Meet Arbab Ahmed, Senior Project Manager

Enlighten us about your educational and professional experience/history.

I completed my GCE Ordinary and Advance Level Education through Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) System in 2002.

For postgraduate studies, I traveled to the United States of America, from where I completed my graduation in Computer Science discipline from Monmouth University New Jersey.

I took my first breath as a professional after my graduation, starting my career at Applicaster, a broadcast media solution provider through its SaaS product and mobile applications, during my 6 years working tenure at Applicaster, I served two different positions, Project Coordinator and Business Analyst. After getting enough experience, I excel in exploring new opportunities, working as Project Manager for Esteem Digital (Web Visions), Accunity LLC and also provide consultancy services to a UAE based company on a contractual basis.

Currently working as Snr. Project Manager at Cubix, a software development company expert in development, customization, and integration of complex applications.

What aspects of your previous position did you find professionally challenging?

Handling multiple teams single handed on day to day basis for product development, resources are not just in-house but also based offshore.

Dealing with top management, providing weekly progress of running projects, answering queries based on future roadmaps and team performance.

Now that you are a part of Cubix team, what areas would be most easy and challenge for you in this role?

I will not say that working at Cubix is easy but rather prefer to say that it’s a unique experience and challenging. The tasks that I found most challenging is to maintain both management and clients quality bar for product development, it always requires lots of brainstorming before presenting anything in front of stakeholders, it really helps me out to explore quality products in the industry to have inspiration and develop unique products for clients.

Give me an example of a very complex problem or issue you have faced. How did you solve the problem?

At Applicaster I had been given responsibility to manage some clients, so a long-term client who was just shifted in my portfolio, after giving him an introductory call, I found client not satisfied with services and was about to take their business to a competitor. I somehow managed to fix a meeting and met with the customer in person, understood the whole issue and was able to change how we handled the account on a day-to-day basis in order to keep the business. As an aftermath of this situation, I understood the gravity of client relations and managed to derive a system of regular check-in and management process which was later adopted by the rest of account manager to help them manage their clients at their best.

What particular skills or experiences make you the best match for this position?

I am a self-motivated person who is willing to go above and beyond on any level, and to learn valuable skills on my own time. I have all of the skills and experience that a seasoned project manager requires and I’m confident that I would be a superstar in this project management role.

Finesse and quality comes with experience; taking on challenging projects and managing resources in crunch time has led me to this position. I’ve developed skills working with great developers, vendors and top tier managers. Not only being passionate, I’m driven to deliver flawless output.

In what ways could you contribute to this job?

My previous work experience included innovation in many areas, including strategies for more effective project management processes and teamwork. In my past experience, I have worked for varied projects also managed different teams and vendors to deliver cutting edge solutions. During that phase I have drafted and implemented many techniques and tools for assessing and evaluating performance and have also struggled to utilize my research and experience to shape best business practices and workable performance enhancement modals. In one of my previous roles, I also devised strategies for improving day to day project management processes with teamwork and communication among members of team projects. I can bring not only my ideas from my previous job but my general passion for innovation, to this job.

Joining Cubix, what aspect thrills you the most?

I like to accept challenges and this is what thrills me most. Before joining Cubix, I had an idea that working at Cubix is not an easy job, but accepting challenges like working on huge projects in a short delivery timeline with limited resources could be led to have some solid experience.

What would be your dream job?

Of course, everyone looks for market competitive salary and additional benefits but apart from this, a workplace should provide peace of mind with personal satisfaction, where you can practice rational ideas and share to improve organizational culture, a place where you can work as a family.

Do you see this position as a final destination or a stepping stone?

Not yet but I would say that as time passes by I am more feeling Cubix as my final destination.

Tell us about a time when you were intensely motivated at work.

Last year I had some excellent reviews on my work from clients, which was really motivational as this is how we got paid, pat on the back from the client is not an easy task.

Would you rather be the captain of the team, the MVP, the unsung hero, or a “solid teammate”? Why?

I will prefer to be a “Solid Teammate”, the reason is that working along with other resources as a teammate gives them motivation and positive attitude.

Describe a time when your professional know-how/ knowledge was put to a crucial test.

A half-cooked project was assigned to me from management and client was also not really satisfied with the services and how the project was handled earlier. I had really short deadlines to meet with not much visibility of project scope, over here I had to put all my professional knowledge and work experience to not just get a project on track and deliver as per committed timelines but also gain client trust to get more business.

Give an example of the most detail-oriented positions you have had.

My current position at Cubix is one of the detail-oriented positions I hold, it possesses different roles to play some of them are, not just practicing project management individually but also helping out teammates to resolve day to day issues, providing training on how to best utilize PMO processes, helping out management to identify loopholes and optimize resource performance for comprehensive outputs.

You may have heard the term ‘emotional intelligence’ before. What does it mean to you to have ‘emotional intelligence’ in a work setting?

For me emotional intelligence is key to manage resources on day to day basis, not just resolving disputes and work issues but also providing motivational channels to entertain emotions of resources to manage burnouts.

In your experience, is it better to confront difficult situations, or to not “stir things up”?

In my experience, it is better not to “stir things up” most, confronting difficult situations should only be practiced if you are 100% sure about the outputs and enough capable of handling.

Whom do you idealize? How do you take admiration?

My professional admiration goes with people who help out others to grow alongside not just using them for needs and discard when not required.

In your opinion, which place is best to live in?

Where you can fulfill your desires and can manage both professional and social life

How would you sum up ‘Joy’?

Professional “Joy” is something you get when your teammates along with stakeholders endorse not just your work performance but also your character and presence.