TechnoFIRST April 2010 Issue

24

IT destination bangalore

track 32 career Database Administrator www.technofirstonline.com

One of the biggest challenges for Indian IT industry is to be able to scale up the talent pool Abhijit Tannu Head - Human resources Seclore Technology Pvt

Technology Career & Entrepreneurship Magazine Vol. 6

Issue. 4

April 2010

Le arning learn it the e-way top stories 12

your Attire for a Successful Interview

30

How to make it big in entrepreneurship

20

To get the job you want

10

phanindra sama the red bus ceo

37

How to choose a study program

34

startup story Buzz In Town

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Hon. Chief Editor Prof. Jyothy John Managing Editor Ajay Lal Editor in charge Abraham Tharakan Associate Editor Jayakrishnan.G.Pillai Senior Sub Editor Suchithra Pillai Art Director M U Prajeesh Campus coordinator Nasaf siraj Circulation Prijo Jose Web Coordination Anitha Reghunathan Event Coordination Vimal Administration Nileena Thomas Subscriptions - 09388833888 subscription@technofirstonline.com Advertisement (+91) 9633277714 Corp. Office mediafirst Publication A-44, Road No-2, NH-8, Mahipalpur New Delhi - 110037 Ph +91-9388833888 Admin Office mediafirst Publications C1, Alfa Towers, I.S. Press Road, Cochin-18 Ph - (+91 484) 2397533 Printed at S. T. Reddiar Press, Kochi

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The views expressed in the articles by contributors. Great care has been taken in the preparation of this journal and the information contained therein has been compiled using sources believed to the reliable and accurate. Readers are however advised, in their own interest, to reconfirm the data before acting up on the same. TechnoFIRST does not accept any liability for errors or redundancies of any nature whatsoever. All disputes subject to Ernakulam Jurisdiction only

4 TF April 2010

editorial M

y school days mesmerize me with charcoal picture class rooms, broken and swinging bunches, accurate duster throws of teachers while we were being attracted by the sound of a mango fall near the courtyard of the school with its syrupiness or a chase after a cow in a paddy field to get home earlier to have a piece of jackfruit even with of the blocking unfit trousers. Every teacher, student in those days, fascinates me on their eccentricity. Behind all their ease and virtue, those days still are conveying an inspiring philosophy of LIFE. But today, If I tell about my school days to my kids, they‘d laugh because they can’t imagine about a school world where I was taught algebra and theory of evolution.

For them, the communication with their class teacher on their doubts is through a online chat room. They use home, play ground, dinning table as their class room. Moreover, they won’t believe 9-4 schooling, and writing notes what they heard from the lips of a teacher or on a black board. Technology blesses them in a world of unrelenting resources of knowledge. There, they would get whatever they want more informative than a teacher or a class room. In this e-learning jingle world, any one can learn anything from anywhere within no time. Universities and colleges are coming at the finger-tips of an aspirant; here, there is no age bar. All are students and they learn things from where they like to learn. No Aristotle nor Plato but few musings…….good going if it could change a world that always think lethargy is a milk that would cut short the extra fat of spending time in dying earth of water paucity.

Every one wishes to learn but the system that they are put through to learn, is what discourages learning. Over the last decade we have seen enough of technology and here in this time frame we are still waiting for more exciting technology. In this issue of TF we bring you the delights, pain and practice of e-learning, which in turn is a perfect blend of technology, academics and the industry needs. In this era when the youth is living in and out of the internet, e-learning is a perfect platform. The crass gag about “hiding your secrets in your friends textbooks so that they never read it” will stand true as everything you want to learn is available at a click of a finger. Soon there will be a time when the infrastructural need of the large academic building would be hold weekly, monthly or may be yearly meets for the teachers and students to meet in person.

Some may criticize such a platform but lets face the new age way of learning that will soon be accepted and appreciated in a long run, which might not take too long. The other stories making buzz is about the packages offered at IIM’s and how people have started overlooking IIM’s even with the offer that students are getting, also about young entrepreneurs, the IT sills and all that will get your career going.

This period also brings us to the stage of exams and the performance pressure. Wish all the student readers of TF a peaceful exam time and also a wish that they don’t burden themselves with an exam fiasco.

AJAYLAL

editor@technofirstonline.com

letters to editor Go Spara It was a great move from your side to bring to all the reader’s notice the new technology called Spara. The statistics and numbers of the energy loss due to the carelessness in computer useage was really shocking to read and I feel it is one of the most wonderful discoveries to date. First of all, the article was covered almost everything about the new technology offering an in-depth look into the various aspects of power consumption and the ways to reduce it. These days when almost all technologies scream out the Go Green slogan, it is really heart-warming to see someone doing something to support the slogan than just shout the same words over and over. Congratulations to you on covering such a topic and including it to the magazine. Really looking forward to the launch of this product.

Anitha reghunathan

Kochi Kool Off the Track Seems On the Track Your section off the Track is simply beautiful, the idea of bringing out stories of organizations and group which work wholesomely for the society or which works for an “out of the box” initiative.

This time around you brought out Mirakle Couriers and they seemed to be a perfect example of social entrepreneurship. Keep bringing in such stories and keep us engaged.

All in all a perfect magazine for us to understand entrepreneurship, technology and career.

Sneha Menon Thank you for your appreciation, we second your thought about social entrepreneurship but then there are very few young entrepreneurs who would venture into social entrepreneurship in the beginning of their career.

We will surely bring more such encouraging stories to keep you engaged as you said The Editorial Team

The job destination review about Kochi was interesting but then there are few things that you might have missed out on. The street food is yummy with a lot of variation and the crowded buses though crowded with dangling bodies and sweaty arm pits the transportation is fantabulous with adequate ventilation and the experience of an amusement park for just 5 bucks is surely worth a try. Been living and studying here for a couple of years and now I have adapted my self well to the beautiful city.

Girish Krishna

Fake jobs around It was a good initiative that you have taken to expose the fake job industry that is in full fledge now-a-days. The truths you unmasked were really astonishing to read and was, to some extent, unbelievable. But reading the experiences of some of the ‘placed’ students has introduced the readers to a new kind of fraud. It is disheartening to think that these companies have got away all that they have done, with not even a case filed against them.

But, the most shocking point in whole of the article was the involvement of some of the top IT companies in this scam. With a large number of students turning graduates every year and a larger number in search of good career opportunities, what these organizations are doing can only be categorized as an exploitation of the youth that is bad enough to be considered a crime. You have done an appreciable job by bringing out such crimes that was otherwise unknown to a greater part of the society.

Arun Chithran

TF April 2010 5

contents bangalore it destination

job hunt

the ceo talk

cover story

16 e-learning the new way of learning

E-learning in India has grown very rapidly in the last 5 years. On one hand, shelf life of information has reduced drastically and our workforce has to keep acquiring new knowledge to remain competitive.

special stories 12

your Attire for a Successful Interview

20

To get the job you want

37

How to choose a study program

Unprofessional dressing will never take you place. There are some rules which you need to follow while dressing

Smart thinking, complete dedication, good time utilisation and just the right approach will get you the job.

With so many programs available, choosing the best needs careful study, right contacts, good research and the right attitude

job track

exclusives 10

the red bus ceo

28

the startup hr speaks

32

Career as Database Administrator

Red Bus is a known name amongst the masses, the brainchild behind this online bus ticketing system talks

The seclore HR head speaks about their recruitment drive.

One of the most sought after career opportunities, TF looks into the career opportunities with Database administration

entreprenuership

study abroad

34

Buzzing to success Buzz In Tow

30

How to make it big

24

garden city of india bangalore

If “entertainment every” could be rephrased we would call it buzz in town. Tf brings you the inside story of a successful startup. Buzz in town creates the buzz and we are all ears

The disability to recognize on which idea is right sometimes makes the entrepreneur himself not able to discover his abilities.

The city is expected to strengthen its position as the country’s top job destination. The other cities which got sidelined under its popularity are Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkatta. Located on the beautiful Deccan Plateau, and serving as the capital of Karnataka, Bangalore is the fifth largest metropolitan area in the world

regulars Letter to the editor 5 Group Discussion 56 Beta Q 66 Career Guru 21 Company Review 22 Book

Review 46 Gaggets 36 Smart techie 40 Hot jobs 54 Website Review 55

Siemens to axe 4,200 IT jobs Diversified German conglomerate Siemens AG has said it will reduce headcount by 4,200 people from its IT business worldwide by 2011 as part of reorientation. Siemens Group has a good presence in India, where it provides direct employment to over 17,000 people. Of the total number of 4,200, around 2,000 jobs would be axed in Germany, the company said without providing details for the rest of the job cuts. So considering the fact that India has a majority of their workforce we can surely expect some major number of pink slip passed on to the employees here.

1.6 crore offer for IIM graduate Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIM-C) has turned out to be the first choice of recruiters with the best pay packets in this year’s campus placements.

One of its students has bagged a record $350,000 (Rs 1.6 crore) offer from a global investment bank based in South East Asia and two more have been offered packages of over Rs 1 crore.

What’s more, IIM-C got 91 slot-zero offers (when the largest firms give out the best salaries). That’s the highest among all IIMs on Day 1 and 2, say sources. IIM-Bangalore, the second best, is way behind with 64 offers, and IIM-Ahmedabad students got 50 offers during the first two days of placements based on the newly introduced ‘cohort system’. These figures exclude pre-placement offers.

The three in the crore-plus bracket will join as associates of investment banks in London and Singapore.

8 TF April 2010

Google stops China censorship and gets blocked

Chinese access to websites covering sensitive topics such as Tibet remained blocked on Tuesday despite an announcement from Google that it had stopped censoring its Chinese-language search engine.

The web giant announced that it had stopped filtering results on China-based Google. cn and was redirecting mainland Chinese users to an uncensored site in Hong Kong effectively closing down the mainland site.

Searches of subjects like “Falun Gong” and “June 4” referring to the Tiananmen pro-democracy

protests in 1989 from mainland computers ended with the message: “Internet Explorer cannot display the web page”.

Websites of organisations deemed by China’s ruling Communist Party to be hostile to the nation such as the Epoch Times, Peacehall and groups supporting the Tiananmen Democracy Movement were all still blocked. And popular websites such as Google’s video-sharing service YouTube also continued to be inaccessible from Beijing despite the re-routing through Google.com.hk.

corporate news Dell Finds India to be the land of opportunity

Cognizant rewards employees

The business giant Dell sees India playing a key part in the company’s dramatic shift towards selling services to business clients after shaking off its singular dependence on direct sales of personal computers.

Michel Dell, whose return as CEO in 2007 redefined a hardware company that once championed the direct sales model, sees the Indian market helping its offshoot Dell International Services expand beyond technology and consulting services to healthcare, insurance and governance. Though the country accounts for only 2% of the company’s revenue, Mr Dell counts it among the top three key global markets. The company has 23,000 employees in India, about one-fourth of its global workforce.

With a market share of nearly 13% here, a big chunk of Dell’s profits comes from servers, storage and services. “The India operations are doing well. All businesses in India this quarter are growing more than 100% and the country offers enormous manufacturing opportunities.” Said Mr Dell.

Cognizant has announced bonuses for its employees globally for calendar year 2009, citing strong growth in a difficult year. The Nasdaqlisted company, which competes with TCS, Infosys and Wipro, has said how much the payout had been. However, people close to the situation told ET NOW that the top performers got as much as 200% bonus, unheard of in recent years, when IT companies felt the brunt of the recession in their major markets. According to the sources, a vast majority of employees have got bonuses between 150% and 200%.

Cognizant’s performancelinked incentives are tied to the variable part of the compensation, which is about 10-15% of the total

compensation at junior levels and up to 40% at senior levels.

The company had earlier sent out emails to its over 75,000 employees announcing the performance-linked incentives.

The email read: “Year 2009 proved to be pivotal in Cognizant’s growth story as we delivered exceptional performance despite a challenging environment.

By investing aggressively in our business and our people, we stood even closer to our customers, and partnered with them to augment their efficiency and effectiveness, making their businesses stronger. This would not have been possible without the focus, passion and dedication of our associates (employees).”

CAT toppers overlook IIMs An Indian Institute of Management (IIM) degree, with the large salary it guarantees, may still be the favourite way to get rich for a many educated young Indians. But there are contrarians who, chuck an IIM offer and choose to enter the real world. For years, the marriage of engineering and management degrees was considered the passport to a successful career and high salary. This is just because they have a tendency to over look the IIMs either to join some major corporate or simply to fly abroad.

TF April 2010 9

the red bus ceo Red Bus is a known name amongst the masses, the brainchild behind this online bus ticketing system Phaninder Sama shares his experience as the CEO of one of the most successful startups in the country.

How was your journey so far as a CEO? It was a fantastic learning experience. Every CEO has to start learning on the job and has to pass through the first few years of learning. I am going through the same.

The journey so far has been learning, thought provoking, exciting, fun filled, emotional, fearful, stressful. It took various shades as I passed through various phases of it.

What were the major hurdles that you came across as a CEO? One of the major hurdles was to keep my team motivated and involved during the tough times of recession. There was a phase, when our “name sake market valuation” went down due to economic recession, our sales didn’t witness growth, our teams and processes took a small slag. Some of my team

10 TF April 2010

members were demotivated for one of the above mentioned reasons and seeing them, others also were demotivated.

The whole company’s motivation was going down and I had to set it back on track.

With the help of my Mentors and a lot of self control and discipline, I could manage the crisis.

What according to you would be the backbone of your company?

culture. We have 3 fundamentals which are very dear to all of us – Honesty, Maturity, Hardworking (H.M.H).

