Affan Shahab

Affan on a sandy trail in Joshua Tree National Park at sunset, with Joshua trees and granite boulders behind him

Software architect and AI engineer. I tell stories with a camera.

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Affan standing with his hands on his hips in Times Square at dusk, the crowd a blur of light around him
Affan in sunglasses leaning on a railing above Niagara Falls, with the river and the city skyline behind him

Hi, I'm Affan.

I design software systems for a living and make videos for the joy of it.

I grew up in Karachi taking gadgets apart to see how they worked. Now I architect cloud platforms, back ends and data pipelines, and I build AI into them where it saves people real work.

At home I'm a father of two. Weekends mean road trips, long walks and too many snacks in the back seat, and we're trying to see all 63 national parks.

When a place surprises me, the camera comes out. I share those stories on ShahabNamay, mostly in Urdu, for anyone who would like to see the places I get to see.

What I build

  • Cloud architecture

    Platforms on AWS written as code, so they are secure, repeatable and cheap to run, and the next team can pick them up.

  • AI in production

    Models and agents built into working systems, with the evaluations and guardrails that let people rely on them.

  • Data that moves

    Back ends and pipelines that get information where it needs to go, on time.

  • Products, end to end

    Web apps I plan, build, test and ship, with quality checks along the way.

Along the way

From a student game to my own businesses.

  1. 2015

    Won the Imagine Cup national final in Pakistan with our game, Sword of Ghost.

  2. 2016

    Graduated in Software Engineering from Karachi University.

  3. 2017

    Joined a startup as a software engineer. When a larger company bought it in 2019, I stayed on.

  4. 2019

    Got married, and earned my first AWS certification: Developer, Associate.

  5. 2020

    Became a father. Earned AWS Certified Solutions Architect, Associate, then Professional.

  6. 2021

    Moved to the United States.

  7. 2022

    Became a father again.

  8. 2023-24

    Built a life in Southern California. At work I helped build a smart lock platform designed to scale. On weekends we explored the national parks of California, and I went deer hunting for the first time.

  9. 2025

    Moved to Texas, bought a home and started TexanLink, my own tech company, where I build AI apps. texanlink.com

  10. 2026

    Started a second business, Texan Distributors: local import, trading and distribution in Texas. texandist.com

Rising Stars: Meet Affan Shahab of Orange County

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Say hello

I'm happy to talk about software architecture, AI, travel or an idea for a video. LinkedIn is the quickest way to reach me.