I’m not trying to make the fur fly (at least not to begin with) , but this is the first study on the subject I’ve seen that seems to be relatively on the level. Here’s a quick snapshot of the results:
- Indian developers outscore U.S. developers on analytical skills like math and logic by 11 percent.
- U.S. programmers slightly outperform Indian programmers on mainstream programming languages including C (8 percent higher), Java (9 percent higher) and SQL (9 percent higher).
- U.S. professionals score significantly higher on Web programming languages: 53 percent higher on advanced PHP; 27 percent higher on advanced HTML.
- U.S. tech professionals are 33 percent better than their Indian counterparts at English communication skills. (IT Business Edge)
I’ll add a few observations:
First off, I do not think either society holds an intellectual advantage over the other. Both produce a roughly equal share of very smart people. I think it’s safe to say that Indian secondary schools probably do provide a better basic math and science curriculum. Beyond that, sheer numbers could account for the difference. The number of new US born developers entering the workforce is flat, which could mean those with more marginal skills are choosing other trades. At the same time, the numbers in India are still exploding. In India, working as a developer is still a path prosperity for worker with average skills. In the US. many other professions provide greater rewards. (more…)
I want to expand on something my cohort has expoused. I think it is that important –
Obviously, we need to keep a closer watch on the pols and endless flurry of new copyright laws they keep dumping on us. We need a longer term solution that can’t easily be politicized. Not only are academic texts expensive, they are also typically poorly written. Extreme editorial license is increasing being used in texts to further political agendas, often intentionally misinforming students. Thanks to the open source movement, we do have alternatives. Open source texts may be freely copied and continuously revised to remove errors and inaccuracies while allowing the instant addition of new discoveries. Each institution could devote less than half what they pay to the textbook cabal to contribute to text projects. Educators would finally have input. Prices will race to zero and quality improve. While this will kill the racket publishers, pols and lawyers are running together, maybe it will also school them in the first rule of a honest trade. That is you earn a living by serving, not extorting.
It is very true what is being stated here. Fact for Georgia State, the way out of this would be to remove all thesises issued by their grad students then burn down the library with all the other texts inside. Then form a institutional corporation as a publisher and require all materials issued by the professoria be donated as Creative Commons to the corporation. That means all books, etexts, syllabi, etc. Then the students would be required to sign an agreement that they act on their own accord. Then maybe lock down or remove the copiers.
Bottom line is the institution would become the first top to bottom Creative Commons institution in the nation. They essentially lock out the publishers. Not exactly in the publishers interests but that could be one of maybe two results. What the publishers have not factored in is that what they are doing cuts to the core of the purpose of learning — the ability to pass on information unhindered. If in the process of locking down the materials, learning process is destroyed and they eliminate a key segment of their publishing business. Educational institutions cannot operate under the straight jacket that is being proposed for the Copyright Clearance Center.
Once you get 2-3 institutions creating their own pool of materials the whole environment spreads to other institutions. Then the likes of MIT and Cornell donate their Open Course ware. Very quickly the major universities have built a firewall of their own design. The Publishers are on the outside looking in. Is that where they want to see this go?
The buyer WILL find a way out of this. In the process the publishers will be destroyed.
We covered Ubuntu’s certification matrix recently. But it looks like it might be overshadowed by another site — OpenBenchmarking.org
Why I say this may overshadow Ubuntu’s efforts is the crowdsourcing aspects of how it is laid out. A suite of tools are provided. You run this suite against your hardware base and then submit the results. OB already has 35k submissions and is growing. You can select particular components to test, say a graphics card. You can compare your results to other using the same hardware.
But that is not all. OB also supports a feature where you can look up based on either product or categories (ie MB, Graphics) and see if there is a benchmarks there.
Open Benchmark image
No great shucks you say? Contraire. One of the biggest hang ups is “Will this card work with my MB?” Not like you want to plunk down funds then find you have a brick on your hands. Well with OB you can go look based on a particular product. If that product is in the test base then someone has been able to get the card to work. OB also lists the OS, display server and the kernels that work with that device. So with a little poking around you can find whether your anticipated purchase will work with that $22MB you just bought out of the bargain bin from Crazy Larry’s Electronics.
