DEV Community: Hicham ElMir

The Void after graduating: Yes, it’s real!

Hicham ElMir — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 09:23:32 +0000

Photo by Tyler Callahan on Unsplash

If I had to describe my college life — and given my love for mathematics — I’d say my 5 years of studying looked something like this:

In the beginning, you start on a slow, rather steady pace. You’re exploring your calculus and physics courses, as you start your knowledge trip. Moving on, your workload increases. Meaning, you start diving into your major courses, you write your first “Hello World” code in C++, and your hard work starts. However, that workload increase, translates onto the pressure and energy dedication to achieve your tasks, and make ends meet. At the end of your journey, you’ve reached a level of energy and dedication that accumulated over your previous college years. You’re basically a workaholic…with a college flavor! Eventually, you reach the final year, you finished all your finals, you make that sigh when submitting that last project…it’s the last project you’ll ever work on in college life (unless you go for graduate studies of course). After telling you all of this, you’ll wonder… Where is the catch? Simply put…It’s that you expect (as the top figure shows) for your energy to maintain that increase as you seek jobs or continue studying.

In reality, the energy curve looks technically like the following:

In other words, a significant drop in the energy level occurs the moment that last submission is sent, and all the requirements got fulfilled. See that white zig-zag area? This time period, this exact time period…is the Void after graduation, and it is a phase that — if well tackled — can help you restart your energy level onto the next phase of your life. Unfortunately, the majority of people don’t know how to properly maintain the mindset and the discipline to navigate such phase, and hence propel themselves to the next! 🚀

Moreover, I’ll further discuss from my point-of-view: why do we fall in the void? how could it harm us? and what could we do about it?

The Calm ‘after’ the Storm

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Throughout my humble lifespan, I’ve always observed programming very similarly to a puzzle game. When you’re in a puzzle game, you divide the grand task or objective, into smaller sub-tasks and so on. Furthermore, as you keep on solving, you get that small sense of satisfaction for your achievement, and move on to your next small task, until you complete the main objective.

What I wrote above is the puzzle definition in ‘puzzle game’. This leaves us with the gaming definition which further clarifies this picture.

Since the puzzle is a game, your end goal is to complete the game to win, right? What you don’t realize, is that as you’re playing such game, you are — metaphorically — leveling up and increasing in both energy and excitement. A sense of ‘hunger’ for the next puzzle or task is developing with you as you approach it. You’re a storm forming and a tornado shaping with every level-up.

I should probably note that I am referring to storms not from a destruction point of view, but rather as an accumulation of nature’s forces.

With that being said, comes the important final question: What happens when you complete the game? Well…you celebrate for a while, then you give the game that blank stare for some time. That blank stare...that cold-feeling “calm” after your storm…that is the Void you live in for a while.

It is worth noting, that unlike a puzzle game, the duration of the void isn’t a short stare, and rather can change depending on your situation, and whether you have at least assembled a clear plan or not.

The Void is the calm “before” your next storm, but it is also the calm “after” your previous storm. It’s a little bit of both.🌪

In our case as graduated students, It is more of the calm ‘after’ the storm. It is that sudden energy drop, after you have been in the eye of the storm turning, working, hustling, engaging, interacting, researching, struggling…and BOOM!…Instant Calm!

Think of it like you’ve teleported in the blink of an eye to the moon, and you’re in outer space’s instant calm and cold ambiance (yes, you have a helmet, don’t worry! 🧑🏻‍🚀). You don’t exactly understand where you’ve been before, and your instincts are not kicking in to initiate the next move. You’re frozen (both mentally and because of space’s weather _🥶)_!

Furthermore, this happens to most students. It happens moments when they are about to graduate. Some are not sure what to do next, others are waiting for the perfect time…and some are…well…wasting time and letting time fly 😕, until they get into the ‘mood’ into activating their next phase.

When does the Calm after the storm become a Crisis?

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At the end of every semester, I remember how much I was under pressure, and couldn’t wait for the semester to end. In other words, I was rushing towards the end of the semester. On one hand, I wanted to tick a semester from my journey. On the other hand, I was eager to relax after such pressure…I mean, who wouldn’t?!

You’ve been working hard for a couple of months now, you’re attending classes, working on projects, solving homework and studying for tests and finals…You deserve a break, right?

