Disappearing Act

You might have noticed that this Blog now no longer contains Restaurant Reviews - that's because I am pleased to announce a new, spawned Blog dedicated only to Restaurant Reviews:

http://www.mangald.co.uk/Restaurant-Reviews/

Old posts have been copied - unfortunately the dates may not make any sense anymore

Hunt the Geeks down

Lets face it, everyone has an image that IT students and engineers are geeks. Hell, I could tell you that most are and I admit that I can be pretty geeky at times. Yet, I feel I have beaten the system and possess better soft skills than most other engineers - at least personally if not professionally too. But apparently the problems caused by the lack of interpersonal skills in the IT industry have actually prompted universities to think that they should change the way they teach students.

Which is really interesting in several ways. Firstly, I must protect my brethren by questioning why IT should be singled out as opposed to other engineering fields? Yes, IT is most commonly used in businesses but then again due to its wide usage normally IT companies have their IT geeks shielded from non-technical employees of the client organisation. And if you meet someone from the client organisation, it usually is a fellow IT engineer there. Also, the article wrongly suggests that the lack of business and social skills are a cause for firms to "turn to China or India for recruitment". Chinese or Indians are no better than British students for these skills, and if this refers to outsourcing then the author must know that firms outsource only due to monetary reasons.

But I am glad that people are recognising that the gender ratio needs to be tackled in the IT industry - I am saying this out of the selfish desire for there to be more hot babes in IT - it makes the work environment less of a sad geeky cock fest. Lets face it, hanging out with the boys is always fun but hanging out with the ladies beats a stupid drunken night out any day. However, I don't think it would be as easy as giving more importance to soft skills in courses when one has to admit that computing (and indeed all engineering) as a subject requires logical aptitude that some women may not be inclined to. Perhaps this could be balanced out by giving importance to creativity - certainly any IT engineer will tell you that the opportunity to create software is a part of the love for their chosen career. Of course it is a whole different matter that at many firms creativity is stifled. But it is amazing how creative engineers can be and how much women could enjoy the software making process too. All in all, perhaps the IT industry maybe just needs more jazz and showbiz?

I find it quite interesting that employers are now seemingly pushing back at universities, insisting that business and soft skills must be taught at university. However, I do feel that these skills are a deeper personality "problem" which should be tackled in high school and not university. By problem, I only say this because apparently it is one to businesses. Anyway my personal experience is that high school is usually the "make or break" period when it comes to how outgoing a person is. Encouraging geeky students to interact more with the jocks etc. would mean they are more used to communicate with all kinds of people, not just the ones that like arguing over whether perl is better than python.

But there will ALWAYS be different types of people, whether in the workplace or not. People who are geeky, people who are outgoing and confident, people who are born to kiss ass, people who are charming but complete idiots etc. There are engineers who can hold a conversation and there are entrepreneurs who are shy. That is just how life is. Making people improve their soft skills might help employers by reducing the cost of training but the core personality will always stay the same - a geek will remain a geek. So in effect, the geek now has to work on soft skill courses in university instead of that awesome new database course. And of course won't score very well, so instead of a First perhaps the geek now gets a 2:1. So we now have a less technically skilled geek who didn't do as well at university as he wanted. I honestly don't see why employers don't just stuff it and bear the cost of providing training for soft skills once they hire their shiny new geek with a 1st from MIT or Imperial. It is not like they need to see clients from day one unlike Banking or Consulting.

Point is, this is an issue of tackling people who by nature are not sociable and hence lack business or social skills. What next, employers blaming universities for churning out Managers who don't do any work?

Blah Blah

It's been very quiet for a while now, I suppose since the start of the month. I suppose its a lack of excitement due to no major foreseeable events, such as another holiday of exciting travels or anything new in general. That's not to say I am unhappy, just not mentally challenged enough. Or should that be not challenged enough mentally? (smirks to self)

Would you believe I actually care about cricket again. Ok, I'm lying in that I don't really care but I care enough while the world cup is going on. The Twenty over version of it anyway. Yes, call me the cricket-slut that I am, loving it only during the world cup. I do feel the limited-limited version of the game is now closer to other popular sports in terms of the time consumed per match and adrenaline. But I must say it does feel that the sanctity of the game has been smudged a little, but who the hell am I to have a say on cricket. Last night was the final of the Twenty20 world cup, where India managed to just about beat Pakistan by 5 runs.

And I must say, that was a pretty impressive game! India continued with the so-far successful policy of batting first, and seemed like it would stutter when Yuvraj got out (biggest hitting batsman for India). However, it was good to see the team bat well and get a respectable score of 157. To be fair, Pakistan looked to be out of it at 76-6 and it took pretty clever batting by Misbah-ul-Haq to put them back on track. And with two overs and some 20 odd runs to get one got the familiar feeling that India was going to mess things up when it should have won. However, thanks to the two Pakistani batsmen losing their cool (rather than India winning it) they lost their last two wickets with 5 runs to go.

All in all a fun match, and I have to say watching it at Henry's was a pretty good idea. The crowd was good looking (as usual), the music good and the thoughtfulness of the two brothers meant the people sitting had a pretty cosy evening. However, what surprised me the most was the celebrations on the streets after. Yes, it was a world cup, but It was the limited version of limited overs cricket. And the first world cup of its kind. Obviously I'm the only Grinch in town, you should have seen the streets last night. Absolutely packed with cars and people waving flags all over. It was like.... like... winning the Champions League or something as important!

In other news I am now officially indifferent to most of my friends. It's not that I don't care about them, I just don't care generally. Too much effort to talk, keep in touch, Facebook, email, text, etc. So the ones who are still getting attention, good on you. I was just counting the people who I don't really know what to speak with and the list has gone beyond my 10 large fingers. So anyway, I guess this is a sort of apology to the ones who I haven't been keeping in touch with.

I must say though, I do intensely dislike Ganesh Chaturti as it surely must be the only festival in the world where one wastes 10 bloody days not working very much. It really is a bit of a coincidence that my staff decide to be ill during these 10 days, especially the peons. I'm not against religious celebration, but does it have to be for so long? Although I'm not complaining today, it is the last day and hence most offices in Bombay are shut. Mine isn't, and I can see the foolishness in that. None of my staff have turned up, and I probably should head home after lunch. So essentially, a waste of a day as I didn't enjoy the holiday and didn't get any work done either !

But strangely, I don't care and I'm suspiciously happy. Must be the patriotism kicking in.

Things to Note

Random events, loosely tied by my desire to blog this morning.

- Pretty interesting tool created by the good folks at Blogger - Blogger Play. See related post on it here. It is fascinating but for some reason right now I'm only getting family-related photos. Came across a couple of fascinating scenic photos and paintings though.
- I am now the proud owner of the beautiful (birthday gift) Calvin and Hobbes Complete Collection.
- I am also now the proud owner of a (birthday gift) poker set. Anyone wishing to win some money should get in touch.
- Applications are a bitch. Currently working on essays for an MBA application at London Business School. Can't help feel I don't have the ability to bullshit enough
- Most people think shaving your head is weird. Wonder what happens if I elope/get a tattoo/beat up some kid/etc. It's only the liberal few who do not see the issue in it. Which makes me wonder, do the conservative south Bombay majority do anything but get shocked at little events all day?
- Apparently the proportion of left-handed people has tripled over the last 100 years. Good news for all the left-handed freaks out there - you're not alone.
- Sometimes you just can't win

Photos: Lonavla Weekend

Here again. I really am on an uploading roll!

Photos: Birthday 2007

For all those not on Facebook (Why?)

Only a month late, sorry..