Mentoring is a way of life at RoleModel. We try hard to find team members who truly desire to mentor others.
Unfortunately, many people in the Software Industry don’t have a vision for mentoring. They are more interested in advancing their own careers than pouring themselves into others. When I find a person who is an exception to that rule, I take special note of them.
On May 23, one of those exceptions, Kevin Bridges, went to be with the Lord after a battle with cancer. Although I didn’t know Kevin well, he had a huge impact on me and many others I know. Allow me to fill in a few details.
In September of 2012, I was pleased to get a call from Kevin. Kevin was the Director of IT at CollegePlus and I was anticipating another great update about what was happening there with his young team.
I had met 2 of the 3 founders of CollegePlus years back in 2000 and we had several conversations about how to build their IT team. In 2011 they hired Kevin who, based on the founders’ input, contacted me for some advice. Kevin wanted to recruit some help to improve their PHP approach. When I challenged him on why he was choosing PHP, we had some great discussions about good software engineering practices. I was impressed by his humility and teachability. I have had far too many interactions with IT Directors and CIOs who aren’t really interested in learning what it takes to build good software.
A few months later Kevin called me up. He was excited about the fact that they were moving all of their new development to Ruby on Rails with a focus on TDD, had started an apprenticeship program, and they were already seeing great results. I was skeptical of what they would accomplish with such a young, inexperienced crew. But every few months after that, I’d hear more from either Kevin, or someone like Dave Hoover who had visited their team. It was amazing how this young team was revamping their IT and building a series of small applications, serving more and more of CollegePlus’ operational and customer needs.
In September of 2012, I received a call from Kevin that was very different from our previous conversations. It was brief and to the point. Kevin informed me that CollegePlus was undergoing a significant reorganization and that he had secured a new job with USAA. He was doing OK, but wanted to let me know that, “All the success we have had was due to one young man, Caleb Woods. Everything we’ve done was his idea, and he is the one who has made it all work. Caleb has decided he is moving on, and I think if there is any way you can create an opening at RoleModel, you should hire him.”
With that recommendation, I knew I should at least talk to the young man.
I got on the phone with Caleb and found out that his career goal was to help other people solve their business problems with technology. I was totally impressed with his poise, his confidence, but also his humility. Caleb wanted to work with a company where he could continue to grow both his understanding of software development and of business. He also wanted to learn how a software consulting services company operated. Caleb wanted a place where mentorship was part of the culture, and he could participate bi-directionally.
I decided to fly him and his fiancé up to North Carolina because I didn’t want to miss the opportunity that sounded too good to be true. We spent a few days together and I wasn’t disappointed. He was certainly unique.
Last year, I wrote an article about Farming for Software Talent. I pointed out how one needed to find good seed and nurture it. Not only has it worked well for us in growing our software talent, but it worked in growing our leadership team. Caleb Woods was the quality seed with the potential to run a software technology services organization.
The most important thing is not the specific steps along the way, but the patient, steady and deliberate path of the nurturer(s) and the nurtured. Last year, RoleModel announced the promotion of Caleb Woods to Chief Technology Officer.
Like most people, I want to find great solutions for any of my challenges the minute I encounter them. But time and time again, I realize that the best things come from starting with a concept, taking deliberate steps, retrospecting, and continually improving. You don’t build industry-changing software overnight. You don’t build a great team overnight either. But with patient and persistent mentoring, you can accelerate the growth curve.
RoleModel is at the beginning of its 22nd year. We have learned a lot over those years. A couple of times the company shrunk to the point where I was the only employee. The concept of what we wanted to be was there when we first started. We’ve built, measured, and learned. Last year we finally made the Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest growing privately held companies in the U.S. Our goal has never been fast growth, but sustainable growth. Caleb Woods shares that vision, and I’m thrilled to have him on our leadership team. I’m even more thrilled to work with him and the rest of our team to farm our talent and build our culture of character, collaboration, and craftsmanship.
But none of this would have been possible without Kevin Bridges. Kevin saw talent in a young man. Kevin encouraged him, mentored him, challenged him, and prayed for him. Caleb, and many other young men who were impacted by Kevin, went to his memorial service. They recognized the great privilege they had been given, the lasting impact of his mentoring, and Kevin’s encouragement to “be excellent”.
But Kevin was wrong about one thing. The success at CollegePlus wasn’t because of “one young man”. Caleb recently told me that although he has learned and done so much at RoleModel, the 18 months he spent under Kevin was something incredibly unique. They successfully built the foundation for the infrastructure that is still being used at CollegePlus (now Lumerit). It was all done by an incredibly young and inexperienced team, led by Caleb Woods, but gently guided, challenged, encouraged, and refined by one amazing mentor.
Though RoleModel has a culture of mentorship that raises up much of its own talent, we are blessed to have two of Kevin’s proteges in our ranks. Mark Kraemer joined us in 2016 and exudes our core values of Character, Collaboration, and Craftsmanship. I’d love to have more.
And the industry would be much better off if there were more Kevin Bridges.
RoleModel Software, Inc.
190 Rosewood Centre Drive, Suite 201
Holly Springs, NC 27540
