Happy New Year 2011

Wishing you all a happy new year.

Wish you all budding aeronautical engineers flying success in life!!!

Thanks for reading?

Some Books I Read This Year

Reading 40 books this year was one of my resolutions for the year 2010 and and I glad to say it was a resounding success.

Keeping books close by, having some of them on my iPod and on Amazon kindle app on my iPhone  helped achieve this goal.

Here’s listing of some of the prominent and new books that I have read…. Hope to surpass this list next year.

• BLINK – By malcom Gladwell
• Bootstaper’s bible – Seth Godin
• The 50th law   – 50 Cent and Robert Greene
• Flipping the Funnel – Seth Godin
• Principles of Excellence – John A Thomas
• CRUSH IT! – Gary Vaynerchuk
• The God Delusion – By Richard Dawkins
• Tribes – Seth Godin
• The character of Physical laws – Richard P Feynman
• Outliers – Malcom Gladwell
• Permission Marketing – Seth Godin
• Kind of Minds – Daniel Dennett
• Letting Go of God -Julia Sweeney
• Rich Dad Poor Dad
• Why sex is fun -Jared Diamond
• The Millionaire next door
• What to eat -Michael Pollan
• Freqonomics
• Conversation confidence
• How to think like Einstein
• 13 Things that don’t make sense -Michale Brooks
• Conversation confidence
• Positioning
• Genome
• Omnivore’s Dilemma -Michale Pollan
• Good to Great
• Food Rules -Michale Pollan
• I am America and so can you
• The perfect murder James, Peter
• Life support Tess Gerritsen
• Soul Identity Dennis Batchelder
• Empowered Unleash Your HERO -Josh Bernoff
• Pirate Latitude – Michael Crichton
• The tipping point by Malcolm Gladwell
• Garden of Eden – Richard Dawkins
• E=mc2 History of the famous equation
• DP, Talent is Overrated  – Daniel Coyle
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There  Marshal Goldsmith
• Biography of Albert Einstein
• Mindset -Carol Dweck
• Drive by Daniel Pink

if I have to recommend 3 books for AeSI folks, then they will be

1. Mindset -Carol Dweck
2. DP, Talent is Overrated  – Daniel Coyle
3. Positioning

What's your resume score?

Remember my last resume post about how bad the resumes were. We are poor judge about our resumes or creations.

Well wouldn't be cool if we had some app or something that can look and analyze our resume and give us some advice on it.

As I learnt today, in fact, there's just the kind of app available on web.

So without delay, let's see what is RezScore?

"RezScore is a webapp analyzes your uploaded resume and provides surprisingly accurate advice. If you're applying for a new job and need to get your resume in shape, it could be a very helpful tool.

The functionality of RezScore is very, very simple. You upload a resume, opt in or out of being contacted about further help, and RezScore generates a page full of advice to help you improve."

Read more from Lifehacker - RezScore Grades Your Resumes and Offers Free Advice at http://lifehac.kr/hKiJxQ

Cool!! Isn't it?

more tips on preparing a super duper aerospace resume can be found via this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=aerospace+resume&max-results=100

Good luck

I haven't tried it myself, but will try to do it this weekend. Do let me know about your experience with the service!!

Stop multi-tasking in 2011

New year is around the corner and this is apt time to share with you the following post on why multitasking is not as good/useful as we might think.

"Based on over a half-century of cognitive science and more recent studies on multitasking, we know that multitaskers do less and miss information. It takes time (an average of 15 minutes) to re-orient to a primary task after a distraction such as an email. Efficiency can drop by as much as 40%. Long-term memory suffers and creativity — a skill associated with keeping in mind multiple, less common, associations — is reduced."

Read more here: The Conversation - You Can't Multitask, So Stop Trying http://bit.ly/ffLc0k

So if I have to just select one resolution for 2011 for myself, I will choose not to indulge in multitasking?

What about you?

