Me, Megh and Meghbartma

5:56 pm

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 07:07:00 +0000

The tale of what happens when it gets close to closing time

This is the story of every weekday spent looking at the top right,

My Macbook pro, slowed down by a million tabs in plain sight,

There used to be buffered videos and downloaded documents,

Now there are bookmarks, there is pocket, yet the same predicaments,

At my old job, this time meant quitting came easy around now,

We’ll pick this issue up tomorrow, someway, somehow,

At best this will be a bug, at worst something that needs a fix,

It isn’t that bad, it’ll be good in a couple of weeks,

Regress this and run that suite, lets make sure we follow process,

Lets have a meeting pile on another, we need our leaders to bless,

But now it’s you, it’s the clock, it’s your cabin without a view,

You have hours and minutes and new problems to chew,

You have the same problems, just a smaller set of people,

You have the same headaches, just a different source of evil,

What became of team lunches and morale events?

What happened to planning committees and coffees over nonsense?

It is but a function of moving to something smaller,

Punishment and learning — the hopes of becoming a baller,

Relinquishing options for equity and a moonshot,

Redbull, caffeine and venture funded food for though,

What determines happiness and keeps insecurity at bay,

At least here in the bay, dreams never get in the way,

Plenty of dealers who encourage a hand,

Plenty of castles made out in the sand,

Staying lean and floating like ice,

Untouched vagrancy, brought about by vice,

In these 4 minutes that the A/C whirs to a halt,

You look away, analyzing the lines of your fault,

You head away to recharge your batteries,

The drive back, drivel on the radio drown out your inner sighs,

To each their own as you check your phone stuck n traffic,

Eating out again, since cooking stopped giving you the kick,

Is this really a worthy tradeoff for work and your sanity?

Nothing better to throw yourself at and no one for clarity,

Finding your calling has little to do with a number,

But you have been clueless for as long as you can remember

Thug Life

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 04:55:00 +0000

What does it say when I cant hit chrome again,
How can I be so blase when there is so much to gain?
A lifetime of struggle punctuated by battle,
A multitude of users herded like cattle,

So when they click, and make that call,
I can survive and pretend to stall,
The ever close ceiling that will make me wonder,
The gravity of motion, that will come asunder,

One more line of code, and another feature,
So I can breathe life into this creature,
That can mint money when I press run,
But leaves me broken, unable to face the sun,

Pizzas and Beer, declining health,
Questionable social skills, already shrouded with stealth,
Fatter than ever before and no set schedule,
A nerdy T-shirt, messenger bags that look cool,

And yet i rise, late again,
Motivation tipping and demands insane,
A missed call and errors of my ways,
Why has this deal not been closed in days?

Set targets and bonuses to be spent,
You wonder which way hope went,
But it is a thug life that you signed up for,
Take me back to school, I dont want this war,

Sleepy eyes and timecards to boot,
Putting out fires, lungs stained with soot,
You live to fight
And in spite of in spite,

You keep the faith and soldier on,
Little knowledge and fear of the long con,
This hope, that ebbs and flows,
Keeps me sane when the wind blows,

Happy hours that bond with colleagues,
Revolving doors and warehouse digs,
Its a template that has fooled so many,
Its a punchline that seemed so zany,

But feet up and a commit made,
The race starts again until you are dead,
Is this the life that you really wanted?
Or was it a nightmare that came unsaid?

The addiction fuels your fight for another 2 weeks,
Your games are over when you play for keeps,
Try as you might, this has you hooked more than drugs,
But this life is here, replete with thugs

The Watchers rise

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 07:57:00 +0000

Hi

I am Amit, I work at a big tech company, looking to go full time with my idea that I am working on the side. What do you do?

I work for .....

Watch the reactions closely. The crowd will thin gradually. They will gravitate towards the clearly accomplished entrepreneur out here on an ego mission. Some others will move towards the older exec looking to reinvent himself. Yet more will move to the brunette who discusses marketing as the cornerstone of success.

And yet you find yourself, in between conversations with seriously interesting people, generally aimless. If you ever find yourself lost in a crowd that is out to practice the tenets of networking, you are a watcher.

I define Watchers are the tribe of people who are dabbling, they are involved but not committed [obligatory bacon and eggs story]. In exercising my brain cells some more, I find distinct categories of people at networking conventions.

The Doers - They believe they have found their calling. They are self appointed born entrepreneurs. They move heaven and earth to work on their startup. Tons of respect, great hustle, flawed motivation.

The Naysayers - Hands down the most annoying set of people who you will meet. They will shoot down your idea and burn your business plan. They are great critiques but terrible if you want to get a sounding board. Their advice skews negative and having made peace with not ever having a venture of their own, they are the naysayers. Annoying as fuck as I have pointed to before.

The Entrepreneurs - Probably not at this event because they are busy raising money or setting up analytics on their MVP.

The Watchers - Lets go back to the first conversation. Everyone who starts down this path is a watcher. They have a number of interesting characteristics

1. Insecure - Cannot take the plunge of leaving a cushy 100k+ job
2. In need of validation - Not just your vanilla kind of validation whores, these folks will seek ever increasing validation on either their product or idea before embarking on a journey of building
3. Smarts - Worship the Lean Canvas to the extent of drawing it out in the air and pointing at flaws in you business in terms of Alexander Osterwalder

These folks are also in search of activation energy. In advertising jargon, they are well qualified leads. They actively seek out opportunities and validation. They seek out help, partners, potential funding but are crippled by a fear of failure. A fraction convert but not nearly enough. They make up reasons to not succeed or give themselves a reason to buy a 1 way ticket to a cushy job.

Interestingly enough startups like One Month Rails are ever decreasing the threshold of entry for these watchers. But is that a core problem. Youtube videos and tutorials existed prior to Udemy and Coursera. If it is indeed motivation, then TechCrunch and their lavish dreams have you covered. Resources on the internet cannot possibly be a problem.

