Technology vs Money vs Artists vs Businessmen

Posting about the technology saturation here and here in my blog made a lot of people curious about the discussion(s) in Ctrl-Esc-Boys group.

Today morning I got a mail from Aditya PK:
What is this Ctrl + Esc group that you mention in your blogs? It seems like a very interesting discussion board. Is it a mailing list? Can I join?

With warm regards we welcomed 'best outgoing student' of our class into our discussion thread and he added his gyan(thoughts) to two days old high intensity discussion.


Aditya's Response:
The whole discussion about technology vs money vs artists vs businessmen is a very interesting one. But I think they are all very very connected. You will find that the "artists", the people who are really passionate about software and are really good at it, are also the ones working on the best technology while simultaneously making the most amount of money. I may be a little biased because I work for google, :P, but it is true that people here are very very good at writing software, and they work on the coolest tech and also make the most money. I am also very certain that people who write software for free on sourceforge are highly-paid developers in their day-job.

The key to this, I think, is being really good at what you do. If you are so good at your job, then you will be producing a lot of work that is very valuable for the company, and the company will be willing to pay lots of money to keep you. I have a mini-theory about the connection between salary and the "artistic ability" of the person.

The salary that a company pays an employee has to be in a range. It has to be lesser than the amount of work that the employee produces. If the company is paying employee more than what he is producing, then the company is making a loss, and will fire the person. It also has to be more than the cost of the closest alternative. If the company pays less than the alternative, people will just switch jobs. For many people in the software industry, this number is measure by how much money the competition is paying.

So, if you want to increase your salary, there are two ways:
(1) The cost of the closest alternative goes up. This happens when the competition starts paying more, your salary also starts increasing.
(2) The value that you are adding to the company increases. If you do more productive and valuable work, then your worth to the company goes up, and your salary increases.

In the last 10 years, the salaries in Bangalore are primarily increasing because of (1). Other companies are paying more, so I should also get more. But if you rely on this, it is a very dangerous thing, because in a recession, when the competition is sinking, you are also very likely to sink.

It is my opinion that it is better to pursue (2). If you add more value to the company, they will, very happily, pay you more. There are many ways to do this, like getting a better education (Anyone did their MBA recently? :P). Another way is to become what Ritesh below called being an "artist". If you become really interested in what you are doing, the quality of the work you are doing automatically goes up, and you end up doing much better work. You can be a "businessman", just doing stuff because other people are making you do and because they are paying you, but this puts you in (1)... having to depend on the competition to make more money.

A couple of other observations about the discussion:

• I don't agree that the "missed call", the predominant way college kids communicate, is zero revenue for the mobile companies. When these college kids graduate from college and get money, they are likely to continue to use their phone, but now they have money, and so they make calls and download applications etc... This is popularly called a "loss-leader". The idea is that a company sells something for a loss (below-cost), in anticipation of making money later. SONY sells the PS3 for a loss, hoping it will make up the money in game and blu-ray movie sales. Google makes huge losses on orkut and gmail, hoping that regular users of gmail and orkut will use the search engine more often and make money for google in the long run.
• I also disagree that Microsoft has not creating something innovative in the last few years. It appears that way because we all love to hate the big evil company, and listen to only the things we want to listen to. There are several things I can think of that Microsoft has really innovated in the last few years. XBOX 360 is a really good product, HALO is a mind-blowing game. Have you seen the Microsoft Photosynth demo? It's mind-blowing. Microsoft's World-wide telescope is also pretty cool.

Technology: Where are we heading to?

The technology discussion in Ctrl-Esc-Boys group continued. The below discussion is continuation of the stuffs mentioned in Have peaked out technologically ?.

Ritesh asks:
And what are the rest doing ? pour in your two cents.. the question still is : "Where are we heading to ?"


