For a chief executive`s office, Richard Firth`s working space is modest. Rather on the small side for a large man, its furnishings, while functional, are hardly opulent. The only pictures on his walls are paintings by his children. The filter coffee is good, though, and it flows generously.
"We`re a no-frills company," he says, gently rapping the table with his knuckles as if to make the point that it`s not solid oak. "Four years ago, we were a prime listing candidate and it would have been a good listing. Then we sat down and said, `We`re software guys, let`s stick to our knitting`. So our money goes into technology and our people, and the company has grown substantially."
Notching up growth of around 70% over the past year, MIP`s performance in these torrid times for technology is enough to make most CEOs (with much fancier offices) turn green. "We`ve grown in a tough market," agrees Firth. "We have good offshore international revenue and our product locally is doing well, too. We`re sticking to our knitting."
That knitting is woven firmly around its core programming skills, says Firth, who started his career as a Cobol programmer with Van Zyl & Pritchard.
[VIDEO]At MIP, we believe you`ve got to be born a programmer. You either are one, or you`re not, and that takes logic, aptitude, an analytical mind - and time. If you`ve got 10 years experience under your belt, you`ve got experience in IT. If you`ve got one to two years, you haven`t got the experience yet."
Close on half of MIP`s 180 employees are programmers - born programmers, mind you - with experience ranging from a minimum of three years to as many as 20 years. "It shows in the quality of our delivery," says Firth. "A lot of our customers here have had a good ride."
Firth hasn`t touched any code himself for about five years now, though. "Going from programmer to manager was quite hard for me, probably like getting divorced, but I love people, so that`s fine."
[VIDEO]Instead, much of his energy now goes on making MIP a pleasant place to work. "When you`re a programmer, you can`t afford to be distracted by financial or personal worries. It takes about 35 minutes just to get into the flow of programming, and you have to give it 150% of your attention. All our employees have shares in the company and we do what we can to provide a nice working environment where people can do what they love doing. I never ever want to get up in the morning thinking, Jeez, I`ve got to go to work today."
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