Why are the conversions failing for the Watchers? Are we even asking the right questions to get more people to kick their jobs to the curb and just try something out? What do you think?

Year in review

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 20:19:00 +0000

What have I learnt in the past year?

Last year was a good one. Not in the sense of an average, curmudgeonly existence, but in the sense of progress and direction. It was a good year. My most significant year was my 24^th. The opportunities and the open head surgery performed on my thought processes over my time at Stanford was life altering. My connections there make it very vivid and memorable for me still. My 25^th was a year of reconciliation. To get back to a profession is underrated. The ability of a human being to keep coming back for more is what is so underrated. To keep coming back thinking that you will have something new to learn is persistence. It’s the other side of the coin to insanity where you try the same thing over and over and expect different results. It really isn’t about the effort you put in so much as it is about how you go about it.

Lesson 1 – Persistence has value. Patience probably not

Patience is a construct that is misunderstood often. To be patient when the other option is being a headless chicken wont help is not wise, it is sane. To be patient when your options are exhausted and the only way forward is through someone else’s intervention is not an option, it is all that is left for you to do. So you never choose patience, you cop out on it. At least that’s my take.

Lesson 2 – You do not know what you do not know

So many curveballs in the last year. I had an interview with Palantir that I thought went really well. Didn’t get the job. Was it disappointing? Yes. It forced me to re-look at my career choices and take some time off. I was still applying but I had very little conviction. I had patience but not persistence. Then things changed, a startup and a product later, my confidence is pretty much where it should be. I never really liked the products built in and around big data. It seems like a fancy con, and a long one. Something that scares me. A friend of mine said, big data is just the same as small data. You don’t have to worship it. When I joined Greenplum (Pivotal), I was pretty sure that I wanted to write specs. 2 months in, I was working on products with a team that did only pair programming and took their orders from the Pivotal Tracker. I thought I would have a hand in open sourcing a proprietary piece of software. It open sourced itself and I was in the audience. Months later I thought I would be good with Hadoop and storage. Which, as unsexy as it is, has gained traction. A good career move I thought to myself. A month later, I was gone.

Lesson 3 – Uncertainty undermines you.

I wanted to get my Visa stamped in India because, you know, immigrant. I was scared. I had heard horror stories of RFEs and peeps getting stuck in India for a long ass time. I wanted to make up for the money spent in getting my MS over the next year. I did not want to be a slave to the dollar – rupee machinations. I canceled my flight once because I had a bad vibe. And for long periods of time, I did not want to go. I finally did and managed to get my visa stamped. It was fear that made me not get a car here in the US. I was constantly wondering if I would be stuck on the other side of the Atlantic or not. I was never gung ho about life. I was uncertain. I was pretty fucked up. I embraced the fact that I did not know and carried on with life. Take a decision. Even if its bad, you learn from it. If you deliberate, its going to be a while before it gets better.

Lesson 4 – Be unapologetic

A lot of my concerns and questions over the years have been silenced by my fear of failure, and even worse, my fear of having to admit it. If you have been put in a position where you need to take a decision, take it. Don’t apologize for it. If they didn’t want you to pull the trigger, they wouldn’t have given you a gun in the first place. Shit happens, embrace it (metaphorically, not in a 4Chan kind of a way).

Lesson 5 – If you don’t learn a new thing everyday, you are undercutting yourself

Knowledge is power. It may not be money.

Trivia is not knowledge. Trivia is suited for pub nights. Knowledge is when you have a coherent hypothesis around what happened. Trivia is knowing which year it happened in. Money comes from winning the pub quiz. I have been told that I must outline everything I know on a document and then get others on the same page before coding starts. If I had my way, I would shove a skunk so far down the throat of the maker of this particular request that their burps could evacuate buildings. Knowledge and learning take time. And it is a slow process of unraveling layers and mysteries. No body starts off with a perfect view of the world. We iterate on what we know and if we are lucky, we get somewhere.

Nuts and Bolts of a payment startup

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:41:00 +0000

This weekend, after shuttling between Pawnee and Scranton, I was pretty interested in finding out about the machinations of the newest payment startups. To get to a point that I can even understand about the value proposition of these payment startups, I needed to learn the basics of payment startups. And across the web, after scouring the primers available, I found the following links. Here is a watered down version of the basics, I am sure it would be interesting to people learning about the basics of these startups.

Now I am Adam or Alex or Adnan or Amit or well, lets just call me A.

A wants to use his credit card to buy a new ergonomic keyboard. This Keyboard is listed on buycheapkeyboards. This keyboard is something that A has wanted for a long time but only now does his budget allow him to go get this. A whips out his credit card and orders the keyboard from the website. A fills out all the details like so

After filling out the details, A hits Ok and waits for a few seconds. Now what happens in those few seconds.

After the credit card details (Name, Expiration, Code) are entered, the details are sent to a Payment gateway. This payment gateway acts as an interface between the website and Merchant account bank. This payment gateway ensures that there is a secure way to get A's details over to the bank.

Then this payment gateway leads to a payment processor.

This payment processor is responsible for routing the payment request to a merchant account that will accept the payment on behalf of buycheapkeyboards. Since security of payments is complex and is potentially something that can put a business out of it, we need to decouple where the websites end and the banks begin. The merchant account is an account that each business (like buycheapkeyboards) must have to accept payments.

Lets take a breath now, a few more terms are going to be throw at you.

Now the merchant account needs to check with the issuing account. The payment processor ensures that this 2-way communication happens. The issuing account is the bank account that A has. These 2 talk to each other and get approval for the payment. Then, if the funds are enough in A's account i.e. the issuing bank account has enough funds to transfer the payment, then the merchant account gets the money. The merchant account is also called a merchant acquirer. The issuing bank is also called a card issuer.

In a nutshell, thats about it.

