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Sneakers

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The New York City Digital Media Center, geared toward teaching media skills to students, hosted its graduation celebration at Staten Island University Hospital Community Park, home of the FerryHawks. More than 150 celebrated the event at the Inaugural Sneaker Ball Gala & Graduation Ceremony.

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVFT.NfcQcbBOK3_xf68nPEZbJC&pid=News

Staten Island Advance

New York City

It was sneakers all around -- and a teaching moment -- at the Sneaker Ball celebrating these 2023 grads and honorees

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.Qt2LO1hJJpRhXQHM9zrlLg&pid=news

Tunisia

Education

Governor

Stressing the need for universities to groom the students to make them employable for jobs in the present day context, Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Monday said the varsities should imbue the core elements of the National Education Policy (NEP),

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVFT.Ow6VkKCMSmN5V2hxp__GcS&pid=News

Make Students Employable for Jobs of the Time, Ensure Professional Courses in Tamil: TN Governor

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.KANCozAEZYO1NwXNST5YDQ&pid=news

timesnownews

Time

Read more about Make students employable for jobs of the time, ensure professional courses in Tamil: TN Guv on Devdiscourse

Make students employable for jobs of the time, ensure professional courses in Tamil: TN Guv

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.H3ShcCAtADCOYBdsAlEX4g&pid=news

devdiscourse

Evo Morales

POLIS

Action figure

Inspector Khai and Inspector Sani from Malaysian buddy cop movie Polis Evo 3 have been immortalised in the form of limited edition action figures.

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVFT.3A9KGrrpUinxrD1tIXrq3y&pid=News

The Malay Mail

‘Polis Evo 3’ gets limited edition action figures, collaboration between local hobbyists and disabled community (VIDEO)

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.BDGCUVM0l1McqOW5Ivbj3A&pid=news

malaymail

The Vice Chancellor, Covenant Varsity, Ota, Ogun, Prof. Abiodun Adebayo, on Thursday, said the institution’s graduates were the most employable in Nigeria and

Our graduates are most employable – Covenant varsity VC

https://www.bing.com/th?id=ODF.2xtNihWucrVnjgrPvQfC8Q&pid=news

The Nation Newspaper

Blade Nzimande

The Economic Freedom Fighters MP Naledi Chirwa had nothing good to say about the Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande Chirwa slammed the minister for his failures to ensure that graduates are employable after getting their higher education Meanwhile ...

EFF MP Naledi Chirwa Slams Minister Blade Nzimande for Failing to Ensure Graduates Are Employable

briefly

Cholera

The Parliamentary Committee on Water and Sanitation will visit Hammanskraal in Tshwane on Thursday following the outbreak of cholera that has claimed 17 lives. The Committee says it will engage role-players to ascertain why recommendations that were agreed ...

Parliamentary Committee to visit Hammanskraal following Cholera deaths

SABC

Ensure

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Parliament has lambasted Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande for what they say is his failure to ensure more university graduates are capable of being employable in the job market. This happened during the ...

EFF slams Nzimande’s failure to ensure university graduates are employable

The report also found that the most employable graduate courses for 2018 are: Medicine, Library and Information science, Marketing, Quantity Surveying, Physiology, Management Information Science ...

THE LIST: Covenant, UNN, UI… top 20 universities with most employed graduates in Nigeria

TheCable

Uganda

Foundation

Beneficiaries of the Agakhan Foundation Schools 2030 program showcased some of skills they have learnt throughout the duration of the program. The 10-year program is equipping them with employable skills and the ability to start their own jobs.

Aga Khan foundation programme makes youths more employable

Get the most recent info and news about Enployable on HackerNoon, where 10k+ technologists publish stories for 4M+ monthly readers.

Enployable is your work chemistry matchmaker, powered by the latest technology in artificial intelligence and natural language processing. - Employers are provided instant matches by our AI-enabled recruiting engine based on company mission, culture, and work styles - Tailored data and intelligence provide employers guidance to fight the Great Resignation wave and retain top talent - Job candidates receive personalized recommendations of companies that are best suited for your lifestyle and values - A vibrant, supportive community with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion

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Meet the Winners of Startups in North and Central America

Web accessibility is becoming an increasingly important issue in the digital world, and for good reason. As more and more users rely on the web for daily tasks, it's crucial that web applications are designed to be accessible to all users, regardless of their abilities. Over 51 million accessibility errors were found across the home pages of the top 1,000,000 websites, averaging 51.4 errors per page, according to a 2021 . This is where Filestack comes in. With its range of accessibility features and tools, Filestack can help developers create web applications that are inclusive and usable for everyone. WebAIM study Understanding Web Accessibility Standards The praxis of crafting web-based material that is universally employable and accessible, irrespective of individual abilities, is known as web accessibility. In order to foster , directives, and benchmarks, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), have been instituted. accessibility In 2021, the found that 75% of Americans with disabilities use the Internet daily. It's important to consider accessibility not only for users with disabilities but also for legal and business reasons. It is of paramount significance to acknowledge that accessibility, far from being solely the concern of the disabled community, holds great importance from both a legal and a commercial standpoint. Through adherence to the established guidelines, developers and designers can guarantee the accessibility of their content to all users, thereby fostering a more inclusive, equal, and gratifying user experience. Pew Research Center Enhancing Accessibility with Filestack Filestack offers a variety of accessibility features and tools to help developers create web applications that are more accessible to users with disabilities. These include: Keyboard Navigation: Filestack facilitates streamlined navigation through keyboard inputs, thereby enhancing the user experience by allowing effortless exploration of web applications without the need for a peripheral device such as a mouse or trackpad. High-Contrast Mode: Filestack's high-contrast mode makes it easier for users with visual impairments to read and interact with web applications. Text-to-Speech: Filestack allows developers to add text-to-speech capabilities to web applications, which can be helpful for users with vision impairments or reading difficulties. Customizable Forms: Filestack provides customizable forms that are designed with accessibility in mind, making it easier for users with disabilities to input information. By assimilating accessibility features & tools in their web apps, developers can offer an inclusive encounter for all users. Furthermore, Filestack's traits heighten accessibility, , and boost engagement. enhance UX Creating Accessible Forms with Filestack When crafting accessible forms, it's imperative to address key factors: Clear labeling of all elements (e.g. labels, input fields, buttons) with descriptive text aids users with disabilities to comprehend purpose and navigate easily. Equally, provide alternative text descriptions for images, and use color and contrast to differentiate elements. Using Filestack to Enhance Form Accessibility Filestack provides a multitude of tools to aid in the creation of accessible forms, such as a custom form builder optimized for accessibility, featuring clear labels and input fields compatible with assistive tech. The interface further streamlines file uploads, alleviating cognitive strain for users with disabilities. drag-and-drop Ensuring Form Accessibility with Filestack's Error Messages and Feedback Tools Facilitating seamless form submissions involves clear feedback to users, which can be achieved through customized error messages, validation rules, and such as progress bars and success messages offered by Filestack. feedback tools Maximizing Accessibility for Mobile Web and Native Applications To maximize accessibility for mobile web and native applications, it's important to consider the following: Responsive Design Responsive design enables web applications to seamlessly adjust to varying screen dimensions, enhancing usability across multiple platforms, including mobile devices, and allowing developers to craft a unified application for desktop and mobile use. Assistive Technology Support By incorporating assistive technologies like screen readers, magnifiers, and speech recognition software into your mobile app, you can facilitate access and interaction for users with disabilities via mobile devices. Native Application Accessibility Leveraging the device's innate accessibility features, like haptic feedback, text-to-speech, and voice control, enhances the accessibility of your native app to disabled users. Using Filestack to Create Accessible Mobile Web and Native Applications Filestack provides several features and tools that can help developers maximize accessibility in mobile web and native applications. Here are some tips: Object Recognition enables users with visual impairments to access image information more easily by extracting objects. Filestack's API for object recognition High-Contrast Mode Filestack offers an accessibility feature, a high-contrast mode, that enhances visual clarity and aids users with visual impairments. Tips for Optimizing Mobile Accessibility with Filestack Here are some tips for optimizing mobile accessibility with Filestack: Leverage Filestack's responsive design capabilities for optimal mobile web application aesthetics and functionality. Incorporate Filestack with mobile's accessibility functionalities, including speech synthesis and tactile response. Leverage Filestack's multilingual capabilities to develop a mobile app for a diverse user base. Verify the accessibility of your mobile app for individuals with disabilities by employing assistive technologies like screen readers during testing. Best Practices for Accessibility Testing with Filestack Ensuring universal usability of web applications through accessibility testing is paramount. Filestack's potent accessibility tools enable the creation of accessible web applications. Below are top accessibility testing best practices with Filestack. Understand the importance of accessibility testing Use Filestack's accessibility features and tools Use manual testing in addition to automated testing Test with assistive technology Utilize accessibility testing checklists Involve users with disabilities in testing By following these best practices, you can ensure that your web application is accessible to everyone. Conclusion In today's world, making web applications accessible to all users is an imperative. Filestack empowers developers to enhance accessibility and deliver a seamless experience. By leveraging Filestack's accessibility features, developers can optimize forms, images, videos, and mobile web and native applications. Filestack also offers accessibility testing for quick identification and resolution of any barriers. Whether you're developing a website, web application, or native mobile app, maximizing accessibility with Filestack is a must. With its user-friendly tools and comprehensive features, Filestack provides developers with the resources they need to ensure that their applications are accessible to all users, no matter their abilities. So why wait? Start using Filestack today and take your web application accessibility to the next level.

