Documenting Success

Why I haven’t posted in a while (again) No comments yet
Published on June 16th, 2007

Sometimes when you think you got it all figured out, you know exactly what course your life is going to lead over the next few weeks (or more), God reminds you that it’s really Him that’s in charge, and something completely unexpected happens.

I guess that’s what happened to me over the last few weeks. Just as I finished working on the initial version of octop.us, and figured that from then on, I’d spend my free time working on that, I was faced with an opportunity that I simply could not pass up.

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Community tips from a person behind MetaFilter No comments yet
Published on May 24th, 2007

I’ve been looking for articles and blog posts with helpful tips on how to build a community, for my fledgling site Octop.us and I’ve stumbled onto this great article by Matt Haughey, a man behind MetaFilter.com.

In the article “Some Community tips for 2007″ Matt shares some of the things that helped him turn MetaFilter into what it is now. I gotta say, some of those gave me some pretty interesting ideas for what to do with my website, and I can’t wait to start implementing them. Here’s my favorite one:

If I had to give a reason why most newspaper blogs are filled with cranky screeds posted anonymously, I’d have to say having a generic blank comment form is key. Most every community that I contribute to offers a comprehensive user profile/history page, letting members customize to their hearts content and allow their profile to reflect their personality. When I think of mainstream news, TV, and newspaper sites trying to solicit comments from readers, I’ve yet to find something close to even a basic community site. The New York Times requires me to register to read most stories, but their blog system gives me a blank generic comment form when I want to comment on a blog post.

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Why you should NOT work for yourself (right away) 11 comments
Published on January 24th, 2007

What should I do with my life? That is the question almost all of us wondered at some point. Even if you knew from the beginning that your destiny lies in the field of, say, financial accounting, one question still remains relevant – should you go out and get a job working for “the man” or start your own business?

Traditionally, the self-help industry’s standard advice has been to do your own thing. Books like “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” go into great detail as to why it is preferred to work for yourself. The personal development blogosphere has been echoing the same advice. And in fact, I wholeheartedly agree that there is no better way to achieve success and financial independence than to be your own boss.

However, I don’t think that people should be blindly accepting what authority dictates. Starting a business might have worked for the author, but it may not be the prescription for you. I think the smarter thing would be to consider the benefits and drawbacks of both, and then decide for yourself.

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How to search for a job after college – Part IV: Money negotiations 1 comment
Published on January 17th, 2007

(This is Part IV – the last one of the series. Here are Part I, Part II and Part III)

Once you get past the interview stage, the hard part is over. If the company starts talking to you about money, you can high-five or pat yourself on the back. They just gave you a sign that they could be (not necessarily are) interested in hiring you. All you have to do now is maintain a good impression that you left at the interview, agree on the money, and hopefully see what you’ve been waiting for – the offer letter. Here are some tips on making it happen.

Money negotiations

If a company decided to hire you, there are two ways in which your salary can be determined. One way is that the salary for the position is fixed. Usually, that’s true for big bureaucratic organizations such as US Government. In that case, there’s not much room for negotiations. The other case is when the salary for your position is flexible (as long as it is within the department’s budget.) That is where you’ll have the most freedom to negotiate your salary.

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How to search for a job after college – Part III: Interview 2 comments
Published on January 17th, 2007

(This is Part III of the series. Here are Part I, Part II and Part IV)

While you’re talking to friends about job openings in their companies, and sending out resumes, you should keep in mind why you’re doing this. And even though your ultimate goal, of course, is to find a job, everything that I’ve described up to this point has been dedicated to one intermediate goal: getting an interview.

When does the interview begin?

Most people have a wrong impression of when the interview starts. They think that it begins with the question “So, tell me about yourself” at a formal sit-down with the hiring manager. In reality, your interview began a lot earlier, when the company contacted you – either by phone or email – regarding your resume. Everything you do from that point on will determine your hiring chances.

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How to build your confidence 1 comment
Published on January 15th, 2007

Casey Combden has a very interesting post on confidence building. He gives a few very practical tips that I found very helpful. I like this one in particular:

Be a “front seater”… sitting in the front row, tells people your present, your confident and you’re involved. When you sit at the back of any room, it’s a visual and mental indication of your commitment to that subject. Confidence means you are in the heat of the action, in the front row. Not on the sidelines, of the back row. Come early stay late, it shows strength and confidence.

I couldn’t agree more. It’s very true in any situation I can think of – from family, school to business meetings. For the whole article, click here

How to search for a job after college – Part I: Resume and cover letter 8 comments
Published on January 4th, 2007

(This is Part I of the series. Here are Part II, Part III and Part IV)

In 2003, I graduated from Stony Brook University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. In retrospect, I could not have picked a less appropriate time to enter the job market. During my senior year, I met some recent computer science graduates driving trucks or working in a deli – the job market was so atrocious that they could not land an offer.

There were very few companies willing to hire recent grads, because a lot of people with 10 or more years of experience were jobless, and were willing to work for entry-level salaries. Those that did hire set impossibly high standards – 3.5 (out of 4.0) GPA, degree with honors, and years of real world experience in a big corporation – right after you graduate. My GPA was below 3.0 and I graduated with no honors whatsoever.

Nevertheless, with hard work, I found the career of my dreams. After coming home from my temporary job, I put in 4-5 hours daily into my job searching. At the time I wished there was a complete guide to job hunting, but there was none. With this article (split in multiple parts due to length) I hope to fill the void for that guide. If you’re not a recent college grad, you should still read on, because some of the items you will discover will come as a surprise to even the most experienced job hunters.

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How to save money, become smarter and more successful 2 comments
Published on December 6th, 2006

“See, the sad thing about a guy like you is in 50 years you’re gonna start doin’ some thinkin on your own and you’re gonna come up with the fact that there are two certaintees in life. One, don’t do that. And two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on an education you coulda got for a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library” – Will, Good Will Hunting.

I love reading. I read a lot. And ever since getting my first apartment a few years ago, I nurtured a dream to build an extensive personal library. I envisioned vast walls filled with most fascinating books, and every one of them would be special to me. The dream was born from thinking fondly back to childhood, when I used to spend a lot of time in my grandparents’ apartment. My grandfather was a prominent scientist, and his library was FANTASTIC. He had books on every possible topic – history, philosophy, archaeology, paleontology, biology, languages, science fiction, mystery novels, classics, poetry, books in Russian, English, German, Ukrainian … I credit much of how incredibly smart (and modest!) I’ve turned out to spending time at my grandfather’s library.

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How to start and keep practicing any activity 5 comments
Published on November 28th, 2006

You all know the scenario: inspired by reading, seeing or hearing how great and useful something is, you decide to incorporate it into your life. Be it going to the gym, learning how to play golf, writing a page of your novel a day, it’s going to make you healthier, make your life better, it’s good for your teeth, etc.

Bursting with enthusiasm, you set bold goals for yourself, faithfully following your new schedule. Until one day, you miss it. You might have a perfectly good excuse, but it really doesn’t matter. You missed a day, and then another one. You know where this is going – soon enough you stop doing that activity altogether, felling pretty bad about yourself. You might make up elaborate excuses as to why it didn’t work out. You might do the opposite and get depressed, thinking that you’re a weak-willed person, since you can’t follow through with something that is beneficial for you.

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