Yoast Care fund: An interview with Muhammad Kashif

Today we’re interviewing Yoast Care fund recipient Muhammad Kashif, who received a nomination from Zeeshan Kalwar. Zeeshan nominated Muhammad for everything he does as a regular contributor to the WordPress community in Pakistan. Helping people that are new to WordPress, organizing and speaking at WordPress events, and much more. Let’s hear what nominator Zeeshan has to say about Muhammad and his role in the community:

Nominator Zeeshan Kalwar: “Muhammad is a Full Stack WordPress developer, trainer & course creator. When he’s not writing code, he’s teaching people how to build things with and for WordPress. A true WordPress evangelist in spirit and personality. He’s a lead organizer of the WordPress Lahore meetup. He dedicates a lot of time to the community and provides WordPress support to beginners. I want to mention his name for his valuable commitment to the community”.

Let’s get to know Muhammad Kashif

Thank you for those warming words, Zeeshan. Now, let’s get to know this passionate contributor by asking him some questions:

Hi, Muhammad. What do you do?

Currently, I am working as Lecturer at a University and am also running a WordPress development & maintenance services agency called MeshPros. In addition to that, I am part of the WordPress Pakistan community as a co-organizer of the WordPress Lahore Chapter!

How did you know about WordPress?

A long time ago, when I was a university student, I liked working on practical stuff more than my academics. Web development was the perfect way to spend or kill all the time I had. I was doing that without knowing that it could help me make money as well.

One day I got to know about oDesk, where people could do tasks and earn money, so I wanted to try my luck as well. I got a project after trying for a couple of weeks. Still, I could not complete that because my programming was not mature enough at that time. The mentor friend bailed out at the last moment, and that was the best thing that happened to me after failing the first project.

I did some research about projects which needed fewer technical skills. I saw frequent projects about CMS websites, Joomla, and WordPress after that. So I started doing CMS projects for which my programming was good enough to make websites. After some time, I felt that WordPress was what I liked working on because it was solid compared to everything else in the CMS world.

So tell us, what was your first time contributing like?

In 2013, I participated in the 10th-anniversary of WordPress celebrations, and it was a great experience. Meeting amazing people in the WordPress community and making new connections. In 2015 I took the lead and started organizing monthly WordPress meetups in Lahore. I was surprised to see a full venue of around 40 people on two days’ notice.

Then many other folks from the community joined the organizing team and we did bigger meetups with up to 500 attendees. Which resulted in a lot of new folks learning more about WordPress and started to earn through it. I also met a lot of amazing folks from the WordPress community around the globe.

What contribution or moment are you most proud of?

It was a great joy when my first WordPress plugin was approved. Still, nothing matches the amazing feeling when someone tells me that I made a difference in their life because of a meetup I organized, a Meetup or WordPress talk given by me, or in-person mentoring regarding their WordPress career in general.

Where can people find you?

I can be found at WordPress Meetups, WordCamp events, or tech conferences in Pakistan. I am also reachable on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or email me.

Thank you for this interview, Muhammad. And for all of your contributions to the community, both internationally and in Pakistan! If you’re reading this and know a contributor like Muhammad who deserves some recognition, don’t wait any longer. Nominate them for our Care fund by going to our Yoast Care page right now.