Rohith Reponds:

• 0.000001 cent ... The debate about a new technology versus what a consumer wants - is not just between us. But one that is happening in every company that invests in newer technologies. First of all, a newer technology doesn't translate into new business! So, no one can predict the future of a technology before hand.
• Companies those invested in 2.5G or 3G are still struggling to make real business out of it. One of killer application proposed was video on demand. But so far, I haven't heard a story about any success!
• I believe Motorola is an example that burnt hands in investing in such newer technologies. Please correct me, if otherwise.
• There are numerous factors that guide to technology success than just technology alone. While we are talking about video on mobile, that didn't succeed, consider, the recent "caller tune" concept. This is no new technology. But its a huge success! All the customer needs may not be your new technology!
• So, bottom-line, is that technology is done by artists(as defined by Ritesh) - who rarely care about the implications. And putting into practice and most of the success is enabled by Businessmen.
• Another e.g. While we receive numerous ads on our mobiles with new value added services (e.g., Astrology), rarely we try them. The problem is not with the idea of giving astrology on demand. But with the marketing strategy. The SMS with such VAS(value added services), generally end with "call at Rs 6 per min". Which deprives the user from even giving a try before actually subscribing to it. So, it marketing strategy that enables technology!
• Another factor, is the consumer base. Imagine creating a business model for our own "miss call" communication.We give miss call to communicate, sometimes (or say most of the times). And this generates "0" revenue to the network operators. And with all the technology, if it doesn't generate any revenue, no wonder that the technology will die soon.May be its not a good example, but lot to infer from it. For sure, one cannot survive long, working for charity!
• There are more factors to consider for the so called "technology" to be a success. What about the government policies? Negative impacts? The moment somebody utters "nuclear" all it comes to our mind is nuclear weapons, Hiroshima, World war II. But rarely we think of the other side of it - using for energy. In such a case technology doesn't remain technology anymore, but a disaster to the society.
• So, technology is not just technology in itself. No one can predict !!

Naveen's(Thode) Response:

• Interesting debate!! I am quite skeptic about Rohith’s claim that the technology does not drive new business. I am coming from the retail domain and have seen the impact of emerging technologies in the business for the good. In some of the instances technology has given a new dimension to few areas in the retail business.
• Technology may not be influential in all domains but some. There is only a need to extract the essence of the technology to leverage ideas into the development of the business.
  

Rohith's Response
Yeah Naveen! I Agree. So, I correct my statement: "a newer technology may not always translate into new business" :-)

My Response:
Nice points Rohith. Here a few additions to your points

• There hasn’t been a really ‘breakthrough’+’revenue generating’ service in mobile telephony in recent times. But if you had read Monday’s TOI business page there has been a new service by name Slydial. According the NY times article it’s a runaway hit. With that feature one can send voice message by avoiding conversation. Go thru the article, I feel it will be soon introduced all over the world.
• Your point with respect to Motorola is valid. The other company falling in similar category for mobiles phones is Samsung. Inspite introducing world’s first mp3 phone and world’s first 8 mega pixel camera they still face a identity crisis outside South Korea.
• Regarding Video-On-Demand, you are absolutely right. It’s not been successful as per expectations. There hasn’t been a demand wireless network infrastructure because youtube has just created a demand for wireline network infrastructure. Youtube has indirectly generated revenues wireline equipment makers such as Cisco, but not for wireless vendours. What’s the root cause ? … Physical limits. As we all know that all wireless(mobile) devices require battery power. Video streaming eats lots of CPU cycles and hence drains the battery charge. One can’t stream a video continuously for more than 15 minutes without charging the battery. Also replacing battery on the move is not practical. I used to do live network testing in Paris for Video streaming with charger plugged on.
• A technology has to find right business model. Google was not the first company to create a search engine. As per my knowledge it was altavista. But google found a profitable business model even in dot-com crash era. In the process they were able enhance there search algorithm by retaining and paying their “artists”. Nowadays, their search interface has become de facto interface to the Internet.
• Innovations may not lead into better standard of living. For example Microsoft has thousands of registered patents. Have they really introduced a innovative product post 2000 ? A organization has to innovate with ingenuity and introduce right product at right time. May be Microsoft is waiting for the right time.

Have we peaked out technologically ?

The Ctrl-Esc-Boys brainstorming thread regarding career switch spawned a another thread on technology saturation. Being decently updated in technology from information point of view, I had to respond to Ritesh's statements and the discussion continued.

Ritesh's statement on technology & future:
Today we have reached a situation where we don't want to change our cells, computers and gizmos. partly because we have peaked out technologically for the present. How many upgraded to Vista ? have a 3G handset & own an iphone? . The truth is that technology is stagnating because of reducing demand for the incremental features.

