Software Engineer Offering GCSE or A-Level Computer Science, Programming, Python, Web Development lessons

Find out more about Fady

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

  Probably when I was around 4 years old. I lived in staffordshire where it was unfortunately quite cold so I learnt to keep myself busy by playing classics such as Age of Empires on my Father's computer. Since then I've always been interested in computers, whereas before they seemed like magical black boxes, now I understand how the magic works.

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

  I think the exponential growth rate of the power of hardware measured as FLOPS, as predicted by Moore's law has opened up many new possibilities in computing. The biggest implication of this to all of mankind is Artificial Intelligence. Now with super fast GPUs and TPUs being available, it's become feasible to train very deep artificial neural networks on massive datasets, achieving state-of-the-art results on many previously unsolved tasks such as facial recognition, self driving cars and stock market prediction. I think if one day we can create Artificial General Intelligence that will either be our last day or the start of a new scientific revolution.

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

  My expertise are in Programming, Theoretical Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. I have been writing Python code for over 5 years and I have worked professionally as a software engineer writing code in C# and Python. As part of my university studies I have also covered C, C++, Java and Haskell. On top of this, in my spare time I enjoy a bit of fun programming, you can checkout my side projects at https://github.com/psyfb2.
  I also love Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning which is actually more maths than computer science! Luckily, I know a thing or two about Calculus, Differential Equations, Probability and Linear Algebra, from my pure maths days, so this topic wasn't too hard for me to pick up. Nowadays, I'm getting ready to start my Msc in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh. In the meantime I have been building AI projects, the latest being a deep learning chatbot which utilises Sequence to Sequence networks and Transformers.
  
  In my opinion, Artificial Intelligence has potential to have a massive impact on not only the computing world but also science as a whole. People are using AI for all sorts of things for example DNA sequencing, Fruad Detection, Youtube Video Recommendations and a whole lot more.

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

  I think these people were born at the right time in terms of computing, where there was a lot of low hanging fruit so to speak. What they achieved was undoubtedly nothing short of remarkable but I think nowadays it's harder to replicate that level of success in computing because innovative and unique ideas in computing are much harder to come by. Their work ethic and drive does inspire me but I do not agree with all of facebook's policies so I can't say I go to sleep thinking about Mark Zuch everyday. I think a really good role model in computing is Alan Turing because despite being persecuted for his sexual orientation, he still managed to achieve great things in computing and is known as the father of modern computing.

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

  Originally, I wasn't interested in higher education so after my GCSE's I took a year out playing football. Things didn't exactly go to plan, so I decided to go back into education and start my A-Levels. The Sixth Form I attended was adamant that I can't take Maths because of my year out. After insisting that I must take maths because I do enjoy the subject, I remember my teacher telling me "fine, but you will end up with a C at maximum, all the other students are miles ahead of you". Well I did get an A* in the end and she was quite surprised. I think what she failed to realise is that anyone can learn anything if they put their mind to it, and that's exactly why i'm a tutor.

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

  I would say I understand and I was once in exactly your shoes, however IT is simpler than you think. From a distance it may seem like a huge behemoth, but by decomposing all the pieces and looking at them separately, it's really not that complicated. For example we can understand the hardware of a computer by first understanding binary, then logic gates, then circuits composed of logic gates which can perform certain tasks like addition and so fourth. Each of these separately is a topic that anyone can understand, but I do admit there are a lot of topics to understand.

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

  I like to play sports like football and spend time outside in nature.

• What makes you a Superprof in IT?

  I have extensive knowledge in Computer Science, by completing my Bsc Computer Science at the University of Nottingham and being awarded the Exceptional Achievers Award for being in the top 10 students in my course. Furthermore, I have professional experience in programming. But having knowledge isn't enough. I am still a learner myself going into my Msc so I know the struggles that students go through. Clear explanations with intuitions, motivating lessons, providing practical homework exercises, being friendly and inviting questions is really crucial for being a good tutor.