Tag: importance

Keeping belief in oneself

Although I usually post around technical matters & such, occasionally I digress into personal reflection. After all, this is my personal blog, & I feel it’s sometimes good/relevant to share certain personal things. Today’s post is along those lines, though it does relate to a technical matter.

Let’s set the scene. As many of you know (either from knowing me personally, or from reading my blog posts), I’m from the ‘model-driven app’ background. Canvas apps are really cool, but I wouldn’t say that I’m a very advanced creator of them. I’m learning the whole time about them (well, when I have a free minute here & there). There are many people in the community who are extremely more advanced than I am, and I love being able to learn from them.

I’m also considered to be in ‘Delivery’, This is the fancy word for those who run/are involved in projects, rather than selling concepts to clients. I’d run a mile if someone tried to put me in a Sales role (though I do admire the power suits that Sales have, occasionally). I’ve done a bit of Pre-Sales (where I’m helping out from a technical perspective), but haven’t been heavily involved. It’s actually something that I’m trying to work on, with being a tech evangelist. After all, if people already know/rave about the tech, how can you evangelise about it to them!!

Account Managers vs Sales People - davidmarkshaw

So last week I get a call from our Sales team. They’re really nice, and know their stuff. However they’re not ‘techies’. They had a situation – we’d been talking to a client about a potential project, and the client told us to pitch for it. Brilliant, right? Well…

The client told us that we had 4 days until the pitch deadline. Not only were we needing to pitch with the usual presentation pack (however would Sales operate without PowerPoint…?), we also had to do a live demo. Not for a completed product, but rather a Proof of Concept (PoC).

The only person available was….yes, you guess it…me. There wasn’t anyone else around with the necessary knowledge/skills to create the PoC in the time-frame needed. I’ll freely admit that I was absolutely slammed with existing projects, but wanted to be able to help out.

However, things then got ‘better’. And by ‘better’, I meant ‘interesting’. I got told who else was pitching to the client. Obviously I’m not going to mention any specific details here, but I knew who they are. More importantly, I figured that I had a very good idea of who from their side would be creating the tech, & doing the pitch.

Now as I’m not mentioning any identifiable details, I’m feeling free to say this. They’re not at my level of tech skills. They’re nowhere NEAR my level of tech skills. This is NOT because I’m better than they are. Totally the opposite – they’re SO far ahead of me with their knowledge of things, I can barely see the dust that they kick up in a race.

Knowing this, I knew that I couldn’t build a model-driven app (though it would have worked perfectly for the scenario/s we were given). I HAD to do a canvas app. But even with doing that, it wasn’t going to be anywhere near as good as what the other side would be able to put on.

The phrase ‘gibbering in fear’ does come to mind with my reaction to finding all of this out. I did feel slightly like a deer caught in the headlights. I wanted to do well, both for myself & my company, but I honestly had no idea how we could stack up.

Deer in the Headlights: By Generation Success – Generation Success
How I felt I looked like!

Thankfully, my company has an extremely open culture, and I was therefore able to talk to my manager about it. He understood where I was coming from, but encouraged me to go for it & do what I would be able to create.

My wife also encouraged me to go for it. Well, actually her words were ‘it’s not sexy when a husband says that he can’t do it, so man up and go for it!’. Ha…after that I couldn’t very well NOT do it.

So I applied myself, and with some VERY late nights (I did have other projects on, as I mentioned above), managed to get something in place. Not only did I create it, I think it looked really good. There was some really nice (canvas app) functionality, and it all came together pretty well.

Everything was in place in time (including some last minute tweaks). I even decided to spice up the demo a bit, and borrowed some dinosaurs from the kids to use for personas. We were using live camera feeds for part of the demo, and suddenly the demo was joined by ‘Rexy’, the ‘Customer Service Representative’ T-Rex! They were quite amused by it (thankfully!), and our team thought it was absolutely hilarious.

Hire A Dinosaur - Creature Events
‘Good afternoon, how may I be of assistance?’

I have no idea how the other partner pitched to the client, or what the decision will be from the client. It’s way too early for that.

What I do know is that sometimes we can lose track of ourselves. I’m not going to go into the subject of ‘Imposter Syndrome’ (check out Em D’Arcy if you want to read up about that). Rather that having others around to encourage us, even though others may be more skilled, can really make the difference.

In life, we can often face challenges. How we handle them, and how we decide to move forward, can define who we are. When dealing with technology items such as the Power Platform, where there’s constant change, it can sometimes feel very daunting, but we still need to push ahead.

Yesterday I was listening to Lisa Crosbie talking about her journey into technology (and canvas apps). As she put it – ‘there is no comfort zone here – you need to find a place to feel comfortable with this level of discomfort, and ride it to be successful’. It’s really so true. It’s not just needing to push ourselves in the traditional way, but to keep up our own confidence in our skills & abilities. With this, we can continue to drive forward, keep on learning, and continue our journey of greatness!

I’m really glad that I was able to do this, and hope that I can keep this with me. By doing so, I’ll be able to continue along my own journey.

Have you ever had a time when a challenge seemed insurmountable? How did you cope with it? Drop a comment below – I’d love to hear!

My past year, & Alison Mulligan

This post is going to be somewhat different & out of the norm for the usual sort of topics that I talk about. It’s also going to be somewhat personal, and mention a special person who’s been an absolute rock for me.