Before you send your resume

A few weeks back I blogged about a requirement for performance engineer. It generated lot of cv's and as I asked my friend who was handling those cv's.

He was disappointed. Disappointed not because there was lack of talent, but because of poor presentation and quality of the resumes.

He said out of the 40+ resume he received, he had to modify 37 of them. That's a huge number. Only 3 resumes were ready to be forwarded further without any modification or correction, the rest had flaws.

I have asked him to share his advice on what he felt was wrong. He has promised to pen it.

Meanwhile here's 2 suggestions I will make to you regarding your resumes.

Proofread or ask someone apart from yourself to go through your resume. At this stage spelling mistakes are not acceptable. If you want a professional treatment, send a professional resume.

Write your most important information in the first page of your resume. This is the place a person reading your resume should have an overall idea about your professional life. Be relevant and crisp.

Please read all the topics on resume here on this blog and at other places, because resume is a marketing document and unless you pen it right, you won't attract the right job!!

click
http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=resume&max-results=100 for searching myaesi blog for resume tips and tricks!!

How did I fair in my resolutions for 2010

If you remember, I had published few of my resolutions at the beginning of this year. (Post link: http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-resolutions-for-year-2010.html)

Let's draw a report card on how I did on each of them.

Continue daily updates to MyAeSI: Success. Though my frequency has been hit by lot of travel that I did this year. But I am pleased that each day, I took some time out and posted something that was useful for you guys. By the way it's a good time to thank you all for reading.

Complete 4 BIG projects in this year, 3 month for one project. Complete success.
I have created 4 excel based learning games for my daughter, developed 6 fortran games, helped creating and maintaining AeSIAA website, wrote the first draft of a office productivity ebook, created a program to write out patran neutral mesh file for any solid model and developed a VBA program to do analysis of AeSI results.

Most of the things are unpublished and I am planning to publish them online soon as I get time.

Embed the habit of focussed work, daily/weekly plan and deliberate practice in the work flow. Partial success.
All that I accomplished this year was because of applying this resolution. I created focus work schedule and stuck to it. This is partial success because I did it for 6 or 7 months and then somehow missed the plot. Would like to take this up next year.

Learn Python: Success but I still don't know python. Learning something was the actual intent of this resolution. So I set this goal. But It was a success because Instead of python, i learnt Perl. Perl happened because it was readily available in the systems that I have spent most of my time with. So I learnt Perl.

Read 40+ books: very successful. This was one goal that I hadn't mentioned in my blog entry. I set out to read more books and I am pleased that I surpassed this target. I am glad that I did it as this has expanded my horizon!

Well this was my report card on my goals for 2010, how did you fair in your resolutions?

Aeronautical Society Of India’s AGM in 2011

The next AeSI Annual General Meeting is scheduled on 16th Feb 2011 in Mumbai..

Are you planning to be there?

PDF link here

Must see website if you are going for an aerodynamics / aircraft performance interview.

Going for interview on Aircraft performance, aerodynamics or flight
mechanics. And don't want to open the Anderson's book, then this is
the post for you.

Head towards this link http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay_cat/9.htm

It has Theories of Flight (Aerodynamics) for you to revise before an
interview. The link is great for quick review required for an
interview. The concepts are well illustrated.

The best thing about this is that the theory is full and you get a big
picture view of all that you have studied in Principles of Flights.

A must link for anyone going for an interview or anyone who wants to
refresh his/her memory.

More aerospace interview related stuff at this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=aerospace+interview

Is it mandatory to pass AeSI with 60%?

A few days back I got this email from someone whom I will call Mr. R

"Is it mandatory to pass ae.s.i with 60% of marks in total to secure a
job.....i am really in frustration as i am passing paper smoothly but
fail to get 60% marks or above in every subject......pls pls pls help
me!!! "

Here's my reply.

Hi R

60% is like a lubricant. If you have it, it will be great. If you don't, then don't worry much about it.

