Category: Inside Indus Net

5 Reasons Why Your Dedicated Employee Must Be Fired Now

August 1, 2013

If you tear your hair in despair immediately after your employee walks out of the room, then it is time you started preparing reasons for his exit. A prudent employer can easily identify whether his employees are meeting his requirements or not, but of course, there are also some employers who are easily deceived and manipulated by their employees and still do not consider firing them. Such cases can lead to a highly dysfunctional team, where the employer ends up bearing the brunt of every mistake made by his employee. As we know, there is no dearth of employees in the job market and if your dedicated employee is giving you enough reasons to plan his exit, you should be smart enough to pick on these hints and look for a replacement. • A bad accent calls for immediate termination. A dedicated employee’s job profile usually requires him to get in touch with clients, and an unacceptable accent will not only tarnish the company’s reputation, but will also make you lose your clients and in the long run it could even prove detrimental for the business. People have little time to deal with high strung accents and an outlandish accent is usually frowned upon, so if your clients complain of not being able to decipher your dedicated employee’s requirement time and again, you might want to pay attention to your employee’s accent. A thick accent is mostly the culprit in ruining client relations, so why have someone on a payroll whose accent is sabotaging your client relations? • Doesn’t use Social Media Social Media has become an indispensible marketing and advertising tool, it can do wonders to your company if you know how to use it to your advantage. Well, on second thoughts that is not entirely true, if you do not know how to make the most of it you can hire a dedicated employee who knows the tricks of the trade. As we know, social media is a marketing tool that augments the odds of reaping greater profits and can be very well used to target customers. It is not optional but essential for your dedicated employee to know the applications of social media and should be able to put them to use, despite your several efforts, if he doesn’t bother to use it or get educated on it, you have all the right to reconsider his association with you. • Doesn’t respond to calls but sends mails Having unnecessary mails in the inbox is utterly pestering especially when they are from your employee who has all the liberty to speak to you in person or call you up. Believe it or not, there are many dedicated employees who prefer sending mails to answering calls and most of them do this to be elusive. When your employee starts screening your calls it means that he has something to hide, it could be an unmet deadline or an impending glitch that would surface in near future. Try to be wary of such excuses, if they your dedicated employee uses them very often then he is obviously not doing his job, which should give you a reason to start looking for a new candidate. • Does not send scheduled reports about work status The idea of generating a work report is to track the progress of a project; it also implicitly cites the work performance of the employee who is handling the project. Such reports are vital and must be submitted on time and significant delays in submission should push the employer to delve deep into the matter to look for reasons rather than buying the excuses of your dedicated employee. Delays in submission of such reports are a sign of uncompleted work and usually bring forth the incompetency of the employee. The next step would be to of course say “I need a programmer”, a new one. • You can’t stand his presence In a work environment group dynamics are of utmost importance and the same holds good for a team to functions without any conflicts. There could be moments when you clench your fists and grind your teeth with anger on listening to the lame details of your employee’s incompetency, which is not good for your personal well being. Sadly, for employees there is not much that they can do, but employers can very well make use of their position and have their employee fired.

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Importance of Accent Neutralization in Dedicated Hiring

