About

About

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About Me

Hi! I’m a passionate software engineer with many years of curiosity about programming and developing useful things. My interest in programming began back in 2010 when I was 9 years old.

Early Life

At first, I didn’t know about programming - I just liked building things on the internet, so I made a bunch of blogs and websites on Blogger with cool templates. I often broke my father’s and grandfather’s computers because I installed custom Windows themes and every software that I encounter online lol.

Those were great experiences - I tried everything. Eventually in 2016, I discovered Linux and Python. At the time I thought “Wow, I’m a hacker now!” and it really felt that way. To be honest, I installed Linux because my old computer didn’t run well on Windows, so I needed an alternative. I believe Ubuntu was my first Linux distribution.

Started Programming Carrer

I started learning Python because I wanted to automate my workflow more efficiently. Eventually, I began creating bots and successfully landed a freelance job on Fiverr in 2018 to develop a sneaker raffle bot.

Then in 2020, I got my first job - an actual full-time position without having a degree or formal qualifications. I simply said “I can do this and that, hire me now” and proved through the technical interview that I was capable of handling the job despite not having a degree.

Freelancing as side-hustle

I joined Upwork in 2021, I believe. At first, I took on very cheap projects - even $5 jobs - to build my reputation. Upwork has become an essential part of my life now, as all of my clients come from there. So I was doing a full-time with freelancing at the same time.

Working on Enterprise Financial Technology Company

I was hired by a substantial company with 200-300 employees, including dozens of front-end engineers. I worked there as a mid-level front-end engineer (still without a degree) for almost two years.

The compliance in financial technology is probably the most challenging in the software industry. There were many things to work on regarding scalability at the enterprise level. The QA process was intense - I was forced to level up and improve. It was a great experience with a good team, skilled engineers, and a great company. I made many mistakes but learned from them. Looking back, those were some crazy years that took me on quite a wild ride.

In 2024, I made the decision to leave and focus full-time on building my own freelancing business. I didn’t really fit into the corporate culture, as there was too much bureaucracy.

Founded Raihan Software

I’m now fully committed to freelancing and want to pursue it as my full-time career. It was challenging at first since I had to handle everything myself - from finances and client management to juggling multiple projects simultaneously.

It was basically the same - I still worked independently, but with branding. I thought it would be better to brand myself as a sole proprietorship company.

ADHD

I recently discovered that I have ADHD, which explains why I often struggled with productivity and why people labeled me as lazy. I would get easily bored with projects. I lost many opportunities due to untreated ADHD over the past few years, but I’ve come to terms with it.

I’ve learned from this experience, and now that I’m properly medicated for ADHD, I feel much better. I can maintain consistent focus and work steadily for longer periods, rather than experiencing bursts of productivity followed by multiple burnouts.

In The Future

I want to scale up Raihan Software into a software house that creates various SaaS products and ships them worldwide. While I don’t have an exact plan yet, I aim to build multiple solutions to people’s problems, hoping that at least one solution will be good enough to sustain the company.