UX Consultant with over 16 years of experience in research and design

Learn more about Aziz

• 1) Can you tell us about your first experience using a computer?

  In 1994, I discovered an old, Soviet-era computer in one of my school's IT rooms, and spent the next year drawing pictures on it. Not with Paint or Photoshop - by writing coordinates of points on the screen for two dots. The dots would then be connected by a line and that was your first line. Then do it again for the next line. Then again for another line. You get the idea.
  
  After thousands of lines of code, I would get a primitive drawing of a house that would take me a couple of minutes to draw by hand. Totally worth it :)

• 2) What is the technological evolution that has marked you most and what will be, in your eyes, a turning point in this field?

  At risk of giving a very common answer, I would say our recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning are probably our most exciting achievements.
  
  
  In terms of where it could take us, I guess it depends on who pays for it. I would hate for all this technology to continue complimenting military advances, as it currently does. Instead, I would love to see it being diverted towards healthcare and wellbeing.

• 3) Explain your expertise, your interest in it and, more broadly, its importance in the computer world.

  I specialise in User Experience Design and became particularly interested in it while celebrating a victory with my teammates almost 20 years ago. I couldn't send a message from my phone because I couldn't press the right keys, and frustrated, I thought: "I wish I could just tell the phone who to call!". 20 years later, we have Siri. You are welcome!:)

• 4) Do so-called 'visionaries', such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg inspire you or do you have other role models?

  I probably consider Nicola Tesla more of a visionary than those three. He was way ahead of his time, thinking about principles of wireless networks, Bluetooth, electric cars, etc. at a time when it was considered lavish lifestyle to have a lightbulb in your house. He worked with and talked about things that didn't yet exist, whereas Zuckerberg observed behaviour and created a platform for people to communicate, which is more of a facilitation rather than invention.

• 5) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  I was frustrated with my slow progress in programming, and my tutor at the time told me to slow down. "First you learn to read, and then you read to learn" - she said. This has really sunk in and it always helps to just step back, take a breather and approach a problem slowly. Do the basics first, build a foundation and then add on top of it.

• 6) What would you say to an uncomfortable person in front of a screen who says that "IT is too complicated"?

  I think, similarly to my anecdote above, if someone is not confident using IT, it would help them to slow down, maybe they have missed something early in their learning process. It never helps to rush someone who is already struggling, so I would ask them to take their time, structure the problem in their head or on a piece of paper and then try to solve it piece by piece.

• 7) What are your other passions, related or non-related to computers?

  I always enjoy playing football and rugby, I think sports are an extremely important part of our lives. They help instill patience and discipline from young age, improve resilience after failures and teach us how to behave in victory or defeat.
  
  
  I can always draw parallels from some anecdotes or knowledge of sports to work situations when I need to give a more "real-life" examples.

• 8) What makes you a Superprof in IT?

  I guess my expertise and patience help, but more importantly, it is the fact that I enjoy sharing my knowledge and seeing my students grow. I don't really need applause and public adoration anymore, it brings me a lot more satisfaction to help someone with a problem.