Class of 2013: Start a Blog

Link to podcast to follow

As everyone is seemingly giving away free advice to those graduating in 2013, I thought I’d do the same for my last ever article for this blog.

For those of you who feel like crying over what I have just said, worry not; I shall soon be undertaking two new projects- a professional legal blog and a not- so- professional personal blog.

Both of those will (hopefully) launch by September 2013.

Back to my original point, then.

I could’ve have easily done an article on how to most efficiently look for a job or various ways of improving your CV; I am quite certain, though, that you have heard all of that before and are, quite frankly, sick and tired of such remarks and pieces of...advice.

That’s exactly why I decided to prove to you that starting a blog might actually be quite a good idea in the end.

I shall, naturally, be as short and sweet as I can; here goes:

It improves your writing skills

Quite self- explanatory, I would’ve have thought...For those in doubt, however, I’d like to point out that writing articles (whatever the topic) greatly improves your writing skills.

Why?

Well, probably and mainly because of the fact that you are aware that other people will read them and,  as a result, do your best to make a good and lasting impression.

It helps you think BIG

Let’s face it; thinking small’s not going to get you anywhere these days. You have to believe that you can make a change in your chosen field.

Also, do remember that most, if not all, employers look for people who are not afraid to realise their full potential and, to quote Superman, ‘show the world what they’re made of’.

It improves your research skills

I can assure you that, regardless of the topic that you have chosen, you WILL do some research before your start writing up an article.

As noted above, as you know that your blog is in the public domain, you’ll think twice before publishing anything that you hadn’t looked into in advance.

It shows you’ve got an opinion

The last employer who was looking for his droids was Luke Skywalker (pretty lame joke but you got my point).

Employers want people who have an informed opinion and, thus, know where they stand.

It improves your commercial awareness

‘We are not only looking for people with an outstanding academic record but also for ones whose commercial awareness will be able to contribute to the business as a whole’

Yeap, we’ve all been there...

Also, if you want people to read your blog (which you will, trust me) you are going to have to come up with interesting and trending topics.

How do you do that?

By reading the news and listening to podcasts, of course.

Before you know it, you’ll be jumping in people’s conversations, annoying the Hell out of them!

It helps you stay focused and teaches you discipline

When I first started this blog, I was almost certain that I’d not be able to maintain it for more than a month, let alone seven months as I’d planned originally.

In time, however, as people started to read my articles, I started feeling really bad when I even dared think about not submitting my daily entry.

It gets you into a frame of mind whereas because you know that you have to do something you just put all of your energy, attention and effort into in and do it.

It helps you get noticed

A friend of mine used to say ‘it’s not what you know these, it’s whom you know’. Although I disagree in that I am of the belief that a fine blend of those is essential, I trust that knowing the right person does help under certain circumstances.

Believe it or not, a specialised blog is a pretty good platform for taking the initial steps to your career.

Well, class of 2013, I trust that the above should be sufficient to convince you that starting a blog can be immensely beneficial to your professional development, whatever the sphere you’ve chosen.

For now, I bid you adieu.

...for now.

Good Idea, Chap: Living La Vida Loca

Link to podcast to follow

 

Contrary to what you might have expected, today’s article will have very little to do with Ricky Martin or, indeed, with anything as flamboyant and piquant as his songs or live performances.

Rather, it is but a mere reflection of my thoughts on the hectic lifestyle that some Londoners have adopted.

Prior to going into any further detail, I must say that I did have an amazing day in London  today in that I met up with some incredible people and managed to catch up with some old friends.

What puzzled me (again), however, was the very fact that nothing seemed to stop; everything and everyone was constantly moving.

What’s more, no- one seemed to want to stop.

In fact, people seemed quite happy about the fact that they were constantly moving.

To a bystander, it would initially seem that the said people were under considerable stress as they often acted and moved in a way which suggested that they did so solely because they were compelled by an outside force which was far greater than them.

I was once told by a dear friend of mine that the above force had a name: ‘tube delays, line closures and diversions’ they were called.

