Friday, 25 October 2024

Spoken English Teacher and Improver

I want you to act as a spoken English teacher and improver. I will speak to you in English and you will reply to me in English to practice my spoken English. I want you to keep your reply neat, limiting the reply to 100 words. I want you to strictly correct my spoken mistakes and ask me to repeat the correct sentence. I want you to ask me a question in your reply. Now let's start practicing, you could ask me a question first.


Source: https://prompthero.com/prompt/7c95b8a95c1-chatgpt-spoken-english-teacher-and-improver



Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Week #20: Freelancing

1. Reading

Congrats! You’ve just heard from a prospective client who wants you for their next project.

Before you start patting yourself on the back, take a moment to consider the question that always comes next:

“So, what’s your going rate these days?”

Here’s how to keep your cool (and your upcoming gig) when going solo as a freelancer, contractor, or small business owner.


The Pricing Conundrum

Do I want to be paid hourly? By the project? Am I asking for too much? Or gasp, too little?

These questions can, understandably, plague any burgeoning solopreneur.

Before we start talking numbers, think of the wonderful world of full-time freelancing as being in a healthy, functioning relationship with another (willing) individual. As long as you’re holding up your end of the bargain (e.g. offering your client valuable, consistent work), there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be paid well. In other words, you get what you give.

When you’re first going solo, it’s easy to get ahead of yourself and accept whatever number your client first throws at you. You’re just thrilled at the thought of getting paid, right? Think again. It may prove difficult at first, but it’s important to establish and set some guidelines when it comes to properly pricing your services.  

Although pricing by the hour is one option, it’s not necessarily the best option. Consider selling the outcome first, then pricing yourself accordingly. For example, if you’re an SEO expert, try first “selling” to the client that the user traffic to their website will increase given your awesome SEO skills. If you have a proven track record of doing this for previous clients (or when you were perhaps full-time employed), all the better. Sure, it may sound like you’re tooting your own horn but really, this is how you separate yourself from the competition.

And although it’s different for everyone who is just starting out on their own, we recommend first setting an hourly rate to keep things simple. When you’re working with a client on a long-term basis or juggling multiple projects at once, it’s easier to keep track of your time when you’ve got an hourly rate set and in place.

Clients these days seem to be less likely to panic over a proposed hourly rate of $70/hour than an estimated project sum of $700.


Your Time Is Money

If Dolly Parton could rewrite her infamous “9 to 5” song for the modern-day solopreneur, she’d certainly be singing a different tune.

Full-time freelancing, contracting, or running your solo business can undoubtedly be very lucrative. You often have more freedom, more opportunities, and as a result, more responsibilities.

With one of those cushy 9-to-5 gigs, you’ve already got your benefits lined up (think vacation time, sick days, weekends off) whereas when you work for yourself, it’s basically up to you to set your own hours (calling all early birds and night owls), how much vacation time you’ll be able to take off (if any, le sigh), and to anticipate your annual earnings so you can make a cushy living, too.

When you’re self-employed, keep in mind there are a plethora of costs to incur: computer maintenance, a co-working space (if you choose not to work from home), monthly Internet fees, invoicing and task management tools, and the occasional unpaid invoice.

And, no matter which way you slice it, you’ll also have to eventually tackle self-employment taxes, paying for health insurance, saving up for retirement, and start saving up some money for a rainy day. Add all this together and you’re looking at thousands of dollars in added business expenses.

Remember, hourly rates don’t guarantee you’ll be working 40-hour weeks. This is why it’s crucial to make sure you price yourself right from the get-go.


Come Up with a Pricing Strategy

Knowing what to charge requires a little research on your part, but not much (we promise).
Let’s say, for example, that up until recently you were a copywriter, working full-time for an advertising agency in New York City, benefits and all. Your annual salary? $70,000 a year, with a holiday bonus.

Now, since you decided to recently go solo, you’re probably wondering what your hourly rate should be.

