Arsalan Khattak

Arsalan Khattak’s first career plan was to join the air force in his native Pakistan. However, he took off in his own direction once he discovered technology, MLH, and the hacker community. This decision altered the trajectory of his life, converting him from a shy and reserved introvert to a public-speaking aficionado and coding expert.

He started coding very young—in sixth grade, learning HTML, CSS, and C#— eventually finding his niche in web technologies. His first inspiration to code came from movies where someone in a hoodie hacks into networks. He remembers that it looked “cool” to have the intelligence and technical know-how to outsmart a computer, and he hoped coding would allow him to “use [his] skills to solve problems.”

In 2018, he moved to a new city to start university. He found his calling there, primarily through tech meetups like Developer Circles Islamabad, his first of many. Just one year later, he went from a shy attendee to a speaker at Facebook Hackathon. This transformation was a direct result of the various hackathons he attended and organized, where he gained confidence in his skills and became a crucial part of many networks and communities.

Arsalan has cast a wide net very quickly. His public speaking and technical expertise have led to him live-streaming with GitHub Education, Dev.to, and Microsoft. His mentorship roles in various organizations (including Major League Hacking) have helped less experienced hackers find their own success. He brings younger students at his university into the hacker community, giving them hands-on positions in communities he founded, such as Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC) NUML. He also supports new members of Microsoft Learn Student Ambassadors (MLSA) Islamabad, helping them extend their reach and scale as a chapter.

So far, the sky's the limit for Arsalan. His talent and instruction, particularly in community building, have led to him being the only GitHub Field Expert from Pakistan.

His journey and the world of MLH are tightly linked. His technological evolution through the hackathon community includes participating as a hacker, MLH Localhost organizer, MLH Fellow, and MLH Pod Leader. He has faced issues with self-confidence which drove him to give up halfway through applying to the MLH Fellowship for the first time. Yet, he didn’t quit. A week later, after he saw a post about a partnership between MLH and Facebook, he finished the application and submitted it. When he was accepted, as he says, “That was a lesson for me not to underestimate myself.” He credits tech and the hacker community for his tremendous evolution. He went from an 11-year old kid whose “legs would begin to shake” at the thought of interacting with large groups to someone whose “confidence and abilities have grown” significantly.

MLH is a major part of his life today more than ever. After graduating as a Fellow, he became a Pod Leader, helping grow students in the Fellowship, and excelled. He saw how well he worked with community members and knew he could have a future with the organization. In early 2022, he applied to work for MLH, and today he is a full-time employee.

Arsalan has flourished in technology, coding, and programming. He has grown in confidence, building his brand and speaking at large events, and is well on his way to guiding others in the MLH community to be their best.