Last week my total is nine books. I’ve read another three books this week and therefore with great joy I announce that I’ve completed my 12 books target this year! Here are the three I devour this week:

1. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
2. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
3. Last but not least, Marketing Yourself by Hermawan Kertajaya (in Indonesian).

Well I have to admit that the first and third book is exceptionally short. 84 Charing Cross Rd is only 94 pages, and most of the pages are not full. Marketing Yourself is a bit longer with 130 pages, but the book so small that it fits my jeans pocket and it is in Indonesian which is easier for me to read.

I brought 84 Charing Cross Road from Kinokniya with a 70% discount. It is a collection of letters spanning 20 years between Helene Hanff in New York and an the people of Marks & Co, an antiquarian bookshop in London. It is a very interesting read, since this is not really a novel but purely a set of personal letters. If you would like to have a copy, I think Kinokunia Plaza Senayan still has three or four copies (with a 70% off sticker of course).

Foundation is the first book in Asimov’s famous Foundation series. Despite its fame, that I don’t think I really like it. The concept of psycohistory itself interesting, but the short stories are too far apart that they don’t form a complete plot arc. Maybe I would need to finish the first trilogy have a complete sense of it.

Hermawan Kertajaya’s Marketing Yourself (in Indonesian) was given to me from my friend Haikal as a farewell gift (I resigned from my old office). I finished it in less than 2 hours, sitting in J.Co with a cup of Americano and Glazzy Donut (Morning Glory promo, only 10k IDR). It’s a very short book yet it’s full of knowledge. The items are very solid and coherent. Hermawan Kertajaya really has the skills of presenting his ideas in a simple and easy to digest way. A great read. Thank You Haikal!

PS. Along with 84 Charring Cross Rd, I got myself a copy of Carl Sagan’s The Dragons of Eden with a 50% off sticker on it. Good Bargain!

In my previous post I talked about my expectations from a IT job interview. This time I would like to discuss some of my expectations from a new applicant’s curriculum vitae or CV:

Make it Look Professional

Before they see you in person, all your future employer would see is your CV. A clean and neat CV will make a great first impression. If you are not sure with your design capability, try to search the Internet for some ready to use templates.

Tip #1: If it is in English, check your spelling and grammar. Sloppy spelling and grammar is a major turn-off. If you’re not sure with your writing skills, ask a friend to check it for you.

Tip #2: Use serif fonts such as Georgia (on Windows) or Bitstream Charter (on Linux) because they look professional on print. On the other hand, avoid Times New Roman. It’s overused and boring.

Tip #3: Don’t use WordArt. They don’t look professional at all, amateurish even.

Send a PDF File

A PDF file maintains its layout and typefaces (fonts) consistently. It will ensure ensure that your CV will look exactly like you wanted on whatever OS it is opened with. Plus, a read only PDF file gives your document a professional feel.

Make it Complete

Try to be as complete as possible. Don’t forget to write in your GPA and the title of your final thesis if available, especially if you’re a fresh graduate. Include a short one or two line summary on each of your past work experiences.

Have Work Experiences

Experiences are much more valuable than formal studies. It shows them that you’re ready to work. If you’ve been in the business for quite some time this part is easy, but what if you’re a fresh graduate? Don’t worry, there are many ways to gather work experiences as a student.

Internship program is one of them. Another one is to work within your campus as a teaching/lab assistant. You can also seek experiences by working freelance.

List Skills Instead of Application Names

I don’t know why but people seem to love listing application names in their CV. They mean nothing. Tools doesn’t matter, the skills are. When you say you know Dreamweaver, your future employer can not be sure whether you understand HTML or not. They would think that you can only do web design with Dreamweaver and nothing else.

Only list skills that you are really good at. It is better to have a short but reliable list of skills instead of a long list of skills that you don’t really understand. It will also tell your future employer what your primary focus is.

Don’t Put in Your Photo (or any other unrelated personal information)

Unless you’re applying for a job where your looks would matter, leave your photo out of it. It does not add any value to your CV. Let your future employer judge you based on your skills and experiences instead on how you look. Let them judge your appearance during the interview.

