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Difference between revisions of "Challenges"
sankarshan's some views added
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Big IT boom in India gives people jobs easily; and when you do a cosy job, you lose | Big IT boom in India gives people jobs easily; and when you do a cosy job, you lose | ||
half of the motivation. It is a case of innovation being killed due to complacency.<ref>[http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/message/14880 Sameer Kelekar in ilug-goa]</ref> | half of the motivation. It is a case of innovation being killed due to complacency.<ref>[http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/message/14880 Sameer Kelekar in ilug-goa]</ref> | ||
"If being complacent means that you lose your coding skills then the skills | |||
were not honestly obtained." - [http://sankarshan.livejournal.com/11456.html Sankarshan Mukhopadyay] | |||
==Social Setup== | ==Social Setup== | ||
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The whole atmosphere around is counterproductive to innovation and risk taking. Those who fail are not looked upon well by the Indian society. What matters to the society in India is success; the means does not matter.<ref>[http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/message/14880 Sameer Kelekar in ilug-goa]</ref> | The whole atmosphere around is counterproductive to innovation and risk taking. Those who fail are not looked upon well by the Indian society. What matters to the society in India is success; the means does not matter.<ref>[http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/message/14880 Sameer Kelekar in ilug-goa]</ref> | ||
" I would say that the infrastructure and the social environment that | |||
encourages | |||
the high wire act of risk taking is not really in place. Folks invest in stocks | |||
nonchalantly, yet figuring out how to strike out a business venture is still | |||
that arcane art of black magic."- [http://sankarshan.livejournal.com/11456.html Sankarshan Mukhopadyay] | |||
We also are not trained to think in a creative manner. Succumbing to authority comes more natural to Indians rather than being free and think freely. Of course there are exceptions, but in general as a rule.<ref>[http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/message/14880 Sameer Kelekar in ilug-goa]</ref> | We also are not trained to think in a creative manner. Succumbing to authority comes more natural to Indians rather than being free and think freely. Of course there are exceptions, but in general as a rule.<ref>[http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/message/14880 Sameer Kelekar in ilug-goa]</ref> | ||
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==Education System== | ==Education System== | ||
Also, we are to blame to quite some extent. Our education system does not encourage free thinking, or even thinking for that matter. It is learn by rote. IMHO, all CS/IT courses in india are more of History courses.<ref>[http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/message/14889 Dhaval Giani in ilug-goa]</ref> | Also, we are to blame to quite some extent. Our education system does not encourage free thinking, or even thinking for that matter. It is learn by rote. IMHO, all CS/IT courses in india are more of History courses.<ref>[http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/message/14889 Dhaval Giani in ilug-goa]</ref> | ||
What is required is actually a revisit of the syllabus and teaching basic facts which would equip the students to learn on the job. The training courses which the big companies (Infosys, Wipro, TCS etc) put their new recruits through can be taken as either they don't expect the system to output required knowledge or they don't expect the system to be up to the mark when it comes to educating the students.<ref>[http://sankarshan.livejournal.com/11456.html Sankarshan Mukhopadyay in his blog]</ref> | |||
Students in most institutions (exceptions are IITs, IISc, NITs, et. al.) live in their own shell, without any exposure to the real world or the industry. So, | Students in most institutions (exceptions are IITs, IISc, NITs, et. al.) live in their own shell, without any exposure to the real world or the industry. So, | ||
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There is a _huge_ gap between academia and the industry (exceptions are IITs, IISc, NITs, et. al.), so the academia folks have absolutely no idea what the | There is a _huge_ gap between academia and the industry (exceptions are IITs, IISc, NITs, et. al.), so the academia folks have absolutely no idea what the | ||
industry is doing. Industry is more focused on servicing international clients, for obvious reasons.<ref>[http://mm.glug-bom.org/pipermail/linuxers/Week-of-Mon-20061204/055839.html Shakthi Kannan in glug-bom]</ref> | industry is doing. Industry is more focused on servicing international clients, for obvious reasons.<ref>[http://mm.glug-bom.org/pipermail/linuxers/Week-of-Mon-20061204/055839.html Shakthi Kannan in glug-bom]</ref> | ||
The lack of contributions is not because we have bad students - it because we have a bad system that needs fixing. And needs to be fixed in an evolutionary way. One of the things that happens when you wish to change a monolithic system that was created to serve a different need (read: create an army of clerks and later on administrative service boxwallahs) one would like to understand the ramifications of the manifestations of change. The short and sweet story might be to look at the following points: | |||
* Revision of the curricula at the high school level | |||
* Encouraging more "relevant" industry interaction (and not "lip service") | |||
* Establishing local mirrors for various FOSS operating systems<ref>[http://sankarshan.livejournal.com/11456.html Sankarshan Mukhopadyay in his blog]</ref> | |||
==Financial Constraints== | ==Financial Constraints== | ||
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by Indian standards.<ref>[http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/message/14889 Dhaval Giani in ilug-goa]</ref> | by Indian standards.<ref>[http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/message/14889 Dhaval Giani in ilug-goa]</ref> | ||
There is a disagreement to this view as well. The one good thing FOSS does is democratize the process of inclusion. Sure enough there are barriers to entry in some aspect but nowhere is the entry barred. <ref>[http://sankarshan.livejournal.com/11456.html Sankarshan Mukhopadyay in his blog]</ref> | |||
[Ram]:One may start with contributions (good content matters) to online and print magazines, like for example, www.linuxgazette.net, SysAdmin. This would surely provide the necessary confidence to the individual and push them forward to do much more. | [Ram]:One may start with contributions (good content matters) to online and print magazines, like for example, www.linuxgazette.net, SysAdmin. This would surely provide the necessary confidence to the individual and push them forward to do much more. | ||