1,201 karma · joined February 25, 2007
Can you please recommend me books/software applications/online courses for doing the work these guys were doing for Obama campaign?
(Just to clarify: I am a developer and I grok SQL. So that part is covered. Other parts... less so.)
But on a serious note: I'm happy for them because they'll see now that business is more than suing someone for the mere idea.
It's the beast that serves itself first and, even worse, that same citizens (more precise: their representatives) have created it. What for? Terror?
Is there anything left what we can sacrifice on the altar of "war on terror"?
And MS is Oracle's (OK... Larry's :) ) arch rival no.1.
Why is Oracle fighting Google and wants to get a few hundreds of millions (which is not much for the company that big) when they could let Google go its thing and watch how MS gets weaker due to that?
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/de/Box/default.mspx
Actually, swell guy. I'm still wondering how he created such a mess.
When I follow the discussion on "entrepreneurial immigration" in USA and in Germany I see the same flawed logic: Everything's OK now, "we're on the top of the world", "why risk letting people in, maybe there will be terrorists among them"... Essentially, it's the policy of building higher walls and being, in effect, repellent. But also not realizing that entrepreneurs are a rare breed.
Why do not intelligent people act differently? Why has the high civil servant from my story let a pretty sure bet (my friend) leave the country?
Yes, it's the risk of being accused for letting a foreigner in but that is the surface of the problem. Underneath is the hubris. "We don't need it, we've got it all" mentality.
Short intro: I have lived in Germany for more than 15 years. I have learned the language and subsequently studied CompSci there, I love so many things about Germany, I have family and friends there, I still follow what's happening there through the media, I have worked there as a developer and consultant.
(All info is for non-EU citizens)
Working with tourist visa is impossible. Legally.
Obtaining the student visa (the same OP had/has) is fairly easy. And you can work with it. But only for an employer (so, no freelancing, no incorporating). And for 19 hrs/week maximum. If you work more, German IRS ("Finanzamt") will contact your employer and you both can get in trouble.
Obtaining other kinds of visas is much harder. You need both the staying visa ("Aufenthaltserlaubnis") from the Immigration Service ("Ausländerbehörde") and the work permit ("Arbeitserlaubnis") from the Employment Center ("Bundesagentur für Arbeit"). If there are no German and EU citizens available for the job, and you have the qualification that is in shortage, and your employer has proven all that to the Immigration Service (process that can take months - it's time and money consuming) and is willing to pay you at least €60.000 a year (which is quite a lot!) then, and only then you can get the work permit. Needless to say, finding an employer who's willing to go through that procedure isn't easy. Caveat: You are quite dependent on that employer afterwards.
More info (in German, try Google translate):http://migration-business.de/2011/09/hochqualifizierte-raus-...
Obtaining visa for incorporating a company is the hardest thing! There are two ways:
1. If you have had staying visa and work permit for more that five years you can apply for permanent residence ("Unbefristete Aufenthaltserlaubnis"). The procedure lasts three to six months and if you are (as German politicians like to say) "integrated" (you speak fluent German, know the country, have German friends, no criminal record, not a terrorist etc.) there is no major thing that'd hinder you to become permanent resident. With permanent residence you can incorporate whatever you want (sole proprietorship, a company).
2. This is a lesser known way: If your staying visa and work permit is "younger" than five years you can write a business plan. Immigration Service will pass it to the local Chamber of Commerce ("Handelskammer") and after the positive review they'll give a green light and Immigration Service will add to your visa that you are allowed to incorporate. That's how it should work. On paper. The real life is different.
As this is a lesser known way, I know only one guy who has tried it. Great credentials: Studied in Germany, flawless German, "integrated" (gosh, I hate that word), very competent. Worked for a year, and didn't want to wait for another four to be allowed to incorporate. Had a great idea. Wrote a great business plan. And went through limbo with it. In order to get to the positive outcome he, preemptively, has contacted and worked with the Chamber of Commerce guy who has worked on his case. That guy would return the business plan every week with new "potential problems" in it. My friend would improve it, send the new version, CoC guy would again find fault with his plan, and the game would start again. And go on for almost eight months.