Technically, In the first couple of days of this break, you’ll indulge in the privilege of waking up whenever you like, maybe you’ll arrange plans with your folks, or you’ll finally do that thing you didn’t have time for during the semester. But later on, you’ll eventually start getting a hint of boredom, and perhaps some emptiness…dare I say… a Void!

You see where I’m going with this?

You’ll get a subtle exposition into this state of calmness. However, you’ll eventually resist all its harm in preparation of the next semester, as you’ll get busy achieving your next set of goals for the semester.

Now while this pattern might work out for you through your semesters…What happens if you are at the last semester?

This brings me to the first case where the void becomes a crisis: When you have allowed the outside world to control you. Moreover, when you’re waiting for ‘the semester’ or ‘the job’ or ‘your friend’ as a condition to be capable of doing something with life. You have allowed yourself to be controlled by outside factors. Hence, life is happening to you, instead of you happening to life. You have indirectly agreed to your elimination from the equation of life, so you’re basically like the constant c in an integration (had to bring back math 🤓), meaning you’re there, but you’re just waiting to be given a value. Literally and metaphorically.

I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.

The other case where the void becomes a crisis: When you have defined your next steps based on some ‘perfect’ expectation of what the next step’s success is. Meaning, while you might have the intention to utilize that free time in pursuit of your ideas, you’ll always aim at either the ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’ image of that idea, and you’ll end up feeling hand-tied for overwhelming yourself with the details, and forgetting to focus on the core of that idea.

It is undoubtable that the void amplifies all the negative feelings and so-called voices in your head, so you get under pressure because of overthinking, and you drown in either the endless swirl of hopelessness, or possibly dark places of your own fears.

Not to mention, that a feeling of emptiness is something to be generally avoided. No one likes to feel empty, or to sit empty for long periods of time. Sure, we love to have our own time, but it should be a matter of getting ‘quality’ empty time, not ‘quantity’. We’ll talk more in the next one.

The Antidote for the Void

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Remember the quote Master Oogway told Po in Kung Fu Panda?

It’s originally based on a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, and it goes like this:

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it ‘The Present’ .

This quote — to me — is the perfect Antidote for tackling the void and the emptiness you might be going through. It clearly establishes 3 things:

All your experiences and storm-riding days of the past are to be taken as lessons, not to recall and regret, but to learn and evolve. So hush the voices in your head, and stop allowing the past days to haunt you and put you down. Utilize the void to remember the positives, and to heed the lessons of the past experience. Make it a time to reset the counter and start on a clean slate.
You’ll never be ready — enough — for the future. You can plan as much as you like for your future, and aim at going wherever your heart loves. However, you’ll never guarantee the result, for reasons beyond your comprehension and factors beyond your control…as Oogway said...It’s a mystery!
Finally, the gift of the present. The blessing of being in ‘the here’ and ‘now’. This is a concept a lot of people would either claim they well-grasped, or won’t find any significance in it. The fact that you’re living right now is a gift by itself. The fact that you were actually gifted another year, month, day, minute, second…You are being given precious time.

Moreover, Time is something you cannot make up for, and the fact that you’re not yet stumbling through the pebbles and corners of life yet, is a gift. Your time is the best resource you’re gifted right now, and nothing in this world can replace it.

I can also tell you that all the experiences from life, all the storms you just got off from and the storms you’re anticipating, they’re are all learning experiences that would help you onto the next phase.

The Calm ‘after’ the storm should become the Calm ‘before’ the storm.

You should seek that time to reflect on your inner self, and sustain a state of Zen (which is calm overloaded). With it, you’ll stare the next storm in the eye, and you’ll be ready to face it and ride it.

In Short, I’ll end this post with this:

Life happens in the storms you ride, and Voids are the gifts you get to ride your next storm.

Coding with Purpose: A motto I live by.

Hicham ElMir — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 07:40:04 +0000

21/12/21 was an interesting date for me. On one hand, it feels like a bunch of 1s and 2s interchanging 😁. On the other hand, on that day, I have officially launched my portfolio website that I worked on for some time. I never felt that much excited about launching something, since my senior graduation project. The website is a representation of who I am as a person, what are my coding skills (demonstrated in the building of the website) and other relevant networking features.

