The Story Behind the Code

From a Tiny Desk in Bangladesh to a Global Digital Agency.

I'm Abdullah Al Ziyad — a web developer, entrepreneur, and the founder of GrewDev. But titles don't tell the real story. My journey started with rejection, struggle, and a secondhand laptop. What I've built today was forged through relentless consistency and an unwillingness to quit.

My Journey

The Full Story.

The Beginning — 2019

It started during the COVID period, but the spark was lit much earlier. Since childhood, I had a deep fascination with computers and technology. When I got my first laptop in 2017, I taught myself HTML from college textbooks — writing tags one by one and running them in the browser. That excitement never left.

Academically, I was always a strong student. Talentpool Scholarship in Class 5 and Class 8. Golden A+ in SSC. A+ in HSC from Bogura Cantonment Public School and College. I believed nothing could stop me.

Then life happened. Despite strong grades, I couldn't qualify for engineering universities because of subject-specific marks. I sat for admission tests at 16 universities — and didn't get into a single one. I started questioning everything: my identity, my name, my future.

“I failed admission tests at 16 universities. That wasn't the end of my story — it was the beginning.”

The Grind — 2019–2021

I enrolled at Dhaka College in Botany — just to have a student identity. Two months later, COVID hit. I returned to my village in Pabna with no WiFi, no direction, and a family whose business had collapsed.

With just a smartphone and my laptop, I started learning freelancing from YouTube. I bought mobile data with money from my father and practiced 12–15 hours daily. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, WordPress — I rebuilt popular websites from scratch to sharpen my skills.

My first client paid me 3,000 BDT for an eCommerce site — and then didn't pay the remaining balance for a month. When I finally got it, I bought a gift for my little sister. That was my first-ever income. The feeling was indescribable.

I took a 6,000 BDT/month job in Dhaka. The work wasn't even web development — I was running errands. But every evening, I came back and hunted for freelance work. On Fiverr, I failed. On Upwork, I couldn't afford connects.

The Breakthrough — 2021

In Ramadan 2021, I made a decision: focus entirely on Upwork. I optimized my profile, studied tutorials, and sent one carefully crafted proposal every day — even during fasting hours before Sehri.

After days of silence, a client responded. Then another — a WordPress redesign job at $8.5/hour. I worked 33 hours in 7 days. First Upwork income: $292. I showed my parents. There was pride in their eyes that I'll never forget.

“My father never said no. When I told him I wanted to leave Botany and study CSE, he simply said — ‘Do what you love.’”

Building the Agency — 2021–2023

Work grew steadily. I opened a bank account, started withdrawing dollars, bought my own desktop computer. I founded my agency — first called Ziab IT Care, later rebranded to GrewDev. Alongside, I enrolled in CSE at ULAB, finally studying what I loved.

The Darkest Chapter — 2023

Then the unthinkable happened. An accident tore the ligament in my right leg. Surgery at Dhaka Medical. For 2-3 months, I couldn't walk. Clients left. Work dried up. I had to drop a university semester. It was the darkest time of my life.

But the business I'd built wasn't fragile. I had built relationships, not just transactions. Some clients waited. My team stepped up. My family — my parents, my sister — stood beside me. And my friend Roni, who was there when it mattered most.

“2023 almost broke me. But it taught me how to build something that actually lasts.”

The Rise — 2024–Present

After recovery, I returned to Dhaka and rebuilt from zero. At the end of 2024, I rented a physical office — GrewDev's first real home. By 2025, I had served over 100+ brands globally and earned the Top Rated Plus badge.

GrewDev grew into a professional agency with an in-house team serving premium businesses across the USA.

Today, I can proudly say — even after failing to get into 16 universities, I never gave up. And I never will.

Milestones