Mozat's Culture of Sharing

A month back, I had the privilege of interviewing for an open position at a company near my place - Mozat Pte Ltd. The hokey name notwithstanding, it was six bus stops away, a cozy environment, and seemed like a nice setup. Well, nicer than some of the really spartan setups I've encountered. And trust me, I've had plenty.

No, I didn't get the job. As to why, this will be elaborated on in due course, but that's not why I called it a "privilege".

I showed up at the interview dressed in a shirt and tie, and immediately felt out of place when I observed that half of the employees were wearing shorts and sandals. It wasn't even a Friday! Casual dress code - immediate points! My interviewer was this young Kingscar Jin lookalike - he had an untidy goatee, ponytail, and dressed like how I would have dressed 20 years ago. (See pic below) However, he was both courteous, formal and knowledgeable.

Image looted from PCLADY.

One thing I need to say about Mozat - the demographic is predominantly Chinese. The PRC Chinese variety, that is. Not that I have anything against that, but trying to explain CSS and database concepts in Mandarin to my interviewer was... interesting. And strenuous. Thankfully I had prepared a notebook and pen, and in place of my stuttering Cheenatech babble, I could sketch things out in lieu of an eloquent verbal answer.

As the interview went on, it soon became apparent that I was outclassed in the knowledge department.

Paraphrased... (and translated)

Him: If you float a div, what happens?

Me: The containing div collapses if the height is set to auto.

Him: How do you fix this?

Me: Well, two ways.... [insert boring technical explanation here]

Him: Why does this happen?

Now, I'm no slouch, but in most cases, my knowledge is limited to what and how. This interviewer was asking me why. And when I couldn't supply the answer, he kindly walked me through it.

It was a class move. And honestly, he didn't need to. This was what impressed me. Not his knowledge. Knowledge is comparatively easy to obtain - read the right sources, put in your hours, pay your dues. No, it was his unselfishness that impressed me.

I'd pretty much failed the interview at this point and it would be reasonable for him to assume that he would probably never see me again. He could have just informed me that my answers were inadequate, concluded that I wasn't good enough to work there, and moved on. And I wouldn't have faulted him for it. Yet he took the trouble to explain in patient detail why certain things happened when I did things a certain way, the edge cases I needed to look out for, and so on. Not just in that one technical question, but all the other questions he asked me that day - JavaScript, HTML, CSS. Things I consider my bread and butter.

In short, he took me to school. Almost literally.

Sharing as a Culture

Tech has flourished in part due to this culture of sharing that my young interviewer exemplified. We post code on our GitHub repositories, share findings on our blogs, and participate in forums. We help solve each other's problems, and obligingly patch holes in each other's knowledge gaps. That is how developers improve - by sharing. And this is how techies become good enough to get stuff done - because other techies take the trouble to share. For no immediate gain whatsoever.

And this is why it was a privilege. The courtesy of that kind gesture was not lost on me. I can only say that if my interviewer's generosity of spirit is indicative of the culture in the company, Mozat is a place I would gladly ply my trade.

Moz sincerely,
T___T