July 30, 2013

While some cannot escape the strong influence of their native language on their accents, there are some who put up an accent to sound sophisticated. And it is difficult to tell which is worse. The hazards of a thick accent are not known to many. The Accent Bias Many people still believe that speaking with an accent shows a certain savoir-faire, but they are sadly mistaken. Accent play a vital role in describing where you come from, which in turn can make or break an impression. Most recruiters cannot escape the accent bias and tend to pigeon hole candidates on the basis of their accents, which is completely irrational but can be avoided. Accent neutralization is the only key to not let your accent speak about your origins. You may be from any part of the world but if you neutralize your accent, you can let people pay more attention to your work than your accent. During an interview it is crucial to not let your accent be recruiter’s focus of attention, it may trigger an emotional response which may or may not be desirable. According to a study conducted University of North Texas, it was noticed that recruiters are predisposed to hiring candidates of a certain accent and favouring them with prestigious jobs. A truck driver in Utah was fired by his boss at FedEx for speaking with a thick Russian accent, the driver even requested for a re-evaluation to show his literary prowess in English, but he was denied. This is one of the many examples which bring forth the evil of stereotyping with an accent. People with a heavy French accent are believed to exhibit a certain class which is usually looked up to. The stereotyped beliefs about these places show up in judgement of an individual’s character, which is completely uncalled for. To avoid falling prey to this accent discrimination one has must pay a lot of attention to the way one speaks. A few tips mentioned below will definitely help you to neutralize your accent and put your best foot forward. •Identify your accent You may have an accent problem that you do not know about, so it is important to identify your accent and only then can you come up with solution to tone it down or augment it. A feedback from your peers usually helps to identify your accent, but if you feel that your peers are incompetent then you have all the liberty to consult a linguistics expert. •Try to escape the influence of your native language You native language may be culturally rich and very influential but if you don’t not cut your ties with it while speaking some other language you may end up using the intonations and connotations of your native language. Which is not good! Try to steer clear of your mother tongue while speaking any other language. •Carefully observe the language that you intend to master When you are practising a particular language make sure that you spend some time with the native speakers of that language. This activity will help you to neutralize the effect of your own mother tongue and improve your proficiency in that language. •Phonetics is equally important as grammar While learning a language, most of us pay little attention to phonetics and we end up speaking with incorrect pronunciation. A good pronunciation only comes from a sound knowledge on phonetics. Every language has its own set of phonetics, most of which may be common, but there are few differences which should be understood. Moreover, human resource recruitment process requires that an individual is first of all understandable and coherent, before looking at other skills. •They don’t call it gift of gab for nothing The above construction may not abide to the rules of grammar, but it fairly conveys a certain accent. Such is the influence of certain sentences, try not falling prey to such constructions. We usually pick the colloquial terms used in the environment that we live in and start using it in our language, which is incorrect and must be avoided, even if it earns you the reputation of being a grammar police.

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India Fares Better than Other Global Dedicated Hiring Destinations

July 29, 2013

India is one of the best countries suited for dedicated hiring. The country hosts a huge number of qualified graduates and professionals who unfortunately remain unemployed and are willing to compromise on salaries. This was the situation prevalent a few years ago when many IT companies made their way into smaller cities other than Bangalore. Recession has further exacerbated unemployment forcing employees to work for a lot lesser than before. Some of the factors that make dedicated hiring feasible in India There are a wide range of factors that make dedicated hiring welcome in urban India as compared to other global destinations and here’s how you can capitalize on it.  They are 1. Keenness Unemployment is on the rise in India because of the recent global slowdown. There are many technical graduates looking for suitable jobs in the IT sector. Many of the new inductees have been issued offer letters from previous companies, but are not provided with specific date of joining. There are many technical colleges in India and thus the demand for new recruits lags far behind the supply. Being unemployed for nearly months and years, fresh graduates are ready to work regardless of the challenges that employers may pose. Many of them are so keen to find a job that they consider the possibility of moving to the Gulf countries, which is not usually seen as an attractive overseas destination due to climatic and political conditions. Such is the keenness among fresh graduates that they may be willing to work on a discount, if they come across a reliable offshore employer who requires dedicated employees. This makes it easy for offshore clients to look for the best employees at a reduced cost provided they prove the credentials and achievements of their companies. 2. People willing to work in late night shifts In many cities that are strewn all over the vast expanse of the India, working in late night shifts is the norm. People won’t mind exploring the possibility of working late in the nights provided you entice them with fat pay packages in the form of allowances for working late. This works out for you in a way, if you exempt people in designations, preferably the corporate cadre from the normal work. They will be motivated from the fact that after four or five years, they are promoted and eventually be spared from the hectic work along with night shifts. It works to your advantage and you can succeed in convincing them to work in night shifts. This makes it easy to monitor their activities and communicate with them in real time. The activities that are of the highest priority and require prompt attention from your side can be attended to. Also, you can hire select dedicated employees with certain designations so that they can monitor and manage other dedicated offshore employees of yours. 3. Abundance of cheap labor There is a large influx of migrants from less affluent destinations to the cities in hopes of landing a good job. These are mainly graduates from lower-middle income families and settle for competitive salaries as the prospects of finding a good job are almost nil in this time of global slowdown. These migrant people settle for a reasonable pay as long as it is at par with the prevalent industry standards here, which is very low, when compared with international standards. The standard of living in India can be comparatively less when pitted with other global destinations for dedicated hiring.  Though bigger cities like Mumbai and Delhi are expensive, most offshoring destinations within India are affordable not only for dedicated employees but also their offshore clients. 4.  Longer working hours People in India have no qualms about the introduction of longer working hours. Many companies here have bound their employees by certain Service Level Agreements. This agreement binds them to finish the day’s work even though it means having to stay for longer hours at work irrespective of the stipulated work timings. This is in stark contrast to the work timings in countries elsewhere. These stretchable working hours can be a boon to offshore businesses that choose to hire dedicated employees in India. 5. Abundance of technical job seekers and their employability The Indian IT industry provides direct employment to 2.5 million people. This figure alone can give a vague idea of the amount of people vouching for technical jobs in India. It possesses a rich talent pool that specializes in technical expertise. There are a wide variety of technical institutes too that impart quality training. These technical institutes groom a student by equipping him with a lot of necessary skills that make him employable in the related industry. Many technical courses offer Inplant Training as part of the curriculum for undergraduates to let them have a feel of the industry. This helps them to garner rich industry experience during the duration of their technical course. 6. English as the medium of instruction in technical schools English sells in India. There are many mannerisms in India that are influenced by those of the English speaking nations. The urban populace has accepted English with open arms, be it the clothes they wear or their food habits or even the culture. Because English is a global language, many universities have chosen it as their medium of instruction. There is no need for you to spend in improving the communication skills of your new recruits. These are reasons enough for you to consider India for your dedicated programming needs. Now, let us look at the cities in India that are viable options for you to invest. Some cities that are favorable for your dedicated hiring needs Let us take a look at few of the cities in India where you can look forward to hire temporary employees for your dedicated programming needs. •Bangalore Bangalore is the preferred destination in India for many IT related companies to invest. The state administration has created a sportive atmosphere here for these companies.