We believe in being Honest in every transaction with our bus operators, customers and employees. In return get the same honesty from everyone we deal with. Most of our employees never lie to their supervisors when they take leaves.

All of our team members demonstrate maturity in their behavior. We have had some misses in the past (like the example that I spoke about in hurdles section). But it’s a part of learning.

We believe in Hardwork. Our company has been built with a lot of hardwork and sacrifice of our team members and we continue to work hard. It’s a rare trait and is present in all of our teammates.

The backbone of our company is its

How do you predict the year 2010

What is your vision for your organization?

I want redBus to be known as a respectable brand consistently delivering value to its stake holders – bus operators, customers, employees, shareholders.

Our immediate target on revenue no# is to cross INR 500 Cr turnover.

CEO TALK phanindra sama the red bus ceo

Company Address & Contact #311, 7th Cross, Domlur Layout, Bangalore-71.

Face book http://www.facebook.com/ phanindra.sama Linked in http://in.linkedin.com/in/ panindra RedBus.in Bus Travel India’s largest bus ticketing company. Sells bus tickets on internet, mobile, call center and in outlets.

o in terms of career, industrial and economic growth?

It’ll certainly be much better than 2009! Career growth and hiring will be back in action and this will fuel the growth of industry and economy at large. What are the skill sets required to head an organization like yours?

Ours being a high volume, low margin business, people heading our type of organizations should be very effective at building low cost models of execution. A lot of our competitors have failed in this aspect and have gone through tough times.

Your point of view about youth venturing into Entrepreneurship?

It’s a very welcome move.

I would caution youth not to enter in the entrepreneurship fresh out of college. My advice is that they work for about 3 to 4 years in any company before getting in to entrepreneurship.

There’s a lot of learning when one works. He’ll learn about various departments in an organization, their

roles & responsibilities, people issues and the way they have been solved etc., I would say that entrepreneurship is all about building BIG companies VERY FAST. And has nothing to do with when the entrepreneur starts building the company.

Eg., Google is considered a huge success because it crossed $100 billion in turnover in the shortest period of time and not because it’s started by young guys, just out of college. Business is all about real money and no emotion.

Any tips about the kind of employees you would look out for your company?

I would look out for people who are serious about their job and qualify our test of H.M.H (Honesty, Maturity and Hardworking).

While they are doing something, they want to do something else. Eg., a technology professional wants to do marketing. A marketing person wants to do strategy etc., This is causing employee and employer dissatisfaction in a work environment and is one of the biggest challenges faced by HR. What is one thing, you would like to have known while in college, that you now know?

The value of maintaining very very big friends circle. One who manages to have many friends automatically tunes himself to tolerance, understanding things from the other person’s view point, care for others, celebrate everyone’s success.

These traits are absolutely required in work place where you have to work with multiple people and your team’s success is your success.

What is your advice to the future IT professionals?

I would ask them to mentally be prepared to work for atleast 4 years in a single company.

Now a days people are switching jobs very frequently and this is affecting their career in long run. Many people repent at later stages of their career (after about 10 yrs exp.). But it’s of no help then. Hence, start making up your mind now.

What is the best thing about being a CEO? The best thing about being a CEO is one gets a 360 degree view of things.

RED BUS is a name now known to the masses. What was your success mantra?

Our success mantra is being simple, honest and grounded.

What are the HR challenges faced by the industry today?

If you wouldn’t have been a CEO you would have been a….?

About half of the people doing jobs are usually unhappy with their jobs.

I would have been an electronics Engineer at Texas Instruments, Bangalore.

TF April 2010 11

job hunt

your Attire for a Successful Interview Never expect that unprofessional dressing will ever take you places.

There are some rules which you need to follow while dressing jayakrishnan g

W

hen it comes to job interviews, what you look like counts! As shallow as it sounds, your appearance is one aspect of your overall person that can make or break an interviewer’s decision of whether or not they should hire you.

In any interview time is very precious and the only thing that can get you through the interview is your first impression, no doubt that the interviewer should be impressed by your knowledge and soft skills but then there is one more thing that adds on to your success rate, and that’s your attire. After all they say talent and personality are reflected upon your dressing to a great extent. Never expect that unprofessional dressing will ever take you place. There are some rules which you need to follow while dressing which are: Smell Good The way you smell matters a lot and when you are meeting someone for the first time, particularly for an interview. The moment you walk in and hope into the chair, you will surely bring in the smell that you have on you so make sure that you don’t make the interviewer sick with your fragrance or cologne.

When you hop out of the shower make sure to apply lower amount of aftershave and cologne because the interviewer may not like the fragrance. Body deo to a certain extent is good but never over apply it.

Wear Comfort Wear clothes in which you are comfortable because when you wear uncomfortable clothes it shows. What is the point if you cannot sit comfortably with your clothes on? There are instances where people were rejected only because of their dressing. So make sure to select the right clothes with right combination.

12 TF April 2010

And also keep in mind that your good clothes shows your personality and wearing the right one matters a lot.

Look Professional Professional is the most apt word that comes into the mind when you think of an interview. In an interview everything you wear should be professional even your shoes if you don’t have a pair of professional leather shoes, then make it a point to get one preferably black.

Polish the shoe and have a right pair of socks.

Wear socks which match your shoe and pant.

Also make sure that your hair is combed and you have shaved or trimmed your moustaches enough. Look fresh, look energetic and you stand a bit more closer to success.

What and what not to wear  Men can wear these types of clothes for their interview. they are A suit preferably of black, navy or dark grey, etc A long sleeve shirt or any shirt which matches the suit.

A Belt and matching Tie. When selecting a tie make sure that it matches with your attire in general.

Leather shoes and dark socks are a must and they should match with your dress and attire in general.

Jewelry is always a no.

Have some jewelry which is acceptable.

Hair should be well groomed and nails should be done well.

Aftershave should be moderate and it needs to be applied in a smaller amount.

Carry all your certificates and documents in a briefcase or in a file so that you can produce them in an order as per necessity.  These are some of the suggestion which a woman can follow. They are Professional suit preferably in navy blue, black, or dark grey.

Try to impress the interviewer by your knowledge and attire.

Wear a suit skirt in which you can comfortably sit without any difficulty.

Coordinated blouse and conservative shoes so that you can have a professional look.

Jewelry should be limited, wear ear rings and jewelry which increase your beauty and professional look. Never wear dangling ear rings, bangles, etc.

Professional hair style and neatly manicured nails shows about your planning and management style. It also depicts neatness and quality of the work.  There is always a question about what to wear to an interview and this can be solved to an extent by these tips. They are Select your dress for the interview and try it once to determine whether it fits you appropriately and to judge whether you are comfortable in that.

Make a point to iron your dress and wear them if they are dry cleaned.

Drop the clothes in the dry cleaners store as soon as you finish your interviewer.

Everything right from your documents to clothes should be ready before one day so that last minute hurdles are avoided.

Polish you shoes and wash your socks so that they don’t stink.

Use a mint before attending the interview and not during the interview.

TF April 2010 13

e-lear the new way of learning E-learning in India has grown very rapidly in the last 5 years. On one hand, shelf life of information has reduced drastically and our workforce has to keep acquiring new knowledge to remain competitive. On the other, Indian companies are now operating on global grounds. Because of these two influencing factors the need to train employees has become a necessity suchithra pillai priyanka narayanan

D

usky blackboards, finger shaped chalks, zig zag wooden benches, hand written notes- the perfect picture of an epitome of learning.

But have you ever wondered on how it would have been better if learning was much more casual with you sitting at home, relaxing on a couch and reading the ready set of notes?

E-learning is the new trend on the path of learning in this 21st century.

The grim picture of learning is getting replaced with that of virtual classrooms, e-tutorials and online exams. With the direct communication developing between the experts and students, the education has opened up its wings for better education.

Gone are the days when students have to slog for lectures and make notes, e-learning makes it “study in your way” possible.

Flexible, cost effective and ondemand availability makes e-learning- the future path of learning for all.

14 TF April 2010

The e-way The world has embraced e-learning in a big way. According to statistics, one of the top 10 positions among global 1000 companies of the future will be that of an online learning designer.

Interestingly, many companies are booming up here in India as well for providing e-classes. The metros were the first targets, but now with the rise of the demand most of the cities have also become prominent centers of e-learning.

“E-learning in India has grown very rapidly in the last 5 years. On one hand, shelf life of information has reduced drastically and our workforce has to keep acquiring new knowledge to remain competitive. On the other, Indian companies are now operating on global grounds. Because of these two influencing factors the need to train employees has become a necessity. Most of the medium and large organizations in India use e-learning in some or the other form,” says Karthik K S, CEO, 24x7 learning, one of the leading

E-learning in India has grown very rapidly in the last 5 years. With shelf life of information reducing drastically and Indian companies operating on global grounds, the need to train employees has become a necessity.

Most of the medium and large organizations in India are using e-learning in some form Karthik K S

CEO, 24x7 learning

cover story

ning e-learning companies in India.

According to him, e-learning has seen completion rates of more than 85% in India on an average against the global average of around 30%-35%. The figure clearly shows wide acceptance of e-learning amongst learners in India.

With the competition increasing on a mushrooming speed in the market, one needs to acquire the maximum skills to catch up with it. Even the creation of a knowledge repository is a must for everyone. The acquisition of better skills is needed to sharpen and widen the knowledge base. With new challenges sprouting out, e-learning is the key for all of them.

“Collaborative learning is the need of the hour. With the number of educational institutes increasing, the quality of education is a matter of question.

A repository of information which can be accessible to all is needed. With the broadband speed increasing and lot of players coming into the market; e-learning has a bright future ahead. Cost effective and less time consuming, the youth, which forms the majority of the population, surely prefer this as the medium of learning,” says Arun Balachandran, CEO, Smart Guruji, which has come up with the new affordable offers for the convenience of students. For example: they are offering the

product, IT finishing school, which costs Rs 12000 in the market at just Rs 1500.

Why e-learning The major advantage of e-learning is that it is self-paced.

The learner can make his own timetable and study. With the traveling and maintenance cost cutting down, people find this as cost effective. Even in case of referring the notes, the e-learning platform helps the individual to store the information in a better way. Not just students even the working professionals are interested in learning the e-way as it offers.

Flexible and accessibility makes it more convenient for the learners. There is constant updation of content making the individual well versed with the market standards. Like no other training form, e-learning promises to provide a single experience that accommodates the three distinct learning styles of auditory learners, visual learners, and kinesthetic learners.

“With the people recognizing its power, lots

of schools and organizations have introduced new programs making a firm step towards the growth of e-learning in India.

Even public sector banks like State bank of India, Punjab National bank, etc, have started implementing e-learning in the last one year. The banks and government organizations implementing e-learning coming out of the conservative mindset is a welcoming step,” says Manjul Sahay, COO, Transversal e Networks ( TeN ), which is focusing on online exams, which is emerging in a big way now with many schools coming up with this concept.

Government initiatives Over the past few years,

even the government has come forward and launched the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT). An amount of Rs 4612 crore is being incurred during the 11th Five Year Plan for the scheme. UGC-INFONET was set up towards the end of 2004, after constant efforts. Joining the crusade of e-learning, it provides electronic access to scholarly literature available over the Internet in all areas of learning to the university sector in India.

Many other major plans have come forward like the set up for production of video-based teaching material by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), the Bangalore based Indian Institutes of Sciences (IISc) and Technical Teacher Training Institutes (TTTI.) Gyan Darshan, which was launched on January 26, 2000, as an exclusive higher education

16 TF April 2010

With the mindset of people changing, elearning has a bright future ahead. In the past one year, 5 public sector banks have started implementing e-learning.

Lots of schools and even govt organizations have come in the row.

We also have BIS e-learning committee, which decides and analyzes on the standards of e-learning in the country aiming at taking e-learning to higher levels of growth Manjul Sahay, C O O, TeN

TV channel to provide quality distance education by IGNOU, can be considered as an effective effort in India.

At the institutional level many institutes have entered into online distance education and the much talked about NIIT Varsity offers training to 500,000 students annually across 33 countries.

Institutes like the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C) have entered into a strategic alliance with NIIT, to offer executive development programs through virtual classrooms. “Though people in rural areas still consider computer as something alien but in the last four-five years, the trend has changed. The PC sales have increased and usage of computer in schools are on a rise. The country has adapted the new trends of technology.

Even institutes like NIIT along with Govt schools are organising

What makes e-learning better For trainer or organization Cost effective Reduced learning time Constant touch with experts Easy reference of the material

For learner On demand availability Interactivity One can adjust the learning pace Consistent delivery of the content

Disadvantages of e-learning

new projects promoting e-learning.

With students getting accustomed with computers at school level itself and people becoming computer-savvy, e-learning is surely on a rise,� says Manish Mohan, Head of India Development Center, Element K, who are primarily into corporate training especially workplace learning.

The visibility quotient between the learner and the teacher in understanding things and reconfirming on them then and there itself makes e-learning the most preferrred. E-learning also offers individualized instruction, which print media cannot provide. Though e-learning offers boundless scope in the field of learning, it has its own limitations as well.

The upfront investment is larger due to development costs. Budgets and cash flows need to be negotiated depending on the progress. With technology being sought as the sole partner, the issues related to it always pose as a problem. One of the main hindrances in the path of e-learning is the social acceptance. When classrooms are still considered as the epitome of learning,

For the trainer or organization

For the learner

The upfront investment is larger

Technology issues

Technology problems

Not easy to be portable like book

Society acceptance

Less social interaction

Constant content updation

Cultural acceptance

The growth of e-learning According to statistics, one of the top 10 positions among global 1000 companies of the future will be that of an online learning designer.