I didn’t quite get what he meant at the time. Thankfully, after I had been starting at him rather blankly for a minute or so, he decided to elaborate on the matter and said that everyone was in a constant rush because they wanted to get to the tube on time.

But surely, I thought, that made no sense whatsoever as there was one every three minutes or so. Consequently, even if you missed your ‘own’, you could easily wait for five minutes and get on the next one.

Theoretically, my friend said, I was quite right. In reality, though, he said, most people in London were well aware that time was money and had, thus, calculated how long it would take them to get from home to work, to the second.

To be honest, I quite liked the idea; the very fact that people around me knew that time was money made me feel a bit more secure and, for some reason, at ease.

For one, that meant (at least logically) that, if I was to live and work in London, I would not have to tolerate people’s lateness (simply because they wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, be late in the first place).

In the end of the day, what seemed like a rather hectic and destructive lifestyle at first, turned out to be quite logical and practical.

Under the circumstances, it was a good idea and one that I could get used to.

All in due course, I guess.

Good Idea, Chap: The First Ever ‘Social Media’ Constitution

Link to podcast to follow

Let me begin by saying that the heading of today’s article is neither one of my (often predictable) jokes, nor an artificially- inflated over- exaggeration (another thing that I am, apparently, good at).

I was chatting to a friend about life, the universe and everything the other when she told me that it’d be a good idea for countries to follow Iceland’s example.

At first, I thought she meant that it would’ve have been far better for countries to let banks deal with their own mess rather than using public funds to bail them out.

But then she said something about Napoleon and the Code Civil.

Regardless of my rather patchy knowledge of European history, I was pretty sure that neither Napoleon nor the Code Civil had anything to do with banks or public spending.

It was at that point when I realised that I should really start paying more attention to what my friend was saying at the time.

After about five minutes of attentive listening coupled with a fair proportion of disbelief and genuine bewilderment, I finally got to grips what why my friend meant.

‘All I’m saying is’, she said, ‘if Iceland has managed to draft its new constitution through the use of social media, then so should any other country in the world.’

Several questions, however, remained.

One such question, for instance, was:

How, on Earth, was that possible?

(See following for a more detailed account:

<< http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/crowdsourcing-icelands-constitution/ >>)

Well, to cut a long story short, the citizens of Iceland elected 25 assembly members out of 522 ‘ordinary’ candidates (i.e. lawyers, doctors, professors, etc.) who opened the process up to the public via mediums such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.

The said 25 assembly members actively encouraged the general public to take part in suggesting new and commenting on existing constitutional provisions.

Although it sounds very interactive and fun, the process of drafting and perfecting the nine- chapter constitution did take a considerable amount of time and effort.

In the of the day, it took a fair bit of campaigning and advertising (from public speaking events to radio broadcasts) to make more people aware of what was happening and how they could take part in it.

In October 2012, 66% of Icelanders voted ‘YES’ in the referendum and agreed that the end product of the most ambitious social  media project so far should be used as a frame for the country’s new constitution.

As someone who’s been interested in law since the age of twelve, I find the above quite astounding.

Contrary to what you might think, that’s not because of the fact that it has all been done through social media.

The reason for my fascination with the Icelandic project stems from the fact that it very much reminds me of, what I consider, the greatest civil code ever written- Napoleon’s Code Civil: a civil code written for the people, in a form devoid of legalese, one that could be understood by farmers and professors alike.

As Napoleon said himself:

‘Waterloo will wipe out the memory of my forty victories; but that which nothing can wipe out is my Civil Code. That will live forever.’

Who knows; maybe it’s high time others followed.

After all, it’s way too early to draw conclusions- we are yet to see the end product of this innovative Icelandic initiative.

Good Idea, Chap: ‘App’ is for ‘Apply’

Link to podcast to follow

When I was a student at university, finding a job proved to be quite the challenge.

The main reason for that, of course, was the fact that Canterbury was a city of sixty- thousand people, half of which were students looking for jobs.

Back in the day, I thought it was a brilliant idea to print our a hundred CVs, put them all in a backpack, walk around the city and apply to every single place in sight.