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Dedicated Hiring Is the Future of Business : 9 Crucial Benefits of Dedicated Hiring

July 26, 2013

Dedicated hiring solves most of the problems that arise with local hiring in your workplace. Though dedicated hiring involves the close collaboration of the employee and the business at their home countries, the communication between both of them is seamlessly managed with the latest in technology. Dedicated hiring employees work at par with their locally hired counterparts, but are way better managed than the latter. There are a number of benefits that come with the use of dedicated hiring in your business. Let’s take a look at a few: 1. Scalability Dedicated employees at their induction are made well aware of the lack of job security in this type of work- their services may be scrapped at any time. This temporary nature of the job makes your business flexible enough to scale the number of employees involved as and when need arises. There is no need for you to cook up a premise or find a fault worthy enough to fire an employee if he doesn’t meet your expectations in productivity or if you aim to reduce costs. This feature in dedicated hiring that enables you to fire and hire anyone is not feasible in locally hired business. It facilitates cost optimization for and there is no need to worry much about the employees’ background during recruiting them. In locally hired business there are a lot of resources and time involved in screening the recruit through background verification. In businesses involving locally hired employees, there is a separate wing through which the services of verification are rendered. They visit the recruit’s homes and verify their credentials by enquiring the family members so that the provided information matches the one that the recruit has furnished. The people roped in for verifying also collect information about the recruits by getting in touch with the particulars that he mentioned concerning the teaching faculty in the educational institutions through which he graduated. All this cost to the company can be avoided through dedicated hiring because the employees here can be asked to terminate their services without prior notice. 2. No need of physical presence There is no need for you to be physically present at the workplace. Even though the dedicated employee may be half way across the globe- one can still monitor his work. This is possible because of the latest technology used in this system of work management. All the activities are effortlessly and seamlessly managed to increase the productivity of people. 3. Lays to rest most of your anxieties There are a lot of activities that can be easily managed as compared to dealing with a locally hired employee even though you are very far from the workplace. Here you can get rid of most of the hankering regarding your work: a. Hankering for the status of work You are bound to be very curious and anxious about the status of work. The anxiety to know about the work status can make you restless. Through dedicated hiring, one can expect a constant update about the status of your work through the help of technology. By keeping you posted about the recent functionality that was added to your product, you are bound to be less bothersome. b. Hankering for the productivity of the employee It is very common in businesses with locally hired employees to use the Internet for personal work such as checking their email, social networking or keeping a tab open in order to browse websites. All this is done right under the concerned authorities’ noses without their knowledge. They can also be seen idling away in the restrooms or other safe places at the excuse of ‘winding up’. All these activities that lessen the productivity and efficiency of the employee can be curtailed with the introduction of dedicated hiring at your workplace. This is possible because there are systems in place to monitor the whole process of your work. The employees work on a tight schedule so that you may tackle other inefficiencies too that take a toll on the employees’ productivity with your virtual eyes. 4. Customization of your product As you are constantly updated about the status of the work that you have off-shored, you can coax the programmers to add new functionality to your product that is consistent with your requirements. The whole process of work is transparent and you can make necessary changes regarding the design and features of the product real time through a range of gadgets that have come into being with the recent advancement in technology. If you are using agile methodology in your remote offshoring endeavor, you can scrap the recent functionality that was added to your product midway, provided it is not consistent with your requirement, without looking back. Agile is more effective in dedicated hiring endeavors. The whole process involving dedicated employees is like an open book and this works to your advantage. 5. Thorough documentation Your interaction with people concerned such as the scrum master is thoroughly documented in the registries of the machine and there is no question of your requirements and instant messaging or other records as such falling on deaf ears. There are sufficient records of your video conferencing too that are valuable for the progress of the work. 6. Faster trouble shooting and debugging If you encounter any glitches in the functioning of the software and hardware provided by the vendor, there is an assurance of prompt addressal of them. There is every possibility that you go for a good brand with a blemish-free reputation to provide you with remote hiring equipment – there are not too many bogus competitors in this field. Being the trusted equipment provider and having the expertise, the vendor can fix the bugs promptly so that critical part of your work is not affected. 7. Reduced overheads The vendor supplies you with the necessary equipment in the form of software and hardware for dedicated employees for facilitating work and getting it done in a remote offshore location. He

