Job Hunting and the Internet

Last weekend, I was honored to be invited to lead a seminar on the use of the social networking site LinkedIn, with a focus on job hunters. The event took place at the Westport Public Library as part of the “Trends in Technology” series.

One of the first points I made was that it’s unlikely that people will find their job through job postings on the Internet. Not only are most job postings fl ooded with hundreds, if not thousands, of responses, but the level of qualified applicants is often quite high given the current poor economy.

So what’s a person to do? What is an effective way to use the Internet for job hunting?

The good news is that the Internet enables people to make connections with people and companies that they may have otherwise never known. For example, with various social networking tools, such as LinkedIn, it’s easy to find that the parent of your second grade child’s friend works at a company you’d like to target.

Many recruiters acknowledge that fewer than 10 percent of all jobs go through them. Most jobs are found by people who locate a job through advertisements or personal connections — more commonly known as networking.

Regarding LinkedIn, I made a couple of suggestions to the attendees:

First, ensure that your LinkedIn profile represents you in the way you want. This includes the appropriate comments about yourself, your previous employment, your interests and a photo, etc.

Second, stay current in your profession and link your professional work to your LinkedIn profile. For example, if you have a blog, connect your blog postings to your LinkedIn profile. If you attend a conference, put it in your LinkedIn events. In other words, provide evidence of your professional activity in a way that will convey an appropriate message to viewers of your profile.

Recent reports have indicated that hiring managers use social networking sites for two reasons:

First, to locate possible candidates to fill positions; and second, to research possible candidates that have come to the company’s attention. Information on the Internet can have a significant impact on a company’s interest in a candidate.

But job hunting is not solely an online effort. The bulk of the decision-making is made over the phone or in person.

As mentioned earlier, social networking sites can be excellent ways of finding people you know inside a company of interest to you. That interest could be because of something you know about the company, a position you heard about at the company, or some other reason that would attract you.

Social networking sites can provide you with an inside connection who may be able to help you fi nd information about the company, department, or position. Depending on how well you know the person, they may be able to help you contact the right person or even give a recommendation to an influential person inside the company.

LinkedIn is just one of the social networking sites available; others include Facebook, Spoke, eCademy, and more.

Just last week, a person with whom I had worked had been interviewed for a position at a company. After the interview, he found through my LinkedIn profile that I have a colleague at the company. He reached out to me to see if I would contact that colleague to “put in a good word for him.”

Having worked with this candidate before and having previously recommended him on LinkedIn, I was happy to phone my colleague and relay my personal experiences with the candidate. My colleague was not the decision-maker, but said he would pass along the recommendation to the person who is. I don’t expect that my recommendation will get the candidate the position, but I do expect that it will help his chances. If so, I expect he’ll be buying me lunch.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 11 November 2009.

The Pleasant Family Photo Experience

For years, I dreaded the family photo taken by the company that came to our church. Not only did the photo lack any sort of creativity (I was a budding photographer as a child), but I remember hearing my parents complain about the cost.

Plus, it was a pain. We had to dress up for the sitting, go and smile like we meant it, then come back a few weeks later when the fi lm had been processed and the proofs were ready. Then a pushy salesperson would try to sell us way too many photos that we didn’t really need.

As an adult, I have had similar reservations about the photography companies that come to our church.

It always seemed that we were paying way too much for the photos and receiving way too little.

But this weekend, I turned a corner.

Every few years, our church has invited Olan Mills to come and take pictures of our congregation.

Their commitment to the church is that every member will receive a complimentary 8-by-10 family portrait and a color directory of the church membership. Of course, they don’t make any money if people only go for the free stuff, so it’s implied that they’ll try to sell you photos of your family.

In the past, we’ve gone along with this and reluctantly purchased some of the photos for ourselves as well as some relatives.

But what has turned me around is how technology has affected Olan Mills’s ability to deliver real value for the money.

