Yes, Assalamualaikum. Are you well?
Yes, praise be to God.
Okay. Can you turn on your camera?
Yes, yes. Sure.
Please.

Okay. Will you kindly tell me your name?
Yes, my name is Ferdous Kausar.
Okay, Ferdous Kausar.
Your designation?
Senior Software Engineer.
Okay. What system do you work on?

I am currently working on a hospital management project.
Okay.
which is for most hospitals in Bangladesh. Its database is in Oracle and the front end is in Oracle Apex.
Okay, it's in Oracle Apex. Okay, fine.
Do you directly... okay, you report to Mr. Arif, right?
Yes, yes.
Okay.
We are recording this conversation today. This is just a simple conversation. We are doing this because we are talking to every employee. There is nothing specific here. We are just, since we will create a new workflow, before creating this workflow, we are talking to everyone to understand who is working where, what expertise they have, what we will do with them in the future, regarding training or knowledge extension, we will work on these things. So that's why this interview is being taken.
What did you say?
Yes.
For how many years have you been with MononSoft?

I have been continuing since 2021. But I was with MononSoft before that as well. From 2000... I mean, I think from 2016, from 16, I mean, I was there for two or three years back then.
Okay. So your last one is from 2021. I am not counting the previous one. From '21, I am considering it as five years.

So we will have some conversation here. The conversations are, first, we will discuss skill gaps, skills, so that we can know the skill gaps as we are moving to a new framework. You will rate your skills from one to five. One is the lowest, five is the highest.
Then we will discuss some behavioral skills. And then we will discuss some questions, I will ask some questions. I will have that conversation in English.

In software development, in backend and frontend, how do you evaluate yourself? How much knowledge do you have?

I think that, compared to the front end, I am more capable in the back end.
Mm-hmm.
Yes? Because I have been working on the Oracle database since 2011.
Yes.
So besides the Oracle database, I have now worked on SQL Server and also, for about one and a half years, I have been working on PostgreSQL as well. I do this personally, as it's not in our project. But I study these things and do some personal work on them.
Okay.
In the backend, besides the database, I also develop APIs.
Mm-hmm.
For that... We will ask you about API.
I just, if I ask you to rate yourself on front end and back end, how much...?

For the backend, you can consider it four.
And for the front end, since I am on the Oracle Apex platform, on Oracle's platform, I... for the front end, recently we are using Vue, Vue.js, and I do a little bit of work in React, ReactJS. So in that case, you can consider it a two or three. Out of five.

Consider it three, yes.
Okay.
In API development and integration, how much... how much will you give yourself? Or how well do you understand it?

For API, I mainly develop the API using Golang.
Mm-hmm.
In that case, I will give a four, out of five.
Database management. Your... how is your database expertise?

Yes, you can consider that a five.
Okay, in Oracle.
Yes, in Oracle.
In database optimization and query tuning, how much will you give yourself?

In optimization, consider it four.
Okay.
So you are using Oracle, the Oracle system. You are also using Apex. Is it the licensed version you are using? Or are you using it from the free version that is available?

No, I am using the free version.
You're using the free version. So... okay, fine. Regarding this, I will... with the people who are maintaining the database at MononSoft, I will have a conversation with them. So, you have time for an individual talk, right?
Yes, sure.
Okay, thank you. So brother Arif will also be there.
Do you have any idea about DevOps?

I have some, but very little. In that way... yes.
Okay, so I'm giving it a one, right?
What is your understanding of system architecture?

In system architecture too, you can give a four.
Four. Out of five.
Debug and troubleshooting.
Sorry.
No, that's okay.
Debug and troubleshooting.
For debug and troubleshooting, you can consider it a five.
Document quality and creating documents.

Consider that a three.
If you are given a document, you can read it properly and implement it, right?
Yes, I can do that.
Okay.
So, I forgot to ask one question, which is, although I know that you are allowed to work in-person or from home. What is your work style, between in-person and home office, what percentage do you do in-person and what percentage from home?

That is, since I provide services to hospitals with our software, so my, my work basically starts at 8 in the morning. And the hospital runs until almost 10 or 11 at night. So, I, I have to work even outside of office hours, or even if there is no support work, I at least have to be around the environment. I might have to provide support at any time. Yes? I operate with that kind of mindset.
Or even if I go out somewhere, I at least have my environment with me.
No, no, that's fine. I'm not asking that. I'm not asking about your support pattern. You are at the hospital. Now, are you hospital-based, although I don't know, that's why I'm asking the question. Since you work on a different project. Do you maintain the whole thing from your home? Or do you come to the MononSoft office? Or do you go to the hospital?
No, I come to the MononSoft office very rarely, only if there's a meeting or something. I have to be at the client site most of the time. At the hospital. Yes, during my office hours. And the rest of the time, I provide support from home.
You provide remote support. Okay.
Now I'll talk about behavior or skills development.
So, for this, specifically, you have to rate again.
In terms of time management, how much will you give yourself?