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How Becoming Aware of Self-serving Bias Can Help Companies Succeed

June 17, 2013

Self-serving bias is a situation wherein, the failures in an organization are credited to external factors rather than focusing on the failures in the organization itself. It is a complex caused mainly because of self-esteem, in a bid to protect or enhance it. This situation is psychological in nature and if left unattended can cause severe harm to your business. There are motivational and cognitive processes that affect self-serving bias. The factors and variables causing self-serving bias are: 1.  Motivation There are two types of motivation: self-enhancement and self-presentation. Self-enhancement upholds own self-worth and credits successes internally and failures externally, whereas self-presentation is an act done to manage impressions. Self-serving bias caused by self-enhancement can be conveyed to the uninitiated via this analogy: If in a school, a kid’s performance becomes considerably low or poor, such as the kid failing in a number of subjects, the doting parents put the blame on the school’s administration or facilities by branding them ill-equipped. They refuse to believe that their child lacks cognitive abilities, which in most cases, is the right direction to put their efforts in, in order to make the most out of their school’s services and resources. Instead, they keep changing the schools in the hope of their child excelling in studies and the real problem hampering the intellectual development of their child is left unattended. This is a cause for grave concern and it compromises on the holistic development of the child too. 2.  Locus of control- There are external and internal loci of control. In internal locus of control, individuals believe that they have complete personal control over situations and that their actions matter. Those with an external locus of control believe that outside forces, chance and luck determine the outcome and they don’t have a say in anything. The best example of self-serving bias caused by internal locus of control is the one that follows: The US Government is the best example of how an administration exhibiting signs of believing too much in its staff and turning a blind eye to the areas that need improvement and attention, can affect the end result. This also showcased the perils of underestimation. The US military establishment made nearly a score and a half attempts to assassinate the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, but never succeeded in this operation. This happened as the administration developed a kind of complication by overtly and profusely justifying itself in overthrowing the leadership in Cuba. They were led to believe that they were fighting the bad guys and were blinded too much to keep an eye on the areas that needed improvement and were lacking. They underestimated the military capabilities of Cuba and were running in blind to attack them. This was a result of the above mentioned complex of profusely justifying itself. This operation left an irreparable dent on the reputation of the establishment and a lot of lessons to be learnt from the glaring mistakes. It still is used as a case study of what not to be done in the successful management of a large company. As they failed miserably in a number of attempts, this example is of utmost importance to your deemed business, in your quest for the right prerequisites for success. How companies can be affected by self-serving bias? Self-serving bias needs to be avoided in order to make way for the success of your deemed business, as the imperfections within your business are overlooked and this surely poses great risks to your business. Companies adhering to this bias can result in sluggish growth or arrested development in their success graph, which if avoided, can keep it from posting great losses to their businesses, which otherwise, can exhibit promising growth. Clearly, this is detrimental to the growth of your business and is worth every bit of your money to be looked into. After all, the huge capital that you have invested in your business is very dear to you and you should strive very hard in order to achieve the goal of making your business a success. A prosperous business is worth every bit of your penny and the tireless efforts you have reined in to make it a successful one should be brought to fruition.