Institutes like NIIT along with Govt schools are organising new projects promoting e-learning. With students getting accustomed with computers at school level itself and people becoming computer-savvy, e-learning is on a rise

E-learning has seen completion rates of more than 85% in India on an average against the global average of around 30%35%. The figure clearly shows wide acceptance of e-learning amongst learners in India.

TF April 2010 17

We can learn in our own terms. Easy to access, flexible and on-demand availability makes e-learning much simpler.

Being cost effective and self paced, e-learning is truely benefiting” Pooja Ambulkar Student, Mumbai

the virtual set up will surely take time to be accepted. But in this 21st century, all these drawbacks get sidelined when its advantages are seen.

Future Unique in its learning style, preferences and needs, e-learning

is on the rising path. With academicians, students, parents, institutions and even government organizations accepting it, the future of e-learning is very bright in India.

With the rising acceptance

of e-learning, a new BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) e-learning committee has also come into existence. “With the mindset of people changing, e-learning has a great future ahead. Many more companies are implementing them. Keeping such a rise in mind, BIS e-learning committee decides and analyzes on the standards of e-learning in the country. The standard of learning and managing the software is looked on and discussed. The best tactics is reviewed and the information is spread across all the companies.

The committee having members like C-DAC and even Microsoft aims at taking e-learning to higher levels of growth,” adds Manjul Sahay COO, TeN, who is a member of the committee.

With such a mushrooming growth, e-learning is the way ahead for the learners. Costeffective, flexible and on-demand availability; it is sure to rise to higher levels of growth in future.

With everyone accepting its worth, the students can now learn it “the way they want” through the platform of e-learning.

First company incubated at Innovation Lab

The team with Arun Balachandran at Innovation Lab

Innovation Lab incubated its first company- Ennove tech. It is a start up company by four final year electrical & electronics students of Al-ameen Engineering College ( Kullapuly, Palakkad.) Ennove tech is focusing on R & D over wireless communication & automation, artificial intelligence, power

18 TF April 2010

generation and monitoring systems, etc.

Having a well established team in software development and animation technology, Ennove tech R&D team is developing its dream project - blue net. Named as Hi-xma, (high speed X coded media and content access), it’s a

complete new technology, which broadcast high definition video, audio, and data over a vast area. It can be accessed by all blue tooth gadgets. With this technology, 95% of mobile devices can access video, audio and data broadcasts without making any changes in its hardware. Blue net needs no towers and it’s an echo friendly hazardless system, which will reduce total networking cost up to 60% and can be used for indoor and outdoor networking. Aiming high with plans to enter the robotic toy market, each Ennove member dreams to have a better India with magical touch of extreme technologies.

The team: CEO: Adheesh thalekkara CMO: Suji.V.U CTO: Arun Rajagopal CFO: Rahul Radhakrishnan

job track

To get the job you want Smart thinking, complete dedication, good time utilisation and just the right approach will make you land up at the job you desire for

G

etting the job what one desires for is really a dream come true. All of you including experienced hands must be still on the look out for something which would hold you into it. Unfortunately many land up with those jobs where either they are not satisfied or are completely harassed at their job places. The ambience, atmosphere, employees, work pressure, baseless claims of boss; anything can be a reason for it.

The pressure has created such a situation where working is considered as a burden by many.

But in real sense, getting the job you want is not so difficult. Just by knowing the right tactics one can achieve what one wants. You need to know how to get noticed, what to do to better your chances of being offered the job you want, and how to advance quickly.

Attitude is the key. If you have the right attitude, the right job will

Thrive to have a good GPA  Try to do internships  Collect as much as contacts from the industry  Get hold of part time jobs  Start your search early itself  Make an attractive resume come for you. How successful you will be in your future depends on the attitude and expressions you have when you start your career.

With just a few career tips you can be on your way to that corner office, that six figure income, or your dream job in very little time.

You can catapult to your dream destination with just few careful steps.

Education Having a strong foundation counts for you. If you have a good GPA then it really adds to your credit.

College is a big deal and one should

 career guru

Internships Getting on job experience is always a good idea. When you feel bored of your studies, try out something new. Experience the world outside and venture into the field. An internship may mean more work, but it can really open up doors for you when you graduate and want to jump-start your career.

An internship shows employers that you know the world outside better. In some cases internships lead to permanent posting too so never downplay them. It will give

Mail your queries: careerQ@technofirstonline.com

Q I am currently in my first year of graduation and also working as a computer operator in a small organisation.

I have completed a course in web technologies that Q includes java,html,asp,cgi/perl,dhtml,javascript.

Will my educational qualifications help me in getting a better job ?

Rajesh Kumar,Bangalore

a Formal qualifications like a graduation degree is a must to get a well qualified job. Since you are still a in the first year of your graduation, you could try teaching in computer training institutes involved in web technologies. You could also do programming for freelance projects. You might get a job if you are lucky, but it would be better to continue your education even

22 TF April 2010

seriously pursue studies. Not just the college experience helps you to grow further it also adds to your resume. You should think of your education as a foundation to your career, you can either lay a very solid and stable foundation with good grades and great attendance, or you can lay a shaky foundation that will eventually crumble or just not live up to expectations.

after you get a job.

Having completed my MCA, currently Iam working as a S/W engineer but am not fully satisfied with it.

I have good knowledge of ASP, HTML, VBScript, JavaScript, IIS and MS-Access, but still Iam not able to get a good job

Srinivasan K, Chennai

Classifying jobs as good and bad is not possible.

But one can have well-paying jobs and jobs in good companies. At the starting stage of your career, you need to concentrate on getting a job in the area you are interested in or the skills you are proficient in. Take a job with a small company, gather an

With just a few smart tips you can be on your way to that corner office, that six figure income, or your dream job in very little time

relevant experience to ones career.

Part time job Though working part time will add to your stress. But to get something taking pain is also important. If you work for it then can you achieve your dreams.. If you let the part time employer know that you will be balancing the job with school, they will

surely understand and make your timings more flexible. Like internships, part time jobs often lead to permanent positions when you graduate, which can be an important stepping stone into the real world.

Early look out To get something good one need to try for it early itself. Start looking

experience for atleast 2 years, be well-versed in those skills and then shift to a bigger company. You may have to compromise on the salary aspect but after acquiring enough experience you can look forward to a job with a good pay and in a good company.

for a job before you graduate itself.

The final year of graduation is the apt time for it. May be six months before the graduation is the perfect time. You can know about the industry, get contacts also in the process. Many employers will start employing freshers immediately to make you sound right from the start. It will also help you in getting familiar with the interviewing processes.

Resume The most important part and the only document with which one company judges you is your resume. Try to make it in the most perfect way as possible without any mistakes.

Your resume is generally the first impression that a prospective employer will have of you, so make it a good, well presented, decent style.

Take a look at resume of friends or take help from seniors and prepare one. Try to encapsulate all of your best qualities, knowledge and experience in the resume Apply to few of those good offices which are popular and not just resort to only one.

Work on your skills and make yourself perfect for interviews.

Once you are confident on your skills and ready with good resume; then the job you desire would come calling for you.

the ‘B’ and ‘C’ levels .As for international recognition is concerned, an MCA Degree will have more weightage internationally as it is a postgraduate degree. As far as the syllabus goes, DOEACC is much more contemporary. If you cannot get into MCA then make DOEACC your second choice.

Q I always had a desire for Computer Science right from my childhood itself. Presently I have done my Q I am presently working as web designer but I want to B.Com and I am planning to continue further studies pursue a career as a programmer. Which is the best in Computer Science. I have attempted entrance tests way to become a programmer?

Vijay Sharma,Chennai for MCA and DOEACC ‘B’ level. Is DOEACC recognised by the AICTE? Is it Internationally Recognised?

You will first of all need to acquire the programming Should I try for some other course? a Smita Rao, Bangalore skills by doing a course in Java, ASP, Web Technologies etc. It would be better if you do an MCA, which will help you to have firm foot holding in the IT job market. a The AICTE/DOE accreditation is given by the Department of Electronics -Government of India and If it isn’t possible for you to do a full-time MCA, you is equivalent to MCA. It is a good course, especially could always try to a correspondence course.

TF April 2010 23

company review

Mphasis bangalore MphasiS brings to their clients a credible and experienced global leadership team driving service delivery through the next generation global delivery model Company Introduction MphasiS consistently delivers global Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing, Applications Services Outsourcing and Business Process Outsourcing services through a combination of technology know-how, domain and process expertise. MphasiS brings to their clients a credible and experienced global leadership team driving service delivery through the next generation global delivery model.

MphasiS supports global companies around the world in the improvement of their business processes. We service clients in Financial Services & Insurance, Manufacturing, Healthcare,

Communications, Media & Entertainment, Government, Transportation & Logistics, and Consumer & Retail industries worldwide Skill / Technology used by this company Java/JS/J2EE/Struts/Servlet, Mainframe , Middleware , MS.Net/C#/VB/XML/VC++/Ajax , Network Tech , Open Source , Oracle Apps , Peoplesoft , PHP/ Perl/Unix/Apache , PL/SQL , PLM , Programming languages , SAP/ABAP , Seibel , Servers/IIS , Software Testing are some of the skills required Major Industries or domains The company is more or less into IT, ITES and Outsourcing Company Website www.mphasis.com Brand Value Fresher Salary: When we joined it was around 3 lacs.

Training (for fresher & experienced) I believe this is the place where you could learn a lot during the training and that would help you a lot on the job.

Career growth and onsite opportunities?

Growth opportunities are a bit stagnant and filtered. Either you have to be a boosted performer or you

have to wait for the time point at you to go up the ladder.

How is work environment and how efficient is the communication b/w teams or department?

If you can make friends within team and at the same time please your team leader you are game.

The teams work well, provided you are a team player.

Work pressure/Work life balance It again depends on the team that you are in and the kind of project you have on hand. The work environment is a bit way ward because , the company runs on exceptions and make-shift arrangements.

Satisfaction with salary and quality of work.

It would have been great if a pay hike could be managed by the management. The work quality is wonderful as they have some great team formed.

What type of work they do Product development, Services etc.

Basically known for its IT product, services and BPO, the company is known for its quality services.

Job security.

As it is with every company you are safe as long as you know how to please people and make sure you perform. So far haven’t heard of people being fired.

Disclaimer:This is an individuals point of view about the company that he/she is employed in and we, at TechnoFIRST, won’t be held responsible for the same. As per the request the identity of that individual shall not be disclosed under any circumstances.

presents

Sharp minds together to start up your dreams Start your company in Technopark - TBI

The sharpest mind in India are coming together to lend support for the flagship campaign to change the face of the Indian Technology industry. From statesmen, to successful young entrepreneurs to pioneer I.T. giants, the “I am an Entrepreneur” Campaign is aimed at making change at the grass root level to the future of the country, namely the youth.

The innovative ideas in young minds shall be crafted and applied from the shoulders of these people who have shown the world the value of independent thinking. The campaign focuses on evaluating the viable ideas in future entrepreneurs and providing help in making their campus dreams come true.

Log on to www.iamanentrepreneur.in Mail us: info@iamanentrepreneur.in

A Campaign To Make Your Campus Dreams Come True

Get ready

to change your lives !

Help Line: Sreejith (Technopark)

+91- 98 959 51 435

Nileena (TechnoFIRST) +91- 93 888 33 888

October

2009

IT destination

garden city of india

bangalore

The city is expected to strengthen its position as the country’s top job destination.

The other cities which got sidelined under its popularity are Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkatta. Located on the beautiful Deccan Plateau, and serving as the capital of Karnataka, Bangalore is the fifth largest metropolitan area in the world

C

laimed as the country’s largest job creator, Bangalore is a city for the youth. Not just for its fast life and beauty, the city also offers a wide range of opportunities to the youngsters. With the IT industry booming in the city, it is the city for all the aspirants to reach for.

Based on the data from various companies and recruitment firms, the TOI found that the IT and BPO industries will add around 65,000 new jobs in Bangalore alone. The city is expected to strengthen its position as the country’s top job destination. The other cities which got sidelined under its popularity are Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkatta.

Located on the beautiful Deccan Plateau, and serving as the capital of Karnataka, Bangalore is the fifth largest metropolitan area in the world.

Packed with spectacular parks

24 TF April 2010

and plant life, the beauty of the city speaks for itself. The Garden city of India also has wide range of universities, best schools in the world for all trades.

Academically sound with wide range of opportunities, people are swarming to the city in huge numbers.

With most of the international companies and national companies having their main offices in the city, the employment opportunities are on a high in the city. Right from Yahoo, Google to all other major IT companies have a strong base in the city. The ‘hitech city’ boasts of a huge number of IT companies. Right from big giants to newer companies find this place suitable for starting their businesses and establish it for further growth. The city has great scope for software industry.

The city being a software hub has many IT parks. The main ones among them are Electronic city, Embassy golf links, Manyata tech

park, Prestige tech park, Bagmane tech park and many more.

Bangalore is the heart of Global IT and BPO fraternity.

Not just the IT sector, even the entertainment and retailing sector has a major scope in the city. If you have the right aptitude and caliber then the city is the right place for you.

Lively Culture

The city boasts of the most lively and interesting culture.

Vibrant colours and lifestyle attracts the youngsters to it.

Having such a wide culture, people easily get immersed into it. All types of Indian dishes are available for the people.

Multiplexes are the major source of entertainment in the city. With movie buffs all around the corner, watching a movie is almost a weekend chore.

