First of all, I would like to dedicate this interview to Dan Schulz. Dan was very excited that Kailash Badu was chosen Member Of The Month and he was more than eager to do this interview. There was a slight delay (Kailash was on holidays and couldn’t be reached) and then, well, simply it wasn’t meant to be. Dan, wherever you are, I hope that I have asked the questions you would have asked.
Secondly, I would like to thank Kailash for his patience. I was to do the interview since Dan couldn’t and I had to delay it during all this (very long) time. Kailash has been very understanding and has proved, again, the character and good, helping nature that SitePoint MOTMs have. Thanks.
Without further delay, I let you with Kailash, MOTM for September. Congratulations Kailash :tup:
1. First things first… some questions can’t be avoided, and need a straight answer…how did you find sp and what made you stay?
Kevin Yank’s book on PHP and MySQL.
I was just starting off with my career in web development when I ran into this book somewhere. I picked it up for a quick reading and flipped through the first few pages. I found it so gripping that I decided to follow up the author and the publisher. That’s how arrived at SitePoint.
I stayed because of the quality of the content both in the forums and the main site. The community was very lively and buzzing while the conversations were immensely meaningful. I chimed in and it wasn’t very long before I got hooked and also befriended a few wonderful members.
2. What made you head your interest towards web development?
Serendipity.
I have formal education in software development. which means I was equally trained in desktop programming, computer science, and web programming. It just so happened that my first assignment in my first job was putting up a web application. I got deeply engrossed. That’s how I got pulled in.
3. You started your career in a software developing company but just one year later you decided that you would go freelancing…what made you to go solo? was it hard to take the decision ?
I was fairly active around the web in forums and blogs which allowed me to network extensively with people and businesses around the world. I had been in my first job for only 6 months when I began getting requests for freelance assignments. I dodged first few requests because I wasn’t so sure about it. But they kept coming and after a while I decided to give it a shot. I juggled my day job and freelance projects for first few months when I realized that I was better off with the latter. I was making more money and it was much more flexible mode of working. Because I was getting the best of both world I eventually decided to go one better and got into it fulltime.
Yeah, I was a bit chary at the beginning but it worked out pretty well. SitePoint was very crucial because it connected me with a number of very important clients. If I had to pin down a single most important thing for success in this business, it would be networking.
4. What do you think that are the characteristics that any good freelancer should have?
One of the most important traits as a freelancer is to be able to set your own goals and execute them. You don’t have a supervisor to boss you around therefore you must be able to work without being supervised and directed. You also require loads of self-discipline for it’s very easy to distract yourself away when you are working in the web. You must also be a voracious self-learner as it’s very easy to get obsolete in this line of work in which you continuously have to grapple with a constant stream of fresh technologies.
Above all, you need to have the terrific networking capability both online and offline.
5. You’re pretty active in the forums, especially in the programming and database forum (Javascript, PHP, MySQL) and you’ve been helping there for a long time… what do you like the most about it? What’s the best about programming?
What I like most about helping others in these forums is the realization that I am not only lending a hand to someone in distress but also honing and brushing up on my own skills. I find it especially exciting to pore over threads that contain certain edge cases in programming that I am unlikely to encounter in the normal course of my own professional development practice. So basically, yeah, it’s both gratifying and edifying experience.
6. Do you think that server programming is harder or easier than client side programming?
It’s hard to generalize because of broad range of things that are possible in both client side and server side programming.
For the most part server programming is harder, yes. It’s much more involved, time consuming, and requires broad array of skills that range from algorithms to architectural issues to database queries. Just have a look at the code that powers a CMS or a shopping cart.
A typical form processor, on the other hand, written in PHP isn’t really harder than your typical template written in HTML/CSS. Actually, CSS could be harder in this case mainly because of browser inconsistencies.
Client side programming is evolving rapidly. Just have a look at some of the complex web application interfaces, for example Gmail and Facebook, being created today. The amount and sheer complexity of JavaScript and HTML/CSS tricks that goes into producing it is mind-boggling. Be that as it may, it’s still safe to assume that the complexity of backend of these system easily outstrips that of the front-end.
Creating aesthetically pleasing interface is entirely different thing as it requires different set of skills and creativity. You can’t meaningfully compare it with programming because it’s basically apples and oranges.
7. When you need to relax and get away, what do you do? Do you have any particular hobbies ?
I travel, read books, and dabble with photography.
8. Now it is the chance to self-promote you… it is the only occasion where you can do it without being infracted for it… why should I contract you?
Because I am good at what I do, I’m amazingly amiable and a breeze to work with, and that I go along with people very well.
I invariably ask my prospective clients to check my resume before deciding if I am a good fit for the job they have in the mind.
9. I know that you talked to Dan (Schulz) frequently. As a matter of fact, he was pretty excited when you were chosen member of the month and wanted to the interview himself… what’s the question that you think he would have asked? (after all those long chats, I am sure he knew one or two secrets from you :))
Dan was a very close friend. He was incredibly obliging and also very forthright as everyone else in SP community would attest. I sorely miss him.
Going back to the question, I guess there isn’t anything that he would have asked but you didn’t. You pretty much covered all the grounds. 
10. What do you like about SP and what do you think that we should change? Don’t worry. We’re able to handle constructive criticism as mature and sensible people. Don’t pay attention to the gun pointing at you. It just there in case that you say something negative.
No grudges against the community per se but I do get a tad peeved occasionally by some posts in the forum where even smart people get anal about their favorite programming languages, tools, and methodologies and fail to see ‘other side of things’.
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