Rahul's Chill-out Zone

Mamata Banerjee interview in CNN IBN a total mess due to CNN IBN’s traditional biased approach

2012-05-19T22:32:00.001+05:30

The show ‘Question Time Didi’ which was so much hyped about due to the walk out by CM Mamata Banerjee had been grossly misinterpreted by most sections of newspapers and media. The channel CNN IBN, known for it’s biased approach towards Kolkata and Bengalis, had the complete set-up to annoy the CM to the limits. Read on to find out why.

In a set-up like this, the atmosphere should have the perfect spirit of harmony, where people are willing to accept other’s points of views. Questions like whether you are given due credit for your achievements are fine. But people should learn to go soft on sensitive areas where they know it had hurt before. People should frame their questions intelligently, so as to disguise it amongst pleasant facts. Why was the issue of freedom of expression being repeatedly asked by different persons in different ways? If you have questions and topics at hand, then why not move on instead of waiting for the other person to react! What was most surprising was that in the 10th minute 16th second Sagarika tried to bring out from Mamata’s mouth that she was giving out the message of ‘intolerance and dissent’! If the show is on ‘Question Time’ then why not also ask about the exceptional progressive policies and ideologies CM Mamata has taken up for the state. What is most hilarious is that someone says she came back to the state after 20 years to serve the common people, but she has decided to go back after observing for 1 year. Is she completely out of her minds?? Can the mismanagement of 34 years be removed over an year? And what an aggressive pessimistic bunch of audience, Kolkattans are really amused at what CNN IBN is doing show after show with Kolkata!

India has very few ministers like her to boast about. True she sometimes comes out with sentences we feel would have been better had she not said, but such small matters happen when your head is crowded with ambitions sky-high and you are surrounded with petty politicians and nagging media channels who constantly keep on defaming you. Moreover, every condition and crime in the state today is being blamed upon her. What an age and mental condition have citizens and media come to! Infant deaths, water logging, farmers suicide, things which probably happen more than Kolkata in the most developed cities in the world are being hyped with no basis. Have these things started happening suddenly since May 20th 2011? Was everything hunky dory prior to that?

Mamata Banerjee does the absolutely right thing, ignore them totally and throw away such provoking and negative topics down the drain. When you are asking questions to the leader of the state, it’s best to leave it open-ended, and not question in a way where the answer is implied. Phrases like “Don’t you think…” are like asking on petty issues to just anyone around you. When you are aware, that this situation has created a furor previously, why not the students frame the same question in a better way! Rather than taking the names of specific politicians and expecting the CM to bow down and admit guilt is the most stupid way I can think of asking. Add to it the elderly people barring Suvaprasanna, Amit Mitra and some others, CNN IBN surprisingly had yet again set up a killer interview set-up, deliberately organized with pre-determined one-sided questions to say the least, to malign the image of Kolkata and Bengalis at large. I really would have wanted to watch CNN IBN but have shifted to TIMES NOW recently. At least TIMES NOW is not biased against a state and community.

CNN IBN was not in a state to acknowledge the achievements of Mamata Banerjee at the very least I believe. Today only when I was watching this channel, the first thing they started saying on the topic of ‘Mamata’s 1 year completion’ was the plight of a farmer in Singur. How this poor farmer had been living his life since he lost his land. The reporter was someone called Sougata Mukhopadhyay, I mean, come on!! There is a limit to this isn’t it? You mean to say this is what represents all the efforts of the Mamata Banerjee government over the last year? What really really surprising is how a national TV Channel can be so much biased towards a particular community and state! True, the facts you are stating, but where is the other side of the coin? CNN IBN, I believe you are going to see an increased viewership in Kolkata pretty soon, the figures might just match with that of a local opposition party CPM channel called 24 Ghanta.

Mamata Banerjee is the only leader to have ousted the hugely powerful CPI(M) with her lone struggle. Coming out from grassroots, without having any political past, it’s a Herculean feat! Indira Gandhi had Jawaharlal Nehru, Sonia Gandhi had Rajiv Gandhi, but Mamata Banerjee had no one with her. West Bengal is the most happening place to be right now. Old age mentalities and fixed mindsets will no doubt take time to change. But in the run, people and even channels like CNN IBN will realize what they are doing is poor journalism. Mamata Banerjee’s walking out of CNN IBN show is thus absolutely justified. I believe this is just the right kind of treatment this show deserved with such fixed mindset and pre-determined notions.

Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose, a small message to you and all other editors, if you are not at fault, then team who is providing you with information is surely not providing you with the correct data for Kolkata at large. If you have correspondents in Kolkata, please ensure they are capable enough to get the vibes of the local people and not follow some pre-conceived notions before anchoring and reporting.

If you have anything to say, feel free to comment below, or you can email me directly by clicking here.

Flickr photo upload feature just took a huge leap forward with awesome HTML5 interface

2012-05-17T21:30:00.000+05:30

Flickr is sitting on top of the photo sharing world for over quite a few years now. As it watches from the top, people have been trying to jump and reach them ever since, but failed to topple them. Unlike many services that become complacent, Flickr, with it’s fresh employee infrastructure and management is moving further high. So much so that, it will become impossible for others to even think of reaching them.

Flickr launched it’s mind-blowing interface to upload photos recently. It goes as far as beating it’s desktop uploader hands down. With the tremendous simplicity embedded into it, and the options for editing various attributes of the photos before uploading makes it so much dearer to the heart. No doubt why camera enthusiasts and professional photographers will stick to Flickr for a long time now.

Madhyamik 2012 Exam Results West Bengal

2012-05-17T15:36:00.000+05:30

Results for Madhyamik examination 2012 are due to be announced any time starting from 21st May, 2012. This was the first time that students had to appear for the exams based only on Class X syllabus instead of both Classes IX and X unlike previous years. Students are at the end of their patience now since it has already been about 75 days since the exam ended. One of the most important exams of their lives, the Madhyamik examination is virtually an examination of the entire family of the candidates. But hopefully since this is the first batch of the new system, there is not going to be too much strict marking.

