Big bunch of activities at the office. They were part of the Christmas/New Year celebrations - cricket, tug-of-war and a "performance" round where the team was expected to put up a performance. Cricket we missed, due to some last minute work that had to be done. Performance we didn't prepare for since we didn't have too much time on our hands... but the tug-of-war we won.
Phew.
Dec 29, 2005
Dec 25, 2005
Books
In between compiles and runs I was looking up some sites on the FSM (something that I wanted to do for months, but never had the time), and I came across this:
http://www2.ljworld.com/onthestreet/2005/aug/24/pastafarianism which I found interesting because of some comments by people who seem to be supporters of the Bible (ironic that I should be writing about it today, of all days). My problem isn't with these people, but with the fact that they accept the Bible as fact. Quote: "The Bible even says that God created man to have an intimate relationship with Him. Man was created in His own image and were made to worship Him." and "As it stands now, Bible is infallible". Then it all comes down to a "my book is better than your book" kind of contest, and neither of us know who wrote our particular books and have no way of verifying anything written in them. For example this probably existed long before the other books did, and this is supposed to be the oldest story ever told. Maybe a few thousand years hence someone will find a preserved copy of Harry Potter and deduce how humans lived in the 21st century, while assuming the book to be factual history...
http://www2.ljworld.com/onthestreet/2005/aug/24/pastafarianism which I found interesting because of some comments by people who seem to be supporters of the Bible (ironic that I should be writing about it today, of all days). My problem isn't with these people, but with the fact that they accept the Bible as fact. Quote: "The Bible even says that God created man to have an intimate relationship with Him. Man was created in His own image and were made to worship Him." and "As it stands now, Bible is infallible". Then it all comes down to a "my book is better than your book" kind of contest, and neither of us know who wrote our particular books and have no way of verifying anything written in them. For example this probably existed long before the other books did, and this is supposed to be the oldest story ever told. Maybe a few thousand years hence someone will find a preserved copy of Harry Potter and deduce how humans lived in the 21st century, while assuming the book to be factual history...
ID and evolution and other such things
I've been following with some bewilderment the story of how proponents of ID and those of evolution are slugging it out in the West. For those out of the loop, ID = the theory of intelligent design. In a nutshell, it claims that life (I think human life in particular) is too complex to have evolved on its own; in fact, it is so complex that it needs an "intelligent designer" - an entity with the knowledge and resources to create life on this planet. Apparently, to disassociate itself from "religion", ID does not make any claims about the designer other than it's existence.
One example (which I probably read on slashdot, again) is about finding a fine Swiss watch on the street somewhere. It is so complex and so beautiful that one presumes that it has been designed and created by someone and that it didn't suddenly appear in the street by itself. The existence of that watch is itself a sign of the existence of the creator of that watch.
This theory goes head to head with that of evolution; that life follows a pattern of natural selection and there is no need for a creator, except perhaps to start off the universe.
The recent hoo-ha was about teaching of ID as an alternative to evolution in schools. Opponents of teaching ID claim it's just a back door to get a particular religion into the syllabus, while proponents say that every valid scientific theory should be taught in schools.
Sigh. As if life wasn't bad enough already. What do I think about all this? Follow this link:
FSM, and the truth will set you free (just kidding). I think, if I really found an exquisite and beautiful Swiss watch and it was the most interesting thing on the planet, I wouldn't be content to just accept a random creator somewhere. Wouldn't it be fun to find out who the creator is, does he care about what happens to the watch, how did he make the watch, can he make more, and can he teach me to make them?
One example (which I probably read on slashdot, again) is about finding a fine Swiss watch on the street somewhere. It is so complex and so beautiful that one presumes that it has been designed and created by someone and that it didn't suddenly appear in the street by itself. The existence of that watch is itself a sign of the existence of the creator of that watch.
This theory goes head to head with that of evolution; that life follows a pattern of natural selection and there is no need for a creator, except perhaps to start off the universe.
The recent hoo-ha was about teaching of ID as an alternative to evolution in schools. Opponents of teaching ID claim it's just a back door to get a particular religion into the syllabus, while proponents say that every valid scientific theory should be taught in schools.
