Dominic Bett

Software Engineer. Innovator. Designer. Data Scientist

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The Soul of a Technologist

We are increasingly dependent on technology to perform our day to day tasks, connect with each other, and solve business challenges. Computing has become more ubiquitous and intelligence more ambient. There is an ever-growing wave of digitalization of our lives, business and the world in general.

Technology is fascinating. Even more fascinating is the profound obsession of its designers. I know this because I am a software engineer and I pride in building tools that enable people to become their better selves. Therefore, technology is the collective soul of those who built it. For me, that soul is about empowering people and businesses. The attention to detail put in the software that I design and develop with my team attests to this. Steve Jobs once said, “Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in outer layers of the product or service”.

Like most software engineers, I started my career with big dreams to change the world. One line of code at a time. Valid dreams. In a huge corporate environment, it might feel like all one does is deal with upper management, run reports and bicker in meetings. One could lose their soul in frustration. However, the mental fortitude, the creative consciousness and the sense of urgency that drives a soul rooted deep is not easy to shake.

Miss Nganga, one of my high school Business Studies teachers often said, “Young fellas, do not squander a good opportunity”. An opportunity to learn new skills, acquire new credentials and grow professionally should never be squandered. It not only keeps me from becoming a technological dinosaur but also feeds and fires up my passion to design & build. Never have my dreams been bolder and my soul stronger.

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The 10 Characteristics of Smart Creative Engineers

The defining characteristics of today’s successful companies is the ability to continually deliver great products. And the only way to do that is to attract smart creatives and create an environment where they can succeed at scale. This is essentially vital to companies ranging from startups to large corporations, in view of the fact that technology and customer needs are ever changing at a rapid pace. Here are the 10 characteristics that describe who a smart creative:

1. Analytically Smart

They are comfortable with data and can use it to make decisions. They also understand its fallacies and its ways of endless analysis. Let data decide, they believe, but don’t let it take over.

2. Business Smart

They see a direct line from technical expertise to product excellence to business success, and understand the value of all three.

3.Competitive Smart

Their stock-in-trade starts with innovation, but it also includes a lot of work. They are driven to be great, and that doesn’t happen 9-to-5.

4. User Smart

No matter the industry, they understand their product from the user or consumer’s perspective better than almost anyone. They’re called the “power user,” not just casual but almost obsessive in their interest. They’re the automotive designer who spends their weekends fixing up that ’69 GTO, the architect who can’t stop redesigning a house. They are their own focus group, alpha tester, and guinea pig.

5. Firehouse of New Ideas

Ideas that are genuinely new. Their perspectives are different from yours or ours. They are even occasionally different from their own perspective, since a smart creatives can play the perspective chameleon when they need to.

6. Curious Creative

They are always questioning, never satisfied with the status quo, seeing problems to solve everywhere and thinking that they are the people to solve them. They can be overbearing.

7. Risky Creative

They are not afraid to fail, because they believe that in failure there is usually something valuable that they can salvage. Either that, or they are just so damn confident they know that even in the event that they do fail, they can pick themselves up and get it right the next time around.

8. Self-directed Creative

They don’t wait to be told what to do and sometimes ignore direction if they don’t agree with it. They take action based on their own initiative, which is considerable.

9. Thorough Creative

They freely collaborate, and judge ideas and analyze on their merits and no their provenance. They would write on their white boards a quote that said “If I give you a penny, you will be a penny richer, but if I give you an idea, then you will have a new idea but I’ll have it too.”

10. Communicative Creative

They are funny and express themselves with flair and even charisma, either one-to-one or one-to-many.

Not every smart creative has all these characteristics, in fact very few of them do. But they all must possess business savvy, technical knowledge, creative energy, and hands-on approach to getting things done. Those are the fundamentals.

Perhaps the best thing about smart creatives is that they are everywhere. They can be found in every city, in every school, in every class and demographic, in most businesses, non-profits and government organizations, among other places. Their common characteristic is that they are willing to work hard and are willing to question the status quo and attack thing differently. This is why they can have such an impact.

Note: Content adapted from "How Google Works," Book by Alan Eagle, Eric Schmidt, and Jonathan Rosenberg

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How I Transitioned from College to the Corporate World

You always know whether you will love your job or hate it during your first week at your work place. It could be what you always saw in your childhood dreams or just another nightmare. The team-mates could be supportive of you, indifferent, or just nasty. The corporate culture could be cordial and professional, or extremely harsh and demanding. You could just be excited that the opportunity came your way, or skeptical and querulous all the time. Either way, you will know right from the onset whether the new position is a good fit.

My new position as a Software Engineer in the corporate America is by all metrics a good fit. The freedom to imagine and innovate, building great products, the ample relationship with team members, the social aspect and the strategic location – are nothing short of my expectations. While getting acquainted with the inner workings of the system and the “tools of trade”, I am also having fun. It is wonderful to feel productive every hour of the day; even while sleeping at night. Working hard is easier with an enjoyable job.

