What if today, you have to leave the IT field and earn your bread ?

This is something I would wish to ask everyone in the IT field. What if, today, you have to leave the IT field and earn your bread ?

It is something very relevant to the current economic situation, and also an eye opener to the labourers who toil away with their eyes, hands and brains sitting in a vegetative state for hours together, working for their IT overlords, who now have have been busy sorting them out for keeping their profit margins intact.

2001 was a preview of just how vulnerable IT was. 2008-09 has showed how resilient it has become. No more there are IT bubble bursts, even though the current situation has sent a electric jolt to those who had come into this line just for the greenbacks and a great lifetime opportunity to people who could really do something great apart from their IT skills.

Seeing the way people have come together in Bay Area after being laid off, to collaborate, to identify new ventures, new ideas and press on to initiatives which were on back burner due to various reasons. It reminds me that all we need sometimes is a gentle nudge to remind of what we are capable of.

Coming back to the title of the post. Well, my honest answer to this would be, anything to start off with to keep my home running, and then I would gradually draw up a plan to utilize my knowledge and channelize it to do something which would help to utilize IT to enable the common masses.

It could be anything from, teaching in a primary school to going back to school to empower you with the skills to really push for that goal, which you dreamt of, but never dared make an attempt at, for the fear of upsetting your routine 9 to 5 office life.

I come from a home of goldsmiths, a profession which was last practiced by my grandfather. The generation after that moved to businesses in metals, and I have a medico father. Although, it's a art which is being overwhelmed by precision machines, gold jewellery making is something, which is seeing tough times due to high prices and lack of expendable money.

Since, even I am not clear, what I would like to do apart from IT, I think it is imperative, that I give a deep thought on this and also continue to focus on my career. I hope, the reader of this post is also in the same mind frame and has a plan 'B' ready for the worst of times.

Capitalism meets Socialism - Here in US

Desperate times need desperate measures. Guess, the Feds and Congress started to realize that and have scurried over the past couple of years to bring Mahatma Gandhi's idea back to help their swindling economy and unemployment under control.

Once a free market, US now has started resembling a state which seems to recognize its irreversible dependency on its trading nations for everything from a needle to planes being imported. So in name of job creation, the free market advocate is trying to bring a new wave of protectionist measure which it so vehemently opposed and opposes in other global markets such as China.

The “Buy America” or the “Made in America” resembles the result of the Satyagraha which Mahatma Gandhi undertook reduce Indian dependence on cloth and other commodities imported from overseas, this not only led to business in Britain taking a hit, but also bolstered the local industry in India empowering them to be more assertive and strengthen the growing need to be independent from British in rule and economy.

Now, how does it help US is something which has been debated on both sides. The current generation of americans never had the dire need to fight for a job until recently, with close to 6 million jobs that have vanished, the government seems searching for answer. The cause, somebody in the well running private economy machinery fooled the system so bad, that the spokes of the economic wheel nearly collapsed.

Take an example of how well the money flows in a daily situation :

Healthcare for example : You sign up for insurance and pay X dollars for premium. When you visit a medical provider, the insurance pays part of your high bill to the hospital, the insurance also pays for your costly medicines to the pharmaceutical companies, the pharmaceutical companies use part of this money to lobby at the Capitol Hill for research subsidies and keep the market in flow by pushing for higher insurance costs, which being mandatory doesn’t leave much choice for the common man. Get the drift ??

With the money rotation gone, the grim reality that dawned was that most of the money which was being rotated now either had ended in bad investment or gone overseas. Apart from printing more money, which obviously has not done any good, the government now wants to do the thing which they should have done a long long time back, maintain basic economic independence.

The new acts represent a step in that direction, but what they also are doing is, going against the principles of free trade by disallowing certain segments of the markets to be closed to outsiders, which cannot be justified in terms of quality or cost issues. After all, outsourcing and local manufacturing strategies were meant to enhance quality and reduce cost.

Rather than going globally competitive, which is what had been their advantage during after WWII, the administration was doing “if it aint broke, don't fix it” approach. Now when it really broke, the fix attempts are nowhere a quick fix affair due to various situations like, long wars being fought at an exorbitant cost which never actually helped the US economy, poor education levels in the populations, rise of high skilled resources and and shipping out of low cost jobs to other developing countries.

Indulging in a bit of Socialism seems to be their bandage solution, until couple of the above issues are addressed, which will take years of planning and commitment from the businesses and the government.

Technorati Tags: capitalism,socialism,economy,outsourcing,manufacturing,skill,education,resources

The best business ever - Arms forever

 

Whoever says violence and economy growth do not go hand in hand would be either completely naive or brought up in a jungle.

 

Here’s an excellent article which not only tell us how the US has been paying nations to buy weapons from them, but also gives you an idea of how well oiled the whole “supply arms which can be used later to justify use of more arms against them” framework is. Check out the familiar story below :

 

1. Enter into a zone where 2 neighbours are fighting, supply one with arms and financial aid ( which is used by the receiver to buy more arms to continue the struggle in hope of winning ).
2. If the receiver is well oiled (yes “oiled”) then you grow your contracting business to keep the money spinning, else you now have a say in their foreign strategy by way of bullying and arm twisting.
3. If your ally does win, then you crown yourself as the conflict solver. Else, you supply even more arms to covertly continue to stoke the tinder till they result in another theatre of conflict.
4. If the ally goes rogue, even more reason to come on your own to clean the mess with an aim of “stabilizing” the peace equilibrium in the region.