You can consider that a four. Time management.
Under you, does anyone work under you? Or do you work alone?
Yes, they work.
How many people work under you?
Two people.
Two people work. Okay.
Okay. Now if I talk about time management. For example, you manage a project, you have to do time management. A change has come to your hospital that you have to implement very quickly. How will you delegate that to your team, manage the time, and provide the service?

Yes, there are some support tasks that need to be provided very quickly. In that case, what I do is, if while explaining to my team member, it seems that the time it takes to explain, I could do it myself, I do those tasks myself.
Okay.
Because I'll explain it to one person, then they will take time to do it again, so I just do it myself. And for the things that will take some time, like, there is a day or a few hours for this, then I assign it to my team members.

So, for example, you see that you have to deliver a task. You don't have time. You have to finalize it and deliver it. In that case, you are unable to deliver. It could be due to not having proper staff, not having proper time, a software bug, it could be anything.
In that case, what is your communication with the management like?

With the management, my reporting boss is always Arif sir. So, if my team member gets stuck somewhere, if they get stuck, it comes to me. If I also have a problem somewhere...
Actually, nowadays, there are many things like ChatGPT, I mostly work with about four AIs. First, there is ChatGPT, then there is DeepSeek, Copilot, and Coen. I get the most help from these four.
So, even with these, many things can be solved now.
Because we need a bit of an idea. Yes? That this can be done this way, maybe if there's no complete solution in some cases, you get an idea. From that idea, we can get most of the work done. That's it.
And if I still have a problem after that, then I take help from my reporting boss.
Okay.
So in communication, how much will you give yourself in Bangla and English?
I... in Bengali, it's a five, and in English, a four.
Okay.
Teamwork and collaboration.

Teamwork.
Yes.
You can consider this a four.
Ownership of task.

Task ownership. Owning a task, which in Bengali is called responsibility. Taking responsibility for someone.
For that one... I will give that a five.
Okay, so now let's say one of your team members is not owning their project, you are not getting the right delivery from them, what will you do in that case?

Now, if a team member cannot deliver to me, I will first find out the reason. Why are they not able to do my work?
If they have a gap in any area, I will first see if there is anything more to teach or something like that. Then, if it still doesn't work out after that, then I might inform the management.
But first, I will try to see what their situation is like or if a team member can be upgraded.
It's not like if someone is weak in something, I immediately inform the management that, sir, they can't do this. I first try myself to see if they can be upgraded.
That's it.
Okay.
How are your problem-solving skills?

In problem-solving, you can consider it a five.
Okay.
Learning initiative. How are you in learning initiative?

Yes, in learning... I mean, I am still... as I told you a while ago, since I was on the Oracle platform, for the last one and a half to two years, I have moved out of Oracle to PostgreSQL, plus I had to learn a new programming language, Go. In that case, if I talk about my learning, I would say it's a five.
Okay.
Adaptability.
Consider that a four.
Okay, we will have a conversation now. We'll have the conversation in English. It's just asking basic questions.
So...
Which part of your role do you feel you are strongest in?

I feel that I am strong in backend development.
Okay. Which parts of your role you think that you struggle with?

Client's requirements.
Client's requirements. Okay. What skills would you like to improve in the next six to twelve months?
Sorry?
What skills would you like to improve in the next six to twelve months?

I think I should improve AI and data science.
Okay.
Are you confident working across the full stack environment or running a team across full stack environment?

Actually, I am trying to be a full stack developer.
Mm-hmm.
Because I want to, I want to learn every thing to build a complete software.
Okay.
What slows you down at your current work?

Multi-urgent task.
Okay.
What type of tasks or responsibility would you like more?

Team management.
Okay.
Do you have right resources or documentation at your current work or role?

No.
Okay. If I talk about the hospital management system that you are managing right now, that's not a part of JARB as I know. But do you have the right documentation if we wanted to implement this same methodology to other hospital? Or we need to create that?

Actually, I also working in HR management.
Mm-hmm.
Okay, the JARB HR management.
Yeah, yeah, and it's... we need to migrate it to our JARB.
It's now working in running in Oracle Apex.
Okay, so you are transforming the HR module to JARB. Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
So, as you know, we are dividing the MononSoft team in few different wings. So what is the current plan, it might change in the future. The current plan is to complete JARB 0.1, finalize the JARB system,
as well as create a global roadmap for JARB to extend it to different user levels, different domains. So we will work on that. We also wanted to work on public or private projects that we can start earning money. And we will develop employees' skill sets to DevOps and AI.
So, in this scenario, where do you think that you are best suited person?

