Profile:
My name (incase you haven’t noticed as of yet) is Mohammed AlMaskati, by day I am Banker.

I hold a BSc Degree in Business Administration, double majoring in Information Systems and E-Commerce from the University of Toledo, Ohio, United States.

I first went online sometime back in 1996, through a 14.4 US Robotics internal modem dialup connection, it only took my father 3 months to realize that I was turning into an internet junky and forever disconnect our internet connection (now that I think of it, he only decided to permanently reconnect it after my graduation from college), I survived on stolen passwords (internet accounts) until my father was notified and called by the local police to pay the entire dues, but that is a different long story altogether.

I don’t quite know why or how I find the internet so addictive, I used to be able to spend days just surfing through all kinds of website, or in chartrooms, till I lately discovered the fabulous world of online forums, live discussions and debates.

I was absolutely fascinated by the 97-2000 dot.com boom, it was why I decided to consider it as an educational career, I don’t usually tend to look back at anything I carried out with regret, but this is a different case. After graduation, I couldn’t find one proper Information Technology entity that satisfied my quest, none..zero..zilch..nada.. Bahrain is way beyond the rest of the world by heaps and bounds (even that it is regarded as a pioneer in the region).. I made it through more than 13 interviews in less than three months that followed my graduation, I didn’t pass any.. I still don’t know whether I was a disaster in demonstrating and marketing my skills, or was it that I really didn’t fit those 10 jobs or so I was chosen to..

Luckily enough, a Canadian manager hired me as a “Database Developer” in the Bank, I was struggling for endless hours with huge amounts of irrelevant data, trying to sort them out in a system, and I picked it up from there, I am still paying my dues because of my inadequate IT background, I guess I am doomed to study out those programming codes, system designs, and E-Commerce techniques for a while, and replace them with accounting standards, technical analysis and market forecast, yet the way things are going.. I’m really not complaining… for an IT graduate to end up in the dealing room of a reputable emerging bank in less than 2 years time is superb.

From a spiritual standpoint, I believe I can adversely classify my self as a Shia’a Muslim (well.. not a dedicated, first-class one at least), but I do believe in god, his messengers, and most of the teaching of the religion. I am strongly against the instructions of scholars, impudence of women, and religious intolerance towards other religions, all those are what drifted me from the core of Islam to begin with.

I am news savvy, I dedicate one-two hours everyday just to skim through various news websites.. I blog because I can, I blog because I want to get my voice heard, and I blog to be challenged and dismissed (through comments) by minds smarter than my own..