The first is “How to Get Rich” by Felix Dennis, the founder of Dennis Publishing (publisher of Maxim, PCWorld, MacUser, and The Week). Felix is one of Britain’s best known self-made entrepreneurs with an  estimated value of between $400-$900M before tax.

Reading so far, it’s an honest and no-nonsense romp of Dennis’ life and the wisdom that he has gained from his experiences. it’s honest enough to say that getting rich may not necessarily make you happy but kids around that reading his book may improve your sex life.

Reading so far, he outlines what it means to be rich and how motivation and not necessarily intelligence that will move you to reach your objective. The ferocity of one’s motivational drive is the secret of many rich people is what he is espousing in the chapters that I’ve read so far.

The road to financial success may be lonely and it even comments that our traditional notion that teamwork is the key to  success may only be true to those who aspire not to be rich -“Teamwork is the glue that binds losers together.”

Anyway, I’m still halfway to reading the book and I will give my review of it after I’ve finished.

Grabbed from Orange Juice Blog:

The Elite / MVP (Most Valuable Programmer) – They are the best. The last line of defense when the critical-dead line of a project must be done. They are the untouchable. If you are 10 on the group, he done almost 70% of the job. He is much better than your team leader, best than the seniors. The right man for the job. Even though in personal life, he got the style.

The Copy-Paste Programmer – These individual proves that the google serves us well especially on our careers. He can give you solution in less than a minute with a variety of more than 20 selections. We called it “The Search Engine Professionals.” They are the experts in browsing the web. Copy the code, paste the code, edit the code, and compile the code.

Undercover Programmer – Free MP3(s), music video, hentai access codes, etc… name it! They got it all! Spending more time in their cubicles searching for free downloadable music for his MP3 player. Half of his working time setting up a bot on Ragnarok Online. Inviting friends on friendster or perhaps, muting the speaker so that the sound of the “Bang Bus” wouldn’t be heard.  Spend more time seeking for the light than coding. But take note, these guys can surely give you anything you need when the demon inside you whispers.

The “Lord Of Codes” – These multi-talented developers are inhabited on the so-called “crisis” here in the Philippines. They are also experts in software marketing. From selling codes to client trading. They earned the unimaginable. They are the big time.  They don’t need plaques or awards. They are well armed and aiming for the gold!

The Remora – In ecology subject way back on our high school days… the remora is the fish that stays and eats the leftover of the shark. These programmers are very similar to the remora, they are earning as much as you do. But believe it or not, they spent almost a year on the company without enough knowledge on programming aspect. In a team, he is the worst in coding. He lets the other do the job. He is visible to the eye and yet invisible when it comes to presence of team developing.

The Unleashed – This person is not a programmer or a developer. These people are not working on an IT-related job neither. But they have the talent. They are the undiscovered. The forbidden. They are one of the victims of misfortune events. They are not qualified technically but when it comes to skill and talent… they are one that morpheus and trinity is looking for.

The Sons of Blaise Pascal – They are good as the The Elite. They are also the best. They are the geeks. Spending more time in front of the computer screen than sleeping. They are workaholics. They are active in forums and online communities. They take their job at home. They see their job as an Obra Maestra where computer programming is their art. They are the nerds.

The Back Street Boys – These guys are the one who is taking advantage of their looks and achieved education. They are partially good. These are the people you can see at the café near the office. They have the good interpersonal skill rather than coding skills. They have the quickest promotion due to their “pa-cuteness” and boss-to-employee relations. They are friendly. They are the ones to be seen most by our bosses. Where the competition at the company is not on programming performance anymore.

The Oldies But Goodies Programmer – These veterans are well known for the witnesses of the computer evolution. From 3.1 to Vista, lotus to excel, VB1 to VBNET, monkey to human. They are the “Kuya” among the group. They work hard for their family. They are very supportive. They separate boys from men. They earn respect due to their ancient knowledge.

What kind of programmer are you?

Some of the photos we took during Typhoon Ondoy. These photos are taken at the Floodway area in Pasig City.The flood in the street where I went was neck deep. Thank goodness there are SUVs nearby  and elevated sidewalks.

The family of my girlfriend was trapped and stayed during that time on another house that has a second floor. The water in their area was more than 6 feet. Water has subsided now. All that is left is mud all over the place.

_+_o_O_o_+_

In light of the economic downturn, many of the companies have started to look inside their organizations on how to better manage their operations and cut costs. But related to operational efficiency, one element that is not being given much attention to is how trust is capitalized to ensure sustainability.

Too often we are inclined to tell people what they want to hear. We get the instant gratification of their approval without thought of its repercussion of how it will come back to us. Communication has been going only from top to bottom because the other direction has been influenced by individual fear of communicating with a person in a higher position. I’ve observed this to be common among our countrymen. Either we are too shy to speak up our minds or we are afraid to go against a common sentiment even if we hold valuable information that could turn the table.

With the current crisis described by some as the worst since the Great Depression, never has the need to be able to adapt instantaneously more imperative. To help in adopting a more open culture, the following recommendation may be useful in practicing transparency and candor in our workplace.

1. Start with your own behavior. Look first into your own behavior then move outward. Set yourself as a role model of how you want others to treat you.
2. Tell the truth. Avoid the impulse of just telling others what they want to hear. Look first into the authenticity of the information you hold instead of just throwing out something for the convenience of getting done with it.
3. Be consistent. Consistency makes people more trusting, even for bad news, than having someone like a salesperson who uses deception just to close a deal.
4. Encourage your people to speak truth to people in higher-ups. It’s extraordinarily difficult for people lower in a hierarchy to tell higher-ups unpalatable truths – but that’s what the higher-ups need to know, because often employees have access to information about problems that they don’t.
5. Admit your mistake and move forward. We are only human and it’s understandable that we sometimes commit mistake. But what turns this situation into a positive event is how we learn from our shortcomings and is able to move forward as a better person.
6. Have an immediate plan of action to correct your action. Translate your new found experience into something tangible. After admitting your shortcoming, have a plan of action of on how to correct it and avoid doing the same mistake.

Quoting from Charles Darwin, “It is not the strongest of species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change.“

Some of my photos from my former company.

I would thank you from the bottom of my heart, but for you my heart has no bottom.