Software Engineer — Islamabad, Pakistan
Building, fixing, and improving the systems behind the web.
I’m Absar Akram. For about ten years I’ve worked across web applications, e-commerce platforms, and the backend systems that hold them together. writing new code where it’s needed, and, more often, understanding and improving the code that’s already there.
Expertise
Areas of experience
A decade spread across the layers of a web application — not evenly, but deliberately.
E-commerce
Magento 2 · Catalog & checkout systems · Payment & shipping integrations
Magento stores, from maintenance & updates to the integrations that keep orders moving.
Performance & Infrastructure
Caching · Linux · Deployment · Updates · Troubleshooting
Finding why an application is slow and fixing the cause, not adding servers.
Web Engineering
Laravel · PHP · React · Next.js · TypeScript · HTML/CSS
Laravel backends, React frontends, and code the next developer can follow.
Backend & Data
MySQL · PostgreSQL · APIs
Databases and APIs built around how the data is actually used.
System & Web Security
OWASP Top 10 · Authentication & access control · Server hardening
Closing real holes: unpatched servers, insecure configurations, vulnerable dependencies.
Mobile Development
Flutter (Android & iOS)
Android and iOS apps from one Flutter codebase.
Toolset
Technologies I reach for most
Off the clock
Outside the codebase
The version of me that isn't looking at a terminal is usually doing one of these..
- Walking
- Best debugging tool I own. Most of my good ideas show up about fifteen minutes into a walk with no destination.
- Chess
- At times a slow and tactical game. More often, a run of late-night blitz.
- Reading
- Without much discipline about genre, and at times it can take me over a year to finish a book.
- Conversation
- I like talking to people who disagree with me carefully. Ask me about the last thing that changed my mind.
Writing
Recent essays
Magento 2 with Hyvä: is it worth it?
Hyvä is the most practical way to get a fast Magento 2 storefront today, but whether it's worth it for your store depends mostly on how many 3rd-party frontend modules you rely on.
Challenges of working remotely
I've been working remotely for a couple of years now and I love the flexibility and convenience it offers but there are also some down sides that I'll cover in this post.
Why you must try out Bitbucket Pipelines
Bitbucket Pipelines is a CI/CD (continuous integration and deployment) tool that is built into the Bitbucket platform. It allows you to automatically build, test, and deploy your code with ease.
Have a problem worth solving?
If it involves a system that needs building, fixing, or understanding, I’d like to hear about it.