Amir Jabarivasal on coding careers, app creation, and loneliness in London

Source: Amir Jabarivasal

Sajad Jabarivasal and Ayesha Begum interview UCL alumni, Amir Jabarivasal, the founder of book-swapping app, Bookey.

Isolation thrives in big cities, and London is named as one of the loneliest cities in the world, despite being home to millions of people. So many of us crave deep and meaningful conversations, we seek connection, but in a city as fast-paced as London it’s easy for these sorts of interactions to be pushed to the side. 

The prevalence of loneliness is especially high among millennials, with as many as one in four being unable to name a single friend according to the findings of a recent YouGov poll. Several links have also been drawn between the use of social media and loneliness. Yet, technology can also be harnessed to combat this problem. Amir Jabarivasal does just this with his innovative creation, the book-swapping start-up, Bookey.

Fresh out of university, Amir accepted a job with the Civil Service Fast Stream, but feeling unchallenged in this role, he took up coding on the side. This newfound skill-set proved useful in landing Amir a job as a Data Scientist at Kantar. Feeling constantly disillusioned by these conventional career paths, a year later, Amir left Kantar seeking inspiration and a worthwhile venture. Influenced by his own experience of feeling isolated after university, Amir sought to create an app to help people feel more connected to one another. And so Bookey, an app that aims to bring people and communities together through book swaps, was born. 

Pi Features met with Amir to discuss his time at UCL, the process of launching his app and careers in coding.  

Pi: Tell us about your time at UCL.

Amir Jabarivasal (AJ): I really enjoyed my time at UCL, but I had a lot of doubts throughout. It felt like everyone else on my course just wanted to get into finance, accountancy or onto the corporate career ladder. These jobs weren't suited to me and the uncertainty around my next steps led me to taking a year out in the middle of my degree and nearly dropping out of UCL.

Pi: Did you have any trouble quitting your full-time job to pursue your app idea?

AJ: Yes! I repeatedly got asked, “Did you know that most start-ups fail within their first year of starting…?” Most people were advising me to just work on my idea alongside my job. But the fact is when you’re working 40-hour weeks and commuting for 10 hours a week, it doesn’t really you leave much time to spend on other things.

Pi: So what made you go for it?

AJ: Well, firstly, I really wanted to learn how to make my own app. I see mobile phones as windows to other people’s lives. People now use them more than they watch TV or use their computers, and nearly everyone has a phone.

I’d also recently moved to Colindale and I didn’t really know many people there as most of my friends live in central London. I found the move quite isolating at the start. I wanted to find a way to meet other people in my area, and that’s where I came up with the idea of Bookey.

Users upload the books they’d like to swap, and then explore books in their local area. You swipe right if you like a book, and if you like someone’s book and they like one of yours, it’s a match! You can message each other to meet up and get to know each other through swapping your books. Shout out to Tinder for the inspiration!

Pi: Describe your journey launching the app.

AJ: I initially began by doing online courses and hoped for the best, to be honest. I did that for about a month, but at that point I still hadn’t learnt that much and was losing motivation. I started trying to build things myself and it went terribly at the start. I had to Google everything and ask lots of questions on forums.

But slowly, I began to realise where my knowledge gaps were. I learned that you need to make your own exercises after watching an online lecture, and you need to play about with the code. After I completed that course I became a lot more confident in JavaScript. I didn’t make as many mistakes and I started gaining traction on the app.

Pi: Did you seek advice from other people? And did this help?

AJ: Yes - I started working with a UX/UI designer who also went to UCL and she helped me to design the landing pages of the app. I realised the power of reaching out to your networks and seeking collaboration. It’s true what they say - two heads are definitely better than one.

I felt a lot of pressure to release something tangible to prove that I’d actually been working on something seeing as I hadn’t had a ‘proper job’ for so long. 

I remember the morning I’d finally finished everything. It was 4am and I’d been working super late. I felt an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment. For the first time in a long time I felt satisfied with work. I hadn’t felt satisfaction from work like that since I’d left uni, and I loved the feeling.

Pi: What has been your biggest learning curve on this journey?

AJ: I see myself as a problem-solver and I like to get to the bottom of them by myself with no help, which usually lands me in trouble! But in this process, something seemed to finally click for me. I realised that you won’t always get the satisfaction of solving problems by yourself. And that’s okay.

I learned about discipline and organising your time efficiently, which isn’t really an issue when you have a manager as your work is mostly planned out for you.

But what was most difficult for me was being able to work with other people, and working with them in a way where everyone would be able to maximise their contribution. Most people can add something to a project - you just need to think of how you can work well together.

 Pi: What advice would you give to current UCL students who are unsure of what to do after graduation?

 AJ: University is the perfect time to explore different things, particularly in the summer break. Use that time to look into different careers and discover what you gain satisfaction and enjoyment from.

Get involved in projects, even if you don’t necessarily take up an internship. Projects that involve coding and design, even small-sale consulting projects, will really help you gauge whether you like that area of work. And you can begin a process of elimination that way.

I was involved in Enactus at UCL, which supports young people in the UK to engage in social action and social enterprise, and I’d definitely recommend looking into them.

Try and widen your search from the companies that are most prominent on campus. I say this because companies have to pay to have these events on campus, and therefore those who are willing to pay the most have the most presence, which is often well-funded banks…

I think these traditional careers sound prestigious, but prestige wears off once you start working.

Pi: You mentioned earlier that people often say that coding is very difficult to get into. What would you say to students interested in a career in coding?

AJ: Coding is a sector that has the lowest barriers - the only barrier I can think of is that you need a laptop! You don’t need formal qualifications to get hired. Really, the only thing you need is proof that you’ve made or built something in the past. In web and mobile app development there are a lot of start-ups that require basic digital products that are willing to hire inexperienced coders. They’re the perfect way to build up your experience.

But even then, you could build something on your own and start adding to your portfolio that way. It goes without saying that in tech your portfolio is much more important than your academic background.

In terms of learning, there are lots of free and cheap online courses, and communities like Stack Overflow, Reddit, and GitHub where people will help you out for free. Learning independently does require quite a bit of motivation though, because you need to be able to stick with it, especially in the early stages. 

Pi: Any last words?

AJ: There have been a few attempts at making book-swapping apps, but none have been successful. I’m very aware that Bookey could go the same way, but actually, that doesn’t worry me.

I’ve learned so much from this experience and I’ve had a lot of fun along the way. It would be a great bonus if Bookey becomes a successful app, but I’m not going to lose any sleep if it doesn’t. I think having this mindset is important as I know that I’m going to win either way, and that I can do anything I set my mind to.

The app is free to download on the App Store and Play Store.