I had been doing that for about a week (without any luck) when I one day decided to take a break, lie under a tree and review my CV.

It was then when my heart started sinking, my eyes started watering and my hands started shaking.

For the next ten or twenty minutes, to those walking past me, I must have looked as stressed as a turkey did before a Thanksgiving dinner.

Regardless of how long and hard I stared at the CV, however, I couldn’t go back in time and amend all those CVs that I handed out so that they could reflect my CORRECT mobile number.

Thankfully, I decided to let bygones be bygones and move forward to a brighter tomorrow; hopefully, one where I’d pay more attention to detail when it came to drafting my CV.

Believe it or not, there is a rhyme and reason to my sharing the above anecdote with you and, surprisingly enough, it has little to do with anything that you might possibly be thinking of right now.

In the light of the above, do have a think about the following:

If I had made such a stupendously horrific mistake on my CV, can you honestly imagine the sheer amount of mistakes that I would have made, had I submitted a job application form via an app on my mobile?

Well, it would seem that we might have to get used to it pretty fast, pretty soon; that’s right, employers have started using mobile job application forms which you can access and fill in through a downloadable app.

Here, see for yourself:

<< http://mashable.com/2009/03/26/iphone-job-search-apps/ >>

<< http://appcrawlr.com/android-apps/best-applying-to-jobs >>

In my view, the above presents a couple of hundred thousand issues that need to be addressed; thankfully, as this is a blog entry and not a research paper, I shall only address several of those.

Typos

We all secretly despise AutoCorrect as we are all fully aware of what it’s capable of.

It can easily turn an application form for a ‘LITIGATION EXECUTIVE’ in one for ‘LETTERMAN EXECUTOR’.

Touchscreen

Regardless of whether you’re using a QUERTY keyboard or an IPhone, typing up a two- hundred word answer to a question on an application form can be quite the challenge.

Go ahead, try it; I dare you.

Training

Graduates are currently taught how to access, fill in and submit online application forms successfully and in a way in which they would at least get a rejection back.

Will universities be able to react promptly to the apparently fast- changing trends?

In the end of the day, the idea doesn’t seem half bad; in fact, the whole process can save both employers and jobseekers quite a lot of time.

Moreover, it’d surely mean a significant increase of the ever- so- hilarious AutoCorrect mishaps; am certainly looking forward to that!

Good Idea, Chap: A One- way Ticket to Mars

Link to podcast to follow

Aye, life on Mars; where does one begin?

From the very beginning, of course. Humankind has dreamed of life on another planet for the past fifty years.

Allegedly, we had tried getting people to other planets before but had failed miserably.

Our best attempt, in fact, was the shuttle carrying the Fantastic Four; regardless of the fact that they didn’t actually make it to their ultimate destination, they still got some nifty powers which had come in handy when protecting the Earth from your average villains and Silver Surfers.

Leaving my absurdly ludicrous attempts to be original aside, however, it is worth noting that it is now possible to file in an application to be considered for a trip to Mars in 2022.

And, mind you, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.

No, honestly; it’s a one- way ticket you’ll be applying for.

You needn’t worry too much about it, though, mainly because Mars is known for its abundant flora and fauna, its vast seas of pristine water and its playful and refreshing breeze (by that, of course, I mean no flora or fauna, rocky wastelands and deadly solar winds).

The initiative has recently been undertaken by a Dutch company called Mars One. Contrary to what the name of the company suggests, it’s currently looking for forty people to send to Mars where they will start a new colony and…

…a new reality TV show.

Alas, even on Mars, there be dragons. Just look at the following report by CNN:

<< http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/22/world/mars-one-way-ticket/index.html >>

Fourth paragraph down, quite unprovoked and somewhat out of the blue, it reads:

"It's likely that there will be a crematorium," said [Mars One] CEO Bas Lansdorp. "It's up to the people on Mars to decide what to do with their dead."

Wow. Great. I’m so in.

Further to the above, it seems that no couples will be allowed to participate in this marvellous adventure; in fact, that’s the sole reason for Mr Lansdorp inability to undertake the mission himself.