A good rule of thumb to follow? Drop the last 3 zeros from your previous salary and ta-da, you’ve got a nice little hourly rate of $70/hour that should suit you nicely.

If you’re still unsure about a pricing model, you can always check out the average annual salary for someone who is in a similar role as you at PayScale, Glassdoor, or Comparably. Or better yet, ask your fellow freelancers what they charge. (It never hurts to know what you’re up against, right?)

If you think you can push the envelope a bit further (meaning, you think your client might be able to afford some wiggle room), feel free to up the hourly amount a little bit. Remember, if your rate seems a little steep, remember that they aren’t responsible for paying taxes or benefits on you. That’s a whole lot of savings on their part.


Saying “No” to Pro-Bono

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with wanting to help out a friend who needs your expertise in a pinch (whether that’s writing some catchy tagline for their business or designing a new logo for their family-run company), if a client approaches you and expects you to do the same for free, in most cases don’t walk—run.

There are exceptions to the rule, of course. If it’s a project you’ve dreamed of working on and a client you’ve always wanted to work with, then it’s perfectly OK to negotiate a quid-pro-quo ‘job-swap’ if there’s no financial reward in it for you. For example, this could be something as simple as a glowing testimonial of your work that’s guaranteed by the client so you can add it to your personal website after the project is complete.

You may very well encounter clients along the way who will try to offer “exposure” as that enticing carrot stick to get you to work for free. If you’re tempted to do so, whether that’s to build your budding portfolio or gain some exposure, it’s far better to spend that time working on your own content (creating new artwork if you’re a graphic designer, blogging if you’re a writer, or even donating your skills to a worthy nonprofit if you’re a life coach). This way you’ll gain more experience, own your content or do some good for the world, and you won’t be tied up doing unpaid work for one client if a paying gig comes around.

In our Westernized world, we’re wired to value our time, and subsequently, our money. Some companies may sing your praises and promise you the world but if they don’t pay you for your services, then talk is cheap.

As the mantra goes, “exposure” doesn’t pay the bills.


Know Your (Financial) Worth

It’s true what they say—good workers are seriously hard to come by. This is especially the case when it involves freelancers, contractors, solopreneurs, and the like.

And although asking for money can seem intimidating, remember that if the client in question could do what you do, work-wise, then they wouldn’t be asking you for help in the first place. They would be the one, then, to make their own app from scratch, design their beautiful website, or write that memorable blog post.  

Without getting too preachy, remember that your skills are highly valuable. And to become truly successful going at it alone, you must know and charge what you’re actually worth. Catherine Watkin offers a solid pep talk on how to actually do this.

Adopting this sort of confident mindset will allow any pricing anxiety you may have had in the past to disappear. Your only focus now? Keep sticking to your guns… ahem, rates.


Links

  • https://www.namecheap.com/blog/price-your-solo-business/
  • https://www.english4it.com/module/core/unit/28/reading


Week #19: Memory and Storage

1. Reading

In this unit you will learn the differences between computer memory and computer storage. Memory and storage are important concepts to master in Information Technology. The two terms are often used interchangeably, so it is important to understand the key differences.

Computer memory needs to be quick. It is constantly feeding the CPU with data to process. Since nobody likes to wait for a computer, high-quality computers will have fast processors with lots of quick memory. This type of memory is commonly known as RAM. This type of memory is volatile which means that the actual data disappears when the computer loses power.

Because memory needs to be much faster than storage, it is rather more expensive than storage per GB. A typical desktop computer today (in 2016) has between 2GB and 32GB of memory running at speeds of anywhere from 1.2 GHZ to 3.2 GHZ. Speeds tend to go up about 10% every two years.

If you are a gamer, video editor, or physics geek, you may be aware of video memory. Video memory is special RAM which is even faster and more expensive than normal system RAM. This RAM is reserved only for the graphics and is thus kept separate from the main system RAM, which sits on the motherboard close to the CPU. A typical dedicated video card will have anywhere between 2GB and 12 GB of dedicated RAM.

