About Rob
Wendes.
Learning
early.
Roofs one day drains the next. I was always ready for change.
My dad ran a general building firm, and as youngsters my brother and I
worked for him in the holidays. It was a good grounding for the future,
because we never new what we would be asked to do from day-to-day.
Change was part of our life, as well as having to adapt to new
challenges and skills. Good training for the career to come, since the
pace of change and adaptation has moved exponentially in the software
industry. Hard work was important when I was young just as much as it
is today and those early years helped me to communicate with customers
and co-workers who may not understand the reasons for some the building
work they were paying for or commissioned to do. I’ve found
that these skills are even more important in the Software industry,
where there is a greater gulf of understanding between technical staff
and the people they work for.
Being different used to be radical!
I stood out at my
first job interview; because I arrived dressed in a brown-brushed
cotton jacket, bell bottomed trousers and a wide collared yellow shirt.
Life was much more conservative then, and although I thought I was at
the height of fashion, it became evident that I had left myself a
mountain to climb if I wanted a job! Strangely enough Ron, the chap
doing the interview, decided to put what he saw as my potential above
my ‘less than formal’ appearance. I paid him back
with exuberant questions and enthusiasm; being different paid off both
for him and me.
On the Roller coaster.
One day I looked around and not only had the goal posts changed, but
someone had moved the pitch.
It’s easy to get caught out in the Software
industry, because
there are plenty of vendors out there, offering the holy grail
of
software solutions. Development methods are discarded as easily
as an old sock, but those that get it right reap rich
rewards.
Each of us makes some mistakes during our career, but what defines
success is an ability to recognise the wrong direction and plan a way
out of it. I remember the promise of the Pascal programming language
and also CORAL, both consigned to history. I championed both at one
time and found that despite obvious advantages, the marketing men
swayed the decision makers in a different direction. I liken it now to
VHS Betamax battle for videotapes. Caught on a wrong foot I needed to
change, and found enough synergy between CORAL and C to migrate
gracefully.
Was I really qualified to do this or was only bluffing: -
and the only way to prove it was to go back to school (University to be
truthful)! Much of what I had learned in the software industry was
through observation, communication and application of the environment
around me.
From time to time you wonder you are bluffing yourself and
if you really know as much as you think you do. To find out I enrolled
in a Master of Science course at Liverpool University to sort the
problem out for once and for all. Working for my dad really paid off,
(he taught me hard work)
and through long hours and commitment I am proud to have been awarded a
Msc
in Internet Computing,
with
distinction!
Passions.
I’ll never put an image on the Internet people just rip them
off! : -This simple statement
from an Artist friend at a
party set me to
thinking about the problems that artists have selling their work. We
talked a little about the wide market that the Internet has to offer
and how difficult it was to enforce copyright of images over the
Internet. That set me thinking, and those thoughts led to the
production of ‘Artists and the Internet’, a paper
that investigates the issues surrounding this area of copyright, and
provides a solution. This paper was published by the University of
Liverpool library in 2006.
It's
either
100%
right or 100%
wrong when you fly light aircraft: -When
I learned to fly
I realised that if you get it wrong then small problems compound into
bigger problems. Bigger problems become dangerous! Cutting corners is
not an option and you have to learn to manage the pressures of flying,
radio, navigation and the demands of passengers. I found that learning
to fly reflected the way I deliver software solutions.
Shortcuts are not an option in either, and the right level of planning
gets you to the end safely.
I hope you find this site a valuable resource to stop your
struggle with Software development and its decision making, and that
bewteen us we will help your business to grow and realise its full
potential.
Follow me through to my Software
products section
, my FREE
section
or you may want to know what Successes
I have achieved for people
