Stephen Nimmo

What I Do

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I was reading Ben's blog and decided to take part in the ongoing discussion of describing what you do for a living.

I think what I do is best described by the rare combination of talent and interest in a subject that most people find rather boring, overly complicated, too meticulous, or something so abstract they can't fully comprehend it. If you haven't figured it out, the subject is software development and computer system architecture design.

Here's a typical conversation I have when meeting someone and the conversation winds through what a person does:

Person: So, what do you do?

Me: I am a consultant.

Person: So, what do you do?

Me: I am a software developer and application architect.

Person: So, what do you do?

Me: Like right now? I am building a deal capture and data integration system that allows 2 other trading software products to work together for a power trading company.

Person: Cool. Well, I hate computers. I can't even get my mail to work. Speaking of, do you know anything about Windows??? I am getting this weird error message when I..............

So to the average person, I work with computers.

That being said, what I do is solve problems and implement ideas. Whether the ideas are related to the actual business, such as generating invoices, or they are related to internal processes, such as streamlining team development practices, what I do is try and solve the primary question on the minds of all management: How is this going to make more money? What kind of return on investment will I receive for this undertaking? How can I make the business more efficient?

More and more, I am engaged into projects more related to articulating and managing risk, which might not necessarily give an exact and measurable ROI, but is necessary to prevent losses. For example, cumulative open positions are used by trading companies show the current risk with the company. This is a number that is required for many different reasons and is quite necessary both internally for management but also for external credit management. So basically, the computation might not give you a specific and measurable ROI, but it allows the company to reduce risk.

So what do I do? I make those calculations faster. I make those calculations wider and deeper. I show those results in a format allowing for better communication. I also provide more insight into how those calculations could be seamlessly integrated into other decision making processes. How do I do that? By listening. Listen to what my customer wants, provide feedback and alternatives not only solve the question at hand but leverage the work across the entire business, and then ultimately doing what they want and need.

I create answers to questions. My answers just happen to involve computers. That's what I do.