Maximizing Accessibility in Your Web App with Filestack

What. A. Year. and fought for peace and justice. Inflation ; . , , , and were canceled, but in very different ways. , and so did… Who remembers? Ukrainians Iranians skyrocketed crypto cratered Rogan BoJo Holmes Djokovic Abe COVID left Fizz Brush? Tizz Lush? Bizz Muss? ; . , and . , . Apple reached 3 trillion the world reached 8 billion The Queen got off stage Will Smith got on stage While American women were forbidden to choose Italians chose fascism At least . ; . , but . , . ; . the metaverse was aborted Musk bought Twitter Trump sold NFTs Ring of Power was overrated Andor was andor-rated Macron got 5 years while R. Kelly got 30 COVID came back so did Lula , and . , and . , . “ ”? . The NYT acquired Wordle Argentina acquired a World Cup West Elm Caleb dated Kanye divorced Kaili made money SBF lost money Balle au centre ? No way to prevent this It’s Morbin’ time History has always rhymed; in 2022 it did so faster than ever But we’ve made it. And though many ( ) of my predictions for , , , and have fallen flat, there are two reasons why you should keep reading this article. Firstly… it’s fun! Secondly, because . Articles such as this one can act as catalysts to steer the conversation in the right direction. . but not all 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 the knowledge gained through planning for the future is crucial to the selection of appropriate actions as events unfold We don’t know the answers, but we can at least ask useful questions 1. Jeff Bezos comes back to Amazon Current Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has seen since he took its helm in 2021. Most of Amazon’s issues can be blamed on external factors ( ), but when you’re at the top, it is lucky to be smart AND smart to be lucky. Stakeholders cannot forgive such a heavy loss, and will soon beg ex-CEO and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to come back. They definitely could use his experience. They’ll even be able to use Disney for cover, as its board in late 2022. the company’s stock cut in half *Gestures Broadly at Everything* made a very similar move Bezos’ been “ ” for the past year. , … and is being reminded every day that . He will want to come back to protect the company he created, out of boredom, pride… or both. off He’s tweeted a bit played with rockets his ex-wife is leaving a better legacy than he is 2. Disney acquires Roblox With and , Disney needs to do something bold to regain shareholders’ favors. Historically, that usually predicts a major acquisition. Bob Iger back at the helm its stock in free fall Today, The Mouse rules almost every corner of modern entertainment… except gaming. Enters Roblox, with (the perfect Disney target audience). , approaching a valuation Disney can afford. Such an ambitious acquisition will allow Iger to boost his ego arguing he’s doing to improve Disney’s prospects. In fact, integrating Roblox ( ) to the wider Disney+ platform might be a great way to finance future series while gathering user data. 50+ million daily users, most of which are American or European 9 to 12 years olds Its stock is down 75% this year while everything $1.9B sales in 2021 3. Spotify monetizes AI music Artificially generated music already exists. You can give tools like a genre, a BPM, a key, and it will spit out a unique song in about 6 seconds. It’s magical… but limited. The “true” future of AI music is more likely to be based on prompts (which and already use). Tools like promise to make text-prompted music a reality, but . Soundful MidJourney ChatGPT Riffusion there is a long way to go Regardless of difficulty, making investments in this space will be worth it for actors like Spotify. The company knows what everyone’s taste is, and would be able to create and propose perfectly calibrated songs, without having to pay artists. This is especially relevant for simple genres like “white noise” and/or “easy listening,” which make up a large percentage of the platform’s usage. exactly 4. All tech companies fire 20% of their workforce Elon Musk is not a good manager, on that most of us can agree. But by while keeping the site (more or less) running, he is sure to have given other tech CEOs ideas. He’s also providing cloud cover for upcoming firings by sucking up all the attention in the room; who remembers that Facebook fired in November? firing 80% of the Twitter workforce 11,000 people , but will only accelerate in the coming months. There has been too much recruiting, for too little real created value, for too long. Thankfully, tech workers tend to be highly employable, and are . Large tech firms letting go of workers will favor the creation of new innovative start-ups, while also allowing long-unloved historical companies to strengthen their tech teams. It’s already started unlikely to struggle finding a new job 5. Morgan Stanley owns Twitter Speaking of Twitter… Musk signed up for to acquire the platform. This comes with interest payments of . , as a bit of napkin math shows. $13B in debt financing $1B+ per year That is not sustainable . . Since then, . That means the company will make $3B maximum if it stays the course. . If we assume Elon cut 60% of costs by firing everyone and stopping all R&D and not settling any ongoing litigations, he’s still got $2.2B in total costs and expenses… PLUS $1B+ in debt financing. Which means there’s a $200M hole. When that becomes apparent, will do what they do best, and repossess their assets. It’s probably what’s best for everyone at this point. In 2021, Twitter made $5B 90% of that was from advertising half the advertisers have stopped using the platform Costs last year were $5.6B at least banks 6. The “Apple Tax” starts a commercial war This is Twitter-adjacent… but about much more than Musk’s antics. It was in early December ’22 that “ ” announced Twitter plans to charge $11 per month for a Twitter Blue subscription on the iPhone in order to account for the 30 percent cut that Apple takes from in-app purchases. On the web, Twitter Blue will be priced at $7 per month. This very publicly acknowledges that Apple levies a tax on each iPhone-based transaction. Apple customers are 1 billion people on Earth. It’s unlikely they will care all that much about such a tax. But it materializes a trend between the haves and the have-nots, which Apple will not want to highlight. Tim Cook will go to war to avoid seeing the Twitter price difference become the norm. the wealthiest 7. Remote work and AI bury the middle class Globalization saw many blue-collar jobs off-shored from western countries to developing nations. Then came automation and robotization, and entire industries worth of jobs were wiped out. The same is happening today to white collar jobs. COVID made remote work successful, and companies are starting to realize that a worker in India can do the same job as someone at home in San Francisco… for a 10th of the cost. But this is just the beginning. While remote work is jobs in a familiar pattern, AI tools such as will make entire industries completely redundant. Customer care centers, for example, will no longer have a reason to be, except for premium brands. That’s gone in the blink of an eye. ; 2023 is when the cracks become too large to be ignored. off-shoring ChatGPT half a million jobs The middle class has slowly shrunk over the past decade 8. The great AI social rift is created Low-effort knowledge jobs in the very near future. But that will not apply to service jobs at luxury brands. In fact, these companies will use the benefits human to human communication to the benefits of paying a premium. will be replaced by AI highlight This trend has already started and is getting more pronounced every year. You can only talk to your airline if you have a first-class ticket, avoid being tracked if you have an iPhone, get size advice at Gucci… The increased implementation of AI will make one thing clear: there is one system for the rich, another for everyone else. Soon, talking to a human for customer support will be an exclusively upper middle-class experience. 9. Deepfake videos topple an S&P500 CEO It’s not only fake text and images that are getting better. Deepfake videos, too, are increasingly by the general public. Worryingly, companies and governments clearly don’t have the proper tools to fight them, short of resorting to full-scale authoritarianism. becoming easy to make It’s only a matter of time before a video emerges of . That video will be fake, but it will not matter as social algorithms are tuned to make controversial content spread faster than truths. The unlucky executive’s stock will tank before the truth comes out. Once the floodgates have opened, we will all be at risk… and any government-mandated medicine might be worse than the disease. an S&P500 CEO doing something ungodly to a pig 10. AI fuels the Culture Wars Video is striking, but . ChatGPT, in fact, is efficient. It can create thousands of articles, in a matter of hours, about any topic. If used intelligently by bad actors, it could have devastating effects. Today, fact-checkers are finding it hard to keep up in real time with human-made false information. Tomorrow, AI will create millions of fake articles and videos, tailored to individual readers, in a matter of hours. text is more efficient to spread misinformation incredibly We know from the past 5 years that . That was just a prelude. Now that everyone has picked a side for the culture wars, get ready for the Post-Truth society. it does not take much misinformation to tear the fabric of society real 11. All politics become about content moderation A Post-Truth society will likely birth a new wave of political questions. Should AIs be banned? Should training data be government-approved? Who is liable in case of a mistake? Are falsehoods illegal? How can we tell? What is considered spam? How hard should we strike down on them? In 2023, all politics will be about content moderation, with one question being repeated over and over again: ? Seeing how many countries veered towards authoritarianism in 2022, it’s likely we’re already seeing the beginning of an answer. Propaganda and total governmental control over media are, in a way, the strongest content moderation possible. how much freedom are we willing to give up in exchange for increased security 12. Tech makes us feel less alone With more and more AIs being readily accessible and easily usable, it’s only a matter of time before we use those tools to counteract the brought about by social media and other related social technologies. loneliness epidemic We’ve already seen start-ups working to use artificial intelligence to . It’s only a matter of time before become wide-spread. It may start with Cortana or Alexa-like avatars, but will quickly evolve. For those with no other options, talking to an AI is better than nothing. Whether this is a step in the right direction or not at all remains to be seen… and will heavily depend on the training data used. re-create the voices and personalities deceased loved ones such tools 13. We witness a training data disaster Present AIs are trained on man-made datasets. The articles we write, the images we draw, the videos we make… But future AIs may be trained on datasets created by AI, purposefully or not. This would, over time, amplify a thousand-fold any mistakes or unethical behavior that may have been hidden in the original training “material”. In 2023, a series of human errors will lead a prominent tech company to release an algorithm trained on artificial data, resulting in a very public disaster. The smart money is on a self-driving car accident, but to know it could be much worse than a few car crashes. we’ve heard enough about autonomous weapons 14. Social platforms start buying data As non-contaminated data-sets become rarer, they will become more expensive. Meanwhile, it will become harder to trust the information coming out of social media platforms, upon which millions of advertisers rely to make strategic decisions. This will lead to the creation of a new industry, from which social media platforms will buy training data-sets to train their algorithm. How to spot bot activity may well be the most valuable use case, but many others are sure to emerge. The Zucks, Musks and Spiegels of this world will be forced to invest to bring back trust to their platform, without which they are doomed. 15. Social Media as we know it dies Whatever means we may use to try to save it, social media as we’ve known it for the past 15 years is dying. We once shared information only with the people we knew, or with whom we had developed para-social bonds. For a brief moment, marginalized groups even had the ability to . No more. speak directly to elites , and we now post primarily to reach people we know instead of the people we do. A new era is starting where entertainment and socialization are finally one and the same, closing a loop we may well have been building for the past 70 years. As you ring in 2023, go ahead and post those fireworks on Instagram if you still feel the urge. It might be the last time you do. TikTok and Youtube are at the top of the “social” game don’t 16. TikTok is not banned (unless China invades Taiwan) Talks of banning TikTok . . Firstly, because “ ” is more than Latin non-sense: TikTok is now , and banning it would likely lead to a lot of unhappy future voters, who right now are not really bothering anyone. have been around for years now They’ve heated up again in December, but will likely lead to very little Panem et circenses the world’s foremost entertainment company Secondly, because TikTok is a unique platform, a single-point-of-contact which aggregates billions of data-points from users. This has immense value for companies and governments alike. Since at this point America is just three corporations in a trenchcoat with a military, not a lot will be done about TikTok as long as its executives play ball (unless China invades Taiwan, which has not been ruled out yet). real 17. Everything transforms into OnlyFans TikTok becoming the biggest social and entertainment platform in the world announces many social issues. One of the least talked about is the fact that TikTok and OnlyFans are quickly becoming interlinked; much more than . when Instagram was a key traffic driver to OnlyFans TikTok offers a free visual medium and strong content moderation, permitting countless ways to be seductive and suggestive in a riskless way. The cheap dopamine that comes with such behaviour is addictive. Without falling into a self-righteous trap about what social media does to The Children, a conversation needs to be had about the intersection of Uberization, entertainment, monetization, youth, addiction, and alluring dances. 18. We say goodbye ad-supported media Over the past decades, . This worked well for newspapers. Then for TV. Then for social media. Now, all these actors are competing with streamers like Netflix, entertainment apps like Youtube and TikTok, new content producers like Apple and Amazon… And the advertising pie has not gotten bigger. In fact, a recessionary advertising environment means it will probably get smaller in 2023. This is not viable. advertising revenue as a percentage of US GDP has remained soothingly stable also In 2023, we will see consolidation and dramatic cuts in valuations for any and all ad-supported businesses (Meta, Google, BuzzFeed…). In the meantime, new business models will emerge to protect existing margins. 19. Augmented Reality makes it big(ger) AI took 10 years to get . It will take at least another 5 for Augmented Reality to reach the potential we’ve been promised since the early 2010s. But we’re underestimating . Tools like , for example, allow one to scan someone’s outfit and overlay it onto one’s outfit. Meanwhile, SnapAR afficionados are . as good as it is today already the stellar steps forward taken this year alone Garment Transfer making mini-games that use strangers as NPCs AR software and hardware is not as easily accessible as a keyboard, which is why adoption will take longer. But as computer vision gets cheaper, and as billions are poured into hardware by Meta and Apple, we will progressively start seeing more and more valid use cases emerge. 20. The Metaverse works as Meta employees go back to the office . Too much, in fact. One of the few reasons why the stock has dipped so much is because Mark Zuckerberg has bet the farm on vision of the Metaverse working. Meta has been beaten into the ground this year his He’s however done so while allowing many Meta workers to . This is not an effective way to create world-changing products and services. Executives are likely to realize this as the environment turns. Once people meet in-person again at Meta, their remote world will start churning out winning innovations. Ironic, right? work from home 21. Bitcoin falls below $5,000 Crypto has been ever since the pandemic started. That may finally be over. a fever dream The speculative cheap-money driven buyers have evaporated, leaving only the true believers. Large institutions will wait a few more years before dipping their toes again. Expect another winter throughout 2023, and see you in 2024 for the inevitable rebound. 22. A new FAANG emerges The king is dead. Long love the king. As Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix (which should have always been Microsoft) and Google work to keep their head above the water, new industries will come back to the forefront after 15 years in Big Tech’s shadows. , we will need to things again. Which is why the future of FAANG is Fuel, Agriculture, Aerospace, Nuclear, and Green energy. We need big projects to get out of a frankly predictable post-post-WWII slump, and energy is the place to start, as it will power the rest of the decade. A s money becomes tight again make 23. Hope For the past 5 years, the tech world has not delivered anything we wanted, or needed. Just more monitoring, more nudging, more draining of our data, our time, our joy. In 2023, let us hope that the industry goes back to doing hard, but necessary work. That we invent new tools to help reduce infant mortality, deaths from infectious disease and wealth inequalities between the poorest and wealthiest nations. That great medical advances are made, that education is further democratized, and that green technologies emerges as a long-term force for good. Fingers crossed. A lot of the above predictions are dystopian. It is nevertheless paramount to remember that technology is both created, implemented, and shaped by all of us, and that we have a very real say in how it affects us. This may be as small as sending a disapproving message to a corporation on Twitter, or as big as voting a politician out of office when they do not have our best interest at heart. Our actions matter, and it’s up to us to ensure that these predictions either do or don’t become a reality. Good luck out there. Also Published Here

23 Predictions to Prepare You for 2023

Having data analytics skills is in great demand right now. A data analyst can expect a salary, at entry level, that is significantly higher than the average wage. Data analysts that are more senior can expect to rise to the very highest echelons of the company. While it’s a relatively new field, it won’t be long before CEO candidates often (if not usually) have a data analytics background. What’s more, it’s a relatively easy field to find work, because there is a severe skill shortage, globally, for people with data analytics skills. For this reason, many professionals, regardless of their current field, are adding data analytics to their skillsets, by taking additional courses and training. It makes them much more employable in the best available jobs. There are many different forms of data analytics, and these have different applications in business. The form that you should develop expertise in depends on your role and career aspirations, so it’s useful to know the difference between the major types. 1. Descriptive analytics Descriptive analytics is about interpreting what has already happened. You have data come in, and based on that data you form conclusions and derive insights. So, the data analyst that tracks the attendance at events across the country for one year, and uses that data to decide which cities should host events in the next year, would be an example of a descriptive data analyst at work. Descriptive analysts are excellent at collecting and presenting data that would allow the organization’s decision-makers to make the best moves for their business. 2. Diagnostic analytics Where descriptive analytics shows what has happened, diagnostic analytics is more interested in explaining the causes of it. This is the “why” question in motion. So, for example, if a company fails to meet its sales targets for the quarter, a descriptive analyst would be able to pull out a granular level of detail about where sales were down, what products were underperforming, and a breakdown of the markets that were proving difficult. A diagnostic analyst would go one step further. They would take the data and explain why a product wasn’t selling well (for example, it was no longer fashionable), or the root causes for why one city was buying less from the company (the marketing offended people in that particular market, leading to boycotts). The diagnostic analyst is more strategic than the descriptive analyst and provides data that is more immediately actionable by senior staff. 3. Predictive analytics The previous two forms of analytics looked at the past. Predictive analytics is about “guessing” the future. It’s not a wild guess, however. The predictive analytics specialists will look at historic data, including the diagnostics information, and use the “what happened” and “why” information to suggest what will come next. Predictive analysts tend to work with massive amounts of data. The more historical data you have access to, the better the predictions that you can draw from it. So, for example, you could look at last year’s sales data to make a very vague guess at what you would expect from sales in the next year. Or, you could take multi-year trends, look at the performance of competitive products, and use that to come up with more complex predictions. In addition to the work of human analysts, AI programs are often written to perform predictive analytics functions. 4. Prescriptive analytics With prescriptive analytics, an outcome for the future will be provided as the desired goal, and the analytics will provide the recommendations that will arrive at that solution. Prescriptive analytics has minimal human input at the point of the analytics itself. Rather, with prescriptive analytics, a human will program the AI and machine learning algorithms that will create the recommendations, and the decision-makers will choose a course of action from the options. The success of this form of analytics depends on the capabilities of the programmer. 5. Cognitive analytics The “holy grail” of analytics, cognitive analytics is when humans have trained AI so well that the AI can start to process information in the same way that humans do. Examples of this include natural language processing, where an AI can “read” text or inputs using the same language as humans, and can make decisions in unforeseen scenarios that are contextually responsive. Perhaps the best example of this in action is self-driving cars, which can “read” the situation on the road and take steps to minimize the risk of accidents, regardless of the conditions on the road. When you’re just starting out in analytics, you’ll likely focus on descriptive analytics, and then move up the proverbial ladder as your skillset becomes more advanced. However, descriptive analytics will give you enough of a grounding in analytics to properly understand, interpret, and drive action based on data, and for this reason, it is going to be an increasingly common part of the executive skillset, for anyone with ambitions to lead companies.

