Author: SK

It’s been a fairly busy week of management last week. Things are just not going well so far. We had a retention issue, then we has interop issues. And then AOL federation not working, etc. A lot of work!
But I like my new position so far. I feel in charge. I guess I like being in charge. I am struggling with understanding the product infrastructure but I will get my handle on it. I will get better and I think we can shine.
We went to Annabell Christening yesterday at Betwood. It was a pretty good party. We could not really dance a lot with my wife, but we enjoyed the party overall.
I was the Toastmaster this past Saturday. We only had 1 speaker show up. It turns out that it is more fun this way! I asked for volunteers, and guess what? Two of the members showed up! I mixed it up a bit and we had 2 impromptu evaluators. This worked very well in my opinion. I thought we stepped up to the plate and learned from the meeting.

As soon as I became a manager, things started to fall of the cliff! We’ve had some retention issues now and it looks like they’re not totally resolved. Time just flies when I’m being the manager. I feel stupid at times. I don’t know a lot of stuff! I don’t know the whole Connex infrastructure! But I think I can handle it. I think that with time, I can make some major improvements. I think I can make the system and personnel better. It remains to be seen but I like the challenge. I think I will be able to manage it as best as I can.

What a night yesterday. What a start to my new position and new responsibilities.
We had 2 Connex outages yesterday. One at 9PM, which was a retention issue, and the other was a major interop issue. I could not figure out what’s going on the retention. It looks like a user was prematurely deleted.
The second outage was much worse. It started around 2AM and we were getting pages every 5 mintues. Finally, I woke up and sat around for a while to try to debug this. It turned out that this was an interop failure. As a result, the space was just filling up. Sergey P tried to fix it and I was impressed with his way. But he was not able to fix it. I almost gave up trying… I decided to try one last time… I tried to stop interop, move all log files, and restart. It worked. It took me about an hour and a half. I could not fall asleep since for several hours. 🙂
I am just hoping that this will not repeat. Really. It’s a killer.

2nd day as a manager… What can I say? I can say that’s it means going to a lot of meetings! I am going to have to adjust to this type of schedule where we meet a lot. I am trying to get things done and it is going to be more and more difficult. But I will adjust and I will become productive. Because that’s what I can do! That’s what I want to do!
At times I don’t think that my communication skills are good. I keep doubting myself. But I should change my approach. Yes, I don’t think I’m very good. But I can be! I should be bold and do the thing I think I cannot do! Yes, that’s what I should do.
I wanted to become a manager and I think that this is what I wanted. Even though the company might not be ideal, and the product might not be ideal, but the bottom line is that I am getting experience. I am getting experience and that’s what counts. If I get a 2-year experience as a manager, I can go to a different company and actually get a job as a developer! That’s my long term plan. I want to be a great manager.
I have to keep working on improving my speaking skills. I have to keep adding to my vocabulary. I have to keep pushing myself and force myself into uncomfortable situation. I just like the pressure.
So far, I love the pressure. I love the rush to get things done. I love to have a lot of things on my mind that need to be accomplished. It makes me do hard work. Whether I get anything accomplished is another story.

My first day as a manager! I am a little bit stressed and a lot of things are going on, but I like it. I think I’m going to love it!
I had a talk with Samir today. Samir has not performed well thus far. Mainly because he keeps talking to this guy and he can’t tell him that he’s not allowed to talk. As a result, both of us are going to move to a new space. We’re basically going to shift by one seat. Tom left so that space is not occupied.
When I talked to him, I stressed the importance of writing maintainable code, code that is easy to read. I stressed that we’re going to create a new environment. I told him that we’re going to challenge each other. I also told him what hours he should work.
As a manager, I am not going to shy away from tough decisions. I am going to try hard to remain myself. I want to enjoy what I am doing. I want my teammates to enjoy what we’re doing. I want us to be proud in whatever we do. In the end, if this project does die, at least it dies with us trying hard.

I think I’m going to get what I want. It’s almost certain now, actually. I had a talk with Tim today. He said that he is impressed with the way I handle things, and most of the praise is coming from my manager Tom. Tom said some good words about me to him. He said that he is trying to hire a senior manager for a new Loans team, and that guy will oversee the personnel issues on Connex for some time, and then I can take over after a while if it’s something that I want to continue doing.
I somewhat agreed to that. I don’t think it’s the perfect solution, but I guess he does not want to lose me, and also acknowledges that I don’t have management experience. I can understand that. That really does not mean anything, though, until I see the guy here, which is not a given. Even then, how is he going to take over in such a short period of time?
A lot of questions unanswered…
I did indicate to him throughout our conversation that I would like to make the Connex team exciting. Working on Connex is not exciting. It’s almost a doomed project. I would like to change that. I want us to fight till the end – until there is a whistle and a command to stop.
I am working on my management vision already. I asked Tim for support on issues such as classes, going out for lunch, purchases, etc. He supports that. He did not really want me to go out for lunch too often, but he is OK for doing it once a while. He was also OK for going on for a conference or taking a class. As long as I let him know ahead of time.
Overall, I think it was a good discussion. I might get what I wanted after all. Let’s hope that is what I really wanted, though. 🙂

