it's who you know...

Even though it is frustrating to think that your knowledge is not as important and valuable as knowing the right people and having the connections to move ahead, it is the crude reality. From personal experience, this has been true during the last couple of years of my life. I cannot say that this is true everywhere, but it is definitely how it works back home in Puerto Rico. The internships and job opportunities that I’ve had in the past have been given to me because of my family connections. I have been fortunate in the sense that I have a family with huge networks that have been able to find opportunities for me, but at the same time it is sad to think that I have not needed to develop my own skills for networking and for job hunting. My educational background has not been a determining factor when employers have decided to give or deny me a job. As I said previously in our class, I have been taking social networking for granted until I came to college because I was born into a network and did not think it was essential for me to build one on my own.

Now that I am a semester away from graduating from college I have been looking for what to do once I am out of school. Who I know has been more important that what I have learned in these last three years. I have been offered a job in San Diego, Houston, and Puerto Rico. I have the chance to choose from three different positions that where given to me because of my father. If it weren’t for him I would probably not have been considered for these job. It is so much easier to find a job by being referred by someone you know. But, where do we draw the line? Why do we spend so many years of our lives studying and struggling to get good grades when at the end it is probably limited by the people we know? It is just not fair to get a job because your father knows somebody over a person that may have the same qualities but lacks the connections.

Impersonality

I believe that the internet has facilitated our lives. I can see how these virtual teams are advantageous to companies, employees, the environment, etc. But I can also see the disadvantages it has. So I will play devil’s advocate and argue against using the Internet for substituting meetings and teamwork.

First, there is no such thing as the real thing. Nothing can compare to having a meeting in person. Having a virtual meeting instead of an in-person meeting is like writing an email instead of a letter. Sure both probably get the same message out there, the email may be easier. But it is much less personal and transmits a much more distant message. One can never make a true connection with someone who you can only see through a computer screen or even worse, can just hear. Without the face-to-face connection people can lose the ability to develop good chemistry and create a sense of familiarity with others. There is nothing like a hand-written letter and meeting a person in the flesh.

Plus, what is so bad about traveling? Meeting other people? Seeing other cultures in person? Getting away from the office for a few days?

It is so much harder to communicate through a computer, without being able to point out to things and fully explain things.

People get distracted by virtual meetings. Not that one doesn’t get distracted on real meetings! But on virtual meetings people could just easily get up and leave because others can’t see what they are doing, or they make faces about the subject.

Lastly, the internet may be great. But connections are not great in all places at all times, resolutions is not always great. I have many problems webcaming with my family, imagine if I had an important meeting and the webcam program didn’t want to start!

you control your image

the article you are what your search results return and so are your kids states that “our lives are being documented, catalogued, and indexed whether we like it or not,” and i have to disagree with this statement because people have the control over what information they want to share with others. you can just choose not to publish what you don’t want others to see. in facebook and myspace you decide what people can see in your profile about yourself.

it is scary that companies are relying on our private lives when deciding if we are going to get hired or not. like frank langfitt communicated in startups help clean up online reputation: “in a recent survey, one in 10 hiring managers say they rejected candidates because of things they found out about them on the internet." i just don’t understand how what we do in our free time affects how we perform at work. employers should not be concerned on what we do as long as our personal lives do not interfere with out profession. people should be considered for jobs based on their attitudes and talents, not based on online pictures and profiles.

Can I STALK you???

For this week I read "Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution" article Lovegety and p2p journalism. I am not the most tech-savvy person, but I had no clue that devices such as the Lovegety and Upoc existed. And I have to say, who comes up with this stuff?!

I find the 'intrapersonal awareness devices' to be absurd and that they take sites like Match.com to a whole other level—a creepy level that is. First, I do not think you can be matched with a person basedon profiles. Secondly, if I own a Lovegety keychain and a compatible person is sitting next to me at a cafe, what happens? I should get the guts to go up and say hi!, the key chain is telling me you and I would be a perfect match, then we would probably have a coffee together and talk for hours—I don't think so!. What if the person is talking with someone or busy, are you supposed to interrupt and say, excuse me, since we are compatible could you give me your number and we can meet up later?... And worst of all, what if you do not find your match to be attractive, the other person obviously has the device so they know that you are their match—what do you do then to avoid them?

Don't even get me started on the ENGwear computers! They gather everything seen and heard, WITHOUT discriminating what is being recorded and it is instantly sent to the real time web! If we were afraid people could photograph strangers and capture things we would not want others to see with cell phone cameras, thing about the invasion of privacy these wearable computers bring! And the level of stalking it brings.

I have to say the idea of the ImaHima might be good. I might like to have a device that tells me if friends are around so you can meet up. But, then again, you can simply text friends that you know would be in the area and say, anyone around x street or anyone free for lunch? This device lets everyone (in your circle) to know where you are, but what if you do not want people to know where you are? I know you adjust the device to block people from seeing where you are, but let's face it we can so easily forget to turn it off. How many times do our cell phones ring the middle of class or at the library because we forgot to put it in a silent mode?

In the end, although these devices may serve a purpose and be useful, I think that they are too invasive and have more negative aspects than positive.