Now there are issues with fraud and chargeback. For chargeback, consult this helpful info-graphic from

Chargify

Credits:

http://www.quora.com/How-does-credit-card-processing-work

http://www.quora.com/Online-and-Mobile-Payments/What-are-some-innovations-introduced-by-recent-startups-in-online-mobile-payments

http://www.quora.com/Online-and-Mobile-Payment-Startups

http://allthingsd.com/20130117/is-there-a-big-win-for-the-payment-startups/

http://shopsite.com/cc_101_detail.html [Just replace Shopsite with your own payment startup]

http://www.wufoo.com/images/powered/paymentform.png

http://chargify.com/images/uploads/chargebacks-v3.jpg

Of Yelp and Foursquare

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 07:48:00 +0000

I have not been a big fan of foursquare. I think Yelp also has its issues. But when I am hungry and in a place where either 1. I am sick of the regular place or 2. Lost; then I turn to Yelp. It hasnt disappointed so far and the "Open Now" filter has been a blessing. Foursquare wants to muscle in on this territory. Fair enough, so do a lot of companies and it is a lucrative market. After all it does not get any more contextual than where you physically are present at this very moment. So what are we looking for and where are the main issues that we want to tackle?

1. Obsolescence - Miyaki was a frightfully popular place in downtown Palo Alto, it closed. Yelp did not know about it immediately and had some lead time before this information percolated through its systems. When we are making a catalog, data goes stale and keeping that data fresh becomes a dirty job with no proven approach.

Yelp is still very much a catalog. Foursquare on the other hand uses check-ins, actual people checking in to a place. If the place ceased to exist people would stop checking in, the firehose would dry up.

2. Answers - An aggregate review is a very poor measure of a place. I went to the Grand last weekend and wrote a review which was buried somewhere so deep that even I cant find it. I want to do X on a Saturday night with Y number of friends. What are the chances that I have a good time? You would have to sift through a ton of rubbish to get what you would want. Somehow search does not seem to be the right answer here, it needs analytics in addition to search and sort. A social conversation is more likely to answer a question than greet you with a wall of text.

3. Engagement - So you read a review on Yelp and go to that place which has a 4 star review. Or you are deciding between two equally cool nightclubs. You know what would sweeten the deal? A discount, a deal, pre-booking - absolutely anything that you can throw at an interested customer is better than not knowing what they are doing with your information. Yelp has a check-in system which I am not sure how many people use but Foursquare was built from the ground up for people going into places.

So, hand the fight to Foursquare and bet the future on them? Not yet. The network needs more active users in more diverse places to gain traction and actually be useful. It needs to be the de facto standard for reviews and it needs to balance the deals going out and whoring out your customers. Its delicate, its exciting and over the course of the next year, there is no other company better equipped to upstage Yelp.

Sharing pictures and making scriptures

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 06:10:00 +0000

This post on TC was pretty descriptive about the murky waters of photo sharing startups. Instagram and its monster exit has led to a plethora of startups doing Instagram + some additional features. There is a lot of movement in and around this space. Conceptually, photos carry so much traction because

1. Density of information - A photo is not just a way to capture a moment, it is also an instrument to preserve your memories, to think back and reflect about what you were doing when that memory was formed. It is also an effective way to signal. How will the world know that you are having fun if you dont post pictures on FB. A rough survey about the golden rule of the internet on reddit revealed that the 1st rule of the internet is indeed "Pics or it did not happen".

2. Simplicity of capturing this information - Even with your phone unlocked, you could snap a picture. Use a filter and you are your own agency. It is simple and very easy to use. Pretty much anyone can pick it up.

3. Means of expression - Photos lie at the intersection of expression and inspection. You want to have moments that are intensely private - like your family's pictures as well as photos that are for the eyes of the world (Think of the firehose on your newsfeed that Coachella accompanies)

4. Potential of this expression - Filters can do in an instant what the promised land of Photoshop used to be. You can do with your unused pictures what Sci-Fi movie makers in the 90s could only dream of.

Regarding the density of information,

There are the sticklers for the quality of photographs who wont touch FB photos. This is a niche group that does not want to see their precious quality get diminished by some hosting service, never mind if this service was 1 Billion strong. As Amazon EC2 grows and the costs diminish more, I would expect convergence on FB. The portfolio sites should not have a strong enough value proposition to continue. Or portfolio sites need to go the way of Medium and attract class content on the sites.

About the simplicity of capturing this information,

Can clicking a photo get any easier? I would wager not.

The means of expression is where this gets interesting,

Imagine the world having to know that you are having fun - classic Facebook. Imagine pics of your family and the closest friends that you have ever had, the ones who know everything about you from your internships to the interest you earn on your savings account. Think theres a potential problem to be solved? Path beat you to it. Is there potential to improve? I personally have a path account and like everybody, I love their design. I do not use Path much but that is probably because I do not have many friends I want to open my heart to.

Now over to the potential of this expression,

Thinking beyond filters, this is where the real potential seems to lie. Consider a few use cases

1. Family Vacation - I have an iPhone that auto uploads photos to Dropbox so I never have to manually take a backup again. There are 4 iPhones shared within the family. A grand total of about 250 photos and you have no idea which ones are worth keeping, discarding or sharing. You take all the photos and ask that they be added to a common sandbox. Here, an app iterates through the photos, face-matches your pics and sends the ones that you are in for you to categorize. This happens for all the photos and each member of the family is uniquely well positioned to identify good pics with them in it. Where this breaks down is when there are group pics or nature shots. A general voting on those photos and they are packaged for you to share in any way that you like.

2. Time travel - Those kids sure do grow up fast dont they? With this time travel app, you could keep time shifted records of things that grow rapidly. Pet owners form a lovely target user group. So do parents.

3. Group Pics - "We can just photoshop her in". Imagine an app that has a singular point of focus, to make a meaningful group pic.

And of course, then we move on to the holiest grail of them all.

