My Story - The Beginnings

Early next month I will turn 10. 10 years of professional employment, in various roles, industries and working on various technologies. I am also turning 13 since I've discovered Java, 14 since I've started with C++ and 15 since I've first laid my eyes on a programming article out of conscious free will (see note 1). While my last 7 years were mostly dedicated to game development from which 4 to management, I remember my first days with great pleasure.

I woke up this morning remembering my past experience with computers. It is not something I highlight in my CV anymore because it happened already too long ago but, nevertheless, it is still a fundamental part of who I am and how I've shaped myself.

Spectrum days:

It all started when I was very young (I would say 8-10), when my parents brought home a Spectrum-compatible personal computer. Back then, programs were loaded onto audio tapes and programming was done in Basic. I got a book with games (source code) and I remember typing them in and trying to run them. I had no idea what debugging meant, so all I did was to input the instructions one by one, as carefully as I could. I remember how my father helped me debug some of the programs. I was also writing some small programs by myself - again, taught by my father who was hooked by the possibilities opened by the personal computer. I remember drawing cones from a series of radius-decreasing circles - the "for" loop. It was more than 20 years ago.

Fast forward 4 to 6 years and, in 1995, I got my first real PC. I was 15 and I started using it for playing games and composing music.

First lines of code:

Two years later, in 1997, I met a real programmer. I was visiting an aunt and she introduced me to one of her former students who was a professional developer. I had a brief introduction into the world of Delphi and Windows rapid application development. Around the same time (July-August 1997) I first laid my eyes on a computer magazine article on Javascript and dynamic content in web pages. It was the time of Netscape Navigator and client-side Javascript was absolutely cutting edge. I was fascinated. I remember reading the same article over and over again for hours. It made sense for me.

Few months later my parents brought home Visual Basic 5 and a Visual Basic book. I took the book, I installed Visual Basic and started to learn. My first complete application was a drawing Paint-like program which used the native Win32 function FloodFill to fill shapes. I particularly remember this detail because, for me, being able to access the powerful native Win32 functions was like magic. It was what real programmers did. Immediately after, I wrote my first game - a Tetris clone.

Visual C++

I don't remember exactly how, but I remember stumbling upon a Visual C++ book in my personal library (Visual C++ For Dummies). Soon, I got hooked by the power of native code and the promise of absolute speed. I knew that if I wanted to be a real programmer I had to go the C++ way. I was 18 and the year was 1998.

I remember clearly reading about input and output streams, about linked lists and pointers. Linked lists in particular were a major stroke of insight because, at that time, they seem so hard-core, so close to the machine, such a powerful data structure. I remember that I was in vacation, that it was summer and very hot.

I quickly moved to MFC and Win32 programming. I got a new book (Visual C++ 4) and I started the long way of coding native UIs. I remember the book was mostly about all sorts of wizards the environment provided to assist programmers in writing the UI code. I didn't like the idea of having code generated for me that I didn't understand. So I started from scratch to write a MFC application without the help of wizards. Once I got the main window up and running, with menus and the ubiquitous "About" dialog, and I knew I had to do something with it. Around the same time, one of my friends, Iulian Ursache, invented an algorithm for parsing and evaluating mathematical expressions. I had the window, he had the algorithm so we met and worked together to write our first Win32 function plotting application. It was such a breakthrough! We were one year away from finishing high school (1998).

First commercial product:

The same year we had our first entrepreneurial experience - we developed a multimedia CD for our graduation. I remember people looking awkwardly at us when we were asking for money. It was my first experience with a commercial product that had to work on more than my machine. It had an installer, it was distributed on a CD-ROM, it had HTML content and a Visual Basic application that integrated Internet Explorer. I remember that half of our colleagues had problems running it but, in the end, we were able to ship it. Good for us, because we had already cashed their money.

Java days:

Soon after finishing high school I started learning for the admission exam to the University. I remember my parents leaving me home to study and myself sneaking in to the computer. I had discovered Java and I had finished my first Java game just days before the exam. I was 19 and it was a Minesweeper clone.