I would also suggest to leave out your religion, ethnicity and marriage status. It might be customary in Indonesia, but they are actually useless data. It’s your skills that matter most.

Finally, please note that this is not a complete guide! There are other things that should/should not be in a CV that are not listed here.

Interviewing new applicants gives me a different view on the expectations of the other side. Here are some tips I gather from my personal expectations towards the new applicants.

Relax, Smile and be Friendly

A relaxed, smiling and friendly applicant gains an extra point upfront. Being friendly lightens the heart of the interviewer. It will make the interview more like a friendly conversation instead of an interrogation. It’s good for both you and your interviewers.

Explain Yourself

Interviewers wants to know everything about you. Be elaborate when answering questions. Don’t just answer with a yes or no, explain yourself. It will help the interviewers to understand a part of you that they might otherwise miss. For example:

Interviewer: Have you ever worked with hibernate?
Answer: No I haven’t, but during my works I’ve used a Python-based ORM library, SQLAlchemy.

In this example, the short answer is no. But from your explanation the interviewer can derive that you know that hibernate is a kind ORM and you’ve actually worked with one before. They will make a mental note that roughly says “I think we can teach him to work with hibernate quickly”.

Here is another example:

Interviewer: Tell me about your past project?
Answer: I made a reporting system for a catering company. It was a team of two. We made a web application using ASP.NET technology with Oracle Database. I mostly work on the web front-end, coding with C# and Javascript. We used the JQuery framework.

Most people end their answer with the first sentence which practically doesn’t explain anything. By describing it further you inform them that you’ve experienced web programming with .NET, C#, Oracle and JQuery. That’s a whole lot of jargon to help propel the interview further. Therefore instead of asking, “What was your role in the project?” the interviewer would ask, “Did you use AJAX?”, which might be a needed skill that you have.

Don’t forget to be enthusiastic!

Be Clean and Neat

Wear your best shirt, trousers and shoes. Make sure they’re all clean and presentable. Present yourself like you’re worth your expected salary.

Arrive ahead of time. Coming early gives you the extra time you need to hit the toilet to comb your hair and wash your face. Stand in front of the mirror and ask yourself, “Do I look like I’m ready to work on the spot?”

Don’t be Wierd

One of the goal of an interview is to to know if you’re the kind of person the interviewers would like meet and work with everyday. Don’t be weird, hide your quirkiness.

Good luck!

Keeping track of my 12 books for 2008 goal.

Up to this date I’ve read nine books and all of them are science fictions:

1. Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clarke (4/5)
2. Robot Dreams by Isaac Asimov (3/5)
3. The Braided World by Key Kenyon (2/5)
4. The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C Clarke (4/5)
5. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (4/5)
6. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (5/5)
7. Speaker for The Dead by Orson Scott Card (4/5)
8. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (6/5)
9. The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (5/5) - My Review

The numbers in parenthesis is roughly my rating for each of them. Yes, that’s a six out of five for Stranger in a Strange Land, it is that good, go read it!

I don’t think twelve is not a challenging goal anymore ;). Furthermore, I already have three books which I brought from Kinokuniya on queue.

A question to my readers, fellow Indonesians especially: What kind of novels do you read? And why do you like them? I’m just wondering since it seems that my fascination to (classical) sci-fi novels is not something I share with a lot of people around me (how many of you read 2001?).

Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.

The Gods Themselves is my second Asimov book — the first being Robot Dreams which is a collection of short stories. The novel is an exceptional work of science fiction, one that combines multiple parallel universes with different physical laws.

The novel tells the story of the electron pump. The pump transfers matter between parallel universes and generates energy on both by utilizing the difference in physical laws. The story then explores the consequences of this seemingly clean and free source of energy to both our universe and the parallel universe.

The book is divided into three parts. In the first part (Against Stupidity…) tells the story of Pater Lamont, a physicist-historian interested with the story behind the electron pump. During his research he found out that the pump could potentially destroy the solar system and attempts to stop it. I really love this story, brilliant and humorous. It truly is a story of a solitary man fighting against stupidity.