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Dropbox vs Google Drive - The War Begins

2012-05-13T20:39:00.000+05:30

When the emperor is proudly marching forward conquering everything that comes it’s way, can he leave behind a kingdom that is being defended securely by its rivals over the years? Definitely not. Despite rumors that kept on emerging over the last few years, Google did not launch it’s Google Drive until this year. And launched it has, with seamless integration into all it’s services making it right away the cloud storage candy for computer lovers.

But the war is yet to be won, it’s just the army that has been prepared and war has been declared. Stiff competition is being faced from it’s closest rival, Dropbox (not to mention Skydrive here which finds itself difficult to enter the scene in the absence of a desktop app). With the existence of an already huge reader-base, Dropbox is going to face it’s biggest challenge in recent times. No doubt they are going to cope with it strongly as they have proven to be supremely loyal, stable, perfectionist, professional over the years. But Google is going to come with guns blazing down as this is the territory that was pending from them over a long time, and with all of their services integrated into it, they already have an edge since so many of potential users might already been having a Google account.

There are a lot of scenarios and facts that needs to be taken into consideration to analyze the battle between these two hugely powerful services. Every aspect has to be looked at from more than one point of view. So here you go with a face-off between the two giants:

Aspect	Dropbox	Google Drive
Free Storage	18GB (2GB initially, for every friend you refer, you get 500MB bonus space, i.e. 32 friends) Sign up for Dropbox here and get 500MB bonus space	5GB (no referral system) Sign up for Google Drive
Availability	Dropbox is available for iOS, Blackberry, Android, Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows.	Google Drive is available on Android, Mac OS X.
Sharing	Dropbox allows you to share your folder very very simply, it’s like the same folder exists on your friend’s machine.	Google allows you to choose every single id with whom you want to share your stuffs.
Linking	Dropbox seduces you with it’s awesome feature that instantly generates a link to a file.	Google allows you to share the file too but it takes a few seconds and clicks/tapping more.
Sync	Drop has an array of apps, and Dropsync will do magic in syncing your Android phone with your Dropbox folder.	Google Drive allows sync, but it’s not yet at par with the vast number of apps that Dropbox can boast about right now.
Accidental Deletion	Dropbox has taken extra step to prevent this very common activity in shared files. It keeps 30 days history of all your files	Google also keeps a revision history of all your files for 30 days.
Paid Storage	Storage – Rate/month 82 GB - $9.99 132 GB - $19.99 Dropbox Team feature: Unlimited Storage - $795/year for first 5 users (i.e. $66/month) $125/year for each additional user	Storage – Rate/month 25 GB - $2.49 100 GB - $4.99 200 GB - $9.99 400 GB - $19.99 1 TB - $49.99 2 TB - $99.99 4 TB - $199.99 8 TB - $399.99 16 TB - $799.99

So to decide a winner is definitely a tough choice. But for now I will be sticking to Dropbox because of it’s simplicity and no-frills professional service but keeping a close watch on both Dropbox and Google Drive to see how they both progress and come up with new features to stay in the competition.

Comics & Cyber Crime - 2 faces of the same coin?

2012-05-12T14:15:00.000+05:30

There can be no doubt that in today’s world where laws and regulations can be interpreted in every way possible, and not always bound within a fixed boundary, it can always transcend to an individual’s perception of the situation. It’s nevertheless an inevitable part of creative works, what’s highly appreciated by some may often be criticized by others at the same degree of intensity.

Creative minds do not obey boundaries of anything, else it would be a product, not a creation. However, at the same time one must also keep in mind whether we are tickling our funny bones at the cost of someone’s dignity or mockery. R.K. Laxman needs to be saluted for the simple reason his cartoons were not offensive at the very least, it just portrayed the general sentiments of the common people at large.

It is always advisable for celebrities and public figures to restrain themselves from depicting any sort of comics as a cyber crime unless it seriously offended them, else the very concept of freedom of expression might be endangered very soon around us.

TCS ITIS and ITIS Frequently Asked Questions

2012-02-24T23:38:00.000+05:30

This is a guest post by Saransh Saxena. The views expressed are entirely of the author.

What exactly is IT Infrastructure and IT-IS?

In Information Technology and on the Internet, infrastructure is the physical hardware used to interconnect computers and users. Infrastructure includes the transmission media, including telephone lines, cable television lines, and satellites and antennas, and also the routers, aggregators, repeaters, and other devices that control transmission paths. Infrastructure also includes the software used to send, receive, and manage the signals that are transmitted. In some usages, infrastructure refers to interconnecting hardware and software and not to computers and other devices that are interconnected. However, to some information technology users, infrastructure is viewed as everything that supports the flow and processing of information.

Infrastructure Services range across a pretty decent array of technologies and tools ranging from the smallest bug in the system software to the mainframe server systems, from cross-platform compatibility of a software to the networking functionalities of a widespread network of workstations. They all come under the Infrastructure services. There is virtually unlimited amount of potential in this field and TCS has probably taken one of the smallest step in one of the most gigantic field of opportunity and is undoubtedly destined to some outstanding performance in ITIS in years to come. I think it will be pretty soon when ITIS services will overtake IT services in terms of total profit and revenue.

Is ITIS inferior to IT?

This is the most frequently asked question which you'll find at every TCS group. The stuff posted in this document will help you get answer to this FAQ. The answer is as simple as question. NO!!
Both are different. Hence no comparison can be made. IT deals with development or coding part whereas ITIS deals with networking or server or administration or maintenance part. Both have good scope, the only thing is that ITIS is comparatively new in India. This point actually turns out to be an advantage as in ITIS, there're more onsite opportunities. For further doubts on this, read the entire document and post your query as a comment.