 

We have seen repeat of this in various parts of world with unfailing accuracy which has become now a “Bhasmasura’s hand” for the world’s largest weapons industry. As they say in India, no effort of yours goes unrewarded; depending on the intention. All the years of ensuring that every nation stays at the  shooting edge of weapon technologies, US has armed pretty much the world and accumulated $$$ which every weapon maker will be proud of. But the tide seems to be turning.

 

How else do you understand, escalation and threats of action against the state of IRAN which was couple of decades ago the friendly nation to which fighter jets and other armaments were provided readily. The same story has been played for a long time now in Af-Pak region.

 

Now how does it work in growing your economy is pretty interesting. For the unwashed masses, more sales and big contract means, more manufacturing jobs and more employment, which can never be wrong for any economy. More money inbound definitely would mean more buying power. But, is the money really helping their economy or being channeled by the corporations to keep their business running through various means, whether ethical or not.

 

Not many people are aware of the way the generous aid which the US offers to strife-ridden countries like Pakistan is used. A little search of the official documents reveals the discomforting truth of the money being supplied for humanitarian use being used to secure more ammunition and defense systems which are top priority for a nation struggling to keep its old enemies at bay and new ones from threatening it. This means that US basically has its aid money being returned to itself for its arms sale, so much for the aid. This tactic has assured the continuous flow of arms for a long time. This also means that the taxpayers dollars are used to keep other nations armed, in the end, the Lockheeds and the Boeings are the ones laughing away to the bank at the taxpayer’s expense.

 

US had the money and power to buy allies with its weapons and/or financial aid due to its technological advantage and rising manufacturing efficiency which was incomparable anywhere in the world except the Russians who axed their own future with the dissolution of the USSR.

 

With the emergence of locale specific militant activities which sometimes have been targeted US itself has forced them to promote peace and vindicate their stand by slowing down the arms export which till the Cold war era was a justification for its own protection.

 

However, with the recent economic crisis, measures are being taken at various fronts to identify how to increase jobs, and the recent news of selling $60 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia could not have come at a better time. Its time to start doing the same thing which was being done till recently at a higher pace, but does it truly help the economy if the money that comes in through these sale goes out as aid which usually is never paid back and finally ends up in the corporate coffers.

 

After all being the “Lord of the War” does come with its own benefits, even if you sometimes are shot at with your own ammunition.

 

Technorati Tags: 2010,economy,US,war,weapon,Boeing,Lockheed,militancy,stability,peace.

Optimum configuration for your next desktop/laptop

With the current plethora of Dual core and Triple and quad core processors in the market. Typical system builders always query on what is really enough? I myself have been confronted with this question, since I have been trying to assemble a blazing desktop myself.

With money being premium in today’s world with economy in doldrums, spending wisely on your computing investment can not only free up crucial money for some extras which you could gain productive advantage with. It also gives you a uncommon satisfaction of deriving the “maximum bang” for your buck and going “green” with lesser power consumption, all in one go.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how much would be sufficient for your next desktop / laptop :

1. Video Encoders with hardcore gaming : Quad Core CPU with single/dual GPUs, 4 GB RAM and 7200 rpm HDDs. Go 64-bit for future proof, else 32 bit is the best bet with the 3.5GB accessible memory constraint for Vista 32 bit.
2. Audio enthusiasts with gaming – Dual Core CPU with single/dual GPUs, 4 GB RAM and high-end soundcard ( for desktop ). Today’s laptops with the HD Audio provide decent enough power for decent audio listening experience.
3. Average movie watching and gaming – Dual core CPU, Integrated / single GPU preferably with hybrid switching, 2-4 GB RAM with decent set of 5.1 Channel surround speakers.

The current disadvantage of memory access as noted for Vista 32 bit is still a high enough threshold for programs to use. There aren’t many programs which do multi threading, apart from some Video encoding and CAD packages which truly take advantage of the multi core processor scenario.

Unless software arrives in the market to truly take advantage of the multi core processors and the increased RAM bandwidth, which is starting to build up momentum, you are rest assured of breaking even on your investment by the time multi threading applications are a norm.

Even the OSes of today don't seem to take much advantage of a Quad core with 12 GB RAM vs. Dual Core with 3 GB RAM difference.

Facts about “size does matter”.

1. Increase in RAM modules increase idle power consumption by at least 10 W.
2. Performance difference between single core and dual core is the maximum in today’s world. above that, it is a marginal difference which doesn't bring the bang for the extra buck.
3. There is very negligible difference in performance between 3 GB to 12 GB RAM usage for any kind of applications.
4. Less energy = Longer battery life in laptops & lower power consumption in desktops.

For more helpful tidbits and interesting tech knowledge on anything related to technology, Tom’s Hardware forums are one of the most exhaustive and informative resources.