The merging of the conceptual world and the real world. Imagine this great park that you have visited. You want to know if the hike up to the reservoir is worth it, or if the taco stand is just expensive or really good, or if the make out point a half mile away is worth a quick sprint after sunset. How about what did Jack do if he had 6 hours to kill in SF? Yelp and Foursquare are doing this with restaurants and cafes. The potential to enhance this body of knowledge to be malleable to the conceptual framework of reality is almost limitless. If anyones asking, Foursquare has a better shot at doing this than Yelp.

And thats where the next round will begin. Fight!

Big Bag of Data

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 06:17:00 +0000

So data < information < insights

Having known this, why would we think that more data would help bridge the gap between data and information?

That is in essence the fallacy of big data. Big data will expand the range of hypotheses, it will also extend the range of the search space. Nothing gets easier with the addition of more data, especially when you are in the business of data exploration. The main job of a data scientist is to find possible hypotheses that describes what is happening with the data. The data does not lie, or at least lies less than the human :)

Should we collect more data? Should we care?

Just because data has grown exponentially, does not mean we keep collecting it. We care if the data is interesting. If the data fits snugly into an equation, we have figured out the data. There is no mystery left with the data anymore then we should not care about it. It is with figuring out the various "Whys" of the data that we can find true insights. We should only care when the data puzzles us.

Where do insights come from?

Not from no data. That double negative is just meant to express the fact that there is no accepted answer. Data helps and some data is better than no data. But where we should draw the line is highly debatable. The storage costs per gigabyte reducing by a factor of 6 has meant that we can safely store information without having to worry about cost overhead but it is in the utility of this data that we are confused. Big, huge quantities of data are not necessarily high yield in terms of insight. And it is here that having a lean approach towards storage can certainly help.

In conclusion

Store the data to figure it out. Once it fits, its time to move on to another data set. It is in these attitudes of exploration that we can truly drive insights or at least a mindset that helps achieve insights.

Riffed off of and thought credits to
http://techcrunch.com/2012/11/25/the-big-data-fallacy-data-%E2%89%A0-information-%E2%89%A0-insights/

Riffin' on '13

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 02:51:00 +0000

A very interesting post on the IBM 5 in 5 which takes a human centric approach to writing about what the next 5 years have in store for us is here http://asmarterplanet.com/blog/2012/12/the-ibm-5-in-5-our-2012-forecast-of-inventions-that-will-change-the-world-within-five-years.html

The presentation is here on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wXkfrBJqVcQ

and the gist is here

Touch:        You will be able to reach out and touch through your phone
Sight:        A pixel will be worth a thousand words
Hearing:    Computers will hear what matters
Taste:          Digital taste buds will help you to eat healthier
Smell:        Computers will have a sense of smell

My thoughts on this are not mundane but approach a very different side of this problem. The sight, taste and smell aspects of development have been around for a pretty long time. They are not even the most daring of assumptions. I remember a Bugs Bunny cartoon which spoke about how "smellavision replaces Television"in 2020+ and I thought, wow, what an idea. Well, it does seem like my wow moment will be seen by me before long.

The kinect was a revolution in how we played our games. The quantified self was a really interesting movement that solidified the cult of Up, Fitbit and Fuel. Bendable mobile screens have been around for some time but havent been mass produced yet. I feel that technology is at a junction where you can play "Name that sci-fi thing-and-we-will-make-it". It really is a 3 part question that we should be asking.

1. What will I see myself use in the next 5 years?
2. What would I really want to own if it gets a little less expensive over the next 5 years?
3. What "Holy Cow" invention is going to make its way into the global subconscious in the next 5 years?

Substitute "next 5 years" with any time frame and the question would still be largely material.

The number 1 question has a few sub parts
a. What would I use because it is better than something that I use already?
b. What would I use because all my friends are using it?(for context because"Some digital content in this message" in my phone messaging system just gets annoying after a while)
c. What would make my life substantially better if I used that system now?

Lets take Mobile for example, I used a Nokia, then a Samsung and then switched to a Windows 7 because it did something that the other did not. Nokia made calls, Samsung allowed me to surf the internet and Windows had apps that made life substantially easier. I then switched to an iPhone because it was a better phone. Also, not having an iPhone effectively ruled me out of group messages and the usual psychological disintegration that comes with having the "uncool" product. These were still minor reasons but the clincher was the lack of apps that have been and continue to be the bane of the Windows Phone ecosystem. Some would argue that the iPhone allowed a lot more than just make calls and receive text messages and in that regard was a (c.). I wouldn't be so sure. The galaxy note is more of a (c.) than the longer iPhone 5.

The question 2 was the tablet for a long long time. I knew it had utility in the gym, I knew it was something that I wanted to use. I knew it had merit. But was the gym use case and the travel use case enough to justify having something that would have its own data plan and cost a little fortune? Does the jawbone become an app on your phone that you only pay a subscription fee instead of $130 for? Does runkeeper expand and become an app that tells you all about good living?

The question 3 this year was Google glass. I do not have the imagination to fathom what could come this year but it sure wont be a better Siri, we have been led one too many times down that path.

Year in review makes sense when we read it back and tally it for surprises and surmises. And in that respect,

let the questions guide but not stifle
let the memories be warm and a giggle,
let the times be new but tethered,
let life be easy but remembered,
let the checklist have consequence

Quora - Fail

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:01:00 +0000

via Facebook

Gangnam style

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 05:39:00 +0000

So what do a world cup winner with the West Indies and a Korean pop star have in common?

Gangnam style.

Chris Gayle [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNJ-05Ix7uQ] did his own version at the World T20 championship prompting clueless commentators to talk about what it is that brings this champion to channel a Korean sensation with Millions watching.

I guess it really is all about making a statement, if you were to take a look at the mirror and consider a statement that would best define you, it would be a pretty hard thing exercise to get about doing. That is where something which is top of mind can be channeled so effectively. 2 things -

It really isnt about the essay you wrote about yourself in seventh grade that defines you, it is the state of being that you feel right now. It is that very thing which makes you who you are.

