24 April, 2012

Romania: The India of Europe

Short introduction:
Romania is known as country with a high degree of knowledge in the IT departments.
From hackers to people that scam eBay buyers, from Microsoft, Apple and Google employees to important Romanian companies everyone recognized us.

But now, it all started going on a downward slope. The call center businesses that used to be outsourced in India, started being outsourced in Romania as well. Not the proudest part of the business but you can still make a honest living.

But yesterday I got the worst IT related job offer I've ever seen: being a gold farmer.
Link is here: http://www.ejobs.ro/user/locuri-de-munca/515580
Translation:
Perfect candidate:
We're looking for professional gamers who want to make money from the game testing/gold farming activity.
Work place is in Bucharest.

Requirements: - English language, intermediate level;
- at least one year of experience in online games (optional Xfire account )
- age between 18 and 30
- game experience with at least one game developed by Blizzard(from the series World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, Warcraft)
- testing on a similar game.

For more details and direct job applications: service@diablo3charms.eu
 This is rock bottom. You cannot go any lower. But still 125 people applied for this job.
Would you apply for a similar job?

03 April, 2012

Lifehacks


lifehack (plural lifehacks)
  1. any process or technique that reduces the chaos in one's life and makes it easier to manage, or more convenient
So this is what a lifehack is, a small trick that can improve your life.
Here are a few recent ones that I ran across, with small explanations for each of them.

  •  Why you will fail to have a great career? 


A very, very good TED Talk about how to manage your own expectations, how to manage your career and how not to blame someone else when/if you fail. The speaker is Larry Smith, an Economic professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada.

  • How to buy a new car?
Simple and effective. It may not seem like a lot but it will make a lot of difference when buying a new car. Also, it won't work in every single part of the world as this dealer system is mostly found in the US. The speaker is Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, Professor of Politics at the New York University.
More info on him and the transcript of the talk, here.

  • Stop basing everything on stories


Stop thinking in stories. Learn how to get the essential information out of stories and stop being influenced by the bulk of crap, padded in every story fed to you. Presented by Tyler Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University.

Enjoy!

02 April, 2012

What happened to all the nice guys?

Just read it:

I see this question posted with some regularity in the personals section, so I thought I'd take a minute to explain things to the ladies out there that haven't figured it out.

What happened to all the nice guys?

The answer is simple: you did.

See, if you think back, really hard, you might vaguely remember a Platonic guy pal who always seemed to want to spend time with you. He'd tag along with you when you went shopping, stop by your place for a movie when you were lonely but didn't feel like going out, or even sit there and hold you while you sobbed and told him about how horribly the (other) guy that you were fucking treated you.

At the time, you probably joked with your girlfriends about how he was a little puppy dog, always following you around, trying to do things to get you to pay attention to him. They probably teased you because they thought he had a crush on you. Given that his behavior was, admittedly, a little pathetic, you vehemently denied having any romantic feelings for him, and buttressed your position by claiming that you were "just friends." Besides, he totally wasn't your type. I mean, he was a little too short, or too bald, or too fat, or too poor, or didn't know how to dress himself, or basically be or do any of the things that your tall, good-looking, fit, rich, stylish boyfriend at the time pulled off with such ease.

Eventually, your Platonic buddy drifted away, as your relationship with the boyfriend got more serious and spending time with this other guy was, admittedly, a little weird, if you werent dating him. More time passed, and the boyfriend eventually cheated on you, or became boring, or you realized that the things that attracted you to him weren't the kinds of things that make for a good, long-term relationship. So, now, you're single again, and after having tried the bar scene for several months having only encountered players and douche bags, you wonder, "What happened to all the nice guys?"

Well, once again, you did.

You ignored the nice guy. You used him for emotional intimacy without reciprocating, in kind, with physical intimacy. You laughed at his consideration and resented his devotion. You valued the aloof boyfriend more than the attentive "just-a-" friend. Eventually, he took the hint and moved on with his life. He probably came to realize, one day, that women aren't really attracted to guys who hold doors open; or make dinners just because; or buy you a Christmas gift that you mentioned, in passing, that you really wanted five months ago; or listen when you're upset; or hold you when you cry. He came to realize that, if he wanted a woman like you, he'd have to act more like the boyfriend that you had. He probably cleaned up his look, started making some money, and generally acted like more of an asshole than he ever wanted to be.

Fact is, now, he's probably getting laid, and in a way, your ultimate rejection of him is to thank for that. And I'm sorry that it took the complete absence of "nice guys" in your life for you to realize that you missed them and wanted them. Most women will only have a handful of nice guys stumble into their lives, if that.

So, if you're looking for a nice guy, here's what you do:

1.) Build a time machine.
2.) Go back a few years and pull your head out of your ass.
3.) Take a look at what's right in front of you and grab a hold of it.

I suppose the other possibility is that you STILL don't really want a nice guy, but you feel the social pressure to at least appear to have matured beyond your infantile taste in men. In which case, you might be in luck, because the nice guy you claim to want has, in reality, shed his nice guy mantle and is out there looking to unleash his cynicism and resentment onto someone just like you.

If you were five years younger.

So, please: either stop misrepresenting what you want, or own up to the fact that you've fucked yourself over. You're getting older, after all. It's time to excise the bullshit and deal with reality. You didn't want a nice guy then, and he certainly doesn't fucking want you, now.

Sincerely,

A Recovering Nice Guy
 via zerostiri.ro and craiglist.