About Me

Farhan Ahmad
That’s me!

Hi, my name is Farhan Ahmad, and I am a scientist at heart.  I have a Computer Science Bachelors and an MBA. I have worked as a developer, an implementor/project manager, and an entrepreneur, among other roles.  Lately, my focus has been on entrepreneurship in the healthcare IT industry.

My recent accomplishments include managing a startup named Vonlay, which we grew to 130+ employees.  I was one of three managing partners of the firm.  My focus was on the technical vision and technical engagement oversight.  Vonlay was rated as a 2014 Best Place to Work in Technology for Employers with over 100 Employees. Later that year, in May 2014, Vonlay was acquired by Chicago-based Huron Consulting Group. I joined Huron as a Managing Director to lead our Epic-focused reporting, development, and integration services.

After Vonlay and Huron, I joined HealthDecision as the Chief Technology Officer and Chief of Staff.  At HealthDecision, I helped grow the company from no employees to a small team of five full-time employees when EBSCO Health acquired us.  I now serve as the Vice President of the EBSCO Health Technology for Clinical Decision Support.

In addition to my professional career, I am also a computer enthusiast. I have explored many different technologies, gathering as many useful bits as possible; for more info please see the “Some Facts” section below. As a result of this exploration, I have learned how to quickly acquire new knowledge and apply it. Also, as a basic rule of the “tech. age” I have realized that settling on one programming language or technology is not the way to go, so I have been concentrating on the principles instead of the specific implementations.

Outside of work and tech, I enjoy music and aviation. I got my private pilot license in 2022. I am also just starting to learn how to play drums.

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Other Info

Below are some programming languages, frameworks, and protocols that I have worked with in the past.  These are in no particular order.

  • Operating System Knowledge: Android, UNIX, Linux (ArchLinux, Debian, Ubuntu, and Gentoo), Apple OS X/macOS, most of the Windows flavors including Windows Vista and Windows 7.
  • Fluent in Programming/Scripting/Markup Languages: Python, C++, C#, Visual Basic 6, VBScript, Ruby, Perl, Bash, XSLT, AutoHotkey, SQL, XML,HTML, Objective-C.
  • Knowledge of Frameworks: Django (expert), .NET (started with 1.0 and have been keeping up with new releases), Ruby on Rails (used to develop in).
  • Minor knowledge of TCL and Java (haven’t really had to dive in, but very similar to C#).
  • Protocol Knowledge: HL7 (expert in 2.x, some knowledge of V3 specifics), X12 (very basic), HTTP, FTP, among others.
  • Contributed to official Python 2.6/3.0 branches.

Changing Metrics

  • Current personal development focus: Healthy lifestyle, with a good hard work / work-life balance
  • Current tech. goal: Learn electronics and master ESP32 programming
  • Current tech. toy: ESP32

Disclaimer: The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent my employer’s positions, strategies or opinions.