But of course computers do not process all the data they have at once. They also need to save some data for long term use. This is where storage comes in. Think of all the video files, mp3s, photos, and documents on your PC. These files are not always being processed by the CPU. They are mostly just hanging around waiting to be used at some point. Storage does not need to be as quick as memory, but there does need to be a lot more of it. And storage of course needs to be non-volatile, meaning it will not get erased when you power off or restart your computer. These are the two key differences between memory and storage.... speed and volatility.

Storage today comes in many different types including semiconductor storage, magnetic storage, and optical storage. A typical computer today comes with anywhere between 128GB to 2TB of storage. Low end computers normally come with a magnetic hard disk drive which reads data at around 75 to 200 MB/sec. These devices use rotating, magnetically-charged platters to store data. Hard disk drives are still popular because they can store a lot of data with relatively quick access times very cheaply. Other examples of magnetic storage devices include the tape drive and diskette, both are which are obsolete. These dinosaurs of storage were painfully slow and prone to data loss with no warning. Ouch.

Another type of storage is network storage, typically referred to as a SAN. This storage is usually found in a datacenter. This type of storage goes by other names such as "cloud storage" or "network drive". It is of course highly limited by network speeds. If you are offline and need a file then you are out of luck. That is why it's always a good idea to get as much storage on your PC as you can afford.

In the future all magnetic storage types will become obsolete. They will soon all be replaced by SSDs using semiconductor technology. SSDs have 3 key advantages over magnetic storage devices: speed, lack of moving parts, and low power consumption. This makes them ideal for laptops where battery life and durability are huge issues. SSDs are fast as well, and can read data at around 200MB to 800 MB per second. Unfortunately SSDs are currently more expensive than magetic storage per GB, but this should change soon.

Optical storage is another technology which is quickly becoming legacy. Very popular in the 90's and early 2000's, optical storage works by a laser either burning or reading data off a plastic disc coated with various types of light sensitive materials. Due to reliability and speed limitations, optical storage is not used as a primary means of data storage. It is (or increasingly was) used mostly to affordably deliver large datasets like movies, games, and operating systems. In case you still don't understand what optical storage is, typical examples are DVD or Blu-Ray drives.

Wel, that about covers it for the current state of memory and storage. But there are some gray areas and exceptions as always, such as ROMs and EPROMs, which are somewhere in between memory and storage. Embedded systems, BIOS' and older video game machines used these for various reasons, mainly copy protection and cost.

What about the future? Expect a gradual convergence where there is no longer a need for both storage and memory in PCs. Some new technology such as quantum memory may arrive which has the advantages of both memory and storage. Until that time arrives, always buy a PC with the most memory and storage you can afford. Computer companies typically charge you a lot more for PCs with a decent amount of RAM and fast storage. Why? Because they know without it, your computer will be slow and completely full very quickly, forcing you to upgrade or buy into their cloud storage solutions like Apple's iCloud, and Microsoft's OneDrive.


Vocabulary

  • In the long term, I want to change jobs.
  • In the short term, I would like to invest in cryptocurrencies.


2. Speaking


Links 

  • https://www.english4it.com/module/core/unit/16/reading



Saturday, 5 October 2024

Week #18: Choosing an IT Career Path

1. Reading

Most people on English4IT.com are either studying for their first job in IT, or else trying to improve their current IT career. If this is the case with you, well then this unit should really help. Sometimes the hardest part of meeting a goal is to properly define what you are trying to accomplish in the first place. In this article we we will discuss the top IT job positions available around the world right now. So read the rest of the article, reflect on which career most suits your personality... and then go for it!

There are several things to keep in mind when determining what field of IT to go into. Keep an eye on job web sites such as DICE.com or Monster.com to see which jobs are most in-demand. Keep in mind that for many jobs described below, there are several levels of positions available. For instance there are "junior", "senior", and "lead" software developer positions available. You probably can't start out you career as a lead developer. You have to know your own limits.

