could learn programming. Do keep in mind that I am from Pakistan and it’s a third world country. Back in the days, it wasn’t common to hear Pakistani kids saying that they wanted to learn programming. The reasoning I got from the aforementioned teachers was that even adults got boggled by this stuff, how could a youngster like myself wrap his head around it? Nevertheless, I decided to go ahead independently.

Learning Visual basic was hard. I had no clue about what variables were and algebra was an alien topic for me. I started doubting my ability to learn all of this new stuff because it wasn’t making any sense but then again I reminded myself that I had to prove to that guy, who told me that I couldn’t learn programming, wrong. I kept on following online tutorials on YouTube and some other websites which I don’t remember now.

Can I get your help sir?

I still remember the time when I was stuck on regular expressions. I knew what they were but couldn’t figure out how they worked. I went to my computer science teacher in highschool and asked him about the topic. He was clueless! I was kinda shocked because my viewpoint was that regular expressions were a pretty common topic in programming and he must have known about it but that was not the case. Frankly, I couldn’t say anything to him because after all, it was a high school and it was not common for high school students to start asking questions about regular expressions.

Where did Python come from?

After learning a bit about Visual Basic I started exploring some other languages. First there was JavaScript. I still remember writing my first function in JavaScript. The main motivation behind learning JavaScript was to write GreaseMonkey Scripts (Is that even a thing now?). It was confusing at first but I managed to make small scripts. I was just not happy with JavaScript. Somehow, it just didn’t make a lot of sense to me at the time. Thus, my research into other languages continued.

Whenever I searched for a programming tutorial I saw that a language named Python kept popping up. I was unsure about whether I should look into it or not because come on who names a serious language ‘Python’? I gave in to curiosity and started reading Head First Python. It was still new at the time and updated according to the Python version available at that time. This book was extremely intuitive and helped me gain a good grasp of Python. While following the book, I decided to maintain a blog documenting my learning. After finishing this book, I felt confident about making small Python scripts.

Head First Python

Head First Python

Step by step VB

Step by step Visual Basic

We all need a mentor

Till then I didn’t have a mentor or a teacher and that all changed when I started contributing to projects on GitHub. The first pull request which I ever submitted was a fix for indentation in a Python file. I was so proud of myself because my work was actually starting to impact people. The next project which I contributed to was youtube-dlΒ and this very project helped me meet my mentor. Youtube-dl made heavy use of regular expressions and my knowledge about regular expressions was kind of non-existent. After going through the code and being unable to make sense out of it, I decided to email the main developer – Philipp Hagemeister. He was an assistant professor at a university in Dusseldorf who guided me and taught me what regular expressions were and how they worked.

Philipp used to proofread my articles at a time when I had 0 readers. He spent a lot of time guiding me. I remember drafting a proposal for a conference for the first time and Philipp proofread that and suggested numerous changes which made it worth watching (well actually not because my accent was REALLY bad at that time). My talk got accepted and I went to Germany on a fully funded trip to speak at EuroPython'14 (the biggest Python conference in Europe) as the youngest speaker and only Pakistani.

Along my journey I also got the honour to make acquaintance ofΒ  Daniel Roy Greenfeld. He is the author of one of the most famous Django books out there, Two Scoops of Django, and is an international speaker. He also worked at NASA at one point. I also consider him as one of my mentors because he helped me with stuff which Philipp wasn’t able to and was the inspiration behind me writing my own book.

After (virtually) meeting all of these amazing mentors I decided to modify the core principals of my life. I wanted to be just like them and help people succeed and learn new stuff.

Fun fact: I have never met my mentors in person. This is the benefit of internet, you get to meet people from all over the world without actually travelling πŸ™‚

Intermediate Python Book

In 2015, I decided to write a book ‘Intermediate Python’ and share my knowledge with everyone. I worked tirelessly on this book and after a couple of months I had something which I could put out in front of the world.Β  I decided to publish it under creative commons becuase I wasn’t looking to earn money from it. The book got the attention of a lot of people and ended up being translated into Chinese, Russian, Korean and Portuguese by independent volunteers. It was also included into the supplementary material of various Python courses at different universities.

Intermediate Python book cover Intermediate Python book cover

Public Speaking

In 2016, after getting frustrated from the lack of female representation in tech, I gave a guest talk at a community college in London to inspire more girls to choose tech as a career choice.