I think AI and DevOps.
AI and DevOps. Okay. That's all the question from me.
Do you have any question to me?

Actually, I am interested in data science.
Okay.
And
actually, I am not getting time. I mean, to study these things or about AI. So, because I, for the last two years, after office hours, learning a programming language... it was very difficult for me. For about one and a half to two years, I had to work very hard behind it. After that, I have reached a stage where I can now do development.
Especially, more than the front end, I prefer backend programming plus my... I mean, analyzing the business to determine what the design will be like, what a software should be like, or how to make it user-friendly, I spend more time on those things... knowledge engineering, you want to work as a knowledge engineer.
Yes, yes, right, right.
Knowledge engineering is a very... I mean, a fascinating field, which I like. So what I do is, I do some knowledge engineering work, but mainly it's business decision making and business process with technology. I do that.
So I have some questions. I don't know if you are in the group that has been created for us, a team has been created.
I will sit with you one-on-one to discuss your system.
This is the initial conversation. Just to understand your knowledge gaps and also to understand where you want to work.
We are going to do a huge reshuffle of the entire JMI's MononSoft team.
So in the reshuffle, as we said, we have to create an earning source. That's the first priority. The current software that exists, we have to finish that, that is also our first priority. So when we do these things, we will need some reshuffling. So for this reshuffle, we are having this conversation. To actually see who prefers what or where we should reshuffle someone to their preferred side. Why? Because if I reshuffle you to a place saying you do this, and you don't like it. It's gonna be difficult for us to maintain. Since we, God willing, with Arif saheb, with Rasel vai and Arif vai, we will work together to move the whole thing forward.
Okay?
So the hospital management system you are making, is that a part of JARB, or is it different? Is it still different?
Yes, that is different.
It is different. So, although I didn't ask this, will this system be integrated into JARB later, or will a separate system be created for it?
It might come to JARB or it could be separate. The only thing is, our system runs on Oracle Apex, and while running it with Apex, I find some problems that don't occur in JavaScript frameworks.
Yes, yes.
So, I feel that the hospital management's database is a complete database. Yes? And if only its front end is changed and developed, then it can be a perfect software for us.
Okay.
Let me interrupt for a bit. Let me interrupt for a bit, Nesby. We have a plan to migrate that Apex front end to our JARB technology. Keeping the database as it is, yes, the technology we are developing JARB in, we'll migrate it bit by bit, this has to be a big plan, like a one-year plan, migrating it little by little, whenever we are ready, until we are ready, whatever we have made ready, we will push it into Apex with a link to JARB, using microservices. And when it's fully ready, we will fully shift their domain.
Okay, okay, okay. No, that's a good idea. It's a good idea.
Then, on the same development platform, more or less all the big applications will come over.
Hmm. That's a good idea. But there is one thing I have noticed while talking to each of you, that the business decisions you are taking or the systematic thing you are doing, it sometimes becomes a bit different when you are using this database. Because what I have seen in Bangladesh is that everyone uses the unlicensed version at the start. And when they go to get a license, when a huge application is already built, when they go for the license, it costs a crore (10 million) rupees. It costs one crore. So, nobody wants to implement this later on. And that's when the problem arises. Problems with security, with updates, problems arise with many things, and that thing can totally bring down a company.
Okay?
So... yes, that can happen, but in Bangladesh, in Bangladesh, actually, many big softwares are running on unlicensed versions.
Yes, for example, we are also using it, but we have recently decided that we will go for Oracle RAC. Oracle RAC. Real Application Cluster. Yes? To run RAC, I must get a license, and it definitely needs the Enterprise Edition to run RAC.
That... that's a must. I will say later that... one... when I buy a machine for one crore, the server itself will cost more than one crore. Yes? In that case, for its proper support, I will need a license.
No, no, that's what I'm saying. So, if we plan and move forward with these things, that's fine. When you plan ahead, many things can be done. So that's what we are doing now, actually identifying what is needed for our resources, for our right workflow, or for all our right things, and moving forward accordingly. In that, in this conversation or future conversations, God willing, we will identify and move forward.
So, thank you, Ferdous vai. For your time. If you have any questions, you can ask us. Otherwise, I have told Arif vai that we have a group, you'll be added there, and then I will sit with you to understand the whole system, finding some time. The hospital management you are working on. Because... I think you have already been sent a hospital... a hospital management presentation. The presentation we made for... we presented it to Aristopharma. To Aristo iVision.
Okay. I have sent that presentation to you. You have it.
Okay.
Yes, okay, no problem. Ferdous vai, thank you. We will talk again.
Okay Ferdous, you can leave now. Thank you. May God protect you. Assalamualaikum.
Yes.