Tag: Work

LinkedIn Passwords Leaked

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

Some of you might have read earlier this month about LinkedIn passwords being leaked. I did not think twice about such things dismissing the entire event as a minor leak and thinking that it would not have impacted my account.

Today, sitting there like a shining beacon of I-told-you-so, was a mail from LinkedIn –

We recently became aware that some LinkedIn passwords were compromised and posted on a hacker website. We immediately launched an investigation and we have reason to believe that your password was included in the post.

Imagine that! Finally something that has directly impacted you! Or did they just send a blanket email?

I remember that when I was working in eYantra, something as preposterous as this had happened during the first couple of months of our e-commerce platform deployment. A developer had accidentally reset the password database of users. I was forced to draft an email to be sent to the users to reset their passwords, I still remember the shame with which my face was red. Who at LinkedIn must be feeling like this?

This event, combined with the Blizzard fiasco of case-insensitive passwords brings end-user and customer account security back in the front-line media. A call for Personal Security 101. Rajat Swarup, where art thou?

India Bandh, A waste of time and money

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

The entire nation was in uproar with the recent price hike in petrol prices. A 10% hike essentially meant that suddenly the 14 litres of petrol I bought with INR 1000 would be reduced to 13. Agreed, that the uproar seemed to be fueled by the opposition party, but hey, that’s why they are there in the first place! To keep the ruling party in check.

A nation-wide bandh seemed like an appropriate action. 31st May was set as the D-Day and the entire nation waited.

The employees of the nation waited because of the undisputed holiday that they would get.

The shopkeeper’s waited because of the surge in sales before and after the strike that they would get.

Media waited (with baited breath) to create a highly hyped event out of this.

I woke up late hoping that it would be a holiday in our company. Sadly, it was’nt and I had to reach office. Due to my family’s concern for my safety, I was asked to walk the distance to my office. The only reason I agreed was that I could see first hand how things were there out on the roads. On TV the strike had taken its toll, all channels were talking about the mediocre success of the strike throughout the nation. With the exception of Aurangabad (and possibly Kolkata), the rest of the cities seemed to be working in swing.

Shops were closed till 5pm (with the exception of chemists), and PSU units were kept closed. Most of the private enterprises were open and local transport was working. All in all, this strike had gone to the dogs.

Yesterday, the efforts of the strike had borne fruit. Finally, some results! To my chagrin, the margin by which the hike was reduced was a measly 2 INR per litre. Meh! Not only was this strike a waste of time, but also a waste of money. The only person who would really be affected by this is the common man. All the others will hike up their prices … the employees will have to wait for their poorly done appraisals.

I wonder if there is a correlation of the inflation rate of the country to the attrition amongst employees?

Google Search Update

Prasad Ajinkya2 Comments

I had earlier posted about a starters guide to SEO. Back then my understanding of this was also developing and the only way I could add to my understanding of the subject was via experiments … that I carried out on this blog, and also at work.

Finally, we did arrive at a scalable solution. A solution for SEO which could easily be replicated and scaled for almost all my target keywords. Out of a target 5000+ keywords, we managed to get in the top 10 for a decent 3000 of them, and would have proceeded to touch base upon all of them as well (do remind me to release this as well!)

Had it not been for the upcoming Google, I would have went ahead with the plan. However, the new update effectively means that all black hat SEO tactics (which the Indian SEO industry is famous for) will be negatively penalized. So throw your keyword stuffing, badly written English to match your keywords, slightly different versions to match the keyword variants, and link submissions out of the best practices window.

I wonder what would be the extent of the penalty levied by the new algorithm on sites which are already way ahead on their link submissions. Getting those links off the 1000 or so directories is going to be tough!!

Here’s a parting thought, that Google Search is embedded in so many Digital Strategist’s plans, that people are not even considering to optimize their pages for other search engines (such as Bing). Isn’t it great how being a market leader can impact an entire industry?

Note to Self – Learn about Bing optimization and work on generating search traffic from Bing.

Starters guide to SEO

Prasad Ajinkya4 Comments

One part of my role at Pristine is building up the site traffic, be it via Paid Advertising, Referral traffic or via Search Engines.

Anyone who has indulged in Paid Advertising would know how expensive it can turn out to be if you do not know what you are doing. It can be very effective in the short term, however for long term and more sustainable results, relying on non-paid search results is far better. Hence SEO or Search Engine Optimization.

The problem with SEO is that almost everyone who has a website think that they should do SEO, and SEO is playing around with meta tags. Seems simplistic no? In the past month or so, the amount of people whom I have talked to regarding to SEO has shown how less people know about the workings. Add to it the complexity of the ever-changing algorithm of search engines such as Google, Bing, etc.

The idea behind SEO is to target specific keywords for specific pages on your site, so that when your target audience searches for those keywords, your site shows up in the search results.

Here are some tips which I would have appreciated when I started off. Please do keep in mind, that I am no self-professed expert in SEO, just that like all of us around here, even I am learning, and this post is one such humble attempt to share whatever that I have learned, and what I know works to get results. Having said that, I know it would help all of us if you could point out any errors that i have made, or make suggestions and provide additional tips!

