God has brought many people my way who have at various stages in my life helped shape me for the better but this man I write about today helped me in a very great way to be the kind of me I am today.
You'd often hear these nice things being poured out at funerals when the man can't even hear you. Such a smart and convenient way to hide our cowardice. I refuse to be a coward so Mark Davies this is for you from the depths of my heart especially the left ventricle.
It's amazing the interesting way some paths cross in this life. I got a job with Rising Data Solutions in the year 2002 as a coldfusion developer. Rising Data at that time had their office in the Busyinternet building. I had a deadline to meet and decided to stay late to get the work done. A few hours after work hours, this man just came up behind me to ask what I was doing. I told him I was working on an inventory system using coldfusion. "Oh interesting. I have a coldfusion project and will like you to take a look", Mark said. I had never met him in the building before and I knew all the other offices well enough to know he wasn't working in the building so I just discarded what he said. The next evening I met Mark again when I went to make some photocopies at Busyinternet's copy center. He prompted me again about the coldfusion project he wanted me to see so I followed him after making my copies. It was true. He actually had a coldfusion project he was working on himself and needed help fixing some bugs. That was how Mark and I met. He ended up paying me to do the work from scratch for him. It was later I got to know he owned Busyinternet. Cool guy. He no dey rush - as we say it here.
3 years later I ended up working for Mark fulltime and that's when positive hell broke loose. Mark is full of ideas, too many of them. He didn't teach me how to program but stretched my programming abilities with the kind of requirements he desired in his projects. Back then we didn't have all these cool JavaScript frameworks that cook everything for developers these days. His project requirements were clear and no joke. I had to deliver. I made google search my best friend. With that kind of training there is no project I am unable to handle today. Thanks Mark for forcing me to dig deeper for solutions and never accepting "it can't be done" as an option.
Where Mark really sharpened me was in the area of interface design - the reason why a lot of people know me today. For my clean, sleek and user friendly interfaces. Mark helped me attain that height. He took my becoming a UI pro so personal and made sure I iterated over designs until every dot and line was in its right place. He stocked the office with books and at other times came up with alternatives to my designs with most flaws fixed. He pushed me to get simpler and less sophisticated with designs, reminding me always that less was more. He constantly teased me I had line-itis because I loved to use lots of lines in my designs. Well, after going through his mill I am today a better interface designer and information architect.
After breaking away to start Kursor Solutions, Mark gave me business advice and even gave me a copy of the spreadsheet he used to make his 5 year projections for his businesses.
Unlike my other articles I am keeping this one short because - less is more :). My mouth can only say as much as I will forever be grateful BUT my heart knows the real value of what my mouth is saying, especially the left ventricle.
With the current global competitiveness and mass unemployment, the last thing you need is to successfully make it to an interview only to end up shooting yourself in the foot. I haven't attended too many interviews in my lifetime but have conducted several of them. I love interviews. It's so akin to an American Idol audition. You get to meet different characters and get to grill them as much as you want. Well, for some companies it goes beyond the grilling to really very petty things. Very few companies will be frank with you on these things because they are quite personal but for me I said I won't hire you and these are the reasons why.
I was very happy having a great conversation with my nose until you showed up for the interview. My nose asked me to shut up because it had to sneeze a few times to adjust to your terrible body odor. I sneezed so hard tears filled my eyes. Yes, u forced me to shed those tears for your departure from the company even before your arrival. On a more serious note, will you really hire someone who makes everyone else catch a cold and frown the moment they step into the office? I won't. I said I wont until you buy that deodorant.
Please take a seat. From your CV I see you finished Mfantsipim School. Tell me. What house were you in? House B he answers. House B? Gentleman I also went to Mfantsipim and we have nothing like House B. Is this what you are bringing on board - Lies? If you can lie to me at your interview I wonder what you'll do when I ask for a project status update. I am definitely not hiring any liars. You have really insulted my intelligence. No I won't hire you.