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Stress Management at Workplace

June 14, 2013

While working in Sydney as a Software Developer about 12 years ago, I came across Yoga and stress management techniques. Getting exposed to those techniques was a life changing experience for me. Yoga benefited me physically, mentally and emotionally, which created a lot of difference in my personal and professional life. Stress is quite a common thing for all of us who are a part of the corporate sector. This silent killer, if not controlled at proper time, can lead to depression and other physical ailments like acidity, diabetes, hypertension, heart and skin diseases and etc. Eliminating the causes of stress is an impossible thing to do. The more we try to avoid the factors, the more frustrated we become and hence, increase our stress level further. So, let’s learn how to immune ourselves to these situations and environment to control stress; and Yoga is very good at managing stress. However, there are certain other effective stress management techniques as well. Let me discuss one by one: Yoga After getting benefited, I got more and more involved in Yoga and learned different forms of Yoga like Therapeutic Yoga at the World Yoga Society. I feel Yoga and stress management techniques help me perform my job role better. Let me explain how. Yoga considerably boosts my confidence and brings clarity in identifying what I want from my personal as well as professional life. Think about those situations where we, as managers, need to decide on some critical issues. We often tend to lose patience while doing so. Practising Yoga has helped me keep myself relaxed even in the most stressful situations which in turn helped me immensely in taking correct decisions. Doing Yoga regularly resulted in the clarification of my thought process. Now, with improvised problem solving ability, I can analyze problems from different perspectives and solve them in a better manner. Learning Yoga helped me connect more with my team members at a deeper level. As a result, I could build the element of mutual trust with my team members. After all, corporate sector necessitates building a good team and creating an excellent work environment. This makes the team members feel more relaxed and perform well. Now, our busy schedule often doesn’t allow us to join Yoga classes. No worries! We can always try few basic techniques on our own. Changing behavioural pattern Making minor adjustments to our behavioural pattern can actually help us get rid of about 70 to 80% of our daily stress. All what we need to do is learn how to flush the stress out of our body, and most importantly, our mind. Slow and deep breathing It’s so simple; all what it necessitates is inhaling through nostrils in the count of 5 and exhaling out through the same in the count of 5. Progressive muscular relaxation PMR (Progressive Muscular Relaxation) technique is great at reducing overall body tension. To know more about different stress busters, feel free to get in touch with me. I would be happy to help you manage your stress in a positive manner. =============================================================================== This Article is part of the employee experience sharing & content contribution initiative for Indus Net Technologies’ Blog site Content Credit : Amit Kumar Shaha =============================================================================== Looking for a comprehensive guide on Workplace Stress Management? Download this FREE eBook authored by Indus Net Technologies.

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INT. CEO, Abhishek Rungta shares insights about the trends of Global Tech Industry in NASSCOM’s Face to face

June 4, 2013

National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the trade association of Indian Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, recently interviewed Abhishek Rungta, CEO, Indus Net Technologies (a proud member of NASSCOM) on the key trends of global tech industry to look out for and how Indus Net Technologies is contributing in this arena. Source : NASSCOM Abhishek Rungta is the Founder & CEO of Indus Net Technologies, a premiere web development and digital marketing company with offices and subsidiaries in India, UK and USA. Indus Net has rated as #1 IT SME by Dun & Bradstreet, and also ranked in Deloitte Technology Fast 50India. Abhishek graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and did his Masters from University of Bath, UK. He is also Co-Founder of Seeders Venture Capital which is an angel investment firm. Q: What in your opinion are going to the key trends and disruptions that will drive the growth of the global tech industry? We are moving towards ubiquitous computing—connected devices, mobile applications, wearable computers, mashups of different apps, that are resulting in contextual, actionable knowledge and creating new opportunities. Applications, solutions and management tools need to be developed to leverage these emerging platforms. A new wave of innovation is simply waiting on the horizon. Very important trends to watch out for are mobile apps, smart TV apps and social mashups. We can also expect to see major movement in the areas of data storage and computing that will veer towards Cloud infrastructure. Last but not the least, the form of interaction is set to change from typing to clicks to touch to gesture to voice. This is finally coming into practical computing now. Q: How is Indus addressing these trends? “As consumers begin using the Internet and the mobile, our clients will need to have more innovative Cloud, mobile and social strategies for their businesses”Indus is playing a critical role, right at the heart of these changes. We are developing user-friendly enterprise mobile solutions to enable organisations to achieve productivity and profitability. We have invested heavily in creating innovative mobile and web products for the BFSI vertical to ensure seamless operational efficiency across these organisations, especially in top-line focused activities. We are additionally working with media houses to create unique social TV experiences for their audience. We are working on gesture and surface computing, conceptualising new ways. Q: What are the customer segments and verticals that you are targeting? We are primarily focused on the BFSI (specially Insurance) and e-governance verticals and in the process of developing solutions for media, entertainment and publishing sectors. Q: What do you feel are the main challenges being faced by the BFSI segment and how are you helping resole these? Our decade-long experience in the BFSI segment in the European markets tells us that the biggest challenges faced by this vertical are product distribution and risk mitigation. We have innovative solutions which work with existing core systems to enhance and improve the distribution of financial products through multiple channels. We use the power of mobile technology (primarily tabs) and social media to achieve the same. Indus is offering solutions for all the layers, i.e. manufacturers (i.e. insurance companies, banks and financial services companies), distributors (agents, brokers, etc.) as well as end consumers. We are bridging the gaps in the sales and distribution process to help companies increase their top line. Q: How are your Cloud solutions levelling the playing field for your SMB clients? What are you offering your smaller customers? Cloud solutions allow you to pay for what you use, when you use it and scale up as demand increases. Thus they can gain access to enterprise solutions even though they are small, at affordable prices. Our Cloud based solutions are helping these companies reduce their infrastructure costs, since infrastructure is available as a services, providing them ‘on-demand’ IT resources at rock-bottom prices. We offer hosted solutions to our clients and our billing is based on usage, which is the primary premise of cloud computing. Q: With the Internet and mobility proliferating at a rapid rate in India, how do you perceive the opportunities presented to the country’s domestic market and your role here? Internet and mobility will bring all the users into the mainstream. As a company, we are leveraging the Internet and mobile platforms and hence, opening up a floodgate of opportunities for your customers. As more and more consumers begin using the Internet and the mobile, our clients will need to have more innovative Cloud, mobile and social strategies for their businesses. This will keep us on the innovation curve and we will continue to help our client grow using these three technology forces. We see a lot of work happening in segments such as BSFI, retail, media and entertainment and of course e-governance. This is where we have positioned ourselves and are creating opportunities.

