Suramya's Blog : Welcome to my crazy life…

Once again we are seeing a flurry of messages on various social media sites talking about coding for money. My feed on Mastodon had a few folks post screenshots from other sites with some inspired takes and I especially love the one below (and the response):

Yes, It’s ok to code for money.

These pseudo-intellectuals who have never faced the possibility of not having enough money, mostly because they were born rich or managed to luck into a job that gives them enough money have the guts to tell people that it is not ok to code for money. They have the financial cushion to decide that they will do something for free but not everyone has that option. This is the same nonsense the artists have been getting for years now that you should paint/write/create for passion and not for money. They are told by folks who have money that if you are poor and suffering then your art is more ‘pure’. Personally I think it is just an excuse not to pay the artists.

This attitude is a leftover from the colonial thinking where it was considered crass / common for the nobility to work for a living and working was something that only the common folks did. There have been numerous documented instances where folks were actually disowned by their family because they actually worked for their living or ran a business. This was called Dérogeance and included engagement in certain professions and occupations considered to be “lowly”. In particular, it prevented the nobility from engaging in commerce and retail trade.

I love computers and am lucky that I get to work on something that is my passion. However, I know enough people in the industry who don’t like computers and are in it for the money and Guess what? that is perfectly ok. I remember in school I had a classmate who hated programming but was planning to do a degree in Computer Science. So I asked him why he was doing that even though he hated coding, and he responded saying that is where the money is. At the time we made fun of him but now that I think of it, he made money and once he was comfortably settled he switched roles and has moved on to something they enjoy doing. It is perfectly fine not to want to come home from work and start coding away on a personal project.

Long story short, telling people that it is not ok to do things ‘just for the money’ is extremely classicist / rude and frankly it is none of your business why anyone is in the industry. You are not the gatekeeper for the industry and can just buzz off…

– Suramya

The following popped up in my feed a few days ago and it was an interesting read. Mira genuinely feels that they have come up with a new innovating approach/idea not realizing that they are just repackaging / reinventing the lunch break. We are so conditioned to treat the old ways / existing ways of doing things as obsolete and have this fascination about breaking things where we tend to ignore existing work because no one is rewarded for doing things the old way. You need to rebrand it as something innovative/ground breaking like in this case a “Just Eat Power Hour” for people to eat their lunch without working at the same time…

They re-invented the lunch break!

This is not an isolated instance, there have been multiple cases where a silicon valley bro ‘invented’ stuff that already existed. Such as Roommates. WeLive is the communal housing offshoot of WeWork where a bunch of people live in a place and share common areas. This is called “co-living” in the world of WeWork. In the real world, it’s called having roommates. Then we have MakeSpace which raised $57 million for its “cloud storage for physical stuff.” i.e. a storage locker. There are so many of these examples and they sound so obvious and have existing implementations. Unfortunately the inventors are living in their own world where they are constantly told that all their ‘inventions’ are groundbreaking where in fact they are just rebranded versions of the existing stuff.

– Suramya

Today we celebrate our 76th Independence Day and start the 77th year since India gained it’s independence from the British. Gaining Independence was not an easy process and nor was it because of the non-violent movement. It took blood and tears and sacrifice. We don’t have the names of everyone who sacrificed and died to make the country free and that is the biggest tragedy. We do know some of the names like Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr. B R Ambedkar, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Then there are like Gandhi and Nehru who some like to pretend were the only people who fought for the country. Only a partial list of the freedom fighters of India is at StudyIQ.com but we need to remember them all, the known and the unknown… The nobles and the common person, the kings and the slaves, the famous and the forgotten.

As we step into the future, we need to ensure that the sacrifices of those before us are remembered and never forgotten. Hindustan Times compiled a list of famous slogans by freedom fighters that can never be forgotten. Below are some of my favorites:

Subhash Chandra Bose founded Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) and coined the slogan of ‘tum mujhe khoon do, main tumhe azaadi doonga’, that asked the people to give him blood (their lives) so that he can give them their independence.

The iconic freedom fighter Bhagat Singh who gave up his life for his country at the young age of 23 popularised the slogan penned by Urdu poet and freedom fighter Maulana Hasrat Mohanib. Inqalab Zindabad translates to ‘long live the revolution’.

These lines from the patriotic poem by Ramprasad Bismil became the inspiration for common folks across the country to rise up and make great sacrifices to earn their precious freedom. Literally they translate to something like: We have the desire to sacrifice ourselves (for our freedom) and we have to see the strength in our killer’s arms. The full poem is a must read. (This link has the English translation as well)

We were a great nation that was brainwashed to think we were nothing. Now we are back stronger than ever and we are no longer known as the begging bowl of the world, the nation of snake charmers, elephant-walkers, and illiterate minions but rather we are known for our technical skills and achievements. Once again the Indian flag is flying proudly; not just on earth but all the way to the Moon and Mars. ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 mission is days away from attempting a landing on the Moon, We have the Gagaan Yaan mission in the works. Our doctors and scientists created vaccinations and medicines that were freely given to countries in need during the early stages of Covid and our relief efforts across the world have saved countless lives.

I do agree that there are areas where we still need to improve, customs and mindsets that need to change. However, we are not the only one in the world that has customs and events that shame. The world loves to point to India’s shortcomings, claim the moral high ground and preach to us but these countries should look at their own countries and what is happening inside their borders. The bigotry, the anger, the collapse of social systems. We are once again seeing the rise of religious fanaticism, fascism, discrimination across the world and we as humans need to step above that.

