Breaking inertia

After a few days of good posting and setting up a momentum, an external routine change brought everything to a stop.

One day I didn't post and then the next day and then the next, it continued and I realized I was in a rut of inertia.

For a couple of months I have been observing how difficult it becomes once I loose the momentum. The inertia restricts getting into the previous mode.

So over the years I have seen these three techniques valuable in conquering inertia.

1. Time yourself for a simple task. For example to break my posting inertia, I set a timer for 7 mins and then allow myself to write whatever comes to my mind. This initial jolt of action usually does the trick.

You can employ it to break your non study inertia, to set your routine to include some fortran learning or something more specific to your need.

2. Take up the simplest task and do it. If the project is overwhelming, then take up the simplest task related to it and resolve to work on it in next 10 mins. Notice I haven't mention complete it. I said work on it. Make a huge difference.

For my current personal project, I am building a patron neural file reader, and to curb the inertia that has developed because of my break from it, I sat down and just choose to do the simplest task of writing a flow chart for what I need to do.

3. Change your activity. If the activity is indoors. Go do something outdoors. If it's computer related, do something non computer related. Just changing the context for sometimes helps you crumble the inertia.

These were the techniques that has helped me curb being stuck in inertia.

Inertia has featured a lot on this blog and you can found how and where via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=inertia

Two Fortran tutorials for beginners

During the last week I have received couple of requests for tutorials on Fortran. I have listed some of them before, so here I want to direct you to two tutorials that ate just I would love to use if I were a beginner…

So here are the links

• Fortran 77 tutorial
• Fortran 90 tutorial

Start with the first and then move on to the second….

The courses are short, simple and no nonsense Fortran tutorials…….  Not everything is covered but enough to get a start…

Happy coding guys and gals!!

Cheers

or learn it here..

Fortran 90

Fortran 77

Three tips for telephonic interview.

For all interviews, now a days, telephonic interview has become the first stage.

Before a personal round, most people are pre screened via a telephonic interview.

So here are 3 tips for giving a successful telephonic interview, all gathered from interviews I did in the last couple of months.

1. When asked to introduce yourself, be brief. Start with your education, end with the relevant project and work that your have experience of. Don't sing your history. It's supposed to give a view of your career in view of the requirement.

2. When describing your projects, don't use jargon. Don't overwhelm the other person with unnecessary details. All he or she wants to know is what is your experience and what role you played in it? Skip any other detail.

3. Know what the requirement is and use it to lead the interview. Having a clear idea of what is the requirement will help you respond and drive the interview process.

And to sum up, talk slowly, clearly and briefly. Telephonic interview is just a trailer. Picture to abhi baki hai merae dost!!

To find more on interviews, please follow this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=interview&max-results=100

Good luck

Advice to Avionics Stream AeSI graduates

A few days back, I received this following query.

"Sir, I have given last three exams of Aesi and from avionics branch. As my degree is going to complete, I want to know what other things i learn which is helpful in my future like some languages which are required in avioncs branch."

So I directed the question to Mr. Rituraj. He ,in my opinion, was the best person to answer this query. His being from the same stream helps!!

Mr. Rituraj was kind enough to take some time out of his already busy schedule and here is his reply.

"My advice for avionics graduates on langauages/tools will be to learn 'C'/MATLAB/Simulink in depth. If MATLAB is not available one can download PsiLAB freely. An avionics engineer can go into three streams: Control, FMS and Communication. They should not hesitate to start their career with Systems V&V and then slowly move to design & development."

Thank you Mr. Rituraj!!

I hope this will help avionics graduates coming from AeSI!

If you want out more about avionics on this blog, please follow this link
Http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=avionics&max-results=100

Resolutions(goals) for 2011

I like to call my resolutions as goals with one year time frame.

Having goals mean you're trying to be better. You want to improve.

And what better way to commit to a goal than making it public. So I will list my 4 goals for this year. If you are into this, please post your goals for 2011 in comments.

Recently I posted a review of my goals of 2010 and this years goals originate from the 40+ books I read last year because of one resolution for 2010!

So here we go.

