I remember a quote that goes “Stop praying. Get off your knees and do something.” Randell Benavidez lives this adage.
Randell dreams big. He wants to see the Philippines as a first-world country. He wants to see a Filipino company become a tech giant, amidst the Googles, Microsofts and Apples among us. He wants to give back to the community and to the country. He not only dreams though, he knows that something has to be done to make these a reality.
Thus, the birth of NullPointer.ph. Founded in 2009, Randell launched the Q&A site (along with co-founders Nikki Erwin Ramirez, Jan Michael Yu, Germaine Belmonte, and Jessie James Trivino) targeted towards software developers — a local offshoot of US-based StackOverflow.com. The vision was to bring Filipino software experts together, build a portal of knowledge, and grow a developer community. NullPointer has since become an avenue for programmers to help each other solve day-to-day software development problems. The premise sounds simple, but if you think about the big picture, it all makes sense: it’s about knowledge sharing, building networks and connecting with peers. It’s win-win from all angles.
What is the immediate goal? Randell wants NullPointer.ph to be a household name among Filipino developers. Our fearless forecast is he’s well on his way.
- Why did you go into software development? What triggered the interest?
Since I was a kid, I have always enjoyed solving problems and building stuff. During my time in the university, I realized that I can do a lot of those two simultaneously in software development as compared to teaching or doing research.
- At any point, have you ever thought of shifting careers? Why or why not?
I actually have. But whenever I try to imagine myself not coding, I immediately see myself getting bored and start hacking away eventually.
- What would you consider to be your career milestones?
It would be getting my first freelance project, and establishing of NullPointer and Mudspring Software.
My first freelance project gave me a sense of what it’s like to write software that other people actually use. NullPointer and Mudspring Software, on the other hand, are the starting point of what I really want to do in the long run, which is to create the things that I personally envisioned.
- What would you consider to be your greatest accomplishment thus far?
I’d probably go with the establishing of NullPointer. Nothing beats being able to create something that contributes back to the community, empowers your peers, and helps the country. It also jump-started our own start-up, Mudspring Software, Inc.
- Are you doing any other project aside from NullPointer? If yes, please give us an overview.
Right now we’re focusing on expanding the services offered by NullPointer, so the other projects still revolve around it. We would like our community to do more than just ask and answer questions, and post jobs. I think that’s all of the details I can say right now. We’ll be announcing the upcoming stuff in our blog (http://blog.nullpointer.ph/) when the time comes.
- What is your dream for yourself?
World domination. *evil laugh*
But seriously, I just want to live simple life. I’d like to wake up one day not worrying so much about finances, but still be able to provide everything that my family needs, while solving one world problem at a time. And play video games from time to time when the world isn’t falling apart. - What is your dream for the Filipino tech community?
To be able to produce our own tech giant that could compete with the likes of Google, Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and IBM. This might seem far-fetched, but with all of the talents that we have in our country, this is not impossible.
- What is your dream for the country?
Right now, I just want the Philippines to become a first-world country.
- Famous last words:
It doesn’t matter whether you know what to do and know that you can do it unless you actually go out there and do it.