"I have a really nice girlfriend, and she doesn't want to come with me, so I'm staying right here."

Besides being single, ‘applicants must be resilient, adaptable, resourceful and must work well within a team’ (see << http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22146456 >>).

Those selected will undergo a rigorous seven- year training program which will prepare them, both mentally and physically, for their seven- month journey in space:

Rest assured, even though they won’t have access to water, reliable sources have confirmed that they WILL have access to Facebook.

Amen to that...

Regardless of my childish sarcasm, however, the initiative is in itself an incredible achievement.

One question, remains though:

Even if the...settlers...manage to somehow survive the radiation, solar wind and vacuum- like atmosphere on Mars, will they be able to ever return to mother Earth?

The answer is quite simple.

NO.

And here’s why:

‘On a visit to the BBC's London office, Mars One's co-founder Bas Lansdorp explains why this would be a one-way flight.

During the seven-to-eight month journey, astronauts will lose bone and muscle mass. After spending time on Mars' much weaker gravitational field, it would be almost impossible to readjust back to Earth's much stronger gravity, says Landsorp.’ (see << http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22146456 >>).

Taking this into account, then, one cannot but wonder whether the 2022 ‘mission’ to Mars is indeed a great step for humanity or a yet another quick get- rich scheme?

Guess we’ll have to wait and stay tuned for an episode of

‘Stranded! In Spaaaace!’

Good Idea, Chap: Are Genes Patentable?

Link to podcast to follow

As I woke up today, I experienced a bizarre sensation which lead me to believe that  I was finally about to rid myself of the dreaded bronchitis that had tormented me since last Friday.

For the first time in four days, I actually felt hungry.

On my way to the supermarket, I stopped at three other supermarkets and got some snacks to get me going along the way.

Further to my almost inhuman hunger, I felt a sudden urge to listen to a couple of podcasts whilst I was doing my shopping.

And thank God I did (no distasteful joke intended).

The BBC Daily Podcast said something about US firms wanting to patent human genes and about the matter finally being put before the Supreme Court to decide on.

It took awhile for the above to properly sink in; as it did, I took a step back, hit the back of my head in the wall, apologised to the wall, turned around, saw it was a wall, shook my head, reassured myself that walls are inanimate objects incapable of any feelings, paid for my shopping and headed back home.

The podcast went on to say that private companies have successfully patented genes in the US for the past thirty years.

The case before the Supreme Court was Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, 12-398 (Supreme Court 2013).  

The court heard oral arguments on Monday this week. The issue to decide was whether Myriad Genetics could obtain valid patents on two human genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, which it had successfully isolated.

The genes in question were said to be key to discovering cases of early- onset breast and ovarian cancer.

For now, I shan't present you with my opinion on the matter; rather, I shall simply provide you with a brief account of the arguments for and against gene patenting.

(For a detailed account, please see <<http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2013/04/amp-v-myriad-gene-patenting-oral-arguments.html >> )

Arguments for:

• Myriad had not only isolated the two genes but have also successfully applied molecular biology tools to create cDNA (i.e. cloned DNA). Arguably, then, they have created a new product.
• The novelty of their ‘product’ was the fact that they knew where to start ‘cutting from’ the DNA and where to stop doing so. An analogy with a baseball bat was used; a tree was not, in itself, a baseball bat until human ingenuity did not form into one and give it purpose.
• From a commercial point of view, a company would not bother investing in genetics research if it cannot patent the genes that it had discovered.

Arguments against:

• Myriad had not created anything novel; the genes were always there. Nature created them, not them. Analogy made with any other part of the human body.
• The cookie analogy by Justice Sotomayor- if you use eggs, flour, salt and butter, you can make a chocolate chip cookie. If you combust those in some new way and reach a different end product, you can patent that. You cannot, however, expect to be able to patent the basic items of salt, eggs, flout and butter.
• There was nothing novel; isolating the genes can be seen as simply ‘snipping’ them out of a chromosome

Some of the above arguments are quite shaky, others- quite compelling. The court’s decision is expected in June.