I did not have a lot of work at Ask on the MWS project. Now, here at Markit, too much is in flux, the product is dying, and several people have left in a short period of time. Things have to change! Or I should change and ask to be moved!
I am not going to do that..
I like challenges. So what did I do? I asked to become a manager. I asked to become the team lead/manager on Connex. Why? Because I don’t want the project to fail. I don’t want to be a part of a failing project. Plus, I think I can make it better.
That’s why, when I’m going to talk to Tim tomorrow, I am going to tell him the following. Working on Connex is not exciting. It’s a very complex system, with not too much innovation, and not working on latest/greatest technologies. It’s just not what a typical developer wants. Things need to change. But I just don’t want to jump ship and ask to be moved somewhere else, or leave altogether. I like challenges. I believe I can, with your support, add some excitement to the project. I believe I can make this team a great learning team, where everyone is challenged, learns continuously, and is rewarded for his effort. I believe I can do that.
Now, I ask to be named the replacement for Tom.
How can we make Connex exciting? I want to continuously challenge the team members. Even though the technologies might not be exciting, but I feel that if someone is in charge of something, he or she will be happy making changes and improvements to whatever he is working on. I want to be able to send my team members on a conference or buy books and other types of social gatherings, etc. I believe I can come up with a right strategy that the team can grow.

I am taking things into my own hands here at Markit. At least I’m trying not to let things slip by. I went ahead and talked to Tim today and expressed interest in the Developer Manager position here at Markit. My goal is to become a manager and I have been wanting a position like that for some time now. Now, the opportunity presented itself. The conditions are not perfect and it might not be the best place to be a manager, but I think I just have to take the opportunity. I cannot wait for another opportunity. If things don’t work out, I will either shift back to the developer’s position, or I will move on.
I presented my case today. Tim was not overly enthusiastic and at times skeptical that I can do the job. He also does not want me to leave just like Tom. But he also knows that he does not have too much room to play. We need somebody in Tom’s shoes as soon as possible.
Did I do a good sales job? Not really. But I am still not 100% sure that this is really what I want. That’s what I think I want, but am I aware of all of other tasks that this will require? I am not sure.
We had a 1st Birthday Party yesterday for Fabian. It turned out to be a very big success. The food was great. Everyone showed up, and the presents we got were generally very good. Fabian got some extra money in his account, I think it was around $1K in cash, which was roughly the cost. I will deposit this into his account.

I had a thought yesterday about my situation here at Markit. I want to take things into my own hands. From talking to Tim yesterday, I got a sense that he wants to hire somebody from the outside as Tom’s replacement. I don’t think that is a good situation. I don’t think it will work out for us. Plus, I don’t think I want to deal with it, to be honest.
So what am I going to do? I am going to meet with Tim and possibly Tom and discuss this. I am going to ask him whether I am considered as Tom’s replacement. I am going to propose myself for the position. It’s going to be tough and we’re going to struggle, but I think we’ll be better off compared to if we hire somebody new. It’s going to be a distaster and I don’t want to be part of one.
I want to do this because I don’t want to let it slip by. I don’t want to pass up on the opportunity to become a manager. It will be a good test for me whether management is something for me. It’s not an ideal situation, but is there an ideal situation? I don’t think so. I have not been part of one every since I started my developer’s careeer.

Things are geting heated up again… We are just ready to rollout new production environment and we’re faced with some political moves, it looks like. Vadim and Vlad are pushing for a load testing for a week. We have not done any load testing yet that run for a week. In short, it’s getting more frustrating and more stressful…
I am thinking that things will stabilize here, I am hoping that things will improve and the environment will be good to work with. If not, then I’m sure going to look for something new, no doubt about that. I am just hoping that things will clear and I will be able to gain even deeper knowledge about the system.
So far, though, it does not look like that they’re considering me for a management position. It looks like they’re going to bring somebody else from the outside. If that’s the case, that’s going to be a disastrous, in my opinion. But we’ll see.
If I become a manager, it will be a struggle and a hard job. If I don’t, then it will be a disappointment and I will most likely be out within several months.