"Despite this Connected World, we Keep Isolating Ourselves" - Yassine Rachid, 2020 Noonie Nominee

Hacker Noon's annual Noonie awards, hosted on , seeks to find the best minds in the Tech industry today. One such impressive mind is Yassine Rachid from Canada.

Yassine is nominated in the Software Development category and is the Founder and CEO of Pairdesk. Let's learn more about him below!

1. Which 2020 Noonie have you been nominated for?

2. Tell us a bit about yourself.

At a young age, my computer scientist father shared his passion for information technology. Like him, I liked the problem-solving parts of this field and I decided to study for a Bachelor's Degree in Software Engineering. After my graduation, I worked as a consultant for a few companies like Expedia and Trilliant Network. As a freelancer, I saw many limitations with the third-party freelancing platforms interacting between me and my clients. I had 2 choices: either be bogged down by the lengthy process of traditional consulting firms to work with my client, or go on a freelancing platform and be severely limited by their lack of features or high commission rates. I chose neither and instead wanted to offer a better solution to empower freelancers and their clients, which led me to launch Pairdesk!

3. Tell us about the things you make / write / manage / build.

I mainly lead the technical effort when creating Pairdesk. My experience as an ex-freelancer was really helpful making the platform freelancer-centric and provide a better experience for freelancers, which makes life easier for clients as well! Alongside Pairdesk, I decided to write articles on Hacker Noon to share my experience. And, since this week, I decided to create my own Youtube channel to make programming tutorials. I always loved teaching my friends and peers various things, and I thought I could share this passion with others!

4. What are you most excited about right now?

How our generation and the future ones have access to all the information gathered by humanity. The internet has granted us access to global knowledge, and it empowers us in so many ways.

5. What are you worried about right now?

I am worried that, despite this connected world, we keep isolating ourselves to our views and stop looking outwards and thinking outside the box. The Internet and our connected world should allow us to challenge our views and constantly evolve, and I'm worried it can just create echo chambers and stall us in improving ourselves.

6. What's the most useful advice you've ever given somebody?

“Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self expect applause" - Richard Francis Burton

7. How has the pandemic changed your life and/or career?

The pandemic has been one of the most difficult challenges in the 21st century, it forced us to adapt ourselves to a "remote" approach when it comes to work and social interactions, and it has impacted me in this way. From a social standpoint, the impact has clearly been challenging and straining.

When it comes to Pairdesk, we definitely wanted to push our platform forward in order to provide an alternative to the way people work and find opportunities. We found a massive growth in freelancers and clients alike and we want to make it as easy as possible, in the present and in the future, for people to join the freelancing world and empower themselves.

8. If we gave you $10 million to invest in one thing right now, where would you put it?

I firmly believe in investing it and growing it in order to further invest in Pairdesk's mission.

9. What's an opinion you have that most people don't agree with?

One of my core beliefs is the fact that we can master any subject or field. With our global access to information, we can easily become experts in anything given enough time and effort. Many people think that I'm being too optimistic when it comes to our potential as human beings in terms of personal growth, and that only long studies can provide us with this kind of knowledge.

10. Which apps can't you live without?

Youtube. It's the application I use the most for learning and for entertainment.

11. What are you currently learning?

While I am technically comfortable at what we do at Pairdesk, I'm really working on my communication skills in order to better share our mission and our values.Make somebody’s day and nominate them to be recognized in the internet’s most independent and community-driven awards: .

Don't forget to vote for Yassine in the following awards: