Work, approach & projects

It is the fun part – said no one ever in humanity's history, when word "work" was involved. Most people connotate work with the commercial aspect of their operation. For me, work means just about any task, of which performance I could watch any progress. As progress is involved, it is always a fun part.

I tend to approach every challenge with the same engagement, no matter if it comes from my "because I can" (and seriously, this is my primary reason when I decide to spend my time and energy on something), or it comes from a partner or a client. I used to call my clients partners, but later about that.

If you have got a chance to go through my website so far, you might notice quite a notable span and variety of challenges I take. I code in JavaScript (front-end and back-end), Python, previously in PHP, even some Java happened in the past. I do software architecture, work with hardware (in IoT purpose, for instance), understand, and optimize infrastructure. Additionally, I work with User Experience, design interfaces (I prefer HTML + CSS rather than mockup software), and implement mobile applications with a common front-end codebase. Suppose I had to describe an actual job that I am doing in some corporate nomenclature. In that case, I could name plenty of positions: senior software engineer, solution architect, software architect, technical leader, lead developer… but I instead prefer to call myself a "problem-solving specialist." This vast span of activities I mentioned before makes it look like a more appropriate position name – at least in my world. 

There are many projects that I have done as a "lone wolf" (meaning I was responsible for the entire thing – from conceptual thinking, through implementation, to deployment to production environment). Still, there are also projects I have done as a part of a team or coordinating a team. I currently aim for fusion between these two approaches – I would like to work with people but solve problems at different layers of a more significant challenge and support "my" part of the organization with my knowledge, experience, and approach. 

Due to the variety of experiences I have gathered and the roles I have been taking so far, I cannot categorize my activities in commercial/non-commercial. It turns out some activities get more commercial character when they out of nowhere turn out to bring some income. However, I can categorize them as activities, where I get the full freedom of choice regarding the concept and its technical approach (to predict the outcome accurately), and corporate projects. In the latter specific constraints exist, and some clients' conditions, rules, or culture must be considered. 

There is always this minority of work, where corporate background partners limit themselves to one constraint – "it must do <you_name_it>." I still consider it a "full-freedom" project, as I value the freedom to choose a solution, not the freedom to choose a problem.

I also have this thing – calling my clients (after all, they are all my clients, as I have worked in the B2B model only, so far) "partners." It is strongly related to my philosophy of doing business. I believe that there is no compromise in business – always, all the parties involved should be satisfied with the outcome. Despite the role given, I always look at the bigger picture to deliver the expected (or beyond expected) outcome. In today's technology-driven world, my delivery/outcome always means income for the partner. Partner’s income === my income. If you understand your client's business and how your work's quality affects it, you start to perceive business more like a symbiosis – a true partnership, where everyone wins. At least, that is how I choose to see it.