When I was designing the page, I was researching how usually portfolios work, and I was trying to come up with an instant eye catcher. Something that can pull you into the content, but also describe myself to you and what I stand for in my work, without even scrolling or diving into the page. A Greeting seemed out of the question, as a dedicated Who Am I section in the page was in the works already. Instead, after getting introspective for some time, I decided on what to do. Hence, when you visit my page, you are greeted with a full screen, black and green (my favorite colors) gradient with interactive flowing nodes, and one phrase in the center: Coding with Purpose.

I have settled for this motto, not only for my page, but for my work in the future. In other words, I promised myself that any future instance of coding I will pursue, should serve a purpose that benefits the people and empowers their lives for the better. In this post, I’ll walk you through why I believe in this motto, and what was my thought process behind choosing it. I’ll give actual behind-the-scenes examples when I was building my portfolio, and try to reach some conclusion for the future.

Why Mottos?

Photo by George Pagan III on Unsplash

Picture this…You’re sitting in your school’s theatre, along with your classmates. You’re all waiting for whoever to come on stage, and give you some orientation that — supposedly — should inspire you and give you some wisdom. The aim is to utilize the provided wisdom to empower you on your journey in achieving what you’re working towards. Where’s the issue you ask? We don’t always share the same energy or feeling as the speaker. The reason for that lack is due to our minds perceiving what is going on as meaningless talks and slogans. We find no value in it, and it feels like something we heard before from high school, family, neighbours…You get the picture!

This picture, is one example of many, why the vast majority of us don’t set concrete goals. Moreover, they won’t define for themselves a well-laid-out plan or “guided principle” of living while pursuing career growth. In other words, that ‘plan’ is called a Personal Motto.

Now…While mottos — as mentioned — may be sentences of wisdom that you heard a multitude of times, they do play a role in defining the philosophy and higher purpose of implementing your work and executing it. The end goal is to execute work that would keep you going forward and would keep you seeking improvement. Following so, you eventually sky-rocket to your expectations, and rise above them to horizons you never imagined.

Mottos help clear your head. They help taking out all the excessive ideas, all the outside pressure, all the “How will I pull this off?!” feelings and then focusing on a one simple magnificent principle that you stand by. This principle helps giving your satisfaction of the day, regardless of the outcome and its size. As long as you keep that motto, and hold it close in all you achieve, you will never feel discouraged or unsatisfied. What you choose your motto to be does not matter as long as it holds a close value to yourself and only yourself. Apple for instance, has the “Think Differently” motto and Nike has the “Just do it!” motto, while Google has “Don’t be evil”. I have no idea why they chose that 😐, but Hey! it works for them.

Considering the above, I ventured into finding my motto.

What was I thinking when I settled for “Coding with Purpose” ?

Throughout my life, I always had an energy for creating things. I was naturally very curious, the kind that asks a dozen questions a second. It was so intense I had to dial it down a little 😬. I always had that motive force to “Change the World” just like any young soul. During Freshman year in College, I started the thought process of “Who Am I?” and “Who do I aspire to be?”. It was hard for me to settle on one philosophy, because in my mind I am limiting my energy. What do I choose? What principle will suit me the most? What principle would always give me courage? regardless whether today was an achievement or not.

Fast forward to some time later, I was talking with my dear Mother about this, and she happened to ask me:

What is one thing you want your work to have, regardless of its size?

After some thinking…I got it! I told my Mom:

I want my work to have Impact!

She tells me then:

Then that’s it! Make ‘Impact’ your goal in everything you do and seek.

Hence, I came up with the first early version of my motto: Coding with Impact!

I was thrilled and happy, and I was getting hyped with my Mom…until reality hitted me again:

But Mom…What if my coding work did not have the Impact I imagined? what if I came short?

She tells me hence with a calm voice (and I’ll never forget this):

Just because you did not see the impact, does not mean your work lacked impact. In fact, your work was an experience that kept you going, made you learn and eventually, gave you “Purpose”!

If there was any instance to have an imaginary lightbulb pop on top of my head, it was this one! 💡

I promised myself from this time forward, that my moral compass, my guided principle…my Motto is gonna be “Coding with Purpose”. Meaning, I would make sure that any code work I will approach in life, is done with purpose. I shall give 101% to my work, regardless whether its results satisfy me or not…The point is to making looking at the bright side a habit, to work hard… and to give it a small leap of faith… in myself, in the process, in the “purpose” whether I can comprehend it or not.

