I work in the US division of an International company. There are several programmers in our group from India, and today several of them were talking about the situation in India. It is great for the Indian programmer. They can switch jobs and get 20-40% pay raises by working for another company. They can do this every 6 months to a year. This leads to a lack of business experience in the workers. Sure they know how to program, but they don't know the systems. Why train someone for a position if they are just going to leave in 6 months to a year?
This high demand of Indian programmers is also causing a lack of worth ethic over there. My manager was complaining that the Indians don't work very hard, because there is no incentive. Why work hard when the only thing your boss can do is fire you? If he does then you can get another job that pays as well or better? And the next person you hire will be just the same. My manager was complaining that one American was doing more work than five Indians, because they didn't apply themselves.
This manager has also been complaining for months about the communication problems with Indians. Since they live on the other side of the world, there is a one day delay for all emails. And if you want to do a conference call, you have to come in early and they stay late because there is a 9.5 hour difference in time.
Given the choice, my manager and many people I have talked to would rather pay 10 times more for a US programmer so they don't have to deal with these problems.
Problems similar to these are reasons why people are moving jobs back to the US away from India. Will this outsourcing of jobs effect me? Of course, but will I be extinct if I don't change professions, I don't see how.
Kurt, I like many of the ideas in your article. I also like many of DickBreath's suggestions. I will, however, add in a few of my own.
I personally think it would be wonderful to be allowed to setup an account with the ad company. This will allow you to store your preferences and contact information on their server. Then have a cookie in their web browser to keep track of the users. This the ad company could get geographic details (just don't ask for too much) and get user feedback. The addvertisers would also be able to contact the users of new products and such if the user asked to be notified about future information or similar products by the advertiser. I do not however, like the advertiser to have my email address, and I would be cautious of the ad company having it.
An account on the ad companies webpage would allow also allow you to fill out a questionaire about what you are interested in. Instead of saying that all slashdot people are interested in science, find out what the individual people are interested in. I cann't stress this enough. If more internet ads were of interest to me, I would stop ignoring them and pay more attention.
Another sugestion I have is implementing a adbar as a feature which users have access to. This would allow them to navigate backwards and forwards through ads, rate them in interest (giving the ad company a better idea of what kinds of products the user likes. Ex: video cards, but not other types of hardware), not showing a particular add again, or bookmarking an ad for future viewing.
Also allow the users to go to the ad companies website to view ads which are categorized. I will occasionally want to find a certian product (CD-R discs for example). This would be a good way to find out companies which sell similar items. Going back to the adbar and bookmarking, they can go to the ad companies webpage to view ads which they have bookmarked to look at later. This would allow me to finish reading that interesting article without having to open that 17th Opera window to hold the ad link for me to look at later.
I personally don't think the message board and karma would work out. I don't agree with giving users prividges to the amount of ads displayed. Just allow the users to have access to additional features which will also benifit you in addition to the user. If you don't implement the message board and instead let you contact the advertiser, then that would cut down on "I hate this add" comments.
And in the end if this doesn't cut it, allow users to pay you a subscription fee to you to not view ads. This way you get money, and don't make those people who wouldn't click be forced to see ads. How much money is it worth to let webpages load faster?
Granted the post office does do a good job for the price. And there are some things that will always be sent in the mail. Legal documents, financial statements, etc. will always go through mail. I personally wouldn't want any financial statements sent in email. I would just print out a copy.
The proposal that the USPS should assign email address is unfeasible as stated above. But this idea is worse because SPAMers could abuse this. You would have to _pay_ to receive email. Not much probably the same as a letter. However, I get a modest amount of SPAM a day. My friends get more. I wouldn't enjoy paying $3.30 for ten SPAM emails per day.
IMHO, the USPS should not try to get involved with the email. They should concentrate on e-commerce. The idea of mailing CDs and other small or large packages for much less than UPS or other private companies is a great way to get ahead. If USPS can get the package to your door faster and cheaper than UPS, then people will use USPS. And if they can pick up that package from my house I want to send to my brother in another state, then I would pay more than UPS so I wouldn't have to go send it off myself.
The TI 89 is better than the HP48 by a long shot, and it is even better than the HP49 by just a tad. They are both equally durible. My friend bought a 48G at the same time as I bought a 85 over four years ago. The HP's foot came off within a year, and my TI has not had any damage to it. (But a foot falling off doesn't matter!) The RPM is just as easy (and saves you keystrokes) as the TI, but you have to learn to think in stacks instead of how you would normally. The HP48GX has room (because of the slot) for more memory than the 89, but has less than the 89 without any expansion cards. There are many good programs for both calculators, but there seem to be more games for the TI calcs. I would not suggest buying anything bellow a TI 89 because of their limitations. The HPs outperform any of the pre-89 TIs by a long shot. However, the 89 outperforms the HP with a faster processor and better resolution. Do make sure that you can use a 89 in college and high school. I was able to use mine in high school, but none my cal classes in college will let me use it. They will however let you use HPs (mainly because they don't know what they can do). Especially in high school, you will find that the TI has more support and the lessons that the teacher uses (if she uses calcs) can be easlier translated. My friend was _not_ able to do some of the programs we made without going _way_ out of his way and it wasn't worth it. So basiclly it depends on what school you are using it in and what you want to do with it.
