Originally named ‘Work Pad’ (not very exciting, right?), CodeAr.my was a huge collaborative effort between entrepreneurs, designers, coders, a PR Company, and a few external agencies.
The concept behind CodeAr.my – seeking employment opportunities for Malaysian graduates on a global stage. The rationale – quality graduates, available to deliver world-class outcomes for clients, but need the chance.
CodeAr.my was a platform. It connected those seeking work in the broader technology industry, with those needing freelancers (and more) in the industry to support projects. The platform facilitated introductions, kept track of communications, milestones, payments, and even project delivery. It also tested its participants, including a facility to rank them, in order to prove that they had the skills they claimed.
While this is pretty much common place now, with dime-a-dozen sites like this popping up everywhere on the internet, it was considered revolutionary a few years back. So revolutionary in fact, that Might-Meteor (a government-linked organisation) partnered with CodeAr.my to help propel the platform. Utilising the principles of gamification to ensure that it is attractive to end-users, CodeAr.my, at the time, pioneered a refreshing approach to solving a major societal issue – where to get our youth some experience and employment opportunities?
Our job? Well, that’s the fun part. Yes, we did the traditional PR stuff – we launched the platform, organised and facilitated a joint Press Conference with Might-Meteor, including their VIP guests, conducted exclusive interviews, and lobbied for coverage support. But we also did more! We scripted and storyboarded their advertising materials; we edited their gamified platform structure and text; edited blogposts and contributed to social media strategy, and helped explain to others a mega-complex concept that goes far deeper than a simple employment platform. We spent days brainstorming names, providing feedback and commentary on design, and generally getting our hands dirty at every step – except for the coding! Our proudest moment – getting published in a San Francisco-based newspaper. Not bad for a small outfit from KL, eh?
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| CodeAr.My coverage on SD Times. Link to the article. |
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| CodeAr.My and Might Meteor Press Conference |
This project sat at the intersection of intellectualism and technology, with a shred of humanism involved too. That created some fascinating challenges, as communicating complex notions to non-experts required certain finesse. For us, we learnt a lot about the fast-changing technology industry, but also enjoyed the experience of being part of something this revolutionary being built from the ground up.
Sadly, as with many things technology-related, they had a limited life span and it was sooner surpassed by other similar platforms. However, an awesome project to have worked on creating its initial successes, and making history in the local technology landscape.
An academic at heart, Craig abandoned educating graduates-to-be, only to find himself coaching entrepreneurs instead. Passionate, competent and dedicated at his career as a business consultant, Craig is adept at writing, and solving the most complex of situations. Having joined the industry for more than ten years, Craig, as the current Managing Director at Orchan Consulting Asia, splits his time between providing compelling consultancy, and brainwashing interns into professional food-delivery staff.
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