Ahmed Ilyas has a BEng degree from Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has majored in software development and has 17 years of professional experience in the field.

After leaving Microsoft, he ventured into setting up his own consultancy company, which offers the best possible solutions for a multitude of industries and provides real-world answers to those problems. He uses the Microsoft stack to build these technologies and to bring in the best practices, patterns, and software to his client base to enable long-term stability and compliance in the ever-changing software industry, improve software developers around the globe, pushing the limits in technology, and to enable the developers to better themselves.

This has been awarded the MVP in C# by Microsoft thrice for providing excellence and independent real-world solutions to problems faced by developers.

With 90% of the world using at least one form of Microsoft technology, his motivation and inspiration come from the breadth and depth of knowledge he has obtained from his research and the valuable wealth of information and research at Microsoft.

He has worked for a number of clients and employers. The reputation that he has earned has resulted in him having a large client base for his consultancy company, Sandler Ltd (UK) and Sandler Software (USA). His client base includes clients from different industries, ranging from digital media to medical and beyond. Some of his clients have included him on their approved contractors/consultants list; these include ICS Solution Ltd, who have placed him on their "DreamTeam" portal, and CODE Consulting/EPS Software (www.codemag.com) based in the USA.

Previously, he has contributed as a reviewer to books by Packt Publishing and wishes to thank them once again for this great opportunity.