Partying is an inseparable part of the lively culture. For all those who want to rock and enjoy their lives, the city offers the best. The

city also hosts more concerts than any other in the country. The city is also a hot spot for nightclubs and bars, often referred to as the Pub capital of India. Being the coolest and most happening city, youngsters prefer it when compared to other cities.

Nightlife

One of the most exciting part of the city is its nightlife. People can enjoy the maximum in the night without much fear. Both those who drink and those who don’t drink can enjoy the time. But the pub scene is considered to be the major chunk of the city nightlife.

There are many pubs which

Population 6 million+ Languages hindi (official), english, kannada Climate salubrious and warm Popular mode of transport Auto rickshaws and buses of the bangalore metropolitan transport corporation (bmtc) and taxis

The most prominent jobs here are in the software field. The hardware and core jobs are little less here. As a place, Bangalore would be a thrilling place for first comers, later one just gets immersed in the city Gokul S Nair

Engineer, Sterling and Wilson Ltd

Japanese, Portugese,Continental, Mughalai and almost from all the regions of the country like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthani, Kashmiri types of foods.

Leisure time

offers an exotic and lively environment with foot tapping music. Among them few are Olive Beach, Liquor Café, Noir, Spinn, Jockey Club, and Hypnos.

The college goers and working community equally enjoys the super nightlife of the city. Even if you are not a partygoer, its worth experiencing the night life atleast once to know the pinch of it.

Food and Accomodation

Being in the city, one need not worry about food and accommodation as it offers almost everything. The numerous restaurants which offer food and drinks from almost every part of the world makes Bangalore the

best place to visit. Whatever maybe your taste and whichever country you maybe from, Bangalore has restuarants to cater to anyone who visit this dream city. One can find the best luxury class business hotels in the country here that offers a choice of Indian, Continental and Chinese cuisine and 24 hour coffee shops. The mushrooming of small self service restaurants like Darshinis are another interesting fact about the city. Among those restaurants which is still maintaining the taste since decades, one of the so called favourites are the Mavalli Tiffin Rooms, popularly known as MTR. Bangalore has wide range of restaurants offering the best in Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Thai,

The fifth largest and the fastest growing city in Asia also has many wonderful places to visit. This city while enjoys the reputation of being a modern, high-tech city, it still offers a lot of places of historical interest. Right from palaces, museums, temples, churches to gardens, all are offered by the city.

The major landmarks that you can see include Iskcon temple, Vikasa soudha, the Bangalore Palace and Tipu Sultan’s Palace.

There are a lot of temples that tell of the cultural heritage of this place. One of the most beautiful temple statues of Lord Shiva is also present only in this city. The beautiful parks like the Lalbagh and Cubbon Park are indeed a treat to the eyes. KSTDC also offers two daily sightseeing tours round the city. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation has also introduced ‘Curitoba’, model air-conditioned buses that take tourists around the city. The lively culture and interesting ambience makes it one of the most sought job destinations in the country.

TF April 2010 25

it career

The top 6 skills for an IT career Finding a job in the IT industry is really a tough job in itself, more the same when you have lesser skills on hand. We bring you the Top six job skills that will get you your first job.

SAP The surging demand in the ERP market is expected to increase the adoption of SAP in organizations around the globe. Currently, SAP and Oracle are the two major ERP players, however the former is having an advantage over the latter when it comes to the demand in the market. The reason behind this dominance of SAP in the ERP market is because of the customer satisfaction, according to a study conducted

by Panorama Consulting Group.

Analysts have also predicted that SAP’s Business ByDesign offering will do well this year, which will drive the demand for more SAP professionals.

Embedded C++ The increasing demand for embedded systems is driving the growth for Embedded C++, which was defined by an industry group to address the shortcomings of C++ for embedded applications.

The official website states the goal of Embedded C++ as to provide embedded systems programmers with a subset of C++ that is easy for the average C programmer to understand and use.

.NET Since the birth of multi-core computing, there has been a requirement for parallelprogramming architecture.

Incidentally, almost every programmer considers .NET

26 TF April 2010

Framework 3.5 as getting distant and out of the way. To prevent its programming market fiasco, recently, Microsoft released the beta version of .NET Framework 4. Primarily, the MSDN site shows that the parallel extensions in the .NET 4, has been improvised to support analogous programming, targeting multicore computing or distributed computing. Thus, making it the right time to be equipped with the .NET skills.

Java Often accused of being “soon to be out dated� Java has stood its ground. For the records Java is being used in more than 4.5 billion devices around the world and the usage is expected to rise further because of the growth in the number of mobile phones, personal computers and smart cards. Java applets help to have an improved functionality while browsing the internet also making it more attractive.

C++ Many believe that the demand for C++ has always been there and there are not many signs that show the fall of this computer language in the near future. It is believed that the demand for programmers like C++ remains constant because these are used in segments such as automobile, healthcare and communication systems, which are always in the growth trajectory.

PHP PHP is estimated to have been installed on more than 20 million websites and over one million web servers as of 2009, the number would have multiplied today considering the current surge in the online world. Today, there are several companies that are getting into this space that is driving the demand for professionals with knowledge about PHP.

hr interview profile

the startup hr speaks

Abhijit Tannu Head - Human resources Name of your Company Seclore Technology Pvt Ltd Industry Information Rights Management (Software Product Company)

We like to recruit people with a right attitude and those who can scale up quickly to higher roles. This is important for a fast growing company like Seclore Could you tell us about the work culture in your organization?

Work culture is very informal and vibrant. People are encouraged to take a lot of ownership. They get a lot of exposure at early stage in their career. An employee’s background only defines where he/she starts within the company and not where they can go or how fast they can grow. The environment is also very open. There is a lot of information related to company’s business plans, vision, financials are shared with all the employees on a regular basis. Everyone is encouraged to be innovative and come up with smart solutions to solve the problems.

Current recruitment status, Recruitment forecast?

We are looking out for quite a few positions in many different roles including technical, customer engagement, sales etc. Looking to add another 15-20 people in next 6 months time.

What is your recruitment process like?

Our recruitment process is very stringent.

Commitment, integrity, aptitude, flexibility are key qualities that we look in candidates.

We like to recruit people with a right attitude and those who can scale up quickly to higher roles. This is important for a fast growing company like Seclore.

What are the steps involved in your recruitment process?

This may vary a little depending on the position. Typically it involves an aptitude test followed by technical test and 1-2 rounds of interview. For certain positions, there could be more than 1 aptitude tests.

What is the present scenario of the job market post recession?

Independent of recession, getting good talent is always difficult.

Present job market in Indian IT sector is looking up. Many software companies are looking to recruit in the coming quarters. So it is definitely getting more challenging to get good people.

What would be the future requirement for the IT industry?

I think, one of the biggest challenges for Indian IT industry is to be able to scale up the talent pool. There are a million engineering students graduating every year. However, a few of them really have the required exposure.

It’s a gap in the Indian education system that needs to be bridged by the industry. Some of us have started playing an active role there.

For the Indian IT industry to grow to the next level, scaling up non-linearly with respect to employee strength is the only way. We need to have global technology and product companies emerging out of India.

What are the skill sets you are looking for in a prospective candidate?

Vary as per the profile. Qualities that we expect across

quick bytes An employee should be …

Committed and scalable During an interview the candidate should be…crisp and upfront Today recruitment means… selling – lead generation, qualification, right pricing, closure !

Things You hate about the recruitment process…

People accepting offers and not joining.

Things You Like in a Candidate Candidates doing their homework on the whether it is the right company / right role for him/her before coming for interview.

Things You Dislike in a Candidate Candidates not adhering to appointments scheduled with them and sometimes not even turning up ! all positions are commitment, integrity, aptitude, passion, flexibility and ability to scale up.

Any tips about the kind of resumes you expect?

It should be crisp, well structured, well formatted, not too elaborate and not too short. It will be good to mentions about his/her career objectives/vision.

What are the major challenges you’ve faced in the campus/ fresher recruitment process?

There is very little exposure that freshers have when they come out of colleges. There is almost zero practical knowledge. They are also new to the corporate world.

Training, grooming, orienting and retaining them is a big challenge.

What are the HR challenges faced by the industry today?

Atleast in our case, finding people with the high potential at affordable costs.

about abhijith Co-founded Seclore Technology. Currently leading the technology, product development, HR and customer engagements post sales. Believes that Seclore’s technology can change the way information is used and distributed - not only for large enterprises but also for individual users.

It can change the Information Security landscape and make Seclore a dominant player in Information Security.

Abhijit loves teaching and mentoring young talent. Has been advising few start ups.

Company Address & Contact Blog blog.seclore.com Linked in http://www.linkedin.com/ companies/seclore What is your advice to the future IT professionals?

Focus on building skills than getting biggest pay packets.

I think, one of the biggest challenges for Indian IT industry is to be able to scale up the talent pool. There are a million engineering students graduating every year. However, a few of them really have the required exposure Abhijit Tannu

Head - Human resources Seclore Technology Pvt Ltd

TF April 2010 29

entrepreneurship

How to make it big The disability to recognize on which idea is right sometimes makes the entrepreneur himself not able to discover his abilities

I

deas are thought by many but only a few take the pain to make it a reality. Entrepreneurship is all about taking the initiative and making your dreams come true. Ideas strike us without notice; it can be when we are driving, sitting idle; but pursuing them needs strength, perseverance and complete dedication.

Not all start-ups are successful.

It requires lot of hard work to make it into success. Firstly most of the people don’t recognize the novelty in the ideas. Most of them brush away their ideas instead of seriously thinking on them. The disability to recognize on which idea is right sometimes makes the entrepreneur himself not able to discover his abilities.

To Start with

Discovering on the novelty of the idea is the key. A successful entrepreneur is the one who builds upon an existing idea, improvises on it, and delivers the end product

30 TF April 2010

faster, thus adding further value to the customer. He should be able to know on which idea would work and which won’t.

It is important for the entrepreneur to possess good interpersonal skills. He should be the one who can communicate well with people since he is the key who can draw potential investors.

One should be able to convey the idea rightly to the people thereby inviting investors, participants to the venture. Sometimes the opportunity arises all of a sudden, hence he should be ready to seize it at the time and convert it into a deal. He should be ready all the time. He is driven by the strong belief that the venture will be profitable, and he can serve the customer faster and better than the competition.

Risks involved in a start-up

In the initial stages, the best entrepreneurs do not innovate or take excessive risks. The reason

being the lack of huge capital and expertise. They have very little human capital at their disposal during the start-up. Most of the entrepreneurs ensure that the financial stakes during start-up are low. Hence taking huge risks would be the last priority for them.

Tolerance and the ability to have a control over things is the most needed quality of an entrepreneur. The start ups would never take a great deal of risk. It is a tolerance of ambiguity and not risk that makes a difference. Most of the time the final outcome is not clear but still the entrepreneurs take a plunge into it. This tolerance is characterised by embracing the opportunity without a novel idea or a great deal of capital backing. The complete dedication and perseverance to have ones own company makes a strong entrepreneur to move ahead in his career. A successful entrepreneur is the one who holds to his idea and works hard to make it a reality.

Who takes the risk

If you have a stable hold then there is no need of taking the risk. But if entrepreneurs do not have the proprietary idea, the required capital and not develop on the idea, then the situation is different. The difference lies in the product that such companies have to offer. The product is neither aimed at nor designed for the typical consumer. The sales are not instant, and it takes weeks of selling to clinch the deal. In case of successful start-ups, they sell it directly to the end users without any retailers or intermediaries.

Not specific for a single

consumer, the entrepreneur later understands on the customer needs. In order to boost the sales, he himself does the selling. With such a procedure, an entrepreneur is able to adapt products to meet customer needs. The requirements of the customer are heard and the entrepreneur tries to convince him through effective interpersonal skills, once he is able to bridge a bond there lies the success of an entrepreneur.

An entrepreneur faces lot of problems like lack of financial resources, professional qualifications and human resources. It is the ability of an entrepreneur to break all such barriers and to ensure that the customer is convinced. The customer is the main one who is takes the risk.

The success of the start up depends on the success of the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur spends time and money on a product, and risks a great deal in switchover costs (if the start-up goes bust). In many cases, the entrepreneur has investors who also take risks by providing capital at an early stage in the venture.

The risks increase progressively in startups; the ability to deal with it makes the difference. Once you are established you are safe but these stages of risk taking remain as the main key behind it.



sudoku

Puzzle rating: Easy

A mind game and a puzzle that you solve with reasoning and logic. Fill in the grid with digits in such a manner that every row,every column and every 3X3 box accommodates the digits 1 to 9, without repeating any. The solution to the sudoku is on page no:

TF April 2010 31

career track

Career as DBA

Database Administrator The emergence of new trends like SOA and grid computing the DBAs have come out of those cliché back offices and getting involved in organizational planning and implementation decisions

W

ith the IT sector booming, many verticals are attaining new heights and importance. One such field which is attaining heights is the career in DBA or Database Administrator.

The database management has become one of the most important branches in the industry. With the emergence of new trends like SOA and grid computing, the DBAs have come out of those cliché back offices and getting involved in organizational planning and implementation decisions.

Today, DBAs not only manage databases but maintain, backup and recover data; becoming an integral part of the organization.

Every organisation’s functioning revolves around its database.

Whether it’s a manufacturing setup, or a telecom giant, a bank, or a healthcare institute, database are a key component of every enterprise IT deployment. Hence the managing and maintaining of the database is also a vital need.

The job of a DBA is studded with tons of responsibilities, whether it’s for ensuring data security, doing disaster recovery, instance management, performance tuning, instance cloning, or doing a plain old back up routine for the database. Even a software developer or business analyst’s functioning is completely linked to the DBA because the database has to be integrated into everything.

So, DBAs play an inseparable role

32 TF April 2010

For a career as DBA Complete understanding of database architecture like Tables, View, Queries, Primary and Foreign Keys concepts Advanced knowledge of concepts like partitions, tablespaces, procedures and business objects Knowledge of query languages like SQL and PL/ SQL Have expertise in database softwares like Oracle, MS SQL Server, IBM DB2 Understanding of shell scripting and common scripting languages in IT projects.

According to US bureau of Labour Statistics, the demand for DBAs will grow 37 % between 2006 and 2016. It is supposed to be much higher than any other occupation in the IT sector. With number of IT deployments growing in India, the opportunities out there for DBAs have also increased to a great extent.

As Kalpana Jaishankar, Vice President, Human Resource, Patni states, “DBA has emerged well beyond the traditional data management functions. With

number of new application areas emerging, advances in computer hardware, network and user interface technology have redefined the context in which DBA needs to perform.”

DBA- the sought profession The most important job of DBA is to maintain, backup and recover data and ensure that is is available at all times. The role of DBA is crucial for mission critical systems like banks and financial institutions where loss of data can never be affordable. The availability and security of the data needs to be looked after by them.

They have to make policies for data integrity and also maintain backups or distributed replicated databases so that the organization’s productivity isn’t hampered due to failures. Not just the security of data, the DBA is also responsible for a well-designed and implemented database that will help in maximizing performance, and give opportunity for scalability, flexibility and above all reliability. The speed of database transactions should also be monitored by the DBAs. They have to design rigorous security policies involving data as well as users accessing that data to ensure data security. The DBAs have to work in tandem with developers for an application project, so that the software application performs in an optimized manner with the database. They always have the

advantage of having the knowledge of software programming and development lifecycle, which helps them in identifying the right areas to perform work in efficient manner.

Skills required The career of a DBA needs complete dedication and perseverance. The core skill sets that a DBA should possesses complete understanding of the concepts of the database architecture like Tables, View, Queries, Primary and Foreign Keys concepts along with advanced knowledge of concepts like partitions, tablespaces, procedures and business objects, etc. The DBA should have the ability to talk to the database through query languages like SQL and PL/SQL. To attain success, they should also have the knowledge of the complete Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) along with some software programming skills.

The most popular database software are fairly well-known--Oracle, MS SQL Server, IBM DB2 from the commercial space, and MySQ and PostGreSQL from the Open Source arena. You must gain expertise in any of these databases. Advanced knowledge of the Structured Query Language, also known as SQL, as well as the ability to plan the structure and design of the database are also required.

Understanding of shell scripting in Windows NT and UNIX, and common scripting languages and Web skills (Java, HTML, etc.) are also additional skills.

According to Joyjeet Banerjee, Principal Consultant, Oracle Consulting, “Earlier the scope of DBAs was restricted to the database level, but today, a lot more is expected from them. With new market trends coming up, a new class of DBAs has emerged for Oracle, known as Apps DBA. This profile involves managing the entire Oracle Applications suite, apart from routine database administration. The Demand for DBAs is very high in the market. In fact, today, it’s very difficult to get a good DBA.”

Future in the industry From those who simply managed database systems, the scenario has seriously changed with the inclusion of application and web servers integrated with application development language, for example Oracle Applications database server. DBA is less focused on performance tuning, database migrations, backups and upgrades and is more focused on matters like planning and implementing database virtualization and managing the ever-increasing volume of data at various layers of IT stack. Service Oriented Architecture and Automation are the new areas where DBA has great prospects. As per Moorthi Chokkanathan, Head, India and Mexico, Delivery and Operations, Hexaware Technologies Ltd., “The DBA requirements will always be there in the market. In today’s enterprise the emphasis is more towards creating an enterprise wide strategy for application architecture, data architecture and database standards.. A DBA who has been maintaining, managing the back office work would be a key candidate to get into the role of a Data architect, designer,” The growth prospects of DBAs are very high, since the horizon covering their roles and responsibilities have widened. Though in every industry segment the role of DBA differs, but their requirements increase day by day as the IT industry progresses.

TF April 2010 33

startup story

Buzzing to success Buzz In Town If “entertainment everywhere” could be rephrased we would call it buzz in town.

Tf brings you the inside story of a successful startup. Buzz in town creates the buzz and we are all ears…

What is the USP of your company?

Buzzintown, as a premier entertainment hub on the Internet, is also a one-stopshop for all information related to events across India – plays, concerts, art shows, fine dining, book readings, sport, nightlife & lifestyle – for everything that is personal and social in nature.

With this in mind, we constantly update our content on the website making for a

relevant and enriching customer experience. The greatest USP of Buzzintown is clearly its depth of content. Updated almost ten times a day, the site provides high-quality, very localized event listings by venue, artist, and genre of entertainment for all major events in town. The value that we bring to the table can be measured by how we provide a very local and customized service for our users.

What was your primary motivation to start the company?

Although there are a many entertainment choices available to people in India, they do not have access to relevant information.

Print, the medium largely used for such communication, too does not provide focused entertainment options to choose from, apart from the usual suspects like movie listings for example. Buzzintown was born with the idea of providing people rich information on all kinds of entertainment options, using all kinds of media available. We wanted to empower people with information and then let them decide how they wanted to spend their time.

What were the major steps you went through to start your

company?

Since I had a PhD in Computer Sciences with a focus on consumer networks, I had a strong desire to work in this area. We prepared an early prototype for the entertainment portal (we called it Timatar – if Apple, why not Timatar?) – with which we went to angel investors. The portal won favor of our professional angel investors based in US and Europe, and we closed our Angel round in April 2007. Buzzintown.com started its formal operations in May 2007.

What has been your greatest achievement so far?

After the successful launch of Buzzintown in 2007, we expanded to 19 cities in India. We have also recently launched the website in 16 more cities across US & Canada to tap the growing non-resident and ethnic Indian community which are always looking for Indian entertainment options available to them.

Should we term our funding from Intel Capital, during the midst of the economic downturn, our greatest achievement? Or would that be the natural outcome of our growing traffic (1.7 million registered users, 7-10 million views of our content monthly) – which should be our greatest achievement since we did it without spending on marketing or advertising? Or should it clearly

be the quality of our content that has helped Buzzintown to transform itself from being a plain vanilla event listing company to an entertainment hub, which I hope is the first of many milestones for us?

Realize that with Jayhind! (http:// jayhind.buzzintown.com) we launched the first ever commercial television channel exclusively on the internet with fresh episodes every week watched by millions of people! Frankly, I don’t know which is the greatest!?!

What would you define as your greatest strength?

I believe that the biggest strength in our business is the depth of content we provide. Our content is not only user generated but also sourced from all stakeholders in the entertainment industry, i.e. event managers, artists, venue owners, theatre groups, production companies and so on.

Our users now have thousands of different entertainment options to choose from – theatre & art, childrens workshops, movies, food & dining, even unique travel destinations... We are also present in over 19 cities in India, compared with other portals, which cover only 1-2 cities at best. In addition to providing information and recommendations, we also allow users to purchase tickets online so one can plan their weekend in one place, without having to access multiple avenues to do so.

Did you get support from any incubators or professional bodies? How has it helped you scale?

We have been professionally funded (first Angels, and then Intel Capital) from the time of our existence and hence did not need any financial assistance from others. However, we do have many hundreds of professional bodies we interact with, as partners and affiliates, in a mutually beneficial way, e.g., ICCR, NSD, Spic Macay, Sahitya Kala Parishad, Alliance Francaise, Max Mueller, and so on.

What has been the biggest challenge for you so far, and how

quick bytes Entrepreneurship according to you is: Highly over-rated!

The only way to be successful: work smart The best thing about your team: their passion Entrepreneurship is better than being employed because of: the freedom it brings to follow your “calling” Being Rich means: being ecstatic with what you have Life as an entrepreneur is: a grueling, but always, I mean ALWAYS, full of fun

Entrepreneurship is a “bug” – it doesn’t matter how cozy you are in your job – if it bites you, you have to do it. Having said that, statistically speaking, 93% startup ventures “fail”

Amit

CEO, buzz in town

did you overcome it?

The challenges we faced were no different from what others face in starting traditional brick and mortar businesses. In my case, it started with structuring the name of the business to suit available domain names: in all formats .com, .in, .co.in – and this was very crucial to begin with. Hiring a bright set of people is always a challenge – more so in a startup when you are selling a vision instead of a cushy brand. Getting the startup team right was critical

as also the challenge of managing multiple hats at the same time, working out of subleased office spaces, trying to stretch the rupee to its extreme. The challenges of any startup are the same, and we are extremely lucky that our hard work has paid off.

What is your vision for the future? Where is Buzzintown heading?

In the near future, Buzzintown plans to expand its presence, both online and offline, in India and abroad and foster more industry alliances, while growing the syndicated portion of its business.

Buzzintown has a WAP site (m.buzzintown.com) for wireless handheld devices that will allow users access content anywhere “on the go”. Though cost and coverage are still constraints in this initiative, we feel that having a viable application for the mobile platform is essential for further growth. Video is another area we will continue to exploit.

Your advices to budding entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurship is a “bug” – it doesn’t matter how cozy you are in your job – if it bites you, you have to do it. Having said that, statistically speaking, 93% startup ventures “fail”. So while it is important and critical to pursue your dreams, I suggest getting to the bottom of the following 4 things: Need – figure out a missing link, an unexplored area in the geography you want to start.

Determine the criticality of the need – would consumers be willing to PAY for the solution you provide?

Business Plan – How do you make money while establishing the brand (in the midst of competition)?

Core team – One core member atleast in each of the functional areas of the company (R&D, Ops, User Experience, BD)?

Once you have the 4 things figured, you’re MUCH BETTER off compared to the crowd.

TF April 2010 35

gadgets EZNotetaker from Kavonics Capture, Save and Convert handwritten notes to typed text Use with or without PC Input notes, sketches with ease When connected input handwritten notes directly to PC When offline, store handwritten notes on device and upload to PC when connected Stores upto 100

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36 TF April 2010

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study abroad

How to choose a study program With so many programs available, choosing the best needs careful study, right contacts, good research and the right attitude

O

nce you aspire to study abroad, the first thought which comes to your mind is which program to choose from. With such a wide range of programs available, one need to really understand and study on them before taking a firm step ahead. Just a few careful steps will make you smartly decide on which study program to choose.

Step1 With so many places available as options, the first and foremost thing needed is to choose on the place where you want to go.

Consider the compatibility with the place, ambience. How much you are comfortable with the weather, humidity and atmosphere there. Do also check on the accommodation, life and culture of the place. International education is booming hence you have a wide range of countries to choose from.

Step 2 One of the best source available is the internet. Try to get maximum information on the various courses available. Read on the various prospects of the course. Gather all the information on the programs which interest you. Use the information to obtain the contacts of various offices.

Step 3 Once you have a destination in mind, the period of your stay should be decided. Certain majors in higher education warrant longer times abroad, for example

language study. Hence the time you can stay abroad should be finalized after which you can decide on which type of program you want to take, either full time or internship.

Step 4 The best person to contact in order to know more about the details of various study programs is the various study abroad branch offices you have. Visit them and get all the details of the various programs available. Look into the specializations of each course and talk to them in detail.

Step 5 Once you have your academic program chosen, do try to get maximum information on the student support options. Whether it helps in obtaining a student visa, airport travel assistance or additional travel opportunities; all should be well noticed.

Step 6 The price for the program should also be considered. Prices can

include everything from travel, tuition, food, and lodging. Every reputable program can produce a cost list of estimated expenses for participants. So obtain that from them and decide on what you want to do in your life.

Step 7 One of the main steps which you should do after selecting the course is to get the contacts of the alumni. Try to get in touch with few students who are abroad. Any decent program will give you details of their alumni, if they don’t give then there is something suspicious about it.

You need to think twice before taking up a program from such an organization. Talking to the alumni will help you in knowing about the ambience, various programs and the situation prevalent in those areas. The first hand experience from students always helps.

Check on all the information and once you are confident move ahead with the program. Give wings to your dreams and fulfill them.

TF April 2010 37

yo campus jaykay

Youth Makes the Difference

I

recently came across an article in one of India’s leading newspaper which questioned our (youth) mindset. Neither do I recall that genius’ name who wrote the article nor do I care to do so. I know the questions he had asked weren’t personally directed to me nor were his suggestion apt to better my mindset. But being the part of the large group called YOUTH; I proudly take this effort. To quote him “what is India’s youth doing today? They have undermined the cultural values and have brought in the unwanted western culture which is degrading our system” A lot has been written about today’s youth and lot more about how we can make a difference.

But let’s enlighten ourselves about this write ups. These articles or blah as I call them are mostly monotonous and even scribbled by someone who has lost his youth a

38 TF April 2010

quarter a century back or may be more than that. They question our thoughts and they answer their own questions. They think as they should and not as we would. They have an opinion about everything and no good reasoning to support their false opinions. They just know what we do but they are far from understanding what we think. So the question is “Are we what they think we are or Are we way beyond their understanding?”

There is one thing that they

fail to understand or even fail trying to understand is that we, youth, have an opinion about ourselves. We have an opinion with the reasoning to support it.

We know what opportunities are and we know what to choose and what is to be ignored. They need to understand that companies, armies, organisations, NGO’s are looking out for youth to work for them because they know we hold the key to their success. Those who write about- us bringing in the western culture need to understand that we brought in the technology along with the culture.

We brought the change in the system that you complained about for decades. We are the ones bringing in the novel ideas and putting into action.

So to all those who write about us and write about what we think and what we do? Care to think and care to understand what we are. We aren’t just what you think we are, we are way beyond that.

smart techie

Techie with a Difference Explain your Career progress Even though my field of profession is software industry, my first job was a sales job. I got my first job when I was a student. I was doing my Btech in Electronics and communication, happily bunking classes and earning back papers.

One day one of my friends asked me to accompany him to a place and accidentally I landed up for an interview. Dressed in the most inappropriate dress, I attended my first interview and somehow got the job to fetch as much as connections for Airtel using my contacts on commission basis.

Even though it was not full time job, it fetched me good money and brought to me the feeling of doing something important, and more importantly, it woke the “professional” inside me.

Then, it was through job fairs that I entered into the information technology industry as a software engineer. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation was my first company.

Though at first I did not feel even a pinch of nervousness, later seeing the number of candidates the situation changed. As soon as the interview started, my nervousness melted down and I was back to normal. I realized that I could speak English apart from saying ‘sorry’ and ‘I love you’.

After the first step, the journey continued with me climbing up the ladder as a programmer analyst, senior software engineer and finally Tech lead.

Initial Job Software engineer, CTS` Current designation,: Senior software engineer, Sungard Technology Services.

40 TF April 2010

Nithin SB Senior Software Engineer, Sungard Technology Services, Bangalore

Tips to current Job seekers?

with design solutions for various application components.

Best aspect of your job Money and exposure Any onsite Experiences?

No onsite as such, only local onsites till now

Speak out what you know best

Work environment/timing On most days of the year it’s 106.30 (8.5 hrs), but at times slogging is required to meet the deadlines.

Boldly tell ‘I don’t know’ if you don’t know

What’s more important: salary or job satisfaction?

Learn bullet-point talking

Learn what you don’t knowASAP

Role Analyze, Design and Develop complex software solutions using cutting edge technologies and frameworks Explain about your work Currently I am part of a team to develop a communication system using Microsoft .Net frame work.

As a senior developer my role is to contribute towards the design and programming requirements of the application as part of a team of around 25 people.

I have to interact with senior architects who have more that 15-20 years of experience in the software industry to come up

Both What’s the best way a fresh-out-ofcollege employee can impress you during the first week on the job?

One should say a confident ‘No’, if he does not know an answer. Just to impress your boss, you should not beat around the bush or utter anything as a reply to a question you don’t know the answer to. You should make it clear on what you don’t know and how you are going to learn or approach the challenge What one thing do you know now that you wish you could have known in your campus days?

I wish I had sharpened my communication skills more during my college days. Bullet-point talking is very important in this industry.

What’s the worst career advice you’ve ever received?

I usually don’t act based on advices. I observe and move on.

Your future plans?

At some point of time, I would like to leave this corporate rat-race and start a venture of my own, where I can do what I love and which earns me good money.

innovator of the month

The Safe Innovation This time around we are featuring Mr Vijay Kumar Singh, the innovator who came up with the Scan Lock. Its a revolutionary innovation and surely going to make a difference to the safety aspect of the vehicle. In conversation with Vijay Kumar Singh My innovation My innovation is an Automatic Scan Lock. The SCAN LOCK is a security device for bikes & cars, which is very economical and unique. It identifies the bike user only. No any other unauthorized person can even attempt stole it from the stand/parking place or even rob it on gunpoint. If unfortunately something happens then bike will automatically stop and gives alarms.

Impact on society Bike thefts are very common in our country. Due to the uniqueness of the product the society can actually be safe with the technology. The economical pricing of the device also makes it have very high market potential as well.

The Spark Four years ago, one fine day I lost my favourite moped. Nothing can wake up your conscience than an incident which happens to yourself. The very same day I took the incident as a challenge to make such a lock which can stop bike theft completely.

Your entrepreneurial journey After deciding on the idea, I thought to enter into it completely.

I took market survey on different conditions of bike theft/robbery to complete my design/features of scan lock. I wanted to ensure the complete security of bike user and bike. After finding the various options, I designed my final draft of design for the product

42 TF April 2010

Association with TePP One day, while reading the news papers, I came to know about TePP and their support through B.H.U-Varanasi. After getting the information, I decided to get associated with TePP. The association with TePP helped me all the way and supported my project and granted funds to complete the same. Without them the completion of the project would not have possible.

Recognitions/awards I have received certificate from NCSTC (DST) Patent status I have already applied for the patent status Future plans To take my innovation rise to an industry level. I want to give employments to the people and thereby help the society. The product should be commercialized and the theft of vehicles should be controlled to the core in the

country.

Word of advice Keep your innovations / researches continue and take help from the TePP (DST). Having such a resource is a boon for us.

Innovation philosophy Everything is possible, you just need to go on.

Contact details: D 59/103 Q-5, Sigra Varanasi-221010 Ph-0542-2222424,09026701672 E-mail-v22vijay@yahoo.com

t-bi news Angels & Innovators Meet 2010

T

echnology Angels and TePP Innovators of Technopark TUC met at Trivandrum on March 14, 2010. Dr. R.R. Abhyankar, Head, Technology Promotion, Development and Utilization Programme (TPDU), DSIR, Govt. of India was the Chief Guest of the evening. The meeting was inaugurated by Technopark CEO, Mr.Mervin Alexander followed by presentation on TUC activities during last two years

by Mr. K.C.C Nair, TUC Co-ordinator. Dr. Abhyankar addressed the gathering by sharing his experiences on TePP with Angels panel and the Innovators. An open forum was arranged after the session. “An

Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp An entrepreneurship awareness camp was conducted at Mar Athansios College, Kothamangalam on March 12, 2010 as part of promoting entrepreneurship climate in the campus. Various sessions on entrepreneurship,funding assistance and technology innovation are handled by officials from SIDBI, Technopark-TBI and EDII. Ms.Surya Thankam, Technical Officer, Technopark-TBI took the session on ‘Entrepreneurship Development & Support’, focusing on the incubation activities, entrepreneurship development centres and the financial support schemes of Technoprk-TBI and Technopark-TePP Outreach Centre. The programme evoked tremendous response among the student crowd.

44 TF April 2010

innovator always keeps on thinking of improving his product with new features, while it will not be taken to the market. Technology angels and TUC officials should guide the innovator not only in assessing his technology innovation but also in transforming the innovation into a commercial product. An innovation will not be complete without market viability”, said Dr.Abhyankar. He appreciated the sincere efforts made by Technopark-TUC in tapping genuine innovators, raising a fund of about 3.39 cr and maintaining a large pool of experts for assisting the innovators. Earlier he visited the Technopark TUC and Technopark TBI facilities. More than 50 participants attended the networking meeting.

Prominent experts like Mr.N.T.Nair, Dr.Achuth Sankar, Dr.C.Arumugham, Mr. K. G.Satheesh Kumar, Mr.Jayakumar and other technopark officials attended the meeting. The presence of about 25 Angels from T-TUC and 18 innovators made the event successful. CEO’s of various Technopark companies and scientists from reputed research institutes like CDAC, NIIST and CTCRI added flavours to the meeting. The meeting ended with vote of thanks

by Mr. K.V. Rajendran, GM-Technical, Technopark.

Entrepreneurship Awareness given to students of MAC AAROHAN 2010, a technical fest organised by students of Muslim Association College of Engineering (MACE) was inaugurated by Mr. K.C. Chandrasekharan Nair, CFO & Programme Coordinator- New Initiatives Technopark and Registrar, Technopark TBI on March 1, 2010. During the inaugural address he stressed the need to promote student entrepreneurship and made a detailed presentation about the intiatives of Technopark TBI in this regard.

IEDC Inaugurated at Younus College An Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centre was inaugurated at Younus College of Engineering & Technology, Kollam on March 18, 2010. The IEDC was inaugurated by Mr.K.C.Chandrasekharan Nair, CFO & Programme CoordinatorNew Initiatives Technopark and Registrar, Technopark TBI by lighting the lamp.

Chairman of the college Janab. Younus Kunju, Ex MLA and Principal Dr.Masud Hossain were present. Mr. Sreejith and Ms. Surya Thankam , Technical Officers of T-TBI were also present. The inauguration was followed by sessions on Innovation, incubation and Entrepreneurship by Mr. Sreejith and the video session on “I am an Entrepreneur”. Mr Deepak Ravindran, CEO of Innoz, Technopark shared his experiences with the students.

Intensive Technologies a student start up with Mr.Anazmon as CEO will work as virtual incubatee from the college IEDC.

IEDC Inaugurated at Mary Matha College An Innovation & Entrepreneurship Development Centre has been formally inaugurated at Mary Matha College of Engineering and Technology on March 3, 2010 in the College Auditorium with the support of Technopark TBI The IEDC was inaugurated by Mr. K.C. Chandrasekharan Nair, CFO & Programme Coordinator-New Initiatives Technopark and Registrar, Technopark TBI by lighting the lamp. The inaugural function was attended by Mr. Murugan, Chairman-MMCET, Mr. Sabari Rethan, Vice Chairman, Prof. M. Mahadevan, Principal, Prof. M. Kumaran, Director, Mr.B.Raveendran Pillai, IEDC-Co-ordinator and HOD of various departments Prof.B.Raveendran Nair & Prof.C.Prince. Ms. Surya Thankam S & Mr.Sreejith. S, Technical Officers from Technopark TBI also attended the function.

A student startup from the college by Mr. Divyakhosh, CEO-Padma Technologies will be working out of the college IEDC with the support of Technopark TBI.

EDP organized by MSME DI at SNGCE An Entrepreneurship Development Programme was organised by MSME-DI under Ministry of MSME, Govt of India to the students of Sree Narayana Gurukulam College of Engineering, Kolenchery. Addressing the students as the chief guest of the valedictory ceremony of the Entrepreneurship Development Programme on March 6, 2010, Mr.K.C. Chandrasekharan Nair, CFO & Programme Coordinator- New Initiatives Technopark, and Registrar, Technopark TBI provided useful insights into the benefits of taking entrepreneurship as a career option. He also detailed about the support offered by Technopark TBI to the Innovators and Entrepreneurs.

Mr. G.S.Prakash, Deputy Director, MSME-DI, Thrissur and Mr. Sreejith, Technical Officer, Technopark TBI was also present for the programme. The ‘I am an Entrepreneur’ Campaign video was also displayed during the programme. SNGCE is located at Kadayiruppu, Kolenchery and is offering a portfolio of courses in the Engineering and Management streams affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.

TF April 2010 45

Eezeecamp As the name suggests, EEZEECAMP is an innovative software for easy campus management. EEZEECAMP is an all-in-one educational resource management software. With this software installed, you can avoid the intricacy of using a dozens of software for managing your institution.

EEZEECAMP is not at all tailor stitched; the feature that makes is apt for almost all kinds of educational institutions, no matter if it’s a professional college, an arts college or even a school. The immense degree of customization given to this product is the foremost factor that makes EEZEECAMP one of its kind.

The functionality specifications of EEZEECAMP include the handling of academic (Attendance, Sessional marks, University/ Board Marks) and personal details of all the students, automated/ manual ID generation for staff and students, Staff Data Maintenance, Relieved Students and Staff details, Placement Activities, Library, Lab, Hostel, Transportation, Fee, Intermessaging, Advanced Search, Exam Scheduling , Upload and Download feature, Reports, Regular SMS and Email notification to all the parents etc.

For more details contact: CAST [Center for Advanced Software Technologies] , +91- 4844061711 (4 lines), enquiry@castech.info.

now subscribe TF just with an SMS SMS ‘Ask< space> TF’ to 56161



book

review

T

The Last Lecture

by Randy Pausch Publisher: Hodder& Stoughton Ltd Author: Randy Pausch Pages: 206 MRP: Rs 295

46 TF April 2010

he Last Lecture is a page turner for sure. Each year the Carnegie Mellon University organizes a program where a faculty member is asked to deliver what would hypothetically be a final speech to their students. In September 2007, Randy Pausch didn’t have to imagine that he was talking to his students for the last time, since he was expecting his end soon. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, having three to six months to live, he delivered the most inspiring speech of his lifetime- “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” His lines- “Time is all you have.

And you may find one day that you have less time than you think”,

rightly brings out the feeling for the readers. The speech completely enthralls the readers about living, about achieving one’s dreams and enabling the dreams of others, about truly living each day as though it were your last. Full of stories and aphorisms, the book is true work written solely for his three children.

Pausch is a fantastic story teller, and recalls and distills the essentials of his life’s anecdotes more than most of us would be able.

Read by millions, Pausch has beaten the odds and continues to inspire the audience. The book is worth reading, enjoy the experience this weekend itself by grabbing a copy of it. hold of a copy this weekend itself.

BECOME A GLOBAL PLAYER….

High Standard of living is a common man’s ambition. This can be attained only through international exposure by studying, working or living abroad, which is the underlying fact of the number of NRI’s being on the rise. Based on an analysis undertaken by the team at Santa Monica it was found that majority of the Indian population opt western countries to study, work and settle. It is thus important to observe the motives behind this scenario.

I would like to bring your attention to the fact that the income brought into Kerala through agriculture, which is our main occupation is much lesser compared to the foreign income brought in by the NRI’s. Therefore, exploring overseas opportunities is not only advantageous to the individual alone but, it also benefits the nation as a whole. It is vital to note that these overseas opportunities could be explored in two major ways that is, education and migration.

Educational opportunities abroad In order to grab the potential opportunities worldwide and become a global citizen, it is essential to start your overseas academic graph early. The employment arena and the world in general today recognizes only those professionals who have made a mark internationally. It is imperative to understand that various Universities and colleges have tailor made programmes specially designed for Indian students, which gives them maximum exposure and knowledge in order to grasp the potential opportunities worldwide and become a global citizen.

Employment opportunities abroad Today, the number of skilled workers in most of the western countries is limited; this opens

the doors to the professionals in our country because, India is a treasure of hardworking and skilled manpower. Therefore, opportunities abroad are unlimited.

High-skilled and skilled workers have a great scope in countries like; Canada, NZ, and UK...

Some of the major benefits of going abroad are that you become a global citizen and enter the international market; you get a chance to experience the different elements of Globalization and international education leading to a higher standard of living, a secure future and economic development of our country and state.

Threats behind the opportunities Though overseas opportunities are growing, it seldom reaches the public through the right means.

Studies prove that the numbers of aspirants who actually realize their dreams are less when compared to those who are misguided and financially exploited. Organizations that function genuinely in the same field are limited and it is our responsibility to enable the prospective candidates to meet the right funding resource at the right time. Wrong guidance leading to the selection of noncredible financial organizations and consultancies is one of the main reasons for visa rejections and other related hurdles. Another major set back is choosing the incorrect program and program provider abroad, which may lead them into greater difficulty and no financial returns. Such a situation restricts them from paying off their loans and other financial liabilities.

Remember the only remedy to curb this issue is to be aware of the authenticity of the overseas education consultants before you seek their assistance.

Other threats that aspirants can come across during this

process are being unaware of the hidden costs and paying more than required, important documents and certificates being held up in protocol, improper and false documentation leading to visa refusal, building an unrealistic expectation about prospects abroad leading to a challenging situation, and lack of post landing assistance.

Why santa monica?

There are certain features that make Santa Monica different like, we do not charge students for our services and also provide free training for the proficiency tests like IELTS etc. With a track record of 8 years and over 1000 satisfied customers we are a team of 50 highly experienced staff working inline with solicitors, attorneys, and immigration advisors abroad. Being an authorized representative for reputed Universities and Colleges of more than 10 countries, we provide candid counselling and assist you in every step; from application to post landing. Our International offices abroad, regional offices across India and branches in Kerala enable the candidates to acquire services easily. We also arrange direct interaction with overseas delegates through spot admissions, seminars etc. Scholarship, Bank Loan guidance, Foreign Exchange, Ticketing & Pre-departure briefing, Relocation assistance like airport pickup, accommodation through the associate offices abroad and options for assistance from legal experts like solicitors, attorneys and support from our candidates already placed abroad are some of our salient services. We associate with nationalized banks in the country thus providing the candidates with reliable financial services. In alliance with the reputed Universities abroad we have also introduced tailor made programs, which benefit the Indian students in particular. Therefore, we truly cater to the needs of the Indian students, professionals and general public and help them to achieve their international goals by far.

TF April 2010 47

Advertorial

Grab the prospects abroad

did you know In the meanwhile while something else is happening or until something else happens.

Example : You go back to school to learn a new trade and hope you can keep the family together in the meanwhile.

On the way happening or arriving soon.

Example : They have three kids, and another on the way. This software is well on its way to driving me crazy. We’re on our way from the airport, so save some supper for us!

What is that?

802.11a 802.11a is a Wi-Fi standard developed by the IEEE for transmitting data over a wireless network. It uses a 5 GHz band and allows data to be transferred up tp 54 Mbps. Other standards within the 802.11 family include 802.11b, which transfers data up to 11 Mbps and uses a 2.4 GHz band, and 802.11g, which also uses a 2.4 GHz band, but can transfer data up to 54 Mbps.

802.11b 802.11b is a Wi-Fi standard developed by the IEEE for transmitting data over a wireless network. It operates on a 2.4 GHz band and allows for wireless data transfers up to 11 Mbps. A faster standard, called 802.11g, was introduced a few years after 802.11b and supports data transfer rates up to 54 Mbps.

This can make a difference in the speed of data transfers within a local network, but since broadband Internet access is limited to around 5 Mbps, a 802.11b wireless connection will not be a bottleneck for Internet access. Most wireless networks are based on either 802.11b or 802.11g.

802.11g 802.11g is a Wi-Fi standard developed by the IEEE for transmitting data over a wireless network. It operates on a 2.4 GHz bandwidth and supports data transfer rates up to 54 Mbps. 802.11g is backward compatible with 802.11b hardware, but if there are any 802.11b-based computers on the network, the entire network will have to run at 11 Mbps (the max speed that 802.11b supports). However, you can configure your 802.11g wireless router to only accept 802.11g devices, which will ensure your network runs at its top speed.

48 TF April 2010

discuss it Is the rush for MBA really a rush for big money?

1.6 crores is the package offered to an IIM graduate, if rougly calculated that comes to around 50,000 INR a day. So is MBA really all about gaining the big buck or do we have a greater meaning to highly valued course. A look into the fact whether all this rush for the MBA is just to fill the pocket or is it to make a difference to your intelligence and so goes the discussion… it Iofthink is. Most the

n Mba today more A than anything empowers the person

people opt for MBA to earn huge. For some it’s also the opportunity to work in MNC’s because of their employee friendly culture. Now many Indian companies have also started paying good packages 2 attract young and dynamics MBA’s from top B-Schools.

with the requisite Knowledge and Mgmt Insights that one needs to attain one’s Career Objective. Speaking whether or not its rush for money well end of the day people who r not pursuing an Mba n working also are working hard to get a Increment/ Promotion/ Better Profile in short to earn more n more Money. One just cant Compare 2 years of Work ex wid a 2 year Mba degree because both of them has their own relevance and one can’t do with either one of them. If you don’t have work experience it goes against you, if you dont have MBA its an obstacle to reach higher Positions in the Organisation

Nidhi Mudgal Management Trainee - NuGrid Consulting (HR)

ou know Y when you’re at work, and

faced with some major problem, and you wing it and hope it works out?

Having an MBA makes you less risk-prone, and more likely to know what the actual best path to a real solution is. That’s it, in a nutshell. I know it sounds stupid, but when you’re running a big business and are attempting to undergo a major initiative, you always want to minimize your risk... so basically it gives u a detailed knowledge ..about work you are doing Foram Doshi

Aditya Agarwal or a perfect f lyf...u need money..a secured

efore you join in it really is all about money... after B u join MBA, its for the name and becoming more matured and how things are dealt... but in the end

future...fame..n easy satisfyin lyf...

MBA provides wid ol des things...i guess dats y ppl r goin des days..its bcom more of a necessity an a degree...

T

Paromita Gupta

he MBA is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. It is a degree designed to give you the ability to develop your career to its fullest potential, at an accelerated pace. What will you get out of an MBA? Aside

50 TF April 2010

at the time of placements.. its back to the same old story(BIG MONEY). A vicious circle of pain and money.

But in the mean time (2 yrs) what you learn is worth this rush for MBA. Whatever degree you do. You do it for better future and life and money. So no matter whether its MBA or some other Masters.

from a powerful life experience, the MBA degree should supply three main value propositions: Skills, Networks, and Brand.

While the MBA could mean better positioning and marketability in a competitive environment, and better

Udayan Gutgutia money, money itself should not be the primary goal. It is the opportunity to work out of passion, out of a love for what you do and the benefit it brings others as well as yourself.

Monica Bamzai

Get your Dream Career Now just Rs.300 !

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technology

From intelligence to artificial intelligence deepa easwar

“

The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you wake up and does not stop until you get into the office.”

There! I can see you smiling at that.

Fortunately or unfortunately , this is precisely the effect created by the present usual corporate software jobs on the 1.5 kg located within our heads. But then, in spite of the brain that stops working once you are in office, man has always been the most intelligent of all animals…capable of abstract thinking, reasoning, planning, problem solving , decision making...but wait! What then is the difference between man and the computer? Tough to say…

Now let me take you through a story, that probably doesn’t start with “Once upon a time..”, but sounds like a fairy tale all the same.

There was a time around three decades back that saw the introduction of a machine that was quite big, quite heavy and claimed to be quite fast…..a machine that claimed to make things faster and easier to anyone and anything around. Rumors about the success of this machine had already flooded in (before the

machine itself) from the United States (where it had been introduced much earlier). But then, at that point it seemed to be a story that would not reach India in the immediate future. But there it came! Gradually our country, for the first time heard the 8-lettered golden word…. “COMPUTER”.

Very soon managers and members of directorial boards started to introduce this weird machine(weird according to the then employees) in offices with much enthusiasm. But all that the manager could get in return were grumpy and unhappy looks of insecurity from his employees.

The human nature of “reluctance to change” gave rise to protests against the arrival of computers.

Huge rallies, strikes and everything that could be done in protest to the introduction of computers were staged . But finally everything in vain. Computers were introduced in full swing in every organization.

Employees were subjected to rigorous training to accommodate this new technology that had begun to trigger job

insecurity among them. Thus came the era of “Survival of the Fittest”.

Those who continued to show reluctance were chucked out while those who were smart enough to spot the need stayed on. Since then the computer has held our hands and led us on a journey….. a journey from Intelligence to Artificial Intelligence.

It all started through mere tabulation, calculation and documentation. But gradually it travelled much beyond that…the “Smart machine” slowly grew to be called an” Intelligent machine”... gradually the change from Natural Intelligence to” Artificial Intelligence” was witnessed.

The very first mention of the words Artificial Intelligence might create an element of confusion in anyone…the confusion of how to recognize an artificially intelligent being? According to Alan Turing, if you question a human and an artificially intelligent being and if by their answers, you can’t recognize which is the artificial one, then you have succeeded in creating artificial intelligence.

Simple? May sound so, but the journey wasn’t all

that easy. Initial hopes of computer scientists of creating artificial intelligence, were dashed hopelessly as they realized how much they had underrated the human mind’s capabilities! Yes..it should never be forgotten that no computer stands a competition to the Human Brain!

Yet today we live in a world where anyone and everyone depends on the computer... and pretty much depends on the computer programs that make” Smart” machines” Intelligent”.

Years after the much resistant introduction of the computers , today, I sit in an office, before a laptop , typing this story and I just heard one of my male colleagues say something interesting: “ like somebody once said… that’s what is cool about working with computers ; they don’t argue, they remember everything and they don’t drink all your beer. “ funny but true, don’t you think?

If power fluctuations happen to interrupt your smooth working on the computer,I am sure you feel restless and helpless, for the simple reason that there is almost nothing you can do without the help of this amazing machine . What an irony ! The very same computer that was once a nightmare is today the backbone on which this country runs …. Today the country unanimously agrees that probably after the invention of the Wheel the best invention ever made my mankind is the Computer…and there is no denying that.

It took us at least 3 decades to actually imbibe the need and relevance of the computer and related services. But I’m sure we are faster in identifying the significance of Artificial Intelligence created by computers.

The applications of Artificial Intelligence is glaring straight at us almost everywhere around .

Sometimes in the form of robotic pilots who carry out

complex maneuvering techniques of unmanned spacecrafts ,and at some other times in the form of intelligent software applications that beats the human predictive power by predicting the trends in stock market. Neural networks used for predicting weather conditions and expert systems in planes to monitor atmospheric conditions and system status are all classic examples of the fast pace at which this domain of Artificial Intelligence has been growing.

Gone are the days when man had to sit with a bunch of sheets to tabulate and document his work…. gone are the days when man had to keep track of these large number of pages….gone are the days when man had to refer to various thick hard binded books for information (thanks to Google!...now every piece of information is just a click away) …..and very soon, gone will be the days when we need to look for parking when we are already late to office…simply because intelligent robots will be at our service .

Yes ! the journey from the good old days of intelligence to this new era of artificial intelligence is definitely one to cherish….and definitely NOT one to be confined to just 2 pages.

I would like to share with you a catchy tagline that I came across recently. It says “intelligence

WAS the ability to think. But intelligence today IS the ability to make something think “. I soon realized that it was the redefinition of “intelligence” given by a company that happens to be the only company working solely in the Artificial Intelligence domain in INDIA; “ARTIN DYNAMICS”.

Mere curiosity to know more about the company that operates in this interesting area brought me to their amazing product, SPARA. Being a person who constantly worries over the whooping figures that glare at me from my monthly electricity bills, I soon realized that this is the right place for me to be at. Do you think that being able to curb 97% of phantom power loss from machines is something small?

If not then you share the same opinion as me. Believe it or not this is precisely what SPARA does.

Check the difference in the figures of your electricity bills before and after using SPARA….that would explain it all.

Today while I share a small space in this spacious office I can sense an element of pride within me for belonging to that great team where employees do not come to work, but to enjoy work; where the job culture is not just good; but simply amazing….yes..this is a proud member of the ARTIN DYNAMICS family saying goodbye to you for now….

53

hot jobs Indian Airforce Recruitment of male and female Engineers as permanent/ SSC Officers in Technical Branch Name of post Aeronautical Engineer (Electronics) Qualification B.E/ B.Tech in Electronics/ Telecommunication/ Electrical/ Communication/ ECE/ Instrn/ IT/ CS or a combination of these stream.

Name of post Aeronautical Engineer (Mechanical) Qualification B.E/ B.Tech in Aeronautical/ Mechanical/ Production/ Industrial Production or a combination of these stream Last date of receipt 14th April 2010.