We change, every one of us, every second of the day. We reserve the right to do stupid things that at the moment seemed like sterling moments of clarity.

We express ourselves through moments of clarity that best resemble us at the given state of time. What we are is tightly coupled within context of how we feel, and what stays with us is as much a part of our existence as it is a part of our expression.

Plight of the QA

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 07:50:00 +0000

So why do QA folks design release logos?

I started my career in QA a little over 3 years ago. It was called an SDET. I vaguely confused it with being a ninja JEDI. I was wrong.

I did not like data. I memorized the bubble sort only because it vaguely reminded me of bubble wrap, and well, that used to be fun. I was an avid writer in school, right up till I had to write my competitive entrance exams with half a million other hopefuls. I was definitely not a geek. I made a sincere effort to be one though. I bought the glasses and one of those teach me quick tricks on hacking books that I thought would make me seem cool. It didn’t, and as with time I would realize, nor would this job.

I was stuck in a vacuum trying to decide what the first stop on a hopefully memorable career would be back in the sweaty summer of 2008. I had landed a cushy job that would pay more than I could have ever imagined (It didn’t, tax laws made sure of that). I started out into the unknown and as with an exotic dish that you try out, I slowly realized that this was not worth going through again.

So, I realized that this was wrong and was possibly a bad career move. I saw no future and an MBA was still some time away. I was being made to work on things that I felt a natural sense of detachment towards. A feeling bordering on apathy and antipathy overcame me as I went to work everyday. In my case, I can always blame the great depression of 2008-09 on my decision to stick it out in the field of QA. However, the reality is quite different. I would have stuck around even if Goldman Sachs and the rest of the Wall Street not indulged in the big short (tip of the hat Michael Lewis). The inertia was too great. I could do things that I normally would not have had a chance to do with a job that would consume me. I would have the chance to cultivate a passion. I could always be on the lookout for something amazing!

After 6 months at work and one-word texts to my then room-mates that only spelt A-L-C-O-H-O-L, I was pretty much in no mans land. The work would never get me to where I wanted to be, especially since I did not know where my destination was. There was so much room for innovation that you showing up everyday was a mark of how the industry was looking up. The work was pretty easy and most of it dealt with your ability to be a right royal prick. I was a natural fit.

Yesterday on the Caltrain, I overheard an anecdote about the QA director coming into a room full of new recruits and saying “So you all want to be somewhere else but are stuck in QA?” I thought it was a remarkably honest appraisal of what some people thought when they got into QA. I personally loved it till I lost a sense of purpose (which was attenuated to begin with). I think I would have stayed had it not been for the Brownian movement that I feel my life inevitably is destined for.

So, why do the QA design release logos? Or do things that are not even tangentially relevant to the hard programmatic problem at hand?

Because they need to express. So much of the identity of a QA is linked to what someone else made out of (Dev) what someone else wrote (PM). Let them express. Let them paint, write poems or throw darts at every bug that gets reactivated. Let them generally hang around and do their own thing. It is not why they do it but it is how they have contained themselves for so long.

Qualcomm and Big Data

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 07:59:00 +0000

Qualcomm stole a march on most of the hyperbole by unveiling the Gimbal. This SDK will make it easy to talk to every possible sensor and as Robert Scoble argues, will push us further to the contextual age. No more atomic transactions or context switches, try fluidity on for size.

The sensors may mean a host of things. From being a standalone to being context aware is a huge paradigm shift but I am not sure if this is the inflection point that we have long been rooting for. All this implies, at least in the medium term is that there is going to be an even bigger explosion of Big Data. Big Data is about to become huge and it will be fueled by consumers. Throwing darts in the dark will actually have more information on the game just by your random hits and misses. So whether or not this is the age of context or not, the winners at least for now look poised to survive based on their ability to promise the extraction of wealth from the sheer explosion of data that we find everywhere.

Dead Week

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 05:48:00 +0000

In the middle of finding myself,

I take a step back,

The breeze hurts and makes me wonder,

Disjointed moments pluck asunder,

The headphones blare out silence,

But did anyone ever need me around?

Was it a sound that no one made?

A glimmer of hope when the Sun went for shade

The bike turns quietly screeching at brakes,

The pedestrians know better,

But walking downhill when the wheel was there,

Doesn’t make sense, like meaning everywhere,

Understood by a few but critiqued by many,

This seems like a chance to take a lucky penny,

But in dead week, where little else walks,

Why lock yourself out when the day ahead knocks?

Reaching the stand and standing by,

A little movement as time goes to fly,

Would this coffee be an antidote?

Flashes of when a skateboard goes rogue,

I don’t want to leave or stay,

Can I be 31 and wait for May?

The leaves taunt, they know something I don’t,

They wither away, as is their wont,

But dropbox serves its purpose,

I didn’t need to bike away,

Does it really care that I came all this way?

Gaping at an assignment swallowing time,

And effort, which is it first or does it matter?

The walk back is punctuated by stairs,

I wonder what made itself scarce,

The shadows fight in the corner for rain,

The Sun billows howling again,

They are glad, the grass smells greener,

The breeze comes back, it has seen her,

A welcome note and a step away,

A pretty girl an arm’s length away,

Gushing sunlight and the vivid noise,

The sound of calm in eerie poise,

Is it enough to turn the volume up?

Or does it drown out enough of you?

Would it make sense to answer them now?

Or does it stir within you?

Never mind, the dead week await,

Questions can be saved until later,

Would you be the same had you met her?

These are trivial, a story untold,

A questionable choice, a future foretold,

But it’s the dead week, its time to study,

But where is my concentration? Why is life not sturdy?

Bouncing against the uncertain cold,

The chill reminds,

Memories abound but the conscience finds,

The sprinklers come on, has it been this long?

Time flies when you hum on by

But have never heard the song,

Were you led astray in your time here?

