tim ferro
professional software developer, gen y advocate, blogger, and orator

Top 10 Firefox 3.5 Features - Source

I came across this blog post the other day and it inspired me to write about some recent books that I have read. I recommend them all and hope that you will enjoy them as much as I have. Comment with your thoughts!

Closing Time by Joseph Heller - I am currently reading this amazing sequel to Catch-22. I first learned about this book a number of years ago but I decided to reread Catch-22 to make sure I remembered everything. I incorrectly assumed that the story would pick right up after the ending of the first book, but it did not. It actually takes place about 40 years later and is not solely based around the main character. The book is wonderful and Heller’s style, descriptions, and storytelling is the same as the first. This is a must read if you liked Catch-22.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller -This is my all time favorite book. Rereading it was even better the second time around. I noticed a greater depth to the story and appreciated Heller’s style even more. This is arguably the best novel of the 20th century and a must read if you have not already.

Confessions of a Street Addict by James J. Cramer - I decided to read Jim Cramer’s autobiography after reading 3 of his other books. He has an electric personality and a fantastic and interesting life. Jim faced incredible odds all his life and has come out on top. A true tale of perseverance. If you want to know about the real man behind CNBC’s “Mad Money“, this book is for you.

Real Money by James J. Cramer
Mad Money by James J. Cramer
Stay Mad for Life by James J. Cramer

I am grouping these 3 books together so that I can talk about them in a fluid manner. I read the last book first, not knowing that I would like it enough to read the other 2. The 3rd book is about more than just investing in stocks, it discusses all types of investments from mutual funds to bonds. It is incredibly informative and I have loaned it out numerous times to friends and family. This is a must read for everyone since all of you have investments and retirement accounts. If not, read this and start one.

The first book, Real Money, and it’s sequel, Mad Money, are all about how to pick and invest in stocks. They offer solid investment advice and an incredibly deep understanding of how “the market” works. Cramer has a great, easy to understand style of writing that is intuitive and informative. I can’t wait for the next book.

Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk - This book is a fresh and real look at the modern work environment. I read this book after being invited to become a blogger for the Brazen Careerist website. That website, her blog, and this book are great resources for Generation Y. I recommend you check out all 3.

The Cosmic Burrito by David Shiffman - What a trippy escape. Reading this was a nice relaxing time. The cross country trip taken by 2 unique friends, made for a great ride. This book is so much more than the search for a great burrito. It is about life, existence, and soul. Read this if you are in college now, a recent graduate, or you just want an awesome read.

Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean - My favorite graphic novel of all time. This story blurs the line between sanity and insanity. Arkham is overwhelming to Batman, and in my favorite scene, he stabs himself through the hand with a piece of broken glass. A must read for Batman fans, but an interesting read in its own right.

The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond - For open source and Linux geeks like myself, this was an incredibly interesting read about the origins of a number of open source software. But this is more than that, it’s a motivating experience to continue furthering the open source movement.

– Tim Ferro

For those that haven’t seen or heard the inaugural address today, here is the link to the full text of the speech. It was unifying and inspiring.

– Tim Ferro

To steal a phrase from the legendary Jim Cramer, “Buy, Buy, Buy”! I have been watching this crazy market very closely for a number of years now. My analysis of the S&P 500 leads me to believe that we are hovering just above the bottom and now is a great time to buy back into the market. I know that, like me, numerous people have been sitting on the sideline waiting to get back into the game. With money tight and the bills from the holidays coming due soon, most people do not have the cash to being investing again. This is one of the mistakes that investors make that the professionals don’t. Pros always have cash on hand for times like this. But I digress, sometime early in the new year the market will dip a little and that is when you should buy.

“What should I buy?” you might be asking yourself. The easiest way to take advantage of this market right now is to invest in an S&P 500 Index Fund. They are cheaper to own that mutual funds and perform slightly better based on performance minus fees. Hey, if it’s good enough for Buffet, it’s good enough for me.

If you are a little more daring, then I will recommend a couple of stocks. Disclaimer: purchase stocks at your own risk. Done. First I would recommend Caterpillar Inc. (CAT). With Obama’s electio, comes a commitment to America’s infrastructure and CAT is a global leader. Next I will recommend a biotech stock that has consistantly beat the S&P 500 and is a great play because biotech stocks are not as leveraged to market movement. They move more based on drugs and clinical trials. Gen-Probe Inc. (GPRO) is a fantasticly run company and a stock that I personally own. I have listened to the quarterly conference calls for the past two quarters and they are exactly what you would look for in any company: great finanaces and business pipeline. Finally I will recommend stocks that have high dividends. Buying these stocks and reinvesting the dividends are a great way to grow your portfolio in tough economic times.