What does TCS offers to its clients in this domain?

ITIS ranges currently across most of the industries like banking, healthcare, retail, telecom, etc. It promises and undoubtedly delivers an enhanced quality of service to help their clients experience the perfect ITIS solutions they can yearn for. Major offerings includes:

Business Effective Infrastructure Readiness Assessment IT Service Desk Data Center Management End User Computing Services Database Services Application Management Services Converged Networks Managed Security Services ..... and even more
(Courtesy: TCS brochure)

Who others are there offering Infrastructure services?

IBM
Capgemini (http://www.uk.capgemini.com/services/outsourcing/infrastructure-outsourcing/)
Wipro (http://www.wipro.com/services/ims/index.htm)
Infosys (http://www.infosys.com/offerings/IT-services/infrastructure-services/)
Microland (http://www.microland.com/infrastructure.html)
HCL
and many more....
This proves that there are lots of opportunities in this domain.

What is the scope of ITIS in future?

Today's business world and everything around it requires IT to survive in this competitive world, be it the local restaurant or the aerospace center all require IT to process their daily work, so an IT guy is never out of the job, may the IT development have hurdles, but the maintenance will never. This can prove evident that IT Infrastructure has a huge career growth, so don't worry... we ITIS guys will be in equal demand with the IT development guys.

Why TCS?

Being the child of TATA group of industries it has lived up-to its reputation in the global world, it has always bagged the big govt. projects, also it is a buzz around that on-site opportunities are more compared to its competitors, after all... we are working for the INDIAN company.... TATA is the pride of the nation, so why step back when you have opportunity.

About ITIS Training (ILP)?

As this is confidential, there will be very less to disclose...

IT – Infrastructure Services in TCS has branded its Learning & Development program as c-Develop Program. (Competency Development).

The basics & the fundamentals of computers that you may know already are taught.

Microsoft Windows, Linux and Data Networking will be three leading areas in which the concepts will be taught. This will cover installation and configuration of Operating Systems like Windows 2003 & Linux and configuration of Cisco routers and switches. There will be introductory sessions on IT Security, ITIL Standards, Service Desk, Storage, Enterprise System Monitoring etc.

What sort of projects fall under this domain?

Infrastructure Services projects fall under this domain, i.e network monitoring, system administration, security, servers, maintenance, deployment and stuff like that. Besides these, there are some internal TCS projects too which falls under ITIS. When talking about working sectors, there are many big shots, projects of banks, pharma companies, health care, retail, finance etc.

How one can rate ITIS on a scale of 10?

Rating depends upon individual perspective, if you have passion or interest in these technologies then you can opt for it and if you are good in coding and wanna be a developer or programmer then choose IT. Its totally upto you.

From above questions and their answers, you can easily see that ITIS is not at all an inferior field. Rather it's an upcoming field with good future and onsite opportunities.

This document is an effort to organize Frequently Asked Questions with their answers. Hope you'll find it useful enough and it'll help all new ITIS recruits.

I'd like to thank Praneeth Varma for assistance in creating this document, Kartik Manocha for assistance in updating it. Some points were also referred from this blog's earlier made post regarding ITIS.

Have a happy stay at TCS-ITIS.

Cheers!!

More Details about ITIS here.

Software Engineering best practices we do ‘Not’ follow at our own risk

2012-02-17T00:09:00.001+05:30

Software engineers all over the world were at sometime or the other taught in their initial days some best practices to treat as the Bible while developing software and writing codes. But most of the time, we fail to undertake these steps. Due to lethargy, or time constraint, or taking things too easily, we skip the so very essential part of the best practices which can lead to some immense trouble and loss to others in the future. We will be discussing some of these serious issues now. And how we can focus on fixing our habits.

Commenting
Often we will see Oracle, Java, Unix or for that matter codes written in any technology, often named without following the convention and reveals little about the utility of the piece of code. A coder when looks at the file in the future will have little or no idea as to what it was written for until he goes through each an every line of the code. Imagine the amount of time lost for the simple task of getting to know the functionality of a few hundred lines of code. Always include at least a few words of comment for each code block, naming conventions, snapshot of the code (with the author name, version history, purpose). A few seconds taken by you will save many people in the future from putting their brains out to figure out the purpose of a code.

Development team in UAT
The role of the development team should be up to code delivery and implementation. At most they can guide the user how to proceed with the testing. Rest scenarios should be entirely left in the hands of the user. For obvious reasons, if the developer is involved in his own work, he is bound to influence the testing scenarios of the user unintentionally on a subconscious level. This is not to blame anyone, but something pretty natural by human behavior.

Allocation of due time for each phase in SDLC
Each of the phases in SDLC must be given due weightage and time. It often happens due to strict timelines, the analysis and design phases are shortened. But this can lead to severe consequences as the solution approach might prove to be unsustainable on the long term. All sorts of feasibility, cost, adaptability, flexibility study should be completed with proper discussions and brain-storming which will also benefit in team-building.

These practices need to be strictly followed by budding engineers and experienced professionals alike. It’s ought to be like the untold rules of software engineering.

Team work and the odd ones out in IT sector

2012-01-22T17:16:00.000+05:30

The IT sector boasts of team work and team spirit at the very core of its values. It comes as no surprise that the kind of work that is being done inevitably demands absolute team work. A perfect mixture of the experienced and freshers in the team is the ideal scenario when it comes to effectively cost-planning a team. All experienced professionals in the team would throw the profit out of the organization. All freshers will be an obvious disaster.