Why Professions Are Adding Analytics to Their Skillsets

This thread was originally published on Twitter by Chris Staudinger Learning JavaScript can get you into many fields of Programming; Frontend, Backend, Mobile, Web Development. Here’re 4 simple steps to become a JavaScript Developer ( FREE resources included ) 1. Take this 6.5hr full course to learn fundamental programming concepts, and become proficient in JavaScript. This free Udemy course is the most enrolled JavaScript course with 335,000 students and 4.5/5 rating. It's very well laid out. https://udemy.com/course/javascript-essentials 2. Start building projects to practice what you’re learning. Learning programming is active, not passive. You need to implement what you're learning through building projects. This resource has 40 JavaScript project tutorials to guide you. http://freecodecamp.org/news/javascript-projects-for-beginners 3. Learn a JavaScript framework. There are quite a few great frontend frameworks. But React is the most employable.You’re best off with React since employment is the goal.Take this 12 hour free course from FreeCodeCamp, it’s so good! 4. Build Projects in React. Again, learning programming is active, not passive.You need to implement what you learning through building projects.FreeCodeCamp deliver the goods again with a great course building 15 React projects. That's the end of this thread. I simplify software development and getting into tech💡 Also Published here

4 Simple Steps to Become a JavaScript Developer FREE

We’re used to feeling like WFH is normalized, but what about no work at all? Yep, time to normalize that too. Maybe you were away on an intergalactic bounty excursion. Perhaps it was that gap year you never got to take and wanted to reclaim. Whatever the reason, if your resume has a big ol’ hole in the work experience section, you might be worrying about how to make it look less daunting. Breaks between jobs happen for a number of reasons, and we’re here to help fill the time (literally figuratively). and We don’t need to run through all the various end-of-world scenarios that keep coming down the pipeline of humanity to understand that taking time off work is necessary. From losing a job because of circumstances beyond your control, to taking care of family, to needing a solid reset from the madness of the world–these are all okay. And now that you’re ready to tackle your next big project, let’s talk about how to talk about it. Be honest, be proactive Let’s say there are two people applying for a job, and both have a 12-month gap on their resume because they wanted to take time off to travel. One person glosses over it, hoping the prospective employer won’t really notice, thinking it must look bad to just take off and adventure. The other completely owns up to it and adds it as an experience to their resume: Planned Career Break – Feb 2019 to February 2020 Took intentional time to travel to 17 countries in Southeast Asia and parts of Europe Engaged in cultural activities pertinent to the areas visited, and learned beginner travel-based conversational skills in four languages Learned React/Redux and used it to build an app that cataloged every meal I ate while traveling Which of these people would appear to the employer as more trustworthy, all other things equal? Taking time to enjoy something grand doesn’t make you any less employable, and being up front about it shows that you’re invested in sharing this information, rather than trying to be covert about it. In fact, LinkedIn has gone as far as offering 13 different options for “ ” so you can add it straight to your profile. Career Break The same also goes for any gap that isn’t all fun and games. Fill out bullet points with the hard work you put in raising a family, or caring for a loved one, or the improvements you made on yourself during the mental health break you needed to take. It’s a little vulnerable, yes, but being honest and proactive goes a long way. Change up the format There are a couple of ways you can change up how your resume is laid out that can help obscure some of the smaller gaps. One way is to pull the month out of your entries, leaving the year. This: Senior System Administrator, Acme Corp. – June 2022 to Present System Administrator, Rush Inc. – August 2018 to January 2022 Becomes: Senior System Administrator, Acme Corp. – 2022 to Present System Administrator, Rush Inc. – 2018 to 2022 This is an easy solution in the short-term, but you should be prepared to clarify (being honest!) in the interview, if it does come up. The other way to change the format is to create a functional resume. The main purpose of a functional resume is to highlight the skills someone has over the positions they held. This doesn’t necessarily mean you wouldn’t add the dates to it, rather that it emphasizes the importance of the work you were doing over the time period you were actually doing it. Another benefit to the functional format for freelancers is that you can talk about multiple projects done under the umbrella of your freelance work without having to note exactly when you worked with a client. Tie the gap into the job Life is absolutely chock full of learning experiences, and the time we spend at work is only one way in which we enrich our brains. Take a look at the job description and find descriptive phrases and words that you can then tie back into your time between jobs. Multi-tasker Managed daily care of an elderly relative while simultaneously teaching 3rd and 5th grade classes to my school-aged children and getting a certificate in project management Detail-oriented Organized a two-week sailing trip for a group of 12 expats from 5 different countries, helping to coordinate various visa and entry requirements for all participants Self-starter Built an app for community members to help provide coverage for family members and full-time unpaid caregivers to take breaks for anywhere from a few hours to a few days These kinds of skills aren’t just honed in the office, they translate to very real and very useful situations in your everyday life. Don’t downplay what you accomplished in that time off, because the chances are really good that you did way more than you’re comfortable giving yourself credit for. Whether you learned a new language or how to clean a wound, you learned something new and valuable. Let it show, on your resume and in your voice, and know that it was just the break you needed. Also Published Here

Explaining the Gaps in Your Resume

In this article, I am not going to define what serverless is. I will not even expand on serverless's economic and architectural benefits that we have all heard about — reduced infrastructure ops, event-driven instant scale, and low costs. Instead I want to make a case for why serverless is the thing that all developers should care about, whether or not their bosses care for it, YET. Starting with a personal story, of course… I have never done any “web development.” The double quotes here are not meant to poke fun at the concept but to signify my ignorance about what it means. I didn’t know the difference between a service, tier, Apache, IIS, ASP, JSP, JS, CSS, or other acronyms for the longest time. As a software developer, I had either written C++ code building desktop applications for Windows or C code building server management applications for Linux. I always thought that is what the cool kids ought to do and all the “web stuff” was for lesser programmers. The more I stayed away from the web, the more enigmatic it became for me. Things like REST, JSON, WebAPI, etc., popped up in every second internet article. People building mobile apps were talking of building “web services backends” for their apps, which confused me. It didn’t help that the next hottest thing in town — “the cloud” — borrowed almost all its characteristics from the “web stuff.” If you wanted to build applications in “the cloud,” you either had to understand the “web stuff” really well or be deep in Virtual Machines, Containers, and other virtualization-related technologies. I had avoided both of them long enough that they had acquired a certain aura in my mind till I landed a job where I was forced to learn all of that. THANKFULLY! But what has any of that got to do with Serverless? Lots. Serverless makes the cloud accessible to all developers by taking away its aura I am sure despite the massive popularity of “web development,” there is an army of developers worldwide who build software for desktops, servers, embedded devices, mobile devices, etc. and never deal much with the “web” aspects (much like me). Many of them no doubt are anxious about “the cloud” and what it means for them — whether it is about having employable skills for the future or figuring out how to connect/transition their existing applications to the cloud (having seen the corporate memos to that effect already). These developers can take heart from the fact that all they need to do to have applications running in “the cloud” is just to write their business logic. Before serverless, their transition might have meant learning a lot of technologies that were all logistical in nature, mostly just doing the undifferentiated heavy lifting. With serverless, their programming skills are all they need. What programmer doesn’t like the prospect of focusing on programming only? Serverless provides a canvas for easy experimentation In the desktop world, building small console applications or command-line utilities to test out a theory or an idea is an everyday thing. In “the cloud,” however, sometimes the accompanying procedure around trying to prototype a very basic idea is full of several friction points — configurations, setups, SDKs, integrations, and so on. Serverless reduces that pain significantly for developers by handling much of that procedure behind the scenes. Easy prototyping, quick experimentation, learning from mistakes, and pivoting based on lessons, are key tenets of modern software development. A much under-appreciated quality of serverless is its ability to provide just that. Serverless focuses on developer productivity, not on sophistication Early in my career, the cool-kid syndrome I mentioned previously (the one that kept me away from “web stuff”) also kept me away from Visual Studio for too long. I persisted with vim and gdb on Linux, even when all the code I worked on was cross-platform C/C++ code which could be easily handled in Visual Studio on Windows. All of this, just because it was cool to diss anything not command-line. I don’t want to start a debate on this topic but suffice to say that at least I felt that I lost countless hours of productivity doing this. The bigger point I am trying to make here is that competing technologies, even in the cloud, allow you to do similar things. There are multiple scenarios in which VMs, containers, or serverless will provide similar outputs. However, serverless will probably be the only one that optimizes developer productivity by delivering an experience focused on a developer’s currency — not virtual machines, containers, orchestrators, or instances, but CODE. The problem of productively handling code (even the code meant for the cloud) has been solved by world-class IDEs like Visual Studio. Is serverless a panacea? No. Does it have issues? Sure. We have all heard of cold-start, lack of state, limits on duration, memory, etc. Are these deal-breakers? In most cases, No. The productivity benefits outweigh these issues already. Are these problems insurmountable? Not at all. The cloud vendors have seen enough merit and promise in this technology to be sufficiently motivated to fix these issues soon. In summary, serverless presents a great tool that all developers need to have in their toolbox.

Developers Want to Code. Hence Serverless.

Los desarrolladores quieren codificar. Por lo tanto, sin servidor.

Les développeurs veulent coder. D'où Serverless.

डेवलपर्स कोड करना चाहते हैं। इसलिए सर्वर रहित।

開発者はコーディングしたい。したがって、サーバーレス。

Os desenvolvedores querem codificar. Portanto, sem servidor.

Nhà phát triển muốn viết mã. Do đó Serverless.