For further details log onto :www. technofirstonline.com

Khadi And Village Industries Commission

Name of post Assistant Development Officer Pay Band- Rs5200-20,200 Number of Post - 07 Educational qualification Degree in Civil, Mechanical, Chemical, Telecommunication etc.

Engineering. Computer/IT, Biotechnology Age- Not below 18 years and not above 27 years as on the closing date Appointment The candidates selected will be posted anywhere in India.

Last Date- 12/04/2010 For further details log on to www.technofirstonline.com

Life Insurance Corporation of India (L) Apprentice Development Officers (ADO) Recruitment

54 TF April 2010

Year : 2009-10 Online Applications are invited from eligible candidates who must be Indian Citizens for selection and appointment for 5578 posts of Apprentice Development Officers (ADO Qualification Bachelorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Degree of a University in India established under a statute or a foreign university approved for the purpose or the Fellowship of Insurance Institute of India, Mumbai. Preference may be given to those applicants who possess Masters Degree in Business Administration in Marketing or Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing from a University in India established under Statute or by an Institute approved by AICTE or a recognized Institution.

Age- 21-30 years as on 01/03/2010. Relaxation in age as per rules

Last Date- 14/04/2010 For Further Details Join www.technofirstonline.com

Last Date- 17/04/2010 For Further Details Log On to www.technofirstonline.com

Raja Ramanna Center For Advanced Technology

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited

Department of Atomic Energy Post- Technical Officer

(A Joint venture of Govt. of India and Govt. of Delhi) Selection of Executive Trainees Number of Posts according to discipline

Qualification B.E/B.Tech in Electronics with 60% marks No of Post- 1

Civil Electrical Electronics Architect

8 9 5 3

Educational Qualification A minimum of 70% marks in B.Tech/B.E examination (Civil, Electrical, and Electronics) and a minimum of 60% marks in B.Arch, from AICTE recognized Institutes/ Universities.

Age- as on 01/01/10 Not less than 21 years and not more than 28 years

IIT Kharagpur Recruitment of Junior Research Fellow (JRF) Name of post Junior Research Fellow Qualification B. Tech / M.Tech. in Electronics & Comm. / Electrical & Instrumentation / Biomedical Engineering with valid GATE Score. Familiarity with Embedded system design, electrical circuit design and signal processing and exposure to Matlab programming shall be preferred Pay Scale- Rs.12000 Last Date- 12th April 2010 For Further details log on to www.technofirstonline.com

Post- Scientific Assistant /B Qualification B.Sc (Computer Science ) with 60% marks No of Post - 1 Age Limit - Between 18 and 27 yrs as on 30/3/2010 For Further Details Join www.technofirstonline.com

Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology Recruitment of Scientist, Technical Assistant and Technician

The Indian Navy Become a Short Service Commissioned Officer as Pilot Course Commencing - Jan 2011 Applications are invited from unmarried male Indian citizens for Short Service Commission (SSC) as PILOTS in the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy for Course commencing Jan 2011 at the Indian Naval Academy Ezhimala, Kerala.

Eligibility Conditions Age. 19 to 23 years born

Engg. JR: To carryout research in the area of high temperature process metallurgy and Mineral Engineering.

Pay Scale- Rs.15600-39100 Name of post Technical Assistant, Gr.III Qualification 1st Class B.Sc. with Physics (Hons.) DQ: M. Sc. in Physics with between 02 Jan 1988 and 01 Jan 1992; both dates inclusive.

Educational Qualifications A graduate degree in any discipline with minimum 65% marks. Should have qualified Mathematics & Physics at 10+2 level.

Physical Standards a) Height and Weight.

Minimum height 162.5 cms with correlated weight, leg length, sitting height and thigh length.

ď&#x20AC;¸ website review

E

electronics as special subject. JR: To operate sophisticated instruments like TEM, SEM, XRD, XRF, Micro Raman Spectrometer, laser, e-beam, optical microscope, etc.

Pay Scale- Rs.9300-34800

ducell is a mentorship portal started by IIT students from all across India. It aims to provide guidance to IIT aspirants.

At present, 200 IIT students provide mentoring sessions to IIT aspirants and guide them through their preparations. The Educell functions in its own unique and systematic way. Every enrolled aspirant is allotted with an IITian mentor who remains in contact with the student through out their preparation period.

Educell provides sample tests, study material and motivational CDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to all registered IIT Aspirants. They can also get well drafted notes used by the previous

Last Date of Application 31st March 2010 For Further Details Join www.technofirstonline.com

b) Eye Sight. The minimum acceptable vision standard for distant vision 6/6, 6/9 correctable to 6/6, 6/6. Should not be colour/night blind.

Training The training is scheduled to commence in the month of Jan 2011.

Pay Scale & Promotions.

The promotion from Sub Lieutenant to Commander is on time scale basis and thereafter on selection basis subject to fulfilment of requisite service condition.

For Further Details Log On to www.technofirstonline.com

Educell.info

year toppers to score well in the JEE. The mentoring support and the notes provided

by Educell is chosen from among the best in the lot.

Educell has four different wings: Mentoring, R & D, Advisory Board and

Management. All these wings cater to the varied needs of aspirants.Other features on the website include tips-tricks via mobile, video sessions by IITians, live chat with IIT students and discussion forums. For all the IIT aspirants this is one stop destination.

sudoku answer

Name of post Scientist-B, Gr.IV(1) Qualification 1st Class B.E./B. Tech. in Metallurgical/Chemical Engg. or equivalent qualification OR M.E./M. Tech. in Metallurgical/ Chemical Engg. or recognized equivalent qualifications OR Ph. D. in Metallurgical/Chemical

TF April 2010 55

Abhishek Dhawan www.askganesha.com Aries (March 21-April 19)

Professional life throughout the month is likely to remain satisfactory. Your dynamic nature proves an asset in motivating others. Setting off towards new horizons will help enhance career prospects. There are indications of getting a variety of assignments, so make full use of your aspirations, supportive nature and open mindedness. On the financial front you should take every step very carefully after weighing all pros and cons. Lucky Color: Pink. Lucky Number: 2

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

This month is going to play a supportive role for you in every aspect of life. You may expect to get some good professional opportunities or additional responsibilities on the professional front. The first fortnight will be good while in the second the situation may be a bit average. You would be highly benefited on setting goals and then developing strategies & plans to execute them.

Lucky Color: White. Lucky Number: 7 Gemini (May 21-June 21) Positive indications dominate this month to majority of the natives. You will get the support of your superiors or some high profile associates. Financially it is going to play a mixed role where the chances are high for affecting a rise in your income and getting financial assistance. Positive changes in your business affairs in the form of increased sales and additional income will come your way. Lucky Color: Purple. Lucky Number: 11 Cancer (June 22-July 22) Financially this month would give you some stress where you will find it bit hard to get your financial dues. Use the mid of the month to pave the way for success at work. Your efforts will certainly give a boost to career advancement. Good negotiation skills and perseverance will get you a lucrative deal by the end. Seniors would prove helpful in helping you execute. Lucky Color: Lemon. Lucky Number: 5

Leo ( July 23-Aug. 22) This month starts on an encouraging note, as you put in hard work and effort in a challenging project. Your energy level will be on the higher side. Creative ideas and strategic approach is going to help you to further surge ahead on the professional front. Inflow of income is more than what you expect. By virtue of your credit side, you will do some charity. Lucky Color: Navy blue.

Lucky Number: 12 Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) On the professional front, people will appreciate your vision as well as creative ideas. You are likely to impress your colleagues and seniors with your technical knowledge and command over your work.

Some of you are likely to successfully conclude a major contract, which will generate substantial profits. Your ability to stand out in the crowd will bring you popularity and recognition. Lucky Color: Indigo. Lucky Number: 3 56 TF April 2010

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Expected success will come to you this month with a bit of delay. During the middle part of the month you may expect some good job opportunities. Things at professional front will stabilize by the month end. You may need to build up a workplace environment conducive to efficient handling of work. You should take a tight approach towards your expenditure to maintain a comfortable cash flow position.

Lucky Color: Brown. Lucky Number: 6 Scorpio

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21) This month, you will witness considerable improvement in all angles. Inflows of finances from various sources are indicated. Professionals engaged in the field of development are likely to get an offer from abroad. However, it would be in your interest to consider all pros & cons before grabbing the opportunity. This would not only open the doors of success for you but would also boost confidence. Lucky Color: Red. Lucky Number: 8

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

It is seen to be an excellent month for majority of the natives. On financial grounds and upward graph is likely to be seen. There will be an increase of income. Professionals will flourish. On career front, some of the natives will get an elevation with power of authority. You would get the return for your hard work in the form of favorable appraisals.Lucky Color: Voilet. Lucky Number: 10

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Good negotiation skills and perseverance will get you a lucrative deal. Professionally during this month you will continue to grow and will keep coming across new opportunities one after another. Proper financial planning would be required. You are advised not take any hasty decisions or give false promises as it may be difficult for you to keep. Try to adjust yourselves according to situations. Lucky Color: Black.

Lucky Number: 4 Aquarius

( Jan. 20-Feb. 18) This month is a good one for people who are hunting for job. Some of the service personnel may switch over to a better job during the month. You may need to find time to hone your technical skills.

Your quest for knowledge will awaken your desire to read and learn. Expect success on the professional front, as your sincere efforts bring positive results. Lucky Color: Aqua Blue.

Lucky Number: 16

Pisces

(Feb. 19-March 20) Better earnings this month will resolve many of your problems. Success would pave the way for career enhancement as well as in your financial position. Seniors would also be supportive to your ideas & plans. You will be highly benefited on striving to acquire relevant skills and developing the ability to work independently. Support of colleagues would help you to complete a project in time. Lucky Color: Lemon. Lucky Number: 1

‘i am an entrepreneur’ campaign

1. Palm 2. Jack Dorsey.

3. Intel and Yahoo!

4. Melissa 5. Hunch.com 6. Chief environmental strategist

58 TF April 2010

Answers 7. Infibeam 8. Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems.

9. A4 10. BlackBerry

A

new month and a new leg in the I am an Entrepreneur campaign. In the first week of February we found ourselves in the much-heard of science collge in Aluva, U.C. College.

There were about 150 students and these students were looking ahead to making their future so there was surely some expected question at the same time we also got some unexpected ones. But all in all the response from the students and faculty was appreciable and acknowledgeable and two campus ambassadors were selected. March found us at St Joseph College of Engineering and Technology,Palai. Almost 250 students participated for the campaign. It was a mixture of students from MBA and BTech. The campaign started at 10.30 am and it went on till 11.45 am. The participation was very low compared to the other colleges where we had conducted our campaigns before. We selected 4 campus ambassadors from the crowd.

The campaign met its most crowded and enthusiastic venue till date and that credit goes to Amal Jyothi College of Engineering ,Kanjirapally. 800 students participated for the campaign from this college. Students from BTech, BCA, MCA participated for the campaign which included both final years and pre-final years. The campaign was scheduled here for the afternoon session. It was great to see the well disciplined and enthusiastic students who attended the campaign. Our team was given a grand welcome from both the students as well as the management of the college. The campaign started at 2.30 pm and we winded up from the college by 4.30 pm. The campaign was on its full swing throughout. We had to select 7 campaign ambassadors from the crowd as most of the students were interested in the same. The students commented that the campaign was very motivating but was not that informative. They said that their projects have already started but they definitely want to convey about the facilities available to their juniors as well.

Altogether this campaign was a huge success and it proved beneficial for both the campaign team and the students.

Back in Aluva, the campaign visited SNGIST,Paravoor. The campaign was conducted at SNGIST in the morning session.Almost 60 students attended the campaign.The students were from MCA batch -final years.Unfortunately we could not conduct the campaign for the MBA batch as their exam was scheduled on the same day.The students said that the campaign was really motivating and they are happy to know about the facilities provided by government for start ups. At MES, Marampilly, The students were from a mixture of both final years and pre-final years from MCA batch.. The active participation of the students encourage us to take the campaign to more and more campuses and spread the message of the campaign.

1. Whose smartphone brand is called ‘Pre’?

2. The inventor, founder, & chairman of Twitter is…?

3. According to tagline, which two cyber giants ‘bring the Internet to Television’ with its Widget Channel?

4. David L. Smith has the dubious distinction of writing which famous virus, which debuted on March 26, 1999 and was named after a lap dancer?

5. Name the new decisionmaking site that gets smarter the more it’s used, launched by Caterina Fake, co-founder of Flickr.

6. What is the designation of Robert Bernard in Microsoft?

7. Who makes Pi, being held up as ‘India’s 1st Reading Device’?

8. The co-founder of which iconic cyber giant bid adieu to his company with a recent memo titled “Thanks for a great 28 years” in which he said “…My hat is off to one of the greatest capitalists I have ever met, Larry Ellison”?

9. Name the chip that runs the iPad. 10. Codenamed the LeapFrog, the 950 was the first true …?

Printed and published by: Arun Balachandran, ErupulamKattil (H), Edakadathy P.O., Edakadathy, Owned by Shine Damodharan, Kollattu (H), Chiyyaram P.O., Thrissur. Printed at ST Raddiar Press, Cochin. Published from Mediafirst Publications, Cochin-21 and the editor is Basil P Varghese, Pokkanathil (H), Pothanikkadu P.O., Ernakulam District, Kerala.

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Postal Reg. No. KL/TV(N)/587/2008-10 TechnoFIRST February 2010 RNI Reg. No. KERENG/2004/22131 Licensed to post without prepayment : kl/tv(n/wtt/587/2008-10) Posted from RMS TVM