[ Sajith M ]

All employees of the Company are required to be in Business Formal wear on all working days.
Men: Full sleeves light colored shirt, dark trousers, tie, black shoes and dark socks
Women: Western business formals, cotton churidar kameez, salwar kameez, starched cotton saris and professional looking sandals.

The above lines were found in an offer letter from a software development organization based in Trivandrum for the position of Senior Software Engineer. Yes that’s right, they expect you to wear shoes and neckties in the hot and humid Trivandrum. Wow! I am surprised that they actually manage to hire people despite this.

I wonder if there is any justification for a dress code policy at all. If we accept that the primary responsibility of a software developer is to develop and maintain software, does it matter what the person is wearing while he is performing the function that he is hired for. I usually wear t-shirt, denims and sandals to office. Can anyone argue that wearing “Full sleeves light colored shirt, dark trousers, tie, black shoes and dark socks” will make me more productive? Most intelligent beings would be immediately able to answer that in negative. Still people persist with this patently stupid notion called a dress code.

Here are some of the typical arguments for having a dress code. And then my attempt at explaining why its all bull.

• Uniformity: You usually see this in the military. Why should a private firm that is not even remotely linked to the military try to use similar tactics is beyond me. Also, I am unaware of any instance where uniformity has been helpful in the task of software development. Different ideas, different thoughts are actually required in this environment and trying to curb the individualism by imposing uniformity is an attempt at what can only be called self-destruction.
• What would the clients think if they see you: Last few years, I am yet to see someone who was upset on seeing a developer in the casual attire. Am not including people from banking and financial sector as they seem to belong to an entirely different planet altogether. That said. I dress differently when I am meeting a client or a VC. Assuming that you have hired intelligent beings, would it not be better to treat them as such? Would not “dress appropriately” be a better policy than a strict dress code?
• Without a dress code chaos would ensue: Again, I have not seen any evidence of this.
• I like to dress “professionally”: I wonder when and how did a necktie or suit become associated with being professional. But leaving that aside, if you like to dress up, by all means do it. But don’t force others to follow in your footsteps, let them take their decisions.
• It is a career booster: Do you really want to work at a company where how you dress is all that matters? Do you really want to work at a company where the only way to move up the career ladder is to ape the suits? There are plenty of companies out there who would hire you for the skills you bring to the table. Is it not better to work for them instead?

Final Notes
If you are not comfortable dressing “up”, don’t go working for one. When you interview with a firm if all the interviewers are in formals, then that should be a warning signal for you. Heed the warning and don’t walk away, just RUN :-)

Posted under: Thoughts
Tagged with: Dress Code, Formal wear, Software Development, Software Engineer

Motorola seemed to have lost the Razr sharp touch of creating magic with phones. Over the last few years Razr and Ming were perhaps the only decent phones that came out of the Moto stable and just we had given up all hopes, Motorola has unveiled the Evoke.

Some pictures:

Looks like a brilliant product. Hope this helps the company come out of the mess that it finds itself in.

Posted under: Technology , Gadgets
Tagged with: Evoke, Motorola

This is what Obama told a business round table, which comprised of top US CEOs, on Thursday:

The last thing, I think, that we have to pay some attention to is making sure that we’re not dropping back into protectionism.

While one would be tempted to agree with Obama here, the problem seems to be that the US president wants other countries to stay away from protectionism, while the US legislators continue to draw up legislation that smack of protectionism. For evidence look no further than the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 mandating the use of iron and steel and manufactured in the United States or the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) placing restrictions on H-1B visa.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Section 1110) says, “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this act may be used for a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron and steel used in the project is produced in the United States”.

While recipients of TARP funds will be subjected to the same rules so-called H-1B dependent employers must follow. (An H-1B dependent employer is one whose workers brought in with that visa comprise 15% or more of the employer’s total workforce.) These rules include:
1. The employer can’t displace any similarly employed US worker with an H-1B hire within 90 days before or after applying for H-1B status or an extension of status.
2. The employer can’t place any H-1B worker at the worksite of another employer, meaning it can’t outsource a worker for a client, unless that employer first makes a “bona fide” inquiry as to whether the other employer has displaced or will displace a US worker within 90 days before or after the placement of the H-1B worker.
3. The employer has to take good-faith steps to recruit US workers for the job opening, at wages at least equal to those offered to the H-1B worker. The employer must offer the job to any US worker who applies and is equally or better qualified than the H-1B worker.

The US protectionist policies would not only erode the competitiveness of US companies, they could also lead to more other countries setting up their own trade barriers, and a tit for tat war could ensue justified by ‘See someone has put up barriers against us, and we are only retaliating against the barriers’. This would be bad for the US economy and the economy of other countries; bad for world economy as a whole.

While this statement from Obama would have been welcome under normal circumstances; under the current circumstances when the legislators are cooking up legislations to arm-twist and enforce the “Buy American” slogan, this statement comes up as being nothing more than pure hypocrisy.