Coding — my website — with Purpose

When it came time to put this motto into work for my portfolio website, it was a rollercoaster for me. There were a number of challenges, from finding a visual identity that represents my vibe, to coding the website’s backend and sticking myself to a framework.

Let’s start with the framework.

I worked on various projects in the past, but some of them had — due to corporate reasons — some loose ends and cuts in features for a variety of reasons. For this project, I ensured to stick to a selected tech stack, and to do implement the project following every layer of that stack. In my case, I opted for the MERN tech stack. My first ‘purpose’ was to fully follow a project’s guidelines and to get it done, no matter the circumstances. Usually, for a website with a personal aspect, there’s tendency to hard-code everything. Instead, I followed the stack’s backend architecture using MongoDB for my databases and ExpressJS for serving and fetching any info.

Moving on to designing the front-end, I settled for ReactJS. While coding the UI components was generally an easy task, designing components and ensuring they have:

An Elegant Design.
Responsiveness on any screen size.
A matching color palette.
A consistent design language.

…was probably another challenge to be tackled, because my ‘purpose’ in this scenario was to give you a look that defines me as a person and a developer.

In the end, I think the hardest part of implementing all of this, was consistency and dedication. This project took around 2 months, and I was juggling it along midterms, projects and other semester perks. Yet, I was able to launch the project, and have it deployed on time. This brings me to the 3rd ‘purpose’: Time is never an issue, if there is faith in the cause or the objective. In other words, I believed in this website’s potential, I believed in its power to tell the world my story as a programmer, what I stand for, what I aim and aspire to work on, and what I envision for my future as I venture on my life-long journey.

So… what happens next?

To sum it up, we discussed what a motto is, how I came to find my motto, and how I putted it into work, when coding my website.

“Coding with Purpose” is not an easy motto for me to follow, and that’s exactly what makes it interesting!

It’s a life-long challenge of self-improvement and self-dedication, to always learn more, apply more, and enjoy the process.

I believe that anything I will attempt at doing will be for a higher cause, a higher purpose…For this is the moral compass that encourages me to get up, and rise from bed every morning, wondering the same old question: “What can I change today? How can I get 0.01% closer to my higher purpose?”.

So…After launching my website, what happens next you ask? I seek another purpose! 😎

And let me ask you this before I leave, if you had to pick a motto for your life:

What would your motto be?

Acknowledgment: I would like to personally thank my dear Mother, my dear sister Meryam in particular and all my other siblings, my friends for standing beside me when working on this. I couldn’t have done it without you guys! ❤️ Finally, I would like to firstly and lastly thank God, for without Him, I wouldn’t be able to make this happen!

Why is University work experience perceived with Skepticism?

Hicham ElMir — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 08:31:45 +0000

Photo by Gilly on Unsplash

I was with a group of friends recently. We just gotten out of an exam, and we’re so happy to finish another exam as we approach the end of our 5-years college life. One of my friends — let’s refer to him as Adam — is talking about applying for jobs after graduating, and he’s eager to join the workforce.

Adam is very smart, dedicated and has learned some handy skills from his numerous work experience…To be more exact, ‘university’ work experience. Moreover, he told us that he has been trying to apply for jobs, and every job he found required some experience with this language or that technology, which he learned from his work. However, none of the companies he applied for took his ‘university’ experience in consideration. Matter of fact, he was told that he needs ‘industry’ experience to work with them. Now while Adam talked about this in a sarcastic manner, my initial reaction was: Is that even a thing?

To put it in other words, I had a delima in mind, where I thought to myself: How exactly is University work experience different from industry work experience in his case? or dare I say, our case as fresh graduates? Because on one hand, you’ll learn/apply the same skill/craft eventually regardless of the setting. But on the other hand, the setting sometimes — if you think about it — matters depending on the position and the situation.

I’ll attempt to break it down, from my personal beliefs, how is ‘university’ work experience different from ‘industry’ work experience ? And if you’re a fresher like me, I’ll share what I would do trying to nail a first job after graduating.

What is an Experience?

To start things off, let us introduce what is an Experience. As usual, I like to start by looking at the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition of an experience, which defines it as a “skill or knowledge that you get by doing something” . Adding to that, the dictionary continued by implying that an experience is “the length of time that you have spent doing something (such as a particular job)”. Combining both definitions, we may deduce that an experience is a skill or knowledge which you have learned by doing it over a period of time.

