It has been a while since I ever thought of blogging, but I had too much going on, that being in the right mindset and headspace for writing wasn't there. 

Growing up and living in the Middle East for as long as I could remember, I always wanted to explore the other side of the world.

I would lie awake at night and ask myself, What is it like out there? 

Fast forward till February 26th 2022, when I decided to take that leap of faith and move to California. Crossing continents and oceans. 

For fun, I remember Googling California's State Motto, which was "Eureka!".

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it's used to express triumph on a discovery. More like a "I made it!" vibe.

I don't know about you, but that motto expressed exactly what I felt when I landed in the US for the first time. 

This moment was real! I was there! I made it!

Los Angeles! One of the most populated cities in the United States. Famously known for sunny climate, home of Hollywood Films and TV shows, uh... GTA. 

It's worth noting that almost every kid went to LA — virtually — by playing Grand Theft Auto, Haha!

I wanted to move to LA for many reasons, from the weather, to the opportunities in my domain, but most importantly... It's because my father (God rest his soul) immigrated to California like 50 years ago and settled in this large city, where he rewrote his story and found opportunity.

My father used to tell me about his stories in LA, what he learned living in LA and what was it like back then. My window to his younger ambitious self was through this city, and I wanted to experience it all for myself. To become molded and shaped in the same land where he learned how to achieve ... "The Pursuit of Happyness" (see what I did there 😉).

Moreover, I have been fortunate enough to have good and kind people on my journey. I started climbing the ladder one step at a time, with the pinnacle milestone being an opportunity as a Senior Consultant at CGI Inc.

In the end, it wasn't easy, and I have struggled with challenges, been in tough situations and had to work around obstacles in my way, so I could push through. However, I am glad and thankful for all the moments and lessons, I wouldn't change a single bit of it and I wouldn't take what I'm blessed with for granted.

I am grateful and thankful to everyone to had my back and supported me from my beloved family, to my friends and amazing team at work. To God first and last, whom without, I couldn't have been here!

I am very excited to be blogging again, and I look forward to having you join me on my future conversations and posts.
Also, I'm working my portfolio website (again) so it keeps up with the latest and greatest in web technology.

Thank you for reading! Eureka! if you made it this far 😄

Hello World! My name is Hicham ElMir. I’ve always felt something fascinating about that sentence “Hello World”. While we all salute each other using ‘Hello’ in our daily lives to initiate communication, there’s somehow another depth to saying “Hello World”. For me, it isn’t a normal ‘World’ salutation. It is the communication initiative with something you can feel is grand and life-changing, even though you might not completely understand it. You can think of it like students in middle school, witnessing their first science experiment, looking at an exploding chemical reaction (with safety measures of course 😂 ) . In other words, It’s that instant spark that grabs their attention, and motivates them to venture on a journey to learn and explore. It’s their eye opener to their quest. In other words, it’s their ‘Hello World’.

Acknowledging that this sentence is the motivation to ‘unlock’ the wonders of a world-of-interest you have, you can start to see why computer programmers — such as myself — chose to have it as their first interaction with either a computer console, or a programming language. Eventually, it became the first contact with something potentially outstanding. With that being said, I had a different ‘Hello World’ incident with computers, and it did not even involve code. Let me take you back to the early 2000s, and the adventures of my conspiring 3-years-old self.

Ignoring the fact that I looked like a floof, I always felt a connection to computers, and not like what toddlers or babies nowadays do with touch screens and iPads. It was all the little things, from the fact that this machine was — back then — treated as an absolute treasure, to the sounds of the tower beeping and the fans spinning, to the mechanical keyboards’ clicks and that old-graphics Windows ME boot screen.

My first interaction involved a lot of noise, and ink… (Sorry Dad!😬). I once watched my dad print some important documents for work, using the ‘revolutionary’ Microsoft Word. Moreover, with me finding absolutely no joy playing with my normal boy toys anymore, I lifted my chubby self to the chair, somehow figured how to open a new document, typed my name on the screen and pressed the Ctrl + P shortcut key for printing (which I probably learned from watching my father), and all of a sudden started printing my name on the screen. I got so excited, that on copy #5, I ran to show my dad my beautiful ‘artwork’. While my dad got skeptical at first, he thoroughly got fascinated by what I did, even though I was supposed to be doing what 3-years-old toddlers do.

I know you’re wondering why I chose to write all this — while I can go back to doing my college assignments or my VR course project — just to ‘introduce myself’. My motivation to do so, is an emphasis of how much I love computers, and coding in particular. Moreover, it’s that magical feeling when you compile few lines of code, to actual commands or components with useful functionality. It is the motivation to always Code with Purpose (which I chose for myself as a motto). It is the competitiveness in solving problems which brings out the riddler and the player in us. It’s the first thing I want the world to know about me (on my first blog post). In other words, it’s my ‘Hello World’.

In the end, the goal of this blog, is to act as a journal for me to write regularly about my adventures and my opinions in the world of tech. My wish is that my future self can look back at this blog and remember the stories and lessons learned throughout the journey.

I should note that I indeed have interests beyond coding, such as photography, producing music sometimes (I love messing with Synthesizers 😎). I love to have fun sometimes… Hence, Exhibit A below *cough*.

Finally, I hope you enjoy this journey with me, as I document from this blog-post forward my adventures from the moment I graduate from College (Dec. 2021) till “Infinity and Beyond!” as Buzz Lightyear says.

Don’t forget to Follow me on Medium for future posts, tell me your thoughts and comments below, and be sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram.

H | blog

Developer, Creative, Dreamer… Love Puns and Stackoverflow 😏

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