My response:

• Nice views, but I don't agree to your views on technology saturation. Luxury of one decade will be need of subsequent decade. 10 years back ... Did anyone of us really used to bother about of not having a mobile ?... I wonder how people used to plan trip/treks and plan meet at a particular location without mobiles :)
• Why we don't have an iPhone ? Because it is not yet legally available in India ...Globally why iPhone didn't picked up in last one year ? because iPhone 2.5G was not a complete smartphone whereas latest iPhone 3G overcomes it. Have a look at the sales iPhone 3G in last one month and telecom service providers all round are wooing Apple for selling iPhone on contract! It's killer feature is safari browser, its experience of web-browsing browsing beats other smartphones by miles.
• Web browsing on mobiles ? I feel it will be a need within 5 years .. with traffic situation is getting bad day by day .. people will be forced to travel more than an hour to office .. then iPhone type phones with 3G connection will come handy ... because people will be lazy enough to take out laptops and browse :)
• Coming to Window Vista .. why are we not using it ? Simple it doesn't do anything great and has lots of issues ... many people say it will be last of its kind of product (OS) developed by a closed community ... to say in ur words OS type project in future will be done by artists, not businessmen.
  

Ritesh's response:
Defly you are much up-to-date on the technology front. But what I am telling is that talking is a necessity, messaging is an accessory & browsing on the mobile will be a big thing in years to come but :

• How many people will pay for this service ? - the ones whose company sponsors it use it , else businessmen .. most mobile users are naive users. Did you notice that the mobiles have to drop prices by a huge amount to make u buy a mobile nowadays ? In turn the companies working for these handset manufacturers will have rising wages and lowering margins.. This is not a sunrise sector anymore.
• I know Iphone is a bad example but even if it is available, it should be available at a discount to nokia to sell here . We techies will buy it at a premium but local junta wont.
• I used to upgrade OS every year from 2000 to 2004 .. now I dont .. Why ? forget Vista I dont want to upgrade bcos there is no incremental advantage.. Now Shande .. if you were the microsoft CEO what would have you done to make people buy the next version of software ?
• Processors :- Do we go for the fastest processor these days ? I have seen people going for the most cost effective one as the processing power is far more than they want anyway...

Question which comes is : What do we make to make people buy new technology of any kind ?


My response:
It's a billion dollar question for industries worth trillions of dollars. I don't have the answer of it .. one way we can do it by making existing version defunct or inferior … here are some additional thoughts.

• As a Microsoft CEO I am going do what Nitin Pujari said in our first CCP class in engineering. Introduce a bug somehow in old version so that people buy an upgraded version. That won't be ethical in the real world. But as per my knowledge Microsoft was planning to stop support for Win-XP in order allocate more resources for ailing Vista. I think indirectly they are doing what Nitin Pujari had said.
• Being in mobile terminals domain for last 2 years I feel companies always avoid making a perfect mobile phone. They expect people to get bored with a mobile within 6 months. Also people want to break pattern, but in the process 'breaking the pattern' also becomes a pattern! So I feel people are not going for frequent upgrades of mobiles as 2-3 year back.
• I agree mobile industry is not a sunrise sector … margins are getting low … companies are losing a lot of money in integration/testing … so they are planning go for a stuffs developed by artists i.e part of components which are developed open source .. Android is one such example.
• Regarding premium prices … many technology products are initially very high …may be companies want to recover RnD costs or they don't may people buy it because a new product will have many issues .. Moto Razr was 25K+ when it was launched and also Nokia 6600(also 25K) was a kinda dream phone when we were doing engineering. But what happened 1-2 years after launch .. prices were half the launch price and every tom, dick, harry had similar kind of phone.
  
• With increase in processing speeds there have been better phones .. some people have upgraded but many have not… the major factor for this is our poor networks and delay in issue of 3G spectrum license … mobile phones are still a conversation device(just a phone) for many people … but it's going to be a communication device(like computer) soon … with growth of Internet in India especially in vernacular languages .. who knows in future a auto rickshaw driver will be reading a kannada blog on 'How to calibirate a autorickshaw meter' in a iPhone type device.
• In India are technology penetration is very low compared to tech-savvy countries like Korea,Japan. The scenario may change in future or gradually changing(?) … recently in a barcamp I met a co-founder of a start up company developing mobile phone games .. he was telling that highest downloads of his games happen in Uttar Pradesh and other North Indian states … so we can't ignore a section of people as naïve users .. they may fetch more revenue in future. If we look at stats .. population of U.P. is more than entire population of Europe put together!

[The views expressed here are not entirely my own, it is somewhat integration of my thoughts with one-liners several other people whom I have met in seminars, events etc.]

Ctrl-Esc Brainstorming: To switch or not to switch ?