With that being said, you could clearly see that the definitions had no focus on the setting of the experience. Moreover, this means that an experience is — technically — untied to a certain framework or location. So that small project you worked on by yourself where you learned skills X and Y is an experience. The steps you followed in that internet guide to achieve goal X is your first exposure to X, which hence leads to an early-developed experience. Anything you attempted, tried and repeated for a period of time is an experience that varies in size depending on how much you gave it from your time and energy.

All of the above should settle a good understanding of what consists an ‘experience’ as we’re about to dive deeper into the question at stake.

Industry Work Vs University Work: Common Ground

As a fresher, the experience you gained — in your field — from either your university or your industry would be:

An experience in which you worked on a project with a deadline and an end goal in mind.
An exposure to some concepts you may have never came across. Henceforth, you’ll (usually) be provided with mentorship to guide you with your first steps towards acing that concept.
An experience in which you were faced with challenges, and tried overcoming them, while learning and progressing steadily.
A personal milestone, which shaped your interests and changed your perceptions about certain ideas in your domain. Thus, you would motivate yourself to either:

(1) Improve your level at achieving the tasks you learned and worked on.

(2) Venture on finding something that interests you more, and proceed towards learning and acing that interest willingly.

In Adam’s case, he has checked all of the boxes above. He worked on various projects in College, learned the craft to build them, mastered the art of building them and repeated the cycle.

Therefore, you’ll wonder:

Is the ‘industry’ really different? What does it have that University does not?

The answer? It has something that’s subtle for us freshers, but has an increased weight for firms seeking our talents.

Industry Work Vs University Work: The Gap

I’ll give you the reason before-hand: It’s the Pace!

Let us elaborate on where the gap occurs. University work lacks the pace companies expect or require.

In your college on one hand, you are working at somewhat of a monotone pace on your ‘university’ projects. You are not learning them in an educational setting, but rather a professional one, while being at an academic institution. Assuming you’re not a procrastinator, you’re working at a steady pace periodically from the start of the term, till God-knows-when the deadline comes (i.e: end of semester, 1 semester later, 2 semesters later, etc.) until you get the job done, learn along the way, and call it an experience.

However, that is not always the case for the industry, and to further put it in context, I’ll put you in a firm’s shoes.

So… you’re a firm. Either a small or medium enterprise (SME) who’s trying to succeed largely in the market, or a large corporation with years of experience looking forward to make your next big cut.

Let me start with SMEs. If you’re a small company you might not have enough time and money to educate new employees, because — usually — you’re looking for people to come to the firm, with 5 to double-digit years of experience in what you seek, so they can get going, and make your business goals achieved. Time-to-market is the challenge you care about cause well… Time is money for you.

On the other hand, medium-sized companies, might have more time, but still face immense pressure to come out with a next-big-thing, so that they don’t fall into bankruptcy or get purchased by some larger corporation. Medium companies might have a larger team, and might be able to spend a week maybe to show you the ropes. However, it does not necessarily mean they will allocate the resources to mentor you.

It is worth mentioning that in very special cases, such as a new technology, SMEs might employ freshers who might have some experience (university included). Or, hey might venture to allocate resources teaching them.

Moving on, we’re left with large corporations. Such companies can allocate a year perhaps trying to teach you when in dire need to hire a fresher like you and me. Problem? They’ll get loads of applications from other freshers, which makes you either face fierce competition in getting hired or become a victim of strict selection.

Not to mention, that in all of the above there are always exceptions and special cases that might change the situation for you. But for the most part, this is how it usually goes nowadays.

What about internships?

Glad you asked… Internships are one of the ‘special cases’ I mentioned above.

It’s where companies irrespective of their size, would hire you to learn about you as an individual, your skills, potential and knowledge.

Internships on one hand, are a great ‘industry’ learning experience, where you are being provided with mentorship and guidance while working with them. You might even get a promotion to full time position in some cases.

On the other hand, internships might not always fulfill those promises, especially that companies who can afford to hire an intern, are allocating a somewhat slowed pace-of-work to accommodate their learning. The reason for that slowed-pace, is that you as a fresher, usually wouldn’t be able to do — as fast — what they do (with some exceptions).

