When 'PINK' gives jitters

Approximately 57,000 employees were laid off by India’s big IT players in the last few weeks! 

This shows how badly India, as a nation, and of course these BIG software companies, are prepared to cope with this gloomy scenario.

                                             

The major reason for the downsizing is the US President’s strict H1B visa and anti-outsourcing norms, to counter which, neither our economy nor these IT biggies, have any coping mechanisms. 

With the new President taking charge in January 2017, didn’t we see this coming? Our politicians and companies should learn a thing or two from Mr. Trump (giving first priority to his citizens rather than bowing down to the self-centered policies and decisions of other nations).

                                          

Another reason (as given by these firms) is automation of most of their processes, thereby, scaling down the need for deploying more manpower.

Now, this sounds like a problem of the 80s and early 90s (remember the GLOBALIZATION  era ?) when computers were introduced and the employees were reluctant to accept the technology. They feared it would take away their jobs. But heck! The introduction of computers actually gave rise to the IT industry, creating millions of jobs across the globe (except that instead of employees, it’s the employers thinking adversely this time).

                                                   

Oh wait, there is one more reason – the companies that made huge profits with the existing IT business models have not been able to tackle the digitization that is happening at a rapid pace. 

Back then, they could completely switch to IT from hardcore manual methods, but now from IT (already based on digital technology), a shift to core digital platforms, tools, and cloud technologies seems like a herculean task. Like, really? 

These companies are already spending a huge chunk on training. For IT professionals, it would be a lot easier to switch to digital ways of working.  

For all techies who have been affected, just believe that:

1. You were inducted into the company only after passing all the tests and tight screening processes. You've already proved your performance during your stint. If you were really incapable, you wouldn’t have been absorbed in the first place or been fired post-training, or in the initial 1-2 months. Hence never doubt your capabilities. Also, don’t take the layoffs personally. Maybe you are about to enter a new phase of your professional life by exploring better alternatives. You never know where you could be headed or where it could lead you.

To cut it short, these companies could not formulate strategies to handle Mr. Trump and his policies.

2. Also, the reason IT firms hire staff from India is the low labor cost (apart from intelligence and talent, of course) which otherwise is in dollars in the US. Now that they have no option but to hire US locals, obviously, they would cut down on Indian staff and use the savings to pay Americans (whether they have 'the brains’ and would be able to sustain, is a different issue  😄)

How to survive a layoff?

1.  Socialise more (and more!) in your professional network. You never know what luck has in store for you.

                                         

2. Times are even tougher for those who had experience of > 5 years and working in senior positions. You can utilize your skills and experience by working as consultants to small and medium-sized companies. 

Small companies are always looking for experienced professionals to set up and offer expertise to their projects. They pay quite well. In fact, people with such experience should leave these 9-5 corporate jobs and go for freelancing work or have an additional source of income while being on the job. 

A lot of techies I know, work that way and make big money.

"A portion of all consultants are in it just for the money or the job flexibility. They know they can deliver what was promised but are not really involved in the outcome itself." - Mario Peshev 

3. While the whole nation is bitten by the ‘startup’ bug, you may also try your hands at it, provided your idea is unique, you have decent business sense, and loads of patience.  If you are financially sound, go for the traditional ways (self-funding) of doing business. 

If only the IT companies could set up entrepreneurial cells in their capacity, encouraging the employees who have been retrenched, to set up their own ventures leading to mutual benefits.

4. Freshers can do some value addition to their portfolio by learning new or in-demand skills.

5. Enrol for a digital marketing course or take up jobs where you can work as a virtual assistant / IT expert by working from home or making money online.

Just remember that no matter how severe, the recession is always temporary, and everyone would recover from it very soon. 

Always have backups even if you are in a well-paid, full-time job. As they say “Love your job, not your company... You never know when your company might stop loving you...“ 😊 

Hit me up on:

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(Images used in the blog are random downloads from Google)

Internet on the GO.

                                                            

Recently, went to a nearby grocery store to run some quick errand for mom, and as I was waiting for the shopkeeper to finish attending to other customers, there was a bunch of guys in college uniform, standing near by, totally engrossed in some discussion. And the way they sounded frustrated, I simple couldn’t refrain myself from paying attention.

One of them had probably purchased a smart phone recently and was sharing his experience – '300 rupaie ki chapat lag gayi yaar. Bade josh main aakar naya phone liya aur lene ke 2 ghante ke ander hi pata nahi kis baat ke paise kaat liye, abhi to maine phone theek se explore bhi nahi kiya..ab gharwaalon ko kya kahunga'. The second one interrupted - 'arre customer care call kar'. The first one - 'kiya tha kai baar lekin vo har baar yehi bolte hain, apne data download kiya hae.. par koi nahi batata aisa kaise ho gaya'. The third one - 'mere saath to bahut baar aisa ho chuka hae..GPRS deactivate karane ke baad bhi'. 