开发人员想要编码。因此无服务器。

h https://hackernoon.com/u/aswinbarat 👨‍💻 Learn to code 👨‍💻 && 👩‍🎓 Get hired 👨‍🎓 🚨 🚨 Spoiler Alert: This is a course review Are you someone who would like to learn Web Development, but don’t know where to start? Well, you are in the right place. Learn full-stack web development skills from course 💻 The Complete Web Developer in 2023: Zero to Mastery Because guess what? This course is one of the most popular and highly rated coding bootcamps online: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Seriously?!! Yes, Seriously! 😲 Why should you take this coding bootcamp? The course is designed to give you employable skills so you can get a job. After finishing this course, you’ll be able to apply for developer roles, get a promotion, or upgrade your job title as a developer and earn a higher salary at companies like Google, Tesla, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Uber, Facebook, Shopify + other top tech companies. Wait, wait, you mean like at FAANG 🧛‍♂️ companies? Yep! Don’t just take for my word, check it out yourself why: ZTM Testimonials The course is updated monthly to ensure you learn the most modern and up-to-date skills. That’s Guaranteed ✔ (I have personally seen it for 3+ years 🗣👂). You’ll learn from Andrei that has actual real-world experience working in Silicon Valley and Toronto (Check out more about the instructor at the end of the blog👇). has a thriving online community so you feel like you are part of a classroom and not just watching videos alone. ZTM Your time is valuable and you don’t want to spend $8,000+ on an overpriced bootcamp. What will you learn? You’ll learn modern full-stack web development skills 👌 Source: Course Preview Course Content By the end, you will be gain the skills below and put them on your resume confidently 💪: : HTML/HTML5, CSS/CSS3, SemanticUI, Responsive Design, Flexbox, CSS Grid, Bootstrap 4, JavaScript (ES6, ES7, ES8, ES9, ES10, ES2020, ES2021), DOM Manipulation, Asynchronous JavaScript, HTTP/JSON/AJAX, React + Redux Front-end technologies : Git + Github, Command Line, NPM, Tools : Node.js, Express.js, RESTful API Design, PostgreSQL, Authentication, Authorization, Scalable Infrastructure, Security, Production, and Deployment Back-end technologies + Databases What will you build? The best way you learn is by doing. Not just watching endless tutorials. That’s why a key part of this course is that you get to build 20+ real-world projects that you’ll get to build. Plus they’ll look great on your portfolio. 🎨 Here are the top projects 🖌 you will build in this course: Startup Landing Page 📜 Use modern HTML & CSS and Mailchimp to create a landing page for your new startup where you can collect emails from potential customers interested in your new company! Startup Landing Page — Source: Course Landing Page Background Generator 🎨 Using JavaScript, you will build an interactive project that allows you to generate gradient backgrounds that update live on all types of web browsers. Background Generator — Source: Course Landing Page Simplefolio 💾 Using everything you have learned up to this point, you will build your portfolio from a custom template that allows you to showcase all your projects from the course to show off to your friends and future employers. Simplefolio — Source: Course Landing Page Robofriends 🤖 This project will help you learn the most popular frontend library of a modern Web Developer: ReactJS. You will build a fast, performant, and responsive project where you pull in data from an API and interactively search through your robot friends. Robofriends — Source: Course Landing Page SmartBrain 🧠 This milestone project combines everything you have learned to build a real-life machine learning face detection app with React, NodeJS, ExpressJS, and PostgreSQL and deploy it live to production for the world to see. This app will definitely wow employers. Smartbrain — Source: Course Landing Page About the Instructor 👨‍🏫 Andrei, the lead instructor of , has taught more than 750,000 students worldwide. Zero To Mastery Academy Andrei has worked as a Senior Software Developer in Silicon Valley and Toronto for many years. Having learned important lessons from working for Fortune 500 companies, and tech startups, to even founding his own business, he is now dedicating his time to teaching others valuable software development skills so they can take control of their life and work in an exciting industry with infinite possibilities. This coding bootcamp course is the very first Zero To Mastery course by (My favourite instructor 👨‍🏫). It has become one of the most popular and highly rated coding bootcamps online. Andrei Neagoie are now working at top tech companies and they are also working as top freelancers getting paid while working remotely around the world. Graduates of Andrei’s bootcamp How can you enroll in this course? **ZTM Membership Plan
\ Course Link: Benefits: — You get access to all of the courses from Academy for a — You can download the courses offline — You can get access to all future courses published The Complete Web Developer in 2023: Zero to Mastery Zero To Mastery (ZTM) monthly, yearly, or a lifetime access plan **Udemy Individual Course
\ Course Link: Benefits: — You get the best deal for the individual course for lifetime access The Complete Web Developer in 2023: Zero to Mastery So, what are you waiting for? 🎙 Disclosure: Some of the links above may be affiliate links, from which I may earn a small commission. Who am I? I’m Aswin Barath About myself => { Freelancer | Community Leader | Web Developer | Blogger | Graphic Designer } My Socials => { | | | | | } GitHub LinkedIn StackOverflow Twitter Hackernoon Fiverr Keep Learning Now, I guess this is where I say GoodBye👋. But, hey it’s time for you to start with your newfound Knowledge(Power)👨‍💻👩‍💻 . learning Good Job that you made it this far 👏👏 so much for reading my Blog🙂. Thank you Also Published Here

Course Review - The Complete Web Developer in 2023: Zero to Mastery

Revisión del curso: el desarrollador web completo en 2022: de cero a la maestría

At one time, I worked at Fortinet. I was a member of their professional services team and worked at a large client as a resident engineer (more on what this means later). I obtained NSE4, NSE5 & NSE7 certifications. I grew my skill sets, received equity, bonuses, raises, the whole nine yards…so why would someone leave this oasis of employment? Let me tell you a story… Before I go on though, I must clear the air. I enjoyed my time at Fortinet, still have friends there, recommend my friends work there and would still be there if it were not for my ravenous entrepreneurial spirit. This list shouldn’t be viewed as “5 reasons to run the other way” but instead 5 things anyone working at Fortinet should know. 1. Fortinet Gives You Big Tech Experience The experience of working at a successful startup, turned big tech company is very unique. You can see dichotomies everywhere you look. The same department will have very bureaucratic processes, for one thing, then the next time you interact with them it will be little more than an email approval to do something else. There are growing pains, remnants of Fortinet in the early 2000’s and everything in between. It’s a cornucopia of tech company experiences, which if you embrace and look for learning opportunities, will make you a more employable person in the end. It’s also one of the only times, probably the only time, that I could mention where I worked to friends and family and they might (maybe) recognize the name. It’s not Google, but casual techys do know the name and that can be cool at times. 2. Fortinet Invests in YOU A critical component of any role or position you work in is how it makes you better. Are you better for the experiences and skills you built in this position or are you less marketable, more miserable, more stressed, etc…? Fortinet does a good job of building . They know that the hardware and software will be limited by their poor support, so they invest heavily into your professional development. They don’t offer tuition reimbursement nor will they pay for you to go get your CISSP (or similar) but they will give you ample time during work hours to study for the NSE certificates. The NSE line of certs are very difficult to get if you don’t have access to equipment or the official training, both are provided in abundance. you 3. Fortinet Allows You to Work From Home Fortinet is almost entirely WFH friendly and has been for as long as I can remember. They do have some offices sprinkled around the globe with positions that report to them, but the sales teams, professional services, technical support, and so forth are 100% WFH. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on you. Some people get a charge from working around other people, these types like face-to-face interactions and will struggle to find happiness in a pure WFH role. If this sounds like you, consider a “systems engineer” role at Fortinet. This is a sales engineer role, it will have you face-to-face quite a bit with clients and your account manager. Other people get worn out from being in an office setting. Productivity drops, distractions drive them nuts and they are worn out by 2 pm most days from the constant barrage of office-dropin-socialites  If this is you, seek a professional services role, TAC role, or TAM role. These will have you holed up in your basement bunker. There is a caveat to this though, remember I mentioned I was a resident engineer?  That typically means you will be traveling to the client your assigned to occasionally. A typical rotation is 1 week a quarter on site if you have to travel far, more often if you live in the same metro area. There are non-resident positions, but much like the military “the needs of the Navy” dictate where you end up. 4. Fortinet Gives Equity Rewards to Employees Fortinet awards equity, you have the choice of accepting options or RSUs, aka Restricted Stock Units. Everyone I know accepts RSUs, no one wants to mess with options. When I hired in, the offer was something like a few hundred options or about 1/3 as many RSUs. The vesting schedule is typical, 4 years with a 1-year cliff. If you are unfamiliar with this term, it just means that you don’t receive your equity until after your first 12 months of employment and you will receive all of it after 4 years in total. The way Fortinet pays out equity, like many others, is a lump sum (25%) at the 12-month mark. Then every 3 months, you get 6% (or so). Once you receive the equity award you are able to sell them or hold them, they are yours to do what you want. Additionally, they like to hand out bonuses in the form of equity. The reason for this is logical, they want to keep you around as long as possible. The bonuses are substantial, running between 10-15% of your salary. These however have a 12 months cliff vesting schedule, meaning they vest 100% after 12 months. 5. Fortinet Pays for Your Epic Home Lab This plays into the first item I mentioned above. I worked in pro services, at a very large client. What do we know about large enterprises? They use very expensive equipment. I also worked on small projects in between big projects at the main client. What do we know about the SMB and Mid-Market clients? They will use whatever fits the budget, from $300 access points to $27,000 firewalls. My home lab, 100% paid for by Fortinet, represented almost everything I worked on in the big projects and small projects. I don’t think there was a running total MSRP for lab equipment, but I know at one point I had over $22,000 of equipment in my home office. This didn’t include all of the VM licensing which probably doubled that number. Ever wonder what your home network is up to at 1:52 am 47 days ago? With an enterprise-grade network in your home, you can see that your Samsung TV was phoning home to something in Japan over HTTPS. What Do You Think? Let me know what you think about my Fortinet experience. If this helps you on your career journey, let me know on Linkedin!

5 Things to Consider Before Interviewing at Fortinet

77 Leaders in the Tech Industry Share Their #MyStartInTech Stories

Startup Journey: From Aviation To Fintech

There was a time when businesses relied on academic education systems to hire employees for different roles. After a basic orientation, any graduate would be considered employable and fit for the relevant roles. Today, with technologies evolving every minute, you can never be sure if an employee who was hired a month ago, would possess the skills that you need for your next big project. To put it differently, you can never be sure if the academic syllabus is up-to-date enough to expect the latest skills you need for a role today. Employee Training: The Only Way to Bridge the Gap Truth is, institutions can’t update their academic curriculum as frequently as the technology and latest job requirements evolve. To remain on the top, companies, businesses, or organizations have no other option but to hire a competent talent and use employee training methodologies to instill the skills that formal education might have missed. Without an , most of the workforce would become unemployable within a few years due to evolution in the existing skill or job requirements. employee training program Besides skills, companies also need to educate their new and existing workforce on different governance, risk, and compliance metrics. Hence, every company needs a consistent learning program where they can adopt different training methods for employees to continually acquire the skills as per your changing job requirements, standards, and regulations. Employee Training is Different from Formal Education To implement a competent training program and drive excellence in employee performances, companies must obtain uncompromised engagement from the employees. Training delivery platforms promise a reliable channel to drive this engagement by collecting, measuring, analyzing the relevant metrics throughout employee training programs. A competent training delivery platform ensures that each employee gets as much value from a program tailored as per their personal competence. However, even the best of the programs can’t promise that employees would retain 100% of the training given to them at the time of joining and orientation. Hence, all your new or existing employees need regular refreshers that not only re-train the workforce but also introduce them to the latest updates in the old training modules. For example, you could create different micro-learning modules with learning resources that help your workforce deal with day-to-day jobs. You could create a general instructional workflow for all your employees, or you create personalized workflows customized according to the strengths and weaknesses of the individual employees. This is just one simple way to boost employee performances via a different training delivery method. Let’s evaluate three organized training delivery methods that you can adopt in your company or organization. 1. Training Delivery via Employee Performance Measurement Platforms Tracking training performance and delivery platform data is a good way to enhance training programs. However, as training data becomes more and more diverse, traditional data tracking methods get obsolete. That’s where you can implement a custom data-tracking mechanism and performance analytics to measure relevant aspects, such as: Rate of completion Time to complete Performance in the assessments The custom data and analytics on these aspects can help you to improve your learning assets by sorting out the less effective ones. Although a majority of training delivery technologies possess some kind of data-tracking capabilities, customized platforms display an even better experience by using real-time information with dynamic analytics. You could be using any of the following learning and training delivery technologies: A. : Traditionally, LMS solutions are responsible for hosting and delivering training materials . Such a solution allows you to in addition to basic data and user tracking capabilities. Learning Management Systems (LMS) digitally author, publish, share, and manage training materials B. : LXP is nothing but special LMS solutions generalized for . These solutions are personalized for corporations to provide a more intuitive and to the employees. Learning Experience Platforms (LXP) corporate training, learning, and development in organizations tailored learning experience C. : These are special LXP or LMS customized strictly according to the unique training requirements of an organization. It possesses a that are . Customized Learning Portals customized user-interface, access control, assessment methods, features, dashboards, and integrations unique to the training process, skill requirements, just-in-time assistance of an organization 2. Training Delivery via eLearning Platforms Most organizations rely on Learning Management Systems and learning portals as training delivery platforms. However, many fail to realize that even these platforms can be used effectively to create intuitive and unified learning experiences, spanning right from the employee onboarding to day-to-day jobs, and skill refresher crash courses. If you are using a learning portal, ensure that it supports different ways to cater to the learning requirement of different roles, teams, and departments within your organization. For instance, it must allow you to create dedicated dashboards based on different roles in the organization. This may include simple features like ways to measure learning metrics that are unique to the skills relevant to a specific job role. Besides, it’s also ideal to have advanced features such as: Role-specific learning path. Skills that are relevant to the role. Leader boards for different skillsets. Discussion boards for collaborations. Such a platform must not only track learning progress effectively but also allow trainers to analyze the effect of learning progress on employee performance. The more detailed you can get with your training data, the better you can map your training programs with employee performance. Any decent training platform should offer information on learning behaviors such as: Rate of course completion Scores in the assessments Rate of completion for each module/section/chapter/lecture As much as the data is important for analysis and reporting learning behaviors, a traditional learning portal may not be able to accommodate all the unique sets of data that you may require to generate your unique reports and analytics. That’s where you must work closely with an eLearning developer and create your own elearning platform tailored specifically to your needs. Having done that, customized platforms demand classroom or online training for employers as well. This is to train the trainers on how to use the platform with all its customized set of features, data, and analytics. 3. Creating an Entire Ecosystem of Interconnected Training Delivery Channels This is probably the most complex and comprehensive way to offer micro-personalized training to your employees. A learning ecosystem is a collection of different and relevant channels that combine to form a central hub of interconnected, unified systems. It may collectively include individual solutions for different tasks as such as: Author learning resources, Deliver learning resources, Deliver performance stats, and Deliver just-in-time job assistance to the right employee at the right time. Such ecosystems are not just eLearning portals but overall employee development platforms formed by an interconnected web of all the portals, tools, channels, and resources that facilitate personalized learning and support employees in their day-to-day jobs. The collected in a central hub can be used for devising personalized learning paths and pushing micro-modules just apt for the unique learning and task requirements of an employee. For example, a central hub that interconnects your LMS, career development platform, resource tools, knowledge base, and compliance guidelines of your company. How to Use Personalized Learning in Your Employee Training Strategy? Once you have a platform to deliver a personalized learning experience, tailor courses with navigations designed for individual needs. No one likes to waste their time going navigating through something they already know. An intuitive personalized learning path delivers the right learning materials to the right learner at the right time. As you work towards devising a competent employee training program for your company, remember that data about individual learners is important for engagement and performance improvements in your employees. Missing on these aspects will only produce poor results; fewer employees would be interested in training, and even lesser employees getting any kind of positive results such as a boost in the overall productivity.

