About Me#

My name is Zaheer Soebhan. I was born in 1984 in The Hague, The Netherlands. I’m married since 2017. I’m a father since 2018.

I’m a freelance python developer. I have more than 10 years of professional experience as an external software developer and consultant. In the past, I’ve worked for companies like KPN, SURF, Rabobank, Sanoma Media and Fox-IT.

I like to get things done while improving my skills. I am communicative, social and patient. Furthermore, I’m a fast learner, curious, open-minded and unconventional. I am not walking away when things get really hard.

The things I do really like about software development:

  • the creative part: building and see things work

  • transparancy, not only in code, but also in logging and monitoring

  • software design to keep things readable and maintainable

  • running many things at the same time

  • small, simple, but very effective tools

  • scripting

I mainly focus on the following in my professional career:

  • Python including web frameworks and pydata tools

  • Linux including Bash, Docker, Kubernetes

  • Databases and search indexes

My other interests are:

  • reading

  • music

  • movies

  • science

  • soccer

  • formula 1

About blogging#

Sometimes I find it a bit cringe to read my own blogs, but I think it’s a good way to order and share information. I try to keep it simple and short, mainly writing about the things I’ve tried or figured out at that moment.

Now that I’m trying to do it for a while, I notice it’s another great way to deal with The Zeigarnik Effect and get more mental space to do more/other things.

About the main page#

In 2015 me and my wife did a 3-month trip trough South Africa.

The picture shows a beach party with the sunset in the background.

It’s there in South Africa where I decided I wanted to give freelancing a try. I witnessed a lot of people being creative to make an income which made me realize I’m just like that. Through my life and career, I dared to make some tough choices and worked hard to get where I am today.

Altough I’m “just a software developer”, I always liked to try to understand how organizations work and have been set up. While working for a contracting agency, I was involved in the business unit as a “community manager”. The only problem here was I didn’t like how I felt restrained by the vision and plans the business unit and rest of the company had in mind. Not to mention HR…

About freelancing#

Many people assume it’s mainly about money, but to me it’s really about having more control over my own career.

I’ve been in many different organizations and I’ve met a lot of people working directly for them. I noticed all of those people are annoyed by different things in their organization, similarly as I have been before I started working as a freelancer. The worst thing about this all is the way this affects the development of the employees and therefore the organization themselves. People leave organizations that are not actively working with them. Or people give up their hopes on a meaningful career by “quietly quitting”.

I like the things I’m doing and I do want to have a meaningful career. I believe software development is inherently a very chaotic process, no matter how much we try to control all the aspects of it. Things are always changing and things can always go wrong. That’s why I believe everyone involved in software development projects needs to be on top of, not only their own projects, but also on top of the development of team members, organizations and all the related domains.

I like to take my chances, or calculated risks. I think that’s the essence of having a career as a software developer anyway. A lot of people are too afraid to take steps all by themselves and rather outsource the hardest and interesting parts to other people. Other people who usually have something more than just technical skills or intelligence. Maybe it’s the strength to take responsibility or some sense of real ownership. Sometimes I like to say those other people have character.

I do like to see other people be happy and succeed in the things they’re passionate about. Unfortunately, there are a lot of other people that are not happy. I still think that’s a matter of taking steps by yourself.

I’m far from being the ideal developer. There is still so much to learn and so many steps I should still take. So freelancing to me is one of the ways I can take steps all by myself in order to be happy and to succeed in the things I’m passionate about.

But all that extra money is nice as well, of course! ;p