BU SHI KE FOU

It's a Big World Out There.

November 2006

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is hitting the wall for qualified developers. So, in the classically-Indian mode of acknowledging a problem head-on, committing serious resources to fixing it, and developing an elegant, pragmatic, long-term solution, they've launched TCS Talent Transformation: a deep-investment initiative that turns science grads into software pros.

Says S. Padmanabhan, Global Head of HR for TCS: "Good science graduates have attributes like logic and reasoning that are important in the technology services industry. We believe that our transformation program is the way forward to help induct graduates with varied academic backgrounds into the IT industry."

500 graduates are now enrolled in the seven-month program, which blends formal study of computer science, techniques of programming and system architecture, languages and techniques, IDEs and development environments (including TCS-proprietary tools), development disciplines and best-practice, along with soft skills like team building, management and presentation. Another 2,000 will receive offers to join the program this year, as TCS scales up.

Posted by John Jainschigg at 12:09 PM  Permalink |

Over at ciol.com, Shashwat Chaturvedi has written a long and insightful backgrounder and analysis of the Microsoft/Novell pact, and what it means for global opensource, and for the prospects of opensource in India.

Chaturvedi is a good thinker who knows his history and reasons well from premises. And he's interviewed some of the inheritors of Raymond Noorda's mantle, here, who add significant insight. Worth a read.

Posted by John Jainschigg at 05:00 PM  Permalink |

I've been taking my six-year-old to Chinese School, every Saturday morning for the past six or eight weeks. The folks who run this program are true believers in use of a Taiwanese calligraphic phonetic alphabet called 'bopomofo,' as opposed to pinyin, a form of Romanization popular on the mainland. So I've been hunting (and hunting, and hunting) for online resources that could help me master yet another system for inaccurately representing the real sounds of spoken Chinese.

Finally, this past weekend -- success! The blog Pandagator has a lovely set of mouseover bopomofo training tools that perfectly fit the bill.

Even more exciting, I discovered ChinesePod, a Shanghai-based Mandarin-learning site that publishes free daily language lessons in podcast form -- over 400 lessons and counting. Subscribers (prices are very reasonable) also get access to printed lesson materials, study aids, learning games, and intro to several international communities of Chinese learners.

Having learned French back in the late 80s, typing on Minitel terminals, I have a great belief in the ability of computers and networks to facilitate language study. There's something about the combination of automated "move at your own pace," non-judgemental scoring, and semi-anonymous communities of like-minded souls that make the whole business of language learning a lot less fraught.

Posted by John Jainschigg at 02:21 PM  Permalink |

Our Software Development Expos are coming to India and Russia, early next year. International sites for the events (in the case of India, a three-city event series) are now live ... check 'em out at www.sdexpo.in and www.sdexpo.ru!

Posted by John Jainschigg at 10:21 AM  Permalink |