"I Write to Learn" Karim Fanous, VP Engineering @ strongDM

This story is a part of Hacker Noon's Meet the Writer series of interviews. The series is intended for tech professionals contributing the most insightful Hacker Noon stories to share more about their writing habits, ideas, and professional background (and maybe a hobby or two).

If you too would like to start contributing to Hacker Noon, you can do so here.

So let’s start! Tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests.

My name is Karim Fanous. I’m a software engineer, presently the VP of Engineering at strongDM. My career has spanned being an active software developer and more recently managing software teams at early stage startups.

Outside of work I enjoy scuba diving, reading and more recently I picked up writing. I try to write an article every ~2 weeks or so.

Interesting! What was your latest Hackernoon Top story about?

I wrote a piece that was inspired by my reading a book on complex systems. My article shed some light on the similarities between complex systems and the process/art of building software products.

Do you usually write on similar topics? If not, what do you usually write about?

I usually write about topics that arise from my own experiences. These could be (hard) lessons learned or sometimes in-depth technical articles. All of my writing is inspired by the lessons learned from working at fast moving early stage startups

Great! What is your usual writing routine like (if you have one?)

I keep a backlog of potential stories, and pick one to ponder on. Once I pick a story from my backlog, I start ideating about what I want to write about in a doc. This usually starts out as a brain dump, then themes and structure is added. I usually go about this process for 10 days and then end up writing the article in a few hours, typically on Sunday evenings.

Being a writer in tech can be a challenge. It’s not often our main role, but an addition to another one. What is the biggest challenge you have when it comes to writing?

Time! It takes time to think about a topic and write about it. I decided that I wanted to try and write an article every 2 weeks and so far a year into my adventure, I have been able to do so. I am not necessarily looking to grow an audience, so I don’t worry about followers or readership, although those are nice to have. I write to learn. Writing helps me understand things better. It gives me more clarity

What is the next thing you hope to achieve in your career?

I’ve been fortunate enough to have a very rich and rewarding career. I don’t have specific goals, other than wanting to remain working with smart, driven, motivated and happy teams building great products!

Wow, that’s admirable. Now, something more casual: What is your guilty pleasure of choice?

Chocolate. The darker the better

Do you have a non-tech-related hobby? If yes, what is it?

Scuba diving is a huge passion of mine.

What can the Hacker Noon community expect to read from you next?

I’m wrapping up another article this weekend, so perhaps as early as next week!

Thanks for taking time to join our “Meet the writer” series. It was a pleasure. Do you have any closing words?

Thank you for doing this. It was a pleasant surprise to see my article pop on the top of the HN list.