Sigh. As if life wasn't bad enough already. What do I think about all this? Follow this link:
FSM, and the truth will set you free (just kidding). I think, if I really found an exquisite and beautiful Swiss watch and it was the most interesting thing on the planet, I wouldn't be content to just accept a random creator somewhere. Wouldn't it be fun to find out who the creator is, does he care about what happens to the watch, how did he make the watch, can he make more, and can he teach me to make them?
Nothing...
... better to do.
It takes me back several years (6.5, to be precise), when I had just joined my first job. A lot of us young people would come to the office on weekends and other holidays. Because we had nothing better to do. It was a fun thing too, talking and joking with friends, perhaps going out for lunch, playing pranks, and table tennis, and having very serious discussions about life.
The end of December 2005 finds me in the same situation all over again. In the office on weekends because I have nothing better to do. Yet, this is different. The office is deserted. All the young people are doing things, going places. The only sound here is the fan in my Xeon machine running for all it's worth. Lunch? In the cafeteria, alone and in silence. The security guards are surprised to see me walk in on holidays, seems like this is simply not done out here. Browse some sites, write a little code, drink a lot of coffee, ramble on the blog and go home... for the weekly pizza. What would people a generation or two back think about this lifestyle? Would they be shocked and say "get a life"? Or would they be happy that I'm not getting into any trouble and am being a "good boy"?
It takes me back several years (6.5, to be precise), when I had just joined my first job. A lot of us young people would come to the office on weekends and other holidays. Because we had nothing better to do. It was a fun thing too, talking and joking with friends, perhaps going out for lunch, playing pranks, and table tennis, and having very serious discussions about life.
The end of December 2005 finds me in the same situation all over again. In the office on weekends because I have nothing better to do. Yet, this is different. The office is deserted. All the young people are doing things, going places. The only sound here is the fan in my Xeon machine running for all it's worth. Lunch? In the cafeteria, alone and in silence. The security guards are surprised to see me walk in on holidays, seems like this is simply not done out here. Browse some sites, write a little code, drink a lot of coffee, ramble on the blog and go home... for the weekly pizza. What would people a generation or two back think about this lifestyle? Would they be shocked and say "get a life"? Or would they be happy that I'm not getting into any trouble and am being a "good boy"?
Dec 24, 2005
"By an Anonymous Poet" and other ramblings
When things go wrong as they sometimes will
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low, and the debts are high
You want to smile, but have to sigh
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with it's twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow--
You might succeed with another blow.
Often the goal is nearer than
it seems to a faint and faltering man,
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup.
And he learned too late, when the
night slipped down,
How close he was to the golden crown.
Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things go wrong that you must not quit.
I don't quite remember where and when I recited this one. Was it at the school farewell party? For my class or my seniors? Or was it on Teachers' Day? Certainly wasn't in college... or anytime after I left college. I remember I used to have a notebook full of such stuff (gimme a break, I was only a kid then!) and funny quotes.
My favourite one, and maybe Chaos remembers this too, was by Andre Agassi (apparently) - You don't win silver. You lose gold.
And from the Matrix trilogy: Why, Mr. Anderson, why? Why? Why do you do it? Why? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something, for more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom, or truth, perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson, vagaries of perception, temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself. Although... Only a human mind can invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson, you must know it by now. You can't win, it is pointless to keep fighting.
Hits
I see that Veera has got a bunch of hits by people searching for "Dinesh Gopinath I.A.S., Director of Medical & Research Div, Chennai". This refers of course, to a hoax being forwarded by all and sundry. What's surprising is that people are still searching for it, which means it's still doing the rounds; and that the searchers are reaching Veera's blog, of all places!
Of course, by including that string in this post I hope to draw some of that traffic away from Veera. One or two more hits a day would increase the hit count here by a factor of 2, I guess.
Oh well, what with woodwork going on in my home and nobody around to spend the time with, I've landed up at work today. My fuzzy logic clock tells me it's a quarter past three (Never seen a fuzzy logic clock? Try it, it's good) which means there's another three hours to go before I think of leaving for home.
