'I Build Software to Solve Problems': Noonies Nominee Amr Hesham

Hey Hackers! I’m Amr Hesham, and I’m an Android Engineer.

First of all, a huge thank you to the HackerNoon community and staff for nominating me for a 2021 Noonies award!

Learn more about my thoughts and opinions on Android Development and PL Design and my journey in the tech industry via the interview below.

1. What do you do and why do you do it? (tell us your story)

I am a self-taught Software Engineer from Egypt, currently working as a full-time Android Developer. Besides that, I am working on my open-source projects and writing technical articles about tools, libraries, and programming concepts.

I love to write code and build great products that help people to solve their problems, and I hope to build a great product that can change our lives.

2. Tell us more about the things you create / write / manage / build!

I love to build tools and libraries. For example, one of my libraries is called CodeView. I have created it to solve my problem - I wanted to build a code editor app for my scripting language to do some math instead of normal calculator buttons. So after implementing the language, I started searching for a highlighter library for the editor.

I found that most of the libraries have a configuration for only popular languages like Java, C++...etc., so I started to build CodeView to highlight any language depending on developer configuration, and you don't need to have all configuration classes, but you will only need to create one for your language, and it solved my problem. I realized that many people might have my problem, so I wrote documentation and published it, and I got great feedback from people that used it in production apps.

3. How did you end up on your current career path? Do you like it?

I started programming in high school and I have created some simple desktop apps to solve school math questions :D

After that, I decided to study the Computer Science curriculum, and I found that there are great resources on the internet, most of them provided by great universities such as MIT, Harvard, Stanford for free!

So I learned CS along with my degree in business management, and I love to participate in software competitions and events and build open-source tools. After I graduated, I started working as an Android Developer, and my goal is to build great products that change peoples’ lives, and I am learning every day to improve my skills. Yes, I like my software development career so much! For me, this is only the beginning of the journey :D

4. What tech are you most excited or passionate about right now and why?

I am most excited about programming languages design because you define new ways to interact with the machine, and I think in the near future most of the jobs will use Domain-Specific languages (DSL) to do the day to day jobs, you will speak with the computer like a coworker, not just using buttons, and I see a big opportunities in this area.

5. What tech are you most worried about right now and why?

I am not worried about any specific tech because every tech or science can be used to improve or destroy peoples’ lives, so the main problem here is how we will use it?

6. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why?

In that case, I will invest them in online learning to provide a clear path for all education levels. So people in poor countries can learn anything they want with a clear path and mentors.

7. What are you currently learning?

Currently, I am practicing more in C++, Go languages and studying more about programming languages design and compilers for my next project.

8. What’s the best advice you’ve ever given someone?

I think the best advice I have to give to someone is "Problems are a very good thing, especially hard ones because they will give you either good knowledge or ideas or both after solving them! So you will always win".

9. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I have ever received is from one of my friends, and he said to me "Never wait for the perfect time or to have all required knowledge to start, and you will learn more in the journey".

About HackerNoon’s 2021 Noonie Awards

The annual Noonie Awards celebrate the best and brightest of the tech industry, bringing together all who are making the Internet and the world of tech what it is today. Please be sure to check out our award categories, nominate, and vote for the people and companies who you think are making the biggest impact on the tech industry today.

The 2021 Noonies are sponsored by: bybit, Dottech Domains, and Avast. Thank you so much to these sponsors who are helping us celebrate the accomplishments of all our nominees.