It is undeniable that irrespective of whether you got promoted to a full time job, or you just spent that time being an encouraged curious intern, you ‘learned’ something. It was an ‘industry’ experience, a brief and rather…expository experience, as this was your early-developed ‘industry’ experience. You didn’t experience the full pace. You weren’t exactly an employee. You got a taste of the real thing, and this helped shaping your thinking and career-driven skills.

This bears the argument: Doesn’t internships solve this post’s whole problem?

Well… Not always!

Whether we like or not, internships are perceived very subjectively from one recruiter to another. Some recruiters might still find value in your internship, while others — due to risk assessment at the firm — need actual ‘industry’ experience, so that their hired employees would start delivering with high energy from day one.

So… Where does that leave us?

In the end, it is important to realize that it is technically neither your fault nor the recruiters’ fault. Because both of y’all are looking to fill a gap you need, in your respective situations.

Let me conclude with a question:

What would I do If I were you?

I would basically keep on getting experience whenever and wherever I can. The goal is getting as much quality experience as possible. Learn as much as you can, make side projects, and never stop applying. Look for what the market needs, and try to learn the skill that fits that need, regardless where you learn it: At home, in college, in your garage, in a firm… does not matter!

Don’t give up throughout this process, and always try to focus on developing yourself as a person. The job will come, the career growth is coming, and it is a matter of having some discipline, faith and a hint of optimism!

Navigating the Clutter of Realizing an Idea: A Graduate-to-be Perspective

Hicham ElMir — Wed, 08 Dec 2021 21:11:40 +0000

Navigating the Clutter of Realizing an Idea: A Graduate-to-be Perspective

Photo by RKTKN on Unsplash

One thing that has always been prominent for me, my colleagues, and every person who was in my path growing up: Everyone has ‘that’ idea that will change the world, shake the industry, and will summon their inner Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. The rush of making such ideas realistic can get so overwhelming, it becomes a clutter.

Mind you, I chose the word ‘clutter’ here to indicate the ‘confusion’ when attempting to actualize such ideas_._

Furthermore, everything you are about to read in this post, is on the basis of my beliefs and personal experiences. I will dive into what differentiates ‘great’ ideas, and hopefully reach some understanding for a concluding result on how — I feel — such clutter must be navigated, so you don’t drown in what I call the “Endless Swirl of Hopelessness”.

ShareCloud: A Social Media Fantasy

When I was in high school, I was — subjectively — ahead of all my friends in following the trends tech-wise. Meaning, I was, well… the Tech Nerd. I loved tech so much, that it was most of my talks. I mean… I did not find joy talking about anything school related, but I can talk for hours about Siri on the brand-new iPhone 4S back then. The drive I summoned to discuss what felt outstanding, was driven by who was my inspiration back then: Steve Jobs. The Late Apple CEO was someone ‘unpredictable’ to some extent, and whether you like him or not, there was one thing about Steve that always stood out: his charisma to draw you in with his ideas.

With that being said, I wanted some of that magic for myself. So I started attempting to think differently in everything I do. So much, that I began noticing that my ideas did not make any sense:

“I wanna make an App that can solve my homeworks for me” — already existed.

“I wanna make an App that can get me unlimited candy” —What in the Type II diabetes was I thinking?

“I wanna make an App that can generate money” — Some guy is probably laughing in Crypto at this.

I was totally confused and my ideas were unfocused_._ My successive disappointments led me to what I believed will be my game changer idea:

ShareCloud: A Social media competitor by students, for students.

Now, before you rage quit the post, let me tell you more… I found some website that provides guidance on how to make your own forum-style social media platform with moderators and all (Discord Servers were not a thing back then). Next thing I know, I started spreading the word in my school about my “next big thing”, and eventually the idea’s outcome was not even close to what I aimed for. It was that moment, where I had the first taste of the “Endless Swirl of Hopelessness” (more on that in the next section.)

What’s the deal about “The Endless Swirl of Hopelessness” ?

Photo by Valentin Lacoste on Unsplash

While defining this sentence might be self explanatory, I want to break it down into 3 sub definitions, and in backward order starting with Hopelessness. Hopelessness on one hand might be easy to define as a lack of hope, but the Merriam-Webster Dictionary on the other hand provides a much more sophisticated, and rather interesting definition. It defines hopelessness as being “incapable of redemption or improvement” leading to “having no expectation of good or success”. Moreover, hopelessness is that false state of mind, that many of us fall into its trap, either for believing we don’t deserve a second chance, or for getting looked down at after presenting our ‘next big thing’. There is also one more definition I’ll leave for a moment.