Well, it wasn’t always like this. As a college sophomore, my first internship at Dell gave me some confidence and exposure to the real world. It also opened my eyes to the things that I was not aware of. It is intimidating to learn how much you don’t understand. You see, there is a glaring disparity between the theory taught in College and the practical application in the real world. As a college junior, I did another internship at Dell, during which I created a production-level application that was actually deployed and to the system. That was a huge confidence boost. I began to reconsider the need for graduate school. I realized that I could master my software engineering skills through experience, rather than a couple more years of books and late night homeworks.

After graduation and a deserved month of vacation, it’s good to be back at Dell, doing a job I always wished for since 10th grade. Pursuing my passion without any thoughts of quitting or diverging to other irrelevant pursuits was all it took. Hopefully, the future will be full of opportunities to grow and explore. For now, the moment is here – to be seized with a deserved smile.

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Launching the Kenya News App for iOS

Kenyans love watching news, a trait that my Nigerian friend finds very peculiar. The intrigues in local politics, the periodical comedy and the surreal events happening around the country is anything but boring. Like other patriotic Kenyans, I like following almost everything that occurs in and out of my beloved country as a pastime. From the corruption scandals that bedevils the government of the day, to the International Criminals Court cases hanging around the necks of the country’s top leadership, to the unceasing political feuds and theatrics, to the seemingly incompetence of the opposition, to the looming terrorism activities within and without the borders, to the hilarious weekly stand-up comedy shows, to name but a few. To an extent, it’s quite as addictive as a superb television show that you can’t dare miss to watch.

The Kenya News App for iOS launched on January 13th 2016 attempts to bring daily news from several television stations to the convenience of your cell phone. With the app, which is compatible with any iPhone that runs iOS 8.3+, users are guaranteed quality, intuitive, yet simple interface to view news content from the channel of their choice. The app is available on App Store for FREE. Below is a screenshot of the app:

Please visit KenyaNews.DominicBett.com for more information on the Kenya News App. If you like the application, feel free to leave a ★★★★★ rating so that more pople can also enjoy the free high quality application.

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Importance of “Green” Practices In Technology

Clean and sustainable environment is a thing of utmost importance and urgency. The discussion led by President Obama on climate change has intensified in the recent days as some members of the US congress deny or downplay it. However, you do not even have to be a scientist to notice the adverse and unprecedented effects of climate change around the globe. This is largely due to green-house gas emissions, deforestation, among other human activities.

In order to take good care of the environment and consequently alleviate climate change, deliberate steps have to be taken not just by the government, but by companies, institutions and individuals as well. The number of companies trying to co-opt environmental issues for their brands has grown, which is a great sign. According to Forbes, some of the many corporations that seem to be looking to find ways to do business in a sustainable way include Dell, Intel, Amazon, Apple and Pepsi. As technology expands and companies thrive, so is the need to commit to a low carbon future.

At Dell, for instance, data centers are designed and built to use mainly renewable energy, and an innovative cooling system. This reduces emissions significantly, and minimizes energy consumption and energy loss. Modern companies recycle the heat generated by their data centers to warm the offices, reuse rain water to flush toilets, use LED lights that switch off and on automatically depending on usage, among other ‘green’ practices. Electric and hybrid cars pioneered by Tesla Motors not only help to reduce the amount of carbon emissions but also create an opportunity to develop solar powered vehicles.

Ultimately, it is the consumers who are the driving force towards a greener earth. Individual effort to only use recyclable/reusable materials will compel manufacturers to consider greener designs and products. Recycling waste and prudent use of resources will prevent another tree from being cut down or another gallon of fuel from being burned. If we do not care for our environment now, the future is doomed. That is not the legacy that our generation should be remembered for.

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Artificial Intelligence in our World Today

Elon Musk, a High-tech entrepreneur recently said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) research is a danger to humanity. Some people agree with him. We may not be close to building super-intelligent, powerful machines, but we should definitely stop and think about the entire idea of AI. Many sci-fi movies such as “The Terminator” and “Battlestar Galactica” depict humanoid robots that are stronger, smarter and more adaptable than humans. Self-driving cars have now become a reality; and individuals, companies and government agencies are working on many more prototypes.

Allan Turing, the father of computing, was perhaps the first person to suggest the possibility of creating a machine that could think and act like a human. Analysts and scientists disagree on whether this is really artificial intelligence. Some say it is not quite AI but a direction in that step. The state of AI has been difficult to evaluate. It may excel in one area but fall short in another. Even the basic definition of AI is still not locked down. One might be referring to a specific machine-learning algorithm while another may be talking about autonomous robots.

The goal of creating generalized artificial intelligence has remained ever elusive. For decades, scholars have made slow but steady progress in this field. AI concepts such as computer vision, natural language processing and voice recognition have been achieved and perfected over the years. IT and Internet companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft are some of the greatest benefactors of AI because it has became increasingly important for them to integrate it into their commercial services and products.

In conclusion, the human race could jeopardize its existence if deliberate steps are not taken to limit the scope of artificial intelligence. However, it is also important that we continue to make headway to realizing generalized computing, although it has been so hard to achieve.