Mohammed Ammar Bayrakdar

The past four years have been quite interesting in my life. I have been working in the Middle Eastern Region, specifically Saudi Arabia, for the past 4 to 5 years. I started off working as a Software Developer, moved on to being an IT Consultant, and now I am a Business Consultant. While I am happy with the success I have achieved, it has not been easy and there are some tricks to “the game” I picked up over the years.

I started off my career back in end of 2004 in a local company as a Software Developer and I was quite naive. My primary focus was on gaining the most possible experience. I left my job in early 2006 because of differences with management and moved on to a multi-national company (MNC). While I was happy joining an MNC, I was under the impression that I could build myself and grow from the inside. I was wrong here.

I did stay with the company for around 2.5 years until it was time to move on. The following points summarize what I learned during my time in the company:

1) Don’t let any personal differences interfere with the way you deal with people of different origins. If you have some personal difference with a certain nationality, don’t bring in your work environment. It will negatively impact you.

2) Never see yourself as more knowledgeable over other. Even if it might be true, don’t make it apparent. BE SMART in the way you deal with people.

3) Never backbite. If you do it will come back and haunt you throughout your career (Read my previous post for more information about this).

4) Be Diplomatic: Work on building contacts and maintaining even after you leave. Let the company know that even after you leave it was a pleasure working with them and that they played a major role in building your career.

5) Don’t be politically incorrect. Don’t speak negatively about a client, a vendor, or a representative from any of the both.

6) Finally, be positive in the way you talk, the way you answer questions, the way you conduct your work to build a positive image in the workplace. This will be a major plus for your career and your mentality in the future.

Luckily, I didn’t fall into the trap of any of the points mentioned above. But, I will need to work on those because they are critical to my success!!!

Alright, so back in my Devilish University days I was addicted to a small type of property vandalism. I used to go around writing in a PERMANENT BLACK MARKER “WHO DA MAN” on exit signs in the University property (along with a number of other areas, but lets not get into that!!!).

The other day I was chatting with an old friend of mind and she told me that my “MARK” is still there and she sent me this picture:

I just can’t believe that is still up there!! I was actually expecting the University janitors to clean it up, but hey it’s still up there and I ain’t going to complain!!

Let them know who the “REAL” Man is!!! Hooray!!!

Alright, what you might not know is that I recently joined a new company in Saudi Arabia. I am very happy with the move as I am in a better position; both financial and career. I am an X-Logica guy and I am proud to say that I once worked in Logica UK, Ltd. I worked with people of various cultures, backgrounds, and corporate experience.

Not so far back, when I was working on the Saudi Payment Network (SPAN2) project, my project manager was a person who has an immense background in the financial and banking sector. He is highly experienced in a new card technology called EMV.

Anyway, I was brought on the project as an outsider who could have an objective opinion on the progress of the project. I was put in charge of a system for which I was suppose to see until the end. During the progress of the system, there were numerous times where people would approach and talk incorrectly about the project manager of how inexperienced he is and that he should not be project manager. Luckily, I was one of those that would discard such comments and only speak the truth; objectively.

Time went by and I resigned from Logica. Today, I am working with the same project manager in a project where I report to him today. I could safely say that because of the “correct” attitude and position I took about the guy I have this job today. I got this job because he spoke highly of me, he recommended me to my current company and preferred to work with me than with a new guy.

The moral of the story is, don’t be one of those people who “goes with the flow”. Take your own stand about any position and NEVER talk correctly or incorrectly about someone. If you want to talk correctly about someone, make sure it is in a bunch, a crowd, where more than one person hears what you have to say. This avoids the concept of probably deniability by one person. If you think a person is professionally bad, keep it to yourself for two reasons; One you might be wrong, and two if you speak about it to someone it will come back and bite you in the ass!!

For my case, the people who spoke bad about the project manager, they were WRONG!!! The guy is very successful today and has established a very good reputation in the market!!!

Alright, So I just came back from Bahrain. It was a quite a short trip; only two days. But, I did take a number of taxis and each taxi ride was very interesting. I noticed that the taxi drivers in Bahrain are quite intellectual. They keep up with the current political situation in the world and have very interesting insights on what is going on. When they would talk in terms of politics, they would provide very interesting analysis and views on what is going and what they think should happen.

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