The book “Big Brands Big Trouble” was delivered nearly 2 months after first placing the order . The book was ordered at 2 different online book stores, but the order was cancelled as the book was not “in stock” and amount refunded back. The third seller also said the book was not in stock, despite listing it at his ebay store.
Finally a copy of the book was delivered after placing an order at Landmarkonthenet.com. Some “Big brand” creating problems for online buyers?
One of the most important things that you learn as an engineer is cost control. If you are going to get a premium price , you use high quality material as inputs and put in proportionate efforts. If you are getting the lowest price in the market, the quality of inputs is adjusted accordingly.
Similarly for a website if you are able to earn the best rate in the market, you will have to put in proportional efforts. Else, it is just a hobby, keep your costs low and ensure that it breaks even. The search engines are the biggest beneficiaries of quality content on the internet, if they wish to promote people producing junk content, people will reduce their usage of the internet.
And from the internet industry you learn one thing, if you have a good website, always make it clear who is behind it, there is never a shortage of people who will go to any extent to harm you and claim ownership of the website.
Some countries are prosperous and develop because more importance is given to facts, merit and hard work. In others rumours and gossip prevail, because people do not verify the facts. If you have the truth on your side, however big and well connected your opponent is, you should fight till the bitter end, ultimately the truth will prevail.
One of better aspects of doing a job for a few years is learning the art of defending yourself from your seniors. For any commercial transaction, it is always better to document everything. Even if you were discussing a project related issue with a colleague in the same cubicle, you were always told to put it down in writing and store it in the project file.
At a later date, for an issue, which was only discussed verbally, in case there was any dispute, it would be your word against your colleagues word, and it would be difficult to determine who was telling the truth. And this is perhaps the reason why I am so comfortable buying online, everything is documented.
One of the hallmarks of a great company for me is the way they treat their customers. Whatever the order value, however big or small the customer , it is important to treat him or her fairly. It is far easier (and cheaper in the long run) to have a happy customer do repeat business than spend money in new customer acquisition.
Working as a engineer can be very boring , especially if you are working in design, preparing engineering drawings like wiring diagrams and cable schedules . But there is one thing you have in common with glamorous professions – you sign a lot of autographs. So every plant layout, assembly drawing, wiring diagram, product specification and cable schedule has to be checked and signed by the concerned engineer.
In the “Discovery of India” by Jawaharlal Nehru, I find one of the best explanations of why India’s ancient civilization has declined and allowed itself to be dominated by European countries.
About Europe ” Behind this technical progress was the spirit of science and a bubbling life which displayed itself in many activities. New techniques gave military strength and allowed them to dominate the East”
About India , ” The creative spirit fades away and gives place to the imitative. Where triumphant and rebellious thought had tried to pierce the mysteries of nature and the universe, the wordy commentator comes with his glosses and long explanations”
Though these words were written more than sixty years ago, they are very relevant even today.
One of the biggest plus points of working as an engineer was that most decisions were made on the basis of facts, there was little scope for gossip and rumours. The specifications from customers and vendors were always clear, and if there was even the slightest doubt, I could call and get a clarification.
There are always 2 sides to a story, and if you do not listen to both the viewpoints before taking a decision, you are the loser. Online rumours and gossip seem to flourish.
From the Freakonomics blog, I liked this post Rancid Chicken for $36.09 . (it is also mentioned in the book) Often people misjudge a person they met briefly or have had limited interaction with. If think the person is “nice” , many try to take advantage of it, only to suffer the consequences.
As as engineer, you would personally interact with customers, vendors and colleagues. So after some time, even if I was “simple” looking, people would tell me on my face that I was the worst person to pickup a fight with . Online , there is less interaction, so more people try to act smart, but a good engineer always has a water tight defense.
There are some big advantages of working as an engineer and having factories running with systems you designed :