Chaos wants to know what's cooking and I must admit it's mostly frying and related processes, and little else. Tadka, and phodni in his and my native tongues. The good thing is that I just need onions, mustard seeds, salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder and something to process and I'm all set! Poha/pohe (flattened puffed rice, I guess) is something I am fond of, and on the same lines I sometimes substitute the rice part with bread crumbs or even crushed chapati (phodni-chi poli in Marathi, for those who understand). We tried making an omlette when PT was here, and I tried it again after PT left too. Not too bad. I can make bread-pakodas too, though sometimes they don't really look like what they're supposed to. I can make rice, but there isn't any at home - my resources are limited. I hate noodles, but I can make them (duh). All said and done, cooking alone for a single person is not difficult, it's extremely boring. Cleaning up after the cooking is done is boring too. Going out to buy onions in the evening may not be boring per se, but it's cold.
Of course, by including that string in this post I hope to draw some of that traffic away from Veera. One or two more hits a day would increase the hit count here by a factor of 2, I guess.
Oh well, what with woodwork going on in my home and nobody around to spend the time with, I've landed up at work today. My fuzzy logic clock tells me it's a quarter past three (Never seen a fuzzy logic clock? Try it, it's good) which means there's another three hours to go before I think of leaving for home.
Chaos wants to know what's cooking and I must admit it's mostly frying and related processes, and little else. Tadka, and phodni in his and my native tongues. The good thing is that I just need onions, mustard seeds, salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder and something to process and I'm all set! Poha/pohe (flattened puffed rice, I guess) is something I am fond of, and on the same lines I sometimes substitute the rice part with bread crumbs or even crushed chapati (phodni-chi poli in Marathi, for those who understand). We tried making an omlette when PT was here, and I tried it again after PT left too. Not too bad. I can make bread-pakodas too, though sometimes they don't really look like what they're supposed to. I can make rice, but there isn't any at home - my resources are limited. I hate noodles, but I can make them (duh). All said and done, cooking alone for a single person is not difficult, it's extremely boring. Cleaning up after the cooking is done is boring too. Going out to buy onions in the evening may not be boring per se, but it's cold.
Gadgets
I was reading a thread on slashdot about how Americans are "addicted" to technology - notable being high-speed internet and devices like MP3 players, cellphones, etc. Some posters made the point that the thread is pointless, seeing as everyone is dependent on technology in some way or the other and calling it addiction is not quite correct.
Made me think about myself - high-speed internet? Hardly. 256kbps is not high-speed. But if you hear the providers here, it's the top-end package I have and I should be more than happy with it. Am I addicted to it? Perhaps. I need the daily dose of news and tech stuff, but I don't feel lost without it. MP3 player? Nope, I don't have one. At least, not a portable one. Yet. And I don't listen to music 24/7 anyway. Cell phone? Yup, I have one, but am not dependent on it in any way. I don't call anyone, nobody calls me. The phone's there just in case anyone wants to call me, or if I need to call for a pizza delivery. I don't have a so-called landline. Radio/music system? Nope, I don't have either. I do have a TV and a DVD player, but both are not in use right now.
One of the reasons for not having too many gadgets is price, I think. There are so many things to buy and only so much money!
Made me think about myself - high-speed internet? Hardly. 256kbps is not high-speed. But if you hear the providers here, it's the top-end package I have and I should be more than happy with it. Am I addicted to it? Perhaps. I need the daily dose of news and tech stuff, but I don't feel lost without it. MP3 player? Nope, I don't have one. At least, not a portable one. Yet. And I don't listen to music 24/7 anyway. Cell phone? Yup, I have one, but am not dependent on it in any way. I don't call anyone, nobody calls me. The phone's there just in case anyone wants to call me, or if I need to call for a pizza delivery. I don't have a so-called landline. Radio/music system? Nope, I don't have either. I do have a TV and a DVD player, but both are not in use right now.
One of the reasons for not having too many gadgets is price, I think. There are so many things to buy and only so much money!
Dec 23, 2005
Stardust
Slashdot reports:
"Seven years ago, the Stardust probe was sent to intercept Comet Wild 2, gather dust particles, and return to Earth. Stardust is scheduled to touch down in a Utah desert on January 15. From the article: 'Our mission is called Stardust, in part because we believe some of the particles in the comet will, in fact, be older than the sun,' said Don Brownlee of the University of Washington, the principal investigator of the mission."
Like a cosmic vacuum cleaner?
"Seven years ago, the Stardust probe was sent to intercept Comet Wild 2, gather dust particles, and return to Earth. Stardust is scheduled to touch down in a Utah desert on January 15. From the article: 'Our mission is called Stardust, in part because we believe some of the particles in the comet will, in fact, be older than the sun,' said Don Brownlee of the University of Washington, the principal investigator of the mission."