  • Read up on your meta tags, some of them are useful. Make a note of the description and author tags, you would be working with description the most.
  • Do not target more than 2-3 keywords per page, since you have to use that keyword in all the different important sections of the page viz., description tag, title tag, h1 tag, main content, etc. you cannot really target 1-2 keywords without damaging the copy of your page.
  • If you are working with a tight budget, then use a free tool such as Traffic Travis, the demo version is free. If you have a decent sized budget, then I would highly recommend Pro SEO MOz, it not only has a very comprehensive SEO tool, but also it has an extensive knowledge base on SEO
  • Search Engine’s maintain the authority of websites, this is generally a factor of how well you write, and how many sites are linking to your content. Google especially is one search engine which rewards regular content creation, in fact the current search algo (don’t know why its called the panda update) also favors freshness of content. So the same page would rank higher if it were regularly updated.
  • Always look at the different search terms via which people are coming to your site. Those are essentially content creation triggers!
  • Many people swear by backlinking, citing different open directories to publish your site links. However, I am skeptical about this approach. The one thing I use this approach for is to check where are my competitors linking, and get my presence their as well. I think if you can create good quality content, then it will automatically fetch the backlinks that you require.
  • Search engines are also influenced by social behavior, so typically the search results shown in Google would be influenced with what your friends are sharing on your social networks. E.g- If I share this post on say Twitter and if you are following me on Twitter, then you would definitely see this as a search result!
  • SEO is a long drawn game, and it requires patience, practice and discipline. Do not expect magic to happen, it’s a slow and gradual process and does not happen over night. To hope for such miracles, either you need to be Larry Page or Steve Ballmer.

Coffee

Prasad Ajinkya2 Comments

When I was a programmer, I  really took a taste to coffee. Nothing beats a good techie discussion with a cuppa.  In fact I was so addicted to it during my first job that I used to consume 6-7 cups in a day on a regular basis.

Even today, coffee is part of the morning ritual where I focus my thoughts on work, on the top things to be done … over a problem. This time around, at Neev I have found fellow coffee lovers and aficionados. People who consume coffee in the same copious amounts (if not more) as me … and who can tell different flavors apart. In fact, I think one of the major cost centers at Neev would be coffee :-)

From the simple Nescafe powder, to the gold flakes of Nescafe to the variety of exotic flavors such as Brazilian, Vanilla beans, the rich aroma wafting through the office makes work such a welcome place. Each flavor having its unique aroma, taste, mix … it’s small things like these which makes life (and work) a better place.

Viewing this post after almost 6 years, and so many things have changed at that organization. Looking back, I’d say it was never the coffee, but the people which made that experience special.

We are hiring!

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

At Neev Knowledge Management, the focus is on growth. When the market you are addressing is fragmented with individuals and companies who have yet to make a mark, there is a requirement of good hands on deck who can ensure that the clear market leader is the organization they work for. As their toil brings to fruit, the firm grows and grows, so much that they have to look at bringing in more people who want to make a difference.

Such is the story at Neev, where the hires are not only checked for mettle but also if they gel well with the other people working in the firm. If you think you are a team player and can work well with different teams, then we have some openings that you may apply for –

  1. Account Executive
  2. Digital Marketing Executive
  3. Graphic Designer

To apply, simply drop a mail to the below mentioned email address with a copy of your resume and mention the post for which you are applying for in the subject of the email. We will be shortlisting the applications and will contact you within a week of your mail. If you do not hear from us, then you were not shortlisted for the interview process.

Do note that these openings are listed in the order of urgency. So we would be looking to hire an Account Executive immediately and a Graphic Designer later. For more details, please drop a mail to prasad at edupristine dot com.

10 things you need to do as a programmer

Prasad AjinkyaLeave a comment

Computer Engineer? Software Developer? Programmer? I have been in those shoes for quite some time, and I thought that I might share these tips with you folks. The article was originally published on Crazyengineers, but I have added to those and edited the article a bit.

  1. Read: Not only technical textbooks, but also other material. It gives you a good break from the programming, and it also builds your capacity to read and interpret long business requirement sheets.
  2. Cogitate: Before jumping into any program, think it through. Do you know the exact logic to be written? Do write down on a piece of paper what you intend to do. It may sound trivial but writing down helps clarify the problem.
  3. Communicate: Talk with your team mates, friends, colleagues, seniors, clients (if you get the chance) … talk about the project, talk about the technology involved … it helps solve problems that you could be stuck, it also helps you in understanding the subject matter better.
  4. Collaborate: Offer to help your team mates, understand what they are working on. There is a deep satisfaction in helping your friends and colleagues. Not only do you learn new things, but also you earn the respect of those colleagues.
  5. Why?: Do not be afraid to ask this question. Sacred cows can be slaughtered when you ask questions. One who asks a question may seem a fool, one who does not remains so forever.
  6. Revisiting: Do not cringe from revisiting your own code. It gives you an opportunity to improve your work.
  7. Change: It is constant. Businesses change, systems change, people change, requirements change, and scopes as well change! Do not for once think that a static view of applications is acceptable. So when you work on something do ensure that it is flexible and open to change.
  8. Documentation: This is the key to your freedom. If you do not do enough of this, you will never be able to make your work independent of you. In this case, you will never be relieved of that task. Point number 5 becomes all the more important!
  9. Humility: Do not be ashamed for asking help. Help within the team, to seniors … even asking for help on public forums and IRC networks. Most people are more than happy to help someone who asks nicely.
  10. Disconnect: Sometimes you need to stop the fast pace of work, and take breaks. Go on outings on the weekends, go out with your friends, your family. Connect offline and disconnect from work. It helps.