1. As always, keep posing one post a day to this blog. Hope I get enough material and have something useful to say. My inspiration for this goal is Seth Godin, who has posted in his blog for the last 5+ years without missing a single day!! Amazing! You should follow his blog at http://feeds.feedburner.com/sethgodin

Along side this I will be more active on my personal blog and would like to post at least one post per week!!

2. Last year I read 40 books, this year my aim is to read at least 30 non fiction books. I have reduced the goal to enjoy and get some time to reread some of the books I have already read!!

3. No TV. I did this partially last year and this had gave me good hours to work on my personal side projects. So this year I am aiming to reduce it much further. Will utilize the time gained in 4 personal projects I have lined up for 2011!!

4. Building discipline. Whatever be the goal, whatever be the target, Discipline always triumphs will power. So will do many small tasks daily to build discipline. Like excising daily, keeping desk clean, running, eat healthy etc

So there they are, 4 simple goals that I would like to pursue in 2011!

Now it's your turn to commit!!

Subscribe myaesi via email. Link provided below. More at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com

78 fortran interview questions you can face in an interview!

There is powercut in my area and I am sitting in complete dark. It's 8 pm and I can't do anything.

So to utilize this time I list 78 fortran questions that you can be asked in a fortran interview?

1. What is common block in fortran?
2. How many types of common are there?
3. What is difference between named and unnamed common?
4. What is an equivalence statement?
5. What is statement functions?
6. What is the use of statement function?
7. What is the equivalent of commons in fortran 90?
8. How are arrays stored in fortran?
9. How is array storage different in fortran and c?
10. Is memory allocation possible in fortran?
11. Is there pointers in fortran?
12. How will you implement pointers in fortran?
13. What is type Declaration?
14. Give the kinds of variables you can create in fortran?
15. What is the Use of modules in fortran?
16. What is select case statement?
17. Explain computed go to statement?
18. What is the statement to create a file in fortran?
19. What is the statement to append a file in fortran?
20. What are allocatable arrays?
21. Is it a correct declaration statement -> real :: a(:,:)
22. What does the above declaration statement mean?
23. What is the purpose of continue statement?
24. What is array slicing?
25. Can you dynamic arrays in fortran?
26. How to declare a string variable of 10 character?
27. What is format statement?
28. How will you output a 10 character variable? Show via a format statement
29. what is kind operator?
30. Can you increase the precision of the variable?
31. If yes how. If no why not?
32. What does include statement do?
33. What is namelists?
34. Why use namelist?
35. What is block data?
36. What is the purpose of blog data?
36. What is pass by reference and pass by value?
37. Name ten intrinsic functions?
38. What are intrinsic functions?
39. What does real a(*) mean?
40. Is this correct declarative statement. Real a(*,4)?
41. What does Len=* in character variable declaration mean?
42. What is contains?
43. Use of contains?
44. How to create global variables in fortran?
45. What is the difference between real and real*8?
46. Create complex variable in fortran?
47. How will you access the real and imaginary part of the fortran variable?
48. What is implicit none?
49. What happens if we don't use implicit none?
50. Can a fortran array start with 0?
51. Is the array declaration correct integer is(-10,20)?
52. How do you concatenate two strings in fortran?
53. What is the difference between stop and end statement?
54. What are data statements?
55. How to use data statement?
56. What is parameter?
57. How do you define a constant in fortran?
58. What is implied read and write statement?
59. How to define a 3 dimension integer array?
60. What does write(*,*) mean?
61. How can you read ten or more variables at a time?
62. What is entry statement?
63. What is save statement?
64. What is where statement?
65. Where do your use forall statement?
66. Can you do object oriented programming in fortran?
67. What is the continuation character in fortran 90 and above?
68. Difference between print and write statement?
69. How to define a Boolean variable
70. What does this operator mean ==
71. What is the power operator in fortran?
72. What is computed if?
73. How to convert real to integer and vice versa?
74. What is dimension statement?
75. What is a pure function?
76. What is !DEC$ statement?
77. How to use compiler directives in fortran program?
78. What does index intrinsic do?

Knowing answers to all question is not important. Knowing the right answers for the right question is important!!

Find more interview questions via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=interview+questions&max-results=100

Ls-dyna Analysis tutorials

Well this one will be a short post.

If you are into analysis and by any chance use LS-Dyna analysis
software tool, then I have a site to recommend to you all.

