The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.
August - 2008 - issue > Editor's Desk
Are You an Untouchable?
Pradeep Shankar
We’re bombarded daily with stories of downsizings at tech companies. We should note that the rosy times are not going to return soon. Technology professionals should wake up and smell the (no longer free) coffee.
Employees shouldn’t be sitting in cubicles, fearfully thankful that they still have a job, while nervously reading this. Given the current economic conditions in the U.S. and the possible impact it can have on India, only people with right skills can survive. So what matters is not with whom you are working but what value you are adding to organizational growth.
As Thomas Friedman writes in his book World is Flat, “The key to thriving, as an individual, in a flat world is figuring out how to make yourself an untouchable.” ‘Untouchables’, in my lexicon, are people whose jobs cannot be outsourced, digitized, or automated.”
On a different note, I had recently been to a tribal belt in Karnataka. And guess what I witnessed there; almost everyone in the village had a mobile connection and were connected to the world for as little as Rs. 10 ! That’s innovation at the bottom of the pyramid. The telcos are making sure that they leave no stone unturned to seize the opportunity India presents today.
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