Web 2.0/Ajax will not save the world

Over the last one year since Jesse James Garette unleashed the Ajax dragon (he didn’t create it, he only gave it a fancy name) everyone has jumped on the bandwagon of how Web 2.0 (whatever that means) and Ajax will save the world. How they will chase the traditional desktop app out of the market. Well, I don’t believe it. It is too much hype.It reminds me of the time XML came and it was touted as the promised lingua franca for all computeroid. We haven’t seen that. Except that we have all settled down to using it for hauling the dirty data everywhere. Despite the fact that Oracle and MS SQL support XML out of the box, we still store and retrieve our data the way we understand.

I guess no technology will succeed for it’s own sake. Technology will succeed when it is able to solve the everyday problems that plagues you and me (get jobs done, put some change in the pocket).

You can read here what some dude thinks about this too.

If You Have Three Shirts…

I guess there is somewhere in the bible where Jesus talked about the fact that if you have two shirts, give one to someone who doesnt have. I dont know why am writing this. But one thing I know is that I am mightily sad in my heart. Not because I didnt get what I wanted but because of some out-of-this-world earth-shaking display of selfishness by someone. Man, it hurts me when people become so full of themselves and getting to help the next person becomes the most difficult thing in the world.I know that I aint on the list of the most generous people on earth but I guess am trying my best. One of the things that surprise me is the way people are so nice to me sometimes. People I havent given a hoot about go the extra mile or sacrifice one limb just because of me. Some of my neighbors are like that. They are so nice and generous to the point of me looking like the devils cousin.

So I am trying my best to help as many people as possible. You never know when it is going to come around. And also, I heard that it is best to help people that aint in position to help you back. So you never expect anything back. You get paid back by God.

Back to what I was saying, the bible talked about someone having two shirts giving one out. What about someone who has three shirts? Some people are just naturally selfish&.

Never fly on budget

Is this the new age wisdom? Well I didnt know until I found out the hard way. I had a precious one week in between two jobs and I felt like making the best out of it. The best in this situation was running away from everything. You know, the calls, emails, bla bla bla.So I decided to go and hang out with the Queen. At least, I figured out that the cost of international phone calls should make some people lose the ideas of calling me up.

Unfortunately, my pockets got some rather deep potholes which were making flying on the regular airlines look like a colored elephant project. I remembered a rumor that Afriqiyah could almost get you to London for free on the agreement that you must pay homage to Gadaffi.

So off I went to Keffi Street and got myself a ticket to London for N61K. Good bargain. They even told me it takes just 8 hours (as opposed to the 6 hours of virgin, hmmm).

The d-day came and once I found myself on that plane, I knew I made a terrible mistake. The plane was one of those miserable small Airbus A320. The hostesses were super crappy, no blanket, no in-flight entertainment. And we listened to larubawa music all the way to the land of Gadaffi.

Instead of the 8 hours, it took forever to get to London. In fact, next time am short on cash, I would rather ride a donkey than fly Afriqiyah.

Coming back, however, was a more pleasant experience and it took half of forever to get to Naija. I met some funny characters on the plane. It was kind of fun.

Today is my last day at Access Bank

Today marks my last day as an Access Bank employee. It’s been quite a trip.Jogging down memory lane, I came to Access Bank from Standard Trust Bank in August 2002. Spent 2 months at the training school where I met some of the craziest human beings. Surprisingly, some of those guys there are still my friends (Nnamdi “rubber punk” Okafor, Martina Eseigbe, Kemi Lewis, and Tayo “Omoba” Aileru).

Started working at the eBanking department and wasted practically the first 8 months until my old boss left and someone else came to run the whole IT group. All of a sudden, the task of running our little department fell on my rather slender shoulder.  But with all glory going to God, I have been able to move the department from mediocrity to become the innovation and idea lab of the bank. We have been able to create paradigm shifts and release block buster applications to the benefit of the bank and its customers.

One thing I will never forget is the opportunities you get to excel in this bank. Also, everyone is open; competition is keen and cut-throat. But every organization has got its own bathroom slime too. If you aren’t careful, you could slip on those.

In Access Bank, I learnt ColdFusion, AD programming, Oracle, MS SQL, and practically all the important technologies highlighting my professional career.

I believe Access Bank is going places.

I am going to miss the guys in my department, Biyi, Alison, Kemi, Blessing, Rotimi. The general IT group would also have fond places in my heart. I can’t but mention Sina, Adeola, Lanre, Mike “Jagbo Small”, Sanmi “Shorty”, Moses “The Menace”, Emmanuel “Agent A”, Josephine “Iya Ibeji”, Seyi “Opa”, Idowu “ID on the street”& The list goes on and on.

I can’t forget people downstairs too (banking hall), Moji, Bola “Shorty”, Tomi, Yellow Rose, etc. Same for guys from the head office: Anne Monye of library, “Aunty” Kunbi Anifowose, VSlimeE, etc.

And where am I going to now? That is a good question. Just watch out.