First, by making all of their photography digital, you have your photo and sales “consultation” in the same visit. I’m sure this saves Olan Mills lots of money because they only have to have people visit the site once. Additionally, I’m sure there were a lot of “no shows” for the second appointment.

Second, the ability to make shortruns of church directories means that the cost to offer these directories to congregations is far more affordable than it ever has been. And the fact that everything is digital and directto- printer means that they avoid huge costs of printing full color.

Third, retouching digital images can be automated, whereas retouching negatives or slides can be very time consuming.

Fourth, if there’s a problem with a photo, such as someone who blinked at the wrong time or a shadow that causes problems, they know (and remedy) it at the time of the photo rather than when it comes out of the darkroom.

Fifth, the software that Olan Mills uses for making the sale is clearly a custom-written application. It shows you exactly what you’re going to get, you can compare and contrast photos side by side, and it calculates the appropriate invoices right on the spot.

The only low-tech aspect I saw was an old dot matrix printer that hammered out receipts on multi-part paper. (I had thought they’d be using laser printers by now.)

Sixth, you can now receive your photos on a CD. My previous visit with Olan Mills did not allow them to provide you with a digital version of the files.

But this visit, the more product you bought, the cheaper the CD became, starting at $150 if you bought nothing down to a nominal $20 if you bought more than $150 worth of their products. While I believe you are restricted to using the photos for non-commercial applications, if I want to make a print of my family or children for relatives or other purposes, having a studio quality digital photo will certainly come in handy.

Lastly, when I look at what we received for our money, I don’t think I spent any more this year than I did a few years ago. And I believe I received more value for our money than I did last time.

I still think all the photos look a lot alike, but I’ve come to the realization that in a studio setting and for a directory, that similarity is really what we want.

There are plenty of other photographers who can take a family portrait at the beach, in a park or somewhere that will be more personal. I bet it’ll cost a lot more than our Olan Mills visit, though.

But I’m glad to see that at least one of the traveling photo studio companies has embraced technology that delivers more value for the money. Sometimes technology really delivers.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 28 October 2009.

The Dilemma of Being Connected

Before the Internet became a part of everyday life, it was easy to compartmentalize it because most of us had to access the Internet via a telephone dial-up connection. As this required one to be connected to a telephone land line,

Internet access required being in a physical location and not mobile.

Eventually, high speed Internet access became available which allowed people to be connected to the Internet all the time. WiFi gave people mobility within the small WiFi "bubbles".

And the WiFi bubbles populated nicely, only in the past few years with people securing them so that passersby couldn't jump on freely.

During this same time, mobile phones continued to be more functional, have longer battery lives, and receive far better geographic coverage.

When mobile phones started having Internet access, the ability for really mobile Internet access became a reality.

All of the major cellular carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint) offer high speed wireless Internet access for personal computers and handheld devices.

At each step along the way, there have been places where people have been out of the reach of modern communications. Some have considered being "disconnected" a benefit and others consider it to be a drawback.

Some of these disconnected places include one's automobile and on airplanes.

But even these disconnected places are no longer disconnected.

I recently saw a ruggedized device that can be put in cars that creates a WiFi hotspot for a half dozen users, say a family on a road trip or business associates on a long drive. A similar device called a MyFi allows up to five people to connect to a portable WiFi hotspot, again using the cellular network to connect.

But there's been one place that's been pretty certain you won't have Internet access: on airplanes.

Lufthansa tried in flight Internet access a few years ago and stopped. But AirCell (www.aircell.com) is one company bringing in flight Internet access is back with new airlines, including Delta, USAirways, American, Virgin America, and AirTran.

I'm taking a flight to California later this week on Delta and I plan on giving in flight Internet service a try. It will be curious to see how well it works with my laptop computer and whether some of the features that require reasonably good Internet access, such as making telephone calls using Skype or watching television shows using Hulu.com will work satisfactorily.

For many people who travel a lot, being on an airplane has been a bit of a respite, if not a frustration to be out of touch for any time at all. I know some who cherish the isolation because they can focus on their work without interruptions; I know others who can't wait until they land to check in with the office, clients, and eBay auctions.