Briefly afterwards came another Java board game and yet another board game on Linux (C++ KDE application, written with KDevelop). I am mentioning all these technologies because, back then, every time I was stumbling upon a new development environment or operating system I had to write a program for it). While the first application taught me about the branch-and-bound algorithm, the latter opened my eyes towards A* search and heuristics.

While I use the "I" pronoun quite a lot, we were actually a group of friends interested in programming and operating systems, and we talked a lot about these subjects. They, for instance, opened my eyes to Linux and to many algorithms and techniques.

The next two years were mostly dominated by Java - a function plotting and curve fitting application written for the physics department at the University, a second commercial application (a website with database support) for the company my father was working for, and many smaller apps and games. Java was very useful for me as it got me the power level I wanted, the extensive library I was looking for, the ease of coding that allowed me to finish my apps within reasonable time and a simple distribution environment that did not require extra installers or additional dependencies.

My first employment:

In 2001 I got my first summer job as a programmer; I wrote multiple apps that were then sold on the Elance website: an HTML editor with syntax highlight, a visual editor for CSS and a DWG (Autocad) file viewer using the OpenDWG library. I remember perfectly those days as I was excited to work with other colleagues side by side, coding together more for fun than profit. Back then was when I first got introduced to OpenGL and the NeHe tutorials (now in the legacy section) as my former manager was coding a 3D chat application. A new stroke of insight - 3D graphics were not a miracle and, although difficult to work with, not something outside human reach.

In 2002 I landed my first full time job. I was halfway through the University and I had to combine both work and studies. That was exactly 10 years ago. I started off coding C++ on Linux, writing a voice recording application. I remember my first assignment was to develop a driver for a National Instruments data acquisition board that was used by the app. It was kernel development and every time it crashed I had to reboot the system. Around the same time, I got my first lesson in customer management. The job asked us not only to write the code, but also go to the customer, install it and provide support for it. I remember that we had to call him every two days to get information about how the system was functioning and ask if he needed any help from us. We were a team of three, all students, all of the same age, all friends. The company manager gave us free hand and we had no team leader to guide us. Beautiful days, with lots of things to learn; a mixture of Linux, Windows, C++, Java, C# development, more oriented towards fun and interesting technologies than to actual business requirements. Crazy days and some nights spent in the office.

My first 3D game and the move to Bucharest:

During the same period I was involved with some other interesting projects: a regular expression parser and interpreter, a website and my first Perl CGI scripts, a 3D Tennis game (I remember spending weekends locked in my room coding on it), I learned C# and I coded a parallel maze searching algorithm (I was more excited about maze generation than the parallel search, to be honest), and many more.

Then, in 2004, I graduated University and moved to Bucharest. I started as a Web Developer managing an application for a British client. Soon afterwards I saw the job announcement for Ubisoft and I got a job there. In Ubisoft, I participated in quite a few projects, working on physics, animations, AI, pipeline, network synchronization. I got into the lead programmer role in 2007 and then, in December 2008, I became Producer. Soon I am going to finish my 4th project in this position, still working with Ubisoft, but with a team in Ukraine. I am writing this post from my hotel room in Kiev, on a hot summer day, 10 years after I got my first full time employment, looking forward to the new challenges that lie ahead.

Note:


(1) I added Java here because discovering it represented a significant turning point in my professional growth. At the same time I was also discovering the Web and cross-platform development, Linux, productivity and the need for easy deployment. Later, I've mostly abandoned the language in favor of C# (initially) and C++ later. Therefore, it has been many years since I've written a program in Java.

Small Things You Can Do To Keep the Nature Clean

Last weekend: short escape in the Bucegi Mountains with my girlfriend, Alina.

View from the road to Piatra Arsa chalet

Unfortunately, the closer we got to easily accessible places of interest, like the "Babele" chalet, we were stroke by the increasing number of beer cans and plastic bottles that were thrown away in the field.

Gathering Plastic Bottles, near the "Babele" Peak (1st round)

Many people think that either a solution cannot be found to having tourists not throwing garbage in the fields or that it is not their responsibility to find a one. I don't think so.

