When it comes to the thriving US technology and web hosting sectors, getting qualified people into their organizations sometimes involves looking globally. Casting a wider net for potential employees, however, involves the hassle of obtaining work permits for employees.
Archives for December 2013
New Year Resolutions For The IT Pros
IT, like all other business units operate in a turbulent environment. IT professionals have to struggle both with the systems, the projects and their peers. I have collected my tips on how to stand out from the crowd, with the hope that these tips will help you down the road in your career. If you really want to make a change, these tips will help you both in the workplace and your personal life.
Let’s see what Sun Tzu says about field positions:
“Every position is temporary. It must be evaluated not only in strengths and weaknesses but on how well it serves us in making our next move. A field position must be both useful in itself and useful as a gateway to even stronger positions in the future.”
From this perspective, our first move is to evaluate our current position. In order to evaluate our new year resolutions, we have to understand our current position, our strengths, weaknesses, threats, confusions and doubts honestly and plan changes to change any negatives to positives. Our positives have to remain unchanged; we can treat them as a baseline.
First tip: evaluate your current position.
A field position is temporary. That means, first, it is not there forever and second it is a gateway to the next move. The same are the projects or any other assignments we have. They are part of a bigger, broader, more strategic move. When tackling with the problems make sure that you don’t listen to the office mumbles (mumbo jumbos if you will) and you map out the solutions correctly and with keeping a critical eye on the issues that caused the problem. Be perceived as an helpful, open and broad minded problem solver: you will be both valuable in yourself, in your department and for other business units.
Second tip: be useful to your inner self, your department and other business units.
When working on the projects, make sure that you are working on something broader than a deadline and resources. Try to understand what concepts, moves, plans have resulted in the project and how it contributes to the overall picture. Seeing things differently from what they seem will separate you from the rest of the crowd.
Third tip: be strategic in your moves.
If you are a manager, you should serve your department by giving them the resources they need to accomplish the tasks at hand. This can vary from communicating openly, bonding trust among people to -say- purchasing a system for testing purposes. Making such moves contributes to the success of your department, in turn contributing your success as a manager.
This is no different for the clients. You are there to serve to their expectations and be honest to them in every stage of your conversations.
Fourth tip: Support people to support yourself.
All the tips we have discussed are for our next step. There are opportunities out there, in every industry, in every company, in every business unit. We have to position ourselves to answer to these opportunities, even that means creating a personal project for ourselves. In creating such a project we show others that we can identify the opportunities, we take initiatives to work on them and with these we try to take a step to contribute to the company’s competitive edge.
Fifth tip: A field position must be useful as a gateway to even stronger positions in the future.
Incorporating all the tips we have discussed to our daily lives will help us build a stronger self. In terms of a professional, these tips will help create opportunities for both ourselves and our company, even none seems to exist. Don’t be afraid to fail and don’t listen to naysayers. Remember what Sun Tzu said:
“The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.”
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- www.dreamstime.com
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The Ins And Outs Of Hosting
Have you frequently looked at your own hosting bill, read what you pay each time, and then cringed? There are many reasonable hosting services out there, but remember that when it comes to the quality of your business website, you should spare no expense in getting the best. Read on to find out what makes a good web host.
Deciding between a dedicated and shared server can prove challenging. Shared hostin provides limited resources and is probably not the right choice, if you experience a high volume of traffic and a fairly complicated site. Find a dedicated host for more space and bandwidth.
Security Measures
You should take time to ask about the security measures of any web host you are considering. Today, numerous threats are present and websites are targets for attacks. Verify that your selected web host has implemented security measures, which can effectively handle denial-of-service attacks, as well as many other common threats. You should know what is the risk for your site in case your host is attacked.
When choosing a web host, use monthly payments instead of lump-time payments. Consider monthly payments – what if you need to cancel service sometime down the road? Should your web host decline, your business outgrows the host or even if your account is closed, you would lose any paid monies, unless otherwise stated by the host.
Choose a host that will allow your growth. A single HTML page doesn’t require a ton of space; however, if you add items like videos and photos, you’ll need more space quickly. Try to have access to at least 100 MB of space to ensure you have enough space for your site to develop.