It's www.dynaexamples.com !!

Yes as the name suggest there are numerous downloadable ls-dyna
examples on this website.

Even if you are not into Ls-dyna, but are in analysis, I suggest you
take a tour of this website. You will comeout by learning something
useful.

That's it, if you know about other sites that might be helpful to
other users of this blog, please do name it in comments.

Cheers

More tool specific advice can be searched via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=tutorial

Quotes Collected Over 2010

I am in the habit of collecting quotes, lines from the blogs, books and article that I read. Formed this habit while I was onsite last time and ever since stayed with me…

So here’s the collection of the same. Wherever possible and where I remembered I have attributed the quote the concerned person.

Do let me know which one striked a chord with you…. :)

• You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.-John Wooden
• Repeated fresh attacks are how hard problems are solved in the real world – Studyhacks
• Risking the appearance of weakness takes strength. And the market knows it - Seth Godin
• The desire to actually start doing something comes from within - external motivators and ideas only channel it in an interesting way. - The simple Dollar
• Talent grows with production - Cal Newport
• You can add value in two ways: You can know the answers. You can offer the questions. - Seth Godin
• As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters. - J K Rowling
• Personal finance success - or success in any avenue of life - isn't about being all things to all people. It's about being the important things to the truly important people.  -the simple dollar
• We need something more than ourselves to be ourselves.  -Mark Vernon's
• Your strengths are not "what you're already good at " but what make you feel strong and fulfilled in that moment - Marcus Buckingham's
• Creativity happens not with one brilliant flash but in a chain reaction of many tiny sparks while executing an idea....insight and execution are inextricably woven together...each adjustment [involves] a small spark of insight that [leads] to others
• "What really matters,happens at the edges"  - Guy Kawasaki
• Don't aim to be liked, aim to be memorable. - Chuck Palahniuk
• "Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."  -Robert F. Kennedy
• A grand challenge can be the spark, but a carefully crafted series of steps in one's own professional development is critical to future success in a technology-oriented world -  Dr. Bobby Braun, NASA
• "Given two people with exactly the same ability, the one person who manages day in and day out to get in one more hour of thinking will be tremendously more productive over a lifetime." - Dr. Richard Hamming
• At the core of getting better is deliberate practice, stretching yourself beyond your current capability - Cal Newport
• I don't want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well." - Diane Ackerman
• Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn't have the power to say yes." - Eleanor Roosevelt
• Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads." - Erica Jong
• A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw
• Working right trumps finding the right work.
• Only invest time in the things you want to be good at
• Yale Professor Richard Sennett calls craftsmanship "an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a job well for its own sake."
• Auer responded, "Practice with your fingers, and you need all day. Practice with your mind, and you will do as much in 1-1/2 hours."
• "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abraham Lincoln
• There are only two problems in life: (1) you know what you want, and you don't know how to get it; and/or (2) you don't know what you want.  Steven Snyder
• View your job as an opportunity, not a paycheck. –SG
• If you wait to do what you're told, it's way too late. -Seth Godin
• It's just like selling encyclopedias. No doorbell ring = No sale
• "My experience is what I agree to attend to." - William James
• I'll live the focused life, because it's the best kind there is - Winifred Gallagher
• Training your mind is crucial in building a good life - Winifred Gallagher
• Life is the sum total of what you focus on
• It is better be alone than in bad company. - George Washington
• An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. -Benjamin Franklin
• We want/need both the material compensation from work and the feeling of contribution we get from work. Without the feeling that what we do matters, we are left with an emotional letdown.
• The more you toss yourself into areas of change that match your skills and passions, the more valuable you become very quickly.
• Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
• You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one.
• If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes.
• Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
• If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?
• Working hard builds great things. Chasing results ends up like Wall Street.
• If we don't start, it's certain we can't arrive. - Zig Ziglar
• In her multimedia book THE FIRESTARTER SESSIONS, Danielle LaPorte urges you to pay attention to something else: what people compliment you on. "The gratitude you receive is a reflection of your genius. Create a habit of noticing where and when appreciation comes at you in your life and work. It's part of the feedback loop of strengths and talent that you need to invest in, in order to thrive and feel fulfilled and effective."
• Robert Heinlein put it, "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects"
• Travel is about the experience, not what you bring with you.
• Vision without execution is hallucination - Thomas Edison
• "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong." - Arthur C. Clarke's lesser known three laws
• The brain is such a monkey to begin with, leaping after the happy bananas of distraction - Tribal writer
• If you've got a wagon full of rice as food aid, you can just dump it in the town square and drive away. You have all the power. But if you have to sell something in order to succeed, it moves the power from the seller to buyer.
• Employees do more than just complete the tasks you give them. They establish a pace, a culture, a tone for your company. -Seth Godin
• Remember, the number one thing you have to invest is your time. -Seth Godin
• Advice from others primarily as an opportunity for greater insight into the mind of the advice-giver, rather than as something useful to be acted upon ourselves. - Ben Casnocha
• When giving advice, include the word "because." It increases eventual absorption, regardless of what you say after the word "because."  - Ben Casnocha