Increase Employee Performance with Dedicated Training Programs

10 years ago today, I was starting my first job in the software industry. I’ve spent my career being a Software Developer in Test, Performance Engineer, Lead & part-time CTO, JavaScript Developer, Contractor, Entrepreneur, Developer Advocate & Manager. I’ve also worked for companies on 4 continents, on products that were used by hundreds of millions of people. You could say I did a bit of everything. But I would say my career was anything but boring. I’m prone to reminiscing, especially while being stuck in the house in the middle of a global pandemic, so I sat down and revisited my greatest hits. I’ll always be grateful my very first job was working with Mozilla, that shaped the way I approached software development in so many ways. I’ve got my love of open-source from there, and my drive to always learn from the people around me. It did help that everyone I worked with was amazing! I’ve also thought about my 3-month stint as a CTO, . after which I rage-quit on the spot because money isn’t everything Or the nine months I spent with my partner, living out of a suitcase, through hotels and AirBnBs in Asia. This trip down memory lane also made me realise, there are a bunch of things I wish I would have known before I started. Or at least I wish I would have learned them sooner than I did. I made a list with the top ten, but I’m fairly certain I could get to 100. So if you’ve read them and want to know more, ping me on , and I’ll oblige. Twitter 1. Soft Skills are the Toughest Skills Everyone calls things not related to writing code soft skills. And here's the most mind-boggling thing: it's easier to teach someone a skill, like coding, than to change their behaviour, or the way they communicate. And yet, communication is considered a “soft skill”. So when companies look for a developer, most of the time, the differentiator is in those soft skills. There are only so many ways you can code your way out of a tech test. When the field is narrow enough, it all comes down to those extra bits. Acquire as many soft skills as you can, it pays off more than adding another programming language or framework to your toolbox. 2. Google is Your Friend I come from a culture that values memorisation over creativity and problem-solving. Fuck that. To this day, I still Google how to bubble sort. I’ve probably used it no more than five times in 10 years—and that was because I had to pass some sort of interview test. It doesn't pay to memorise everything, as long as you know where to get the answers from. In this day and age, that usually means Googling stuff. It's not a weakness, even if some people are ashamed to openly admit it. With my memory not being what it used to be, I Google even simple things I’ve probably done dozens of times in the past. And there’s no shame in that! 3. Ask for Help This might have started as "Don't be afraid to ask for help". But that's because I'm stubborn like that, and asking for help doesn’t come naturally in my culture. Again, that damn upbringing. Asking for help is not something you should do only in dire need. Ask for help as often as you can get it. It frees you up to do the things you're most passionate about. And the whole reason you work in a team and not on your own is so you can help each other! Hence, ask for help from day 1, not only when the shit hits the fan. 4. Keep Learning Like most things in this world, the realm of Developers, or "Software Engineers" keeps evolving. So you should evolve with it if you want to stay relevant. Or employable. Sure, you see the in 2020. But you have to think about it this way: How many COBOL developers are still doing COBOL 60 years later? odd news about people looking for COBOL developers So yes, keep learning new things. It doesn't necessarily have to be "work-related". The purpose here is to develop a process for learning. Because as a whole, our learning mechanism (also known as the education system) is fucked up. I mean, most things you learn in school are thought by an average theoretician. And that’s supposed to give you the practitioner skills you'd need. It doesn't work like that, especially in the world of Programming, where dedicated Experts are few and far between. But figuring out what method of learning works for you means you can literally pick anything up in a matter of time. You want that fancy new job? Start learning, acquire the skills you need, and get it! But if you don't even know how to approach it, then the whole task of learning a new skill, any skill, becomes insurmountable. And you'll find reasons to quit before you even begin. What's my way of learning? Well, I find someone who's a bit further ahead than me, listen and then start asking questions. They don't need to be an expert, just better at it than me. Eventually, those questions become discussions, and that's when I look for the next person to help our discussions move along. Rinse, repeat, voila! 5. Say 'No' More Often This is one I struggle with the most. And the reason I can't seem to say 'No' is because deep, deep down, I'm just a nice person. Or that I would like for people to like me back. Or that I love helping people. Or that I'm just a pushover, and I'm not confrontational. Pick whatever reason makes this more relatable to any particular situation. Not saying 'No' has made me a lot of friends along the way, but at the same time, it has meant I disappointed just as many people as I helped along the way. And that's because it was physically impossible to do all the things I agreed to. It also meant I might have accomplished some irrelevant feats, in the grand scheme of things. For example, I'm a registered casino dealer. Sure, it's a cool party trick, but I could have spent that summer graduating early. I could also have said no to writing a book for a project that died just before the book was supposed to be published (R.I.P. Firefox OS). In the same vein, I could have also said 'No' to living out of a suitcase for 9 months, and missed out on amazing memories. But hey, you live, and you learn. 6. Build a T / Create a Brand If you're not familiar with the concept of T-shaped skills, or T-shaped people, don’t worry, most people are not. It’s an HR metaphor used to describe the skills of candidates. So if you think of your skills as plotted on a graph, you'll notice you've got different levels in each. And if you unite those levels, you'd want them to create a T-shape instead of anything else. For example, know a little bit of everything, with 2-3 core skills where you'd be considered an "Expert". And there are quotes there because “expert” is a relative term. Relative to your other skills. For example, when I was a JavaScript Developer, the reason I kept getting job offers was because of my level of knowledge around performance optimisations, and Angular. So while I could do vanilla JS to a passable degree, I had a lot more to offer when it came to Angular applications and optimising the performance of most websites. Now you'll wonder. Why was I a JavaScript Developer, and not an Angular Developer? And that's because I had more than one JavaScript skill under my belt, as opposed to just that one tool, Angular. Hence, I was a lot more employable because of that T shape. In the world of Developer Advocates though, that also translates to building a brand. The same way you're building that T, you can create a personal brand. Start writing about Angular and Performance Optimisations, and that would be my “personal brand”. If you follow me around the internet, you’ll have noticed I don’t do that, and I don’t have a personal brand though. I guess it’s something I have to work on. 7. People Can't Read Minds Especially yours. So if you don't tell people what you want, or what you need, then it's pointless to get upset when they don't give it to you. Because they can't read your mind. You think you deserve that promotion? Tell your boss. You want to get promoted in 6 months? Tell your boss, and if they're any good, they'll tell you how to get it. In most cases, people are more than happy to give you what you want, as long as you tell them. Most managers don't really have a clue on what they're doing, so they're more than happy to get it done when they actually know what it is they need to get done. 8. Vote With Your Feet This is one I've learnt late in my career. Turns out, when you don't agree with something, you can always leave. Practically, voting with your feet. Instead of huffing and puffing, or worse, picking a grudge, it's a lot better to just walk away. Don’t like your new boss? Enough people do it, and their boss will fix it. Just quit. You don't like your company's policies around privacy, diversity, inclusion, human rights? Quit. In an industry where there is more demand than people available, you can always find a better deal. There are such things as golden handcuffs, but if you're part of the few that have them, you'll understand that you can find them anywhere you go. I'm not saying you should quit without a plan here, in a tantrum. That's not voting, that's rage quit. No, by all means, treat this as a rational endeavour, and not emotional. Line up the next gig first. 9. Know Your Worth It pays to know exactly how much your skills are worth. Sure, you have a salary. But if you got that salary more than 6 months ago, it's not an accurate representation of how much you are worth to your employer. And it probably means a yearly review is just around the corner. That's the perfect time to make your compensation accurately reflect your worth. You could come up with a formula of how much an hour of your time is worth to your employer, make your case, and hope your boss can do something about it. Or you could shop around. Maybe you're worth more to the next employer. On top of the fact that interviewing helps you stay in touch with the market, it also helps you practice at it. Interviewing is a skill, same as anything else you do. It’s good to sharpen this particular skill, especially since it’s a significant factor for your initial compensation package. Without actually testing your newly acquired skills, and their relevance in the market, it's hard to gauge your worth. 10. It's Not All About the Money I know, I told you all about how to get paid more until here. But those skills also translate into options. The more you can make, the more options you have. And because of those options, getting paid more stops being a factor. I know, it’s counterintuitive. But after a certain amount, money doesn't account for happiness just as much. You'll value the mission, or the work-life balance, or the empathetic boss, or the cool team a lot more than an extra 10% on your yearly salary. I've kept yo-yo-ing between high paid jobs and keeping my soul happy, and I've finally settled somewhere in the middle. Sure, I could make an extra 10% every year, but would that make me happier than working from home, on my own terms? Previously published here .

