Entries from December 2007 ↓
December 8th, 2007 — Podcasts, Technology, Writing and Speaking
I did a lightning talk on Public Speaking for Geeks at foss.in yesterday. I had great fun delivering the talk and listening to all the others. It’s a wonderful game!
What could I do after that? Well, convert the lightning talk into a podcast!
So here’s my first podcast - Public Speaking for Geeks! In this four and half minute podcast, I talk about public speaking. Compare it to free software and share secrets of succeeding at public speaking - or in my terms sharing your ideas and sharing your knowledge!
powered by ODEO
And this one is dedicated to Atul Chitnis. For being the unstoppable army behind foss.in and inspiring me!
And here are some relevant past posts:
If you want to download directly:
Download .mp3 (4.1MB) - Download .m4a (2.1MB)
Feedback, comments.. most welcome!
December 7th, 2007 — Business, PHP
There is an interesting assignment we have and we need good PHP programmers who can understand and speak Japanese. It’s an onsite assignment. If you are interested, send an email to “vishal dot kothari (at) magnettechnologies.com”.
December 6th, 2007 — Experiences, Updates
I felt like a child who got his favorite candy, picking up my delegate registration for foss.in this morning! I was the first one in the queue and very excited!
Landed early morning in Bangalore. There was a slight drizzle and the temperature was lower than the usual Mumbai mornings. After passing the auto rickshaw fellows near the airport, negotiated with one fellow down the road and got into the rickshaw. Once I was on, he started asking for more money - above the fare in the meter. Now if you know me, I can’t stand this. If someone gave a word, I expect him to deliver on that. Or at least communicate they can’t - in time. Time to change the vendor, uhh? Took another rickshaw and got on.
Oh.. the chilly morning breeze of Bangalore… I loved it. I saw all those familiar roads, landmarks and turns. Memories of last few years of coming to foss.in came back! All the great people, great talks, great parties and the pure excitement of being part of something big.
Shivering inside the rickshaw, I started thinking why do I come to foss.in? Year after year?
Do I come because I am a speaker? Do I come to meet these wonderful organizers who I’ll meet probably only at this place? Do I come to take a break from work and have fun? Do I come to make new friends?
I come here for all of that. But what really drives me to keep everything aside and come here is the vision of the event and the organizers. This is something that is shaping FOSS contribution from India. This is something that educates and converts wannabe hackers into FOSS contributors. And adding one bit to that grand vision and doing my part is what keeps me calling!
And did I tell you how thrilled I was to be the first delegate to register today? I’ve always walked in easily through the speaker registration desk, and not being a speaker this time, I was expecting to stand in long queue before I could get in. On the way to the hotel in the rickshaw, I changed my mind and landed up directly at the venue.
At 8 in the morning, I didn’t expect much of a gathering at the venue. While I was reading a few more pages from Power of Intention, I realized I could be the first person to register today! And I was excited like a child! Being the first, at an event I love. I started the queue at 8.20 and was the first one. And that was a great feeling!
I am set for the next three days I think!
What do you think?
December 5th, 2007 — Leadership, Recommended Reading, Technology
Coding Horror has a very interesting post on three types of programmers.
- Mort, the opportunistic developer, likes to create quick-working solutions for immediate problems and focuses on productivity and learn as needed.
- Elvis, the pragmatic programmer, likes to create long-lasting solutions addressing the problem domain, and learn while working on the solution.
- Einstein, the paranoid programmer, likes to create the most efficient solution to a given problem, and typically learn in advance before working on the solution.
This is very interesting! It explains to me why some people are not interested in learning new things that have long term impact and why some people are busy finding the best solution that they don’t even have a single solution!
And then I learn that these are Microsoft’s developer personas! Coding Horror!
Hell, they make sense!
Found while I was eagerly reading David Barnes’ blog on how to write computer books better!
December 4th, 2007 — Personal, Updates
I am surrounded! Many interesting things happening around an entrepreneur geek these days 
Let me share with you what’s on my mind!
Idea to Reality in $100K and 6 months
That’s a special offer we have for people with innovative ideas. We will put a hand picked team of 6 on the idea for 6 months and get the idea to reality! We got very good response from the existing clients to this offer and are detailing the ideas now. I think the next quarter is going to get me lot of opportunities to express my passion for building usable web apps that deliver business results!
20% More Productivity Improvement through technology
That was the theme of the month for November 2007 in Magnet. In today’s Monthly Review Meeting (happens every first Tuesday), I was pleasantly surprised to see almost everyone achieving more than 15% productivity gains in the non-programming teams. I have seen their progress over the last month, and I am really glad they delivered such wonderful results. The programming teams were behind - affected by holiday leaves, project deliveries and other priorities.
My invitation to everyone is to be on the playing ground, hold a bat, face the ball, and hit it hard! Because spectators and coaches can’t make the runs. It’s the batsman who produces results!
Extending the organizational drive on focusing on our strengths, we then created focusing on the 20% of strengths that give us 80% of results as the theme for December! Looking at what the team has done so far, I think I will be a proud person after January’s monthly review meeting!
Power of Intention
Piyush, one of my school friends, asked me to get this book - “The Power of Intention” by Wayne W. Dyer for him. I started reading a few pages and I am gripped! I have heard (and even experienced) before that the whole world aligns to fulfill your intentions. Over the past ten days, many things I intended are starting to happen. I am not sure if there are any higher forces at play when you are really motivated and committed to a goal, but I am certainly interested in finding out how this happens. I am going to read this further! May be on the way to foss.in!
foss.in/2007 - hacking, meeting, lightning talks
foss.in/2007 has started! As I write this, Kartik would be talking about Mozilla Indic Localization, filling in for Ankit. I will be there on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and am looking forward to meet old pals and new friends! Also to hack around, do a lightning talk and have fun! It feels odd not speaking there after so many years 
Hacking Android
I have an itch! To hack around Android and build something. Actually build something that can be pitched in the developers’ challenge too! Let’s see how many others want to try this out at foss.in!
Getting ready for the wedding!
Ok, so it’s around the corner! 19th Jan is coming closer, and I still have lot of things to do! Invitation cards are printed, I have a lot of shopping to do and pay the advance for the honeymoon tour! Oh well, it was another story to select the honeymoon destination and whether to go on our own or in a group tour. These days I am busy attending relatives’ weddings and other functions!
And a lot of other things!
And sure, there are other things. Many! The mobile web book is moving well, many interesting projects on the floor and in the pipeline and a lot of new learnings.
I am having fun!
