October 2011
5 posts
1 tag
Software Engineer Career Advice →
Career advice for software engineers by a software engineer-turned-entrepreneur
Be in a profit center to increase revenues and/or to reduce costs
Co-workers and bosses are not usually your friends
Networking
Modesty is not a career-enhancing character trait
Work to live, don’t live to work.
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Team Leading Lessons Learned
Serve first, then lead by example and last is command
Be generous with praise and stingy/specific with criticism
I do not know everything
Everyone has something to offer
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Be firm on basic principles, e.g. punctuality, team-first, being fair
Training is an investment, not an expense :-)
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Motivating Developers →
if money is not an issue :-)
Being Set Up to Succeed
Having Excellent Management
Learning New Things
Exercising Creativity and Solving the Right Kind of Problems
Having a Voice
Being Recognized for Hard Work
Building Something that Matters
Building Software without an Act of Congress
Having Few Legacy Constraints
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Further Lessons Learned From IT Outsourcing Team
This is second part of insights from one of three founding members of a Kuala Lumpur-based offshore development team for a web-based pension system(2009-2011). You can view part 1 of enterprise application development offshore outsourcing lessons here.
Office Internet.
You absolutely cannot assume quality of Internet access in a Kuala Lumpur office.
To shortlist a potential Internet...
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10 Things You NEED to Do if You Were Hired Today →
Rule #4: Make your boss look good :-)
September 2011
7 posts
1 tag
10 Most Hated Jobs →
Most disliked job is my boss’s job as boss of IT. Yeh, I understand. Try to image you are trying to ask a bunch of kittens to move in a straight line!
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Wall Street IT Workplace 2010 →
Pondering of IT career in a Wall Street firm? Besides the fat paycheck, how is it feel like working in a IT department of Wall Street firm?
“But literally the feeling I always had is that it was basically moving things from left to right or from right to left. And those things would move just fine even if we didn’t move them. … If we hadn’t been there, the world would not be any worse off.”
“I...
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Hire More Ugly People →
“Attractive people who are also strong communicators are almost impossible for average hiring managers to decline.”
Hopefully there will be no law for appearance discrimination. By the way, I am not good looking :-)
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Views of Millenniums →
“Loyalty is a Two-way Street”
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Tasks of Leardership →
8 tasks of leardership according to a consultant of IT organizational effectiveness and strategic integration
Setting direction
Making decisions
Staffing
Delegating
Motivating
Managing team dynamics
Establishing culture
Communicating
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How to Get a Quant Job →
Career advice from Wall Street executives on landing a quant job. One surprise is “I think every hiring manager is looking for someone smarter than him/her and nicer than him/her”. As mentioned before, don’t be a jerk.
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How To Make Your CV / Resume Stand Out →
The webinar is led by Sital Ruparelia, a career coach in banking and finance industry.
August 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Enterprise Application Development Offshore...
Two-year experience of a Malaysian in a software offshore outsourcing project for a Scandinavian pension company.
Language
Issue : Majority of documents and information is not in English
Suggestions = Automatic software translation is a short-term stop-gap measure. For long-term, in-house expertise of one Scandinavian language is a must, e.g. Swedish which is similar with Norwegian.
...
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Secret of changing career →
Secret of changing career is learn fast, really fast.
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Progammer Category
Techie - Interested in latest technology trends/fads, disregard non-technical issues, e.g. schedule and cost.
Round-peg-in-square-hole - Little interest in IT, become programmer because of external factors, e.g. suggestion by family members/relatives
Business person - Programming is just a mean to an end, future business analyst and project executive.
July 2011
3 posts
The Problem with Fresh Grads →
What is actionable plan besides real retraining and makeover?
What is Your Company Chart? →
Source : bonkersworld.net My corporate experience is mostly derived from Amazon-type companies. One exception is a Scandinavian financial company which is more like Google. For flat structure to work, it demands higher degree of maturity and professionalism from everyone
1 tag
A Few Observations
High performance team has a leader while the rest has a manager.
Believe of management ability to force anything is a recipe of disaster.
June 2011
2 posts
This RSA Is Not That RSA →
The new RSA is Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. (Old) RSA in IT is Rivest, Shamir and Adleman, an public-key encryption algorithm.
1 tag
Managers: Set People Free To Promote Growth And... →
Ultimate goal of manager is to be sheep shepherd.
May 2011
13 posts
1 tag
4 Levels of Teaching
“The mediocre teacher tells, the good teacher explains, the superior teacher demonstrates, and the great teacher inspires.” - William Arthur Ward
Complaints of Generation Y →
Main complaint of people of Generation Y in Singapore is ruling government is perceived to be ‘not listening’. Other issues are
Competition from foreign-born residents
Higher cost of living
Low wage
The original video is Girls’ Generation Gee
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Sell yourself: How your job search is like running... →
Deliver a clear message
Highlight your selling points
Exude professionalism
Protect your reputation
Rely on multiple resources
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Taiwan Workplace Survival Guide →
Original title is “工作不只靠努力 抱對大腿升官去?” or “Working hard is not enough, you need to stroke your boss ego”
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16 Ways to Make Yourself Unfireable →
Be the First to Arrive and the Last to Leave
Cut the Company’s Costs
Make the Company More Money
Just Say No to Drama
Be Aware
Learn New Skills
Give Progress Reports
Make Everybody Love You
Show You Are a Leader
Show You Are a Team Player
Get Personal
Don’t Take Unfair Advantage of Sick Days
Take on Responsibilities that No One Else Wants to Do
Positivity Goes a Long Way
...