Hi Cynthia, sorry we kept you waiting. How are you? Fine. You have a very impressive CV. Thanks. Do you have any siblings? Yes. ...I waited a few seconds for more info but none came so I probed further. How many siblings? Four. ... again I waited for more info but Cynthia gave me none so I asked. How many boys, how many girls? 2 boys 2 girls. My temper rises but I act professional against my wish. Your CV says you enjoyed working on your inventory project, what about it interests you? Everything. ... That's it Cynthia!! I have had enough. I am trying to be as nice as I can in an interview and you're treating me like an ex boyfriend begging for a come back. Imagine asking Cynthia to take minutes at a meeting. She'll come back with a report like "meeting started. 4 people were present. We discussed. Some laughed. Some didn't. Closed after 30 minutes". Ah! I won't hire you.
After resigning from my last job I was brought in to help find someone to replace me. The above reasons are not fictitious but real reasons why I didn't hire some people who were brilliant. It sometimes goes beyond just having knowledge to being able to really fit within a team environment.
Check your body odor, communication skills, trustworthiness and team player ability. A word to the wise.
Kelvin: Boss long time. How be? Me: cool man. How you doing? Kelvin: I base cool. I have been trying call you since since. What happened to your number? Me: Long story charley. Why have you been trying to hunt me down? Kelvin: The client is now ready for the project but says he wants to see something first. Me: Nope. Sorry. I don't do that. I won't give him even a dot until we sign and he pays a commitment fee. Kelvin: Hmmm... I told him but he is proving difficult. He said he earlier on gave the work to some guy and paid him. The guy spent the cash and didn't deliver so he is now very careful.
At this point I am getting a little impatient with this Kelvin guy, especially for the last statement he made. I consulted my big head briefly and continued with the whatsapp chat.
Me: Assuming KLM lost his luggage when traveling to Germany. The next time he is boarding a plane to another country, will he say because KLM lost his luggage he will only pay the plane fare if he gets safely to his destination with his luggage? Kelvin: hahahahaha Me: yea so tell him. The same way he has been bitten once and now is scared to dish out cash before work is done, I have also been bitten more than once by clients who after seeing something get busy with other things and just waste my efforts. No way.
Prior to this conversation I met Kelvin some 30 days ago when I went to fix something on my iPhone. He had also come to the same shop to over-spec his new MacBook computer. As is usually the case with guys, it didn't take long for us to strike an acquaintance. I gave him my card, he got to know I was a developer and promised to get me some clients. I have heard that line more times than I have blinked in life so I just added his words to my archive of empty promises. Next day Kelvin called with a job. This client who now wants to see a demo before he makes a commitment to the project.
Many times developers fall victim to that popular client line "show me something first and we take it from there". I used to show them something. A few clients who are serious enough will after seeing a demo get fired up for action. They'll suggest changes and also bring data for the work to be completed. Many more clients don't really desire to have the websites. They were either forced by a relative or some circumstances to opt for a website. They also ask to see something, some demo. You spend precious hours cracking your hairy coconut just to please this client. After a day or two you come up with something you are so proud about and know will make this client yours forever. You call him and fix a day to show him this, not made-in-ghana but, made-in-heaven demo. A day before your appointment he calls you back and tells you he needs to travel out of town for a week. No shaking. A week is just 7 days you tell yourself as consolation. You call 9 days later to fix a new date for your demo. The client gives you another excuse. At this point you should see signs of your made-in-heaven demo efforts going to waste.
After experiencing that a few times I learnt my lesson and hope you don't make the same mistakes I made. Now I am so resolved never ever to even put a dot on paper if the client doesn't make a financial commitment to the project. It has helped me weed out all the non serious clients. It also means I don't loose should a client decide to pull the plugs after a demo. I still have the commitment fee that serves as compensation for work done on the demo. It's a decision that requires firmness because sometimes the clients can really rap. You may fall for their con lines.
There are however times I make exceptions to the rule and do demos before even signing a contract. These are ONLY with clients I have already done work for and trust their paying abilities. They have proven to be serious with every project they come up with.
If at this point you are still in doubt let's see how the other trades do their transactions. Will a carpenter finish building something for you before coming for payment? You at least pay for the materials and some down payment. Will any lawyer follow you to court without you first paying a deposit? How about admission to school. Will you ever be admitted without at least paying something to show you really are enrolled? The hospital. I don't know any docs who will operate on you and take the cash after a successful operation. What if you join your ancestors - will you send your ghost to come pay the medical bills? I have run out of examples. Give me some more in the comments.
"I want to see something first" - how annoying. If your clients want to see something encourage them to either get into tourism or pursue photography. They will definitely see more things there. I rest my case.