Slashdot Mirror
I work in the US division of an International company. There are several programmers in our group from India, and today several of them were talking about the situation in India. It is great for the Indian programmer. They can switch jobs and get 20-40% pay raises by working for another company. They can do this every 6 months to a year. This leads to a lack of business experience in the workers. Sure they know how to program, but they don't know the systems. Why train someone for a position if they are just going to leave in 6 months to a year?
This high demand of Indian programmers is also causing a lack of worth ethic over there. My manager was complaining that the Indians don't work very hard, because there is no incentive. Why work hard when the only thing your boss can do is fire you? If he does then you can get another job that pays as well or better? And the next person you hire will be just the same. My manager was complaining that one American was doing more work than five Indians, because they didn't apply themselves.
This manager has also been complaining for months about the communication problems with Indians. Since they live on the other side of the world, there is a one day delay for all emails. And if you want to do a conference call, you have to come in early and they stay late because there is a 9.5 hour difference in time.
Given the choice, my manager and many people I have talked to would rather pay 10 times more for a US programmer so they don't have to deal with these problems.
Problems similar to these are reasons why people are moving jobs back to the US away from India. Will this outsourcing of jobs effect me? Of course, but will I be extinct if I don't change professions, I don't see how.
Kurt, I like many of the ideas in your article. I also like many of DickBreath's suggestions. I will, however, add in a few of my own. I personally think it would be wonderful to be allowed to setup an account with the ad company. This will allow you to store your preferences and contact information on their server. Then have a cookie in their web browser to keep track of the users. This the ad company could get geographic details (just don't ask for too much) and get user feedback. The addvertisers would also be able to contact the users of new products and such if the user asked to be notified about future information or similar products by the advertiser. I do not however, like the advertiser to have my email address, and I would be cautious of the ad company having it. An account on the ad companies webpage would allow also allow you to fill out a questionaire about what you are interested in. Instead of saying that all slashdot people are interested in science, find out what the individual people are interested in. I cann't stress this enough. If more internet ads were of interest to me, I would stop ignoring them and pay more attention. Another sugestion I have is implementing a adbar as a feature which users have access to. This would allow them to navigate backwards and forwards through ads, rate them in interest (giving the ad company a better idea of what kinds of products the user likes. Ex: video cards, but not other types of hardware), not showing a particular add again, or bookmarking an ad for future viewing. Also allow the users to go to the ad companies website to view ads which are categorized. I will occasionally want to find a certian product (CD-R discs for example). This would be a good way to find out companies which sell similar items. Going back to the adbar and bookmarking, they can go to the ad companies webpage to view ads which they have bookmarked to look at later. This would allow me to finish reading that interesting article without having to open that 17th Opera window to hold the ad link for me to look at later. I personally don't think the message board and karma would work out. I don't agree with giving users prividges to the amount of ads displayed. Just allow the users to have access to additional features which will also benifit you in addition to the user. If you don't implement the message board and instead let you contact the advertiser, then that would cut down on "I hate this add" comments. And in the end if this doesn't cut it, allow users to pay you a subscription fee to you to not view ads. This way you get money, and don't make those people who wouldn't click be forced to see ads. How much money is it worth to let webpages load faster?
The category for this device would fall under tape-worm. :)
Granted the post office does do a good job for the price. And there are some things that will always be sent in the mail. Legal documents, financial statements, etc. will always go through mail. I personally wouldn't want any financial statements sent in email. I would just print out a copy.
The proposal that the USPS should assign email address is unfeasible as stated above. But this idea is worse because SPAMers could abuse this. You would have to _pay_ to receive email. Not much probably the same as a letter. However, I get a modest amount of SPAM a day. My friends get more. I wouldn't enjoy paying $3.30 for ten SPAM emails per day.
IMHO, the USPS should not try to get involved with the email. They should concentrate on e-commerce. The idea of mailing CDs and other small or large packages for much less than UPS or other private companies is a great way to get ahead. If USPS can get the package to your door faster and cheaper than UPS, then people will use USPS. And if they can pick up that package from my house I want to send to my brother in another state, then I would pay more than UPS so I wouldn't have to go send it off myself.
The TI 89 is better than the HP48 by a long shot, and it is even better than the HP49 by just a tad. They are both equally durible. My friend bought a 48G at the same time as I bought a 85 over four years ago. The HP's foot came off within a year, and my TI has not had any damage to it. (But a foot falling off doesn't matter!) The RPM is just as easy (and saves you keystrokes) as the TI, but you have to learn to think in stacks instead of how you would normally. The HP48GX has room (because of the slot) for more memory than the 89, but has less than the 89 without any expansion cards. There are many good programs for both calculators, but there seem to be more games for the TI calcs. I would not suggest buying anything bellow a TI 89 because of their limitations. The HPs outperform any of the pre-89 TIs by a long shot. However, the 89 outperforms the HP with a faster processor and better resolution. Do make sure that you can use a 89 in college and high school. I was able to use mine in high school, but none my cal classes in college will let me use it. They will however let you use HPs (mainly because they don't know what they can do). Especially in high school, you will find that the TI has more support and the lessons that the teacher uses (if she uses calcs) can be easlier translated. My friend was _not_ able to do some of the programs we made without going _way_ out of his way and it wasn't worth it. So basiclly it depends on what school you are using it in and what you want to do with it.