So, where to start? Well, there’s been a lot that’s happened in my life over the last year or so. I touched on things briefly in my post at the end of last year. Several deaths in the family (father & grandmother), some sicknesses, etc. I’ve also started one job, decide it wasn’t right for me after almost a year, and then needed to look for another job. Thankfully I managed (even with all the craziness going on in the world currently), which I started in March 2020.

We’ve also expanded our own family (again), and been dealing with all of the usual things that come with children etc.

Now, why am I mentioning all of this, and specifically, why am I mentioning it now? Well, there’s one specific reason for me doing so, and that’s to mention Alison Mulligan. Otherwise there wouldn’t really be any point in this post at all, in my opinion…

Now, for those who don’t know Alison, let me try to summarise her as best as I can in a few words.

Created by LittleArtistRo at ScottishSummit ’20

Well, to start off with Alison works in the recruitment industry. Woah…hold on. Yes, she’s a recruiter. But she’s the FIRST recruiter that I’ve come across in over a decade who has what I would consider to be proper (& correct) principles. Now I’ve dealt with many recruiters & recruitment companies over my professional career. Some are better, some are worse, and some are truly dreadful (no, I’m NOT going to mention who they are).

However, Alison absolutely & totally bucks the trend. This isn’t just my opinion, it’s the opinion of everyone who I’ve met who’s ever known Alison. See, Alison doesn’t just want to fill roles with people. Her purpose (which she’s said time & time again, in private as well as public), is to find the right role for someone. That doesn’t stop at roles that she has to offer though. For her, it’s not about the money side of things; it’s about the person being happy & fulfilled in the role that’s right for THEM. To this end, she’ll connect someone who’s looking for a job with OTHER recruiters, or people within the industry who are looking to fill a role, even if she doesn’t make anything off of it.

I started The Oops Factor series last year. I had been bouncing ideas & concepts off several people, Alison being one of them. She was highly supportive of the project, and told me that I had to have her on as one of my first guests (which of course I did!)

When I was looking for my next role at the end of 2019/beginning of 2020, she was there at the end of a phone (and occasionally in person, when possible), whenever I needed to talk. She updated me constantly on the state of the market, & opportunities that she had, as well as those that she was aware of that OTHERS had. She was there as an absolute rock, without asking for anything specific in return. When I needed a laptop to present at PowerPlatform UG London in November 2019, and I didn’t have one available, she told me to come along to her office. When I got there, she handed me one of the office ones, told me to set it up as I needed, and to use it for as long as I needed to. How many people do you know who’d do that?

When I landed a new role (which incidentally wasn’t through her), she called me up immediately to congratulate me, and spent time on the phone asking about it, how I was feeling, etc. She truly cared about what I had been going through, and was happy & celebrating with me the success in finding something.

Now that was my own personal experience, but I know that it’s not unique to me. I’m aware of others who she’s helped in the same way, and who she’s continuing to help in these critical times. I constantly recommend Alison as the first point of contact to anyone who’s going to be looking for a new role – she’s that amazing.

Things don’t stop there though. Oh no. See, Alison is also active within the (technical) community. She comes along to the User Group sessions, knows the technology, & participates. She doesn’t even just confine herself to ones that are local to her – she goes to others that aren’t as near. As a result, people know her, and get to see that she’s not just pretending in order to get clients. She loves the technology that we all love, and can hold her own (usually) in conversations!

So for most people, that would usually be enough. They’re participating, getting known within the community, etc. Alison doesn’t just do that. She also gets involved in organising & hosting.

Let me give an example of this, to provide some some context. There was a SUPER special community Lego hackathon earlier this year.

The location for it had issues at the last moment, and it was going to be cancelled. Alison heard about this, told the organisers to leave it with her for a few hours, and she’d call them back.

Within that time, she organised to host it in her office building (remember – this is at the last minute, and not an easy thing to do!). She helped get things ready, participated throughout the day, helped pack things up, and finally joined everyone for the ‘after-event’ drinks. It’s not the first time that she’s done this, and highly unlikely to be the last.

Most people who are involved in recruitment tend to be looked at cautiously (at best) by the community. Honestly, we’re tired of them turning up, trying to get people’s details, and/or entice them away from current jobs without really considering what’s best for them. It’s happened time & time again, and we don’t like it. In fact, there was an offer last year from a recruitment firm to host a community event, and it was turned down due to this.

Alison doesn’t fall into this; she’s trusted (and absolutely adored, if you want the truth) by the community. Events without her there aren’t the same , though we understand of course that it’s not always possible to commit the time/travel to attending (we all have times that this happens).

Some years ago, a community organisation that I was helping out with told me that in every community, there are one or two people without whom things wouldn’t function at all. They may not be prominent, may not be paid much (or even at all), but they’re the crucial cog & lynchpin. If they weren’t around, things would fall apart.

In my opinion, Alison is one of these crucial cogs & lynchpins. I really don’t know how the different London technical communities would manage without her input, advice & help. I consider myself blessed to know her, count her as a friend, and to chat about motorbikes whenever we’re able to!

If you don’t yet know Alison, I humbly suggest that you try to come along to one of these events (which are virtual at the moment, making it somewhat easier), and get to know her. Her Twitter is https://twitter.com/AMulligan365, and she’s on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amulligan365/.

You’ll appreciate her sense of humour, her experience in life, and the joy that she also has with seeing how the technology works to make everything better.