My name is Omar, I am a Thirty Something years old Web Developer, I was born in September 1984 in Baghdad-Iraq, where I've lived most of my life. my first encounter with a computer was with MSX. Someday when I was around the age of 10, my father bought me a book that was about programming in Basic Language, I started reading, and I was hooked.. I would copy-paste the example scripts from the book to my MSX and see the magic happen.. It was amazing for a little boy like me.
This experience has unknowingly set my life path for me.. I got my first x86 based PC around the age of 14, 4 years later I went to college, majored in computer engineering, graduated with a B.Sc. in 2005, and I got the Masters degree in 2008.
Given the situation in Iraq, I had to leave, especially because my name is problematic to say the least. You see, in Iraq, people who are named "Omar" are targeted by radical malicious groups for sectarian reasons. so I went to UAE (6 months), then Syria (25 months), Sudan (20 months), Jordan (15 months), and now I'm back to Iraq, styaing in the northern area (Kurdistan Region).. the safest place in "Iraq".
I got to know Joomla! in 2007, and loved it instantly, I went through the code, and came up with some extensions that I thought would be helpful, then I decided to publish them so that many others can use them in their websites.
My first Joomla! extension was Simple Image Holder, I really needed something simple to hold images, I had enough of the banners component that comes with Joomla!, so I decided to see if I can make a small module that takes care of that issue, and I did.. when it worked so well for me, I said, hey, this can be really useful to tons of people, so I went to the JED and posted it.. and with time, people started to write reviews, expressing their gratitude.. and right then, I knew what it felt like to give something back to the community.. it was a great feeling.. and it still is.
After the success of Simple Image Holder, I decided to keep making and publishing Joomla! extensions every time I thought of a new idea that would solve a problem, ease a headache, and/or make life easier for me and others. so feel free to browse my site, and let me know if you have an idea for an extension that you can't find anywhere..
Note: All of my extensions are licensed under the GPL License, most of them are free of charge, and a few select ones are commercial.