In the second part (…The Gods Themselves…) we see what happens on the other side of the pump. It tells the story of a triad or family of aliens named Odeen (a Rational), Dua (an Emotional), and Tritt (a Parental). Asimov’s unique description of the alien race is very detailed and clearly sets this novel apart from the others. The aliens are not human-like at all (their physical law is different) but Asimov easily makes them into uniquely believable individuals.

The last part (…Contend in Vain?) takes us to the moon where a self-educated physicist named Denison, which was briefly mentioned in the first part, tries to proof Lamont’s theories. This part also introduces an interesting moon-earth rivalry sub-plot.

I highly recommend this book. The science is a bit overwhelming in some parts, but don’t let it stop you. This one is a science-fiction gem.

12+/2008: My ninth book of the year. I’m starting to think 12 is too easy as a goal.

Thou Art God

I just finished the last page of Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. It took me three weeks to grok this book and I absolutely love every page of it. I believe that Stranger is the best book I’ve read this year. A timeless science fiction masterpiece.

12+/2008 Update: Eight books in four months!

Dalam acara dokumenter berjudul The Twelve Apostles di MetroTV tadi malam, terdapat beberapa kesalahan di teks terjemahan yang menurut saya amat mengganggu.

Yang pertama adalah The Book of Acts yang diterjemahkan sebagai Kitab Kejadian. Terjemahan yang benar seharusnya adalah Kitab Kisah Para Rasul. Jauh sekali antara Kitab Kejadian (Genesis), kitab pertama dalam perjanjian lama dengan Kisah Para Rasul yang ada di dalam perjanjian baru.

Lalu yang berikutnya adalah istilah Gentile yang tidak diterjemahkan (tetap ditulis Gentile di teks). Alangkah baiknya kalau diterjemahkan menjadi “orang-orang bukan Yahudi” seperti yang biasanya digunakan di dalam Alkitab bahasa Indonesia. Menurut saya penggunaan istilah Gentile pada teks malah membuat penonton menjadi bingung.

Sepertinya penterjemah di MetroTV kurang melakukan riset terlebih dahulu mengenai penggunaan istilah-istilah biblikal dalam bahasa Indonesia.

Kafe Victoria in Plaza Senayan is almost always packed with people all the time. Yet finding some reviews and information about it on the net is not an easy task. Even those that we found were rather discouraging. Surprisingly, the food were very delicious. We ordered Goulash Soup (23k IDR), Lemon Butter Gindara (53.5k IDR, pictured above), Chicken BBQ (53.3k IDR), Cafe Mocha and a glass of Iced Lemon Tea.

The Goulash was amazing, red with tomato and bell peepers. My Lemon Butter Gindara was also tasty (got to be the butter hehe), I would surely recommend it to anyone. It also came with a small plate of boiled potato.

Here is the Chicken BBQ which Wortel ate. Also very very delicious. The chicken came with BBQ sauce and a small plate of fries.

I Wonder… what took me so long to try this place?

HP 2133 Mini-note PC vs. Nokia N810

I know that both devices are on two different classes. One is a full laptop and another is an internet tablet. Yet both are very similar in one way or another. Both are ultra portable devices with a similar price range (around US$ 400++), both has WiFi, and both of them runs Linux. More important of all, both look sleek.

The HP 2133 clearly wins on terms of screen and keyboard size compared to the N810. It also runs desktop OSes, which opens to a a huge selection of softwares. That is, if you’re OK with running XP or SuSE with a 8.9″ screen on an underpowered processor.

Meanwhile the N810 is a pocketable device, it is smaller and lighter compared to the HP2133. It has bluetooth by default, and a GPS receiver. While it won’t run your garden variety desktop OSes, it is equipped with an Internet Tablet OS and a (limited) set of applications specialized for small touch screen devices.

I knew there got to be a word for it. It’s called the Streisand effect!

The Streisand effect is a phenomenon on the Internet where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information backfires, causing the information to be widely publicized. Examples are attempts to censor a photograph, a file, or even a whole website, especially by means of cease-and-desist letters. Instead of being suppressed, the information sometimes quickly receives extensive publicity, often being widely mirrored across the Internet, or distributed on file-sharing networks.

They should have known better.