Muktar Sayed Saleh

Software engineer · Arabic poet

Muktar Sayed Saleh

I've been writing since 2002. Sometimes in languages machines read, sometimes in languages people do.

Explore the work Read the poetry

About

Muktar Sayed Saleh

Hello — I'm Muktar Sayed Saleh, a husband and father of two (Omar and Furat), based in Dubai. My relationship with writing began with writing software, in my boyhood more than two decades ago, as a hobby later sharpened by practice and study: a Bachelor's in Software Engineering (2011), a Master's in Web Technologies (2016), and cloud and AI certifications from the leaders of the field: Anthropic's two AI-engineering certifications (the ones closest to my work today), three from AWS, three from Google Cloud, and every Alibaba Cloud certification.

I've written dozens of applications for most platforms and environments before specialising in the web, and in recent years in cloud computing, AI and machine learning, and blockchain and self-sovereign identity. I've worked with clients directly for many years, and inside startups and multinational corporations, where I've held most of the roles a software engineer can hold — from trainee programmer at the base of the pyramid to its top, serving today as VP of Engineering at a startup. I've also founded my own companies more than once (Monjz in 2019, then Ayadi, and from it Miqwal), and every attempt taught me another lesson about building and running startups.

Then a second side of writing surfaced: literary leanings that pressed on me as sleeplessness and obsession until they revealed a poet. The poems took first place in several distinguished Arab literary awards: the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity (UAE, 2011), the Imam University Award for the best Arabic poem (Saudi Arabia, 2016), and the Dr. Souad Al-Sabah Award for Intellectual & Literary Creativity in two consecutive sessions (Kuwait, 2017 and 2021). Alongside the poetry came technical books that were each the first of their kind in Arabic.

In short: if a person could describe their whole life in one word, the word that describes mine, briefly and deeply, is "writing."

Milestones

From 2002 to today

  1. 2002

    First lines of code, in my boyhood, and the first system I actually delivered: an app for the Al-Khaled fitness center, written while still in middle school.

  2. 2004

    A Syria-wide award for the voice-enabled money-transfer system, written while still in high school.

  3. 2007

    An internet-cafe management system and a pharmacy system, both written in high school and later published as open source.

  4. 2008

    A first engineering job: web developer at Ajram-Tech in Damascus, building web ERP systems and a CodeIgniter extension that generated CRUD pages on its own.

  5. 2009

    Learn jQuery in 120 Minutes, the first Arabic book on its subject.

  6. 2011

    A Bachelor's in Software Engineering, a graduation project that scans websites for security vulnerabilities (published as open source), and first place at the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity for 'In the Depths of Love'. Joined SIST in Damascus as a team leader; the first Arabic HTML5 & CSS3 book follows a year later.

  7. 2013

    Executive lead of Edfa'li at SIST: e-payment systems feeding roughly 1,500 self-service bill-payment kiosks across Syria. The same year, the release of Al-Faraheedy, an open-source engine for the meter and rhyme of Arabic verse, where code and poetry met.

  8. 2014

    Moved to Kuala Lumpur. From there, Axiata Group's interactive annual report, and the first Arabic book on PhoneGap.

  9. 2015

    One of Tigerlab's first three engineers, building the InsureTech cloud insurance system. Also that year: Domino's Pizza Malaysia's interactive Ramadan campaign and Cyberjaya's residents' survey.

  10. 2016

    A Master's in Web Technologies, and the Imam University Award for the best Arabic poem (Saudi Arabia).

  11. 2017

    First place at the Dr. Souad Al-Sabah Award (Kuwait), for 'He Now Crosses the Slopes of Song'. Became a technical lead at SEEK Asia, where I later helped lead the migration of major services to AWS.

  12. 2019

    Launched Monjz, an Arabic marketplace for independent work, built alone and run for years. Became a software engineering manager at GoQuo. A first AWS certification the same year.

  13. 2020

    'A Moon Over Mecca', poems for children on the Prophet's biography; 'A Guide to Independent Work Online'; a first Google Cloud certification; and a move to AirAsia as a senior software engineering manager, leading a ten-engineer team.

  14. 2021

    First place at the Souad Al-Sabah Award for the second session in a row. Joined Mercator.ai in Canada as director of software engineering and one of its first employees, taking the product from concept to launch through funding rounds that included a $5.1M raise.

  15. 2022

    A fourth poetry collection, 'When Will My Exile End, O Winds?' (Mosaic House, Istanbul), plus two technical books: one on Git and one on AWS. Three professional cloud certifications in one year, from AWS and Google.

  16. 2023

    The complete Alibaba Cloud certification path; PsychFlow, a platform for psychiatry practices in Australia; and VP of Engineering at a private company, under NDA.

  17. 2025

    An AI-powered contact center on AWS for a leading European vehicle-inspection company.

  18. 2026

    The launch of Miqwal, an AI platform that matches brands with influencers, from my company Ayadi. Anthropic's two AI-engineering certifications, with scores of 912 and 911 out of 1000.

Engineering

Three ways I work with teams

If you are thinking of working with me, these are the arrangements I know from experience.

  1. 01

    Founding technical partnership

    Working alongside early-stage founders as the technical half of the table — architecture, the first engineers, and the decisions that are expensive to reverse later.

  2. 02

    Leading an existing engineering team

    Taking responsibility for an engineering organisation that already exists, and for what it ships.

  3. 03

    Ongoing technical advisory

    Staying alongside a team as a standing advisor: periodic architecture reviews, a frank second opinion on the hard decisions before they are made, and an experienced eye on what gets built as it is built.

Certifications

AI and cloud computing

Two AI-engineering certifications from Anthropic, the ones closest to my work today, alongside the cloud credentials: three from AWS, three from Google, and the complete Alibaba Cloud path.

AI

  • Claude Certified Architect – Professional Anthropic · August 2026
  • Claude Certified Developer – Foundations Anthropic · August 2026

Cloud

  • Google Professional Cloud Architect
  • AWS Solutions Architect – Professional
  • Google Professional Cloud Developer
  • AWS Certified Solutions Architect (2021)
  • Google Certified Cloud Engineer
  • AWS Certified Developer (2019)
  • Alibaba Cloud – the complete certification path

Work

Everything I have built

Miqwal — AI-Native Influencer Marketing Latest Product 2026 Miqwal — AI-Native Influencer Marketing The first influencer-marketing platform run entirely by AI, with no commission at all. التسويق عبر الإنترنتتطوير البرمجياتريادة الأعمالهندسة البرمجياتالحوسبة السحابية

Writing

Poetry and books

Poetry

Books on software

Awards

  • First place at the Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity (UAE, 2011), for 'In the Depths of Love'
  • The Imam University Award for the best Arabic poem (Saudi Arabia, 2016)
  • First place at the Dr. Souad Al-Sabah Award for Intellectual & Literary Creativity (Kuwait, 2017), for 'He Now Crosses the Slopes of Song'
  • First place at the Dr. Souad Al-Sabah Award for the second session in a row (Kuwait, 2021)

All the writing

Archive

56+ published works since 2002

This is only what I can show publicly. A lot more sits under client confidentiality.

Browse the full archive

Contact

Get in touch

Engineering work, a question about a poem, or just a hello. I read and answer my own email, in either language.