James Leong | Web Developer

I was watching the series Heroes.  It talked about human beings having super natural prowess due to their genetic combinations.  Within the series, there was a girl who could magically change her appearance and surroundings.  Sometimes, she could be a really hot chick while the next moment she can transform to a maternal grandmother.  I call her - The Shape Shifter (Heroes Style).

Recently, I had the honor to meet another Shape Shifter (Pakistan Style).  And yes.. you are right… he is that person on the left…. Mr Faisal Shah from Pakistan.

Also, if you notice, I have purposefully highlighted Faisal Shah and Pakistan and refrained from using a generic term like he, a person, etc…  This is my most carefully Search Engine Optimized article on Mr Faisal Shah from Pakistan.  Even the image tags have alt text pointing to Mr Faisal Shah.

Any readers of this blog, feel free to link to this article with important keywords like Faisal Shah and Pakistan to further boost its ranking.

It all started when Mr Faisal Shah came for his interview and showed us a very impressive flash.  I was outside rushing off some coding for some of my clients and didn’t really have time to entertain Faisal Shah.  All the same, Denise liked his animation and insisted that I had to take a look.

I took a look at Mr Faisal Shah’s work.  It was good.  However, I confided in Denise that I did not feel comfortable about Faisal Shah as his portfolio was too small.  Generally, a designer who has reached a certain level of expertise has a large portfolio.  Faisal only showed 2 .. .really impressive works.

Above is one of the works.  Click on the image to view it in detail.

All the same, Denise did not want to miss out on any hidden talents.. and we decided to engage him in 1 mockup.  Well, the mockup he produced practically knocked me off my feet.  It was excellent.  Top designer quality.  I was on heat.  Like a bitch with raging hormones… I had to get a piece of Faisal Shah.  (If you are in the services sector as long as I am, you will know that the best people generate a lot more worth then the second best.  A lot, lot more…)

We called him… and he suggested coming down to our office to touch up on the mockup.  Needless to say he go the job - Faisal Shah became our Lead Designer.

Then came Friday.  Faisal Shah produced one mockup after another in record speed.  Denise was pissed because she felt that the mockups did not take in account the theme of the event.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I was thinking… finally someone like Wahidin Bee.  Mockups in 2 hours flat… and the best part of it… Faisal was not even sweating.  He had time to boss around and idle chat.  Hmm… this will teach our young designer, Mr Hamza, something….

4 mockups in 1 day.  No sweat for Mr Faisal Shah.  Images of dollar notes raining from the sky started to conjure in my head….

A strange thought came to my head:

One good designer can probably do the work equivalent of ten lousy ones…  just like programmers….

… or so I thought…

Thankfully, I was so impressed with the work of Mr Faisal Shah that I had to send off the design to a few of my Singapore designer friends.  And the unfortunate thing for Mr Faisal Shah is that Singapore designer friends are extremely familiar with all sorts of Web Template Sites.

Before I knew it, I had 2 links to template sites… pointing to designs that looked exactly like what I had received from Mr Faisal Shah.  Man… I was angry.  This man obviously had talent.  Why did he just rip us off with some templates!

Denise was convinced.  She felt that there were more missing pieces to the puzzle.  Being a reporter, she started googling and digging into his materials… and that is where we discovered his other hidden talents:

Shape Shifting

Yes… you see.. Mr Faisal Shah is a very interesting person.   He has a couple of resumes each showing different job records and timings.  In one resume, he was working steadily to become the manager of a call center.  In another, he progressed to becoming a lead designer in a Graphics Design firm.  Hmmm… maybe Mr Faisal Shah had 2 jobs at the same time?  Surely one cannot fault a person for working as a graphics designer during the day and getting a manager position at a call center at night?

But what truly amazed me was that he could study at both the Multimedia University of Malaysia and University of Texas Dallas at about the same time.  Boy.. his air fare must have costs a bomb.

Please click on the image to have a closer view of Mr Faisal H. Shah’s resume as a Call center manager.  (Darn… why did he have to add a H in the middle of his name… screws up my SEO efforts…)

Please click on the image to have a closer view of Mr Faisal Shah’s resume as a designer.

I was furious.

Denise told me to just give him a call and tell him that he was fired… but no, no, no, no…. I had already paid him for 1 copy and paste operation and I was determined to get some entertainment value out of this.  Faisal Shah had to come.  I wanted to get back my money worth and if Faisal is unable to give it to me through his designs, he had to compensate me in other ways….

Faisal was confidently seated at his desk on Monday before I approached him.  I requested for his ID to draft out the employment contract.

Click on image to get a close view of his ID.

After that, it was lesson time.  I told Hamza that he had to learn from the expert Mr Faisal Shah and immediately got Hamza to fetch both of us a cup of tea.  Mr Faisal was clicking through pictures, pretending to be looking for ideas, while i was seated behind him.

I saw an image… and told Mr Faisal that I needed it.

James:  Faisal… stop… u see that image… it is so beautiful.   I really need it for my brochure, can you please outline it out for me in illustrator?

Faisal Shah:  Oh sure… but let me complete the brochure first…

James:  No, no, no… I have to get it right now.. and it is really easy… you know my girls in Singapore, they trace it out in 3 minutes (This is completely true… Marsha does it in minutes)

Faisal Shah:  Okay… will do it… (and he starts tracing it in photoshop..)

James:  Faisal.. I need it in illustrator… ‘cos it has to be a vector graphic.. that is scaleable.  (yes… illustrator is not a tool con-men usually use…because photoshop is sufficient for most con jobs)

Faisal Shah:  (Showed great difficulty in tracing out the drawing…)

James:  Faisal, hmmm… what’s taking so long.. is it the mouse that is giving you problems?

Hamza:  (Could not help.. but kept smiling at Faisal… who was still struggling to trace…)

Faisal Shah:  Its because the table is shaking… because Zahid is typing at his computer

James:  (Man.. I nearly burst out laughing…)  Zahid… please stop typing so that Mr Faisal Shah can teach us how to trace in Illustrator.

(Zahid promptly stopped typing.  The whole office was silent with only Faisal Shah struggling with his illustrator drawing)

James:  Hmmm.. .what is wrong Faisal… it must the be the aircon… maybe it is also causing the table to shake?  Denise, please off the air-con.

(Denise was smiling and switched the air-con off promptly…)

James: Mr Faisal.. you know… I was telling me friends that you were so good that strangers were copying your designs…

Faisal Shah:  Which designs, you show me I can ascertain..

Hamza:  Oh.. her name was M******

Faisal Shah:  Oh yes.. she took the header….

James:  But Mr Faisal, I tell you.. in fact you are so good that even Template Monster copies your design!  You see the design you originally created for us last friday?  It is already listed on Template Monster!  Wow.. that is really something.  Even template monster copies your design!  I am impressed!

Faisal Shah:  Actually, we always refer to sample sites to get ideas…

James:  Faisal, get out of my office.

Faisal Shah:  Wait let me delete my stuff.. but here is the project folder, i will leave it intact.

James:  Faisal, get the hell out of my office and you can delete that project folder.  We will not be using any of your shit.

(I gave Faisal a hug and showed him to the door)

He was a first class con-man.  He deserved a first class sacking.