Want To Work Globally? Here’s How!

August 25, 2008

My focus on global software development has enabled me to see amazing places and meet interesting people. I blogged about many times about traveling to Costa Rica as part of my work.   I thought I would provide insights I have learned for how to steer your career toward a life of exotic travel combined with world wide software development.

Step 1: Travel for business and pleasure

I have always tried to include a day or two at the tail end of my trips to see some place new. This didn’t start out as a business goal. It was more of a personal goal. However, I soon realized that my global business interactions were enhanced by my knowledge of different countries. Indian company leaders always smile when I tell them I spent a long weekend in Goa, a place on the coast with very little technology industry.

When you travel for work, you of course have to get the job done. But there is no reason why you can’t see a bit of the world after that. International organizations can tell the difference between somebody culturally focussed and someone who is not. The opportunities and rewarding experiences will come to those who are interested in more than just the job. As a member of the global community, you will also add a bit more to the discussion.

Step 2: Work in a foreign country

I spent time working in Germany and France on localized personal finance software. Once you get over the challenge of figuring out how to buy milk (true story, this is a challenge), and you start to grow accustomed to your surroundings, you begin to develop those second level observational skills. You learn how to sense cultural differences and then how to navigate the challenges of people from vastly different backgrounds.

I was in a project discussion where the team told me they were uncomfortable with the schedule. Over and over again, I heard it was a cultural thing. Do you think managing teams to aggressive dates has anything to do with culture? Of course not. But something in the discussion was making them focus on cultural issues and not the schedule. I offered to wait quietly as they discussed the issue in their native language. I stayed with their metaphors instead of trying to introduce my own (“there is no red line” versus “we need to get on the same page”). And in the end, I respectfully pointed out on this issue we had to see ourselves as one team not different cultures. It worked for the most part.

The secondary skills you develop help you to blend in with the local culture and teach you how to include culture in the discussion. Working in foreign countries teaches you how to work through cultural differences.

Step 3: Build relationships not contacts

You meet someone on a trip. You talk about the technological landscape, your experiences and your companies. You exchange business cards. Is that a contact or a relationship? Well, ask yourself this. In the course of your interactions, did you ask any non-work related questions? Did you ask about how the person in front of you arrived at this point in time? How about asking about their recent travels or books they read?

The point here is simply that if you try to get to know the person, if you provide just a little more information about yourself, you will end up with a stronger connection than just another vcard in Outlook. And further down the road, when opportunities to work globally come up, the people who build relationships are more likely to get those opportunities.

Step 4: Take the right job even if you don’t travel

Here’s two projects for you. One is an established team that is a cash cow for the company. The second job is a new effort. Now, to be honest, earlier in your career you should take the first job! Strong experience open doors in all cases. But as your experience grows, sometimes it is better to move laterally or even take less responsibility if it provides you more opportunity to learn and more freedom to make choices. Hone your craft on big important projects. Then move on to projects that push you out of your comfort zone. You will spend a lot of time expanding your comfort zone when working globally.

Step 5: Work different jobs

I am primarily an engineering manager type (visions of Dilbert haunt my nights). But I also code side projects, write business requirements, publish, and test. My career goal to lead technology organizations compelled me to become experienced in all aspects of the organization. This is smart from a career perspective. Opportunities to present, to work globally, to be seen as a global expert will come to those people who have in fact become an expert. This applies whether you are a code jockey or a manager such as myself.

Good luck, now go see the world!

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Posted by bbenedict

Investing Strategies Work for Software Development

August 11, 2008

I had an epiphany the other day. I develop software similar to the way I invest. I decided to examine the similarities to see how my investment strategies work for software development.

Step 1: Selecting an investment

My gut reaction determines if I am interested in an idea. In the newsletters I get from The Motley Fool, I might skip on a recommendation for Best Buy (BBY) but take a good look at Game Stop (GME). Both are retail companies in the technology space. Both are good investments. One stock seemed like a better investment than the other. You should learn to trust your gut because your gut intuition comes from years of experience.

Step 2: Analysis

I do research next to validate my instincts. I am a conservative investor, I’ll admit it (thought not at all in politics!). I like investments where revenues are going up, where cash on the books is higher then debt, and where the price is reasonable given earnings. I am NOT looking to buy at the bottom. Instead, I want to hop on an investment that is comfortably heading in a sound direction. Most importantly, I do research on my investments to see how they measure up to these ideals.

In software, growing revenues is synonymous with a growing market. I am OK with not defining the market itself. For example, Google was not the first search engine company or free email provider yet it is the market leader now.

No debt means good practices in development. Deferred bugs, bad architecture and spaghetti code are all examples of debt that builds up in your product. You will need to pay that debt or sooner or later your product will start to fail and you lose customers.

Reasonable price, to me, is about working in a saturated market. For example, very few companies would consider launching a new desktop word processor or spreadsheet at this time given the dominance of Microsoft. If the market is too mature, the payoff is too far down the road and too hard to get.

Now let me ask you. Would you want to work on a product in a growing market building a well constructed application where the market leadership is still wide open? I would!

Step 3: Buzz

Software buzz increases the chance people will hear about your product and that is key to customer acquisition. I am looking for an investment. My money goes in and 5 years later is worth more than when I started (hopefully 10% compounded annually) . This happens when the value of what I have invested in increases. The more people want something, the more valuable it becomes.

In the end, I discovered that my strategy for success in my investments and my profession are very similar, and for good reason! I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Sound principals in investing work for software development and many other aspects of our lives.

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Posted by bbenedict

Technology is Everywhere (a.k.a A Quiet Corner)

August 5, 2008

This post has nothing to do with technology.

A foreign country with beautiful people. A quite corner in a bar. Tables and shelves made from old wood that could have been doors or ship boards or a fence. A guy singing. Others scattered in the room, also singing. Work may bring you there, but you don’t bring work to a place like this.

I spent the night sitting on a stool made from an old something or other, sitting across a bald guy with earrings, who smiled a lot and loved to sing along. The extent of our conversation consisted of me nodding to his glass and him turning Jim Bean into a Spanish word.

People sing along in Costa Rica. The all seem to carry a tune just fine.

In another place, the young couples sitting at the table near me would have been loud and obnoxious as they ordered dos Tequilas again and again. dos Tequilas is clearly a universal phrase. Obnoxiously lining up shot glasses as you pound down Tequila is not.

The candles on the tables were lodged in the cracks of the worn wood table tops. This worked well enough, after all, the candles just need to stay up right. Wood is wood and it lasts a long time. It looked like this use was not about recycling or atmosphere, but more just practicality. New is not always better.

The woman behind the counter tracked drinks on a notebook in between doodles. The date was the only thing that separated one day from the next. The register was a door, the bar a shelf, the fridge something borrowed from a convenience store. I tried to see where this young girl was writing down my Imperiales on her pad but could not.

Imperial tastes to me like a cool beer after a Sunday morning soccer game. Refreshing like you wouldn’t believe.

There looked to be a TV at the end of the bar. Turns out, it was an old 15 inch monitor which displayed a skinned MP3 player of some kind. This answered the mystery of how the songs were playing in between sets of the guitar player. Would an artist care about getting 99 cents for a song if it was played in this place? Maybe.

I smoked a cigar with the bald guy. Found out later he was the owner.

I kept thinking you would never find a place like this on your own. If you peered in the door, without someone who was from there, you’d wonder if they welcomed strangers. Maybe you’d go in or move on down the line to a bar playing house music filled with more people who clearly looked from different places.

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Posted by bbenedict