Until then, we can but speculate as to the outcome.

Next week, I shall opt to establish whether genes are patentable under English law.

Do drop me a line; any help will be appreciated.

Good Idea, Chap: Remember Rosemary?

Link to podcast to follow

As I was going to bed last night, I remember coming up with this amazing topic for today’s entry.

It was so amazing, in fact, that I fell asleep with this huge grin on my face, adamant that tomorrow would be a brilliant day.

As you have probably guessed by now, when I woke up today, I didn’t have the foggiest about what I had thought of last night.

I was pretty certain, though, that it had something to do with a good idea that someone had come up with at some point of his or her life (which was incredibly helpful, NOT).

As the day went by, I became more and more frustrated about the fact that I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to write about.

In the end, during my lunch break, I went on The Independent’s website to calm myself down and to desperately look for a topic to write on (you say sad, I say resourceful).

An article immediately caught my eye; it was both informative and ludicrous enough to fit in today’s column just fine.

‘Smell of rosemary may improve your memory’, it read.

<< http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/smell-of-rosemary-may-improve-memory-8565038.html>>

At first, I was quite amused and thought that the above was a late April fools joke. When I did some research on it, however, it turned out that ALL of the major newspapers had included it on their websites.

There were, of course, two possibilities. Namely, that:

1.       There was an international conspiracy afoot in that the media sector had secretly contracted with rosemary suppliers to make the public believe the above and buy more rosemary at higher prices
2.        It was true.

You can imagine my surprise when, in one of the articles, I read that Shakespeare had once said that rosemary oil was good for your memory.

Well, it might seem that, for the millionth time, he had been right.

Many have gone back to the source with acerbic remarks, accusing researchers of ‘selective research’, claiming that the 66 people used in the research were not examined under ‘real- life’ conditions.

That is to say, they weren't exposed to the everyday stress caused by the constant need to multi- tasking, meet deadlines and eat junk food.

Critics of the study argue that if the 66 people had been placed under ‘normal’ conditions (say, in McDonald’s), they would have simply not had the time to even notice the rosemary smell around them.

Although the above has some degree of truth value attached to it, it must be noted that none of the 66 people involved in the study was told whether he was put in a rosemary- scented room or a normal room.

Further, all of those people were given a myriad of tasks to undertake and things to remember which meant that they, too, might have not had the chance to ‘notice’ the rosemary smell.

Thus, it might have worked on a subconscious (and even chemical) level.

Regardless of the torrents of speculations that the above study has given birth to, the discovery might be a step forward to improving our capability to remember more and for longer periods of time.

But I guess you want to forget about it now, eh?

Good Idea, Chap: Your Personal Data is in Safe Hands. NOT.

 Link to podcast:

<< http://www.mixcloud.com/antonipeychev/good-idea-chap-your-personal-data-is-in-safe-hands-not/ >>

 Pray, do have a look at the following link:

<< http://accounttraders.com/find-a-profile/Loki_LLB/ >>

I mean, wow. I would have never thought that my online presence was estimated at the mind- boggling amount of $ 41.60.

I can now realistically consider selling myself off to buy that red- striped double- cuff shirt I saw in TM Lewin the other day.

I am, naturally, pulling your leg; both of your legs, in fact. I wouldn’t do that because I wouldn’t have the money to get the right tie for it. But then again, I might have to ask a friend to sell himself off to get the tie.

On a more serious note, however, the above website is truly worrying for several reasons.

First and foremost, it has, as you can see above, EVERYTHING on me. I know full well that I have uploaded my CV on various platforms and have put up most of my information on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

However, I don’t believe I’ve allowed ANY of those to share my information with any third parties.

As you might probably imagine, of course, they are not simply SHARING it, they are SELLING it; they are making a profit from SELLING OFF my personal data to other websites.

Yet, that seems to be viewed by many as perfectly fine as I have, most probably, whilst registering for the above websites, ticked off a box to say that I agree for my personal data to be shared with third parties.