Like a cosmic vacuum cleaner?
Dec 21, 2005
Woe is me
The worst thing possible for someone who rides a motorcycle. A puncture. Caused by a HUGE nail lying on the road. What's worse is that I noticed the flat tyre while I was on my way back home last night. And being in the middle of nowhere doesn't exactly help.
Stopped at a petrol bunk on the way (yes, I was riding on the semi-deflated tyre; didn't have much choice) and a little boy there changed the valve for me. I rode back home hoping that that was all it was, but saw that it was flat again this morning, so it was most definitely a puncture. A puncture-wallah sitting at the corner near my apartment fixed it, and that's when we saw the nail stuck in the tyre.
Puncture fixed, yay! Back to 100kmph on the service road.
Sigh. You can imagine what my life would be like nowadays if this is what I'm writing about in a blog.
Stopped at a petrol bunk on the way (yes, I was riding on the semi-deflated tyre; didn't have much choice) and a little boy there changed the valve for me. I rode back home hoping that that was all it was, but saw that it was flat again this morning, so it was most definitely a puncture. A puncture-wallah sitting at the corner near my apartment fixed it, and that's when we saw the nail stuck in the tyre.
Puncture fixed, yay! Back to 100kmph on the service road.
Sigh. You can imagine what my life would be like nowadays if this is what I'm writing about in a blog.
Dec 20, 2005
Whenever you're holding all the cards ...
.. why does everyone else turn out to be playing chess?
Anyway, it's getting more and more foggy out here as the days go by. There's fog at 10 o'clock in the morning, when I race down the service road to go to work. And I can't seem to be able to wake up early enough to get to work earlier than this - it's too cold.
I've started a bit of cooking too, small stuff mostly, can't go for the intricate dishes since I don't have the required paraphernalia.
Oh well, that's it for today.
Anyway, it's getting more and more foggy out here as the days go by. There's fog at 10 o'clock in the morning, when I race down the service road to go to work. And I can't seem to be able to wake up early enough to get to work earlier than this - it's too cold.
I've started a bit of cooking too, small stuff mostly, can't go for the intricate dishes since I don't have the required paraphernalia.
Oh well, that's it for today.
Dec 19, 2005
Dec 17, 2005
AOE3
Completed the first part of the AOE3 single player campaign. Moderate difficulty, most of the video settings on high. Must say that my system held up pretty well, maybe because low FPS doesn't really make such a game unplayable. There were some places with intense fighting where I could feel the video stuttering, and also some complex cutscenes that looked like a slideshow; but overall the feel was good.
There's no way I'm going to play this game on lower video settings, I'd rather see my buildings fall in a slideshow than have them vanish without crumbling in real time! And for the Fountain of Youth, protect that big gun at all costs and make plenty of ships.
And before I forget - I really liked the opening video, especially the manner in which the music gives way to the "classic" AOE theme!
There's no way I'm going to play this game on lower video settings, I'd rather see my buildings fall in a slideshow than have them vanish without crumbling in real time! And for the Fountain of Youth, protect that big gun at all costs and make plenty of ships.
And before I forget - I really liked the opening video, especially the manner in which the music gives way to the "classic" AOE theme!
Literacy?
"More Americans are getting college degrees than they were about a decade ago, but skills in reading and analyzing data among the well-educated have dropped significantly, according to a national report on literacy released Thursday.
When adults with higher-education degrees were asked to compare the viewpoints in two newspaper editorials, for example, or interpret a table about blood pressure, less than half could do it successfully."
Great. Should give the people harping about the US being a wonderful place, something to think about.
Of course, I hope I would do better at reading comprehension than an above-mentioned illiterate - but you never know.
When adults with higher-education degrees were asked to compare the viewpoints in two newspaper editorials, for example, or interpret a table about blood pressure, less than half could do it successfully."
Great. Should give the people harping about the US being a wonderful place, something to think about.
Of course, I hope I would do better at reading comprehension than an above-mentioned illiterate - but you never know.
Dec 15, 2005
Age of Empires!
Finally got the CDs that I had ordered online - Age of Empires 3 and Need for Speed : Most Wanted! Mmmmm... you can bet there won't be any long posts here for a while.
