How much should I be making?

by Pat McClellan

The most common business question sent in by readers is "How much should I be making?". The problem is... no one seems to know. And while most questions posted to the listservs get pounced on by multiple respondents, questions like these go unanswered. Why? Because nobody really knows the answer.

Salary is a difficult thing to discuss for a couple of reasons. First, people are uncomfortable sharing infomation about how much money they make. For good or bad (probably bad), most people associate a person's worth -- or their own worth -- by this monetary metric. Second, employers don't want you discussing it. The worst thing that ever happened to management is when laborers decided to share info on their wages, which of course led to re-negotiating wages as a group (or "union".)

I remember hearing a story a while back about an executive who left a Silicon Valley company under duress. His last act of defiance was to send an email to everyone in the company, publishing the salaries of all the workers. Why does this seem so outrageous? Why should management care? Because it gives the workers power to negotiate, it tells them how much they are valued (or not valued) in the company, and it informs the underpaid that they should wake up and stop getting taken advantage of.

So back to the question: How much should you be making? The simple answer is... it depends. It depends on a multitude of interrelated factors, the significance of which probably varies with the individual. Most of these influencers are at work in any line of work. Keep in mind, we're not talking about what should matter, or what is legal to matter, rather, we want to focus on what really seems to matter. They include the following:

* Gender
* Race
* Age
* Personal Attractiveness
* Location
* Education
* Experience
* Expertise
* Company Size
* Company Industry
* Past Salary

I can't defend any good reason why gender, race, attractiveness or age should matter. Of course they shouldn't matter, and we have laws that are aimed at preventing this. But we all know that this kind of discrimination is still prevalent. When I think back to the crowd of developers at UCON, I can't help wondering if there is some discrimination going on. Most of the developers I saw fit into a fairly focused demographic... and I can't imagine why.

When the discriminatory act determines whether a person is hired or fired or promoted, then that's easier to spot and prove. But when it manifests itself in small percentages of wages... that's easy to explain away as related to "negotiating skills".

There are some other factors related to our business which seem to have some significance in determining salary. Those factors include:

* Staff vs. Freelance
* Shockwave vs. Projector expertise
* Experience with other languages or databases
* Type of production (training vs. games for example)

I can't really say which of these is "better". We just don't have the data to know. But we're going to try to change that.
Salary Survey

Director Online is now hosting an online salary survey (database). This survey will appear continuously in our Features section. We'll collect data from all of our readers. All the data is anonymous -- you will never be asked to enter your name, email or any other personal ID. A cookie will be set in your browser so that you can update your own data if you get a raise or change jobs. The data will expire after one year, so at any given time, you'll be able to access the results covering the last calendar year to date.

How valid is this survey? Well, it is what it is. We can't police it to make sure that people tell the truth. But there's no benefit to entering false data, so we don't see why anyone would lie. Cookies have their limitations, but anonymity is more important so that's as much personalization as we're going to do. And we're not professional researchers, so you might have disagreements with the way we word some of the questions. Please try to pick that answers that seem to be the best choice for you -- even if it's not an exact match.

We're trying very hard to ask the questions that many of you have told us matter. And please recognize the fact that we have tried to find a balance between having enough choices to questions and yet still maintain identifiable and statistically valid segments.

The results will be displayed like a compound search on a search engine. You'll be able to select up to three categories and it will return the corresponding results. For example...

Return salary information for people who...

Educational background = Computer Science
Director Expertise = Advanced
Location = California

As the database becomes populated, there will be a statistically valid number of people who meet these criteria. If so, the salary info will be displayed -- low, high, median, and average for the group. It'll be up to you to determine the factors which you think most influence your salary. Compare different combinations to see which seem to matter. Obviously, as time goes on and more people enter their data, the validity of the sample will increase. So be aware that if only 3 records match the criteria you select, you shouldn't put too much credibility on the results.
The Bottom Line

This salary survey has the potential to provide you with information of great importance. But simply knowing what others make doesn't change anything. Only you can turn that information into negotiation power. Ultimately, you're worth what you believe you're worth.


Source :

what is good prsentation design

Occasionally, I’m asked by colleagues or clients to send samples of “great slides” or “good PowerPoint.” I usually hesitate to send examples of slides since my answer to the question, “what does a great PowerPoint slide look like?” is “…it depends.” In a world which often thinks in terms of absolutes — “this is good, that is bad” — “it depends” is not the most popular answer.