Yesterday one of the members of our Ctrl-Esc-Boys group Joy started a thread asking for suggestions and ideas for his dilemma to switch or not. Did he get any response ?.. obviously a lots. The 4 years of experience in software industry of our group members was evident in the response. After a long time we had a kind of career discussion thread. Here are some excerpts from the same.

Joy's Queries:

• Today, I m planning to put my papers ( at last!!!!! ). Got offer from www.xyz.com. It's a product company. I have no idea about work cultures of such companies.
• If you have any suggestions/ideas abt product companies, and also is it the right time to switch ??, and is it worth to switch from Service company to a product company?

Disclaimer: If have just pasted the responses from the thread. The intention here is that people outside our group know about this constructive discussion. Not to make sarcastic statements at a individual or an organization. So I have purposefully put the nicknames or codenames for a few people.

Bade's Response:

• You being a talented guy shouldn't face any problem when it comes to sustaining in the new company, as you always exceed expectations!!! Even though the market is down, it is the media pulling the market further down that shouldn't be a problem.
• Coming to your question of working culture, Working in product companies will be a great experience with respect to ownership but not with responsibilities and they are very slow when it comes to execution of plans and you might get exposure only to one or hardly 2 products, but in a service based company you get tremendous opportunity but no money.
• You have to decide whether you need money or exposure, for me both are same as experiences always adds more weight to your profile. Think about your option once again and take a decision.

Yesh's Response:

• Get the feedback from anyone who is already working in that company. What is the growth provided to the employees, remuneration package, appraisal etc.
• It is always good to know abt the team that you are going into. What is the team size, how is the Manager etc. I know these are really difficult to get. But if you try you may get some information. Because most of the time it's the Manager who will decide what you are worth for , how much you deserve and all – I know its difficult to belevie but it is the fact and I suppose most of us have already experienced.
• Last but not least – which is very much required .. Check how many girls are working in the company.

Rohith's Response:

• @Bade: in my opinion, it not always true that service company provide more exposure than product companies. If you talk about exposure to software development, then I would say, its product companies that provides you to work from end-to-end of a product lifecycle.
• The technology and its future - www.xyz.com looks to me a telecom company - mobile services. So, at this age of telecom, it is important to know if they have plans to evolve to 4G/Wimax technologies. This secures your future. (Luckily today, we have got lot of companies - lot of jobs. But you never know when the jobs in India will get dried up). So, as Yesh suggested, it is good to know on what product and with whom(customer, architects!) you would be working with.
• Ofcourse salary. And no harm in switching job now. Market is going to be the same. We need to emerge out. But yes, take a calculated risk!

Then finally the response of the day came by Ritesh who was a software engineer for 3 years and from last year PGP student at IIMC.

• Regarding service Vs product: It really doesn't matter as you will be sitting in one cubicle at the corner in a floor orkutting, gtalking , checking emails , hitting on girls & working in between. You will be assigned a part of a building software where u will be undoing the mistakes of the @ss who left the job creating a vacancy for you. So are you solving a product bug or a service bug ?
• Regarding learning: People who wanted to learn hav done it in any field, any role and type of company, Ex: ABCD was the best tester in Lucent.. we all know .. He did justice to his job.
• Regarding technology & future: Today we have reached a situation where we dont want to change our cells, computers and gizmos. partly because we have peaked out technologically for the present. How many upgraded to Vista ? have a 3G handset & own an iphone? . The truth is that technology is stagnating because of reducing demand for the incremental features.
• Then what to do ? Join a smaller company - there you will be the coder,tester,manager, watchman .. everything .. that is the biggest learning you can get.. It really doesnt matter product or service..
• Regarding pay: For your family, your job is a blackbox. you go in and out but at the end you get XXX Rupees with you. It really doesnt matter if you do job x or y for them. So earning is pretty important to keep you near and dear ones happy. So it is quite an important thing.
• Knowledge, Exposure ? If someone tells me now that knowledge, exposure etc is important . think again .. In the past 4 yrs what is the major thing u contributed to the industry ? There are 2 kinds of people - Artists and businessmen. People who are satisfied with their work will not worry about money, they are artists cause they love what they do. Unfortunately all the artists are scripting open source code or are on sourceforge.net ( The site from where we copied our projects). The rest are businessmen selling their time to companies and cleansing code for a fixed sum of money. I have not seen a guy who is willingly working in the S/W industry.. it is a compromise as the money is good & we did a BE. It is just that we can do .. not we want to do .. I donno how many feel I am radical ( Or because i am not a S/w Engineer now) but these are my true thoughts.
• Moral of the story: Joy ... go ahead... .. most things u did is after asking people around you. What do u really want to do ?
  
