Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Dealing with Job Consultants in UK (Part 3: Remaining Stages)

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Part 1: Here
Part 2: Here
Part 3: Here

IMPORTANT ADVICE IS IN ITALICS

There are several stages (as mentioned before):

1) The Initial Call

2) Pre-interview Phase

3) Post-interview Phase

4) Finalization Phase

5) Bye-bye!

 The Pre-interview Phase

If the client likes your CV the consultant will contact you to arrange an interview date. Most companies reimburse rail ticket costs especially if the interview is in London. Make sure, before you select a date and time, you confirm whether your travel expenses will be reimbursed. Also find out the duration of the interview so that you can plan your return journey. This is especially important if you are working.

The consultant will also send you a detailed interview description and call you up to find out if you are all set for the interview. Make sure you know the location of the company and other logistic details.

Make sure you cover all the points and if you are at all confused by anything related to the interview (from the nature of the interview to what kinds of clothes you should wear), don’t feel shy and ask the consultant!

The consultant might want to meet with you before the interview. Try and meet as this may allow the consultant to give you some important tips before the interview.

The Post-interview Phase

The consultant will surely call you after the interview is over to discuss with you how it went and what you thought of the company. Make sure you are honest. Sometimes a consultant might be able to get you through to the next round if they have some influence with the company.

This is the second most important phase. Here most consultants change sides. Now they will push you hard to accept the job, provided obviously that you clear all the interviews (especially if there are mutliple rounds of interviews). Make sure that you are comfortable with the job and the company.

Most probably you would have visited the offices of the prospective employer and seen the work environment during the interview. By now you should have a good idea of whether this is the way ahead for your career or not.

Be very clear and honest with the consultant. Don’t come under pressure and remember your consultant will show you the positive side of taking up the job. You have to find out the negatives and balance it out with the positives to ensure it is the right move for you!

If you are confused TAKE SOME TIME TO THINK ABOUT THE JOB OFFER!

Every consultant will give you time to think but just remember that most consultants will expect a definitive yes or no afterwards.

 

Finalization Phase and Bye-bye!

If you accept the offer the consultant will keep you updated as to what is required next. There might be some paperwork or a meeting with the employer and consultant. This is usually the shortest phase and the consultant’s work is almost done.

Most consultants remain in touch at least till you start at the new place. They might get in touch later if there are any issues or just to take feedback from you about the job and to find out if all is going well.

SQL Server Express 2008: Timeout and Pre-login Errors

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

If you are getting Timeout or Pre-login Errors when trying to access MS SQL Server Express 2008 from a Windows Vista based client then read on!

Some of the reasons behind these errors (and the solutions) are given here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190181.aspx

If the above does NOT resolve the error (as in my case) then before you start cursing Microsoft try this:

Go to the Network and Internet –> Network Connections

Right click on the connection being used (WiFi or LAN or any other).

I found IPv6 and and Link-Layer Topology protocols enabled which I disabled.

This partially resolved the issues. Database access was quite stable and I was able to do some of the work. But still things were not 100% normal. I was loosing the wireless connection and it was showing me connected to an ‘unidentified network’. Even the internet stopped working if the computer went into standby.

This it seems is a very common problem and more info can be found on the Microsoft site.

This problem results from

A) Issues with DHCP implementation difference between Vista and XP.

Read for solution: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233

B) Issues with power management profiles and WiFi networks

Read for solution: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928152

A Quote for the Weekend

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

 

Life is good when you have a weekend! – Tony

The Door That Wouldn’t Open….

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

At work we have code-lock doors (doors with numeric keypad). So whenever you want to move from one area of the office to the other you have to pass through one or two code-locked doors.

The weird thing was that sometimes the door would open after entering the code once but most times I would get stuck and need the code to be re-entered.
One day, I was feeling bit frustrated and the doors were getting stuck again and again.
As I was re-entering the code, for the nth time that day, I thought ‘man what a day I am having, even the doors here are blocking my way today’.
Few days later as I entered the code and the door got stuck. This time instead of re-entering the code I just pushed the door firmly. To my amazement the door opened without requiring the code to be re-entered.
It made me realise that similar things happen in life with all of us. The same problems keep bugging us. We keep getting stuck. But we should never loose hope. Why? Because just like that door, if we just make ourselves strong and push through these little blocks on the road to life then all doors will open!
:)

Decisions of Consequence

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

We often think about decisions, in real life, before we take them. We also come across statements like ‘that was the wrong decision’ and ‘in the long run it turned out to be the right decision’.
But the other day when such a statement came up in the conversation I asked myself is any decision wrong or right? Or is the perception of a decision being right or wrong simply a matter of time and frame of mind?
Let us examine the problem with decisions first. The problem with real life decisions is that you can’t play what-if with them. Time is always flowing and you cannot come back to that same instance in time and take a different decision. There is no save-load in life.
Therefore once a decision has been taken there is no way to go back and re-take THAT particular decision. Once the route ahead has been chosen all other routes are closed automatically. In fact the very act of thinking about what to do next signifies a choice about how to proceed.
This means there is no real way of comparing two choices.
Therefore no decision can be right or wrong.
While it may appear right or wrong at a particular instance in time or when we are In a particular frame of mind, there is no guarantee that the evaluation is correct (or incorrect).
Then my question is why worry about decisions taken in the past?
Why decide to worry about a problem with no answer?
Why choose this road ahead?

Following on how can we decide what is the best road ahead at that point of time?
Well we can try and think of the consequences of taking the various different roads ahead. That is where the skill of the decision maker comes into the picture.

Quotes from Journey to the West – Part II

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

First part of this post can be found here.

Journey to the West is a Chinese classic. It is an epic (fictional) story about how Buddhist teachings were bought to China.

The English Language version (Chinese Foreign Languages Press edition translated by W.J. F. Jenner) is full of amazing quotes. I will be posting my favourite ones here.

Quote 5: Chapter 59

“The traveller feels lonely on the road;

Monastic robes do not keep out the cold”

 Quote 6: Chapter 60

“Don’t push around your best friend’s wife;

Don’t try to destroy the joy of his life”

Quote 7: Chapter 67

“There is an old saying that persimmon trees have seven perfections:

1. They prolong life.

2. They are very shady.

3. No birds nest in them.

4. They are free of insects.

5. Their leaves are beautiful after frost.

6. The fruit is excellent.

7. The branches and leaves are big and fat.”

Quote 8: Chapter 70

“By being too clever one becomes a fool;

What was once a joke can turn out to be real”

Quote 9: Chapter 73

“You are never poor if you are at home;

but poverty on a journey is killing”

Quote 10: Chapter 73

“Weeping eyes meeting weeping eyes;

One broken heart coming across another”

Quote 11: Chapter 73

“While good deeds stay at home;

Bad deeds are known far and wide”

Quote 12: Chapter 77

“No thread can be spun from a single strand;

Nobody can clap with a single hand”

Quote 13: Chapter 80

“A mountain can’t stop the road; it can find its own way across”

Quote 14: Chapter 80

“Do not fail to do a good deed because it is small;

do not commit a bad deed because it is small”

 

Religious Tolerance

Saturday, December 27th, 2008

When I see people in India screaming and shouting to support their religion I feel that they are missing the point. In India we are too concerned with what is happening with other people and we take the freedom we have for granted. That is especially the case when it comes to Religion. Religious co-existence has been a topic high on everyones discussion list. Especially every time a terrorist attack takes place.

I have seen a very different kind of religious tolerance and co-existence here in UK. Few examples I shall present through photographs taken in and around Southall, an area known for its ‘Indian’ feel. There are lot of Sikhs living in and around Southall. It is home to one of the largest gurudwaras outside India (photographs can be seen on my website).


Above: Church advertising in Punjabi.


Above: The gurudwara (Shri Guru Singh Sabha) faces a Christian cemetary. This picture was taken from the Gurudwara entrance.


Above: Shree Ram Mandir next to a Christian cemetary in Southall.


Above: A march for religious unity on the occassion of Christmas.

I think my friend put it really nicely that day… that when you are in your own country you can scream and shout about religion all you want but when you are outside your brain works in a straight line because you don’t have any options.

Could we have a Ram Temple next to a Christian cemetary in India? Would we think of making one?

Maybe religious tolerance is just a question having no options or having too many options?

The Constant Dreamer…

Monday, December 1st, 2008

The ‘terrorist’ attacks have become painfully regular. Another thing that has become painfully regular is the Government of India (and the various State Governments) being caught with their pants down.

There is now talk of establishing four more NSG hubs across India to deal with such terror attacks (especially because the NSG took 9.5hrs to arrive on the scene in Mumbai) in the future. I mean you could have sent commandos from UK in that much time! That is like increasing the dose of the medicine just because you cannot find any other way of attacking the disease.

What about improving the quality of the State police?

What about providing them with automatic weapons and bulletproof jackets instead of new cars.

What about improving the physical fitness of the police so that they are capable of doing something more than just relax at the Police checkpost?

What about improving coordination between the different agencies both at the State and Central level?

What about spending money to buy things like unmanned aerial surveillance platforms to patrol deserted stretches of the coastline?

On the political front the so-called ‘unified face of politics’, which Mr. L. K. Advani talked about before highlighting the fact that the attacks pointed towards the total failure of ‘State and Central administrations’, did not last long. In fact it did not even last 2 full days. How could it when some of the largest states in India (such as Rajasthan. Jammu and Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh) are going in for State elections? In fact these attacks couldn’t have come at a better time for the parties currently sitting in the opposition. Delhi (where voting took place on the 29th of November) got hit by a series of bomb blasts recently. Looking at what happened in Mumbai I am sure the people of Delhi are not going to be very happy with the current State government.

RSS has also grown silent after the attacks in Mumbai. I think they have conveniently forgotten how they were targetting non-Marathi Indians working in Maharashtra till about two weeks ago. It is parties like these which must be inspiring the terrorists. I mean if we start attacking our own people surely troublemakers from abroad are going to be able to find at least a few friends there! We should remember that the Central Government controls approximately 5,00,000 crore Rupees through the budget. I am sure everyone wants a crack at that.

The people of India can only respond in one way. The only way which will ensure that the political parties learn a good lesson. Demand the immediate resignation of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra along with all the Ministers responsible for security and saftey of the population. Shivraj Patil the Union Home Minister resigned. That is not enough. There should be legal proceedings against him and it should be ensured that he does not hold any position in any elected body in India ever again.

Similarly there should be negligence proceedings against all the associated Ministers and administrators. That is the only way they are going to learn.

But none of this will happen. I dream of this.. that is why I am the constant dreamer… waiting for the day these dreams turn to reality.

The Mumbai Joke…

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

From there, they mandated to kill indiscriminately, particularly white foreign tourists, and spare Muslims split up into five batches.
 

Click here for the article.
 

There are a few questions that came to my mind, being a citizen of India, after the Mumbai incident:

1) How can you shoot people ‘indiscriminately’ while making sure Muslims are spared? Is it written on a persons face whether they are Hindu or Muslim? Do they check their passports before shooting them ‘indiscriminately’?

2) How can the press be so irresponsible? How can they start launching the ‘religious’ angle so quickly.

3) What was Narendra Modi doing at Oberoi Trident? Did he go there to look at the building out of curiosity? Was he there to look at his handiwork? But mostly why did he go to a sensitive area and further pressurise the security service to give him cover.

4) How come three top cops in Mumbai were shot by terrorists? What were they doing there? How did the terrorists get so lucky? How come one of them was involved in investigating the Malegaon blasts where a ‘Hindu terrorism’ plot was being revealed.

5) Why did the NSG and Army not stabalize the area where the terrorists were hiding instead of just rushing in? Why did they not try and buy time to further investigate the situation? This has been suggested by security experts throughout the world not just me.

6) When the Indian Airlines flight was hi-jacked (IC-814) during the BJP government  how come they decided to negotiate and then release the prisoners? This time how come there were no negotiations? Not even to stall for time to allow the forces to prepare?

7) Did BJP help out the terrorists back then and now the terrorists are helping out BJP by creating chaos just before general elections and by killing of people who were investigating acts of ‘Hindu terrorism’. This operation could surely not have been done without inside help. Landing a boat with arms and so many people on the Mumbai coast is surely not a joke. Advani said this operation must have required 2 months or so of planning. That is what came out in the investigations!

8) We must remember that who could be the best friend of Hindu hardliners? Obviously Muslim hardliners. If there are no Muslim hardliners then there is no justification for Hindu hardliners. So obviously they are going to help each other. If we remember that in India Hinduism is not just about religion it is also about the Central and State Goverments and access to billions of rupees.

Who is going to answer all these questions? The media? Nope they are busy selling their news. The politicians? Now ways can we trust them.

Where do we go to get these questions answered?

Achieving Greatness

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

The Tao-te Ching is fundamental to the Taoist school of philosophy. It is a gift to the world from ancient China.

About achieving greatness it says the following:

Plan for what is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small.

The most difficult things in the world must be done while they are still easy, the greatest things in the world must be done while they are still small.

For this reason sages never do what is great, and this is why they can achieve that greatness.

The above words written thousands of years ago still hold true. Keeping in shape is easier than loosing loads of weight. Saving early and regularly is easier than waiting for that one big injection of money!