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Google Code-in

In December 2015 I took part in Google Code-in. I wanted to take part in Google Summer of Code but Google has strict rules regarding who can participate. I was under 18 at that time so couldn’t participate in it. Nevertheless, I participated in Google Code-in instead and was able to become the first-ever Pakistani to become a finalist in the competition. I worked for FossAsia on multiple tasks and the whole competition spanned a total of about one month. If you are under 18 and want to take part in a beginner friendly competition, I would highly suggest that you look into Google Code-in. It was a life changer and I met some wonderful people along the way in the form of mentors and competitors. I am still in touch with a couple of them πŸ™‚

GCI

Welcome back to the present

Today, I am one step closer to my aim. My blog has been readΒ πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰3,000,000 timesπŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰ and my book has been readΒ πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰1,500,000πŸŽ‰πŸŽ‰ times by around 700,000 people from 185+ countries (and this is only the English version).

My book and blog have been referenced in classes at UC Berkeley, McGill, Carnegie Mellon University, UArk, UC Santa Barbara and my articles are being followed by people from Google, Intel, MIT, UPenn, UK Customs, Cisco and a whole lot of other places. I have been fortunate enough to impact the lives of millions of people at such an early age. This is just the beginning, I have a long way to go πŸ™‚

Book Views Book Views

Blog Views Blog Views

Currently, I am studying at Colgate University in upstate New York and a lot of people have asked me about my reason for choosing a liberal arts college and not a mainstream tech university. The reason behind this is that I believe tech universities mould your thinking in a particular way. You spend most of your time working on computer assignments and you don’t get to explore the other plethora of fields out there. Your thinking gets skewed and the worse part is that you aren’t even aware of it. This is why I chose to come to Colgate and spend my time learning about stuff unrelated to Computer Science. I feel like it gives my thinking a unique perspective and helps me think not only about the technical challenges which I will have to overcome but also about the ethical implications of my projects.

Colgate University Colgate University

At Colgate, I have been fortunate enough to find a wonderful group of people who are helping me lead a programming club, . We have been organizing various events on campus like an Intel AI Webcast screening, an in-person talk from a senior Microsoft official, a git workshop and an Accenture virtual workshop on cyber-security concepts. We also participated in a hackathon at University of Buffalo. This was only the first semester and we have a lot more plans for the next semester.

If you belong to a tech company and want to give a talk at Colgate please let me know. We can cover your travel and housing expenses and can guarantee that you will love the environment and people around here.

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If you want to read more about the stuff I have doneΒ you can read my resume over here. Currently, I am also looking for internships for summer 2018. If you believe that your company has a place for me in the next summer, please let me know.

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✍️ Comments

JoDee Kogut

Thanks for sharing this amazing story. You are amazing not only because of your incredible gift in this area but because of your character. You are kind, funny and always gracious. It has been a pleasure having you in our lives here Hamilton NY. Always look forward to seeing you at Friday night dinners.

Yasoob
In reply to JoDee Kogut

I love you JoDee! Your sweet and humble nature inspires me a lot 😊 You made my time at Colgate worthwhile ❀️

Muhammad (@muhammad_o7)

Thanks for Sharing an awesome story You are the inspiration for me and that’s one of the reason I started a python club at our college teaching people python Thanks for inspiring lives !!

Yasoob
In reply to Muhammad (@muhammad_o7)

Thank you very much for the kind words Muhammad :) I really appreciate it. I am glad that I was able to inspire one more person today.

Mickaela

Wow! You’re so inspirational. At 12, programming sounded like crazy smart rocket science stuff to me (and I was a nerd). Now, I’m falling in love with it. I’m happy for you and your accomplishments. Python is really far down on my bucket list, but I’m certain l’ll learn it one day.

Oh, and what you said about females is sooooo true. I’m the Caribbean from what I’ve seen, males dominate the Computer Science field, and I don’t see much girls programming (unless they’re forced to in high school). I’m very much inspired by female programmers.

Yasoob
In reply to Mickaela

I am glad that you found it inspiring. And yeah I totally get the lack of female representation point. I personally try my best to have all of my events inviting for females. We all need to do a lot more to make this field more gender inclusive. I felt really sad after realizing that the initial programmers comprised of mainly women and that their representation diminished over time.

Daniyal Hayat

As a fellow 13yr old Pakistani who is also learning how to program, this was inspiring, I didn’t know about Google code-in before I read this. The 2017 one just started 3 days ago and I’m thinking about participating in it. Thank you!! And take care man.

Yasoob
In reply to Daniyal Hayat

Hey Daniyal I am glad that you found it inspiring and definitely take part in Google Code-in. I also started Google Code-in a bit late because I had exams in December. Moreover, if you need any help along the way just shoot me an email πŸ™‚

Izzy C.

Thanks you. I’m forty-three and just starting my journey into becoming a self-taught developer and your story is much needed. It’s a very intimidating world to traverse alone but your words encourage me to grind even harder.