Be honest with yourself. If you don't have previous experience, good contacts, or a good degree from a well-known university, you will be more successful in getting a lower-level job. Also, find out what the job you are applying for typically pays in your area. If you are young, living in a financially depressed area, or really need a job, keep your salary expectations a bit lower than the average. This will make your chances much higher than normal to get hired. Once you have "job experience" then you will be in a good position to ask for more money. Sometimes the best way to get more money is to quit your job and work for another similar company. This may sound cruel or thankless, but that is how business works in the real world.

Everyone who works hard deserves a raise every year. How do you show your IT manager that you are a good performer? Easy. Show up on time, be dependable, be active in the meetings, and always do a little bit more than is asked of you. Also equally important is to be well-liked by members of your team. Read on for more details.....

Learn something new every day

IT is an area where people are judged largely by how much they know. If money and a high job position are important to you, you can quickly raise your level by telling your manager that you want harder tasks and more responsibility. IT Managers normally love it when employees ask for more responsibility. When you meet with your manager, set goals for yourself and meet or exceed those goals. Here are some things you can do to increase your worth to your company:
  1. Learn a new programming language
  2. Take a certification such a Microsoft, Linux Professional Institute, or Cisco
  3. Study to be a ScrumMaster or another type of project manager.
Meeting set goals can have beneficial results when it's time to renegotiate salaries, survive a round of layoffs, or get a promotion.


Appearance and attitude is very important!

Take an active interest in things outside IT: such as sports, politics, music, and film. This will make socializing at company events easier for you. If you are disliked in the company then you will not get promotions or important projects.

Be courteous, helpful, and respectful to others

In my own career, I have been in some good IT departments and some bad ones. In a good IT department, the engineers are known for sharing knowledge and helping each other. In bad IT departments, the engineers are secretive and hide knowledge. How can everyone get better if some people are selfish with what they know? Information wants to be free. You must set it free. Despite the fact that I have been to several universities, graduate school, and have collected many IT certifications, I have still learned much more about IT from my fellow engineers than from all my higher education combined. So my advice is to be kind and respect your fellow IT staff. They are your family for eight hours every day, forty hours every week!

When you start a new job, realize how some people are nice to you and some people ignore you. Which kind of person do you want to be? When you get a new junior team member, try to help them and include them in decisions. Make sure they have someone to eat lunch with. If you party after work with your co-workers, invite new employees with you. Being nice to new people can have many rewards, both emotionally and financially.

Back in the 90's we used to have a saying, "Think globally, act locally." What this means is that just by being nice and pleasant yourself, you can make the whole world a more nice and pleasant place as well.

Have your own mind and your own opinions

State your opinions in meetings and give good reasons and facts to back up your opinions. But don't be stubborn or insistent if things don't go your way. And whatever you do, please don't be passive-aggressive! Passive-aggressive behavior is when you think something bad about a person or an idea, and then you talk badly behind someone's back (when that person is not around). This is very destructive behavior to both yourself and your IT department.

Okay, now we are ready now to investigate some popular IT job positions. I will rate the following jobs based on the following criteria: respect, qualities, salary, dress, and fun factor. I will also include some notes. These are subjective opinions. Some are even intentionally funny. If you disagree with me, please feel free to flame me.



CTO (Chief Technical Officer), CIO (Chief Information Officer)
Respect: Very High
Qualities: Business savvy, technical mindset, good people skills
Average Salary: $150,000
Dress: Business suit and very clean
Fun Factor: Only fun if you are a workaholic or on a power trip.
Notes: These jobs are highly competitive and usually political, so your chances are low. Sorry.