10x10: Ten Life Lessons from a Developer After Ten Years in the Industry

Gripped by anxiety, Jackson settled into his seat. He did not want to fasten the seat belt yet. He thought he might want to go pee again. One never knew when the stewards would tell everyone that the restrooms were closed for take-off preparations. The rules inside these metal beasts seemed so arbitrary. Whether on the tarmac or not, once one was in the fuselage, one’s rights and choices seemed to evaporate. The lack of choices and incipient claustrophobia would have been enough to cause significant anxiety in Jackson. He knew this from unpleasant experience. Now sitting on the tarmac awaiting take off, his claustrophobia barely registered emotionally. He could not remember a time he had been this oblivious to the outside world. Nonetheless, he still navigated the terminal and customs, but he was operating like some automaton. With all the events that had led up to him to be in this seat at this moment, his claustrophobia could barely pierce his attention. His mind swirled with the possibilities of an uncertain future. He stared out into a maroon twilight. As Jackson stared out the tiny porthole window, he drifted back to home and why he was now leaving this godforsaken planet. It was ironic with so much technological progress, this place felt like a dead end. There might be a spaceport and a spaceplane sitting on the runway, but there was no future here. Not for people like Jackson and his father. There were no possibilities here and no opportunities. It was no longer a meritocracy here…if it ever was. He had tried to explain this reality to his father. “Dad, a college degree doesn't mean you get a job any longer,” Jackson told his father. “I just don’t understand with your grades from THAT school, it seems like you should be eminently employable,” his father suggested. “Sure, it used to be the ticket to a guaranteed job, a degree in computer engineering, but things have changed in the last year or two,” Jackson replied. “It’s the chip dad. They want everyone to have the chip embedded directly connected to their cerebrum, so they can tie into their systems directly.” “But a liquor store? That is the only place that will hire you?” his dad asked. Jackson shook his head and looked down. He felt like such a failure after his father had put so much money into his tuition. He wondered if it really was the chip that was the hiring obstacle. Maybe just his personality sucked and nobody wanted to hire him because they didn’t like him? Jackson questioned everything now. It seemed like there was no opportunity any longer. There was no upward mobility here, at least not through a meritocracy. “What about Jonnie?” His dad asked about his long-time friend from the neighborhood. “I heard he got a job at SpaceX?” “Yep, he got the chip implanted last week and had a job by Friday!” I replied. “How the hell did he do that? They are so expensive! I thought that the family was poor. “ His father opined. “Jonnie found someone that would do it for ten thousand. It was a little shady, but the chip was implanted. He took the tests and he passed easily, they immediately hired him. “ Jackson knew that a chipped software engineer was a much faster coder than one who used his own gray matter to implement this design pattern or that one. Jackson understood WHY Jonnie was now so employable. Jackson understood WHY the corporations wanted their employees to have them. Explaining it to his father who had sacrificed so much to make sure he could get through school was a completely different matter. Jackson could see the truth of it in his father’s eyes. He could not afford to pay for his son to get the chip implanted. Jackson’s dad understood education was no longer enough and felt the weight only a dad who has failed to properly provide can feel. As the tears welled up in his father’s eyes, Jackson could see the clock over his shoulder. He was due to be working at the liquor store in fifteen minutes. “I have to go, dad” Jackson bolted out the front door at full gallop. He barely was able to get clocked in on time. He was so worn out emotionally and physically after sprinting that his face was contorted with sweat, grief, anxiety and exertion. The facial recognition time clock repeatedly rejected his stressed out visage. He concentrated on indifference. “I am in the Matrix. I am in the Matrix. I am in the Matrix.” He chanted silently in his head until “Bing!” “You have clocked into work Jackson. Thank you!” said the automated attendant. Jackson thanked his lucky stars for the continued imperfections of AI. Who would have imagined the liquor store job would have survived this far in the future. One would have imagined these clerks would have been gone the way of gas station attendants by this time. Nonetheless, there Jackson sat checking ids and thinking about how long it would take to save enough money for the requisite chip to land the job to lift he and his father from poverty. Artificial intelligence could never seem to keep ahead of the determined human addict. Jackson wondered how much human invention was wasted upon getting the next fix. It was a little surprising how popular alcohol continued to be in a future so full of exotic manufactured molecules engineered to make one feel good or feel better or feel nothing or feel whatever one wanted to feel. Engineered molecules were expensive though, alcohol was a very popular soporific. It was a busy night and Jackson barely had a moment. Alcohol and opium addicts were very persistent. Jackson wondered how many more dead people there would be were opium not legal. The alcoholics were as persistent as the opium addicts at attempting to circumvent the many different biometric id systems extant. However, they were rarely as creative OR SUCCESSFUL. The damage alcohol addiction wrought on their minds and bodies was terrible. Despite the fact the hours went by quickly on such a busy night, it left Jackson emotionally exhausted. The human suffering on display was not an easy thing to deal with. Even when the person was coherent and well-financed, there seemed to be some dark purpose for their trip to the liquor store. “Hey boy! Give me your finest opium. A bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue as well. “ The man had a large smile. He was wearing a tuxedo. Jackson probed for some happy news. “Whatcha celebrating, sir? How about Royal Salute? I am sure we have more 21-year-old Chivas, but not sure about Johnnie Walker Blue.” Jackson sifted through the bottle inventory in the large under counter safe. “Ah-ha, there is a bottle of Royal Salute here,” Jackson announced. “It is 21 years old and my dad says it is a superior scotch.” “Good good, I will take the  Chivas,” said the well-dressed man. “Celebrating?” He paused and there was a faraway look in his eyes, “ahh well, my girlfriend left me.” “I am sorry to hear that sir,” Jackson apologized “No matter, it is better to know now. I had been saving up money for the two of us to book passage on the Blue Origin spaceplane. She really really wanted to get off this planet. I didn’t care cuz she was a beauty and I was blinded. It was going to take another six months to save up the ducats for TWO tickets. I had bought one but I was still a hundred days from the second.” “I see,” Jackson had heard of Blue Origin’s booming off-planet service and he listened as the man continued. “Yeah, well she did not want to wait for me and a better offer came along. Some guy with a lot more money than I swept her up. He is taking her off the planet tonight AND I AM CELEBRATING!” He shouted. As the man paid for his drugs, he said “I just went around the corner and pawned my ticket. I got a good price for it. I am fine on this planet and I am lucky to have learned her affections were based upon what I could deliver. Women? Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.” The man sighed, turned abruptly, and walked briskly from the store. When the shift finally ended, Jackson thought about escaping this godforsaken hellhole of a planet. Humans trash everything they touch, he thought. Jackson wondered a bit about the fate of the ticket. Was there really opportunity out there beyond this planet? Jackson's revelry was broken by a wailing woman calling his name. “Jackson! Jackson!” He turned and saw Jonnie’s girlfriend running toward him. “Did you hear? Did you hear?” She cried and fell into Jackson’s arms. ‘What?” Jackson was perplexed. He barely knew the girl. Jonnie went though girlfriends frequently and this one seemed to have been coincident with the SpaceX job. “Jonnie’s dead! It was a brain aneurysm. I should have never made him get that shitty chip in his head.” She wailed in Jackson’s arms for what seemed like an hour, but probably was only five minutes or so when her mother came breathlessly running up. Her mother related how Jonnie had collapsed while working, was rushed to the hospital but was dead on arrival. He had died suddenly due to the black market chip implantation. Jackson rushed home to see his father. He knew now getting a job on this planet was going to be difficult. A black market implantation was most likely all he could afford. Such a backroom surgery was a deadly game of Russian Roulette which Jackson could not stomach. Jackson’s dad had more news when Jackson walked through the door. “I got the money for the chip. You can get a job!” Jackson’s dad had a smug grin on his face. His dad showed him his digital wallet. “Look at that number,” he pointed at the balance. “It’s more than enough!” “It’s not enough,” Jackson whispered. “Wha..” “It’s not enough,” Jackson said more firmly. “ I am sorry it is not enough” What do you mean,” his father asked, “ You said this would be enough for a chip and a job at SpaceX like Jonnie.” “Johnnie’s dead, dad,” Jackson mumbled, then clearly he stated,”Jonnie is dead. Black market chip implantation has a lot of risks apparently. Brain aneurysm after shitty job. Jonnie died today.” Jackson’s dad broke down and began weeping uncontrollably. He bent over and held his head in his hands. Now Jackson could see the blood on his shirt. “Dad! What did you do?” Jackson yelled “Black market son, black market for everything and everyone. Everything is negotiable, except perhaps virginity, so I sold my kidney,” Jackson’s father confessed. “That is how I filled up that thing,” as he gestured to the digital wallet on the table. “Damn it. Don’t worry son. I had been thinking anyway. maybe it was time to get off this godforsaken planet. I think this is enough for us to get off-planet. I was researching fares on Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic.” Jackson’s dad stood up and put his hand on his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry son. We’re getting out of here.” He then walked to his bedroom and laid down. Jackson sat and watched the drone races until the sun came up. He never actually fell asleep that night. He sat and stared at the digital wallet all night. Jackson kept thinking about the fact his dad MUST know there was not enough there in that digital wallet to get TWO people off-planet. Sure there was a great BOGO deal at Virgin Galactic, but the digital wallet balance still only got them to about 75% of that. His dad only had two kidneys so Jackson started thinking about giving up one of his. That would be enough he thought. He had screwed up his courage to get it done as soon as the sun was up. When sunrise came, Jackson learned his dad surely did know what off-planet passage was going to cost. That was why he had drunk an entire bottle of laudanum along with half a bottle of Royal Salute. Life was hard on this damn planet, but dying was EASY. There was so much despair, the oligarchs dispatched robot coroners for suicides. There was no reason to spend too many resources on voluntary checkouts from their point of view. Before he had breakfast, he had his father’s cremains. Jackson used some of the digital wallet’s balance to have those cremains compressed into an industrial diamond. “Prepare for the ‘long sleep’,” came the word over the speakers jarring Jackson from his painful recollections. He looked down at the ring he had his father diamond cremains set in. As the suspended animation drugs began to take hold, Jackson thought about how grateful he was the pawn shop proprietor was also a jeweler. He looked at the minuscule balance in the digital wallet his father had staked him. Buying the ticket of the jilted lover who preferred Johnnie Walker Blue from the pawn shop felt like the RIGHT thing as Jackson fell into sleep. When Jackson awoke in orbit, he was a bit confused. “Where was he?” He thought. “That did not look like Earth beneath him. Had he really escaped the godforsaken planet of his birth?” “Boy they sure have cleaned it up,” said someone sitting near him. “The air pollution used to be so bad, you could not even see the surface from orbit.” “Yeah, my grandmother showed me pictures from when she left for Mars. It is amazing how much they have been able to clean up Earth in a few generations. “ said another passenger. Jackson looked down at the blue green orb below. It did not look like the Earth his father described. It surely did not look like the globe his father had of their native planet, Earth.” The continents were all the wrong shapes and looked only vaguely like the old globe. He then realized global climate change had caused enormous sea level rise changing coastlines worldwide. As the Blue Origin spaceplane’s orbit decayed, Jackson enjoyed several full rotations of the planet beneath him. He was able to take it all in before landing in California. He saw the nearly ice free continent of Antarctica in the south and the incredible blues of the Northwest Passage on the other pole. All the continents were now separate islands in a worldwide ocean, unless one insisted on referring to Eurasia as TWO separate continents… Now as the spaceplane entered final descent, Jackson thought back to the godforsaken red hell hole called Mars. He thought about how precious water was on that planet with no liquid water on the surface. Here he was back on the mother planet, one literally covered in the precious liquid. This planet and California especially felt like home. His family had fled the state for Mars generations ago, but California’s unique flora, fauna, and topology were always topics of conversation when the relatives got together. They always sounded like they had been ejected from the Garden of Eden when they described California. Now here he was back in the Bear Flag Republic as then had affectionately called their old home. He looked down with wonder at the rebirth of the Great Tulare Lake. Once it had been the largest lake west of the Mississippi, but it was a dust bowl drained for irrigation by the time his family had left. He felt an unexpected sense of odd pride California was now the home of the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi once again. As the spaceplane landed in the Mojave, the remnants of the massive multi-billion dollar solar power generation plant was visible for miles. He was amazed by the vastness of the plant. The Mojave Desert had seemed like a great place to build a solar power plant and billions were invested. Its destruction after several large earthquakes by the northward movement of the Pacific typhoon track had prompted by ancestors flight from California all those years ago. It was fortunate a group of radical environmentalists had been working hard to reboot the nuclear reactors throughout the world. It was the only way to stop IMMEDIATELY the large scale exhausting of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. The planet had long moved past the tipping point so the hurricanes and typhoons were only going to increase as the ice caps melted and sea levels rose. Once the pollution of the atmosphere stopped, the climate began to settle down. The ice caps were not reborn and sea-level rise continued for quite awhile. Fission and nuclear reactors had been vital as bridge power sources during the volatile climactic rebalancing. The global epiphany which saved Earth and her human inhabitants happened right here in this desert in California. Jackson felt nothing but hope as the plane taxied into the spaceport. He looked down at the diamond ring on his hand. He held the finger with his other hand. His eyes began to well up again. “Welcome home,” said the steward at the gate. He was so used to seeing the glistening eyes of those so happy to be back to Mother Earth. “Thanks Dad, you got us home,” Jackson said softly as he nodded to the steward. Jackson gripped his finger a little tighter and walked out into the sunshine. He felt the optimism of a fresh start in a new world.  Well, perhaps not a whole new world, but an old one reborn, but it still felt good.

