Yellow-footed green pigeon
Friday, October 30, 2009 at 06:01PM Today at work we said goodbye to one of the most talented developers I have ever worked with. He has been a contractor with us for 14 months. We had a great cake from Yum Bunnies Cakery with a map on it that had a lobster indicating Boston where we are and a yellow-footed green pigeon indicating the state in India where he is from.
The two lessons of the day are the lesson of the day is that (1) the yellow footed green pigeon is the state bird of the state he his from and (2) management often choose to pass over amazing value of what is right in front of them.
I think not keeping him on is one of the biggest mistakes that the "the powers that be" in our department will make. Sadly no one will realize this until it is too late. Will we get by and move on? Of course, but there is no one else who can work with the technology that we are leveraging right now as well as this guy.
The catch is that there was no way we could hire him full time because our organization does not sponsor work visas and he is here from India on a work visa - BUT - unless there was something I was not told I just do not understand why we could not have kept him on for another year as a contractor.
It's a shame really. Not only was he a great developer but he was a great guy to work with too. Often there is a tension between developers and project managers - a "healthy" tension between "leave me alone so I can get it done (developers) and "I need to know where things stand (project managers) - but with this guy there was none of that. He was totally open and had the patience of no developer I have ever met when it came to bridging the gap between "tech speak" and the common language.
It probably sounds like I am gushing on here but you know you are losing a good and valued person when three of us got all choked up and teary-eyed. I wish him the best in his endeavors and hope that our paths cross again in the future.
the job
Reader Comments (2)
That is a rare and wonderful combo of tight tech skills and good communication/attitude. Sorry for your department*s loss.
I was terrified about a year or so ago (maybe more..now I forget) when it looked like we might be moving to Europe for hubby*s job. The main issue was that heaven forbid something go wrong, there we would be with no work visa and have to pack up everything and be deported. Ugh. That is likely the only good thing to come from the recession - his HQ not moving to Luxembourg!