The sad part of this story is that I finally find my PC specs out of date. Are people willing to donate towards a new 7800GTX 512 for me? :P
The sad part of this story is that I finally find my PC specs out of date. Are people willing to donate towards a new 7800GTX 512 for me? :P
Dec 13, 2005
Visitors
Yup, the ones who come to my blog. I track them thru that little picture down at the bottom of the page. And I always find the statistics fascinating.
For one, not many of my own friends and relatives know of this blog. So most of the hits I get are from the one guy who knows about it and from random surfers and more importantly, redirects from search engines. Now, if there is one thing that this blog lacks it's a theme (that is why the term "Rambling" appears in the title, duh). So there is absolutely nothing here that would actually interest a person who is searching for something specific. Unless he is searching for me.
Some of the searches are reasonable, people looking for information and reviews about the M6805, or searching for games and widescreen er.. screens.
But then there was this guy who's looking for "measures to reduce job hopping". Dude, if you're going through blogs looking for how to stop your employees from leaving, you have bigger problems than job hoppers. One solution always works, pay them more :)
Another person is looking for "optical zoom on cellphones". Nope, there isn't. Actually, I did see one cellphone a long time ago that had an optical zoom lens, but that was a prototype. Optical zoom would probably eat up a lot of power, make the phone bulky and also costlier. So there.
To the guy looking for "Philips India DVD 3007", it's a good model, but there's isn't much to choose from between brands. Get the cheapest one you can find that has all the features that you are likely to use.
"Bangalore traffic"? The less said about it, the better. Why were you searching for it in the first place?
And then Chaos has put up a rant about the name change. From Bangalore to Benga-loo-roo. I wholeheartedly support it since I don't live there any more. It might prompt more people to leave and maybe, just maybe, some, ahem, interesting people might migrate up north.
For one, not many of my own friends and relatives know of this blog. So most of the hits I get are from the one guy who knows about it and from random surfers and more importantly, redirects from search engines. Now, if there is one thing that this blog lacks it's a theme (that is why the term "Rambling" appears in the title, duh). So there is absolutely nothing here that would actually interest a person who is searching for something specific. Unless he is searching for me.
Some of the searches are reasonable, people looking for information and reviews about the M6805, or searching for games and widescreen er.. screens.
But then there was this guy who's looking for "measures to reduce job hopping". Dude, if you're going through blogs looking for how to stop your employees from leaving, you have bigger problems than job hoppers. One solution always works, pay them more :)
Another person is looking for "optical zoom on cellphones". Nope, there isn't. Actually, I did see one cellphone a long time ago that had an optical zoom lens, but that was a prototype. Optical zoom would probably eat up a lot of power, make the phone bulky and also costlier. So there.
To the guy looking for "Philips India DVD 3007", it's a good model, but there's isn't much to choose from between brands. Get the cheapest one you can find that has all the features that you are likely to use.
"Bangalore traffic"? The less said about it, the better. Why were you searching for it in the first place?
And then Chaos has put up a rant about the name change. From Bangalore to Benga-loo-roo. I wholeheartedly support it since I don't live there any more. It might prompt more people to leave and maybe, just maybe, some, ahem, interesting people might migrate up north.
Dec 8, 2005
Dec 7, 2005
Rats!
"The 'brain', grown from 25,000 neural cells extracted from a single rat embryo, has been taught to fly an F-22 jet simulator by scientists at the University of Florida."
Enough said!
Enough said!
Dec 6, 2005
Traffic woes
Yup. Traffic woes. Those who have heard me raving about the traffic conditions out here as compared to good ol' Bangalore would be surprised. But of course woes are relative.
After months of more or less empty roads, I faced my first big traffic jam today morning. Had to spend about 30 minutes in one place, then managed to get out and cut across a sandy road and then vrooooom :) Not too bad, was it?
The other crib I have is about people not respecting traffic signals. How much intelligence does it take to stop if you see a red light and traffic coming from the opposite direction?
After months of more or less empty roads, I faced my first big traffic jam today morning. Had to spend about 30 minutes in one place, then managed to get out and cut across a sandy road and then vrooooom :) Not too bad, was it?
The other crib I have is about people not respecting traffic signals. How much intelligence does it take to stop if you see a red light and traffic coming from the opposite direction?
