"If I am leaving for another job, how hard would you fight to keep me here?"

Click pic for link to slideshow (120 something slides)

I thought I had a pretty decent gig before-work wherever I want, wear whatever I want, do what I need to do without any supervision, compensated fairly well for the relatively short hours I put in, plus we get free drinks.  Netflix just blew that out of the water with their pitch and not just because of their value on competitive compensation, it's how they treat their top talent and the kind of people they surround talents with.  Whenever I meet someone who is smart, that can challenge me respectfully or just know what the hell they are talking about, it is a good day, I think an environment like that is conducive to breeding even more top talents.

"With the right people, instead of a culture of process adherence, a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility, Innovation and Self-Discipline"
I hate total process that paints one broad stroke, this is so it can address the issue two folds, first ensure that lower performing employees are doing it and secondly high performing employees can pick up the slack of lower performing ones.

I don't think it's fair nor productive in the long run, I completely agree with Netflix in that, higher performing employees make less errors and are faster to admit to their mistakes and corrects them, I think pride and accountability goes hand in hand.  The phrase you get what you pay for comes to mind whenever I see these situations.  I love the slide about Netflix is a team, not a family, and a pro team, not a kids recreational team, cuts need to be made so there are star players at every position.  LOVE IT!

It's logical because I believe how a great company came to be is when a few brilliant guys get together they came up w/a great idea that evolves into a great company, these guys have been around the block and are high performing people and have pride in their work, they have the capabilities to recognize and hire others based on their similar habits and mindframe.  Experienced, intelligent minds can sift through the bullshit.  For example, I think technical knowledge or field related knowledge is trivial in the interview process because for a sharp person those knowledge are easily picked up once consistently exposed in that environment.  I think instead of asking a person WHAT they know solely field related, we should ask a question like this one, nontechnical, nonfield related but just sees how a person's mind would work when dealing w/an issue.
I came up with this just for the purpose of this blog entry:
"I turned my tv on but there's nothing on, what's wrong?!"
My mind is geared in engineering mode and I question the wording of the question immediately, I would ask:

1. Do you mean you turned the TV on but there's nothing you would enjoy watching is playing?
2. By "on" do you mean the TV turned on but there's no picture or you pressed ON and nothing happened?

Then we would of course dive into the different avenues for problem resolution.  I think we should value the mental capabilities of a person versus what they think they've known previously because in most jobs, not many bring transferrable technical skills from one job to another.  It's always a new ballgame and what sets an MLB Ace apart from any pitcher is not all about his bag of tricks (mariano rivera-one trick, I know he's not an Ace, but one of the best closer, just go with the analogy) but how you can adapt, learn and execute EVERY NIGHT in different situations.  I'm ready to get on the mound and get my Roy Halladay on, oh look there's an open position in Los Gatos, CA for a Systems Engineer position...Is NorCal my next stop?!

SIDENOTE:  AMERICANS are obsessed with sports analogies...is it because it is so relatable to everyone?

Friends Becoming Strangers

Friends Becoming Strangers | Men's Health Singapore

I read that article online today and it hit the nail right on the head.  I've been "off the grid", ie social media, for a little over the week.  I still do login once a day just to see if there are any messages sent to me or anything important (which doesn't make any sense because important to me would be a friend of mine contacting me regarding something urgent, which facebook would be a poor choice of communication).  One of the reason I stopped going onto facebook was I noticed that I don't contact my friends personally for a what's up.  Instead of texting them and have a conversation (which also is a poor form of communication) where we would at least exchange a couple of texts w/o fearing others can see our conversation, we would post on wall or have a conversation on a status update but I think it's just unauthentic because we can't fully express ourselves in a public forum.  It is more personal now.

Regarding the short blog above, it is interesting he pointed out that he sees two people going out and be on their phone.  I never got that.  LIVE IN THE PRESENT!  I've thought about this before, I've noticed that the times that I have the most fun are the ones that aren't posted on facebook, because I'm actually having fun and doing other things other than reading about others PRETENDING they are having fun or PRETENDING myself that I am having fun.  When people are truly enjoying life, they don't have time to waste it reading about others or posting what they're doing right now so others know about it, all that matters is the memory you had, not digital.