The keys slip past,

The concrete glistens,

You only wish someone listens,

But the next photo await the eager

The next class, the next great thriller,

A carousel that ceases to stop,

A melancholy that grows in part,

Is it worth its while to take a step back,

But did it feel like a haystack?

The confusion stems from the Sun and the breeze

They play games and you are in need

Come back home, the dead week won’t wait

As you ride slowly back,

Only some remain seated,

Some stand and wait for their chance,

Others realize its not worth a glance,

Some stop and take a click,

In memory this will be,

The dead week stands testament to walls

And pyramids alike,

The walking finally get their due

A fiction that turns ever so true

Mori araj Suno

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:26:00 +0000

Pray to you in the midst of my seas,

I pray to seek what can never be his,

Words uttered in desperation or in the name,

Wishes granted to be never the same,

A follower and a pupil in the study of life,

Divided in thought, united by strife,

How can I leave when my feet are tied?

How can I be sure when I have never been tried?

Am I a sage or a messenger?

Am I but a mirage of my creator?

But what has become isn’t a judgment,

It is a fact told in sentiment,

What my own self can never find,

How can I be true in my own mind?

This world isn’t the same that you left,

Far removed, disjoint, incoherent and bereft,

How can I live in a World like this?

You gave me pain when you promised me bliss?

Where are you gone in this time of need?

Let me go so I can be freed

The luck on your side,

The belief in your pride,

The feeling that guides you in your gut,

The hand that helps you out of a rut,

The one that stays but is never seen,

The one that sees compassion in the mean,

He who can wipe off his hands clean,

She who is, was and has been,

It was you all along,

It was always you, forever going strong

_____________________________________________________________________________

The Original

Mori araj suno, dastagir pir

O my Lord, pay heed to my appeal

(repeat)

Mairee kahun kaa say mein apnay jiya ki pir

I am a faithful follower of my Creator

Mori araj suno, dastagir pir

O my Lord, pay heed to my appeal

Rabba sachiya, toon tay akhia see

My true Lord, you had said

Ja oye bandiya jug da shah ain tu

“Go man, you are master of the world

Saadian nemataan terian daulataan nenh

My bounties on earth are your treasure

Saada naib the alijah ain tu

You are the viceroy of your Creator”

Ais laaray teh torr kudh puchia eh

After baiting me with these promises

Kee ais nimanay teh beetiyaan nenh

Countless years have passed by

Kaddi saar we layee o rab saiyaan

My Lord, did you ever enquire what transpired with your man

Terey shah naal jugh kee kitiyan nenh

What your man has suffered in this world?

Kithay dhons police sarkar dee eh

Somewhere, those in power and with the means intimidate, harass and terrorize

Kithay dhandhli maal patwaar di eh

Elsewhere, draft and bribery are rampant

Ainj hadaan wich kalpay jaan meri

My soul is shaken down to my bone

Jeevain phahee ich koonj kurlaundi eh

Just like a bird flutters when caught in a trap

Changa shah banayaee rab saiyaan

You made a fine king indeed, my sweet lord

Paulay khaandayaan waar na aundi eh

All I have gotten are endless beatings

Mainu shahi naeen chaidi rab meray

I don’t want kingship, my Lord

Mein tay izzat da tukkar mangna haan

All I need is a morsel of respect

Meinu taang naeen mehlaan maraiaan di

I have no desire to live in palaces

Mein tay jeevain di nukkar mangnaa haan

I just want a small nook to live my life

Meri mannain tay tairian main mannan

If you agree with me, I will agree with you

Teri sohn jay ik wi gal moran

I won’t decline anything no matter how unreasonable

Jey ay maang nai pujdi tain rabba

If you don’t look out for me God!

Fayr main jawan teh rab koi hor loraan

Then I should go and seek for myself another god

Mori araj suno, dastagir pir

O my lord, pay heed to my appeal

(repeat)

Arieb Azhar:

Iss surat seh

With this grimace

Arz sunatay

Pleading

Dard batatay

Sharing the pain

Nayya khaitay

Rowing the boat

Minnat kartay

Asking for his blessings

Rasta taktay

Waiting expectantly

Kitni sadiyaan beet gai hain

Countless centuries have passed by

Ab jakar yeh bhaid khulla hai

Only now has it been revealed

Jis koh tum ne arz guzari

The one who you had appealed to

Jo tha haat pakarnay waala

The one who held your hand and guided you

Jis jaag laagi nao tumhaari

Where your boat had docked

Jis say dukh ka daaroo manga

From whom you had asked for a panacea for your pain

Toray mandir may joh nahin aaya

The one who did not visit your temple

Woh to tum heen thay

It was you only

Woh to tum heen thay

It was you only

Read more: http://www.unp.me/f139/mori-araj-suno-tina-sani-ft-areib-azhar-coke-studio-154029/#ixzz1dBZOHZts

Democracy - Springs and Jasmines

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 14:30:00 +0000

The Arab spring will remain firmly etched in my mind as the most defining moment of my life. In the 24 years or so of my existence, 15 of which were steeped in deep cynicism, I have always yearned for an idea that would capture the imagination of the masses. Something that would help me be relevant, and not in the make a fool out of yourself reality TV type of a way. All the clever witticisms, comments, videos and photos that seem to find their way to twitter and facebook are just attempts at scratching the surface of meaning and to an extent - an approval junkie. All this while I was thinking of how exactly it would make sense for this latent need to translate into something positive. That was when i found Gene Sharp

Gene Sharp is the author of "From dictatorship to Democracy". I had no idea about it till I found a lightweight PDF courtesy of a question I missed on a quiz. His work, backed by over 60 years of research in non violent movements was a watershed moment for me. It helped me understand the machinations of the jasmine revolution, and soon after all of the Arab spring. With the youth on the streets egging on a 74 year old man to do what countless regimes have failed to stamp out, I was hooked onto the idea of a peaceful revolution.

