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SHADY SHARAF
Today we are going to list the interview of Shady Sharaf from Egypt. He recently joined XWP, a Featured Partner of WordPress.com VIP, and he is contributing to multiple open source projects, working with Enterprise media agencies.
Introduction
Shady is a proud father to a beautiful son, based in Cairo, Egypt. He writes code that mostly works, and comes up with ideas he rarely chases!
Q. How did you come into your current field? Share a bit of the background?
A. With a growing economy, in a third-world country, the absence of proper education, and lack of local resources to learn about technology, persistence and self-motivation are the key factors to get a successful career, or create a successful, and strong, startup business.
Seeing how we’ve got both a weak Education system that decreases the competency level of working force, and a weak market that can hardly compete with foreign competitors locally, let alone competing globally, I knew I had to learn on my own.
When you do that, you have the freedom to learn what you love most, not what the education system thinks is best for you, which is often wrong.
Starting the Computer Science journey
I started reading about Computer Science, and Computer Networks in particular, took a course in Microsoft Network Engineering, and started working as a contractor in some mid-sized companies right after.
I loved having the ability to tame computer systems, control them to do exactly what they’re needed to do… so I decided to learn more.
While searching for more material to study, I’ve met with a few alike explorers, and later founded a Yahoo group ( was the biggest at the time ) to exchange self-study materials, both books and videos. My library got bigger, and I met a lot of nice friends, who were also searching for self-improvement.
This gave me a better chance at increasing my knowledge, and a bigger hope that there is still people who want to succeed, and know how to do just that, without blaming the education system and the economy for their failure.
All that happened while I was in secondary school, before I even joined college. #1
Eventually, we decided we needed to make our own money, so we can make our dream come true. So we started a small company that provided Web Design services, and Business-focused technical solutions.
Our clients were amazed by the potential of technology, and how it can streamline their businesses, and keep track of their operations, in pursue for better profits and happier customers.
During the time, about 2008, we evaluated a few different Web platforms, like Joomla and WordPress. That’s when I fell in love with WordPress,
Q. What’s the most interesting project you have done to date in WordPress?
A. WP Plugin: Stream, Contribution: WordPress Coding Standards
Q. Have you ever been to any WordPress meetups or WordCamps? If yes did you learn anything useful?
A. Sure, been to WCEU/WCUS/WCLDN a few times, always great to meet friends from the community, and get a grasp of what to come, and what’s in the works, both in Core and within the community.
Q. What does your workstation look like?
A. I mainly work from a home office, sometimes from cafes, social clubs, a car or a flight seat 🙂
Q. What kind of tools/software do you currently use for your creations?
A. VSCode, Chassis, Chrome, and most importantly, an AeroPress!
Q. What interesting feature do you think you would like to see in WordPress and is currently missing?
A. Notifications ? Logging ? A mouth and an ear ?
Q. Out of the current plugins and themes which one do you like the most and why?
A. I generally don’t use commercial themes, plugins are quite plenty, all things development are quite liked, eg: Query monitor, User Switching, Stream, etc.
Q. Which WordPress hosting do you use and would you recommend for your clients and others?
A. Well, we have our own _Altis_ DXP platform now, so that’s what we recommend. Otherwise, maybe Pantheon for smaller-scale projects.
Q. Do you like/love what you currently do in WordPress?
A. YES!
Q. What would you like to do in the future in the current field or somewhere else?
A. A talking dog!
Q. Can you give us some reference for whom we should conduct an interview next and why?
A. Unsure of the medium and what you’re looking for really.
Sonl Sinha is a passionate writer as well as WordPress and WooCommerce rockstar who loves to share insights on various topics through his engaging blog posts. He runs a successful website design and digital marketing company. With 15+ years of experience in WordPress theme development, he strives to inform and inspire readers with his thought-provoking content. He helps thousands of small and medium businesses and startups create a unique online presence. Follow Sonl Sinha for your regular dose of knowledge and inspiration.
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