The Disadvantages of an Elite Education

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Though written by a former Yale professor, In Indian context we just need to substitute Yale by IIT/IIM except for a few places where the rules/laws don’t fit.

This essay presents a remarkable insight into the mentality of students from elite campuses. Being from IIT, I also have observed that students from low to medium income backgrounds find it hard to fit in to the same culture that they came from after four years at IIT. As years go by they increasingly find it hard to talk to anyone who is not ‘one of us’ while at the same time getting ready for a life of branded clothes and scotch/wine drinking which is assured as now they are in the elite club.   

 The most worrying disadvantage of elite education is that if you are afraid to fail you are afraid to take risks.

Not sure if they are top 10 or not, but they sure are changing the world.

Read an awesome essay about changing reading habits and the way we consume information. For those of you who manage to finish reading it and are interested in the references then here’s the blog post for that.

I feel that initially we are in the mode of reading slowly and taking it all in. But soon we realize that with this slow pace we are lagging behind and missing a lot of information. So we start to find and read what we think is important and relevant and gradually develop a habit about which Nick is talking. Increased instability and less patience are few of the symptoms.

And yes, there should be central service in Windows in which all notifications are registered and we can switch all notifications on and off with just a click. At least that way we would know that I’m supposed to ‘deep read’.

There’s a fight between Vodafone and Bharti Airtel to be the first to launch iPhone in India. Before Vodafone announced that it’ll be lauching it on August 25th and now Bharti has set its iPhone launch date to August 22nd. Both carriers are still mum on their pricing plans. Well, as soon as the pricing gets out then only most of the users will decide whether to buy from one of the carriers or go to the grey market.

More updates later.

Update: Both vodafone and bharti are launching iPhone on august 22 as part of iPhone launch in 20 more countries.

Great news for all the apple fans. The iPhone is coming to India with not just one but two carriers. Both Vodafone and Bharti airtel have announced that they will be bring iPhone to India later this year. This is following Apple’s deal in Italy with multiple carriers. I never thought that India will have iPhone before Japan and China and even Canada.

Apart from some tech geeks in India it seems to me that the market is limited for the iPhone. With Nokia having a strong mind share and higher price for iPhones including the import duty and all, the volume will take time to build up. But with India being the 2nd largest mobile market in the world even small percentage share may add up to significant numbers. My guess is that come next month apple will have two versions of the iPhone, one 3G and one the current one at the lower price. With no 3G networks in India and a faint possibility of having one anytime soon the lower end version may give good competition to Nokia Nseries smartphones.

Anyone who is even remotely interested in starting a web startup should definitely watch all of the videos of this years’ Startup School. David Heinemeier of 37 signals has an interesting take on how to build your company which I found the most interesting. His ideas and thoughts turns conventional wisdom on its head. Paul Graham says that a good motivation to keep working on your idea is that people need your product and you are doing good by providing them with this service. Paul Buchheit, creator of GMail, tells you how to listen to and filter advice. There are a lot more which I have not seen, will try to catch up with them in a few days.

It has been a while since I was thinking that we lack a decent website for Television listings in India. With more and more housewives logging on to the internet I see immense potential if you can do it right. There are a few which offer TV times but none of them does it the way which makes you to visit their site again.

Burrp rises to the challenge and lauches burrp!tv . First of all, I hate the name. Seriously, burrp! what were you thinking. The service is not an ideal one but hopefully they will improve overtime. coz right now they have ‘Sarabhai vs Sarabhai’ as the no. 1 hated show as well as no. 2 loved show! , lolz. They promise to include more channels overtime which is a must as they have only around 10 channels right now.  The word ‘feedback’ is prominently displayed all over their site so hopefully they’ll listen and change it to a site which the user needs.

I don’t know why but I feel that the site lacks the appeal and has not been done right.

IITK site hacked once again and this time by some professional hacker. Thankfully he didn’t do any damage and left with just the warning. The last time it was hacked it was something like this. Well technically its the third time that someone has edited the homepage of IITK website but the last time it was twice by the same hacker in 24 hrs.  Actually it wasn’t even hacked, it was just an incident of password misuse done by a few at IITK only, but this time it looks like its definitely a hacker.

Just came across this field report by Ila Patnaik. Never knew that the seeds of RTI act were sown near Udaipur. Things like social audit and taking photographs are a good example of how the government can become more accountable in helping the poor. She also points out that Udaipur district is a popular venue for writing papers on finance and economics.

Well, my hometown continues to surprise me by first ranking as the 2nd best city in Asia, 7th best in the world and having the world’s best hotel in year 2007 by Travel and Leisure magazine.

Udaipur is also home to Asia’s only Solar observatory. It is one of the 6 observatories which are part of Global Oscillations Network Group.

Well, as it turns out, Deloitte. might become the first company to employ me.

Only day before yesterday they confirmed my placement when they came to IITK. BusinessWeek says that it is the No. 1 place to start you career. Might be true for US recruits but is it true for India too? I think I’ll have to join them to find out.

The profile they have offered me is IT consultant. According to their website my responsibilities are:

Responsibilities:

• Understand business processes & requirements. Gather and maintain relevant and accurate data. Provide timely and accurate analysis report and documents
• Have a good understanding of architecture/standards/design/program specifications. Prepares and assists in design
• Understand system architecture and maintenance strategies and assists in set up/configuration. Helps in execution of maintenance plans
• Follows standards/guidelines laid down in development & documentation
• Familiarity with use of standard technology tools and helps in developing/enhancing the same. Understand the benefits derived by using the firm tools, processes and methodologies
• Demonstrate understanding of quality practices, tools, systems and methodologies and produce project deliverables in line with the same
• Understand different types of testing methodologies and execution of test plans and use testing tools effectively
• Familiar with implementation plan on client operations and work per committed timelines
• Understand role in client relationship building
• Contribute in analyzing and gathering data with respect to industry best practices with regard to engagement delivery, performance and processes
• Actively seek placement in projects
• Take initiative to learn new technologies and methodologies without affecting engagement delivery capability for certification
• Demonstrate effective listening and clarity in articulation
• Demonstrate clarity and conciseness in written communication

Whatever the website says, in short I am a software developer which also took 5 minutes of explaining by the HR guy also. coz they want to show it as though it is not a coding job which explains the title of ‘IT consultant’. May be some years down the road it may evolve into more of a consulting job for a person joining now. I can only hope coz that’s what i would like to believe.