Fulfilling the Longtime Dream About Joining a High Impact AI Project

Fahad Ahmed from Pakistan completed several Omdena Challenges ranging from COVID-19 detection to child malnutrition, where he collaborated with world-leading organizations.

Recently he became an Omdena Top Talent to work on paid gigs with companies.

What is your background, Fahad?

I am a data scientist, machine learning engineer, and aspiring researcher. I got a master’s degree in data science at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST),  and in computer science at Karachi University, Pakistan. I have more than 3 years of experience in AI/ML and data analytics and more than 10 years of software development experience using C/C++, Java, Python, JavaScript, etc.

When and why did you enter Omdena? 

While pursuing my MS in Data Science, I was introduced to scientific research and its significant impact on society. That was my motivation, and what I always wanted. This was my primary motivation which made me pursue research in the medical domain. However, after my research thesis, I couldn’t get the opportunity to work on the real-world high-impact AI projects that would fulfill my longtime dream as they were mostly business oriented. 

“I joined my first Omdena project in 2021, since then there was no looking back.”

What was the most exciting technical solution you recently built?

My most recent top talent project “Identifying Water-based Damages,  Materials, and Surfaces in Buildings” was for a startup company called Digsfact. The project was about identifying water-based damages on the interiors and exteriors such as walls, rooves, and house siding damages due to hail or other environmental factors.

Improving the performance of the models and lambda functions was also carried out using hyperparameter tuning and optimal AWS hardware configurations so that the results and processing times can be significantly improved. Thanks to the project lead and the team, our end-to-end AI solution is seamlessly working well.

Some additional projects Fahad took part in

• Child Growth Monitor, by Welthungerhilfe, hosted an Omdena Project on Identifying Malnutrition of Children using Computer Vision.

• As part of Omdena´s Local Chapter in Pakistan, the team successfully developed a dashboard to analyze and track the impact of COVID-19 in Pakistan. 

What was the biggest personal struggle, which stood in your way, that you recently overcame?

I’ve been quite an introvert since my childhood. When I joined Omdena, I was reluctant to lead, present, and communicate. On my first local project, I was quietly working on the task and didn’t communicate a lot. On my first core project, I reluctantly offered myself as a task leader. It was a life-changing step. It improved my communication and presentation skills along with team collaboration and becoming more organized and productive. I kept being led on a few other projects and got my first role as a product owner within 6 months. 

 

“We should take the chance to lead even if we feel hesitant and uncertain. It teaches skills and experience that cannot be learned elsewhere.”

How did the Omdena experience help you in your career till now? 

Working on a talent project is a totally different experience. It teaches you how to lead and how to be more organized a team player, and a mentor. It also hones more skills like setting priorities, meeting deadlines and switching gears whenever there is a need. Furthermore, a talent project promotes performing research, understanding requirements, communicating with the team and the customers, facing challenges never seen before, and providing timely and long-term solutions. In addition, it makes it easy to learn new technical skills to get the job done, etc. Some soft skills such as interpersonal communication, teamwork, leadership, and adaptability are also improved. 

Any concluding words?

In crunch times, one has to go above and beyond to achieve goals, help out others and meet deadlines. It certainly provides an invaluable opportunity and teaches skills that cannot be learned elsewhere.