Yasoob
In reply to Izzy C.

I felt really glad after reading your comment and I know how intimidating it can be. Just surround yourself with people who are uplifting and supportive. I feel like that affects your whole journey much more than the type of educational content you follow :) Best of luck!

shozabmehdi123

Hey!!! Very inspiring story!!! May God give you more success ahead! My story is very related to your story. Just pray for my success!!! I will also pray for yours! Thank you.

Shozab Mehdi.
In reply to shozabmehdi123

I have not read just this article completely but also some others! And left them becoming your fan.. Believe me, You are very talented person. May God will give you more success in life..

Hrishi | Stultus

Thanks for sharing your story Yasoob. Expressing Sending much love and gratitude all the way from India. :)

Yasoob
In reply to Hrishi | Stultus

Thank you very much for your kind words Hrishi :)

Samed

That is an amazing story Yasoob. i do not know you personally but just reading your article send down chills that i can also learn python too. my name is Abdul Samed and i attend Bronx Comuunity College majoring in computer information systems:programming. i am currently studying python(self study)on my own and i hope to also someday become an inspiration to someone else well. if u you do not mind us sharing contacts to sort of ask you questions if i get stuck somewhere and need some clarifications. thank you

shazsayyad

Awesome, just happened to stumble on your book and blog by accident and your story is indeed inspiring. Will you also become a mentor for someone who wants to learn Python?

Kalpa

Your story is amazing! I’m not much of programmer yet but hoping to be. I wanted to brush up on my intermediary python and landed here. Totally worth my hour of practice!

Yasoob
In reply to Kalpa

Thank you :)

anupy2786

Awesome story!! You have proved that country, environment is really doesn’t matter. These are really excuses. Good Work.

viji

Already read your blog for some doubt and felt your uniqueness by providing the python tips in short.Good job.Today ,accidentally started to read your story.It is so inspiration to me.Many times ,i thought if someone provide real project sample ,it would be good.you made it.Thank You so much. your attitude of helping other is so liking and appreciable bro. My heart felt wishes for you.

Johnny

Hi Yasoob,

My name is Johnny and I have to say, you are a real inspiration for me. I got into programming a little bit late, at 18 and I am still learning, but thanks to people like you I can keep improving.

But, I have a question here. What happened with the club penguin hack? :c

Yasoob
In reply to Johnny

Hi Johnny,

Thank you so much for the kind words. Club penguin is no more so i dont think having the hack available would have had been of any use either.

jy

What an inspiring story! You will do great things in future!

Yasoob
In reply to jy

Thank you so much!

david

Hi Yasoob, came across your site ‘cause I’m learning Python. I identified with your story about a 13 year old from a 3rd world country wanting to learn programming. I’m over 70 which is also 3rd world country, if you see what I mean. We both have the capability, just need someone to take us seriously. So I’ve started learning Python, trying to build a portfolio of experience before I put myself on the market. My 1st project is lottery prediction, based on previous results, not expecting to make a big profit even if I get the results down from a few million to 1 in 500,000, but it’s good experience. Thanks for the inspiration, also like to hear more about your project Deanonymization & Proximity Detection Using Wi-Fi using Python. There must be so much untapped potential out there, maybe we should form a union Pensioners & Young Pakistanis for PYthon Programming!

Yasoob
In reply to david

Hi David!

You have already taken the first step and are in way better shape than most! I am super excited to have you on this journey with me. :) We both can and will do wonders. Just need to remember that learning should never stop no matter what the age is. I loved this article about balancing daily life and learning new skills along the way. You might find it interesting to read https://thecreativeindependent.com/guides/how-to-balance-full-time-work-with-creative-projects/

I would love to write more about the Deanonymization project in the future. Keep on rocking and being a source of inspiration for everyone out there who believe that you can’t learn something new at 70.

Would love to learn more about your journey so far. You can send me an email at hi@yasoob.me I can’t wait to hear your story. Have a good day!

ru uba

Absolutely great and inspiring story. You will go very far man! Youre very motivated. I wish i couldve pursued like that when i was a kid back in the 90s. I tried but I just sucked lol. Nice blog. Nice work! Im finally getting some knowledge at 30 on how to write a proper program!

Yasoob
In reply to ru uba

Hi! Thank you so much for the kind words. Age is not as big of a limiting factor as many make it out to be. You probably already know that but just wanted to put it out there. You are already in a better shape than most because you have already taken the first step :) Best of luck!

gaurav

You journey is amazing and inspiring too , Your passion towards programming is great Maybe i can also have mentors like you ! You are lucky one.

Apteki

That’s awesome story. You are real hard-worker. Keep up!

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