Working in shorts

Working in shorts

When I meet someone during lunch, instead of being asked if I have eaten like a typical Malaysian, they ask if I’m on holiday. Then they will have this puzzled look after I tell them I’m actually working and I get to wear my t-shirts and shorts at the office. 

My workplace, like many in the tech industry, adopt a more accommodating dress code for their employees. Instead of Casual Fridays, it’s Casual Everyday for us. This is a godsend as I can’t stand wearing slacks and long sleeves in this weather.

Start with a niche, then build a network around it

Start with a niche, then build a network around it

If you are building a product, you will undoubtedly had to fight the temptation of adding more features with the risk of delaying it from being shipped on time. I know I had to and quite often, we tend to launch products with more features than we needed.

Logically, the more features our product offers, the more potential customers for it. But when you are launching something new, your biggest hurdle is in marketing and discoverability. 

Timing isn't everything

Timing isn't everything

I worked on my first startup idea many many years ago. Back then, I got tired of working at a software consulting firm and decided I wanted to try it out on my own. 

The desire to build a product and a business of my own was so strong that I even convinced my long time friend to quit his job and join me. 

Our first attempt as a 2-man team was to solve the age old of problem faced by every Malaysian. What to eat for lunch? This was way before Yelp and age of smartphones. 

It's just a glass...or is it?

It's just a glass...or is it?

Is the glass half full or half empty? This is a common analogy to describe an optimist and a pessimist. 

I think it doesn’t go far enough. An optimist is someone who don’t just think the glass is half full but also hopeful that maybe one day it will be filled to the brim. 

Where as a pessimist would worry not just because it’s only half full but maybe the glass may some day break, losing everything. 

Pick up the damn phone

Pick up the damn phone

What does it take to turn a usually calm and collected person to an annoyed and agitated beast? A phone call. Well to be exact, an unanswered phone call.

When we were younger, my parents ran their business from our home. My sister and I were given very specific instructions on what to do when the phone rings. Within the third ring, we must answer it and tell the person on the other end of the line to hold while we get our parents.

Make better decision by deciding to be better

Make better decision by deciding to be better

Earlier this year I made a decision that I thought was rational and logical. After carefully considering my options, I made the call to sell my current car and buy a bigger one.

But after a few months, that same decision appeared to be somewhat reckless and uncharacteristic. How did a decision that seemed rational and logical before become one that don’t make much sense later?

Strive for clarity and results will follow

Strive for clarity and results will follow

On a typical day, us programmers and software developers spend most of the time staring at our computers. We could be churning out code, working on a bug ticket, improving the test suite or refactoring existing codebase.

Due to the nature of our work, it can be hard for us to fully grasp how our work affects the company as a whole. Even if you are working in a tech startup, you may be working on a small portion of a larger system. 

Want to scale your company? Pay attention to your team structure

Want to scale your company? Pay attention to your team structure

If you are building a system, you’ll want it to be scalable. Ideally, it should be able to accommodate an increase in load with a proportional increase in resources. An example of this is the WhatsApp infrastructure which handles billions of messages every day.

If you are building a company, you’ll want it to be able to grow and scale up quickly as you add more headcount and resources. In theory, given more access to resources, a scalable business will be able to grow it’s revenue and profits proportionally.

Run your life like a startup

Run your life like a startup

Hierarchies, processes and protocols. These are just some of the things I’m allergic to in most companies and corporations. I understand why they exist but I prefer to work in an environment where you can focus on actual work rather than trying to work the system.

After a year at my first job as a programmer, I was offered a pay raise. In terms of percentage it was pretty high but my original pay was very low. So let’s just say I wasn’t overly excited about the whole thing.

I went to my manager to ask him what I need to do to earn more and I was disappointed by his answer. He said it depends whether there’s an opening for me to be promoted or if they land a big client. Both factors that’s completely out of my control.

Your job title doesn't mean much

Your job title doesn't mean much

If you have been to enough networking events, you’ll surely noticed the most common question, other than asking for your name, is what do you do?

Over the years, I’ve learned to alter my job title depending on the situation. If I’m in a tech event, then I’ll introduce myself as Software Developer. Normally, they may follow up with asking what language (programming language) I work with and all the techie stuff.

For almost all other cases, I’ll go with Software Programmer. It usually does the job of communicating that I write code for a living. Saying I’m a developer will confuse some people as they think I build physical buildings instead of software systems.