• When you give advice, it's easy to fan the embers but hard to strike a new fire.  - Ben Casnocha
• Whoever is happy will make others happy, too." Mark Twain.
• "It is easy to be heavy: hard to be light." G. K. Chesterton
• One common approach is a shotgun clause. It says that at any point, Person A can offer to buy out Person B. Person B then has a few days either to take the money or to turn around and pay Person A exactly the amount proposed. It's guaranteed to be fair, and it's quick.
• A student who has no perceived math ability, or illegible handwriting or the inability to sit still for five minutes gets immediate and escalating attention. The student with no curiosity, on the other hand, is no problem at all
• Because advertising is a little like watering seeds, you don't want to miss even one cycle.
• Instead of always looking for a new prospect, a new audience, a new market, make sure you harvest all the apples on this tree first.
• The best performers set goals that are not about the outcome but rather about the process of reaching the outcome. -Geoff Colvin
• Planning a career at a career fair is a little like looking for a soulmate at a singles' bar. –SG
• The first time he faced someone with a gun, he was frightened. The second time, less so. The third time, it meant nothing.
• You don't have to be the target of an assassin to develop the attitude of urgency - 50 cents
• Creative excellence, which is the focus of the "Song", is not a singular entity, but depends rather, like the flavor of a cake or a cup of coffee, on an appropriate blend of a range of factors - principals of excellence
• Success, in any field, has to be created. -principles of excellence
• The easiest way to force the insight of what can be lived without is by playing a game of constraints: You have to ship on Friday, you can't add more people, you can't work nights. Fixed resources, fixed time. All that's left to give is scope. It's amazing how creative the cuts and sharp the sacrifices become when you're backed into a corner. - noise and signal
• Excellence is a journey.
• "To the extent that your work takes into account the needs of the world, it will be meaningful; to the extent that through it you express you unique talents, it will be joyful" (Laurence Boldt - How to Find the Work You Love).
• "The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve" (Albert Schweitzer).
• Learn to think like a shepherd who spends his days watching our for problems and the needs of his flock. In the Bible, sheep are often used as a metaphor for people.
• Have you been failing and feeling unfulfilled because you have been trying to do things you are simply not equipped to do - like a fish trying to walk or a mouse trying to swim?
• When asked in a TV chat show what he would do if he lost all his money, entrepreneur Richard Branson replied simply: "I would find something interesting to do".
• "Never be a minion, always be an owner." - the 50th law
• Busy does not equal important. Measured doesn't mean mattered –SG
• More time spent under the car hood means less time spent on diagnosis and repair. - Fixed to flexible by Todd Sattersten
• Farmers prefer productive meetings, hunters want to simply try stuff and see what happens. –SG
• All of this came out of Napoleon's determination to see everything around him as an opportunity. By looking for these opportunities, he found them - the 50th law
• An opportunist in life sees all hindrances as instruments for power - 50th law
• In general, obstacles force your mind to focus and find ways around them. They heighten your mental powers and should be welcomed. -50th law
• "You don't become indispensable merely because you are different. But the only way to become indispensable is to be different. That's because if you're the same, so are plenty of other people." – linchpin
• He didn't care if people thought he was different-he was proud of it. - 50th law
• I am amazed at this wonderful dynamo in the mind that can create a novel from a single image. You should give yourself to your imagination. - John Fowles
• An important trait of the great programmers is constructive laziness -Eric Raymond
• Often, the most striking and innovative solutions come from realizing that your concept of the problem was wrong – ER
• Antoine de Saint-Exup (who was an aviator and aircraft designer) said: 'Perfection (in design) is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but rather when there is nothing more to take away.'
• Comfort the frightened, coach the clueless and teach the uninformed –SG
• When I ask you for your opinion I'm not asking you for the right answer. I'm asking you for your opinion. – SG
• Hard work is prison sentence only if it has no meaning - Outliers Malcom Gladwell
• If you work hard enough, assert yourself and use your mind and imagination, you can shape whatever future you want.
• He took up boxing to discipline his mind and body
• Progressing step-by-step was the only way to succeed in anything
• To make this work you must choose a career or a craft that excites you in some deep way. You are creating no dividing line between work and pleasure. Your pleasure comes in mastering the process itself, and in the mental immersion it requires.
• The fearless types in history inevitably display in their lives a higher tolerance than most of us for repetitive, boring tasks.
• All of man's troubles come from not knowing how to sit still, alone in a room.- Blaise Pascal
• Understand: the real secret, the real formula for power in this world, lies in accepting the ugly reality that learning requires a process, and this in turn demands patience and the ability to endure drudge work.
• These suggestions are more like eating algorithms, mental devices for thinking through our food choices. - In defense of food
• The Ku Klux -Klan was a group whose power-much like that of politicians or real-estate agents or stockbrokers-was derived in large part from the fact That it hoarded information.
• In fashion as in art - style emerges not from a lack of rules but  from a mastery of them, from making them serve you instead of the  other way around. - Some guy in a stephack blog
• Five minutes a day you might do exceptional work, remarkable work, work that matters. Five minutes a day you might defeat the lizard brain long enough to stand up and make a difference. –SG
• Any problem is much easier to work through when you are given the solution at the beginning.
• Asked how long it took to achieve Excellence, IBM's legendary boss Tom Watson is said to have answered more or less as follows: "A minute. You 'achieve' Excellence* by promising yourself right now that you'll never again knowingly do anything that's not Excellent-regardless of any pressure to do otherwise by any boss or situation."
• "Work is love mode visible.  - KAHLIL GIBRAN