Chip4Job

Verifiable credentials, which provide a system for provable electronic facts and documentation through cryptography and public keys, can seem like an abstract concept. We’re so used to seeing our credentials printed out – the driver’s license, the passport, the insurance card – that sticking codified IDs on a thumb drive or online seems odd and unnecessary. And as anyone who has used a cryptocurrency wallet can attest, the early forms of such decentralized IDs are hardly user friendly. Just as cloud computing and big data seemed initially vague, then ubiquitous, so verifiable credentials promise to appear in our daily lives in the not-too-distant future. (My guess is they’ll pop up in your Apple Wallet one day, and then become normal). In fact, several industries are already digging in. Here are some of the most visible and promising use cases. Education As the economy continues to digitize, workers must adopt new skillsets -- and not necessarily as part of a four-year college degree. As coding bootcamps prove, students can attain employable skills within a matter of months. Yet there is no standardized way to validate candidates' skills, outside of a paper degree or certificate. 96% of employers use at least one kind of , according to a Global HR Research survey. At $20-$200 per candidate, the costs quickly add up. It is also an outdated process. The entire point of background checks is to attain trustable, verifiable information about a candidate, something that a verifiable credential could do for cents on the dollar. background screening Verifiable credentials could also host the gamut of employable skills, from cash register experience to cybersecurity coding. Such credentials currently exist only on the resume or LinkedIn profile, and are unverifiable unless an employer calls a reference that the candidate listed. Graduate or transfer schools face the same problem when requesting transcripts. Verifiable credentials would, for the first time, provide a foolproof way to tell if skills or classes taken are real. Just-in-time verifiable credentials take the concept a step further by enabling recipients to monitor credentials over time. A company that hires a college intern, for example, might require a 3.0 GPA over the course of a year-long internship. The school records office could automatically send over the student's GPA every semester for the year. Or a lab could automatically send drug-test results for an employee whose role requires monthly testing. Such verifiable credentials are in the very early stage, and privacy concerns must be addressed. But they are yet another promising use case for the education sphere. 2. Customs and Border Patrol The US has received worth of goods at its borders so far this year. Of that, over $1.3 billion was seized, whether due to counterfeiting, safety violations or other concerns. $2.42 trillion It takes the same amount of time to review all goods, whether safe or dangerous, counterfeit or authentic. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is better off applying manpower to shipments that are higher-risk, while letting in low-risk items with minimal effort. This is especially important for agriculture. It can take days to figure out if a shipment of perishable fruit, for example, contains a pathogen, and by then, entire loads could be lost. Verifiable credentials promise to solve such border-related problems by providing a trusted digital catalogue of information for each part of a shipped good. They can be used by supply chains in a stacked way, similar to Russian nesting dolls. Take a metal car door as an example. The first step might be a smelter in Poland. The person in charge of the smelting project obtains a verifiable credential when the load is completed for shipment to Great Britain, where the car doors are stamped. Once complete, the British manufacturer attains a verifiable credential that follows the one in Poland, and the doors are then sent to a BMW plant in Germany for assembly. Once assembled, the German plant adds third verifiable credentials, and then the load is shipped to the US, where the shipping containers get their own credential. CBP can then unstack all the virtual nesting dolls, and determine everything they need to know about parts, tariffs, safety, counterfeits and so on. 3. Transportation-as-a-Service Cars already come with a pile of credentials and certifications: insurance, registration, service history, VIN, title, emissions records and the driver's license. Parking tickets, speeding tickets, fast-lane transponders add another layer of identification. For now, middleman services such as repair shops, car reports and the DMV certify each vehicle's information. Verifiable credentials could put all of a car's information in one place, with the driver sharing selectively, depending on the type of request. Newer types of connected cars could even contain verifiable credentials within the vehicle itself. This becomes especially poignant given that Millennials, the largest generation in the US, and Gen-Z behind them are (specifically, they are buying cars later and driving them longer). Meanwhile, the car sharing market is 24% between 2020-2026. buying fewer cars expected to grow Verifiable credentials promise to play a starring role, not only in providing a record of who's at the wheel and when, but in terms of law and policy. For one, verifiable credentials prove the safety and roadworthiness of a car, by keeping its records accessible in one digital place. If a car is in a traffic violation, verifiable credentials prove who was there at the time. Vehicle ownership is also a big tax revenue item for states. If fewer people own cars, taxes disappear, and roads and infrastructure lose funding. Verifiable credentials, by tracking miles driven, greenhouse gas emissions, and so on, could create new revenue models. 4. Ad monetization Many websites rely on ad networks to monetize. That model is increasingly showing its limits. Revenue-oriented algorithms feed societal divisions by selecting for what the algo thinks will generate the most money. An increasing number of people find targeted data collection invasive, and employ ad blockers and other privacy tools as a result. The model is even expensive for advertisers. Half every ad dollar is taken during a transaction. Social media companies such as Facebook collect click, like, and other psychographic and demographic data to build a profile of likely spending habits. That data is then sold to companies wishing to target you. Despite advances in data collection and targeting technology, results are hit or miss. There is a tendency to see an item advertised that you already purchased, or items that you would never dream of buying. Third-party data is behind this – the educated guess that Facebook et. al. employ when selling data about your online interactions. First-party data, which you provide yourself, directly to advertisers, would fix this problem. Verifiable credentials, by anonymizing and proving your identity, would enable you to sell your data, for a price, directly to advertisers. You’d get a paycheck and advertisers would have first-party targeting data (they would sell you stuff you would actually buy). The middleman would be cut out, and both sides would profit. 5. Homebuying Real estate is rife with potential for verifiable credentials. Realtors, for one, try to target potential buyers and sellers on specific criteria. Selling data directly to them, via the process mentioned above, would enable better targeting, as well as cash in your pocket. Mortgage companies, meanwhile, conduct due diligence on employment and pay records. It is not an employer’s business to know whether an employee is applying for a home loan. Verifiable credentials could prevent employers from knowing. A pay stub could be transformed into a verifiable credential, enabling lenders to validate claims of employment without bothering the boss. Verifiable credentials could also be used during the inspection and appraisal processes, validating who was there and when. They could be used as digital titles. In such a money and trust-intensive transaction, there is an opportunity to transform the entire industry.

5 Promising Use Cases for Verifiable Credentials

It's no secret that today, during a global pandemic unlike anything in well over a hundred years, many people are stuck at home and unable to work by no choice of their own. This massive inconvenience of feeling trapped and bored out of our minds for months within our own dwellings is leaving a lot of us with fluxes of emotions like restlessness, hopelessness, depression, and many other not-so-good things. 😷 On a positive note though, this is a great time to adopt some new mental flexibility skills. It's been a rough time for everyone, and many people are alone at home suffering mentally, some without a job to go back to, or in some cases whole families do not have the safety net of knowing when or even if more government assistance is on the way to help feed them and prevent themselves from being evicted from their homes.  All the while implemented by Unemployment Insurance Agencies of the states are failing to keep up with the millions of claims thrown at them and people are becoming more restless by the day as the backlog grows and the bills keep piling up. antiquated computer systems Not to jump the gun but that is proof for the case that technology demands are evolving faster than some industries (in this case state governments) can keep up with, and this is an area demand that will be ever-increasing as automation intensifies with the current industrial revolution taking place. People's need for services will not go away, but it's too late to deny blue collar jobs will eventually start becoming displaced faster than retraining or retooling allows replenishment of new positions. job-security wise to counter that disadvantageous position for humans. right there /\/\/\ Coding seems like a sure bet If you chose the path of the code and it's not yet clear if you should learn web, software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, data analysis, or video game development, just remember that doesn't matter too much at the start. The important thing is determining to start and to keep remembering on the daily the ways it can help shape your future positively! Don't be overwhelmed before you start either! It's okay to take in a little at a time, just make sure to try your best to practice/study everyday to keep that brain muscle memory active. Brain stonks! So let me shift here because I'd like to try to explain why this time can and should be used by anyone whose considered adopting a new highly employable skill or just had the interest to start to learn code, to absolutely Tech is truly the new electricity, in that it is everywhere around us, forever ingrained and changing the game! What's super cool too is that code is at the base of every part of every piece of digital tech. Every electronic or network is running on some kind of programming / code! seamlessly GO FOR IT RIGHT NOW! There is no better time to learn something useful then when you are stuck at home bored or just wasting time on Netflix, depressive news cycles, or video games anyways, right? 😉 Riiiiiiight? Oh! Since brought it up....when it comes to video games, how is it that those beautiful environments, sprites, text, and sounds can all work as intended while also making sure that said assets have workable collision events? How can we make sure scores are going up if an enemy is eliminated or that the player animates a death scene when he/she is eliminated by an on-screen enemy? you The simplest answer is through code! The whole idea of learning enough code to be able to perhaps make video games, or with software development makes the whole deal of deep diving into the world of coding seem much more attractive! I truly think that one positive way for someone to feel good about themselves pretty quickly during these rough times is to start going about a coding journey. Not only will they learn to perhaps program a thing into existence (some see this as godly, including myself 🤪), they are also reprogramming their own minds to be happier and more productive simultaneously! solve an infinite variety of other problems If you're anything like me, once you start your journey you will obsess on understanding the fundamental levels of how code works! I've also experienced that when something clicks, I feel new synapses in my brain connecting and it makes for happy times, every time! Visualizing in my mind these occurrences has helped move me to a better place mood-wise since the beginning of this pandemic. If you also decide this is a way forward for you, it's good to visualize where you want to go in your coding journey. Write it down and put together the steps how to get there. Make sure to take some sort of action everyday. Be it studying, writing, debugging, ! Once everything starts coming together you'll be super happy about every goal you accomplish in the coding realm; small or large! whateva Where do you start? There's an INSANE amount of free resources online that will teach you to code. Before you search for a course or tutorial, first learn what certain programming languages can do and then chose the language you'd want to go with. Start Googling and see what sites and teachers click with you best! Python is a great start because it is broadly used and also easy for humans to read after they know the built-in functionalities. It will teach you many of the fundamentals of knowing how to think and execute like a true computer scientist. Pro Tip: omg it's not a .gif! This all goes to say you can definitely become extremely more valuable to yourself and society if you can learn solve problems or create amazing experiences with software! There's plenty of problems that need fixing, plenty of escapism needed (in case you go the video game development route), and plenty of money to be made in almost any coding venture. Another trite non-secret, but I digress. Now to discuss the subject of breaking older habits in order to form these newer, more rewarding ones. I'm not anti-gamer by any means, but I do try to understand and explain to others some of the serious issues with video game addiction. For years it had negative consequences on my own quality of life that I'm just now starting to realize and fix. Unless someone is going to be a professional gamer, big shot YouTube personality, or extremely popular Twitch streamer (which is a long shot for most people, let's be honest), there's no need for us to spend countless hours a week repeating over and over the same tasks for diminishing returns of dopamine rushes and short-term relief. What I'm trying to say here is that I put the controller down years ago and . I think of where I could be if I started 8 years ago if I hadn't given up after failing out of my first Python coding course (because at that time I was too lazy and procrastination-prone). My complacency for being a non-coding and lazy potato playing video games for the temporary reliefs they provided was actually impeding progress for many years. I'm honestly kicking myself now. Don't be like me, if you're up for an extremely rewarding challenge, wish I just started coding earlier just start as soon as you can! Seriously, I plead that anyone with an obsessive gaming habit to realize how the dopamine rushes released by playing games can be creating more issues than solutions. Say for instance once the addiction really sets in, there's now a daily need to get the "fix" or the rush of playing, even if it is inconvenient to the flow of real life or plans. Maybe it starts making you late for work or forget important errands. Or maybe the mood of the game lobby you're occupying determines how you respond and treat the people around you that you care about. Not constructive for your personal growth, trust me. Maybe ween da gamez down a bit if it's degrading your social life. real Learning to code though...now that is constructive. Not easy for many people, but definitely worth the work seeing how it is full of unlimited possibilities and ways of problem solving. Needless to say that comes with , but with that being said, ! great money making opportunity nothing worth having comes easy So now I think it'd be appropriate to briefly share my personal experiences with getting back into learning code so far, with a short type of testimony about coding's efficacy in curbing negative emotions. I was fortunate to have an old friend, Austin, reach out to me just to catch up earlier this year. We eventually ended up with the conversation about his career in as a full stack developer. Remember when I mentioned earlier about failing out of a Python course in community college 8 years back? Well, when Austin was explaining his job I honestly got pretty envious, regretting not pursuing code earlier so I could've maybe been in a similar position by this time if I didn't just flunk out of the coding course and quit that path. I ended up finishing college with just a general associate's and some technology certs, not much help in the job market. Anyways, Austin has been awesome enough to offer resources, direction, and his time explaining any questions I've had.  So since he has reached out, I've been relearning Python after not touching it since that class ended. I'd recently followed a tutorial course and created a working 2-d game with the Python pygame module, so that was a big upper moment! After consulting with Austin more with ideas I had coming in I also realized I may have palpable software to write once I become more fluent at executing runable scripts 😁 The rekindled desire to learn programming plus cutting video game time to decrease guilt complexes have both been making me feel much more at peace lately (which isn't always easy during perpetual self-quarantine).  It feels like accomplishing something that will UNDOUBTEDLY help my career prospects in the future, while having fun through the entire process, getting the building blocks to make sense. Oh! and you better bet I'm in line to learn some other languages after Python (you're next SQL and JavaScript!). significant To end this little 'beaut' of an article I'd like to leave one last piece of quick advice that's helped me keep it together a bit. If you are fortunate enough to have someone in your social circle that is willing to teach you things or help you do coding, make sure you take the opportunity and try to help them back in any way you can because frankly they have already helped you tremendously by extending their arm and it's gotta count for some great karma points to symbiotically help each other with projects or second opinions. If you aren't fortunate enough for this type of friend/mentor situation, be sure to check out different free and up to date instructors online until you find one that works best for you. Everyone has a unique path, and I wish you all the best of success on all of yours! Be patient and don't give up yourself or your dreams! Even if it's uncomfortable and not clicking at first, keep trying until it does. I believe in you if you can read this! After you join the coder army, consider building a couple of apps, websites, simple games, or maybe even just some text based programs. That way you have a portfolio to show the world! Then, you can start landing either a job within a company or start your own thing. There's an infinite amount of possibilities with code and there'll always problems to solve, so don't stop practicing until you can build something of use to yourself or someone else! The universe will compensate you for helping yourself along by learning the art of coding. With great practice comes great reward. ps: Stay safe everyone, learn to code. You know, the basics 😉