Now, I don’t want to go into legalese and technicalities but the above is wrong on soooo many levels; almost as many, in fact, as those in the old- school Super Mario games.

For one, under the Data Protection Act 1998, such websites cannot forward your personal information onto other mediums on a willy- nilly basis.

Here, have a look:

<< http://www.soas.ac.uk/infocomp/dpa/policy/overview/ >>

Leaving the above aside, it is also a fact that most of the information on that the above AccountTraders website has on me is public; that is to say, everyone can get a hold of it by typing my name into Google.

On the other hand, I don’t remember giving anyone my implied, let alone express permission, to make money out of my personal information (be it in the public domain or not).

I have, naturally, emailed the administrators of the above website and have kindly requested that my personal information be taken off.

Further, I have requested an explanation of where they have got the said information from.

As you might probably imagine, what I got back in terms of a reply was a big fat nothing.

In the light of the above, then, one might well be justified in asking whether his personal information (including his private mobile number AND residential address, see << http://www.192.com/  >> ….) are at all kept private and safe.

The obvious, and rather disturbingly simple, answer to that is

NO.

The more important question is what, if anything, can we do about it?

Do share your thoughts; and if you don’t you can be certain that someone else will.

For a fee, of course.

Good Idea, Chap: Municipal Bankruptcy; the Rise and Fall of Detroit

Link to podcast:

<< http://www.mixcloud.com/antonipeychev/good-idea-chap-municipal-bankruptcy-the-rise-and-fall-of-detroit/ >>

Let me begin by saying that I am no insolvency expert and am merely writing this article as a bewildered and shocked observer.

As most of you, I’m sure, are aware, during the last couple of years, a good deal of high street brands have gone bust in the UK including big names such as Comet, Blockbuster, HMV, Game, etc.

Some economists blame the companies for causing their own demise by maintaining an unhealthily high degree of leverage (high debt- to- equity gearing ratios, i.e. more debt than equity capital/ shares).

Others, on the other hand, have pointed out that UK’s state of stagnation (the ‘I’m-not giving-my-money-to-ANYONE’ attitude) and the significant decrease in consumer spending might have triggered the chaotic chain of failures.

Whatever the case might be, the failings of those high street brands have heavily affected the UK retail sector.

It has not only made consumers wearier to spend but also more picky and choosy about what they spend on.

As a result, the media coverage on the above has been phenomenal; judging by the sheer amount of articles and reports on the matter, one might well be justified in concluding that the said failures have truly shocked the everyday reader.

Whether that is because the said reader enjoys seeing big names collapse or is worried about his own country’s retail sector and economic financial well- being is a completely different story.

Leaving any speculations aside, it is a fact that the consecutive failings of high street brands has come as a surprise to the general public as all of the above chains have always been considered as ‘too big to fail’ (as were banks, remember…? But let’s NOT go there…).

Alas, it is quite true that the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Furthermore, if the failings of a dozen of retail chains causes so much kafuffle (love that word), just imagine how much commotion will a city filing for municipal bankruptcy cause!

Unfortunately, you won’t need too much imagination to do that as it is currently happening to the, once glorious, city of Detroit, Michigan.

See <<<  http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/03/01/Is-Detroit-Going-Bankrupt-State-Takeover-Possible.aspx >>

At this point, both you and I are hoping that the above is a distasteful joke of sorts; well, it pains me to say that it is not.

Since 2010, the population of Detroit has decreased by some 25%, leaving it with a total of 700, 000 people; it has gone down from the 5^th to 18^th biggest city in the USA.

The unemployment rate has risen to 18% and the crime rate has almost quadrupled.

In January, a financial plan, which was supposed to resurrect the city, was put into place; it didn’t work.

Now, the city has filed for a Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy and is waiting to go into ‘administration’.

See << http://www.nationalbankruptcyforum.com/state-specific-bankruptcy-issues/what-is-municipal-bankruptcy/ >>

Put simply, a ‘manager’ (an administrator…) will be put in charge of dealing with all financial matters- spending, dealing with creditors, etc. Although the manager’s powers are limited under the current Michigan law, a new law coming into force on 28^th March 2013 will allow the manager to deal with the city’s affairs more freely by introducing new powers and extending existing ones.

