Q&A Spotlight with Ryan Hart

Ryan began building FileMaker solutions in the early ’90s while working on a forensic accounting team. Ryan joined us as a Tech Lead to support our existing clients and help grow our team. We are delighted to have him with Codence. Learn more about Ryan below.

– How did you first hear about FileMaker?

My first interaction with FileMaker was in the mid-1980s before Claris even owned it. The bleeding edge publishing company I was working for had bought 15 Macintosh SEs for the company departments. FileMaker became the platform to track daily receipts from advertising, sales, and then the foundation of my 30+ years in IT consulting. Special thanks to @davidaltomare and the @brentocorp crew.

– What is your favorite thing about your role?

I’ve got many favorites in my daily activities, making people’s lives easier, helping them achieve their goals, improving communication, and building tools to answer questions. I really like solving business problems with technology solutions. When a user comes back to thank us for making their job easier, faster, less confusing, I get a rush of dopamine.

– What’s one thing that surprised you about working at Codence?

I was surprised to see the emphasis on dedicated project management. It is typical for small programming teams to manage projects within the group. However, Codence has a team of professional project managers who oversee each of the teams/projects. It allows me to focus on delivering quality solutions and gives me the security of knowing the relationships, information, and timelines are all handled with professionalism and dedication. I believe it will be a key to my success.

– What energizes and drains you at work?

A good challenge, a tight deadline, or appreciation from the team are things that help keep my flame lit and drive my desire to learn, grow and perform. Project confusion, a lack of communication (and creative writing projects) require me to monitor my tank and take extra precautions to ensure success.

– We heard you like to spend time in nature; where is your little piece of heaven on earth?

I grew up around SoCal and have always been drawn to the ocean. Having moved to the Pacific Northwest, I’ll settle for anywhere within “scent distance” of the Pacific Ocean.

– Are you an early bird or a night owl?

Night owl — it is crazy how my brain engages differently in those late-night/early-morning hours. So many of my most significant accomplishments have happened during that late-night clarity.

– What is your go-to productivity trick?

My best productivity tricks are to make sure there is a deadline, create an emotional connection to the project, and do it at night. People think that IT jobs are always technical and more of a science. For me, it’s largely creative and flows easier when approached with passion.

– What’s a mistake you made early on in your career, and what did you learn from it?

Just one? Well, I’ll give you a big one then.… I was hired to work as a contractor on a relatively sizeable multi-year project early in my career. The growing contract resulting in me hiring staff and taking on more significant commitments to accomplish the project. I was so focused on the project’s success that I didn’t plan for what would happen when the project was completed. The lack of planning left me to write some sizable checks while I figured out how to downsize. It was humbling to have succeeded on so many goals revolving around the project, but I completely missed the boat on the exit planning. You have to allow time to plan for what’s next.

– If you could snap your fingers and become an expert in something, what would it be?

Language and culture. Only speaking English and not having traveled out of the country much, I have limited experience in other languages and cultures. I believe being able to communicate without a language barrier and fully understand the experiences the other person brings to the conversation would create opportunities for me to contribute to society more dynamically.

– If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would you choose?

My wife. Partly to help me understand the torture I put her through. Also, so that she would know first hand how much I love her and appreciate all that she has done to make the demands of this career a possibility for our family.