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Career 101 – Career Tips for IT Professionals

May 29, 2013

I have mostly been on the “hiring” side of the table. Based on that experience, I am listing down few career tips – mostly around soft skills. Again, the tips are directed towards professionals in IT industry, but it should be applicable in every industry with some modifications. I am happy to hear (or read) your perspective and learn from the same. 1 Pace out your career! There is no rush. You do not need to achieve the pinnacle of your career by the age of 30. It is not important to simply scale the peak. The journey is more important than the destination. It is equally important to stay put or at least climb down gracefully when your capabilities are not in line with the ever changing and growing demand of your professional career. It is okay to push yourself and improve your capacity and capability in a sustainable way. But do not be reckless. 2 What is your ROI? Think over it. Calculate it. Ensure that you calculate it before your boss does. Are you able to deliver what is expected at your level? You can only grow if your value proposition is high, distinct and visible. Set clear and high goals and milestones. Make sure that you only work with a company that has alignment with your personal goals. Align your goals with your organization’s. Take help from your management team to do so. Without clear ROI, you can never have a satisfying and rewarding career. 3 Stay well oiled If your job is to carry heavy machinery on your shoulder, make sure that you exercise and keep your body in top shape. If your job is to write software code, ensure that you exercise your brain. You can do so by learning new technologies (with self initiative), having intellectual discussions around your subject to add to your knowledge. Observe how people make decisions, ask questions, understand the decision making processes – this will make you sharper and valuable. 4 Love your work Do not take up a profession that you do not LOVE. If you do not love unearthing accounting frauds, do not get into Audit as a profession. If you do not like writing software, do not get into a programming job. It will be an ordeal – for you and your employer. If you are doing so – change it today. It is said “Do what you love, and you will never have to work ever”. 5 Work for excellence You must be proud of your work. Not for the sake of it, but because you are confident that your work is best in its class. It needs a lot of passion, hard work and self criticism to achieve this. To be excellent, you need to have laser sharp focus – to learn, to observe and to absorb from your peers and ones who have excelled. 6 Love your company Yeah, I know – its being idealistic. But, honestly if you do not respect your organization, you should not belong there. It is important to have a feeling of ownership, a sense of mission and a state of belongingness to be able to achieve and deliver. Every organization (and people) will have their strength and weakness. We need to understand, adjust and improve them ,if we can. Criticizing them wont help anyone. If the weaknesses far out-weights the strengths, and you cannot love your organization, its time to move on. But, as long you are associated, there has to be 100% commitment. 7 Surround yourself with good people In every organization you will find different kind of people. It depends upon you, whom you choose to spend your time. Spending time with the right people will help you acquire the desired skills (soft and hard) that you need to achieve your goals. Indulge in healthy debates and discussions. Avoid smalltalk and gossips. Remain positive. Have your own perspective that you must derive from your own logical thinking instead of simply adopting conclusions from people around you. Share your opinion and thoughts – not only with your colleagues, but also with your seniors and take feedback. Keep your mind open. Every coin / thought has two (or more) aspects. 8 Create value for clients You work for a company, but your salary bills are paid by the clients that the company has. Think about them. Benefit them with your skills. I call it top-down value creation. If the client benefits, your company benefits. If your company benefits, you have better ROI (see point #2). And if you have clear ROI, you move up the chain. 9 Let go the ego The higher you need to rise, you need to shed the weight of your ego. Some learn it the difficult way, and some adopts humility as the way of life. The higher you move, the more you need to get things done from your team members AND the more you need to align up with clients. If you want to take them along, you need to respect their ego more than yours. 10 Ethics – the real #1 My definition of morals and ethics is: Do to others as you would have them do to you.(Luke 6:31).  I have seen many people justify their acts as “ethical” and “legal” because that benefit them. But the best way to judge that is – will you like your friend to do it to you? or will you like your employee do it to you? This is the real #1 tip! Remember: The journey is more important than the destination. I am sure you all know of 100 more tips and feel free to add to this list..