Moving on, I purposely chose the word ‘Swirl’ here and not ‘Spiral’ because in a Spiral you voluntarily follow its path, while in a Swirl you are being sucked/forced in by some eddying or whirling current, making it a perfect explanation for how deep and harmful that state of hopelessness can get. Let that sink in for a second (no pun intended 🙃), hopelessness is deep enough it sucks you in, and because you feel like not being redemption-worthy, it eventually feels Endless.

To put it all in perspective, Let us combine all of the definitions above. Let’s see… We’re talking about “A state of being not worthy of success, with a whirling force into the endless of such state”, right? Where does that lead us?

Well… it leads — as a result — to that third definition I mentioned above, which is being “incapable of solution, management, or accomplishment” as a result of that state’s presence.

Of course, you might wonder why waste a couple minutes of your precious time to go over such a deep definition? Simply put: To emphasize how deep the issue is. In fact, this is how a lot of “great” ideas that just needed that extra tweak, got wasted in the swirl of hopelessness. On the other hand, this is how outstanding innovators quit because they either did not put enough effort into their idea, or did not think of putting constructive criticism into work, and to simply… try again!

The Other Side of the ShareCloud story

As it turns out, I was starting to get affected by that hopeless swirl, that I forgot to actually utilize the experience, and look at the upside. It took me a good while till I found out later, that my idea — although mediocre— had a small impact. A Spark you may say. In a nutshell, I found out that I was the first person who actually brought the idea of student forums into my school, and the fact of having an interesting web community, where students can chill and speak up their minds, that was — wait for it — not Facebook. In other words, Facebook was the only trendy social media platform in my days, there was no Instagram, no Snapchat, nothing! So the fact that a student took initiative to make a small forum network for other students, that was not Facebook, blew everyone’s minds and everyone was willing to give it a chance.

This actually taught me the first thing about “great” ideas: they solve a problem for a specific audience. Moreover, If you do not have a problem you are attempting to solve, no one will take interest in your ‘idea’. In fact, the whole reason people get hooked on other amazing ideas, it is because — whether you realize it or not — they solve an issue. Facebook for instance started first as a solution addressing the problem of students’ communication at Harvard University.

Reiterating on Steve Jobs

Photo by Konsepta Studio on Unsplash

In fact, here’s an interesting fact: Steve Jobs and the purpose of coming out with the iPhone as a touch screen device was:

Wait for it!

Finding a solution for the hardware keyboard on phones back in 2007.

Photo by Thai Nguyen on Unsplash

Let me put that in perspective again, Apple (led by Steve and his team) observed what phones looked like back then (sample photo above). Next, they noticed that the keyboard is always available for you, whether you want it or not. This motivated Apple to rethink the phone, by taking out all the clutter of conventional phones, and adding a giant touch screen with a mobile software that was ahead of its time.

Combine this revolutionary idea, with Steve’s belief in his idea, and you get the birth of the Smartphone’s era, starting with the iPhone.

What interested me in Steve’s experience though, is that he dared to reinvent the wheel. Furthermore, a “great” idea does not only start with a remarkable solution, but your solution should not reinvent the wheel unless you can absolutely do it better. If Steve did not sincerely believe he can redefine the smartphone, and hence venture on a risky mission to reinvent the wheel of mobile communications, the iPhone would have been perceived much differently.

I should tell you that the iPhone was not the first product to come out with the concept of a touch screen. However, that idea was original enough , first of all, to be brought to a smartphone, and second of all, to get improved with multi-touch to allow gestures and multi-finger touch registering. In other words, It was great because it was original. It was a combination never combined that way before, to yield the result we all witnessed.

What will I leave you with?

As I mentioned, your idea should find a solution to a problem for a specific audience. Your Idea should not reinvent the wheel, unless it can provide a much better solution. Your Idea should be original. And the secret sauce? You should believe in your Idea’s potential before exposing it to the world.

So… After that long discussion of what makes a good idea, how exactly do you navigate the clutter of finding that idea?

My answer given this part of my life? Patience and Persistence.

I am currently 23 years old at the time of writing this, and what I learned throughout my short span of time into ‘adulthood’ so far, is that the best thing you can do for yourself is to educate yourself on the issues you can actually provide a solution for. Adding to that, always keep an open mindset , take criticism …like a lot of it. Take it with a grain of salt though…and always focus on the bigger prize:

How can I make my idea 0.01% better today?

