Kleinwallstadt, Germany

Building systems, teaching people, learning a new language of my own.

I'm a computer scientist from Ghazni, Afghanistan — formerly an assistant professor and database developer, now an M.Sc. student in Applied Computer Science at Hochschule Mainz. This is where I write about machine learning, teaching, and the slow, deliberate work of starting over in German.

Machine Learning Databases & SQL Software Engineering Deutsch B2 → C1

Mohammad Zarif Joya

M.Sc. Angewandte Informatik · Hochschule Mainz

based inKleinwallstadt, DE
fromGhazni, Afghanistan
focusML · Software Eng. · Data
languagesDari · Pashto · EN · DE
publications4, on machine learning

01 — About

From the lecture hall in Ghor to a classroom in Mainz.

I began my career teaching computer science at the Faculty of Informatics, Ghor University, and building the database systems behind Afghanistan's National Examination Authority. Since arriving in Germany, I've spent my time in a different kind of classroom — learning German from scratch while preparing for a master's degree that lets me return to what I love most: machine learning and building software that holds up under real use.

This site is part portfolio, part notebook. I write about the technical work, the teaching, and the in-between moments of doing both in a second — or fourth — language.

Born05.06.1997 · Ghazni, Afghanistan
Current studiesM.Sc. Applied Computer Science, Hochschule Mainz
Previous degreeB.Sc. Computer Science, Kabul University
Last roleAssistant Professor, Ghor University
Prior roleDatabase Developer, National Examination Authority
German levelB2 — C1 in progress
Research focusAI · Machine Learning · Software Engineering · Data Analysis

02 — Journey

Two timelines running at once

My career didn't pause while I learned German — it ran in parallel. Here's how the professional track and the language track line up.

Career & studies
2015 – 2018 B.Sc. Computer Science Kabul University
2019 – 2020 Database Developer National Examination Authority, Kabul
2020 – 2022 Assistant Professor Faculty of Informatics, Ghor University
2025 – 2027 M.Sc. Applied Computer Science Hochschule Mainz
German language
2023 – 2024 A1 – B1 + Orientation Integrationskurs, AIM-Bildung Aschaffenburg
2024 – 2025 B2 certificate AIM-Bildung, Aschaffenburg
2025 C1 coursework Volkshochschule Aschaffenburg
ongoing Living & studying in German Kleinwallstadt / Mainz

03 — Skills

What I build with

Presented the way I'd document it: a schema, not a word cloud.

ColumnTypeProficiency
Pythonlanguageadvanced
SQL / MySQL / SQL Serverdatabaseadvanced
MongoDB / Firebasedatabaseproficient
Javalanguageproficient
JavaScript / Node.jslanguage / runtimeproficient
PHPlanguageworking
HTML / CSSmarkup / styleadvanced
Active Directory / M365systems adminproficient
Windows 7–11 / macOSplatformadvanced
Machine Learningresearch focusproficient
MUTTERSPRACHE

Dari / Persian

Native

FLIESSEND

Pashto

Fluent

FLIESSEND

English

Fluent

B2 · C1 IN PROGRESS

German

Upper-intermediate

04 — From the blog

Recent writing

From Kabul to Kleinwallstadt: notes on starting over

What it actually takes to rebuild a career and a vocabulary at the same time — and why neither one waits for the other.

Read the post →

From the lecture hall to the terminal: what teaching taught me about code

Two years as an assistant professor changed how I write software — and how I explain it to other people.

Read the post →

Learning German as a programmer

Treating grammar like a schema, vocabulary like a dataset, and the Integrationskurs like the hardest, most important course I've taken.

Read the post →

View all posts