After understanding this (or most of it), I wanted to know if there was a greater good that could come out of all of it. My english teacher once asked me - "why cant people be addicted to apples, and fruits instead of alcohol and cigarettes?" Almost as if on cue, I found out some of the most amazing material on social good online. Credits to Mashable, the Social Good summit and Anne Driscoll for a message of living good. Read more about it here

Me, myself and IRENE

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:24:00 +0000

I find that over the years, media can work out either as a savant for the geographically removed or it can work as the boy who cried wolf, only amplified many times over. Take the case of the hurricane Irene. While reading business insider is an exercise in facing up to the worst that the world has to offer in terms of news and is a soothsayer of doom, digg expects you to be entertained in a manner that cracked.com lost its charm to the mainstream (hot soap actors and galleries). So which one you pick is strictly your decision.

The tweetboard up on businessinsider is a sign of how influential social media truly is. The countdown may be a bit of an overkill given that the hurricane has been downgraded to a category 1. I personally thought that with NY, the metropolitan icon of the World in the limelight, this would be a great attempt to pilot something like Ushahidi. Earlier in Haiti and Chile, Ushahidi was a postscript to a disaster - NY being just that, NY, there was ample scope for something more, something innovative that made lives easier - after all, isnt that what technology is all about anyway?

Read more about Ushahidi here

The Ushahidi blog here

Vis-A-Vis

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:46:00 +0000

This is an extremely enchanted path that I had to traverse myself. It gives me great joy to put all of my shared experiences, nuisances, beliefs and knowledge onto this blog.

The morning that I got my admission letter made me feel as if I was on top of the moon. It was an incredible feeling, one that perpetuated weeks of partying and general nonchalance to any and all mundane chores. About 2 weeks after the parties dried up and I got added to various groups of accepted students, I was facing up to the demon that is a student visa. After having obtained the F-1 however, I would characterize the demon as a bit of a bot, a being that is best dyed in logic, reasoning and checklists available freely on the internet.

1. The Boat - There are many ways of putting this, i find the best way is to draw an analogy between Noah's ark while drawing parallels with the Titanic. The point is, there are many people in the same boat as you are. There are many people who will come up with the same questions and find some answers which would help you at some point or the other. Be a part of this community. Facebook and Orkut (remember me?) are awesome for getting communities together. Forums like Edulix and pagalguy are also very useful to find support.

2. The Car - Cars have a way of allowing us to be free. One of my friends even mentioned that learning to drive a car was more liberating than getting that all important first job. Driving a car, much like getting your visa is a liberating experience (Indian traffic notwithstanding). However you need to have all your documents in check before you return all high and slotched from a pub at 3 in the morning (kidding, dont ever do that). The visa interview is all about getting your documents sorted and assembled in the right order. I used separate envelopes for all of my documents right up from college to financial documentation of myself as well as my parents. There are a bunch of resources that help you get there available on the internet. Just knowing about them however wont be any good. You need to apply yourself as well. So scour all the forums possible. And get your documentation upto date.

3. The Bike - Mostly all our first motorized rides have come in bikes. And, why not? Its efficient and has a lot of spunk and style associated with it. Its also about you, as an individual. Bikes are meant for the lone ranger (with the occasional pillion). In a similar vein, remember that it is you, and you alone facing up to the Visa officer. Remember, they are doing their job as best as they can and you can help them make an informed decision. Carry yourself well. Be confident. Be prepared!

I hope that these insights have treated you well. Now for the business end.

Check these out for your ease

1. A good primer to get started - http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1268.html

2. This site and the FAQ have it all - https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/Index.html - You should get this in your nervous system

3. A bank statement sample for I-20 issuance and subsequent proof of funds - http://futurestudents.mst.edu/documents/bank.pdf

4. An F-1 student visa glossary - http://www.f1studentvisa.com/f-1-visa-index/english.aspx

5. DS-160 and the nooks/crannies - http://www.immihelp.com/visas/form-ds-160-us-visa-application-form-tips.html - This form is a real handful and I prefer to save it to file everytime I enter any valid info over there

6. Some more DS-160 help - http://www.immihelp.com/visas/ds-160-form/personal-information.html

Some generic tips which will ultimately end up being specific

1. In Hyderabad, you will have to wait and refresh the emergency appointments page everyday to have a shot at scheduling an emergency visa appointment. The emergency slots open 4 months (or 120 days) from your date of class-start.

2. If you have filled up your DS-160 and intend to change the interview city, you need to change the location on your DS-160. One of my friends was in a very screwed up mood after s/he forgot to do this. (My friend is not a transvestite)

Feel free to google around for queries if I am not good enough to resolve your doubts.

PS - If you get your Visa approved which you probably would, here is a must have offer on Air India for students - http://home.airindia.in/SBCMS/Webpages/Maharaja-Scholars-Offer-2011.aspx?MID=382

DepRashion is in the Fashion

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:01:00 +0000

There is absolutely no gyaan associated with this post. I am sad and unhappy at the current state of affairs. I have no idea when things will change, even less of an idea as to what is prompting the mother of all crotch kicks to be aimed directly at me.

There really is no hope for those who close their eyes,
There is venom, loss and a chance at redemption,
There are rays of the sun, days, nights and sermons,
But in the face of trouble time just flies,

There is a wisdom, a broken promise and a hale heart,
There is a promise, reasons and a false start,
It made sense when there was a choice, a fighting chance,
It made no sense to reserve your best for the last dance,

Backs to the wall and a sunny day ahead,
Each day reminds you of the day before,
Blind alley once more,

Did I sin or did I spot the change I wasn't meant to see?
Did I exchange glances and in return had to spurn my chances?

I have been laid low with a hammer and tong,
I have been killed and passed a requiem for a song.....