Plastic bottles left behind by tourists

Probably most people believe that it lies with someone else, like with authorities that should increase penalties for garbage disposal in non-specifically arranged locations, have enough law enforcement officers in the field to apply the law, install trash bins in these areas and collect the garbage frequently. NGOs. Students. Army. Somebody else. And up to a point they are right: authorities should maintain public spaces clean, as we pay them to do so and it lies within their area of responsibility.

Others simply don't care.

Plastic bottles gathered from the fields, near the "Piatra Arsa" chalet (round 2) - unfortunately we couldn't carry more with our bare hands

What is often forgotten is the role that each individual has in maintaining the environment pristine. It is within our grasp to have an attitude. Yes, I believe in the power of small individual action applied on a large scale. I believe in the power of small personal effort multiplied by a large number of people:

• When you see a plastic bottle thrown down in the grass or in the street, collect it. Collect as many as you can. Other people will see you and might do the same. Yes, I honestly believe that many people don't know that they can collect these bottles. 

• Invite others to follow. Many people are afraid to make the first step. Show them that it is ok.

• Explain what you are doing. Explain the power of collective action. If 10 people collect 10 bottles each, that is 100 bottles - a clean field, without much hassle. 10 people is very few for a location like "Babele" where hundreds  of people go there every weekend. Explain the power of personal example. Spread the word! Take a stand!

• When you see someone throwing a cigarette on an empty bottle in an un-arranged location, approach him, look him in the eyes and ask why. (yes, it is scary at first, but what would you do if that person throws trash in your own garden - yes, the streets, the mountains, the parks are our own collective gardens)

View from the top

I believe that many people are reluctant to act because they don't trust that their effort has an effect on the long term. But it does and it extends beyond their mere action. I believe that cleaning up the environment is contagious and invites others to follow. It passes the message further. It creates waves. It creates a trend. An individual, by himself, does not have enough power to clean up the whole planet. But he can empower the people around him to do so by his personal example. If 10 people watch and follow him in the course of his life, and if another 10 people follow each of the 10 people, we have already 111 people cleaning up our fields, our neighborhoods, our streets. And it grows exponentially. And where it is clean and tidy, it is less likely for others to throw trash back in.

Tourists at the "Babele" Chalet - if each of them would pick one bottle...

Yes, I believe that it lies within our power to act locally. It is scary at first but after that it feels great. Don't wait for the weekend. Tomorrow, when you see a plastic bottle on your way to work, pick it up! You do it in your living room, right? Why not extend to your street, your nearby park, our forests?

Books That Shaped My Last Year

I thought I'd share with you some books that shaped my view of the world in the last year (2010 - 2011). It's not only the book that mattered, it's also the moment when I read it so, here is my personal perspective:

Most mind-shifting: 

	Agile programming philosophy. Emphasis on intrinsic software quality. Test driven development. Shows what it means to be a professional programmer and to see your profession as a form of art that you have respect and dedication for. Continuous improvement. I read this book in a period of soul searching, while coding for HAWX 2, few months after SH5 release. It really got me thinking about how to build intrinsic quality in our products and how to support my colleagues to not compromise when it comes to "clean code" and bugs. Here on Amazon
	Probably the best management book I've ever read. Focus on intrinsic quality, continuous improvement, respect for people, engineering led organization - here are the principles. To put it in a few words, "The Toyota Way" is more than management - it's a philosophy of work rooted in a deep respect for the human being - the engineer inside the organization, the customer, the supplier and even the competition. Here On Amazon
	The GROW coaching method. Inspiring. Art of asking the right questions. Trust in people potential. Strong leadership model. I knew before reading this book that imperative management style is not suiting me nor that it produces good results in creative teams. I had no idea, though, on how to proceed. This book gave me a jump-start, courage and a tool to be a more people oriented manager, not only in attitude and mindset, but also in practice. Here on Amazon
	Personal development, personal leadership. From inside-out. Collaboration,Win-Win, Synergy, Proactiveness, End-in-mind, Prioritize, Listen and understand. For me this book meant putting into words a series of unstructured thoughts, patterns, behaviours that I intuitively felt were right but I didn't know how to define or explain them. On the other hand, it helped me understand some wrong behaviours that I had, like not knowing how to act in a Win-Win fashion. Reading it, felt like a big relief. Here on Amazon

Other mind-shifters since September 2010:

• Tribes - Seth Godin 
• In simple words, what it means to be a leader. Am I a leader? Reading this book got me thinking about this question, porting me from yes to no and back several times. 
• The One Minute Manager - Kenneth H Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
• A simple pattern for being a high performance manager.Goal settings, praising and reprimands. A very short must read for anyone (manager or not) - 2 hours at maximum. Has some very funny explanations about the formal appraisals and the average mentality that is so common in corporations. 
• The World is Curved - David Smick
• My introduction to the global world of finances. This book gave me some very cool insights on the current financial crisis and on how the entrepreneurial world is financed and by whom. 
• If You Are Clueless About Starting your Own Business - Seth Godin
• After reading the "The World is Curved", I wanted to know more about entrepreneurship. That combined with my girlfriend working to start her own coaching business, led me to getting this book. It took me through all the steps of starting a small business, from writing a business plan, testing the market, creating a marketing strategy, financing or finding a mentor to selling and growing your business. Short, very insightful, useful both as an overview and as a practical framework to follow when you take the big step. 
• Superfreakonomics - Stephen D. Levitt
• I had fun reading this book. If I were to compare it, I'd compare it to Blink, The Tipping Point and The Outliers by Malcom Gladwell (one of my favourite thinkers and writers) - the same kind of example-based explanations. 
• The Inner Game of Work - Timothy Gallway
• Again coaching, from the creator of professional coaching. More philosophy oriented than "Coaching for Performance" but, nevertheless, a must read. A nice and practical theory about how, sometimes, conscience blocks performance and how coaching can help removing these mental barriers. 
• Clever  - Rob Goffee, Gareth Jones
• I've never had any doubt that truly creative spirits need the resources of the larger organization, a space in which they can prototype their ideas, that they are rebellious and that they hate management for imposing restrictions on them. Therefore the manager should position himself/herself in such a way that he/she can actually provide visible value to his team in order to gain their trust and cooperation. In short, this is what this book is all about, with examples from Google, Microsoft, EA, Apple etc, etc.
• The Myths of Innovation - Scott Berkun
• THE tool to use when the team doesn't know what to do to generate new ideas and everyone is hoping for divine intervention. 

And some literature, for the heart and soul:

• The Fall of Constantinople - Vintila Corbul
• I actually visited Istanbul after reading this book. Absolutely lovely and full of history.
• Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa 
• Quo Vadis - Henryk Sienkiewicz
• The Agony And The Ecstasy - Irving Stone 
• Life of Michelangelo, a deep dive into the mind of a creative and passionate person.

John Maxwell in Romania

I had the great opportunity to participate together with some of my colleagues from Ubisoft (thank you, Ubi!) to the John Maxwell's conference, "How To Be A R.E.A.L Success". John, an amazing speaker, described in simple words powerful truths about what it means to be successful. The conference was hosted in the Romanian Palace of the Parliament and over 1000 people attended. 

Here are my notes from the conference:

- R.E.A.L stands for: Relations, Equip others, Attitude and Leadership.
- Recommended reading: How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)
- A great free resource: A Minute With Maxwell - everyday a few words about leadership.

Relationships:

• Treat other people the way you want to be treated (Golden Rule); always treat people fairly.
• Winning with people: people can trace the failures or successes to the relationships in our lives.
• Working with people - more challenging than working with equipment.
• Who we are determine the way we see people - don't try to fix people, fix yourself. People see me the way I see myself and the way I see them.

• The elevator principle: some people lift us up, some people leave us down. Am I taking people higher?
• People that lift us up encourage us.
• In the life of other people you are either a + or a -.

• People practices:
• Remember names! The sweetest sound for someone's ear.
• The first 30 seconds rule: call by name and say something to connect with the other person (something positive).
• People don't care about what you know, they care about what you care.
• Law of buy-in: people buy in to the leader before they buy in to the vision. Sell yourself first.

• Add value to people:

• Add value -> influence -> leadership
• If it's lonely at the top, nobody is following you - leaders take people with them because they value people.
• Add value means: knowing and valuing what people value; walk slowly through the crowd.
• Listen, learn then lead.
• In the process of running a race, the leader never wins. He is where the people are.

