Author: Harris Jan

Polluted LinkedIn

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LinkedIn has become polluted.

It started as a platform for professionals (and aspiring professionals) to network with each other to build and grow their career. It was also meant to be a platform where one can disclose any achievements or milestones that are closely related to their career. However, over time, people have started posting messages that have zero relevance to their (or anyone else’s) careers. Sadly, LinkedIn has now become a cesspool of useless and irrelevant posts, for the most part. Majority of the posts belong to other platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, not LinkedIn. Many members routinely post some message simply to be in the limelight. This trend has reduced the value/usefulness of LinkedIn as a networking tool.

I have attempted to classify the useless posts (not necessarily in the order of their irrelevance 🙂 )

  • Posts supporting or opposing a political party or a leader. I think politics absolutely does not belong in LinkedIn.
  • Inspirational videos, most of which are fake anyway.
  • Festival greetings (Happy Diwali, Happy New Year, Merry Christmas etc. etc.). These are often posted by institutions. I have always wondered exactly who these greetings are targeting and what impact, if any, such posts have.
  • Praising someone else effusively. Example: “X was born into poverty but is worth $x billion today”. OK, so what is your point here?
  • Posting extremely trivial accomplishments. Once a student posted about having learnt Ohm’s law. It takes less than one minute to understand Ohm’s law. Worse, he had used ChatGPT and created a post running into three paragraphs! All for learning the most basic concept in circuit theory.
  • Attempting to teach a concept. There are numerous resources online to learn a subject (YouTube, Wikipedia, Coursera etc). Why attempt to teach something with the very limited space LinkedIn provides for a post?

Below are some extreme examples of useless posts I have come across:

  • One member wished his 9-year old son a happy birthday. On LinkedIn!
  • One member disclosed what he ate for lunch that day.
  • One school student posted about a movie she watched with her family. She has 30,000+ followers!

I dread the day when people will start posting their favorite recipes. I will probably quit LinkedIn on that day!

What can we do? Well, if you come across a post that does not belong in LinkedIn, flag it as “Not appropriate for LinkedIn”. If enough people flag irrelevant posts, it may lead to such posts being taken down or even the posters being kicked out of LinkedIn.

What can LinkedIn do? I wish they could add a “Dislike” or downvote button. Currently, there is only a “Like” button.

Let us all work together to reduce “digital pollution”.

Now, how would you classify my article above?! 😀 Let me know your thoughts.

Favorite movies

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I generally am not a big fan of movies (there is enough drama in real life), but I have seen a few good movies over the last few decades that are etched in my heart. I am only going to list Tamil movies here, since those are the ones that I can really relate to and keep going back to. 


1. Sillu Karuppatti https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/reviews/sillu-karupatti-movie-review-life-is-like-a-box-of-chocolates/article30410499.ece
Absolutely love this movie. Lost count of how many times I went back and watched my favourite scenes.

2. K.D. alias Karuppudurai https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/reviews/kd-engira-karuppudurai-review-the-heartfelt-storyline-and-perfect-casting-leave-a-smile-on-your-face/article30051232.ece
Deals with the horrific practice of senicide. However, the movie itself is delightful to watch. A delightful movie about a dark subject.

3. Thavamai thavamirundhu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thavamai_Thavamirundhu  I was struggling to control my tears watching the movie. All men who provide for their families can relate to this movie well.

4. Mahanadhi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahanadhi_(film) Anybody who watches this movie without crying is not a human being. You have been warned. Kamalahassan at his finest, with a brilliant background score by Ilayaraaja. 

5. Thanneer Thanner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanneer_Thanneer
This film exposes the rotten political system and bureaucracy in India and the struggles of villagers for bringing water supply to their village. 

Favorite books

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For as long as I can remember, I have always been a voracious reader.  When I was young, I have read a few classics (Charles Dickens is my all-time favorite. Reading all his works unabridged is in my bucket list. More about that later). This blog is about books that shaped me and are part of “eternal favorites” list.

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie

Don’t let the simple title fool you. This book is a treasure-trove of wisdom. There is no complex philosophy or bombastic language.

Notes to myself by Hugh Prather

I love any book written by Hugh Prather, but the first time I opened this book (some 35 years ago) and read the first page, my jaw literally dropped. From that time, I keep reading this book frequently. As I am progressing in the journey of life, I understand each passage better.