COVID Happened And I Decided to Stop Gaming And Start Coding

If you are tech worker right now, you are in demand. If you are considering moving on to another position, you are going to want to prepare. Of course, you need to burnish your resume and reach out to your LinkedIn network for endorsements. Such things are a given, but if you really want to be a TOUGH negotiator, then certain things must be so. Get your ducks in a row. If you want to be a tough negotiator on your own behalf, you need more than attitude. Some people are quite good at "creating attitude". These  are the great salespeople. What they feel internally is not easily readable on their faces. In fact, they are able to create trust through their facial expressions and mannerisms. These are the special people who can sell sawdust to lumber mills. Frankly, most tech people do not have these kind of skills. This is why you have to prepare to be a tough negotiator. If you want to turn a tech worker, a knowledge worker or logical thinker into a TOUGH negotiator, they have to believe.  Their strong logic circuits make it difficult to "bluff", so they must be in a good position to negotiate well. If you can get these three things in order, you WILL be a tough negotiator. Below are the three most important things you must get in order to be a tough negotiator. Of course, if you have the sales skills to "spin the web", then these are simply nice to haves. However, for me these three things made me a very very tough negotiator. I knew what I wanted and I was going to get it from this employer or the next one. I was determined to get what I wanted. Those with Apserger's Syndrome don't always do a good job across the negotiating table, but I found the secret ingredients which made me a very tough negotiator. #1 Have an employable skill I think this is the most important requirement. If you do not have a skill that is in demand, then you don’t have much negotiating power. I am not saying you have to go to college, though it would likely help make you more employable. I did not get my bachelor’s until very late in my career, but I had coding skills. In any case, you MUST have a skill that businesses covet and will pay money for. If you are a janitor or an administrative assistant or mail room clerk, it is fairly difficult to negotiate anything other than please hire me. In my case, I was a programmer/software engineer/DBA…a full stack developer is what they call me these days. I can do it all, soup to nuts, which also means that I am not necessarily an expert in any one of those things. Still for smaller companies having someone that can wear many different tech hats has its utility in the 21st century, so I have some leverage. Other tech workers with good leverage are security engineers, DevOps, cloud developers. They are all in big demand. Another skillset might be graphic artists. Those who can turn people’s visions into reality are special as are sound technicians in an ever more musical society. And not to leave out blue collar skills, I think journeymen and higher electricians might also have sufficient leverage to pull this off. Any skillset that is in demand is fine, but you MUST, MUST have a skill you can shop. Without it, you are just hoping the hiring manager likes you and you get hired. #2 Keep yourself financially sound You must always be negotiating from a position of strength. In America, strength is defined by having enough money to say, "No." If you are in financial straits or even on a very tight budget, it can be difficult to negotiate anything. Financial hardship is all-consuming. Gaining the aforementioned employable skills is difficult, and I list it as #1, because you have nothing to bargain without skills. However, I don’t think it is as difficult as pulling off financial stability when you are not coming from that place. Depending on where you start economically in this nation, it can take a while before you achieve this state of affairs. You don’t have to be rich, but having a buffer is very much required. If you have to take the first job that comes along, it is hard to negotiate. If you are in such tight financial circumstances that you MUST make a certain number AND that number is the tip top of the pay scale for your skill set, again its hard to negotiate. You will be negotiating hard on money at the beginning of your career and employers can leverage that to their benefit, knowing you NEED the money. When you come in negotiating other aspects of your employment besides salary, you are implicitly saying that your financial house is in order. It’s very, very important to “signal” to moneyed power that you don’t NEED their money. The playing field becomes much more even when you are trading a skill for the money. You are entering into a bargain with moneyed power. You are providing a service and they are paying. There is a clear understanding that if you do not provide the service and/or they no longer need the service, the bargain is over. These days though you are in demand even if someone just showed you the door. There are a lot rich people out there who CAN’T code. #3 Figure out what you want This is very important. It is #3 because this is the luxury of choice which most people do not have. You do not even get to seriously consider #3 until the first two are settled. You need to figure out what you want from the job. Do you want more money? Do you want more responsibility? Do you want better work/life balance? You need to determine what is exactly you are looking for from the next job. If it is money, you are looking for, then have a bottom line number. You have to be clear in your own mind what it is you want from the next job. For me, I was mostly looking for better work/life balance after I had reached a certain salary. I often would negotiate a four ten hour day work week. I would take Wednesdays off and walk my children to elementary school. Honestly, if you want to be a tough negotiator, then become a parent. Now you are negotiating not for what YOU WANT, but what your children NEED.   Once you have children, you see certain things about life with great clarity. Many aspects of life are less clear when there are not tiny individuals dependent upon you successfully navigating this crazy world. The fact is the kids need you to get wins. Their need is what drove me to play hard ball at the negotiating table. They made sure I got what I thought they needed. It motivated me to push back in ways difficult to fathom without the little ones requiring support. Of course, this is not really a requirement to have a family, just a suggestion. Personally, it was not until I was a parent that I really started showing some backbone. I had been doing OK across the negotiating table, but it was only later I became really tough...IMO  I needed parenting inspiration to give me the extra boldness required to negotiate hard with moneyed power. However, if you have the first two nailed, then take some time to figure out the third. It is an absolute MUST to know what you personally want from the next job. Good luck!

3 Ways to Win the Negotiation for What You Want From Your Next Job

Less than a decade ago, we could only dream of being able to spend five minutes on a job that required 10 hours to complete. All we could hope for was a magic wand. Cargo dancing with tambourines could also help, but there was no guarantee (pun intended). Today, as technology becomes more advanced, we’re gradually getting used to a "new normal" when most things are done instantaneously thanks to automation, Cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and advanced analytics. Physical boundaries are fading away and what once required physical presence can now be done remotely, faster and much more efficiently. Powered with automation and big data, any technology becomes cutting-edge and sophisticated. Recruitment tech isn’t an exception. From accelerating employee selection processes and managing the pipeline to activating a dormant talent pool and reducing administrative burden – recruitment tech enables consultants to make more informed decisions and proactive process interventions to improve the overall quality of hiring. As most hard skills are expected to be automated in the years to come, both corporate and agency recruiters should be ready to transform into tech-enabled strategists, and act as middlemen between stakeholders and digital platforms that begin to play a crucial role in recruitment evolution and digital transformation. To understand better how recruitment innovation helps simplify hiring and reinforce informed decision-making, I've zoomed in with , an entrepreneur and founder of , a UK-based recruitment platform that enables 100% remote candidate screening, interviewing, hiring, onboarding and more. Jamie Beaumont Offerd Jamie and his team were able to launch their product to market during the COVID-19 pandemic, which makes their case even more thought-proviking. We've talked about key challenges facing corporate recruiters and hiring agencies alike, why AI is not a silver bullet, what it takes to launch a recruitment tech product amid the Coronavirus pandemic, how to use big data and insights to improve the quality of hiring and more. Enjoy the reading! Jamie, can you tell me more about yourself, your background and when and how you got to the recruitment business? Having graduated from the University of Exeter, I wondered what I was going to do next, and I ended up going to the mountains for skiing. There I noticed a big fashion trend among people on holidays: many were wearing old-school clothing like the bright red gear. As the retro look regained its position at the top of the fashion charts, I just couldn't stay on the sidelines and co-founded a fashion brand with an idea of bringing a retro style back to the mountains. The business went well, but after almost two years, I came back to the UK, where I joined a graduate recruitment company as a consultant. Although I managed to rise through the ranks, I left it about a year later to start my own recruitment company – it was a graduate brand within another company called Sales Point. We did really well and managed to drive a significant amount of revenue. And then the opportunity came to actually go back and purchase the company I started out with. My business partner and I acquired that recruitment business, and we merged two companies into one. As the company scaled, we opened another office up in Manchester and hired lots of people. During that time, I spoke to many businesses and they all complained that hiring through an agency was expensive, vetting candidates on their own was time-consuming, and there was no way to do things remotely. As I collected those insights, I said to myself: "There should be  a way to solve all of those problems!" And that's where I saw a new opportunity for myself. So I left that recruitment business in February 2019, and put my entire life savings and more into starting my own recruitment technology business and building the first piece of . I raised £300,000 with three fantastic investors who are still with us and who have been unbelievably amazing and supportive along the way. They've re-invested earlier this year which allowed us to build a decent product, launch it to the market during the Covid-19 pandemic and onboard customers despite the crisis. software It's been a great journey from selling clothes in the mountains to owning a technology business, and we've got bigger things on the horizon as well. As we raise more funds, we'll hopefully start a new product which is a game-changing financial offering for recruitment agencies and hiring businesses alike. It's in stealth mode now so I can't reveal much about it. At the moment, Offerd caters to three target categories which are recruitment agencies, businesses and universities. Can you elaborate more on how your platform is going to affect each target group? Many universities struggle to secure employment for their students after graduation. At the times of mass unemployment, with experienced individuals being unemployed, students don't stand a chance. When you need to choose between hiring an experienced and an inexperienced person, most will choose the first. The idea was to help universities make students more employable, and we started thinking about how to increase the employment chances of each graduate coming out of the university. However, we've put that on ice for the moment and will "package" it next year when the academic world gets back on track. In fact, 20% of our customers are direct hiring businesses, i.e. all types of companies that hire individuals themselves. We cater to smaller businesses that don't want to pay for complex enterprise software. As much as 80% of our client base – what we really want to specialize in – are small and startup recruitment agencies whom we give access to really cool remote hiring features. Instead of spending thousands of pounds a month on enterprise software, we offer them a great solution to get to the market and hire. At the moment we see a good increase in customers like this. According to your website, you can help recruitment agencies triple their revenue. Is it your brand promise or just a marketing gimmick? This statement is based on the insight we've gained from a couple of the actual clients using our platform. A traditional structure of a recruitment business is as follows: you post a job, get a CV, read that CV and look through it to make sure it's a good match. You may arrange a phone call and ask a few questions to make sure they're relevant to the role and have the right qualifications, and then you invite them to a face-to-face meeting or a virtual one in Skype or Zoom. All of that is taking 1-2 hours to complete. With us, recruiters get all of that done for them: when candidates apply for the role, they complete a screening questionnaire, upload their CV, have a small profile and hold a video or voice interview. So instead of two hours, they literally spend sixty seconds and save a good amount of time. Our product helps them triple the capacity of their recruitment consultants and improve the quality of hiring, which helps increase their revenue threefold. And how does your platform leverage AI? At the moment, we don't have AI yet, and that's for a specific reason we need to be very careful about. I believe that when AI makes a decision instead of people, it's really bad for recruitment. If a machine has to make a decision, it means you don't get to make it, and you might miss out on something and reject someone you really need on your team. Thanks to our software development partner , we have the capabilities to integrate AI into our platform. But as I've just said – we haven't done it yet because we want to be very careful how we do it. Evolve At the moment, we want to give every recruitment consultant the ability to get as much information as they can, as quickly as possible, so they can make an informed decision, not a robot. Until we can find a solution, we'd rather give them a relevant context to reinforce their decision-making. We're going to keep testing it until we're 100% sure it's a viable feature. Are there any similar solutions that you're apprehensive about? There's always an apprehension there'll be someone who'll make more money because they can build quicker. And there are people out there who do very good things with their products and who do similar products, but I guess the difference between us and a lot of other products is we focus the recruitment process as a whole. It means we encompass job posting and attracting candidates, we encompass screening candidates, video and voice interviewing, we encompass getting rid of admins so that you can integrate your calendar and get interview scheduling done with automation and we embrace collaboration with clients. We provide an all-in-one platform that's very easy to deal with. Lots of other recruitment platforms focus purely on video, or they focus purely on posting jobs, or they focus purely on collaboration. They are not focusing on a big picture, and there is a big picture indeed: why would you use four pieces of technology when you can just have one that's ten times cheaper and more effective. I'm definitely apprehensive that there are people out there who can move quicker than we can just because they have unlimited funds, unlike us. However, we launched officially during Covid-19, which is probably the most difficult thing we've done. Still, we're confident that what we're doing is solving an entire process, not just one problem within it. As you gain steam and onboard more clients, you'll own a lot of big and small data. How will you leverage this data to make a difference in the recruitment industry? We have to decide what type of data we're going to produce, but one of the most powerful types of data is behavioural. Hiring is very subjective: you hire based on whether you like or dislike a person, and inside of that "I like/ I don't like a person" is discrimination and bias. Using data, we'll be able to answer many questions and connect the dots. For instance, we'll be able to share things like: although the number of university graduates pursuing this type of job has grown, the number of graduates who are actually getting this job has decreased. We can start to generate some really good behavioural data in the future. We can share insights into what people do and how they do it, insights into how businesses hire and what type of people get rejected, etc. I think any technology business should be data-driven. Functionality is great, but the most powerful and the most expensive part of the business is data. How has Covid-19 affected your product development and business in general? It's been weird. Covid-19 has increased the amount of interest in our platform exponentially. Suddenly, people that were potentially looking for remote hiring solutions now have to find them, 100%. However, despite an increased interest, many companies are having issues with decision-making: with up to 90% of their workforce being furloughed, they can't make quick decisions. And that's still going on. So while we see new trends towards remote hiring and an increased interest in our platform, we're still waiting for people to get back to business so they can sign off and start adopting this technology, sooner or later. What's your opinion about WFH vs WFO? I love both. I think it depends on what you do. I miss the buzz of an office, but I also feel like I get more done when I work from home: I still wake up at 6 am every single morning, and I sit at my desk by 7 am. I save 2,5 hours each day by not having to commute. So, I can use this time to work and do more. That being said, I like WFH, but I do miss WFO. What piece of advice would you give to your 15-year-old self? Don't worry about what everyone else is doing. Just focus on what you want to do most. What piece of advice would you give to fellow entrepreneurs who are lacking confidence during these turbulent times? Embrace the whole journey, both the good and the bad. There'll probably be more bad than good. But the good feels so much better that it encompasses everything else. A lot of entrepreneurs and tech companies believe a miracle can happen overnight. I've been doing my product since May 2018, and I'm still not a billionaire. Is becoming a billionaire your ultimate goal? No. My ultimate goal is to make a difference. Money is great, but if you want to focus on money, you need to do a different type of work. If I wanted to be a guaranteed millionaire, I'd have worked incredibly hard and gone to finance or something like that. That'd be great to make a lot of money, but that's not the case if you want to make a difference, make a great product, execute strategy, improve operations, build a good business. If you do all of these things right – the money will come. Featured image: Illustration by Fanny Luor Did you like the story! Please support it with your shares!

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