To ensure a safe website, it may be wise to pay a little extra to obtain the secure server certificate. A secure server is a sign of trust to a potential customer. You will want to use this option if you are asking your site visitors to provide you any sensitive information, like their address or financial details.
A high-quality website hosting service should provide you with a wide range of useful site statistics, such as how much traffic your site is receiving. When you first start with your host, you can install a free counter on your website to ensure your host’s numbers are accurate. As an online business owner, you will benefit from using this information to tailor your approach to your audience.
Free website hosting can be one way to save you a significant amount of money. The drawbacks to this kind of hosting includes limited server space, and ads being placed on your site. Therefore, if you want your site to look professional, stay away from free hosting.
Does the company offer a portion of your money back if you want to end your contract early? Most hosts provide a guarantee that will allow you to have your money refunded within thirty days or less of signing up if you’re not happy. Many webhosts advertise themselves better than they are.
Free Website Hosting
Free is good, but a free website hosting provider isn’t always the best choice. Free website hosting services usually require you to display ad banners on your website. You don’t have any type of control on the kind of ads shown. Random, poorly targeted ads can appear unprofessional.
The advice you’ve read here will help you to choose a new web host who gives you real bang for your buck. And to find one at a price you can afford! Use this article as a guide to knowing what to look for in a web hosting company and how to find the one that is exactly right for your needs.
Hey, We Are Employees Too! (Why Is There a Resentment for IT Pros?)
In the company I’m working in and the companies I’m providing consultancy services, I always feel a little bitterness both from the management and from the end users. I can safely say that government tax officials are more welcome than myself, no matter how I behave or what I wear. Really, am I the only one feeling like this? No. I have spoken this issue with many colleagues and they admitted that they feel the same when they leave their inn and join other employees. It seems that non-IT personnel simply sees us as people that do not belong to where they belong. It seems like we are not considered as yet another employee; say an accountant’s first impression on a marketing person is way positive compared to the impression on an IT person.
The IT pro image on people’s minds are shaped with the 80’s/90’s movies, where geeks are sitting in a dark rooms in front of monitors(green text over black background), typing commands furiously in incomprehensible languages and breaking into systems, fueled by coke/beer and potato chips/pizza. This image still keeps. No matter what an IT pro becomes, no suit or business jargon can erase this image. We are bunch of geeks hiding our secret craft from the mere mortals, speaking in a sci-fi language. I doesn’t matter if we sit down in the same cafeteria, eat the same meals, use the same public transports, we are incommunicable geeks.
This image is complicated further by the fact that almost all of the world’s businesses depend on information technologies and IT pros are the side effect. Even if you are running a one-person shop, you still need a computer somewhere to perform some tasks and you need an IT pro to keep your computer up and running and to keep your data safe. On the other hand, IT pros are generally types that do not want to rely on somebody else. This creates a one-way relationship and causes avoidance on the non-IT side at the very best.
The reliance on IT pros, especially in terms of data, no doubt gives IT pros the power. In an enterprise all the databases, personal and shared files, emails, archives, backups are managed by the IT department. It is the IT department who accesses and controls such data. This access to and control of the data and the information is unparallelled in the enterprise. Knowledge is power and IT controls it. That makes IT too big and too intrusive.
IT professionals are also seen as a threat to employees’ jobs. It is the IT pro who disables a person’s account when his employee contract is terminated. This makes people see the IT pros as the one who terminates their job while the truth is IT pro is no different than a human resources personnel who sign the termination papers. The other departments involved in the termination process – the boss, manager, human resources, personnel, security – are not blamed as much as IT.
The expectations from the IT professionals are sometimes much more than any expectation placed on any other profession. The ultimate expectation is an immediate resolution of an impossible problem. And this happens daily, a couple of times. A secretary’s broken down computer has to be repaired ASAP. It does not matter if you have other support incidents and requests in the queue. It does not matter if you are in the critical stage of a process. That computer needs to be fixed now. No response time is fast.