Context matters
However, as far as design is concerned, it is useful not to think (judge) in terms of “right or wrong,” but rather in terms of what is “appropriate or inappropriate.” That is, is it appropriate or inappropriate for a particular context? “Good” and “bad” are indeed terms we use when talking about design — including PowerPoint slides — but I’m personally cautious of this dualistic thinking, especially when judging a design without its full context available. So much depends on how the visual is placed within the context of the presentation, and the content and objectives of that particular presentation are of paramount concern. Without a good knowledge of the place and circumstance, and the content and context of a presentation, it is impossible to say this is “appropriate” and that is “inappropriate.”

Simple but not simplistic
If there is one important precept worth following, it is the idea of simplicity. The best visuals are often ones designed with an eye toward simplicity. Yet, this says nothing about the specifics of a visual presentation. That will depend on the content and context. For example, even the best visuals used in support of a presentation for one audience on, say, quantum mechanics, may appear complicated and confusing to a different audience.

Simplicity is often used as a means to greater clarity. However, simplicity can also be viewed as a consequence. A consequence, that is, of our careful efforts to craft a story and create supporting visuals that focus on our audience’s needs in a clear and meaningful way. Ok, simplicity is great you say, but how simple? What is the formula for simplicity? If you can’t give me concrete examples, you might say, at least give me a formula for making powerful, simple visuals. But do static formulas for achieving simplicity exist?

In Living Zen, author Robert Linsen (in speaking on the simplification of needs in everyday life) says that a “simplification of existence” is a consequence of an “effective experience of Zen.” In other words, as one discovers their true nature, “needs” such as possessions or status are reduced or seen for what they are: superfluous. This begs the question then: “What are the minimum or maximum needs for an individual?” To this the author responds

“No one can define them or draw up a system around them. That is where we should exercise our judgment….Use depends for each one of us on the place and circumstances. If we were to codify the laws concerning it they might soon become a great bondage for us.”

Here the author is not necessarily speaking of design and presentation visuals, of course, but we can see how we can apply Zen principles to everyday life including design, even the design of slides and other visuals. Simplicity is an important design principle. But simplicity in design is as much art (small “a”) as science. It is, therefore, quite difficult to offer up prescriptions or “rules” for appropriate design. Without full knowledge of the context and circumstances, such rules could become “a great bondage,” so to speak, leading to inappropriate design choices or recommendations.

Visual makeover
Having said all of that, below are a few slides demonstrating different visual treatments in support of a single message. The context is a presentation on gender and labor issues in Japan. The purpose of the slide is to visually support the claim that “72% of the part-time workers in Japan are women.” This statistic is from the Japanese Ministry of Labor. The figure “72%” is something the presenter said she wanted the audience to remember as it is discussed again as the presentation progresses. So how to design a slide that is subtle, simple, memorable, and fits into a theme that is appealing and attractive?



BEFORE. Above (left) is the original slide. The problem with the slide on the left is that the clip-art used does not reinforce the statistic, nor does it even fit the theme of women in the Japanese labor market. The background is a tired, overused PowerPoint template. The text is difficult to read. And as one trainee commented: “it’s ugly.”

The slide on the right (above) was an effort to display the same information in a pie chart. Besides using an overused template, the visual displays the pie chart in a distorted and inelegant fashion. For the sake of clarity, it is usually best to avoid 3-D effects. Also, rather than giving the slide a title, a declarative sentence that states the point directly may be more appropriate.



AFTER: All the slides were redesigned to match the theme above. The slide on the left was the one used for the presentations. But the one on the right could also be used effectively. Notice that either slide (especially the slide without any text) would be virtually meaningless without the presenter’s narration. The handout that followed the presentation expanded on the relevance of the statistic and gave it context. The five-page handout proved to be a good reference for those who attended the presentation and for those who did not.



Using a pie chart is also a good way to represent this simple statistic. Here (left) the large text at the top can be easily seen. The text reads more like a headline — a declarative sentence — rather than just a title or category. The slide on the right is another possible way to support the message. In this case a completely different template was used.