• Grow yourself!
• What am I doing to develop myself? Am I growing?
• Success is not automatic!
• A successful life is an intentional life.
• What am I doing to develop other people? Success = teach, train, mentor, coach.
• Those who are closest to you will determine the level of your success.
• In the history of mankind, nobody did it alone.

• You have to like people and have the desire to help them.
• Leaders discover their strengths first.

Equip people:

• Work on their strengths.
• I don't work on my weaknesses because I am weak at my weaknesses.
• People don't pay for average. Successful means ABOVE average.
• What are my strengths?
• Help people find their strengths.
• Help them understand success.
• The secret of success: the daily agenda. What do I do daily? 
• Everyday: preparing or repairing.
• Discipline. Prioritize.
• Take good decisions then Mange your decisions. Follow through daily.
• Rule of 5:
• Everyday (even on Christmas, even on my birthday) what are the 5 things I do everyday? What are MY 5 things? Discover my strengths!
• John Maxwell's: Read, File, Write, Ask Questions, Think.
• Secret of success: the daily agenda.
• How to prioritize my life:
• Requirements
• Return of investment
• Reward
• How much time and money am I investing in my own development?

Attitude:

• Successful people think differently; I have fallen much more then I've succeeded.
• When I fail, how do I respond to the failure:
• Learn?
• Leave my failure?
• Learn is the way.
• It's easier to go from failure to success then it is to go from excuses to success.
• Change before you have to! Fall forward!
• Successful people don't stay down. Attitude is a choice. The attitude you have in your mind today you have chosen.
• The only person in the world to make me happy is me.
• Attitude is not enough. Competence is needed. If you don't have the competence but you have only a good attitude, you will only be happy when you're fired.
• It is not true that if you believe it you achieved. If you believe in your strengths you will achieve it.

Leadership:

• Successful people lead themselves and lead others.
• You can grow and learn to lead.

Tools: leadership coaching, mentoring.

Hosting the Public Speaking Support Group Meeting

Today I had the pleasure to host the Public Speaking Support Group meeting held at the Orange Concept Store, in Bucharest (thank you Razvan Daba!). It was an incredible experience to be among friends and listen to their presentations about what they love to do.

Here are the slides I used to support my intro to the meeting. I hope they will give you a hint about how cool this project is (Romanian).

BTW, the project is open to anyone! Looking forward to meeting you!

Christmas Charity

Casuta cu copii | Promote your Page too

An initiative by two of my dearest friends: Razvan and Corina.

It is about bringing gifts (footwear and winter clothes) to poor children in an orphanage in Bucharest.

Charity really happens

Insight

Thinking about my career, I realized that, what I think characterizes me the most, is the desire to create great, beautiful, useful and fun, inspiring and easy to use (software) products. Why does this matter? Being a manager is a daily process, a job (a very fun and motivating one, it is true) but not a purpose per se. It is how one contributes to the end result. I think that much more relevant is the underlying reason of why to be a manager. And that, for me, a great part of that reason seems to be the end product. Why is this important? Because, based on this insight, I can build my inner motivation, pick future roles and have a better defined professional purpose. This way, I can choose a wider range of positions, that would allow me to have the greatest impact possible on the outcome of the projects I'm involved in.

Further more, these projects bleed into my private life as well. They consume a lot of thought, a lot of time and emotional investment; they are a big part of who I am, life seems to revolve around them for long periods of time. Feeling good about the end result is almost as important as feeling good about yourself.

(me, wearing my SH5 T-Shirt, when meeting with friends)

Taking Charge Of My Life

Yesterday it stroke me. For a long time I was thinking how to increase my professional performance yet mix it with my personal life, while maintaining this balance on the long and sustainable run. I felt that something had to be done, that I was missing something, some attitude that I could not verbalize.

What I realized is that I needed to take charge of my life and run it like I would run a business. After all, one's  greatest asset to manage is himself and his time. Actively managing them, brings up many benefits  like:

• Always having a clear scope and a target to reach, focus
• Taking full ownership and responsibility of what I am doing
• Paying attention to all signals around me, actively gathering feedback from everywhere - after all, I have a "business" to run
• Feeling more alive, having more energy
• Becoming better and better, personally and professionally.