And this support must be provided over the telephone without any diagnosis: “I told you it is not working” is all that an IT pro needs to know to solve the issue. IT Pros are expected to understand and solve the problems over the telephone with the information supplied by a person who has no or little understanding about the issue. As expected, the level of support provided will vary from mediocre to impossible. The support person needs to see the problem, which almost always involves having direct access to customer’s hardware. It does not matter if the support person is well trained, dedicated and persistent. Working with no information is simply not possible. It is interesting to note that no doctor is expected to diagnose a patient over the telephone without seeing him, but people cannot think the same for the IT professionals (including my dad).
Once people realize that you get a hold of gadgets (read: servers, operating systems, access points, switches, remote connections), the line between IT support and personal support diminishes. BYOD has also contributed to this blurring line. Yes, we have to solve your connection issue on your tablet as per the company’s policy but we don’t have to understand why this game crashes from time to time on your shiny new smartphone. On the other hand, the knowledge gap between the customer and the IT pro is widening every day. Once the users knew how to find their ways with their gadgets, now they are “simply tapping it and it is not happening.” Both this gap and the blurry line works against the IT pros’ image.
Finally, we are expected to make the impossible. We are expected to provide 24/7/365 support and 24/7/365 availability of the systems. It does not matter if we are operating in a complex environment with different hardware and software vendors, grift application infrastructures and complex equipment. Gmail can be unavailable, that is fine. Outlook.com can be unavailable, fine, you can try a few minutes later. Company’s email system is unavailable? What is the IT people there if they cannot keep the mail server up and running? When will it be fixed? Still they didn’t find out the issue? Bah, they are paid so well but cannot manage a simple email system.
These are our findings about why IT professionals are considered as “the other ones.” Looking at the issues from the other side’s perspective, I cannot say they are at all wrong. My personal experience says these perspectives come to normal when we, the IT pros, have our coffee with the employees on the non-IT side and tell them a little about our problems. Not in an our regular jargon, but in a way that can be understood by everyone. Be sure that the bridges will be built.
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Tips And Tricks For Working Your Way Through Web Hosting
If you want a web site, you need some sort of web hosting, so it’s time to learn about it. You will find selecting a hosting service much easier if you take the time to learn more about this topic. Keep reading to find out what makes a good hosting service.
You should ask about security when choosing web hosts. There are a variety of potential threats today targeting websites. Be absolutely certain your host has steps in place to handle any common threats like DDoS attacks. You should ask what the potential risks are for your website if the web host comes under attack.
When you choose a website hosting service, pay the company on a monthly basis rather than in large lump sums. You can’t predict what your business will be or what your host will do in the upcoming months. If the host declines, your business expands past them or your account gets closed, you could lose any money already paid.
Web Host
Are you considering utilizing a web host that is free for the website you are starting? If you do choose a free web host, make sure all important files are backed up. Keep in mind that since they are free, these types of services normally do not offer extra features like backups. As a result, if anything disappears, you’re out of luck.
Choose a hosting service that will accommodate your site’s eventual growth. If you should decide to add videos, pictures, or sound to your site, then your space needs might just quickly add up. Look for a host that will allow you about 100MB of space, as this should be plenty to meet your growing business’ needs.
Check to ensure the hosts that you’re considering provides you money back guarantees. If you become unhappy with your provider, what are the consequences of canceling your service? This is a question you must be able to answer from your contract. You can have a reasonable expectation to be able to cancel within the first month of your contract. Some web hosts do not live up to their advertisements.
If it is important for your site to have multiple emails, be sure to ask your web host what formatting they use for their email service. One that uses POP 3 is the most popular choice. You can access this type of email from anywhere online and it’s linked to your domain name.
If you want better traffic, find a host that also offers SEO functionality. These hosts will offer you tools such as auto-submission to multiple search engines. You may need to register the site yourself as this allows you more control.
Web Design
Look at the website of the web host that interests you. A poorly done site could mean a “red flag” for the hosting company. This could indicate a number of problems, from lack of experience to a generally shady operation. A good web design shows that this company possess attention to detail, along with web design and HTML experience.