60% is the threshold for govt jobs and having it adds confidence in your resume.

So if you are falling short on the percentage, please concentrate on increasing your confidence with other means like supercharging your skills, or by becoming a good communicator.

There are two ways you can react now?
Go crazy and mad about aesi or understand that 60% helps but life doesn't stop if you don't have it.

Please search through http://my-aesi.blogspot.com and you will find many posts that answers this and many other questions.

Good luck

What are your thoughts on this topic, what advice would you give to Mr. R, please do let me know in comments.

Things you can immediately do after exams are over

For some of you, amaesi exams are over, for some it will be over soon. Here I want to discuss a simple but powerful thing that you can do immediately to improve your aesi performance next time.

Access the exams you gave. How they went? What was good about each subject paper? What was bad? Which one you did good? Why it was good? Which one you didn't perform well? What lessons you can extract from that? How will you do it better if you have to do it all over again?

Yes this review has helped me a lot, in fact if you browse back in the archives of http://my-aesi.blogspot.com , you will find many posts that was just my reviews on what I learnt from a particular exam.

(update: always do this kind of review in writing)

Do this and you will be surely improve yourself in the next exam!!

Liked this. Get more at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com

You can follow myaesi on twitter at www.twitter.com/myaesi and me at www.twitter.com/aerogeek

Exams and pinholes.

Pinholes are peculiar. From the distance they don't allow you to see anything, but come closure and you can see the world.

Same are exams. From a distant you feel you know everything in a subject. But as exams come closure, you see where you actually stand.

So the more exams you give, the closure to the truth you will be. The honest your assessment will be.

The most important thing is, it just doesn't apply to exams only.

How are your exams going on?

Just a quick post to ask you all how are your exams going on?

How are the papers? Was it easy? What was tough? Share your stories, reaction about AMAeSI exams with me in comments.

Would specially be interested in a thing that you have learnt during the exams!

So come forward and have your say.

Cheers

Don't forget to check the all new http://my-aesi.blogspot.com

5 tips on fruitful training - do this and you won...

Many who read this blog are in the training stage of your AeSI journey. I have been there and fortunately with some good friends and exceptional mentor, I had good time there.

Not only the time was good, but I enjoyed the first flavor of work life and immensely polished my skills and knowledge.

Here are 5 tips from that experience that you should incorporate in your mindset to have fruitful training.

1. Know why you are there.
Yes the beginning is to know, why are you there? What do you want out of this training? What specific skills you want to increase, what knowledge you want to polish? Know this before you get it, and you are half way there.

2. Remind yourself springboards don't help you unless you jump on them
Training by itself won't do anything to you or your career. What you do there and how you do it is what matters most. Going there everyday and wasting time in and around canteen won't accomplish anything. Daily incremental improvements in your abilities and skills is what you should aim at!

3. Technical Skills without communication skills are nothing.
Yes communication skills (oral and written) are everything. Imagine a scale. Put all your technical skills in one basket and communication skills in other, the later will always be heavier for your long term career.

So just don't hunt technical skills, tame the communications skills too.

4. Inertia is not for you. Continue the initial momentum by challenges.
The initial period is great. You are enthusiastic. You get work, you do it happily. But as months pass, the familiarity of the place, task and people builds an inertia and we tend to go on autopilot. Avoid that. Autopilot is for cruise, during takeoff and climb, always have the throttle in your hand!! Challenge yourself and even if the task is old, aim to improve how you deliver it.

5. Keep chipping and Hammering.
Training is not a taxi ride. It's not a bus stop you pass by. It's an opportunity to hone and add skills. So use it like that. It's not a place to come rest and enjoy. It should be a place to come, add and enhance yourself. So keep working on your skills, keep improving till you are out of it.

Hope this 5 tips will help you get the maximum out of your training. There's more on training on myaesi at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=training

Ansys or Nastran

A reader asked me via comment on a blog post titled ansys, nastran how I learnt these softwares, which one is better?

