In Memory of Dr. Kais Dukes
And consciousness of time.
Five years ago today, in the depths of the first pandemic lockdown, I was working as a software developer in Blackpool1 - wondering what was next for me. I was earning the princely sum of £16,000 (yes, sixteen thousand) per year, and was legitimately considering joining the Royal Air Force2. I’d only just turned seventeen, to be fair.
Amidst arguably the greatest period of uncertainty in living memory, I felt particularly unsure. Coming of age is turbulent and confusing enough for anybody (so they say…), but to do it at just the moment where everything you are told you are “supposed to do" suddenly is not allowed, or now feels out of reach, is something I don’t wish on anybody. My eighteenth birthday was my mum and I, in our little terraced house in Blackpool, making cocktails and watching a movie. The final day of the UK’s second lockdown. Not quite the big blowout you expect to have on your first day as an adult.
Sometimes, a single decision made by one person can completely change your life. For me, that person was Dr. Kais Dukes. When I was an ambitious but inexperienced 18-year-old with no formal qualifications, Kais hired me as a “junior web developer” at Zilch, just after their Series A funding round. He was the Head of Engineering at the time.
I can’t overstate the chance he took on me here - not only did I not have any relevant schooling (or any schooling at all, in fact), I’d never even worked in an engineering team, only as a solo developer for small local businesses in Blackpool. Zilch at the time was a hyper-growth startup hitting the hockey-stick inflection point, and they desperately needed good engineering talent.
Sadly, Kais passed away a year ago this month, although I don’t know exactly when, and I still don't fully understand the circumstances of his passing. There wasn't a funeral that I knew of, and the news reached me unexpectedly - through former colleagues, and through social media. It left me feeling a profound sense of loss.
Kais was genuinely brilliant - an incredible engineer, visionary thinker, and a techno-optimist. His work on the Quranic Arabic Corpus is known all over the Islamic world. While he wasn't a traditional people manager, Kais knew exactly how to motivate and inspire those around him.
I'll never forget my first day at Zilch, when Kais messaged me saying, “Luke, I have a super-secret Black Ops mission for you.” It was actually a simple task, building a small UI for a testing framework. But the way he presented it turned an ordinary task into something exciting and meaningful, especially for someone young and eager to impress.
Even after he stepped away from work to care for his mental health, we stayed in touch briefly. I saw him struggling, and then eventually, I heard nothing until the news of his passing reached me. It felt sudden, unresolved, and deeply sad.
Kais's kindness and belief in my abilities profoundly shaped my journey. He took a risk on me when very few others would have, and for that, I'm forever grateful.
Thank you, Kais. You're missed more than you could ever know, and your impact on my life will always be remembered.
A very poor seaside town in the North of England. It’s sort of my home town, but that’s a long story. It’s where I spent the majority of my teenage years anyway.
I almost did join in fact, my start date was in August 2020 - but that’s another story.