Team Spotlight: Introducing Walid

Every week we ask a Terra team member to let us know who they are. Here's Walid:

What wearables do you use?

I wear the Garmin Vivosmart 4. I just use it to track my steps and my runs.

Do you run a lot?

At least three times a week, but my goal is to do it everyday. I go for runs in the evening to catch the sunset and get home before it's dark.

How long are your runs?

Usually between 45 minutes to an hour.

So like 7–10 km runs?

Yeah around that much.

What's life outside of Terra for you?

I enjoy watching shows and spending time with my pets. I have a pet parrot and a cat. The cat is a ragdoll breed.

What languages do you speak?

I speak Arabic, French and English.

Did you grow up speaking all three?

Arabic is my mother language, in primary school I learned French and then English in middle school. I learned English from online games especially.

You guys have great food.

Maghrebian food is the best.

Did you always want to study computer science?

I was debating between computer science or med. school, but I always liked maths so I went for CS.

Tell me more about your pet parrot!

I have had her for slightly less than a year. Her breed needs a lot of training to speak so she only likes to bite and scream for now.

Oh so not all parrots mimic things without being trained?

It depends on the breed, but not mine. She actually learned to hum the song "If you're happy and you know it" using youtube recently. She even claps her beak at the part when you're supposed to clap your hands. Some parrots though like the African Grey and the big red ones, called Macaw, parrot things back without training.

I saw your parrot perch on your shoulder during a zoom meeting the other day. Does she always do that?

Yeah she flies on my shoulder when she's bored haha.

Do your cat and parrot get along?

My cat is actually afraid of her, not the other way around. Whenever the parrot gets close he gets scared.

Do you travel much?

I really like to travel, but I have not been to a lot of places. I have just traveled to Spain and Tunisia.

What did you think of Spain and Tunisia?

In Tunisia theres a lot to do, like you can fly a parachute.

No way, you went skydiving?

No not skydiving, you tie the parachute to a boat that lifts you up as it moves and you stay in the sky for a while.

Is there anywhere else you'd like to visit?

I'd really like to go back to Spain again. I went to Andalusia, which has really cool castles dating back to the Andalusian/Islamic era like Alhambra.

Do you enjoy visiting castles and historical places?

Yeah it's kind of like my medieval thing with TV shows, I really like things that go back to the medieval times. We have so many Ottoman empire castles in Algeria. Interestingly, they look similar to the ones in Andalusia - probably due to the history.

Ah yeah I've seen that before. Did you track that with a wearable?

Haha no I didn't have one at the time.

So what excites you about Terra?

I find it really innovative, it's a really new idea that we're implementing.

What have you learned so far at Terra?

Mostly how to be adaptable and comfortable with different technologies. We jump between different languages and technologies. Each part is done with something different - a bit of python here and a bit of java somewhere else. Our tech stack is varied so you learn a lot.

What do you like doing as a developer?

My favourite is infrastructure work. I have some new ideas to implement but we've got a lot to do right now.

What is it?

Too technical for a team spotlight :)

What are you most excited about to do with AI?

Do you know about the singularity?

Is that when AI reaches human intelligence?

Yeah so like when AI transcends human intelligence, I really want to see that in my lifetime.