Dec 5, 2005
amBX
Interesting, it IS the next logical step. I won't comment on how effective something like this can be till I have experienced it for myself.
Dec 2, 2005
Nivida said...
... something or the other. This appeared in a newspaper article mentioning opinions of young people on something.
If you're like me, you read that as Nvidia said... :(
Yes, I need to get a life.
If you're like me, you read that as Nvidia said... :(
Yes, I need to get a life.
Survive Outsourcing again?
Steve Larrison actually responded to some flames I threw his way in my blog. To me, at least, it indicates that he is serious about his site and what he writes there.
>This guy makes the same assumption that many others do; but all that '3 jobs in 6 months' means is that this person was at one company for 6 months.
If you read the article I linked to, it is clear that the writer is talking about the benefits of serial job hopping.
The writer is speculating on how much is enough. One oft-talked-about problem in the Indian IT industry is the rising wage bill, like you mention, but it is also due to salary hikes every year, not only because people job-hop. The reason behind this could very well be that after all the wage hikes, it is still economical to get the work done in India or Indian workers are good enough to warrant such wages. What you choose to believe is up to you. But that still does not address the point that the writer in question may not be a chronic job hopper.
> "Regardless of what rate someone like the above author works at, an experienced person in the western world who isn't a serial job hopper is going to be a better value for any employer."
>>I could say the same after replacing western with Indian. What he is trying to do is to paint all non-western persons as non-serial-job-hoppers, stable employees, who are not out to jump ship at every opportunity they get.
I am doing nothing of the sort. I am just recognizing reality. Though Japanese people are not westerners, their culture promotes loyalty to a company, and company loyalty to employees.
No? The reality is what I wrote in response to your statement. The word "western" is unwarranted in what you said. Any person (western or otherwise) who does not switch jobs is probably better value for a company. There was absolutely no need for you to bring "the west vs. the rest" in that comment.
Try as you might, you can't deny the facts. And the facts are that Indian IT companies experience 30%+ annual turnover. Call centers experience 100%+ annual turnover.
Some jobs are hurt more by high turnover than others.
Agreed. I'm not denying the facts. But consider, if you will, the fact that the Indian culture of employment was similar to what you wrote about the Japanese (without going to the extremes that the Japanese are rumoured to). The word "attrition" did not exist till the IT industry came in (that's right, the "western" companies). If a company is willing to ignore my job-hopping past and also give me a substantial hike in salary while providing me with similar work and environment, is there any reason for me to not switch jobs? Companies actively send out recruiters to head-hunt, and most places are desperate to get people with some work experience. We have executives from "western" MNCs flying down to conduct interviews and accepting people with the job-hopping record that you put so nicely in numbers. Given such a tremendous opportunity, would you blame people for falling for it? And yet, I know good people who have worked in the same company for 10 years and more, out of sheer loyalty or maybe inertia.
Call centers are a different kettle of fish. I don't work in one (should I add, thank God?), but I do know that they employ a lot of young people who are in it only for the money. The ads for call center vacancies blatantly indicate how much a new recruit will earn. Possibly a lot of them leave to pursue higher studies, or a job higher up the value chain.
Applications developers bring more than just knowledge of a programming language to the table. If you have ever worked at a company for several years, you would know that the knowledge of a system gained overtime is invaluable. Productivity goes up once you understand a system and no longer have to do research to determine where a problem lies, or how to make an enhancement.
Yes, and that is the reason why domain specialists are so much in demand. If all you know is a programming language you wouldn't last too long in the industry, would you? But you cannot argue that a person requires complete knowledge of the system that he is working on to be productive. I still maintain that a few weeks or a couple of months should be enough for anyone who is half-way good in his domain to start working productively. (And for the hecklers, his = his/her everywhere in this blog.)
>And trying to portray Indians as job hopping opportunists.
The turnover numbers speak for themself.
I wouldn't say so. Only the bad numbers make news. Let's look at some other numbers: Nasscom in a report said the outsourcing industry was expected to face a shortage of 262,000 professionals by 2012. In such an environment, companies are going to do whatever they can to attract employees. And employees are going to be less tolerant of mistakes that their employers make. Here's more: Call centre professionals in India are well taken care of by the employers, compared to the United States, where the workers were treated like a 'commodity,' said an official of Communication Workers of America, the largest workers' union in the US. ... The delegation from the US, which visited call centres and IT firms in cities such as Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, said the system in India was much better. "We are very impressed by the welfare measures for the workers here," she said. Interesting? And, apparently, the attrition rate in the US call centre industry is in the range of 18-25%, and may even be as high as 40% according to some estimates. Perhaps Steve has the correct numbers, I couldn't find them summarized on the web.
