Smart Work vs Hard Work. Which is better, which should be valued?
This question haunts every workplace, and successfully confuses everyone. There are camps and devotees of either side, and convenient converts depending on situation!
It is actually quite simple, if we see some facets clearly. Continue reading Smart Work vs Hard Work – A New Perspective?
Three roles have been evolving in software development over past few years.
The devigner is a person who packs a pretty punch. She is a graphic designer, UI designer, UX developer, server developer and database developer all rolled into one. Continue reading 3 Trends in Software Developer Roles – And One to Avoid!
People have often wondered why we are named “Mindfire”. It is not a word, although it is clearly a composite – but why exactly “Mindfire”?
For most human endeavor, almost anything worth doing, at least two things are necessary: intellect and energy. Boxing seems like a physical/energy sport, but the best boxers use their heads more than their hands. Research looks like mental/intellectual effort, but the best scientists are tireless in their pursuit. Continue reading Why Are We Called “Mindfire”?
(Update Sep 20:
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT FALSE CLAIMS IN HIRING:
Mindfire Solutions does NOT employ services of any external organization for our recruitment process, in any role at any stage. We do our OWN hiring COMPLETELY and nobody else – no placement consultant, no recruitment agent, no headhunting firm, no campus coordinator, nobody else at all – is involved in any way at all.
Please do not believe people making false promises to place you at Mindfire Solutions, or to get you an interview slot, or influence hiring in any way – and definitely do not pay anything for such claims. If you do believe and interact with them, it is at your own risk and loss. Mindfire Solutions is not responsible in any way for such interactions.)
Mindfire has been elevating its quality and standards of work, of tech talent, continuously over the years.
We receive tremendous interest from thousands and thousands of aspirants, and create opportunities for as many people as possible. We are humbled by the response we have received to our package/offer for software engineering freshers in 2014, and appreciate everyone’s interest in joining Mindfire. Thank you from all of us, from the bottom of our hearts!
But we are not done.
We take another significant step today; hold your breath.
Our entry-level tech talent salary and offer package for 2014 was already among the highest nationwide. Today, we are glad to announce further revision of Mindfire’s entry-level (fresher) salary to Rs 42,000 per month – Rs 5,04,000 per year! This is among the topmost entry-level salaries for tech talent nationwide, and comfortably in the top 1%.
But we are not proud of our salary. Never. It is our people we are proud of. Always.
Focusing on original system development and full-cycle software product construction, Mindfire hires the best software developers. We look specifically for real-world programming ability – that natural knack for programming, that eye for detail, that passion for tech, that elegance of code, that clean flow of mind and that interest for work. If you have joined Mindfire, you are easily among the top 1% in tech ability and potential in India – congratulations!
If you have interest in work and passion for tech, and are confident of your programming chops – Mindfire is your paradise. India’s leading tech magazine – Dataquest – called Mindfire “Techies’ Paradise” many years back. That is what we enjoy being, that is who we are.
With this step, Mindfire makes clear its intent to become the top career choice for those who love innovative software development. Come home.
Two Mindfireans – Nirmal and Tadit – will be traveling to Kathmandu shortly, to speak at the DevTechDays event organized by Microsoft Innovation Center, Nepal on September 20 2014.
http://www.devtechday.com/
http://www.devtechday.com/Speakers.aspx
Nirmal will speak on “Jumpstart for Xamarin Forms”. Xamarin is an interesting way to write code in C# and have it run on iOS, Android, Mac and Windows. http://www.xamarin.com
Tadit will speak on “Introduction to ASP.NET vNext”. ASP.NET vNext is the next generation of ASP.NET, in preview with some interesting stuff. http://www.asp.net/vnext
It is interesting how unexpected things come up, and that Mindfire is contributing in its own way to Nepal’s technology community and knowledge ramp-up. To celebrate their new opportunity and our new moment of pride, Nirmal and Tadit receive a Special Award of Rs 20,000 each!
Nirmal and Tadit: congratulations, best wishes and bon voyage!
Weekends start on Saturdays. What if they could start on Fridays? What?!? Are you out of your mind?
Hmm.
Carlos Slim set the dialog rolling for fewer workdays recently. He advocated 3 11-hour workdays a week. Larry Page has referred to a 4-day week. Debate has continued, with views ranging from impracticality to glee. The more I think about it, the more I believe it is worth trying.
What if we actually do it while the world debates about it?
Allow me to share some thoughts – benefits, problems, constraints, and possibility.
Benefits
Contiguous time off from work helps our minds to relax, and our fires to recharge. It means time for hobbies and interests. Learning for techaholics. Research for thinkers. Tinkering for doers. Open-source contribution or personal projects for workaholics. Ideas for would-be entrepreneurs. Community and social work for do-gooders. Parties for party animals! Travel for travel-lovers. Family and kids time. Romance for couples. Sports for sport lovers. Home travel for those from other cities. A mix of all of the above for most of us!
Better life. Broader outlook. Broader minds. Better work.
Problems
On days you work, your work of 11-12 hours blocks out the rest of life. Those days can be more tiring. Work can suffer. An organization with longer weekends may be mistaken to be lazy, under-ambitious, and neglectful of work.
Constraints
With many benefits, fewer work days seem attractive. But there are constraints we have to consider.
Commitment
Every organization commits something to its customers/clients. At Mindfire, we commit 160 hours of work a month, 40 hours a week. Anything less and we have to suffer – when the organization earns less, everyone earns less. Work is the economic activity which generates wealth for all. Income is carved from eternity with our time. When income suffers, everyone suffers. That cannot be allowed to happen.
Non-work activities at work
In flexible workplaces, most of us have some non-work activities at work, perhaps about 10% of the time. In other words, 40 hours of work need about 44 hours at work.
Possibilities!
Now let us consider the possibilities.
3 x 11
3 days of 11 hours each is 33 hours a week, so that is infeasible.
4 x 11
4 days of 11 hours each can mean 40 work hours, which is feasible. However, getting clients to agree to one day off every week, even when other days are used to make up – is tough. Anything which harms work, will harm those who work.
4 x 10 + 4
Practically doable, similar benefits: 4 10-hour days followed by 4 hours on Friday!
This would mean 9am-7pm or 11am-9pm or whatever, Monday through Thursday, and 9am-1pm or 11am-3pm or whatever on Friday. Work ends and the weekend begins with lunch on Friday! Yay!
Interesting? Interested?
This could be a giant step for work, a small leap towards Work 2.0.
What do you think?