Two suggestions –
I pose that question for a couple of reasons. But they are all wrapped around security and the sanctity of your personal information. –
Researchers at VeriSign’s iDefense division tracking the digital underworld say bogus and stolen accounts on the Facebook are now on sale in high volume on the black market. Mark Zuckerberg, a founder of Facebook, the social networking site that says it has sophisticated ways to defeat fake accounts.
During several weeks in February, iDefense tracked an effort to sell log-in data for 1.5 million Facebook accounts on several online criminal marketplaces, including one called Carder.su.
That hacker, who used the screen name “kirllos” and appears to deal only in Facebook accounts, offered to sell bundles of 1,000 accounts with 10 or fewer friends for $25 and with more than 10 friends for $45, says Rick Howard, iDefense’s director of cyber intelligence.
and…
MINNEAPOLIS – Facebook is now sharing your personal profile information with third parties. For now, it’s just a few web sites, like the music site Pandora, and the consumer review site, Yelp.
Facebook is automatically sharing that information, without your consent. If you don’t want to share, you have to opt out.
University of Minnesota law professor and privacy expert Bill McGevern says it’s an important line in the sand. And for Facebook, with 600 million users, the stakes are high.
“Facebook is trying over and over to get this shared so Facebook becomes the center of the web,” said McGevern.
Facebook want to make money by selling user information.
Either legally or otherwise your data is being proffered for sale. Are you sure you know who you are sharing that data with via third parties that you have no relationship with? Do you even know what is being done with the data? You ought to care, as it may mean you losing the next job or promotion. Forty-five Percent of Employers Use Social Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates, CareerBuilder Survey Finds To be blunt about it, if you have a rant on FaceBook about anything you might as well write LOSER on the bottom of your resume.
I have never held a Facebook account as I read the TOS first and found it lacking. Besides these days it is both cheap and easy to setup your own site on the web where YOU have total control of both the content and how it is shared. Consider this post a friendly hint. But you have been forewarned.
Well the labor markets sure don’t reflect any shortage at the current time –
The agency first took note of America’s looming shortage in computing, science and tech experts in January, when the agency requested proposals that would attract more teens to careers in the field. The agency then suggested tactics like career days, mentorships and more scholarship money to get the job done. Dugan, however, is touting flashier options. “Box O’ Radar,” for one, would give kids the chance to build and test their own radar devices. Or, she told the panel, we could turn teens into app-making machines.
“Additional ideas included the development of an application ‘marketplace’ devoted to STEM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics] that would post challenges such as ‘apps to teach electronics’ or ‘apps to teach radar’ or just ‘coolest app with a practical use,’” she said. “Prizes might range from iPods to scholarships.”
The geek-recruitment schemes were just a few of the ideas tossed around at Darpa’s recent Industry Summit — a meeting between Darpa managers and 120 American industry heads that Dugan said was meant “to engage the leadership of US industry.”
Seriously, anybody seen an uptick in IT salaries lately? Anybody?
I have used Visio for years. First when it was and independent and afterwards when Microsoft bought them out. In the Corporate world it is THE graphics package. Visio is so dominate that there is little competition. You have to go to the Mac space to find viable alternatives.
Well that changes now —
Cacoo – Real-time Collaborative Diagramming & Design from Nulab Inc. on Vimeo.
Issues? I had only one. My base system runs 64bit Ubuntu and the flash player I am forced to use is an experimental v.11 code. Does not work. But a 32 bit Ubuntu with flash does.
But is it a Visio killer? Out of the box no. There are features that this Cacoo do not even touch. For example diagram packs for Cisco gear right down to the card that can go in the frames. Not there yet. But, from small beginnings competitors are made. This online tool is sufficient for most small businesses. It is perfect for any individual. That’s the rub for Visio too. Once someone buys into a base package the customer is more inclined to buy add-ons and upgrades. Now that might get short circuited.
Would highly recommend folks give them a try.
website: http://cacoo.com/
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