Have you met that goal today? Good. Keep up.

Didn’t achieve this? Try again!

In the end, as long as you do not allow yourself to fall into the Swirl, and you keep an end goal to look up to as far as your eyes can see, you are going steadily well… and that by itself, is an achievement!

I should note that the more your goals — short or long term — have clarity, the better you’ll figure out how to manage your time, allocate your resources, knowledge and energy into realizing your “next great thing”.

Personally, that blog was actually an idea I had for so long, and the talked-about pillars of a “great” idea are what gave me the courage into realizing my idea. I am definitely not the first one to achieve this, but I am doing it…My Way. So If this blog post inspired you today, then I have achieved my goal, and time to work towards the next one 😎.

< Hello world /> : An Introduction.

Hicham ElMir — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 18:33:44 +0000

< Hello world /> : An Introduction.

Hello World! My name is Hicham ElMir. I’ve always felt something fascinating about that sentence “Hello World”. While we all salute each other using ‘Hello’ in our daily lives to initiate communication, there’s somehow another depth to saying “Hello World”. For me, it isn’t a normal ‘World’ salutation. It is the communication initiative with something you can feel is grand and life-changing, even though you might not completely understand it. You can think of it like students in middle school, witnessing their first science experiment, looking at an exploding chemical reaction (with safety measures of course 😂 ) _. In other words, It’s that instant spark that grabs their attention, and motivates them to venture on a journey to learn and explore. It’s their eye opener to their quest. In other words, it’s their _‘Hello World’.

Acknowledging that this sentence is the motivation to ‘unlock’ the wonders of a world-of-interest you have, you can start to see why computer programmers — such as myself — chose to have it as their first interaction with either a computer console, or a programming language. Eventually, it became the first contact with something potentially outstanding. With that being said, I had a different ‘Hello World’ incident with computers, and it did not even involve code. Let me take you back to the early 2000s, and the adventures of my conspiring 3-years-old self.

Ignoring the fact that I looked like a floof, I always felt a connection to computers, and not like what toddlers or babies nowadays do with touch screens and iPads. It was all the little things, from the fact that this machine was — back then — treated as an absolute treasure, to the sounds of the tower beeping and the fans spinning, to the mechanical keyboards’ clicks and that old-graphics Windows ME boot screen.

My first interaction involved a lot of noise, and ink… (Sorry Dad!😬). I once watched my dad print some important documents for work, using the ‘revolutionary’ Microsoft Word. Moreover, with me finding absolutely no joy playing with my normal boy toys anymore, I lifted my chubby self to the chair, somehow figured how to open a new document, typed my name on the screen and pressed the Ctrl + P shortcut key for printing (which I probably learned from watching my father), and all of a sudden started printing my name on the screen. I got so excited, that on copy #5, I ran to show my dad my beautiful ‘artwork’. While my dad got skeptical at first, he thoroughly got fascinated by what I did, even though I was supposed to be doing what 3-years-old toddlers do.

I know you’re wondering why I chose to write all this — while I can go back to doing my college assignments or my VR course project — just to ‘introduce myself’. My motivation to do so, is an emphasis of how much I love computers, and coding in particular. Moreover, it’s that magical feeling when you compile few lines of code, to actual commands or components with useful functionality. It is the motivation to always Code with Purpose (which I chose for myself as a motto). It is the competitiveness in solving problems which brings out the riddler and the player in us. It’s the first thing I want the world to know about me (on my first blog post). In other words, it’s my ‘Hello World’.

In the end, the goal of this blog, is to act as a journal for me to write regularly about my adventures and my opinions in the world of tech. My wish is that my future self can look back at this blog and remember the stories and lessons learned throughout the journey.

I should note that I indeed have interests beyond coding, such as photography, producing music sometimes (I love messing with Synthesizers 😎). I love to have fun sometimes… Hence, Exhibit A below *cough*.

Finally, I hope you enjoy this journey with me, as I document from this blog-post forward my adventures from the moment I graduate from College (Jan. 2022) till “Infinity and Beyond!” as Buzz Lightyear says.

Don’t forget to Follow me on Medium for future posts, tell me your thoughts and comments below, and be sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram.