I Believe I Can Fly!

Australia is a famous and preferred destination for students. Students from all over the world come down under to get the taste of “practical” learning and I was one of them as well. Australia also provides pathways for permanent residency to the students who successfully completes the requirements as outlined by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).

I am not writing this to give any advise on immigration and I must say I am not an expert in that area. I am just trying to shed some light on the ground reality.

This policy of DIAC attracts more and more number of students every year to Australia. There was a huge influx of students and more numbers of students started graduating from the Australian Universities. These students applied for their permanent residency (PR) and then started looking for jobs. Now eventually over a period of time, there were still some graduates who were unable to find the job in their field and were in the jobs which was no where related to their field of study.  The basic issue was many students lacked the most critical skill – communication. They were no doubt fit to work in the industry in terms of their knowledge but the sheer lack of communication skills deprieved them of any job. In short, they were not Job Ready.

DIAC has approved various job-readiness programs called professional year program which also gives them additional points towards meeting the criteria PR. One of such program is the Professional Year (PY) Program that the Australian Computer Society (ACS) is authorised to run. ACS has several delivery partners for the program who delivers it to the students. It is one of the most effective program and covers some of the very interesting topics.

I always make sure I address the student of the PY Program at the opening bootcamp. My message is straight and simple. Communications skills are the first and foremost requirement and even important than the technical skills.

I think in my next post, I will cover the message that I pass on during the bootcamp.

I have been following both sides of the story in media regarding the so called “racist attacks” on Indian students in Australia and the stories have left many parents worrying. I condemn the attacks but would like to throw light on a different aspect as well.

The future is surely in our hands. If we look at the history of India, it was invaded by many kings and countries in the past which brought people from different countries, religion and culture in India. The excellent story that pops up in my mind is of Parsis who came and settled in India and when summoned by the King, came with a full glass of milk, added some sugar to it and said we will dissolve (mix) in your community like sugar. They respected our culture and community and hence we respect them back. Same applies to most of other communities. If you respect them, they will respect you.

Lot of my friends have very good relationship with local people and community. They all practice a saying “you will reap what you sow”. We need to LEARN to RESPECT other culture. If something is wrong according to our culture you don’t practice it but don’t make comments about that if that is right in their culture. Respect their feelings as well. Don’t forget, we are in THEIR country.

Although this all applies, I think it is also a responsibility of the local government to provide protection to the visitors. I am sure Government will take enough steps to ensure the same as the contribution of education industry in Australia is enormous and most of the revenue comes from International students.

It is really sad to write on this topic but with my experience as a consultant and having seen in and out of various companies I am forced to write on this.

Some of the ten biggest mistakes that an investor or a promoter make in their business are:
1) Invest without understanding business
2) Pretend that they know everything
7) Put their recently graduated child in command
4) Listen and entertain all the rumours
5) Don’t pay the salary in time
6) Under estimate the competition
7) Mistrust their top executives Doubt decisions taken by the Sales & Marketing Heads
9) Think they can handle situation better than their executives
10) Fire the main staff and people involved with the project since the inception of the idea

I am going to write all the point in detail but it just takes a lot of time and concentration. I will elaborate on each point really soon.

There is only one debate going around the world at this moment and it is the Mumbai Rampage. The incident is really distressing and in a way it is a challenge to democracy. I have been following up the incident since the time it started. I was astonished to see how much prepared were the terrorists.

The plans and actions of terrorists clearly indicates that they have done their homework properly. They have studied the areas and the properties which are under attack and surely for this purpose, they would have visited India for 3-4 times before the attack. The question is how come Intelligence don’t have any clue about them? The Central and the State Government had no idea as well. Initially they didn’t take the attack seriously until they lost precious lives of few important top police personnel. What were the State Intelligience doing while this attack was being planned? Should we take this incidence as a failure of Government and lack of competence in combating terror? What lessons have India learnt from this? Why is the present Indian Government still soft on terror? What is the reason? Is it still because of votes that come from specific community?

It would also be interesting to see what steps are being planned. Globally this attack has been termed as “9/11 of India”. What happened after 9/11? Americans attacked the countries who were supporting the militants. Is India going to attack any country? I am sure India should as the country is witnessing such acts on a very regular basis. Since 50 years India is under constant attack. What is the reason for our silence? Shouldn’t we as a citizen ensure that we elect Government that is actually interested in well-being of country and not just their vote-bank?

I am sure if there would have had been enough voting for the LS election, we would not have elected this Government. The Government does not reflect sentiments of the nation except few minorities who has elected these people. One lesson that we have to learn, as a responsible citizen, is to go out and VOTE. It is equally important to speak out and raise our concerns. Let the authorities at least hear them and then leave it up to them to take the decision but at least we should exercise our rights.