Well that’s it. Now tell me Which one you liked the most!!

Also Read Quotes from 2009 to inspire

Don't take a recession salary and 2 other tips for recent AeSI graduate!!

Taking forward the last post on recent graduates, in this particularly small post I would like to point 3 things that AeSI graduates should do.

Most of them just do the opposite! These mistakes if avoided will help you in your long term success.

1. Go to every walk in and all job opportunities that come your way. Don't assume. Just go. Show up. You will always learn something and if it's your day, you might land up with a job!

2. Don't take-up whatever is available without looking at your interests!! Yes for long term success and happiness, your interest is important. Yes money will always play a good role, but before that access yourself and then accept the offer.

3. If its not recession, don't take a recession salary? Know what is the current state of the market. Ask someone in the industry about the range and take that. Any compromise you do now, joy might regret latter.

Well that's it. Do you have anything to add, your comments are always welcome. Please use the comment field!!

More advice how to navigate after-aesi at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=after-aesi&max-results=100

One thing that you should do now if you are about to graduate from AeSI

I have written a long post on things to do in your last semester of AeSI and it's included in the after-aesi ebook.

So here I will be brief and touch upon the most important thing that you can do if you are nearing your graduation from AeSI!

Sit down with a pen a paper and list out all your good points, things you are good at, your likes and your favorite subjects, topics.

Once this is jotted down, cook up a resume for yourself. Refine it. Show it to someone, get it reviewed and finally post it in various online job portals.

The advantage of this simple yet not so easy task are many.

You will know where you stand. Your own introspection and coming up of a resume with it, will help your mind to get focused.

You will know what you need to learn and do to be job ready once you graduate.

Uploading your resume on job portal will allow you to receive job listing based on your resume. This job listing will tell you where you actually stand, what areas needs to be improved, which skill is most sought after.

So what are you waiting for. If it's your last or second last semester, find more on how to write a resume and get started.

Start building your resume before you actually need it.

Resume building tips can be found at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=resume&max-results=100

Good luck