The story initially struck me as being quite unbelievable; however, upon doing some background reading, I found out that during the Great Depression, quite a few cities and towns in the US have gone through municipal bankruptcy (none as big as Detroit, though).

The above then begs several questions which are worth pondering on, namely:

• How has the US let a city as big and as important as Detroit go bust and who’s next?
• Will Detroit’s filing for municipal bankruptcy have any draconian international implications or will it go unnoticed?
• Considering that the UK did not do much to save its retail sector (as it was private), how much would the Government be willing to do to save a city, if need be and, if so, how?
• Taking into account the fact that cities can, apparently, go bust, do you still think that your local high street shop closing down is that big of a deal?

Make yourself a cup of hot cocoa and have a think; I dare you.

Good Idea, Chap: Outsourcing and Funny Cat Videos- a Good Match?

Link to podcast:

<< http://www.mixcloud.com/antonipeychev/good-idea-chap-outsourcing-and-funny-cat-videos-a-good-match/ >>

Ten years ago, the word ‘outsourcing’ wasn’t even in the dictionary. I know that for a fact as, at the time, I had every dictionary ever published in every country.

On a more serious note, though, outsourcing work to various mediums has pretty much become the norm in recent years.

For those of you who are still using their ten- year- old dictionaries, it might be worth noting that ‘outsourcing’ means, in simple terms, delegating part of your tasks to an external company.

It must also be noted, however, that this is normally done for several reasons, namely:

• To rid yourself of your mundane tasks such as, say, document production or stock supply so that you can concentrate on the more challenging aspects of your work

• To pay less for the said services (rather than paying overtime to your own staff)

• To get someone who is proficient (or at least better than you) in doing something to do it for you

• To watch more hilarious cat videos on YouTube

Many of you probably thought that I was joking (or at least attempting to do so) by the above smug reference to funny cat clips; well, I wasn’t.

Recently, in the US, it was found out that a certain software developer had outsourced ALL of his duties and tasks to a consultancy firm in China so that he could have more time to focus on Facebook, Ebay, LinkedIn and, of course, funny cat videos.

(See << http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/16/software-developer-outsources-own-job >>)

Further to the above, it was consequently discovered that he had done the same with several other software development firms and, as a result, he earned several hundred thousand dollars per year whilst paying the Chinese consultancy firm a couple of tens of thousands.

The above incident was dubbed as a ‘shocking scam’ by many commentators at the time; in fact, the whole system of outsourcing was viciously attacked as a result.

Nevertheless, most of the said commentators had failed to take one tiny bit into account: in a capitalistic world, delegation is king.

FT’s Lucy Kellaway, whom I rarely agree with, has also recently done an article on outsourcing. She points out that she will never be able to outsource her work for two reasons:

• She will not be able to live with the fact that someone is better at doing her job than she is

• She loves her job too much

(See << http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/if-i-outsourced-this-column-would-you-care/article7947482/?service=mobile >> )

I’m sure she was quite genuine in saying that, NOT.

Frankly, there is nothing wrong with delegating part of your work to someone. You should not, however, try to get someone to do your own job.

Want to know why?

Because your contract says you can’t do that and that if you do, it will be considered gross misconduct for which you can be dismissed without notice.

So before we start getting all marshmallow-y about how much we love our jobs and cannot stand the fact that someone else might be better at them (statements which are, of course, quite true) we need to face the fact that no employer will pay its workers to hunt around for people that they can pay to do their jobs MORE efficiently AND for LESS money.

From a purely logical point of view, don’t you think that if an employer finds out who those people are, he’ll just employ them instead, their services being cheaper and more efficient…?

So, before you outsource anything to anyone, it might well be a good idea to think before you act. In the end, you might well end up having all the time in the world to watch funny cat videos on YouTube.

And, believe me, you don’t want that; it DOES get boring after you’ve seen about fifty in a row.