What do you think? Leave comments about financial advice for 2009.

– Tim Ferro

2008 was a crazy year for me financially. I changed jobs twice, bought a house, saw my 401k and the stock market fall, and refinanced my mortgage. On the last day of the year I am taking financial stock of the situation and making some goals for 2009. I encourage everyone to do the same. Here are my goals:

1. Pay off my mortgage faster.
2. Play the drugstore game.
3. Save more to take advantage of compound interest.
4. Max out my 401k and IRA contributions.
5. Donate more to charity.

These are my main goals for the year. As I am now established financially, these are appropriate goals. If you are newer to this, check out my previous post about getting set up financially for retirement. Leave comments about your goals or if you have questions.

– Tim Ferro

Education, both training and post graduate, is immensely important to your employees. Most employees want to be able to get some kind of training or go back for their masters, but this is especially important to Gen Y as they have no experience. In order for their careers to progress, they will need experience and current skills. Experience takes time but current skills can be gotten through training classes and certifications. These certifications can also legitimize the work that they are already performing. Certifications greatly compliment real world experience.

Education is clearly important to all employees but Gen Y will be the most active in pursuing these goals for a number of reasons. First, Gen Y is fresh from college and is used to studying, writing papers, and pursuing knowledge. Second, they have more free time to work at these as they most likely don’t have children or extremely full social calendars.

Your company needs to have a proper training and education budget and policies. These need to be documented, but more importantly, encouraged.  There needs to be enough time and money for those that want education to explore those opportunities without hindrance. If your company has these already, great, now review them to make sure they are up to date. Education costs rise every year, has your budget? If you don’t have these things in place, call a meeting and work on it.

I hope this sheds some light on this topic.  Let me know what you think.

– Tim Ferro

We all agree that technology is expensive, and staying “cutting edge” is not a reasonable or cost effective goal of any manager. But outdated and slow technology is an issue that affects everyone, especially Gen Y-ers. Slow and outdated technology causes many issues including decreased productivity, stress, and dissatisfaction at work. There are varying degrees to how tolerant employees will be with old technology. For older generations, who have seen even older technology, the 512MB Windows 2000 computer is light years ahead of what they had “back in the day”. For Gen X & Y, however, when our laptops at home are four times as fast, coming to work can seem almost counterproductive to what we could accomplish at home in one third the time. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that Gen Y-ers are usally bottom of the totem pole when it comes to receiving office technology. Conversely, giving younger employees the newest technology will cause dissension among the longer tenured staff.

So what do you do? Answer: Have a technology upgrade plan that accounts for everyone and stays current with acceptable standards in technology. The details of this will vary from company to company but having this will help alleviate issues and produce happy productive employees. Technology is important to Gen Y and being stuck using outdated technology is more than just an annoyance; it can be seen as a sign of a mismanaged company. For those of us who work in the technology industry, staying current is paramount. Tech companies that don’t keep up risk losing talented young employees because spending too much time with outdated technology can be detrimental to their careers.

– Tim Ferro

This post is the introduction of a new series of blog posts focused on how to make you company more Gen Y friendly; how to “Gen Y-ify” your company and places of work.

There is a large and growing number of blogs, articles, and discussions about how Gen Y is “not loyal” and “diva like”. There is much less going on about how to address the situation. Most of the conversations are being had by older generations and they don’t know what to do about it; they just complain. I am here to tell you that what Gen Y wants is not too dissimilar from what most employees want; we just have the fortitude to demand it. If we don’t get treated as we believe we deserve, we leave and go looking for another company that will be better. This is not “disloyal”, it is smart career building. Who wouldn’t want to work at a better company?

Keep checking back for more blog posts about how you can “Gen Y-ify” you company and your office. Leave comments with ideas and suggestions for future posts!

– Tim Ferro

“Microsoft Tuesday revealed Windows 7 at its annual Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles. Windows 7 is designed to replace Windows Vista as the main operating system for Windows-based PC users.

With Apple’s OS X Snow Leopard also under development, we met up with Ian Moulster, Windows Live Commercial Lead for Microsoft to talk through some of Microsoft’s key ideas and discover what the next-generation of operating systems aim to offer both Mac and PC users.” - Source