An Event Changed Me to Work for Myself: Attending One Former Colleague's Funeral

I developed several highly acclaimed software and apps, solo and in my spare time: 

• TestWise, next-gen functional testing IDE (2006 - now, former name: iTest2). Demonstrated at Agile 2009 workshop, 2010 Ruby Award Finalist, .., more recognitions here. 
• ClinicWise, a practice management software (dev: 2013–2022). A system I originally developed for my brother's dental clinic, later used by other businesses.  (still running)
• SiteWise CMS , Content Management System (2012 - present). All AgileWay products' sites are hosted on SiteWise. Ceased services for external businesses.
• BuildWise,  Continuous Testing Server (2014 - present). Received the runner-up prize of the 2018 Ruby Award in Japan.
• WhenWise (2018 - present), an online service booking app.
• And several others, including SupportWise (internal use), LoadWise (deprecated in 2013), and TestWisely (a new PAAS).

Many software professionals would be surprised by the workload of the above, by one person in his time. These are real; you can check out most of them today. In this article, I will share for the first time: where does my motivation come from? The answer: from attending one former colleague's funeral.

The Story

It would be over ten years ago, and I could not remember the date or year.

The Sad News

One day, I saw an announcement (on LinkedIn) by a former colleague, K (who was holding a director position in a large firm): "P, our former colleague, passed away yesterday". 

Some condolence messages were then posted from former colleagues (most of whom I knew).

An important note, we were all software contractors then.

In the afternoon, another post from K, "I talked to P's wife. Here is the detail of P's funeral. …"

About 7 or 8 former colleagues expressed their willingness to attend. I remained silent. 

My relationship with P was OK. We worked on a project once for a few months, where he was the project manager (I was a senior C# developer then).

My relationship with P was OK. We worked on a project once for a few months, where he was the project manager (I was a senior C# developer then). 

P's funeral was held at his house. I remember the theme "This is to celebrate P's life". This sounds inappropriate for someone like me who grew up in Eastern culture.

I was hesitant to go initially. P's funeral was around 11 a.m. on a weekday, which meant I would lose a day's income (as a contractor) if I attended. I decided to go eventually with mixed feelings, showing respect to a colleague, being curious about the style of a home funeral, and catching up with a group of former colleagues.

The Surprise

It was a scorching day. I remember that clearly because I was wearing a suit (rare for me). 

When I arrived and introduced myself as P's former colleague, I could see a subtle expression on some of P's family members' faces. There were about 50 people, most of whom were P's relatives, friends and neighbours, but NONE OF P's WORK COLLEAGUES ATTENDED (except me). One of P's neighbours, a lovely old fellow, seeing me standing alone, came to talk to me for a while. 

Until the end of the funeral, I never saw any of my former colleagues (some of them said, "would definitely come" on LinkedIn). 

Some might find it hard to believe. P had always worked as a contractor, and I remember he once said, "There were only 2-week or 4-week notice differences in terms of job safety between a Permie and a Contractor." 

Frankly, I thought about money factors several times before attending the funeral. I was not in a position to judge the others.

The Realization

When the formal ceremony started, several representatives spoke about how great P was as a friend, a father, a cousin, a husband, and a community contributor.

No one talked about P's work. This thought led me to think. Suddenly, I felt that I was not hearing any voices, and the world was silent. 

P had been working in the software industry for nearly 30 years. That was 8 hours + commuter time each weekday. When P passed away, no one remembered what P had done at work except that his earnings from the work supported the family. It seemed that a significant percentage of P's life was void.

Self Reflection

Naturally, I started to assess myself. Just a few days earlier, Mike, a retiring construction project manager and my wife's colleague, took his granddaughter to Garden City (a large shopping centre in my city) and told his granddaughter with pride, "I worked on this project." 

In another 10 or 20 years, what can I tell my children? Nothing if I don't change, as most of the stuff I created would no longer exist. In fact, I doubted any apps I participated in over five years ago were still in use. 

Suddenly, many work-related hassles became meaningless for me:

• Debating with colleagues over which framework is better, EJB va Spring
• Java programmers looking down on Javascript (think it is not a proper language)
• Java vs. Ruby or Java vs. C#
• Indenting with space or Tab
• ...

The thought haunted me for a few days after the funeral.

The Action

Then one day, I decided to write my own software or apps in my spare time, solo. At that time, I did not consider money at all. Just a simple and maybe naive thought:

"I want to show someone or myself that my coding skills are useful, as I used self-built software/apps."

At that time, I had already known the power of E2E Test Automation and became a much more productive programmer utilising Selenium WebDriver. My work on iTest2 testing IDE (later renamed to TestWise) had already started.

Another immediate action is that I switched my day work from Programming to Automated Testing, from a senior Java Tech Lead to an automated tester, to focus on coding my own apps at night. Many programmer colleagues found it hard to understand, as the software tester position in a software team is low, and I was regarded as a star programmer then. And I never revealed my real plan to others. In fact, it was just a goal, I had no clues to the outcome, but I only knew my E2E Test Automation (using raw Selenium + RSpec) greatly boosted my productivity, maybe 30X.

When I face challenges or get frustrated with app development (in my spare time), I think about P's funeral. This thought motivated me to overcome many challenges and move forward.

Summary

Now I use

• TestWise to develop/maintain automated E2E tests daily, also for mentoring and consulting daily, for 17 years!
• BuildWise to run automated regression UI test suites for all my apps, enabled "Daily Production Releases". 
• ClinicWise (my brother) to manage a pretty successful dentist business.
• WhenWise to manage the booking of my coaching services. 
• SupportWise for supporting my customers and taking care of purchases/renewals.
• SiteWise for hosting a number of my product websites

Also, I frequently receive good feedback for my books and articles.

Of course, I am not suggesting anyone quit and build your next killing app. I didn't do that myself; I worked as a contractor during the daytime (and I did a good job, and almost always got renewals) as I needed to support my family. I use my spare time better, and E2E Test Automation and CT are my secret weapon to achieve 100X+ productivity.

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Related reading:

• My eBooks: "Practical Web Test Automation with Selenium WebDriver", "Practical Continuous Testing: make Agile/DevOps real"
• Showcase a 500+ End-to-End (via UI) Test Suite: E2E Test Automation is Surely Feasible for Large/Complex Apps
• A Book Changed Me