As my trip this week will be with my family, whether I get to use my computer for myself or whether my kids will want it for themselves will depend on how fast the Internet connection is as well as whether there are individual TVs at each seat.

So while airplanes seemed to be one of the last few remaining places on earth without Internet access, I know that some backpackers and explorers still manage to do without the Internet for more than a few days at a time. However, even they - if they really want it - can take satellite Internet devices with them.

Maybe the next step go going without Internet will require leaving Earth, but I've been wanting that since I saw my first rocket launch as a young boy. I guess leaving Earth will be a few years in the future still.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 15 October 2009.

Augmented Reality

Reality, like truth, has many different versions. Anyone who has watched the Matrix movies knows what I mean. Anyone who has ever watched "reality television" should also know how far from reality that is.

But there's an emerging technology term called "augmented reality," or AR. Here's how it works.

Computers have now become adept at taking pictures and video. We've all seen them draw maps and give directions. With GPS technology, computers know where they are. Their connection to the Internet means they have the full power of the knowledge on the Web at their fingertips. So what's needed is to tie this all together.

Augmented reality can do this.

In the examples I've seen of AR, it starts with a picture, typically a live picture. The computer will then use GPS or other location sensing technologies to figure out where it is. By using image recognition, the computer can try to determine what it's seeing, whether this be a building, a sign, a monument, or something else.

Tying all of these aspects together, the computer gets a pretty good idea of where you are and what it's seeing.

Then comes the interesting part: Helping you do something.

Say you are in Manhattan and want to get to Grand Central Terminal. Using a handheld device with AR, you can hold it up and point it at the world around you. It will then be able to tell you how to get to a subway entrance or which bus to take and where to wait for it.

If you're on vacation, AR can help you locate landmarks you'd like to see as well as provide you background information on what you're seeing.

The augmenting of reality comes into play by having the computer overlay text and/or graphics on top of the images the camera is displaying. Sometimes these augmented items just provide visual cues or they might provide additional information if you touch them. As you move the device around, the overlay information scrolls with the image. New information appears as parts of the image appear and old information disappears as the image leaves the screen.

In many ways, AR is similar to a "heads up" display that was originally used for military applications and has appeared on some high-end automobiles. Typical AR applications are being seen as iPhone or other handheld device applications, thereby reducing the cost of adoption from millions of dollars to a few dollars.

To see some examples of augmented reality, follow these links:

* http://www.worksnug.com/
* http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/24147/?a=f

AR is, of course, still an emerging technology. There are plenty of challenges with the technology, such as things that move, databases that are inaccurate, image recognition that doesn't work as well as we'd like, and a lack of applications.

However, the fact that it's possible for all of these data sources to be brought together in a way that consumers can easily use bodes well for AR's adoption. The ease with which people can develop applications for handheld devices such as the iPhone will also continue to drive adoption and innovation.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 30 September 2009.

3-D is Coming

The fact that we have two eyes on the front of our heads means that we’re intended to see things in three dimensions (3-D). But so much of what we do every day is in two dimensions (2-D).

From books to computers, to movies and television, they’re all in 2-D. But we live in a 3-D world.

While making things in 3-D isn’t hard, especially if they’re tangible, such as statues, automobiles, dishes and furniture, the challenge is to simulate 3-D with technology.

My first recollection of 3-D was with the old ViewMaster discs. They consist of a plastic viewer and some discs with stereo images on it. By pressing a lever, the disc rotates and a new set of stereo images appears. I saw a lot of Disney stories that way as a kid and was fascinated by how it worked.

My next recollection of 3-D was with the books and movies in which one wears the red and green glasses and then, if you squint just right, you kind of see something in 3-D. The colors are all wrong, but there’s a sense of three dimensions.

Another technology that’s been around for a long time are sheets of lenticular paper which include a number of images that present themselves as one’s location in front of the paper changes. The classic example is the postcard of a woman who winks at you as the card is tilted.

In most instances, 3-D technology requires the user to wear some special glasses or use some type of equipment to make the 3-D images clear.

Most recently, there have been some pretty good 3-D movies. I recall taking my daughter to see the Hannah Montana 3-D movie. It was quite good. The glasses used two pieces of polarizing film to separate the two images on the screen. While darkening the screen a bit, the polarizing filters leave the colors substantially intact.

Another technology that works well is to have glasses with “shutters” that “blink” in sync with different frames being displayed on a screen. If this happens fast enough, the effect is not really noticeable. The challenge is to synchronize dozens or hundreds of inexpensive glasses to the system displaying the images.

These glasses with shutters work remarkably well, especially in keeping the brightness and color true.

The next frontier is, of course, home theatre, where people continue to spend much of their entertainment time. With image refresh speeds on current TVs being quite high, the ability to have “left eye/right eye” frames is becoming practical.

Another challenge beyond just the technology is the programming that will need to change. The addition of a third dimension could change how shows are thought of and produced.

For example, 3-D works best up-close (5-15 feet). Three-dimensional movies of the Grand Canyon have a different visual impact than cards being dealt at a poker game or a camera in a race car passing other cars.

The addition of 3-D to movies adds quite literally another dimension to the producer’s and director’s toolbox of how to communicate.

In the business world, 3-D will add new ways for business people to communicate. Much as color printers and video projectors changed the way people communicate, the addition of 3-D technology will also have an impact in our offices. Expect financial reports and projections to be far more visual and creative services far more impactful.

Given the current commercial 3-D offerings in the local cineplex, I anticipate consumer grade technologies within the next couple of years. And this time, I don’t expect 3-D to be relegated to another parlor curiosity. This time 3-D will become mainstream.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 16 September 2009.

Off to College

Last week, I had the pleasure of dropping off a great person at his college. While I'm not his father, I've known him for six years and he's entering his junior year at Cornell.

This is his first year not living in a dorm. This year, he has an off-campus apartment with a roommate.

All of my parents worked at colleges or universities, so I grew up in the higher education culture. However, it's been more than a couple of decades since I graduated. And as it's been many years since I had any significant college connections, it was interesting to see how the college crowd lives nowadays and how their technology needs have changed.

I wasn't disappointed.

While I won't bore you with how it was in the "olden days," I will offer some observations of how things are done now.

First, not a chance anyone will have a land-line telephone: Mobile phones are the only way to go. Typically, students keep the phone number they received sometime in K-12. And since most mobile phone plans now include long distance, it doesn't matter what phone number you have, since it won't cost you anything extra to call long distance.

Second, Internet access is key. Even above cable TV, Internet rules. The $50/month is considered a necessary utility. If people in the same apartment can share a single Internet connection, they're all for that. There was much talk of positioning WiFi routers so that friends a couple of floors up could get a good signal. The possibility of stringing a wire into someone else's apartment to deliver Internet service was also a common discussion.

Third, televisions were nice, but not necessary. While there are certainly students with televisions, they're hardly the necessity that they once were. This is because virtually any television show or movie can be watched over the Internet. With computer monitors being upwards of 19-inches, the size of a computer monitor rivals that of a college dorm or apartment TV anyway.

Fourth, textbooks: These are going online, too. Rather than paying $100-plus for a textbook and then turning it back into the bookstore at the end of the semester for pennies on the dollar, many textbooks are being made available digitally, often times "rented" for the duration of the class. We'll see more of this as the book publishers, teachers, schools and students figure out how curriculums become more digital.

Fifth, student communications: E-mail is dead. Even making phone calls isn't as popular. Students communicate more and more with SMS texting, instant messaging and through sites such as Facebook. Have a club on campus that you want to let people know about? Set up a Facebook site and let people become "fans."