>"and the simple fact that even though Americans cost 4 times as much as Indians, we typically produce more work per person."
>>I take offense at that statement, Mr. Steve Larrison. There are lazy people and good people in all industries, in all cultures. Making such sweeping generalizations will only start a flame war - "Indians are typically more hard working, sincere and talented than Americans. And we are much less violent too."
There is no reason to be offended. Again, the numbers speak for themselves. Though the typical Indian software developer in India works for about 1/4 the rate of what someone in the United States charges, well run projects come in about 20% to 30% less than what you would pay to have the same project developed onshore.
But then a Gartner report says that outsourcing could even be more expensive than doing work in-house (from the "customer service industry" perspective). Oh well...
Tell me this, if all developers in a project being done in the "western" world were to take a salary cut of 50% would the project cost drop by exactly 50%? There are fixed costs, and even more importantly top management salaries to account for as well, I think. However, all this number crunching is totally beside the point, what counts most for a given company is whether the costs are reducing, and if they reduce by 20% to 30% there is no justification for not oursourcing. How much the Indian IT worker makes is a moot point, and perhaps it's up to the local industry to sort that issue out.
There are a variety of reasons for this. But the fact is that Americans produce more work per worker than people from any other nation. That's just part of the reason our GDP is the largest of any country in the world, and larger than the next 5 countries combined.
Indeed? More work in what terms? Dollars paid for doing that work? That just means Americans are, gasp, overpaid! Or did you mean to say that if I can write two thousand lines of quality code in a month, an average American in the same job would write ten thousand? Or that he could get the work done in 400 lines? Or in less than a week? With less coffee consumption? Or all of the above?
Larger than the next 5 countried combined? This sounded pretty intriguing to me...
Wow! Certainly larger than China and India combined. No mean feat, this, but larger than the next 5 countries combined?
Disclaimer: Numbers are from a simple google search, I have no proof of their accuracy and it seems they are from 2001. Hopefully things haven't changed so drastically since then :(
>This guy makes the same assumption that many others do; but all that '3 jobs in 6 months' means is that this person was at one company for 6 months.
If you read the article I linked to, it is clear that the writer is talking about the benefits of serial job hopping.
The writer is speculating on how much is enough. One oft-talked-about problem in the Indian IT industry is the rising wage bill, like you mention, but it is also due to salary hikes every year, not only because people job-hop. The reason behind this could very well be that after all the wage hikes, it is still economical to get the work done in India or Indian workers are good enough to warrant such wages. What you choose to believe is up to you. But that still does not address the point that the writer in question may not be a chronic job hopper.
> "Regardless of what rate someone like the above author works at, an experienced person in the western world who isn't a serial job hopper is going to be a better value for any employer."
>>I could say the same after replacing western with Indian. What he is trying to do is to paint all non-western persons as non-serial-job-hoppers, stable employees, who are not out to jump ship at every opportunity they get.
I am doing nothing of the sort. I am just recognizing reality. Though Japanese people are not westerners, their culture promotes loyalty to a company, and company loyalty to employees.
No? The reality is what I wrote in response to your statement. The word "western" is unwarranted in what you said. Any person (western or otherwise) who does not switch jobs is probably better value for a company. There was absolutely no need for you to bring "the west vs. the rest" in that comment.
Try as you might, you can't deny the facts. And the facts are that Indian IT companies experience 30%+ annual turnover. Call centers experience 100%+ annual turnover.
Some jobs are hurt more by high turnover than others.
Agreed. I'm not denying the facts. But consider, if you will, the fact that the Indian culture of employment was similar to what you wrote about the Japanese (without going to the extremes that the Japanese are rumoured to). The word "attrition" did not exist till the IT industry came in (that's right, the "western" companies). If a company is willing to ignore my job-hopping past and also give me a substantial hike in salary while providing me with similar work and environment, is there any reason for me to not switch jobs? Companies actively send out recruiters to head-hunt, and most places are desperate to get people with some work experience. We have executives from "western" MNCs flying down to conduct interviews and accepting people with the job-hopping record that you put so nicely in numbers. Given such a tremendous opportunity, would you blame people for falling for it? And yet, I know good people who have worked in the same company for 10 years and more, out of sheer loyalty or maybe inertia.