Certain web hosts will allow you to receive a refund proportional to the amount of downtime your website suffers. This usually does not amount to much even though the sales you lost could have a real impact on your business. You should look for web hosts that offer reliable services over refunds for downtime.
As you have seen, often website owners and designers do not understand as much as they need to know about hosting when they set up their first sites. Having read through this article, you should have a much better idea about how web page hosting works and what it can do for you. Remember what was discussed here to ensure that you find the best possible web host.
Tips And Tricks For Wannabe Web Designers
Everyone knows that the way to succeed on the web is: your website has to have a good designer. That said, the amount of conflicting information about website design, as well as constantly-changing standards, can make it tough to learn new website design concepts, and stay up to date. Fortunately, you will find help in this article! Read on to find the most up-to-date, effective information available online.
Speed is the governing factor of the Internet and it is imperative to ensure your web site loads at a fast pace. Realize that visitors to your site have many options and will just go somewhere else if your site does not load right away.
A successful website needs to work for visitors using any browser, so it is important to test your web pages to make sure they display properly in different browsers. While a certain element may look wonderful in Firefox, it may appear incorrectly on Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Safari. Go through every page with each browser and correct mistakes for a user-friendly website.
Make sure that you prune content that is no longer relevant. If there is content on your page highlighting an event that is already part of past history, your readers are going to abandon you quickly. Users are going to want to spend time on websites that have been cared for, and when old information is kept up it shows that the site is not being paid attention to. Set a review schedule to update content and remove items that are no longer useful.
If users want to, let them cancel an action. For example, allow users to cancel registration for newsletters or easily back out of a search. If you don’t give visitors the opportunity to cancel their actions, you are depriving them of control, and that can prove fatal to your website.
Set up your website to store personal information that users might need to reenter multiple times. Save users’ information like registration data, so it doesn’t have to be entered more than once on different forms. This kind of “sticky” information saves your users time and effort, and they will likely appreciate the streamlining this kind of good design provides.
Web Browsers
Be careful with your use of JavaScript. JavaScript does open many doors when it comes to website design, but it can also close the door to your website for some visitors. Not all web browsers are alike, and they are updated pretty frequently. Many visitors use outdated versions of various web browsers, which means your code might not be supported. Additionally, you need to realize many people disable the JavaScript function in their browser. Both of these things mean that these users are prevented from using your site.
Always implement powerful site-searching capabilities when designing a large website. Place a search box visibly on your homepage that helps your visitors search single terms that may appear anywhere on your site. If you need a search function, FreeFind and Google offer their services for your site.
Free design software is a valuable tool for quickly setting up a website. A lot of users think they have to buy pricey applications, but many free programs are out there to give you a hand. Hit your favorite search engine and do research to find a piece of software that suits your needs.
If you are building a basic website, then a site hosts design tools are fine, but it is not something you want to completely rely on. Make sure to infuse your unique personality into your site, rather than just focusing on a drag-and-drop tool that your hosting company might offer.
Using a development platform can make it easy to code your web page, but they are not necessarily reliable. The idea with these platforms is to design your site’s features, and then paste in their generated code. However, this can lead to errors, so you may prefer coding your site by hand with a text editor.
Photoshop can be a great resource for website design. Most people have not, however, heard about Dreamweaver and do not understand how it can benefit web designers; take a look at the program and figure out how it can assist you with your goals.
Provide an option for site visitors to search your entire website for a specific keyword or phrase. Site searching makes it easier for users to access information, and increases the overall usability of the site. It is not complicated to incorporate a site search, and it will pay off in a big way.
Remember that web designing doesn’t need to be pricey. Though there are very good tools out there for making great websites, there are also ones that do the job for considerably less financial input on your part. Sometimes the free and open sources for web page design software, will give you very similar results. Therefore, using open-source software can save you a large amount of money.
Having the right web page design is crucial. Due to the fact that there is so much information online, it can be hard to find advice that is honest and useful. Thankfully, the article you have just read offered you a lot of relevant information. Take these tips to heart to make your current site better or to develop a terrific new one.