• Another school of thought says that "Don't stay in a small tent when a storm is about to come" .. We are in a kind of a slowdown no doubt.. My friend PQRwas working in LMN, a startup.. Recently was laid off due to a bad market. He was working in VLSI .. had an MS .. but is unable to find a job since 2 months as VLSI market is pretty bad . No openings in sight as he told... So be ambitious but be careful too.

This is how the discussion went on. What are your thoughts on the responses?

[The image is from iQuit

Rottikallu Homestay

Distance: 250 kms from Bangalore.
Activities @ Homestay: Trekking, Stream Walk, River Crossing, Volleyball, Tarzan Swing.
Cost: 1750 per head [July 2008]
Transportation: Preferably by own/hired vehicle. The last mile can be covered either by foot or a Jeep.

After hundreds of e-mail exchanges we the members of Ctrl-Esc-Boys group decided on a destination for a weekend trip. The discussion started off from BR Hills, K.Gudi, Kemmangundi and finally ended at Rottikallu - a homestay amidst sahyadri trails near Sakleshpur. The task of planning and organizing the trip was done by Yeshwanth.

People on board: Thode(Naveen), Bade(Praveen), Sandeep HR, Venki, Anil, Chote(Praveen), Vikram, Anand, Yeshwanth, Abhilash, Shande

Our Activities at the homestay:

• Day-1: We started the proceedings by playing cricket in a ground which is 10 minutes walk from the homestay. After breakfast we did a stream walk (2kms) on Hemavathi river. The stream walk concluded with natural massage bath under a waterfall. After that we trekked for getting to top of Halu kola peak. In evening there was a fire camp. Boozers had their usual stuffs and the rest had a good time with non-alcoholic home made wine.

• Day-2: After breakfast, we had a shooting (with a rifle) session, in which we struggled to strike even a easy target. Later we had 'activity of the day' i.e. volleyball next to the stream. After volleyball we played with Tarzan swing and subsequently played with water in the stream.

Activities in pictures:

Started day-1 proceedings with cricket. It was amusing to play in a ground surrounded by lush green hills!

Stream walk: It was kind of different adventurous activities we had done till date. We walked on stream 2-3 kms for more than a hour.

Atop Halu Kola peak: we completed the ascent inspite of momentarily changing weather with rain, sunshine and mist.

Shooting session: Initially looked easy, but was difficult to execute. I was able the hit the target after 4-5 attempts.

Volleyball: It turned out one of the exciting activities. The above snap shows a close moment of the play. Have a look the expression of boys.

Tarzan Swing: Abhilash undergoing water splash.

Food:
I was the lone vegetarian in the group, but didn't faced any problems as sufficient veggie stuffs - sambhar, palya (malnad style) were served. More importantly they served curd with every meal, which is very unusual in remote places. I cannot comment on non-veg stuffs, seems my friends were disappointment because of improper preparation.

Veera Venki the Poet:
Through out the trip we were kept entertained by Venki and his poems(padyas). He had got printout of his collection and his recitation used to increase enthu and energy levels of boys. Venki's dedicated listener was Praveen V.N. aka Chote Miya, many a times taking his words seriously and asking doubts, questions. Venki's blogs his poems at veeravenki.blogspot.com

Restrospect:

• It's a good initiative by the owner and management of Rottikallu homestay. The official website looks flashy and informative, but at grassroot level i.e. in conduct of actual activities there is a lot of scope for improvement.
• Our instructor didn't plan the activities properly. Other than stream-walk and trekking he conducted some random activities here and there. Many a times we ourselves took the initiative and played the sports like cricket and volleyball.
• If we consider endurance level of a normal human being, then doing all the activities in two days is bit too much. So the cost of 1750 per head for 2 days is bit expensive.
• Ignoring a few negatives, Rottikallu is a ideal place for a group having people different endurance levels. Lazy people in your group can just stay in cottages and enthusiastic people can go for outdoor activities.

On the way back:
We terminated our stay on Day-2 afternoon and decided to visit Belur and Halebeedu which is around 2 hours drive from Rottikallu. More about it in a separate post.

Photoalbums:
- Shande's Picasa album:
- Yeshwanth's Picasa album:
- Praveen's Picasa album: