The Exchanges

Q So when you're hiring people for these companies or you're recruiting people for these companies, I assume you're looking at the job descriptions. You have to figure out specifically who, uh, has the skills that are needed. What do you see there being the trend in terms of what companies are, are looking for within these sectors? So let's say within data science, within.

A The biggest change, if I just think about it holistically and, uh, what we've seen from a tech perspective from when I started in 2005 to where we're at now, uh, In the, the early days, it was really just somebody that could, uh, whether it's a developer that could keep their heads down and bang out code, um, you know, or a, you know, network engineer that could just, you know, keep the network up and running. Where we're at now is it really requires both, uh, the technical skill set, but also the soft skills. So, um, you know, our hiring managers want people that can sit in front of the customer or stakeholders And, you know, have those conversations, take those conversations back to the development team and, and develop, right? So everything's so focused on agile and, and, and collaboration that, that heads down, you know, kind of leave me alone, don't talk to me type of developer, uh, really isn't as in demand or they've had to evolve and grow that, that skill set. So, um, I really just think the social kind of soft skills that, um, You know, may not be natural, uh, for some individuals in the tech side is really kind of the biggest change over the years.

AI assessment note: “Where we're at now is it really requires both, uh, the technical skill set, but also the soft skills.”

Q time to sort it all out, but it required our product manager. Well, it required hiring a product manager and a new QA manager to work together along with me to make sure that everything was right. And, um, yeah, just an absolute, absolute mess. What's the, what's the worst situation you ever kind of walked into? And you're like, oh my God, how am I supposed to fix this?

A I don't know if it's Something we walked into. I think it's something that happened as a part of a project that we were on. Um, so we were working with, and I can't use names, unfortunately, but, uh, um, they were working with a very high profile, um, uh, managed services provider. So they provide consulting services to, to massive, you know, fortune size companies. And so, um, We had a couple employees out on, on staff, um, supporting a very large migration project, um, from, uh, an old email system to, you know, a new email system. And part of their, you know, job is to automate, you know, that, that task. Um, and fortunately, uh, one of the QA individuals had deleted over 200,000 email boxes for this client. Um, as they were getting ready to go live less than like a week out. So, um, that's not something we walked into. Unfortunately, you know, it was, we were part of the project, um, along with other, you know, IT professionals. So that was, uh, uh, a fun, uh, several days. And, and trying to get through that and, and bring in new talent to, to help fix, you know, the issues, so.

AI assessment note: “one of the QA individuals had deleted over 200,000 email boxes for this client.”

Q yellow flag, okay, well, you know, how do we make sure you don't do that again? Because otherwise you're fine. But if you have a history of these things, then clearly we can't, um, enable that. So if that's something you've struggled with changing, what's something that you have successfully changed about yourself in the last 12 years that, you know, you feel has made you a better business owner?

A Definitely. I used to be a hothead, uh, at work. And so it just because I, it's so personal to me, right? So I started the company on my own. Um, you know, we've grown it to be a, you know, a multi-million dollar agency, and so I want people, I wanted people to work the way I want them to work. I want them to, like, care as much as I did. I want them to work as hard as I did. Um, and so, you know, I think just with the generational changes and how people want to work is changes and, uh, just that whole, um, I don't want to get too much into the, what's in the mainstream, uh, uh, Articles right now online, but, uh, but yeah, I just over the years have had to kind of like take a step back, remind myself, you know, nobody's going to care as much as you do and why should they? Um, you know, and, and really put people in place that can really, uh, you know, kind of soften that blow or kind of be a arbitrator between me and, and other, uh, you know, staff as well, which is. Helped quite a bit is not being so emotionally connected to their success of the organization.

AI assessment note: “I used to be a hothead, uh, at work.”

Q A few years ago, I had no idea what you were talking about. If you, if I was listening to this, I would have had no idea. But I think it's important even for non-technical founders like myself to get a little bit dirty and understand the technical aspects of their business. So what is a microservice?

A The simplest way to call it is automation. So, um, what microservices does is it takes the old kind of mundane, very, uh, labor heavy, uh, part of the job and processes and it Automates those tasks. So, you know, there's different technologies, whether it's Chef, Ansible, Jenkins, uh, you know, there's a ton of different providers out there that will, uh, assist with that automation. But, uh, as an example, so if you are a, uh, your software engineer, you develop your code, usually that code you hand off to, uh, what we would call, you know, a, um, you know, QA analyst, um, That person, uh, is really responsible for breaking that code right before it ships out to the customer. And so literally, you know, when it comes to manual QA, you have somebody that is sitting there and pushing buttons, pushing different, uh, widgets to make, to see if it breaks. So, um, instead of actually having to have that person physically do that, you can automate that Task.

AI assessment note: “The simplest way to call it is automation.”

Q Did it make you go over the time period that you had? Like did, did it, it took longer to fix?

A Yeah, so we did, they, they did have to, um, Getting an extension from the client. Obviously we had to have, you know, conversations on what happened, uh, you know, try to communicate on how it happened. And, and, you know, obviously both parties kind of, you know, took blame in it, uh, cause you know, they're the consulting partner that have the direct relationship with the client. And, and obviously our client is the, the middle person there. Um, but it was about a couple of weeks, um, late, uh, unfortunately. So. Um, they were understanding of it. I mean, they still had their, you know, existing, you know, providers and stuff. So it wasn't like, oh my gosh, our, you know, staff, you know, just don't have any emails. It's, it, um, uh, it was, yeah. So, well, I should say they didn't have any emails for a little bit there because what happened, uh, but that from a backup standpoint, we, that was able to get, you know, back online. I think it was 24 hours. But all the work to getting the migration done was about a two week delay.

AI assessment note: “all the work to getting the migration done was about a two week delay.”

Q Has this helped you to anticipate problems in, in general?

A It for sure, uh, creates a little bit more level of cautiousness. So when we go on to engagements, as an example, Uh, you know, really understanding the lay of the land. Like, why are, you know, why are we needed? Um, you know, where has the, you know, project failed? Um, you know, uh, so there's, there's a series of things there, because usually when we're called in to help out, um, it's a couple things, right? It's their, um, They're behind schedule. Uh, maybe they don't have the, you know, the internal skill sets or, you know, uh, yeah, skill sets right word there to, to fulfill the project, right? So they don't have the, the right, um, uh, technical skills to, to get it done. Um, or there's been somebody else on the project and it's not working out. Um, and so when it's that ladder, it's really trying to understand, Uh, where did they go wrong? Where were expectations not met? Are they over budget? You know, where's they out on the schedule? Uh, just, you know, all those things that we can look at and diagnose and say, Hey, we're confident. This is something we can come in and help on, or are we just going to be like the, you know, prior firm where the expectations, uh, You know, are too high from a client perspective. And so we're going to be set up for failure either way.

AI assessment note: “It for sure, uh, creates a little bit more level of cautiousness.”