Short answer: I don't know

Long answer: It depends. Both the analysis software have their own place. They fit a specific need. It's like saying which is better between solid propellant and liquid propellant?

Both are useful for a rocket. Solid propellant gives the initial thrust, while liquid propellant propels it out in space.

Likewise nastran and ansys have their own need.

But if you ask my choice, I will prefer ansys. In my opinion, the Ansys has better range. In an aerospace domain, many tasks are impossible without it.

No hard feelings for nastran though, but ansys is what I like and recommend.

That being said, as I always point out, softwares are just tools, a means; real thing is you.

So focus on increase you knowledge and then any software will be useful!

Find More on ansys on this blog by this link http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=ansys

Two kinds of job

There are always two kinds of jobs.

One that teaches you a lot but pays ok and the other which pays a lot
but teaches you little.

When you start, it always better to be in the former and as you gain
experience, you will automatically get pushed towards the latter.

If you are unlucky (or lucky depending on your point of view) and you
get the high paying, low learning job at the onset, it might boost
your short term happiness but has the potential to ruin you long term.

In my over 6+ years in work life, I have seen countless examples of
this trap. Be it NAL or other private sector, the job that teaches you
more is always pays better in long term.

When it comes to choosing between working at a job that pays highly,
but teaches little, and a job that pays little, but teaches you a lot,
which one will you choose?

Liked this. There's more at http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=job

Performance engineers required- tell your friends

Dear All,

There is a requirement for Engine Performance engineer(s) in QuEST
Pvt Ltd. The details are :

(1) Qualification : Grad AeSI(Proupulsion), B.E./BTech
(2) Experience : (previous performance experience is preferred but
not mandatory.)
(3) Strong understanding of Aero Engine Fundamentals and engine
thermodynamics.
(4) Programming skills in VBA/Fortran (Preferred but not mandatory).
(5) Good knowledge of Microsoft office tools (EXCEL, WORD,etc) is a
must.
(6) Excellent Analytical and communication skills are must.
(7) Job Location : Bangalore

NOTE: Good Onsite opportunities with this position for the selected
candidates.

Interested candidates can send in their resumes to
Roop.kishore@quest-global.com

Write myaesi in the subject line for better chances.

Learn all about aerospace interview and how to send a resume that
brings results by reading these posts http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=resume

Hurry!!

John backus and his gift

Most of you know that I am a big fan of fortran. Its the most known
and used programming language of the world. So how can I miss this day.

Today on Dec 3 in 1924, John Backus, who invented the FORTRAN
programming language in the mid 1950s, was born.

As long as there is aerospace and engineerining, we will continue to
enjoy his gift!!

Read more about him at this link
http://inventors.about.com/od/computersoftware/a/Fortran.htm

In this link you will find how John Backus one day walked into IBM and
revolunised the world of computing!!

"I really didn't know what the hell I wanted to do with my life... I
said no, I couldn't. I looked sloppy and disheveled. But she insisted
and so I did. I took a test and did OK." - John Backus on his
experience interviewing for IBM.

More on fortran http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=fortran

Back to base and one exam tip

Just a quick note that I am back to base. So regular programming of
the blog will continue.

Hope to write and post stuff at our regular schedule.

But exams are here and it's feel criminal not to share this tip with
you.

Time your exams.
While in the exam hall, keep a close watch on your time. Budget the
time.

Well don't time individual question, but instead see how many
questions are required to be answered and then set the no of question
to answer in an hour.

Let's say there are 10 questions to be answered within 2.5 hr slot.
Then don't just allot 15 min for each question. Instead aim to
complete 5 questions within an hour.

This helps because it focuses your mind off the watch and forces you
to stay with your primary task.

Good luck everyone. Be a star!!

More tips in examination hall can be found here http://my-aesi.blogspot.com/search?q=exams