To cut to the chase, my friend went to a high civil servant ("Oberstadtinspektor") with the local Immigration Service and what the civil servant has told him was revealing. His exact words were: "If I let you stay here, what should I do if, due to you business activity, a German business loses a contract and complains against us." My friend answered that he cannot rule out that such thing won't happen. But in that case, his company will still employ Germans and pay taxes in Germany - German state would still benefit from his venture. Otherwise, if he'd incorporate somewhere else, that scenario could still happen, but he wouldn't employ Germans and pay taxes in Germany. Civil servant answered "I've told you everything I can."
My friend, disappointed, returned to his home country realizing that such way of thinking was also the reason CoC guy behaved the way he behaved (in my friend's words "No German is willing to take responsibility for allowing ANY foreigner to stay in Germany"). He calls himself an "Economic Hitman" (yes, he's John Perkins fan :))): He now owns a tech company that employs 80 people, and uses his knowledge of the German culture, language, businesses to work exclusively with Germany. And to INTENTIONALLY make that scenario happen. And it has happened a few times (that he's aware of): German businesses were not taken, his was. His competitive advantage is, for one reason, the fact that his company is NOT in Germany. In his country labor is cheaper and he pays a lot less taxes than in Germany - giving him leverage over German companies.
The irony: Those (civil servants) who's mission is to to the best for the citizens and the state have failed miserably. And, on the top of that, have proven to have NO CLUE about economy as they do not realize that economy is NOT a zero-sum game.
Apple has 90 days of non paid supplies on the books (and $80 billion in the bank - "cash and investments" as stated in the article).
If they'd (OK... IDEALLY) pay all of them at once and continue paying supplies as they get delivered, only then would their balance sheet look realistic.
Or, am I missing something?
Aside from being (in my opinion) a bad business practice, it's also lying to the shareholders. You see, that $80 Billion figure would be smaller if they'd pay the manufacturers in a reasonable timeframe.
Apple [..] sometimes doesn't pay until as long as 90 days after it uses a part [...]
I think only "lame". With $80B and 40% margin, company with that reputation...
Manufacturing is hard. And very expensive. Organize processes, buy machines and raw materials, pay the labor. And then comes Apple and gives itself a loan (basically, it's a loan) from a manufacturer.
No, sorry. It's lame.
PS - Just as a perspective: I help part time in a company my father and brother own (retail and manufacturing company). Even thou other businesses in the industry and the country do the same thing as Apple, they don't. I'm disgusted by that practice here...so, why not be disgusted by it when Apple does it?
Can someone explain why? I'm not a mobile developer.
http://synthesiagame.com/ (no affiliation; happy user)
Respect his money: Don't (DON'T!) even think to invest A DIME into logo or any other 'cool' marketing materials that you see big (and not so big) companies have. Invest EVERY minute and some money to FIND OUT what your customers WANT, sell it, if they want to buy it, build it, THEN invest money into marketing that WORKS.
What a guy! First he had no gonads to stand up against his girlfriends father and fight for her and their son. Then, after almost 60 years, he has the guts to publicly hide behind PRIDE (can you imagine? of all the things: PRIDE!) by saying "Steve will have to do that, as the Syrian pride in me does not want him ever to think I am after his fortune." Last but not least, according to [1] he also left Joanna (Steve's mother) and Mona (Steve's biological sister) when Mona was 4 years old.
Hey, old man, grow a pair!
[1] http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/02/news/companies/elkind_jobs.f...
</DeservedRant>
On the top of my list as a consumer grade drive (thou, we're considering to put it into the Win2008/SQLServer server on our LAN ) is OCZ Revodrive X2 PCI-Express SSD (http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-revodrive-x2-pci-express-ss...).
Hackers.
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/165627/article...
which is part of a broader series