The IT Mafia
Oops. My first article on this ever gaining popularity ‘medium’ is not about the good stuff I get to do at work with the best of brains out here, like learning to manage beasts like Cassandra & Kafka & EFK stack & Kubernetes cluster and so on. But I am sure these will follow, after I have some more time to myself after March. Or, wait a minute, more time might be a myth, which I seem to believe, all the time.
Of course, this article is a result of having worked for several years in this industry, and fortunately, in distinct setups. INDIA, USA, UK and now OZ.
Last year, I moved from UK to Australia. After being hooked on to hotukdeals and Amazon Prime for a few years in the United Kingdom, I suddenly felt a dearth of online deals out here. But today, I feel alright. I think I have figured out sufficient tricks of the trade here. But always more to learn. Starting from OzBargain and leading onto many more. It is the first time I am confessing online that I managed to smash the Optus Perks API and gain 40 of Oporto Portuguese Chicken vouchers and AUD 500 of Hey You cash. I could have gotten more but did not want to end up getting attention. I consumed some part of it, and, am very glad, Optus IT managed to track and revoke the rest in a weeks time. And their IT glitches is one of the few reasons I have not considered moving to big boy Telstra yet, despite Optus’ rubbish network at my residence and many hotspots along the bus route from home to office. (On the flip side, my bitter-sweet half is a brand person, who falls for fake deals).
And now I crave for deals. Uh-huh. Not just me, I think a lot of fellas out there, predominantly from Information Technology (more popularly known as Information and Communication Technology aka ICT in this part of the world), a subtle white collar mafia, hunt for deals, day in and day out. DealsLooter.in for the folks back in INDIA and deals2buy.com for those in Trump’s companionship. They all know the right way to go about finding the better and best deals out there in the cloud of online sites. They are who are most aware of the timing of events. And, of course, some of us are part of creating these campaigns and making them ever more complex but lucrative.
But what about the elderly or vast majority of professions, not related to IT. They hardly benefit from any of this. Instead, they end up shelling out the Maximum Retail Price for most things. I am sure they sulk and feel left out. They have every reason to.
Give another five to ten years, and IoT and Autonomous Thingz out there ( recommend visiting http://www.autonomousthingz.life ;-) ), could steal a lot of jobs away from those outside the IT clan. Be it, taking the routine meter readings, driving you to your destination in cabs or help with daily chores. Yes, there are efforts by Canadian and other governments to ensure Minimum Basic Income, so that people can upskill at all levels, but the proof would be in the pudding.
Another way to look at it, this has always happened in all circles, everywhere. Has been happening in the past, will happen in the future. Builders and Doctors and Lawyers are never cheap. I haven’t been in the situation of maintaining a house of my own in the developed countries yet. But, it can cost a handsome to call an electrician or a plumber or a handyman to just do any tiny-miny job. And why not. They have to earn their living and lifestyle too. And all this coils up to an inflated economy, more so in developed countries. Where everyone is after getting the biggest denomination notes out (hopefully not bitcoins someday, another of those …) of other fellas wallet. But even here, I think IT community might end up having an upper hand, with more and more reliance on all things digital. Like finding a tradee at the most competitive prices. Where is this all leading us to? A lot more stress and unhappiness in our day to day lives? I always wish, I get involved in something more meaningful, and for a cause, sooner than later. Out of this world of ‘moha’ and ‘maya’!
Time to wind up.
Because I am so addicted to this, my next deal self challenge is to find the best-in-class mobile phone camera and related mobile apps on one hand, and on the other hand, sell my oldish Nikon D90 DSLR kit for a handsome price, or even donate it for any good use. I have treasured my first camera, but had sold my second camera for 10% of buy price. But that would involve being a couch potato for another couple of hours, like for this article or digging out mostly stupid deals, at least. Really wonder, is it time for a Digital Detox for most of this IT world and others hooked onto it? I am told most of the big wigs are working on Digital Wellness Features to address Nomo Phobia, courtesy Ruchir Sharma! ( Strongly recommend watching Prannoy Roy, Global Investor Ruchir Sharma On Top 10 Trends Of 2019 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_N8aLiou3Q. )
For the records, I happen to write this one on the day we have lost one of our most iconic school teachers, Sir Mathew William Boodle.