Enterprise Architect
Respect: High
Qualities: Good technical, business, and design skills
Salary: $100,000
Dress: Clean and presentable with collared shirt and pants
Fun Factor: Fun job because you get to talk to all other departments
Notes: Responsible for all solutions that work; not responsible for ones that don't work

IT Manager
Respect: Medium-High
Qualities: Detail oriented, punctual, critical, supportive
Salary: $70,000
Dress: Business Casual
Fun Factor: Can be fun but often very stressed
Notes: They always seem to be working

Technical Writer
Respect: Medium
Qualities: Excellent writing skills, good technical mind
Salary: $50,000
Dress: Business Casual
Fun Factor: Writers are often good at telling stories

Graphic Designer
Respect: Low-Medium
Qualities: Excellent drawing and illustration skills, good color matching and artistic qualities
Salary: $50,000
Dress: Casual
Fun Factor: Generally fun people and sometimes a bit moody
Notes: Not as 'square' as the rest of the IT department. All good designers seem to have tattoos, piercings, and a fashion sense.

Software Developer
Respect: Medium
Qualities: Creative, persistent, insatiable thirst for knowledge
Salary: $70,000
Dress: Casual Dress is normally the rule (t-shirt and jeans)
Fun Factor: If you don't have fun being a developer then you have the wrong job; other people might not understand your sense of humor though ;)
Notes: Companies have a lot of developers compared to other positions listed. Therefore your chances of becoming a developer are good if you have the skills and more importantly the desire.

Project Manager
Respect: Medium
Qualities: Cooperation, leadership, and organization skills
Salary: $60,000
Dress: Business Casual (collared shirt and nice jeans or pants)
Fun factor: This tends to be a high stress position with long hours. If that sounds fun then go for it!

Database Developer / Database Administrator
Respect: Medium-High
Qualities: Detail-oriented, high business knowledge
Salary: $80,000
Dress: Business Casual
Fun Factor: If processing giant data sets excite you, then this job is for you.

IT Security Manager
Respect: High
Qualities: Military outlook on life, defensive, pro-active
Salary: $70,000
Dress: Smart, clean dress is very important
Fun Factor: Are you kidding me? This guy is basically a cop!

System Administrator
Respect: Medium-High
Qualities: God complex, often eat fast food and drink a lot of soda
Salary: $75,000
Dress: If they were allowed to, they would probably dress as World of Warcraft characters!
Fun Factor: Sysadmins can be patronizing; but they can be fun as well, especially after they have a few beers. They are often eager to show others that they are just "normal people". But this is not usually true.
Notes: Never anger a sysadmin! Why? They have access to everything in the company.

Software Tester
Respect: Low-Medium
Qualities: Detail-oriented, persistent, curious
Salary: $40,000
Dress: Same as developers
Fun Factor: They are normally seen hanging out with developers, trying to talk about bugs.
Notes: Testers play a vital role in software development that cannot be understated. If you don't have a single tester on your team, you are probably in trouble.

IT Support Engineer
Respect: Low (except when someone needs help fixing their computer, then it's really high)
Qualities: Must be good at dealing with technically incompetent people
Salary: $35,000
Dress: Casual
Fun Factor: Often an endless source of funny stories about technically incompetent end-users
Notes: Do not kill the end-users!



2. Vocabulary 

  1. Reflect: It’s important to reflect before making career decisions.
  2. In-demand: Cybersecurity skills are highly in-demand right now.
  3. Thankless: Managing servers can be a thankless task, but it’s crucial.
  4. Raise: Asking for a raise requires confidence and good timing.
  5. Well-liked: A well-liked manager can lead a more motivated team.
  6. Worth: Gaining certifications can increase your worth in the job market.
  7. Layoffs: The company announced layoffs due to budget cuts.
  8. Fellow: Supporting your fellow colleagues builds a stronger work environment.
  9. Realize: I didn’t realize how much I’d learned until I started applying it.
  10. Rewards: Hard work and dedication often come with great rewards.


3. Speaking


Links

  • https://www.english4it.com/module/core/unit/5