Thus Spaketh Idd Salim

We are family

Ahhh. That feeling when the game is finally over and you won with a 1-goal margin against your fiercest rival in an entertaining game. Last minute winning goal. Coming down from 2-0. [Keyword: Entertaining. For many like me, to win simply isn’t enough – you had to win with style].

Ahhh. That feeling you get when you know that, finally, the hatchet is burried between you and the co-orporate world and they have extended a warm arm to you, and you now can start implementing all the solutions stored in your laptop for the last 18 months.

The code had started rotting. You spent sleepless nights hoping no one invents your stuff. But, Ohh no!  chako ni chako. Thank God.

Ahhh. That feeling when you know that it is ONLY YOU that can fail yourself from now onwards. iHub/NaiLab/mLab are here. Mpesa is here. Safaricom is now finally looking to promote local developers [A blog on this on Friday], the gurus are here to learn from. What more do you want? Welcome to Mkwanjalization.

Yesterday I had a nice, long meeting. Needless to mention, it is was not a beer-na-maboyz-meeting where we discussed madem, Manchester or such trivial and useless things. Ohh no! This was a meeting of the minds. The movers and shakers. We made the move. Now, brace yourselves for the big shake. The shake-up is here. Finally, Uhuru! What? You expect me to share more? Sawa. Ngoja basi.

A while ago, I talked about responsible blogging and  palatable content. My blog is read by ONLY 30, 000 people a month. Ofcourse, my stats are shared ONLINE and are real-time. I could count CSS and Javascript file hits to make the site look busy and HIP and ‘Swag’, but we leave that to gutter-press. I am here to share information and life experiences. Not get traffic and sell ads. I am here to tell that campus kid that they can be rolling in a Kompressor by June next year wakiwa serious. Not to hurl stones and complain about Bamba 15 bob.

Like I always say, I sleep better knowing that by blog is read by 32 CEOs, 18 IT Masters, 21 Coders, 231 wannabe-geeks, 21 Javascript and CSS gurus, 8 VB programmers 4 faggots and 3 lesbians than 21, 743 watchmen, 22, 145 shoe-shiners and 32, 665 idlers.

The Language

People-Skills is a very new and alien concept to developers. “My code works and is the best. So fuck all all you humans” is a mantra alot of coders go with. Me included. Once, anyway. Now I am growing up. Fast. At this point of my life, it is more benefitial for me to do a PR/Marketing course than learn the internals and intricacies of the Java Virtual Machine.

I have seen ‘coders’ [More like PornGrammers] who can’t even be ranked 2/10 sell their buggy, insecure and half-baked garbage for Millions while 8-8.5/10 masters and gurus with their optimized, multi-threaded and un-hackable systems (in their laptops) are still waiting for a number 46 to town. People-Skills.

No. You no longer have to bribe to have your system out there. And I really hope I am not derailed because I want to prove this VERY soon. That all you need is a laptop, the right skills and a smile. And you can be what we all wish to be. FREE. Coding on a full stomach. Getting out of the lift on the Basement. Not Ground Floor. Know-worramseng?

It is very tempting [but ultimately suicidal, stupid and immature] to blog about a person or a corporate. Safaricom/EABL/Yokozuna Breweries wamenijamisha? Aki ngoja nita-blog. But, as Batiatas would ask, “to what end?”. It is one thing to have freedom of expression, but it is another thing to know the limits. Know the avenues of channeling the complaints. All you will get online and on twitter are just ArmChair critics and happy-clappers. “Salim, hiyo blog yako ni kali”, I would be told by someone. But end-month ako na salo. Mimi ni hustler.

Don’t forget. These people are humans. They have emotions. Maybe they just had a bad day. Trust me, it is more valuable, in the short-term and long-term, to talk to them na uwaskize, than to tukanana. ESPECIALLY if you are a DEVELOPER, in KENYA, in 2011.

Jua kuongea na watu. If you can’t, get someone who does. And give them half your company. Or 60%.

Back to code.

Wazi.