Celebrating Heroes - 2 of N - Arslan Khan

In 2022, I was hired as a Software Engineering Manager by Airlift. I was later told that they had been unsuccessfully searching for a good Software Engineering Manager for many months. I was told that, for many months, I was the only one to have made it through all their recruitment stages. I was looking forward to joining the great team at Airlift and enjoy doing my part. Unfortunately, Airlift ceased operations a few days before my joining date. However, they were very kind and gave me the severance as per the contract. Furthermore, the then-Airlift team, including Ahmed Ayub ( cofounder of Airlift), were gracious with their strong recommendation for me on LinkedIn.

That strong recommendation had an impact. My LinkedIn profile was on fire, with hundreds of views every day. I had many interviews lined up; two at top companies were in the advanced stages, close to the final decision. Many more were in different stages of the recruitment process in the funnel. The dynamism was terrific. I have never felt more in demand in my professional career, as I did in those days.

And then, I got a call from HR from a company I had never heard about - AlphaSquad . It was probably Syed Sarmad Ali Shah who was on the call. They wanted to interview me for a position. I agreed. The interview with HR went well, and later, they told me that the CEO wanted to interview me. And he did. The CEO was Arslan Khan . I was highly impressed by what these lads - the founders - had achieved by their grit, persistence, vision, determination, and charm. And charmed I was. I accepted the position - with the lovely, unique title of 'Engineering Sensei' within a few days. I then told every other company I had talked to, that I was no longer looking for employment. I kept getting calls from recruiters for many weeks and gave them all the same answers.

I later learned that Arslan likes getting shiny new things and experimenting. I was a shiny new thing that he wanted, and he got. I am happy that he did. My time at AlphaSquad has been the happiest in my entire professional career.

Arslan is a fascinating man. He accumulated a reasonable amount of wealth from freelancing for many years. As an individual freelancer on the freelancing platform Upwork, he has made more than 1 million US Dollars. That is a remarkable feat. Those who find it hard to believe can check for themselves at https://www.upwork.com/freelancers/arslankhan. The wealth allowed him to significantly upscale his lifestyle and buy things he wanted - fancy cars, bikes, and new things. He has earned his way into it. More importantly, though, he correctly realized that to gain further and have a more significant impact, he would have to form and operate a company. That is precisely what he did and has been doing.

AlphaSquad and Arslan are doing reasonably well. Mark my words—this man will go places—more places. I want to explore the reasons behind his success and why I consider him a hero worth celebrating. That he is a friend now has no bearing on this assessment. I would have said the same, even if he were a competitor or, worse yet—an enemy.

Arslan is a fighter. He does not give up easily, if at all. If he sets his eye on an objective, he will do whatever he has to to achieve it. He has immense grit, determination, will power, passion and an umbrella vision guiding him.

He is an extremely good techie. He can quickly learn whatever he needs to and apply it.

He has a superb business sense that has helped him in his freelancing and at AlphaSquad.

He takes a chance on people. People that others would not take chance on. He would readily hire a high school student who has nothing else but a passion for learning and applying the craft of software engineering. To the degree that he does it , I have never seen anyone else do . Not even in USA.

He is brutally clear about his decisions. He knows when a decision needs to be made for himself, his company, or anything else. And no matter how inconvenient the decision might be in the short term, he takes it. He always has his eye on the prize—and he is very clear that the real prize is always in the long term.

He is a perpetual learner. He spends many hours every day learning things that interest him and also things that he needs to know to keep up with the changing landscape of technology and business. To quote Stephen Covey, that is how he is always "sharpening his saw".

He is a critical thinker - the kind Pakistan needs. The kind Pakistani people in general and Pakistani youth need to be .

He is an extremely patriotic man and loves Pakistan, although that might not be obvious to anyone who knows him only superficially. One of his motivations is to help the people of Pakistan achieve their human potential. That is the tagline of AlphaSquad : "Unlocking human potential". I can testify that they try their best to do the same.

He is a dependable person who is very kind at heart despite his outer shell of bravado, tough guy , and macho image. When asked for help, he will do everything in his power to best help the person asking.

He does not forget to have fun every single day and to celebrate the small victories everyday. That is the single most important thing I have learnt from my time at AlphaSquad and having known Arslan.

He knows that success requires teamwork. He has cultivated a close group of core team members who are onboard with him for long-term success. It is almost a cult that worships him. :) I say that in a good way.

He is always experimenting. With everything . Every conversation he has with everybody is an experiment. Which is to say , he analyses and uses the analysis to chart future line of action.

He is an extremely strategic thinker. He is atleast 10 steps ahead of what you think he is doing. His mind is always playing chess on the chessboard of possibility space of the future.

The single most important attribute that helps him in everything he does individually and in every professional endeavor is his acute and correct understanding of human psychology and behavior. He is naturally gifted with this skill and continuously hones it, which pays him continuous exponential dividends. He is adept at perception management, gauging user needs , stakeholder management , client management , employee management , sales , marketing and much more. It is his keen and correct insight and analysis of human psychology that enables him to do this.

He is an extremely encouraging person. He pushes , encourages, supports and enables people to learn new things. He makes them believe in themselves. He puts them on projects that no else would. He mentors them personally. He gives people the power of believing in their potential. And not just as an empty rhetoric. He then gives the people the proof that they have learnt , applied and delivered on things they were not confident in. For that alone , he deserves to be celebrated.

Arslan Khan is every bit a Pakistani tech hero. He is most definitely a role model for the youth. He has my very best wishes and prayers for his well being and in every thing that he is doing professionally. I have -without exaggeration - never met anyone with the kind of personality that he possesses. He is that unique. He is a squad of his own.