Sixth, music: OK, there is one area where I will talk about how it was in the "olden days" - stereos. These used to have a prominent location in any college dorm or apartment. Not so nowadays. Don't get me wrong, music is very important to college students, but with their MP3 players, iTunes and other sources of music, having the large stereo system just doesn't make sense anymore. Even most radio stations stream their broadcasts, so if you want to listen to NPR or the local country station, you can listen to the broadcast from your personal computer.

It was great to go back to college for a day and see how much things have changed as well as how they've stayed the same.

I don't know whether it's helped prepare me for when my 11-year-old daughter goes to college in a few years or scared me.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 26 August 2009.

When to Upgrade?

I’m not one of those people who likes to throw good stuff away.

I typically keep my cars at least 10 years, my digital camera’s picture counter just rolled over 10,000 and my 4-year-old son is driving his big sister’s electric powered Barbie Jeep.

Part of this longevity comes from my parents’ insistence that I take care of the things so they’ll last a long time. Another part of this comes from my not wanting to spend money unnecessarily.

Luckily, in my business, I have an opportunity to try many of the new technologies without actually having to buy them.

But what happens when a new technology comes along that I really want? And what do I say when people ask me about when they should upgrade their technology? They’re tough questions. In a business, companies will typically lease equipment. When the lease is up, they can either buy out the lease or return the equipment and start a new lease with new equipment. Other than with automobiles, most individuals don’t lease things.

For most home users, a computer will work far longer than any extended warranty. There are two categories of problems people ask me about regarding their computers.

First, it’s too slow or crashes. This is a function of having loaded a lot of software over the years, typically Web downloads that are needed for video, audio, or whatever. In most instances, these downloads are needed for a specific use, but are rarely, if ever, used again. Since they reside on the computer, they can use extra processor cycles and cause confl icts with other pieces of software.

The easiest solution to this dilemma is to back up your data files, then wipe the hard drive and re-install the necessary pieces of software, typically the operating system (Windows or Macintosh) and applications such as Microsoft Office. I know for me, this is a full weekend of work to perform, so it’s not something I take on lightly. In most cases, this will free up 20 to 30 percent of a hard drive’s space, eliminate most software conflicts and speed up the computer by at least 25 percent.

Second, there’s some new software that people want to run that’s incompatible with their current computer.

For example, if someone wants to run the new Windows 7 operating system, there are certain minimum specifi - cations (CPU and memory) that are needed for it to run satisfactorily. If a computer is below those specifi cations, sometimes the software won’t load or, if it does, the performance will be disappointing. In this case, one needs to decide whether the upgrade is worth buying a whole new computer or not. Cell phones are another challenge.

These days, not a month rolls by without a new shiny phone hitting the market, sometimes it seems like there are dozens of new models — BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, or something else. You may ask yourself, do I need another computer that runs applications or am I just looking for something that makes telephone calls?

Most important to me is the monthly cost of having all these extra services. It’s not unusual for a monthly service plan that includes phone, Internet and texting to cost $100 per phone.

It’s clear to me that with the monthly cost of cell phones rising, that’s leading to more and more homes going without a traditional land line.

When it comes to cell phones, I split my loyalties between my business and personal use. I’m far more interested in a full plan for business-related use than I am for personal use, but that can mean I carry two cell phones. Ugh! And, of course, I can’t forget the time I sent my cell phone through the washing machine. That required a replacement.

My digital cameras are the final challenge. Until recently, I’ve had to maintain two cameras: one for still photos and a second one for video. Both performed their jobs admirably and neither did what the other did. This has been a real pain to carry and manage two cameras.

Now, though, with the advent of the still cameras that shoot “High Defi nition” video, I see that digital photography is pretty close to reaching the proverbial tipping point when an upgrade is desirable.

To me, I upgrade my equipment only when it’s preventing me from doing something I fi nd compelling. That point will be different for each person, but I’ve learned that the longer I wait, the happier I am with the upgrade.

Mark Mathias, a 30-plus year veteran of information technology and a resident of Westport, Connecticut, was named by Computerworld magazine to their inaugural list of “Premier 100 IT Leaders.” This column was originally published in the Westport News on Wednesday 5 August 2009.