Now coming to team work, people are really considered lucky here if they are in a good team. That is because there are many teams where people suffocate into and are forced to look for other options. A nice team to start with in your professional career is truly a boon. You get to learn a lot of things which will help you in your career in the long run. Things you learn not only helps in you current job role, but also to grow as a working professional. People get less tired mentally and even physically when they are into a good team. Productivity of an employee increases by leaps and bounds when colleagues around him are always ready to help and cooperative. The productivity of the team as a whole rises inevitably amidst such positive atmosphere.

According to popular studies of human psychology, people tend to feel stress a lot less when they know there are people around him whom he can rely upon in times of distress. Your body would thus respond more positively in case such a stress situation arises. Working in a good team also teaches you interpersonal skills which are vital in the service sector.

Getting to know people from all sorts of backgrounds is another advantage in a team. Sometimes we need to adjust ourselves just a bit to move along with the team. These all are lessons in their own way. It seldom happens that all the team members are from the same region or have the same tastes and values. It is pretty normal for them to differ and that's why individuals are individuals. Your team member might get stuck in a tricky assignment which you are pretty aware how to overcome. It becomes your moral obligation and duty to help him out. Well, if you are selfish, then also you need to help him out. Guess, why? Here comes the tricky part.

We human beings always perceive of others as a neutral being from the beginning. Even if

we converse, and seem to be friends, it’s what in the subconscious mind that defines what we do and when we do. Your helping hand to your colleague in the time of distress will etch a mark in his subconscious mind about the supporting hand you lent out. When your time of stress comes, he will not hesitate to go beyond the usual limits to help you out (just in case he is not too generous, in which case he will help you out even if he doesn’t know you and you should consider yourself superbly lucky to have such a gem of a team member in your team).

Also, another trick of the trade is it always helps to share your knowledge with others. Who know, who might come handy when you are on a holiday or vacation! This is not the intended reason, but it always help because knowledge sharing always enhances one’s knowledge and acts as a superb value addition to the team.

Now coming to the odd ones who find it difficult to cope in a team. Their stress level undoubtedly rises. If he’s the good guy finding himself or herself surrounded by a sea of politics and work is being extracted out of him and passed on as other’s work and his visibility to his bosses is being reduced to the minimum so that everyone else gets the credit for his work, it is indeed a nightmare for him. He is the sole person working. He cannot raise his voice. This is when it gets out of hand. Because we cannot keep on accepting injustice forever. Everything has an end to it. The higher management would be informed about this sooner or later and actions are bound to be taken. If that is not the case, unfortunately and inevitably, the person will try to move someplace else.

Small mistakes get hyped, no mistakes (read work) get hyped too!

2012-01-20T01:42:00.000+05:30

In the professional world of the corporates, there is an invisible network of thoughts that is spread all across. The wavelengths from different individuals, each uniquely different from the other, cater to it’s ever-growing richness and complexity. You ought to be smart enough to get a feel and sense of the wavelengths that are invisibly travelling right under your nose. Sounds familiar? Well, it won’t if you are a newbie or you remain always focused in your machine all the time. It’s the sixth sense that prevails.

The sole reason you were hired is for accomplishing the work assigned to you. This is the basic activity which must be performed. Your supervisor will see your work, and accordingly gather an impression of you with time. This is the after activity when you finish your work. The tricks of the trade lies from the end of the basic activity till the end of the after activity. Let’s say you are a brilliant coder, your other team member is a brilliant photographer. He sees creativity and art in everything, and loves to stay updated with the latest cricket scores. When Sehwag hit 200, he was the first one to update everyone.

You tried to get the message across to him many times, but failed. So you get back to work, glued to your monitor. But your friend continues to keep a shadow update of the progress of the assigned task. The smallest of your mistakes, is blown out so much out of proportion, that everyone suddenly feels “What the hell are you doing! Your friend is so much more better at doing the same stuffs! Why don’t you just damn hand him over the responsibility?? Are you nuts?” You start to feel guilty. And try reassessing yourself.

This scenario to an observant onlooker, will become clear as crystal. You should be reassessing your surroundings instead of yourself. The sad part is, your supervisor isn’t always an observant onlooker, since he has lot of responsibilities on his shoulders, and can hear only the louder of the noises a team or different teams. Your friend has successfully played his game which he is best at. With one shot, he down-played you, as well as up-played himself. You are left to ponder over your shortcomings like a needle in a haystack.

Achieving and performing without working in the IT sector: Tribute to the ‘a class apart’

2012-01-18T18:27:00.000+05:30

There are no end to deadlines in the IT sector. If you are working on a development project, you have deliverables and codes to complete within the timeline. If you are working on a support project, you have to provide support as and when it is required to meet the demand of the hour. It is always a race with time. You always feel you do not have enough of it to complete all your tasks. Same is with your supervisors as well, in fact it is so for most people in the IT industry except few lucky ones who only need to spend the stipulated 9 hours daily and leave without any pressure of deadlines.

But there is an elite group of people who are a class apart and who can achieve he impossible, defying the law of conservation of energy. They get to accomplish tasks that require lots of effort by not giving any effort, well, almost.

For them, work is just a wastage of effort and time. As some of them claim, they love to be ‘around’ work, not ‘doing’ the work.

Let’s get it straight now. They act as the coach of the team even though they are the captain of the team! He wants his team members to do the job for him as he lazes around. Occasionally, and let me put that very rarely, he acts to provides moral support to his team members! Not that he is bad at that though. If required he can pour his heart out at help his team members out of the trickiest most troublesome situation, that’s his best side. He might spend hours until he achieves what he wants to do, be it in his own work, or helping out his own team members or members of a different team. But, as you already might have guessed, that happens very rarely. It will be a very big day and almost everyone (yes, everyone including PLs and GLs!) is going to raise their eyebrows seeing him work, or being sincere (seemingly trying to be).