What a manager is supposed to do

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:51:00 +0000

So there was this amazing article that I was reading off the net last week. The article didn't catch my eye as much as an epithet from Jack Welch. The epithet went on to describe how a manager is supposed to grow others and how that is his most important duty. Such talk however is idealistic and although instances of it delight me and the masses, it is yet to be something that stops turning heads. I was looking over the issues of peer leadership as well over the weekend. The stakeholder for success model seems to be all too new a concept to gain any foothold at the workplace. Peer leadership seems at once to be the tightest rope that you could hope to walk on, a little less and the project goes to hell. A little too much and not only does the project, but you also go to hell :) Overall, the past project threw up a large dose of problems that go with either a jinx or an invisible force-field that's put there to just throw you off the trail :) Keeping your cool, stretching that extra mile and making sure that the project stays on track is no mean feat, especially when there is all the responsibility and none of the perks. Anyway, getting back to the manager and what he is supposed to do, I strictly mean in a non-hierarchical sense

I have always held true to the belief that pictures speak more than words. Videos, even more so. Take it away Senor Jose María Gutiérrez Hernández

Teasers

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:09:00 +0000

.....the fact of the matter was that I was trapped. Myriad processes seemed to take over my life. I was in the holy mecca of all that is process oriented. And as ordained by the greatest of the holy men, that thou is process shall be ordained sacred and shall not be touched until the next quarterly review, no matter how stupid or irrelevant the process may be from any angle.

I was pretty much convinced that processes are good. During the large release cycles and the tremendous chaos that we had to deal with, it became quite apparent that processes were necessary. The general eye-rolling that accompanied best practices and guidelines were replaced by a more holistic outlook on life. This was short-lived. My very own eyes played witness to some of the most spineless decision making witnessed this side of the equator. There was a lot of static generated from all the feet dragging on the carpet and the naivete was that of a 6 year old who thinks Hitler is a little strange up until page 233 of the history book where he rages holy hell on earth. The whole episode went down as a process statement, a case study and a lesson in corporate Governance. That was of course hogwash. There were fewer true statements about corporate governance than the lessons learned in the last quarter. Of course, the very fact that these guys were employed, managed bonuses and did quite well for themselves in spite of the save my ass attitude spoke volumes about how the weasel and the skunk saw each other. (More on the weasel v/s the skunk in a later post)

I was a little satisfied with my day's work. I had managed a difficult situation, finished downloading volume 7 of the latest Will Smith starrer and was pretty sure that I had done more than my peer group for the past week. This made me feel very nice about myself and brought about that familiar feeling of outward angst and inner desire that culminates in "the raise-in"
(more on the raise-in in a later post)

My day was a dump. 19 people complained, the food was crap, I got pointed out for no fault of mine, even worse, I reacted and made the entire situation even worse. Things couldnt plunge any lower when I decided to call it a night and stumble out for some happy hours. Sadly, the "conflict of interest" came into play
(more on that in a later post)

Snappy the Turtle

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:31:00 +0000

Snappy the Turtle was a ferocious creature, unfortunately, it was more about hurting itself than snapping off my fingers or toes for that matter. It was a benign creature to look at. Always had a smile on and looked like a little kid. Even with all the jungle foliage (crap) thrown at her, Snappy was able to preserve her calm. She was Snappy was at home, even in the most hostile of circumstances with Michael the crow for her mentor. Snappy also confided in Baldie the wallaby and Sunny the Sunflower. One fine day, Derek the talking bear ticked off snappy. Snappy was so upset that she clawed off Derek's toes without so much as a thought for poor Derek's feelings. Derek retreated into his shell and resumed niceties with Snappy, even not using her moniker of Snappu, instead calling her the traditional Snappy. Snappy still hadn't figured out that Derek's toes were missing when they met each other after her act of vengeance (truthfully, which was perpetuated by Derek's constant irritating antics).

Part 2 follows

Surfs Up! - ii

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:39:00 +0000

Oh and By the way, surfing for the naked pics of your favorite pornstar does not really qualify as constructive time utilization. The biggest problem with all of us is the simple fact that none of us realize how truly awesome we are, instead we focus on life's little disappointments, trivialities and unanswerable questions. We lose the child in ourselves just by merely being such irritating creatures running around like headless chicken. Take the time to find out for yourself where you fucked up, and then, instead of getting piss drunk, try and rectify those mistakes you made. You didnt stop when you missed an open goal, a hoop or a century, why stop now for little speed breakers?

Surfs Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:34:00 +0000

Surfs Up!

The average male spends more time surfing aimlessly than he does doing anything substantial on the net. Pointless surfing means random facebook quizzes like "Which color bird poop are you likely to become in your next life?". Surfing also means random desponess and making like this dude in the video

Take the time to think, become cognizant of the fact that each day is passing by while you are stuck in a job you hate, with people who hate you because the frustration of their lives needs an outlet, and what better outlet than a shrewd, brash youngster who is just applying for a green card on the United State of Abject Disappointment and Frustration.

Blue(s)

noreply@blogger.com (Meghbartma Gautam) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:04:00 +0000

Lord....why?

That was the overwhelming sense of self depreciation that I felt as I made my way down the alleys after catching Blue. It makes sense to pump 100 crores into a spectacle that was devoid of any storyline and featured nuggets like:

What do you think when 5 armed gunmen attack you?
1. Run for your life
2. Hide
3. Put on your shades

Yes Sanjay Dutt, the most obese version in recent history, did in fact do that. Limp dialogues and Lara Dutta being treated as the rich man's Neha Dhupia didnt help matters. She's present to shake her booty on the song "Aaj dil gustakh". She does have a fabulous body and well, that is about it. Almost no dialogues were given to her. Kylie, the oldest version yet, lights up the screen with her chic jiggy wiggy and then that is about it. Zayed Khan, in his tackiest hairdo yet, is an add-on that is just about as irritating when the Nachos guy announces that he can only serve up the chilli dip cause he has run out of the salsa dip. Katrina is passable and before I start dissecting the ridiculous salt and pepper goatee of Akshay Kumar let me just say that this movie is only saved by the breathtaking camera work. Please give it a miss, thats 100 crores that the producer will never see back.