Personal

19 articles in this category

When your new co-workers completely rock your socks. linkedin
Last Thursday I had my first meeting with the Claremont UX group that I am now a part of and it was one of those meetings where you just sit and go "wow" because your co-workers are just the greatest people you have ever met!
While the UX part of Claremont is fairly new the people are sharp and experienced wizards for sure. The exchange of knowledge was through the roof and the level of discussion was at the highest level! It's been a while since I was not the sharpest UX mind in the room so sitting with these great minds was just amazing.
I look forward to be a part of this group who truly is passionate about making the world a better place by making it as user friendly as possible. I see no limit to the amazing things that we can do together and my heart is just glowing with inspiration and passion right now. I can't wait to get to work on Monday!
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My new co-workers completely rocked my socks and it was epic!

Written by: Jimi Wikman
Category: Personal
September 23, 2016
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It's difficult to sit on the side when leaving a project linkedin
As I am leaving the current project, due to the fact that I am leaving for another company, other people are taking over my duties and I get less and less involvement in the work that I used to hold together as the spider in the web.
This is very difficult as I am used to be the one in the center of all things and now I am on the outside. The new team lead do things differently and the process of change always leave a residue of confusion and every fiber in my body just want to step in and "fix" things. 
The thing is that there is nothing to "fix", it's just change and the fact that I no longer sit in the center of the project any more. The new team lead have things well under control and the project is doing just fine without me. 
The realization that you really are not that important is both liberating an a bit sad. On one hand I am glad because it means that I have succeeded in making myself obsolete and the team no longer have need of my guidance. They work just fine without me following the processes and workflows we have built together.
On the other hand I feel a bit like a parent no longer being needed by their children and they move from home. Just in reverse as I am the one leaving. It's a bit sad to realize that you will no longer be the one they come for when they need help or the one they turn to for advice and comfort.
 
While this is a strange and sometime uncomfortable situation it is also a great opportunity to observe and learn from the new team lead and also to lift my gaze and look at things outside my part of the project.  It's quite interesting and it's a very good learning experience, especially when you can pick up on body language. I see so many things now that I have not yet had time to observe before and it give me a wealth of new insights.
So I am in a position right now that feels a bit weird, mostly because I am not just leaving the project, but the company as well. It's also sad as I have to much time to think about how much I will miss my team and my co-workers when I leave. 
Have you ever been in the same position and what did you learn from that?

Written by: Jimi Wikman
Category: Personal
August 18, 2016
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480 views
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Do not waste your life by not doing what you love linkedin
In your life you will spend more than half of your time at work and between traveling to and from work, social life, family life and every little curve ball life throw at you just to keep you on your toes, there is very little time left. If this is the only time you allow yourself to do what you love, then your life my not be what you want it to be.
 
Work is such an important part of our lives and if you look at it as a way to make money and not as a way of living, then you might end up doing something you don't like. Considering that work is such a huge part of our lives I have always found that regardless if it pays well or not, my life always feel richer doing what I love.
So my advice to you is to take a look inside your heart to see if it sing every time you go to work. If it does not, then consider what in your life makes your heart sing. What things would you do everyday even if you did not get paid for it?
When you find that answer, regardless of what it is, then find a way to make that your living. It does not matter how stupid or crazy it may seem to others, or even yourself, if it makes you happy, others will want to share that feeling with you.
It can be music, surfing, playing video games, taking care of others, creating strange artworks or doing maths. It can be running, designing clothes, make a difference in politics or making the perfect hamburger. It does not matter what your hearts desire is because as long as you follow that song in your heart you will be successful and you will get rich, but perhaps not on hard cold cash on the bank. 
When you do what you love as a profession you will find that the time you spend on work will be invigorating and working overtime become a thing of joy rather than a burden. You will find yourself smiling and laughing more and being more positive in general. This will spread to others so they to will feel better and more positive about their day.
You will find that time passes slower as your mind will not just throw memories from work in the waste bin of your mind, but rather place it is the pleasure center in a place of honor. Every day will feel like an adventure and every day will feel like an accomplishment.
Money might not be plentiful always, but as you sit at the end of life and look back at your days on this earth I guarantee you that no amount of money can compare to the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment you will feel when spending a lifetime loving your work.
So please do not waste your life doing something you do not love. Find that thing that make you happy and just do that. It will not be easy, but I promise you it will be worth it.
I believe in you.

Written by: Jimi Wikman
Category: Personal
July 30, 2016
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437 views
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Taking new steps to become someone better linkedin
In the past 5 years I have been living my dream. I have been through a journey that far surpass all my dreams and I find myself in a position where I can look back with a happy smile and a heart filled with satisfaction. This is when I take the next step and try new things.
I started almost 5 years ago as a Neurowebdesigner and since then I have held positions as designer, tester, project manager and many more. I have worked with large and small companies and I have had the privilege to work with some of the best minds in the world. It's safe to say that I have been truly blessed being able to learn from such greatness.
As this summer begun I felt it was time for a change. For far to long have i restricted myself in terms of writing about my work, or rather the fields in which I do work as the work itself is mostly classified. I have my personal page where I so far have mixed personal topics with my professional topics. It has always bothered me a bit to not be able to have those separate and I have had a vision in my mind of what I want to do. 
Now it's time to make reality of that.
In the past few days I have started to build the new website and after almost a week of tinkering I feel I am closing in on something that resemble what I want. It's a big site and the concept of building it around hubs of information and not in the standard blog-like fashion still feel a bit strange, but in a good way.
I build this new site on Wordpress of course with Buddypress and BBpress as the community base, but it's the concept of hubs that makes it really fun to work with.
I have divided the site into my areas of interest: Code, Design, E-commerce, Leadership, Quality, Security, Strategy and Tech. These will be the focal points of the site and then each area will be divided into additional hubs. 
For example I have a hub under Code called Code IDE which list the different IDE's like Webstorm. This hub will act as a list, while the Webstorm Hub will be a full hub with ratings, news, videos and so on.
It's a bit abstract right now until I get things going, but I have the idea ready so now I just need to start adding content and fix the design. 
This new project that I call omniconsultant.se is just the first change of many coming my way this fall. I have another great surprise to share in a few weeks, but i need to keep it under wraps a little longer due to a promise. 
I will write here about the changes and if you feel like it, please follow me here or join me at omniconsultant.se. You can also follow Omniconsultant here on Linkedin and on Facebook of course.
So, until next time...have a great summer!

Written by: Jimi Wikman
Category: Personal
July 28, 2016
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455 views
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