It seems a pretty useless and unwanted person he is in the team. Isn’t it? Apparently, he is. But that’s not the whole story. In fact, it’s only a part. There’s a lot more to him than meets the eye. He can read you inside out when you are talking with him. His brain collects signals of your likes, dislikes, hobbies, your close ones, their food preferences, holiday preferences, your shopping habits and what not. The cumulative data is used to process out some vital information that is required to make the best impression on you. Something that will make him appear to you so close that you can share anything with him (don’t take in the wrong sense!).

This is a gift. Really lucky are those who possess such innate quality of impressing people. It can range from your immediate boss, your group leader, your onsite client whom you met at a party. It helps to have this great impression which gives you an edge over the others even when you underperform (well, that doesn’t mean you deliberately underperform and roam around). It makes you appear really an efficient resource. It helps you bag a greater points in the eyes of your boss, hence a nice perk. It favors you on having onsite opportunities.

Well, it does pay off you see! But there are a number of cases when such larger than life images backfires. You can well imagine any scenario when an apparent Jason Bourne, is send on a mission when actually, he is, Adam Sandler!

Did you have any such experience or know someone with such gifted qualities? Feel free to comment and share below.

Work culture in the IT sector

2012-01-18T00:10:00.000+05:30

All characters are imaginary. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

Over years of observation, like any other sector in the professional world, the IT sector too boasts of a chameleon of cultures in different companies. It varies so much across the different companies, across different projects in the same company, and even across different teams in the same project that often colleagues are astounded as to how such diversity can exist at one place. Yet it happens, and like always, we have to adjust to it, or for the luckier ones, pray that it lasts like this forever!

If you are into one of the biggies like IBM, TCS, Infosys etc, you are already amongst the luckier lot, well, apparently. It gets interesting as you get exposed to this big (not bad, but I prefer to call it rather interesting) corporate world and get to see (I don’t expect you to learn anything, until unless you have spent more than a year here) the rules of the game.

Let’s look at it from the perspective of a game we all love, cricket. There are the coaches (leads) in the team who are really an important part and who gets to drive the team towards its goal. Now how many types of coaches have we recently seen, John Wright and Greg Chappell (come on, we don’t know Duncan Fletcher yet!). The perfect examples to provide us an insight into a generic lead in this sector. We see the leads who take a stern look at you when you enter office at 10.01am and raise her eyebrows as high as her receding hairline when you say you are leaving after 9 hours of strenuous work. We see the calm-faced well-dressed Mr. X give you a thrashing personally after calling you into one of the meeting rooms (oh how I wish one of these rooms writes an autobiography, even Ram Gopal Varma would have got some new plot for his next film!) when he felt you might not be able to meet a deadline, using words and phrases you never knew he could use them (or still better, you don’t know them yourself!). Recollect Chappell showing you the middle finger and tossing the players in and out? Well, there couldn’t be a better comparison, you are the scapegoat and you are in as long as you are worth some codes!

Well, not to say everyone is a Mr. X, there is Mr. Y and Mr. Z as well. Mr. Y is the perfect example of Hitler in a different form. Work is a different interpretation to him. He interprets work as something divine. Those who are showing 99.99% efficiency must die immediately. I wonder how the extensions phones and the desktops remain intact around him. His anger knows no bounds. He is angry if it is raining during monsoon or the AC has been switched off for 5 minutes or if it is too cold. He is angry if he doesn’t get to go onsite. There’s one particular case when all hell breaks loose, it is when he is assigned some work to be done (talking of module leads here, if you are not aware of the hierarchy, it is fellow worker->module lead->project lead and so on). His eyes are fire. Remember saint Durbasha in the Mahabharata? Well, that Mr. Y for you here! When nice, he is the best help you’ve got around, technically sound and working non-stop until your problem gets resolved. But well, it all comes down to ‘when nice’.

Now coming to Mr. Z or Mrs. Z, he comes early in the morning before everyone and goes deep down the throat of his monitor (I would rather give my wife a 5lac worth Tanishq necklace rather than let her be a Mrs. Z!). Yes, you heard right, early in the morning when all the lights of the quadrant are still off. He sits like a zombie checking his mails and doesn’t notice when people enters or leaves, only thing he is concerned is work and work and work and work. When he looks at you, he doesn’t see ‘you’, he sees the ‘work assigned to you’! Such is the height, if you wish him ‘Happy Birthday’, he replies back ‘Hi! Did you complete the work assigned to you before you left yesterday?’. You start thinking ‘Did the #@$% hear me just now!!!! x-( ‘. But you keep a calm face and answer, ‘Yes Z (#@$%), I am looking into it’. Management is something to him as golf is to Sachin Tendulkar. Technically immensely sound with decades of expertise under the belt, but that had come for a price, null value for management skill!

I will try to share some more experiences I have heard from my friends across different IT companies. This is not to undermine anybody but just a critical presentation to give a glimpse of what might await thousands in the coming days.

Good looks pay off in the outsourcing world?

2012-01-17T13:36:00.000+05:30

The popular concept that hard work is the main key behind success might take a small backfoot in this discussion. True that there is no alternative to hard work, but apart from that, there are some X-factors that come into play when you are looking for success in the outsourcing world. It comes more into play when you are directly interacting with some of the people whom you need to convince and get a deal or something done.

One of the many factors that come into play is how you look, your overall appearance. Apparently a less prioritized concept, but believe me, it helps a long way in quite

a number of circumstances that you might well believe it to be unnecessary

in. A good-looking associate, male or female, is always one step ahead when it comes to deal making and in the marketing and sales area. A nice looking face and figure will always be a pleasing presence in front of the opposite party. If you know the tricks of the trade and is already experienced, then you will know how to utilize it by smiling and talking with gestures to make the situation even more warm. It is always beneficial and most people know to put the best face forward when the priority is to put up a nice image and get the job done. It is not that the good looking guy or girl is best fit for the job, but he or she is the need of the hour.

It is not a biased opinion. Skill and success can never be measured by looks. But in the outsourcing world, when grooming and cut throat competition looms large, these factors are coming into play. It does not mean clothes which betray the official dress codes, but it strongly means the more than perfect official dress code and perhaps some more improvisations which will take you a notch apart from the rest. As you might have guessed already, it has a lot to do with the attitude as well. Because, as Desmond Morris puts it, you will always be talking more by your body than your mouth, and your body talks what you think, your attitude speaks through your body.

It’s always a tricky niche to discuss on. Yet this is how it is. Do you have any insightful opinion on this?

Infosys to meet target of hiring 45,000 in FY12

2012-01-17T13:22:00.000+05:30

Infosys had earlier set a target for increasing it’s resource base this financial year. They have quoted recently that they are comfortably on their way to achieve their mark. This surely showcases a positive ending to this financial year as far as demand and outsourcing is concerned.

During the October-December 2011 period, the company hired 9,655 employees, while nearly 6,389 exited the organization during the period, taking the net addition to 3,266.

“The attrition rate has come down from 17.4 per cent in October—December period of 2010, to 15.4 per cent in the quarter under review,” Infosys’ Member of the Board and Chief Financial Officer, Mr V Balakrishnan said.

‘Onsite’ and the ghost in the IT industry

2012-01-15T17:56:00.000+05:30

The term ‘onsite’ is a favorite in the IT industry. Everyone wants to go onsite. Such is the madness, people start dreaming of onsite even before entering the company. It has cast a mysterious spell on the IT sector. It was not meant to be this way in the beginning. But it has happened starting from way back in 2007.

For beginners, here is what the scenario is like. The client is generally from outside India. They have outsourced their work to an IT company in India. It is allotted to a particular branch of the company in a particular city. But this distance factor often comes in the way of smooth communication between the client and the Indian company. For reason, someone from India is sent to reside at the client’s location until the job is done. The salary at the client’s location is normally 3-5 times of what you would be getting at ‘offshore’ (term used to denote the location where the work is outsourced to). It depends a lot on what your job role is, where you are going, and most importantly, what your designation is. The factor that decides who will go and what effect it has on others is the most interesting part to be discussed now.

Normally, it happens such that there is an experienced professional at offshore, or a pretty capable team at offshore. The other person with generally more than 2 years of experience leaves for onsite. He might be having a relevant skill set required to the job done, or might have handled such projects very well in the past, or belongs to an elite team in the organization which handles such onsite positions, or have been waiting for onsite for quite some time. This is what happens in most cases.

The excitement, hype and happiness that comes with the first onsite travel is pretty obvious. It’s as if you have found the real meaning of your existence at last. You have found the real meaning of your getting a job at last. I don’t believe in it. But people seem to give the priority to money and wealth even above their own happiness. It is good no doubt, but not worth so much celebrations. Anyways, it apparently came down as a God’s blessing on him and he leaves happily for his new task feeling lucky and blessed. People at offshore feel confident with him at onsite and are sure about getting the job done.

The scenario gets a bit cloudy when people at offshore do not feel confident enough about the efficiency about the person who just left for onsite. It might as well happen that the person truly lacks the credibility to go for onsite. Well, then, there must be something which led him there, right?

The first and foremost things that comes to mind are contacts with higher management. Such contacts can prove very much useful and more so if you know actually how to make contacts. Secondly, in many companies, there is an elite section of reserved associates for such special roles. Once you enter them, it’s always a cakewalk to get such opportunities.

Not that he will be unable to deliver, but that will be far below expectations. But that won’t be noticed by anyone as the offshore team delivers slightly more than expectations and that compensates more than enough for the total effort by offshore and onsite. But the discontent and grudge that is created amongst the offshore team members is something vital and it affects the team a lot. People will constantly curse and hope he is being thrown out. Well, that seldom happens truly, as you might be guessing by now.

A different aspect that needs to be reflected upon is what happens to many people when they do not get to visit onsite. It doesn’t happen generally, but there are cases where people simply lose their mind when it comes down to not getting an onsite opportunity. They would get angry easily. They would blame their onsite counterparts (even if the guy or gal at onsite is capable and deserved the opportunity) for every possible opportunity. Frankly speaking, this person have sacrificed his inner peace for the sake of not getting an onsite opportunity. Not to mention, the team spirit (if it exists at all in such a scenario) suffers. The situation turns worse if this person has been sent back from onsite for some issues and then someone else has been sent in his place.

Well, we all got to learn from such situations we continue to face in our lives or hear from others. Had any such experience? Feel free to share below.

Jobs and Campus Placement News on your Android mobile

2012-01-13T16:53:00.001+05:30

The best and latest job offers and campus placement news will be delivered right into your Android phone. Links and sites are regularly updated and added. Stay ahead on the latest updates always.

For example, all the jobs listed here will be available in your phone the moment they are announced. Your membership password will be mailed to you once you complete the payment below. Only 0.5$!

Click here to download the app

What will be your hike on FY12 completion?

2012-01-13T13:25:00.000+05:30

The current volatility of the market has made quite a foreheads ache during strategy planning across all sectors.

But however, salary hikes are pretty optimistic across most sectors, with the predicted hikes varying between 10-14%.

The IT sector might see a 14% salary increment, followed by 13 % in healthcare sector, 12% in retail and 11% in engineering and manufacturing. But despite this assuring figures, most managements and CEOs are extremely cautious and calculating to stay prepared for any unforeseen scenarios. The wage hikes at the end of FY12 can thus be scrutinized further and figures might vary a little.

For example, TCS has been taking each step very carefully and when about 1/3rd of its revenue is spent on employee costs, it’s really something to watch out for before giving stupendous hikes. So although, hiring would continue as planned, TCS wage hikes might not be that exciting on FY12 end.

Placement offers for 2010, 2011 and 2012 batch

2012-01-13T12:27:00.002+05:30

Download the best Jobs and Campus Placement Android App for instant updates

With the steady growth currently in the Information Technology sector, the hiring spree is as positive as ever. Most companies are looking to diversify their current infrastructure and recruit in large numbers from locations where they plan to expand.

Here are the current recruitment drives by some of the IT companies for fresh engineers:
Sysbiz Technologies – Click here.

Role:

Fresher

Keyskills:

Java,PHP,J2ee

Ericsson – Click here.

Years of experience: 0-2 years
Infosys – Click here. JKC 2012 Pass outs
Samsung – Click here. Experience – 0-1 years
MPhasis – Click here. Experience – 0-1 years
Mahindra Satyam – Click here. Experience – 0-1 years
Tally Solutions – Click here. Experience – 0-1 years

Salary Offered:

Rs.620000/- to Rs.840000/-

For more regular offers, join this page.

Content Writing Strategy – Part 1

2011-12-15T21:13:00.000+05:30

This is a guest post by Ashish Nandwani.

This is a series of posts about content strategy, how useful it is for us to take care of it?

From how long we have been building websites and talking about user experience, website designing, testing, and content-management systems? Who cares? Who wants to spend a hell lot of time with respect to search engine’s priority? It’s possibly called search engine optimization; those people will take care of it, No? The process is hectic and confusing; someone will take care of it. Above were some myths and common understanding among people who pretend to know it all. As a whole community we haven’t been talking about the ‘content’ itself. Writing and understanding content is a different thing altogether. But we need to know it (as people exploring web), a designer should be saying ‘I cannot provide SEO but I will use the best practices which would help the project’s process. Everyone is a part, part of a process.

What do you do on web? Today, I looked at some books on ‘flipkart’, read some of my favorite blogs, compared prices of two BB phones. What about you? Did you have some goals in your mind or your journey was vague (Or vogue? Not talking about the fashion magazine here). On a serious note, Almost 90% of us come on web just to find something specific. Let it how to plan a birthday bash, how to put on ---, weight? (What did u think) or maybe you are trying to impress your girlfriend. You have something specific in your mind. You come /visit websites for content, Hell yes. Users try to find an answer to their questions and as a content writer/strategist try to answer questions (not only in the FAQ’s). The content must be accurate, easy and friendly.

Do we really have time while looking for our answer? How much do we navigate? How many results do we click on? Do we like to wait and read? Not really. Most of the web users skip read and run all at the same time. We want our answers (information) as soon as possible; this makes our stay ‘hurried’. What everyone has to understand is that, they are trying to do a task what they find sometimes is not relevant or rather is very clumsy and lengthy. Not anywhere close. If users don’t like it at the first few seconds, they are out of here. It’s a very user centered approach we have to follow (Let it be design, content, whatever.) After –all, the website is made for users not for your client. Write in a way such that busy people find content pretty easily.

We relate and think as we read and that can differ enormously among different set of people. We understand and take it differently. How can one identify the audiences? Demographics? First of all, listing the major set of people identifying the business is very important. Are they travelers, browsers, lookers, bookers or hookers? The very next thing is to know more about them. Assumptions may not always work. Like, if you have to write for a travel website, meet some of the users who will use your website, Make them fill forms on your website, Talk to marketing, think about your Mission. You can ask people when they (time) visit the site. You can go on to list these different people with different keywords. Experienced Traveler, Amateur, Occasional? All of them look at content differently. We have to write in a way that leaves everyone happy at the end. What matters to your users will help you write the best content. You can make portfolios of different users, Paste them on the wall and start thinking. What do these users want? How do they look at Web? Emotions, technology, demographics all play a major role here.

(P.S-More on home page/navigation pages design and content later)

West Bengal Engineering Colleges ranking

2011-11-23T19:01:00.000+05:30

This is one of the most sought after ranking list with so many engineering colleges in West Bengal. Some of the key factors that had been taken into consideration are the starting and ending ranks of some of the top streams, the campusing element, infrastructure and several feedbacks from students studying in these colleges. This list is updated regularly based on several feedbacks on various issues and criteria. With such a robust concept behind building this list, it seems very likely to be standing the test of time over the years to come.

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Facebook smileys you wished to have forever

2011-10-21T22:16:00.000+05:30

Emoticons and smileys are the key essence to online chatting and communication. It lets us express ourselves a lot better with them. Facebook till now doesn’t have a clear cut display as to the list of emoticons it supports. So for your information here is the list of emoticons that you can use right now while you chat in Facebook.

Smiley	Shortcut Key	Smiley	Shortcut Key
	:putnam:		<(")
	:] =)		:42:
	:-p :p =p		<3
	=D		3:-) 3:)
	8-\| 8\| 8-\| B\|		]
	8) B-) B)		(^^^)
	:-* :*		:v
	O:) O:-)		>:( >:-(
	:'(		^_^
			:[ =(
	:/ :-/		o.O O.o
	-_-		:-O :O
	>:O >:-O		:3

Amazing Android App #1 - Gesture Search

2011-10-16T15:00:00.001+05:30

Have you ever fantasized to search your contacts, applications, games, settings, and everything on your phone by just using 3-4 swings of your finger? Well, all of us have, and here is just the app which will make your fantasies come true. Look through any of the contents in our mobile to search using gesture search.

Click here to get this app. Stay tuned for the entire series of amazing android applications to empower your android mobile phone. ‘Like’ this page for more amazing android apps. Google’s mobile operating system has already taken the market by storm is sure enough to blind us from other operating systems with it’s array of open source apps and tools.

Android has evolved to such a level that even if you are not a techie, you will love its apps!

Bing bleeding millions, as Google remains at top

2011-10-14T22:46:00.000+05:30

Microsoft’s Bing search engine has been one of the most recent disasters by any giant organization. Microsoft spent millions of dollars on it’s search engine, advertising it to the fullest potential it can. It integrated Bing search into Internet Explorer, but still, Google continued to firmly stay at the top. Guess why?

Google has become a strong brand household name, and more than that, it’s a verb now! No amount of advertising bucks can beat that. You need years of solid performance to become a verb such as Google. And to topple Google, you not only need to consistently be at your supreme best, but also need to make immense sacrifices which Bing is making right now by bleeding millions. As of now, Microsoft has lost $5.5 billion on Bing since its 2009 inception.

It is already yet another failed experiment by Microsoft. Not that Google had been successful though in all their attempts (remember Buzz?). But such a loss in a massive scale as Microsoft is having currently is unheard of in recent times. But it’s always nice to see competition around, it gave Google a kickstart to revamp their own interfaces and designs. We Googlers love it now, don’t we!

Importance of Communication Skills in the global upfront

2011-10-12T12:35:00.000+05:30

This is a guest post by Ashish Nandwani.

The need of effective and potent communication is becoming more and more cardinal in today's global arena, No doubt the companies spend a lot of money on training individuals to make them presentable for cross cultural communication. Intercultural or cross-cultural communication substantially considers how to greet , manage and work together. However as sometimes wrongly perceived ,communication is not only verbal but full of other factors like tone , body-language , gestures and what not. One may say something but may not mean it so it's important to write and say what you believe in. As someone has rightly said ' Read is to write where listen is to speak' , Good writing skills can come with a lot of reading while one has to be a good listener in order to speak well. No one ever wants to come out of his / her comfort zone but' instinct also comes with experience ' as they say ( so better keep learning)

I remember attending a seminar on 'Requirement Analysis' and that embarked upon communication bridging different cultures. We were told that training was specifically given to say 'No' to employees working with foreign clients because we as Indians sometimes are inclined to reply in the affirmative even when the requirements can't be fulfilled.We were also told a humorous situation in which the foreign client nodded his head when he meant something else.. Thumbs up is considered vulgar in Argentina where as in French it says to be Okay. Non verbal communication comprises maximum of exchange of ideas between persons . As studies show , one is more likely to believe what he/she watches rather than what he/she listens. Learning such subtle responses and tones help you to earn respect even if you are not able to converse in the verbal form(Local language).

Good interpersonal skills , innovation will always lead to a better economy , better business for a company. Collocation , strategic decisions , responsibility are all complimentary to neat communication.One must be aware of the budding errors which occur in communication , One might say something but it may mean something else. Good orators enhance their skills using the right attitude , tone , respect and panache.Global communication requires sensitivity , subtlety and appreciation for one's culture. You should be clear and easy to understand , Many of my friends have an inherent feeling to speak quick and mean nothing.(In English). In every circular of job openings , must have good communication skills is something which is always present.Today's competitiveness in global upfront ensures that employers value communication skills more than the technical aspects ,The dexterity to mix with other people , the notion of being gregarious , the organization and the management of words at the right time gives an edge. I must confess , I hate articles and people who smell of bad grammar. If you are not sure , better don't try to be fancy but never make a mockery of the language. I have personally seen some of my friends fall down dramatically in a telephonic or face to face interviews only because they meant something but their words meant something else.

With the boom and advent of Internet , communication structure has taken a new turn , there is a different process altogether now for advertising and showing your presence. This demands apt use of words , images at the right place. Web is notching as something very powerful and you don't have a second chance to 'How you want to make your presence felt'. it can lead to reduction in costs , quality content , lot of traffic and thus a rise for the business. The more people a business can jump onto , better the sales , better the revenue. It's possible to get a pool of talent regardless of the geographical distances only because of better understanding , better knowledge , better attitude in a way leading to better communication.Also known as 'cross cultural or interpersonal communication , Communication has the potential to make a significant contribution to an individual and an organization.

This post was written by Ashish Nandwani of Exuberance.

If you'd like to guest post for Rahul’s Chill-out Zone, check out the Write for Rahul’s Chill-out Zone page for details about how YOU can share your tips with our community.

Accenture Offcampus Placement drives for freshers and experienced candidates

2011-10-10T00:26:00.001+05:30

Accenture, one of the leading software organizations, has been recruiting freshers and experienced professionals from all across India and abroad. If you are an existing reader, you must have already received the notification via this app. This app will be providing you with the latest updates of placement drives via the ‘Campus Placement’ link. To learn more about getting latest campus placement news for freshers as well as experienced professionals, click here.

Click here to download the study materials which will give you an idea regarding the organization.

Some of the subjects that needs to be taken care of before you want to appear for the interview process are as follows (important relevant books to study and links have been provided):
1. Database Management: Book by Korth
2. Java Programming: Book by Schildt
3. Networking: Book by Forouzan
4. C Programming: Book by Kanetkar
5. Oracle SQL: Book by Bayross

Aakash Tablet vs Samsung Galaxy Tab vs Reliance 3G Tab vs Apple iPad - Tech Spec Comparison

2011-10-10T00:09:00.001+05:30

The recently launched Aakash tablet for only 35$ is the most cherished product for people who are finding it difficult to get their hands on the other tablets which cost well above 200$. More than bridging the gap, it is literally meant for the masses for anyone who can afford a mobile phone. The comparison of Aakash with it’s heavy weight counterparts is a long awaited one. Here it goes below. Join the Aakash Facebook Fan page here for updates.

This phone is surely a terrific buy for budget buyers. For this low price of Rs.3000 (inclusive of warranty and taxes), it will surely be a big hit. You can book one for your dad, one for your mom, one for brother right now here.