When life throws you blows.

I think this is the most universally applicable motivational speech I can remember.  We've all went through those tough times where we've lost material things, people, opportunities, money, and lastly time.  Each time we go through this we feel the usual despair that comes w/the territory of failure or loss-the sense of hopelessness and misfortune, the usual why me?  However, I think as human, innately we are wired to be able to cope with failure and move on, it is a survival instinct, and I think what separates the ordinary from the extraordinary is the how we overcome and how fast we can do it.

I can't recall how many times I've felt if this didn't have happened to me and what if this person gave me this or if someone's decision would benefit me more favorably how my life would be.  I think it is normal to think about the what ifs but at the end of the day, you can't live on what ifs.  What ifs can't change your life now or change your future, only what now can.  Rocky telling me to just go out and get it is just bonechilling.  How true is that statement but each day we forget what we're capable of doing, whether at our career, the relationships we have with eachother, we could make it better.  As humans we are susceptible to homeostasis as in keeping things habitual/constant and manageable.  We like to say we hate "the same ol' thing" but subconsciously we strive to achieve as little variable in our lives as possible.  Few ever strives to get out of their comfort zone and just do something, take a risk, do more than you're required, because we've been conditioned to just be w/in status quo.  I think as humans, we are conditioned to always compare ourselves to others and everything we have is in somehow in relations to someone else.  Rocky saying stop giving an F and to stop pointing fingers never rang so true.

I think we are obsessed with the saying "rise like a phoenix out of the ashes" because it is so mystic, so extraordinary, so superhuman.  Being Superhuman, we all desire to achieve what ordinary people can't.  I'm not out to achieve extraordinary things, I'm out to work on what I feel I am capable of and going above it.  We all don't have to be Rocky, we all don't have to be Phoenixes, but we all can certainly be better than whatever it is we think the best that we can be.
"what's the difference between a champion and a challenger, a champion already conquered his caliber"
-Papoose

Crossing Over

Crossing Over was an extremely intense movie for me to watch, because the subject matter is so close to the heart for me. Most probably haven't seen it and before I saw it I haven't even seen any preview for the movie. The cinematics are very similiar to that of the movie "Crash" in that within a setting characters' lives are intertwined but Crossing Over was not as closely knitted as it was in Crash. Without ruining the movie for you, which I would strongly recommend watching, the gist of the movie is about legal/illegal aliens living in the US and their struggles to become a citizen.

I'm going to admit it, some scenes were hard for me because it caused confliction between my high affection for this country and some of the nonsensical bureaucratic laws that imposes it. The focus on the Islamic girl was very hard for me to take, because as any intelligent human being with the ability to think beyond blinded patriotism you can certainly appreciate the Jihad point of view she presented regarding 9/11. Without saying much more about it and giving it away, I can only say that sometimes we certainly are not free to say what we want if it conflicts with society's accepted point of view.

Compared to these people, whom I honestly believe are not as farfetched as you may imagine just because it's a movie, my journey here and to where I am today, a naturalized American citizen, is as easy as Paris Hilton's rise to fame. I flew on a plane, not in a shackled fishing boat or crossed hundreds of miles in the desert. I was never in a containment camp but rather a campus for learning the American ways. I was never questioned about why the USA should accept me as a citizen and what qualifications do I possess for them to grant me citizenship. I went to the naturalization office in Philly, the nat. officer asked me 3 questions, verbally, and I don't think he even looked at my answers. I was granted citizenship. I can't even remember when this happened. It was just another day for me. .. then.

I'm pretty fortunate in what was given to me, and I appreciate it everyday. Everyday I think about getting better, achieving higher goals, improving my career yet certainly that would not be possible w/o being here and having the right to pursue those dreams. Some people's dreams are just to be here, and not get deported, mine is to seize the American dream, and that's pretty awesome. The last scene of the movie is pretty ironic to me, the Asian who was given a second chance is laying on his bed chatting on his iBook with his naturalization certificate framed above his bed. Right there is what being a have country rather than the doesn't have one...