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Web Aesthetics: Why Black and White Themes Are Great for Websites

October 31, 2012

Most web design students learn a lot about colors and the psychology behind colors. They are taught how to use photo illustration and 3D tools and how to mix and match colors in order to communicate with website visitors effectively. However, there is a school of thought that sees web designing in black and white, literally. They believe that colors are not necessary in some cases, and by just sticking to black and white, one can communicate with the audience ever more powerfully. The director used black and white themes to highlight the stark contrast between truth and deception. The contract is written in black and white, leaving no room for misunderstanding between the two companies. Many designers prefer black and white websites because a black and white website emphasizes simplicity and strong visual hierarchy. Designers often use a black and white background to create contrast in their black and white websites. The black and white web design perfectly complements the minimalist black and white theme of the brand. While exploring the black and orange website meaning, I realized its bold contrast was very different from the minimalist feel of a black and white theme. The design stands out beautifully against a white background, but it looks even more striking on a black background. The design features a white black theme set against a striking black and white background. Encountering a website that only has black or white can only be successful if one understands the idea behind such a design decision. In fact, any website must reflect a company’s personality and character, and by choosing just these two colors, companies will communicate certain things subliminally and subconsciously. Let us understand what these mysterious messages that black and white websites send to their audiences are. The design uses a black-and-white aesthetic to create clean, white-background websites. The design blends black and white aesthetics with subtle themes white to create a clean, minimalist atmosphere. Black and White Symbolism It is important to understand what black and white stand for symbolically before we understand why black and white websites are so popular and attractive in spite of being ‘colorless.’ Black has always stood for darkness, mystery, enigma, mourning, and sometimes even death and danger. White, on the other hand, symbolizes purity, clarity of thought, justice, fairness, and peace. I redesigned the project to give the black and white theme a cleaner feel, making the entire website black and white for a minimalist look. The design’s aesthetics—black and white—stand out beautifully against the clean black-and-white background. When black and white are juxtaposed against each other, the results are something very different from their individual symbolic meanings. When black text or creative copy is transposed against a white background, what results is a minimalist and simplistic communication. It is classical, powerful, and extremely elegant. This timeless and elegant combination of colors ensures that your website is taken seriously, without distractions forced by other colors. The Webseiten Award jury praised the site’s elegant use of a black-and-white meaning in business aesthetics to convey professionalism and trust. By using just black and white, companies can avoid all the risks and controversies associated with other colors. Designers can concentrate more on how images and videos appear on the white background alongside black text, instead of worrying about unnecessary details. A designer can better concentrate on typography, which is very important in attracting and sustaining the interest of audiences. In fact, a white background and great typography or a font in black is all that a company or business needs to ensure that its communication reaches its audience without any distraction, and that too in a timeless, elegant, and stylish manner. When analyzing black and white themes in design, understanding the black and white theme meaning helps reveal how contrast can evoke clarity, elegance, and emotional depth. Less Is Always More When a designer uses black and white themes, he or she can ensure that there is minimal distraction and maximum emphasis on content. This results in sustained attention and concentration, without causing cognitive dissonance, which is very common when a viewer is hammered with several colors all at once, resulting in dilution of the message. Like Apple’s Steve Jobs always said, less is more. This philosophy is extremely crucial in designing websites and the more colors and text one forces on to the screen, the less a viewer or visitor would be interested in understanding what the website is all about. Highlighting Creativity When it comes to highlighting art, images and videos, there is no better background than a white one, as it allows the viewer to solely concentrate on the media than the canvas around it. Thus, almost all art and creative websites use a white background as that helps to highlight what is most important. In addition to creative abnd artistic websites, news and information based websites benefit a lot from white backgrounds as well. When a striking font is used, the text becomes the highlight of the webpage, rather than anything else. If style and aesthetics are important, using a white and black theme is very crucial. Other Colors and Conclusion It is a well known fact that in Rorschach Inkblot Tests, when an individual sees only monochromatic colors or achromatic colors like black, white or grey, he or she is judged to be experiencing emotional difficulties. If you want to reduce emotional responses caused by peripheral colors, choosing a white and black theme is necessary. Sometimes, red or orange can be used along with black and white, in order to highlight something that actually requires attention. Notes, remarks and notices can be designed to appear in blood red or bright orange, which adds to the contrast of the website’s appearance. To conclude, white and black backgrounds are professional, timeless, classic and very stylish and elegant. They reduce distractions and allow viewers and audiences to pay attention what is important, resulting in successful web communication.