I guess each one of us at some point of time has faced a similar problem. Unwarranted deductions by service provider for a service you never subscribed to, GPRS deductions, cell downloading data without your knowledge, thereby wasting your MBs, are pretty common. I have a dual SIM phone and was using docomo as my second SIM. Being dissatisfied with the service I thought of discontinuing it and that's when it started giving a headache as every 1-2 seconds it started flashing a message asking to recharge, to the extent that I couldn't use my 'smart' phone at all.

Well to cut it short, when you buy a new cell phone, most often, there are settings which, by default are either enabled or you accidentally enable them while exploring your phone (like clicking on your browser, gmail, FB icon etc., your provider not even once confirms that would you like to activate GPRS with your current plan) and since you already have balance/credit in your account it starts downloading data WITHOUT even asking for your final permission (Yes, service providers purposely play dirty!) and the money starts getting deducted (tick-tock-tick-tock). The same holds true for those sick ads that keep popping every now and then when you are connected and even get downloaded (blame it on your super slippery touch screen) without giving a message like- 'Are you sure you want to download this service?'.

In case of smart phones, this can be controlled to a large extent by checking a few settings on your cell (that, however, doesn't mean your service provider will stop charging you unreasonably, they will find some other way for sure!).

Go to settings option and make sure the following settings are off, if you are not using a GPRS plan,

Wi-fi – Should not be automatically turned on.

Auto Update - Should be off.

Mobile networks - Use packet data/ data roaming should be off.

Accounts and Sync - Background data and auto sync should be disabled.

Apps - Update notifications are off.

(And yes, your salesman/rep would never proactively tell you much about these settings. Remember they’ve incentives to be earned and commitments towards certain brands to pitch their sales!)

60 -70% of your unwanted deductions (only in case of smart phones) would be taken care off. For the remaining issues, don't ever hesitate to bully your connection provider or phone manufacturer :D

Happy GPRSing :D

It's your life - Handle with Care.

Dear Gen X,

You live life only once. So live it to the fullest. Most of us(talking about singles, people who are committed etc., relax :D) after the age of 27-28 are kind of settled in life - in terms of education and job and that is when the pressure of getting married starts building up, with parents and relatives, of course,  playing a prominent role. Most of the guys and girls belonging to this generation are smarter. By the time they reach the  marriageable age, they've already have been into a couple of relationships (completely screwed, in other words) and hence they know what kind of partner would be good for them and marry the one they like (the most!). This is called love marriage in present day context. Good, if it works for you.

Then there is a second category of Gen x - the boys or gals who are intelligent, doing well professionally, have sound moral values, don't break hearts or play with someone's emotions and have clean habits (Yes, such people still exist!). They obey their parents and let them decide about their future which is commendable. The parents would also never want anything to go wrong with their children's lives. However, times have changed, values have changed and more importantly people have changed. Life is not that simple and not always fair. The worst of things can happen even when you are ideally doing things the right way but deep inside you keep regretting your decisions. All I would advise is step out of your parent’s and society's shadow - be brave, take your own decisions be it life partner, job or business. Have faith in yourself; follow what your heart, sixth sense and your conscience say. You are mature enough*. I repeat- Take your own decisions. Fight (politely) for the person (there must be something good in her/him for sure!) you love. Things can still go wrong later but at least you'll be responsible for making or breaking your life and not let somebody else control your life based on their ideologies or experiences. A few years down the line, parents would be happy if you are happy. Remember - Everyday is another opportunity. Love your parents, take good care of them, seek their blessings, be socially responsible but please don't let anyone else decide what is right or wrong for you. 

Always keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make, makes you. 

It's not the end of the world. Get up and get going!

*Conditions apply.

Bare Minimum.

Like relationships, smart phones can never be perfect and no matter how hard you strive to make it better, there will always be times when you’d get bogged down by reasons completely beyond your understanding   :D

Just Like every other guy, claiming to be the most sensible, intelligent, different, eligible bachelor, every smart phone on the display and during launch is projected to be the next big thing. You put your heart and soul into the relationship..  hmm.. well your hard earned money in case of a cell :P only to gradually discover that all that glitters is not gold. During launch and in ads they only put their best foot forward  :D. The WOW feeling when you fall for it, slowly fades as days, months and years pass by :D :D

So, with an internal memory as low as 160 MB, how do you expect your baby to enrich your experience? More than the cute good morning and night messages from friends and strangers :P, you slowly start getting used to these ‘Low internal memory’ messages not allowing you to store your favorite apps, texts, videos and your own stuff. Most of the applications, by default, get installed on system memory which is quite bizarre. Please let the users take a call on this. And the worst part is when your phone supports extended memory up to 32 GB but it’s actually of no use as the SD cards just refuse to work with your beloved phone.(Isn't that supposed to be a serious quality issue?). Unrooting and factory reset are definitely not a solution and the ‘force close’ errors eventually crash your mobile.