This kind of attitude has reflections everywhere around: being more focused and more present, you inspire others to do the same. It's nothing specific - it's a mindset that makes you strong and confident.

One of the greatest assets of a team or person is ownership - the sense that he/she is part of the project, that he/she cares about his/her work and the sense that his/her performance directly impacts him/her in a positive way. Taking care of your life in a business-like manner, means that you perform everywhere like an entrepreneur. You don't feel that you work for a somebody else, that you obey directives hoping that one more day will pass, but rather you are an agent, work for yourself and have a contract with a company, a contract that you fulfill because it is in your mutual interest. - it's a mindset that cultivates ownership and performance - in you and in others.

This mindset allows one to be responsible of his/her actions and not blame others for his/her failures to act. Being in charge gives you strength and enhances your will. It also forces you to pay attention to what is around you and react fast. This increases optimism and courage to perform.

Taking charge of your life means having confidence in yourself. And having confidence means removing mental barriers and allowing peak performance. It has a snowball effect - personal performance increases your confidence and experience and, as a result, it means performing better and leading your life in a better way. Only benefits. :)

Looking Back (2009)

New Year's Eve: a good moment to look back at the year that passed and try to draw some conclusions. A friend of mine said once, "failure doesn't matter, it's only lessons to learn from". I agree with him.

Many people say that 2009 was a bad year, because of the economic depression, because of the shortage of jobs, because of the increased stress. I wouldn't call it bad, but difficult. The optimism that characterized 2007-2008 was harder to find. Many companies changed their strategies and rhetoric, switching from the confidence and growth-oriented speeches of the previous years to cost reduction policies or even lay-offs. For employees, the situation got tense. People are more afraid they may loose their job as management is putting more pressure on efficiency. Tension is floating in the air in many corporate environments. I will not argue here whether this is counterproductive or not, but I dare to say that even though employees are more focused on cost reduction and  usually tend to do their jobs more carefully, the amount of innovation and involvement has, somehow, decreased (I read such a statistics somewhere that, based on what I see around me, I am inclined to believe). People seem to have lost something from their excitement about their work as many of them have switched to survival / cautious mode. Everyone is waiting for the recession to go away and to see the labor market flourish again. News reports show that the quality of life has decreased in 2009. Has it or it's just the feeling that something bad is about to come and it's waiting around the corner? While for many it is, indeed, much worse, for others, who may have no apparent reason to complain, the months-long anxiety and the rumors surrounding them seem to have shaped in a negative way their mindset.

Since I am an incurable optimist, I say that most of the anxiety is in our heads and in the way we look at things (Arguably, right? Yes, for sure, and I will, probably, get a lot of criticism for the previous statement). If I take only the facts though, at least in my case, there hasn't been a decrease in the economic level or a substantial increase in the amount of hours I spend at work. I have experienced a lot of pressure though (but I would have probably experienced it in other conditions as well) and, sometimes, it affected my mood and my overall perceived happiness. For me, 2009 has been a year of many changes. Strictly factual, I would characterize 2009 as a moderately good year, because, most of the time, change presented unexpected opportunities (or, at least, it brought hope for the better).

We, as humans, don't cope well with change as it throws us into uncertain territories. We get anxious in front of the unexpected and most of us perceive it as frightening but, if we keep our eyes open and realize that something bad might happen anyway, maybe we could enjoy life a little more. For many, including myself, it is not always as easy as it is to say it, since it means a lot of energy, strong emotional balance, strong will and determination. As the false economic security feeling of the previous years is lost somehow, some turn to other values in life in search of balance and security. Is this good? Is this bad? I don't know and I don't have the slightest desire to debate it here - I guess it's just a normal, human, response to the turbulent environment.

2010 seems to be even blurrier than 2009 so what I wish for myself is equilibrium. I wish to always find strength to pass beyond all obstacles and seize the opportunities that lie past them. I wish to maintain a clear vision about what I want to achieve and have the will to achieve it. I wish that, at the end of 2010, I'll be a better man, more experienced and more knowledgeable, more warmhearted and at least as confident and optimistic as I am right now.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May the joy of the season fill your hearts with happiness and warmth!