Should you design your slides to look like this?
The design choices are many. The examples above are just a few attempts at improving the look & feel, impact, and effectiveness of the original slides. Should you design your slides to look like this? That’s your call and depends on your specific circumstance. Also, this particular example does not deal with a technical presentation. If your presentation is on a less technical topic such as leadership, HRM, marketing, etc. then simple slides like these may be very effective. If you are giving a very technical presentation to a technical audience hungry for data, then your slides may look quite different. But even for a very technical presentation, embracing simplicity of design and striving for the greatest clarity possible should still be the objective. How you do that will depend on a great many things.

In future I will show a design makeover featuring more technical content. In the meantime, if you have good examples of visual support for very technical presentation content, please feel free to share it with me. I’d love to see your examples.


Source :

Running secure PHP applications as cgis under suexec enviromen

Introduction

Default installation php as mod_php module is one the biggest security hole at webservers software.

Lets consider why. If you have php installed as mod_php then all php applications are run under common user 'nobody' or 'www' or 'apache'. It means if a user 'alex' has files located at his home directory, everyone else who has an account at the same server can read ( and modify ) his files using regular PHP-based filemanager.

For example, we have 2 users with their home directories:

/home/alex/www
/home/rob/www

And user 'alex' has a file '/home/alex/www/my_secure_data.txt' that he manages by his php software.

Since all php software under mod_php is run from common user 'nobody', this user 'nobody' should have read or/and write permissions for this file. But in this case user 'rob' can run a PHP filemanager, go to directory /home/alex/www/ and read/change 'my_secure_data.txt' file.

Unfortanly, many web hosting companies have this secure problem.

To avoid this problem apache provides 'suexec' technology to run users' software under their own system accounts. It means user 'alex' has 'my_secure_data.txt' chowned to 'alex' and it will work because his applications are run under 'alex' system account at suexec enviroment. Basically, suexec technology is provided for applications running as cgi scripts.

In this article we'll show how to enable php to run php scripts as cgi.make# ip address

Apache installation
In first place we need to install suphp module for apache. This module runs php scripts under suexec+php-cgi enviroment. This package can be downloaded from http://suphp.org. Here's installation example:

tar -xzvf suphp-0.xx.xx.tgz
./configure
--with-php=/usr/local/bin/php
--with-apxs=/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs
--with-apache-user=nobody
make
make install
ln -s /usr/local/sbin/suphp /usr/sbin/

Instead of 'nobody' you need to put username you run your apache under. Usually it's 'www', 'nobody' or 'apache'. In case of static linked apache we need to run make install. Next we need to configure apache and activate mod_suphp:

cd apache-xx.xx.xx
OPTIM="-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -DHARD_SERVER_LIMIT=8196" \
./configure \
"--enable-suexec" \
"--suexec-docroot=/" \
"--suexec-uidmin=100" \
"--suexec-caller=nobody" \
"--suexec-logfile=/var/log/httpd/suexec_log" \
"--add-module=../suphp-0.xx.xx/src/apache/mod_suphp.c" \
# another your own options

make
make install
path_to_your_apache/bin/httpd -l

You should see next lines that will show suexec & suphp is enabled:

mod_suphp.c
suexec: enabled; valid wrapper /path_to_your_apache/bin/suexec

To enable suexec you need to specify username and group for particular domain, activate suPHP engine and set PHP handler for PHP scripts:

suPHP_Engine on
AddHandler x-httpd-php .php .php4 .php3

user alex
group alex

DocumentRoot /home/alex/www
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /home/alex/www/cgi-bin/
# rest your options

options +ExecCGI

PHP installation
To compile php with cgi support you need to disable apache support while configuring.

./configure \
--without-apache \
--enable-force-cgi-redirect \
--enable-fastcgi \
#another your own options
make
make install

To check you have configured and compiled PHP correctly run next command and you should see something like following:

/usr/local/bin/php -i | grep CGI
Server API : CGI/FastCGI

Testing installation
Put simple php script into ~/www directory and run it. If everything has been installed correctly, you should see some logs at /var/log/httpd/suphp_log

Penambahan Kategori untuk Article dan Tutorial

Memo

Mulai hari ini penulis akan memasukkan Article dan Tutorial yang bisa di gunakan sebagai tambahan ilmu bagi para pelamar kerja, dengan adanya artcle dan tutorial ini di harapkan dapat membantu dalam dunia kerja.


Trim's