Call centers are a different kettle of fish. I don't work in one (should I add, thank God?), but I do know that they employ a lot of young people who are in it only for the money. The ads for call center vacancies blatantly indicate how much a new recruit will earn. Possibly a lot of them leave to pursue higher studies, or a job higher up the value chain.
Applications developers bring more than just knowledge of a programming language to the table. If you have ever worked at a company for several years, you would know that the knowledge of a system gained overtime is invaluable. Productivity goes up once you understand a system and no longer have to do research to determine where a problem lies, or how to make an enhancement.
Yes, and that is the reason why domain specialists are so much in demand. If all you know is a programming language you wouldn't last too long in the industry, would you? But you cannot argue that a person requires complete knowledge of the system that he is working on to be productive. I still maintain that a few weeks or a couple of months should be enough for anyone who is half-way good in his domain to start working productively. (And for the hecklers, his = his/her everywhere in this blog.)
>And trying to portray Indians as job hopping opportunists.
The turnover numbers speak for themself.
I wouldn't say so. Only the bad numbers make news. Let's look at some other numbers: Nasscom in a report said the outsourcing industry was expected to face a shortage of 262,000 professionals by 2012. In such an environment, companies are going to do whatever they can to attract employees. And employees are going to be less tolerant of mistakes that their employers make. Here's more: Call centre professionals in India are well taken care of by the employers, compared to the United States, where the workers were treated like a 'commodity,' said an official of Communication Workers of America, the largest workers' union in the US. ... The delegation from the US, which visited call centres and IT firms in cities such as Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad, said the system in India was much better. "We are very impressed by the welfare measures for the workers here," she said. Interesting? And, apparently, the attrition rate in the US call centre industry is in the range of 18-25%, and may even be as high as 40% according to some estimates. Perhaps Steve has the correct numbers, I couldn't find them summarized on the web.
>"and the simple fact that even though Americans cost 4 times as much as Indians, we typically produce more work per person."
>>I take offense at that statement, Mr. Steve Larrison. There are lazy people and good people in all industries, in all cultures. Making such sweeping generalizations will only start a flame war - "Indians are typically more hard working, sincere and talented than Americans. And we are much less violent too."
There is no reason to be offended. Again, the numbers speak for themselves. Though the typical Indian software developer in India works for about 1/4 the rate of what someone in the United States charges, well run projects come in about 20% to 30% less than what you would pay to have the same project developed onshore.
But then a Gartner report says that outsourcing could even be more expensive than doing work in-house (from the "customer service industry" perspective). Oh well...
Tell me this, if all developers in a project being done in the "western" world were to take a salary cut of 50% would the project cost drop by exactly 50%? There are fixed costs, and even more importantly top management salaries to account for as well, I think. However, all this number crunching is totally beside the point, what counts most for a given company is whether the costs are reducing, and if they reduce by 20% to 30% there is no justification for not oursourcing. How much the Indian IT worker makes is a moot point, and perhaps it's up to the local industry to sort that issue out.
There are a variety of reasons for this. But the fact is that Americans produce more work per worker than people from any other nation. That's just part of the reason our GDP is the largest of any country in the world, and larger than the next 5 countries combined.
Indeed? More work in what terms? Dollars paid for doing that work? That just means Americans are, gasp, overpaid! Or did you mean to say that if I can write two thousand lines of quality code in a month, an average American in the same job would write ten thousand? Or that he could get the work done in 400 lines? Or in less than a week? With less coffee consumption? Or all of the above?
Larger than the next 5 countried combined? This sounded pretty intriguing to me...
Numbers are fun, right?
United States $ 11,750,000,000,000
India $ 3,319,000,000,000
China $ 7,262,000,000,000
Wow! Certainly larger than China and India combined. No mean feat, this, but larger than the next 5 countries combined?
Disclaimer: Numbers are from a simple google search, I have no proof of their accuracy and it seems they are from 2001. Hopefully things haven't changed so drastically since then :(
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