CHANDRA by Kameshwar Wali

This is the biography of Indian astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who won the Nobel prize for physics in 1983. To me, Chandra epitomizes the true “karma yogi”, interested in his work but not so much in the rewards.

Guest Lectures

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I am very passionate about teaching. With my US Master’s degree and over 30 years industry experience. I thought colleges would compete with each other to sign me up for guest lectures. BIG MISTAKE ! The apathy I have been experiencing from colleges in India is appalling, to say the least. To be fair, it is not just one college. Over the last 2 years, I have written to over 30 colleges. The only college that (enthusiastically) responded was VIT. Not only did they give me an opportunity to deliver a lecture, they offered me the post of an adjunct lecturer right after my lecture, asking me to come back to deliver 2-week workshops to their students (offering to pay me round-trip airfare, accommodation and attractive remuneration) ! No wonder they are the No.1 private university in India. My experience is not isolated either. My good friend ( a product of IIT-Madras, with a PhD in EE from Georgia Tech !) had the same experience. This guy has several patents and has published papers in reputed international journals. Last fall, he taught a course in Embedded Systems for an entire semester at the Univ of Houston. Yet, colleges in India did not even respond to his offer to deliver a guest lecture. It would be easy for us to simply give up, since our livelihood does not depend on this (fortunately). We just feel sorry for the students in our country, who are deprived of these good opportunities to learn from industry experts. Sad.

My experience with colleges in the Middle-East was a little different. They mentioned that they absolutely loved my lectures and wanted me back. However, when I raised the topic of some form of compensation, their silence was deafening ! For the life of me, I don’t understand why colleges where students arrive in Porsches and Bentleys cannot afford to pay me a token honorarium and reimburse my travel expenses.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVM)

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My comment about EVMs were published in the online edition of THE HINDU*
“I am an electronics engineer with over 30 years of experience in microcontrollers, the same type of chip that controls the EVMs and I know what I am talking. It is hilarious that many people who cannot even spell the word E-L-E-C-T-R-O-N-I-C-S are coming up with downright stupid and outlandish conspiracy theories. I think their strategy is very simple: If BJP wins, then the EVMs are rigged. If any party opposed to BJP wins, then those EVMs are pristine ! What kind of idiotic logic is this ! The EVMs are far more immune to any kind of tampering than paper ballots. The Election Commision threw an open challenge to all political parties to prove that the EVM could be hacked. Not one party took up the challenge. The next time any stupid politician comes up with wild conspiracy theories, the Election commission should take him to court and see to it that he is put in jail, for needlessly undermining democracy”.

Ramblings

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Life as an algebraic equation

We humans have a tendency to forget the 99 good deeds someone would have done for us but hold on to that one bad deed that person would have done. Often I have wondered why life cannot be like an algebraic equation. Meaning “cancel out all bad deeds with good one”, so that only memories of good deeds remain. 99.9% of human beings are “good” by nature and mean well and do well most of the time. How wonderful life would be when we only retain positive memories of people around us?!

Communication

We now have sophisticated communication gadgets at our disposal that enable us to livestream what we are doing at any given time to a loved one on the other side of the world. After 4G, we now have 5G; may be 6G tomorrow. However, I wonder how many of us are able to “communicate” to someone living under the same roof? How many of us are able to open our hearts to near (not necessarily dear) ones?

Chennai Airport

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The Chennai airport is frequently in the news for all the wrong reasons. One wonders why successive state governments have shown zero interest in fixing the Chennai airport for the last 15 years. Perhaps this could be due to the perception that only the “educated/elite” use the airports and those people seldom vote ! Airports are the gateway to any city and this is where visitors (including foreign tourists) form their first impression about the city. Our leaders only care about ensuring the prosperity of their children and looting the country. The tragedy is that all big cities in India have had swanky airports for several years now. Even by Indian standards, Chennai airport is only slightly better than a railway station. Thousands of crores have been spent on Mumbai and Delhi airports. However, when it comes to the Chennai airport, suddenly problems like funds/manpower shortage come up. Even Bangalore and Hyderabad airports could be considered world-class. Chennai and Tamilnadu are always given a step-motherly treatment by the central government. It is the curse of Tamilnadu that we have to endure the rule of one Kazhagam or the other, who care little about the development/image of the state. The only solution is to ignore the AAI union and privatize this airport. As a frequent user of the airport, I am willing to pay a fee, if that would ensure a clean airport.