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Photoshop: To Skip or Not to Skip?

February 28, 2012

Web designers can be roughly classified into two groups: The first group chooses to translate ideas and sketches into Photoshop, and then design the website in HTML and CSS. The second group directly dives into HTML and CSS by skipping the option of working with Photoshop. There are arguments to support both the choices and it is difficult to conclude which could be a better way to design websites. In truth, each client must be considered individually and depending on the kind of project that the designer has to tackle, an appropriate method can be chosen. Why Skipping Photoshop May Be Necessary Web designers who choose to directly work with HTML and CSS after initial sketches do so successfully, and have several arguments to back their decision. Photoshop Is Static A Photoshop mock-up is static, and can’t easily be edited, updated and changed as and when it may be required. One would have to make changes to the original Photoshop file, and then upload the file through FTP servers in order to make the changes available real time. A website that has been designed entirely in HTML and CSS can be edited and changed very easily. In a content-rich world where one uses a lot of text, using HTML and CSS could be a better way to design websites than diving into the complex world that Photoshop presents us with. Working with typography is always easier on an HTML website. Photoshop Is Complex HTML and CSS based websites are minimalistic in nature and are best suited for those websites that are text-heavy and dynamic. Websites that use only HTML and CS allow more interactivity and team-work. It is easy for coders and web designers to maintain sites that make use of only HTML as codes can be written, rewritten or altered in a matter of seconds to minutes. HTML websites also allow for more accurate feedback instantly. Using Photoshop Always May Not Be Economical Content-driven websites rely heavily upon linking, and it is not possible to link Photoshop mock-ups as easily as HTML-based websites can be. Photoshop gives prominence to details and production of a website, and can be very important when designing feature-rich websites that incorporate layers, textures, colours and designs. However, much time and effort, and valuable money is spent unnecessarily when web designers choose to work with Photoshop and then use HTML and CSS. HTML and CSS Are Simple, Interactive and Easy to Edit Thus, by skipping Photoshop web designers can make sure that the websites are more interactive in nature and that they are text-friendly. Making changes to the layout, editing, and reformatting websites can be extremely easy when one chooses to work with HTML and CSS. HTML and CSS websites provide the simplicity that many clients have begun to love, and there is nothing wrong with websites that are not complex to handle. Sometimes, Photoshop Can’t Be Skipped At the same time, one cannot dismiss Photoshop. It offers the most complex and most detailed tools to design static pages, and layouts which are simply not possible with HTML and CSS. The minimalism and simplicity that HTML and CSS offer may not be well-suited for websites that require rich-graphics, colors and images. Thus, Photoshop-based websites are better suited when clients specifically require feature-rich websites that are eye-candy. Using Photoshop is very important while designing websites for fashion, luxury, entertainment and art. Though web designers stand to save time and effort when they choose to use only HTML and CSS, but such websites are best suited for clients who need webpage that are text-driven, and seek minimalist and simplistic layouts. Skipping or Not Skipping Photoshop Depends on the Context At the end of the day, skipping Photoshop or relying heavily upon it are not mutually exclusive. Regardless of what web designers prefer using, it is important to be at ease with designing websites that do not need Photoshop, and also that which need this wonderful tool. It is as simple as assuming that certain kinds of websites do better with Photoshop and certain kinds of websites just do not need it. Depending on the context, content, target audience and maintenance goals of a website, the choice of skipping or not skipping Photoshop must be made. This article has been contributed by the Indus Net Technologies Web Design team, based on experience of few team members, while they produced websites for our numerous clients.

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