Posted under: Thoughts
Tagged with: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, competitiveness, H-1B, Protectionism, TARP, Troubled Assets Relief Program, United States

The Hindu writes:

“Our activists will go around with a priest, a turmeric stub and a mangalsutra on February 14. If we come across couples being together in public and expressing their love, we will take them to the nearest temple and conduct their marriage” Mr. Muthalik said.

Now is this not absolutely great? I mean this is the best social service anyone can do. Think about it, you love someone but the parents don’t like the idea, so what do you do?
Well, thanks to the Muthalik Wedding Services, all you need to do is be with your loved one and get caught by the activists; they will get you married (hopefully, you won’t be charged for the service) and then you can go back home (now as a couple) and tell everyone concerned that you were forcibly married by Mr. Muthalik’s activists. Ah! Is that not so very simple? :-)

Posted under: Thoughts
Tagged with: Moral Policing

The chief minister says “Attacking women-this is not part of our culture…if required, the government will invoke Goonda Act”. And while this is welcome indeed, it remains to be seen if the government will follow through on this promise. In the meanwhile, there seem to be some disturbing trends emerging here as we had the chief minister also saying “We will not allow pub culture in Karnataka”

Toeing the right-wing group Sri Ram Sene Pramod Muthalik’s line, Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has said that pub culture is wrong and should not be permitted. Yeddyurappa said that this (pub culture) was not a part of our culture and it led to unfortunate incidents like the one in Mangalore.

Makes one wonder which side of the divide is he really on…

On a lighter note, will we get to relive the glorious days of Khajuraho and Kamasutra? Well, they are also part of the culture, or aren’t they?

Posted under: City Life , Bangalore
Tagged with: Mangalore, Moral Policing

The incident last weekend in Mangalore, in which women were physically assaulted by a bunch of goons bearing allegiance to the Sri Ram Sene – a fringe right-wing outfit – simply because they chose to visit a pub is a matter of shame for the entire nation.

What culture are we talking of protecting? Is violence against anyone you can think of part of this culture? Is assaulting women also part of this culture that we talk of protecting? Does this culture endorse everything that happened at Mangalore?

Some people with a warped sense of Hinduism and Indian culture seem to be hell bent on imposing their view on the majority of people. And so far this intimidating tactic seem to be working with great effectiveness, thanks in no small part to our police force that seems to be virtually blind to everything that happens around it.

Incidentally, Mr. Pramod Muthalik please understand that culture cannot be static, rather it evolves with people. A culture that does not evolve with the times, simply dies. Indian culture is what India is now, it cannot be what India was 500 years earlier, or whatever else is it that you imagine it to be. If you prefer to remain a few centuries behind the rest of us, you are welcome to it; just don’t make everyone else do the same.

Posted under: Thoughts
Tagged with: Mangalore, Moral Policing

First, We had the SHRC exposing the police illegally detaining 11 people including 2 minors. Source

The Karnataka State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) conducted a raid on the Byatarayanapura police station in west Bangalore on Tuesday and found 11 people, including two minors, illegally detained. Byatarayanapura police had not registered any case against the eleven people. There was no record of any of them in the crime diary. Those rescued include Aniyappa (15) and Rajesh (12).

And then we have the commissioner of police calling the raids on the police station unreasonable. Source

Chairman of Karnataka State Human Rights Commission, Justice SR Nayak, said that this was the worst kind of human rights violation. “Children are assets, and we treat them like this,” he said. “The city police have crossed all limits. They do not require any medical evidence to prove that a child is a minor. They have not even registered a case or produced any of them before the magistrate, which has to be done 24 hours after someone is arrested.”
City Police Commissioner, Shankar M Bidari said that it was unreasonable for the SHRC to raid police stations and make statements that people are being detained illegally. “People have to be interrogated and police will keep them in the police station. How else can we detect crime?” he questioned.

Its interesting to note that Mr. Bidari has managed to find plenty of fault with the SHRC while keeping absolutely quite about the grossly illegal acts by his own department. Mr. Bidari since when did you start torturing 12 year old kids to detect crime. It’s not the kids who have committed a crime, rather its your very own department that has. And perhaps instead of finding fault with the SHRC, you should instead find (and fix) the problems with your own department. And yeah, admitting a mistake is not a bad thing if you go ahead and fix it. Try accepting the mistakes and fixing them instead of blaming people who expose the illegal acts of your department.

Posted under: Thoughts
Tagged with: Bangalore, Human Rights, Illegal detention, police, Torture

Things have conspired to keep me a bit busier than I would have liked and that means that I have not been able to spend any time on this blog. Hopefully, that will change soon. In the meanwhile, I am doing fine though a tad busy.

Posted under: Uncategorized
Tagged with: Blog, Busy, Personal

A new blog to welcome in the new year. Planning to use the new blog (http://blog.sajithmadhavan.com/) for everything related to technology – mostly software development stuff, while this blog (http://blog.sajithm.com/) will be the place where I post everything else.

Wish you all a Wonderful New Year ahead. May this year be filled with joy and happiness.

Posted under: Uncategorized

May you achieve what you aspire and may all your dream come true
Wish you a Happy New Year. Enjoy!!!

Image Courtsey: 123Greetings.com

Posted under: Uncategorized
Tagged with: Greetings, Happy New Year