The Maha Upanishad’s tell us that Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which means “The World Is One Family”. Similarly “Yaathum Uure Yaavarum Kaeleer” is a Tamil proverb that means “Every place is my home, everyone is my kin.”… We need to grow above our petty difference such as caste, religion, nationality, sexuality, age etc and then the sky (and beyond) is the limit.. Or like the poem says:

Translation:

Don’t live for your religion,
Don’t die for your religion,
Remember that Humanity is the religion for India
Just live for the country
Victory/Salutations to Mother India

Happy Independence Day Everyone!

– Suramya

I see that it is that time again where a lot of people complaining about their parents and blaming them for the fact that they were born poor. This is absolutely not something that is acceptable. Your parents did the best that they could for you and being an entitles brat is an insult for all the hardwork and suffering they went through to ensure you had a good life. You usually see this around the holiday season where ungrateful brats are complaining about their parents not gifting them with expensive things. I saw the below image the other day and it really resonated with me, it is such an awesome sentiment and I wish more people thought this way:

My father is not the reason why I was born poor. He is the reason I’m going to die rich

If you are blaming your parents for not keeping you in the level of luxury that you feel you deserve, nothing is stopping you from getting a job and earning the money yourselves. The parents are not there to pamper you for your whole life. You want a better car/house/phone etc work for it. No one is stopping you. Interestingly this behavior is not there in the really poor people (at least not that I saw) but more in the middle class households.

It is not always the kids fault either, there are parents who don’t teach their kids the value of money and explain the struggle they go through to keep the house running. Those are the kids who are usually complaining about not having enough money to show-off because they never realize how hard their parents work to make it. I have a friend who’s doing well but has a lot of expenses and things are tight at home but their kid is least bothered about it because he likes showing off and splurges a lot. In contrast I have another friend who’s daughter is the other extreme of the spectrum, she is working double internships so that she can help support the house as she wanted to help her mother.

The below image perfectly captures what parents sacrifice to ensure their kids had a good life.

It really pisses me off when I hear these folks abuse their parents for not having enough money to pamper / support in the luxury they feel they deserve.

– Suramya

#parenting #thoughts

This person thinks that they have a great interview process designed to get them great candidates but each step is a massive red flag.

They are basically telling us that they don’t care about the candidate’s life or existing commitments, such companies will expect you to be in office or working from home 24/7 for no good reason other than it is expected. From personal experience I have seen that such companies don’t hire enough resources because they expect the work of 10 to be done by 5 people as they are putting in double the hours.

Putting in a ton of hours for a deadline or in an emergency is fine and you should absolutely be willing to do so when required. However, that shouldn’t become a standard thing that you are consistently putting in insane hours. It is not sustainable and can cause serious health issues and burnout. It is not cool and it doesn’t show commitment if you are in the office constantly.

It is better to step away for a while when stuck on a problem. To give an example, I was trying to get some data from a system at work yesterday and spent a few hours trying to get my program to work but it just refused to work. So I decided to take a break and after a good nights sleep again looked at the code, within 15 minutes I figured out the problem and got the program working.

I tend to be on the workaholic side and can get caught up in work to the point where I don’t realize that I have been working for hours without a break. This is not a healthy habit and I have had some great managers who would scold me for being up late night when I didn’t need to. In one of my previous companies we actually implemented a policy in our team to counter this habit, where if a person was on vacation and they replied to a non-critical email or sent any emails they had to put $10 in the Jar. Once enough money was collected it was used to sponsor a treat for the team.

“Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls—family, health, friends, and integrity—are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.” —Gary Keller, Real Estate Entrepreneur

No one lies at their deathbed and remembers all the long hours they worked. They remember the time they spent with friends and family and if they didn’t spend enough time they regret it. No one regrets not spending more hours at work.

As Dolly Parton said ““Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”.

– Suramya

There is a thread going on on Twitter where a scammer who sells courses for 8k USD is giving advice to people on Job hunting. The following screenshot from the same thread was shared on Mastodon and came up in my feed and I honestly was shocked to see this kind of advice being given out.

Just put that you have a degree in your resume. Literally no one checks. Your degree doesn’t apply to your job anyway.

Just by reading this ‘advice’ I immediately know that this person has not ever worked in a large organization or is lying through their teeth. One of the first things that happens after you accept a job offer from a large company is that you go through a background check where everything that you put in the Resume and in your application for the role is verified. Depending on the company they might check X years of your professional work experience (some companies check your entire work history) but all of them verify the education details provided and require you to submit supporting documentation.

If you lied on your resume about having a degree you *will* be caught and in most cases your job offer will be rescinded due to fraud. Yes, Fraud as lying on the resume about your qualifications is considered fraud. You are better off leaving out your education and if your skills are good enough most companies have an exception process that can be utilized for hiring someone who doesn’t have a degree. In other places they sometimes consider your work experience in lieu of a degree.

The following LinkedIn post talks about the consequences some of the people who were caught lying on their resume faced:

3. Marilee Jones

Jones, who was dean of admissions from 1997 to 2007 at the ultra-prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, perpetuated for 28 years the lie that she had three degrees. In reality, she had none. As the head of admissions, ironically, Jones cut the amount of space candidates would have to describe extracurriculars on applications, saying more space would mean more fluff. The school learned through an anonymous tip in 2007 that Jones had puffed up her own credentials, and she was forced to quit. The cost to replace Jones is estimated to be over $100,000

As per Law Depot, lying on your resume can have serious legal consequences. In addition to getting fired (if the lie was caught after you joined) you can also be sued, fined or jailed (or all three).

In a 2019 case outside of North America, an Australian woman was sentenced to 25 months in prison and fined the Australian equivalent of $22,500 USD after she was discovered to have faked references and lied about her education to obtain a high-paying government position.

All said and done, asking someone to lie on their resume is terrible advice and should never be followed. This guy should be ashamed of themselves and stop giving such bad advice.

Regards,

Suramya