Easy to use or Ergonomics?

Have never understood why,

• Mobiles have speakers at the back. You don’t want to put on the headset all the time and drop your hearing capacity by a few decibels when you are an oldie. With a video running in the front and audio output at the back, the sound is not even properly audible, forget about enjoying it.
• The volume control /back/on-off buttons too hard to locate in the dark. Can the designers make these more appealing please?
• Don’t all smart phones come with a built-in magnetic charger. This is something very basic and will be a big boon, come on.
• Firmware upgrade is allowed only on wi-fi or 3G?
• Android versions <3.x are even sold, when performance and compatibility are issues. And for dual SIM features, it would be better to copy a Chinese mobile, I bet :D.

Wait. Did I mention that there is no way you can compromise on the call-quality. Calls dropping, breaking, going on automatic hold, not ending when you press the end buttons on TS or the physical one, phone hanging during incoming calls (no, no don’t blame it on network as the SIM works well on  ‘cheaper’ brands :)) – are definitely not what you would like to experience after spending a few thousand bucks.

Can write an encyclopedia but already had a long day. Need to recharge the battery now. Phew.

Connecting People. Yeah!

With over 15 million users only in India, Linkedin, for sure, is the most popular professional social networking site in the world. Almost every person who is into a job or business has a profile there. You can seek a job, promote your brand, enhance B2B or B2C activities, join groups that interest you and even discuss professional topics.

There could be two ways of benefiting from it:

One is that you only add people you know very well or have personally met. This for sure is a safe bet but then chances of you expanding the network, promoting yourself professionally, hunting for job become very limited plus you don't want to talk to same people with whom you have already spend 10-12 hours in office or meet very often. You would like to explore new people and opportunities. Brainstorming with unknown people could be very interesting and refreshing as well. 

Second is that you accept or sent invites to professionals whom you do not know well but feel that the person could be a great prospect in future or may be at present. You get more exposure plus since business/job conditions are very dynamic now-a-days, you always have new people in your network to provide you with fresh opportunities and updates.

Now let's talk about what I would really like to say J- The flip Side. 

Find it strange when, out of the blue, an unknown person sends a request for recommendation and you have no clue what to write. Get a life people! J

Find it strange when professionals who have a kick ass profile, send you casual chats like ' Hey wass up' ,' Nice pic' , 'Are you single', ' Let's catch up sometime',' Tell more about you'  on your personal chat ids and expecting you to reply humbly like an answering machine. Such people would break all box office records of Salman Khan movies, on dating sites, I guess :).  And they would not even bother to check their watch before sending it. They will send it at a time convinient to them even if it is at 1 am, 2 am and so on when you are busy sleeping after a long day! Yes, we do have smart phones and we do forget to switch it off at times, before hitting the bed. Such professionals forget that there is an inbox facility on Linkedin too and they can drop in an official mail and see if things can be taken forward professionally during office hours. It's like you randomly stumble upon a contact in yellow pages("randomly" most often is a girl with picture, #PunIntended) and call on the personal no. to check what's going on. :)

Happy Networking! (The font colors are inspired by the new T20 Jersey for Team India.)

JJJ

Nature, at its best.

Presidential Election OR Political Humor ?

He doesn't favor any political party per se. He is not corrupt. He is a man of substance.

  

Apart from playing a crucial role in India's missile program, this self made person is the only one who has the potential to inspire and lead millions of people. He has done it in the past when he held the position of  President of India and also while not being on the post. He not only has the ''right" ideas to turn India into a developed nation but also the ability to execute the ideas successfully. And despite all these accolades, he's very simple and grounded!

  

Yes, the man is none other than Dr. A.P.J. Kalam.

   

Congress and Allies have failed. Opposition did not do it's job properly. The nation is in a bad mood. One of the ways to do damage control is by electing the right person for the most important office in the country.

 Congress is backing Mr. Pranav Mukherjee strongly. Fair enough. But the honourable Finance Minister first needs to take care of the  rising inflation, falling rupee and straighten out the economy while holding the current profile. If that happens, the nation will be more than happy to have him as the President.

 I can't think of any other candidate who is at par or even close to what Mr. Kalam has achieved for India or has the energies and a vision to do that in future. Can you ?

                                                           

                                               The Right Choice