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Colleagues born after 90s
Vocal
Fun loving
Creative
No-rule
Restless
Self-centered
Goofing off
Talented
Below is some online citizens born after 1990s
Anita Roslan
Imran Latheef
Deal with them!
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Tyranny vs Indecisiveness
Tyranny = consider little input from others
Indecisiveness = consider too much input from others
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SMART AND GETS THINGS DONE: Joel Spolsky's Concise... →
Microsoft hiring rule - “Smart, and Gets Things Done.”
Fog Creek hiring rule - “Not a jerk.”
Let the top recruits pick their own project
Managing your corporate brand is just as important for recruiting as it is for marketing.
Great developers have enough choices of places to work that only require the usual cover letter/resume application to get started; by inventing artificial hoops and...
Grown-up →
Grown-up is a person who has MAY HAVE attained the age of majority and is therefore regarded as independent, self-sufficient, and responsible. The reverse is also true. A person who has attained the age of majority MAY NOT be a grown-up.
1 tag
Is education the next bubble? →
In the 21st century, a 4-year bachelor degree is a necessity. Beyond that, whether to get a higher degree is depending on personal career plan (being entrepreneur or climbing corporate ladder) , industry norm (PhD is a basic requirement for quantitative analyst)
1 tag
Consultant vs Executive
Consultant - big picture, big idea, implementation issues are ‘minor’
Executive - cost-benefit analysis believer, detail-oriented
April 2011
12 posts
1 tag
New Age Motivation
For simple task, money motivates people. For task requires conceptual and creative thinking, if livelihood is not an issue, 3 motivating factors are
Mastery
Autonomy
Purpose
Drive video link
PS With audio and animation, it is impossible to accuse this presentation ‘boring’.
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When To Fire a Person?
One of reasons for firing a person is you need to micro-manage that person.
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Management Lessons →
Empowerment doesn’t mean letting everyone do whatever the fuck they want.
Provide a problem and framework, let employee figure out the solution.
People want to have input.
Having a hierarchy isn’t a bad thing. Having no idea who has the final say is a bad thing. This is an counter argument for flat company.
Don’t micromanage. You’re probably not nearly as smart as...
1 tag
Advice for Middle-aged Professioals →
Four Stages of Competence →
Unconscious Incompetence
Conscious Incompetence
Conscious Competence
Unconscious Competence
You can use this model for persuasion, e.g. shift the mind of target from stage #1 to stage #2 using cause and effect analysis. For example, by analyzing a failed project openly, you may be able to persuade participants to work on an action plan for improvement (conscious incompetence).
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Hire Superstar Talent Fast →
If you believe in superstars, read this
'Time-wasting' Site for Geeks →
Stackoverflow is better than FB for geeks if they are bored
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Global IT Job Market 2011 →
Since India is a leader in global IT outsourcing industry, the general India IT job market could be an indicator of IT job markets in other countries. Generally the conclusion is there is challenges due to slower recovery of US and Europe market. This is confirmed by analysis of Java job market in Singapore and US for 2011.
1 tag
Experience Working in Indian Company
Experience working in Indian company
Brian S Courtney Part I
Brian S Courtney Part II
Why do employees working in Indian technology companies get frustrated?
Is the current working pattern of Indian company suitable to compete with MNC?
Being based in South East Asia, it is good to know how your ‘competitors’ treat their employees. Generally companies in South East Asia...
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Managing Nerds →
“Amaze your nerd. Build calm and dark places where invoking the Zone is trivial. Perform consistently and efficiently around your nerd so they can spend their energy on what they build and not worry about that which they can’t control. Help them scale by knowing when they’re stuck or simply bored. And let them chase those Highs because then they can amaze everyone.”
Foreign Students on US Colleges →
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Ten Qualities of an Effective Team Player →
Reliable
Communicate
Listen
Active player
Sharing
Cooperate
Flexible
Committed
Problem solving
Respecting
Here is one team player :-)
India Graduates Millions, but Too Few Are Fit to... →
Finally the growth of outsourcing industry outstrips supply of human resources.
February 2011
2 posts
Malaysia Student Blog →
A peek of the minds of young colleagues when they are younger
1 tag
Want to Compete with Talents from China and India?
Lower price may be a short-term countermeasure. However the long-term solution is being more innovative. There is no shortcut!
November 2010
4 posts
1 tag
If You Have Colleagues Born After 1980
If you have colleagues born after 1980, view this Taiwan talk show - 非關命運：八O後職場的外星人? . Basically solutions for conflicts between older staff and younger staff are communication and empathy.
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草莓族
钱多事少 more money less work
离家近 close to home
必须有兴趣 must have interest
没有压力 no pressure
1 tag
Engineering Management in Silicon Valley →