Before the attack, there was another issue going around in Mumbai - The migration of North Indians in Mumbai. Most of the political parties came forward and said we are with mumbaikars. Some of the parties supported the migration. But where are all these people now? Why are they not there to help the citizens? I am not saying that they should go out and fight with the terrorists. No this is not their job. But they have to come forward and assure people of their safety. They have to come forward and establish a dialogue with the locals out there.

I saw Narendra Modi, Gopinath Munde and other leaders at the site, expressing their concerns. Where are others? This morning I received an SMS on my phone – “It is time we stand up for our country. No point sitting and talking we need to stand up for each other. It hurts to see my country bleed and hurts to see my fellow men die. We need to be counted and make a change. I need to make change, you need to make a change, we need to make a change…” This was the SMS that was sent by the National President of BJP (Yuva Morcha), Amit Thaker. I would like to post my comment through this Blog. Amitji we are ready for change. Let the opportunity come and we shall make a change. We stand with you and appreciate your effort for getting in touch with the citizens ACROSS THE WORLD who have been shattered.

At this stage, I, as an individual, also stand with the people of India and would like to express grief and sorrow over this tragic incident. I would also like to Salute the NSG Commandos, MARCOS, Army, Policemen and all others for their extraordinary efforts.

You often hear of certain projects that achieved great success and some of the other projects with similar products, similar strategies, similar target audience fell on their nose and when you hear that you often start thinking that what could have gone wrong for other company? I would say that projects without heart is bound to fail. Any amount of money you spend will not bring any success. It is the emotion that binds success with the project. After all success is largely depending on the people you are working with and people who are working for you. Their thinking about company and its product matters the most.

If you treat your people nicely, share your thoughts and plans with them, take their suggestions and involve them – it will give a sense of belongingness to them and it is this emotion – the company is mine and they care about me – that will do the trick for your business. They will work with all the enthusiasm and most of the time will go out of the way to help your business. If anytime you stop involving them and start treating them badly, your business will fall no matter how much successful you would be.

Always make sure you are doing the right things and also delivering what you are promosing. It is after all a mind game. Success of your business depends on this. This is true for everything that you would do in your life. Be it politics or business, emotions play a very important role.

Hi,

What a day it has been for me. I just finished this presentation at MEGA and I returned home. As usual, first thing I did was I checked my email and I saw this mail that said.. Congratulations, You have been selected as the Sun Campus Ambassador for UniSA (University of South Australia).

Wow, that is awesome, isn’t it? That also means that now I will get my very own @SUN.com email address. It also means that I have a new role to play and a new responsibility as well. But I am gonna love it and why not, I will be promoting OpenSource products and technologies.

It all started like this. One of my colleague told me that there might be an opening and was prompt enough to put me in touch with the concerned person, here in Adelaide. I sent my resume and was told that I will be interviewed on phone. We fixed up date and time for the interview.

I had not prepared anything for the interview as I was busy preparing for the MEGA presentation. I received this call from Sun Microsystems, India. The interview went on well. And after that, on the next day (which is today), I received this email informing me that I have been selected. I am so excited. It means a lot to me and trust me because of my background and association with other groups and organisations, I would be able to give full justice to my role and responsibility.

Thats all for now!

Hi,

You all would be aware of the 2008 International YoungICT conference that is happening this year at Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia. It feels really good to be associated with an event which has out passed all previous conferences. I am part of the conference committee and the committee would have spent more than 1000 hours in all to bring the best to you.

Registrations are still going on and you can register using the official conference site: www.acs.org.au/youngit/2008conference/

The conference is blessed with the presence of best speakers around the world.

I will see you all at the conference then.

I think this is the best place to start. Let me introduce myself to you.

A young experienced professional with diversified experience in IT, Computer Science, Sales, Marketing, Branding, Advertising and little bit of Political Science.

Started working pretty soon after finishing my school. Was studying at the same time. Launched by starting up own venture of Web Designing & Development firm back in 1998. Achieved various milestones and then started representing various foreign companies for their businesses in India. Mostly dealing with Government sector.

Then started working for an IT company and later on got a break in FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) sector. Grew to a level of becoming National Sales Manager and after working for about 1 and half years at that level, started working as consultant with a group of other professionals where we were helping other entrepreneurs for starting up new ventures or diversifying into a new sector and increasing profits.

Presently working towards another start up, but this time in mobile industry.

I have always been actively associated with many professional bodies. Currently I am serving as a Chair of the Committee of YoungIT – Australian Computer Society, South Australia Branch. I am also Branch Executive Committee member of Australian Computer Society, SA.