Hedge Funds Join the Clamour for Tech Talent. Old World, New Tricks. Can They Keep Up?

Software technology is developing at lightning speed, and everyone wants a piece.

Tech companies are doing whatever they can to entice and retain the best software engineers, but they are not the only ones vying for this specialist talent. Many non-tech companies have jumped on the bandwagon too. Rather than outsource their software projects to specialist software companies, they are bringing programmers in-house to create their own bespoke software systems.

The demand for programmers is growing faster than supply.

There's an interesting article by Robin Wigglesworth in the FT which highlights the interests of another party in this clamour for tech talent. Historically, engineers, physicists and mathematicians have been recruited by financial institutions, but they are now shifting their gaze to computer scientists.

Software engineers already make great money, and according to a survey of 10,000 programmers conducted by Stack Overflow, 90% of them would accept an offer that pays 10% less than their current salary if the new opportunity fit their other criteria. So, money alone will not attract computer scientists to the shiny skyscrapers of finance.

When the programmers were asked if they would ever decline an offer based on their perception of the office quality or management structure, 59.7% of them said yes! When the money is already good, people shift their expectations to more qualitative issues.

The working environment offered by the likes of Google or Uber (companies mentioned in the FT article) are so vastly different from those of financial institutions that they may as well be in different dimensions of space and time. For financial institutions to be able to attract and retain software engineers, the whole culture would have to change.

Amongst the other things cited in the Stack Overflow survey as being important to programmers, there was a clear emphasis on the team, management, autonomy, creativity, being aligned with the company's products and services, and the company's goals. The financial markets, when put in that context, are not so attractive. It's not an impossible task, however, and people often do different jobs at different points in their lives for different reasons.

The comments made on the FT article are fascinating! Many of the people commenting seem to come from a tech / programming background, and they have some great insights.

A theme that seems to emerge from the comments is about the worthiness of the cause. Programmers have a great talent, and they could be using it to further society in more meaningful ways, rather than the simple pursuit of money. Money is great, and I like it, but the pursuit of wealth can be all the more satisfying when it is the by-product of great ideas, as opposed to the end goal in and of itself.

We could all benefit from a more collaborative approach to technology and programming. Just think about the massive advances in medicine, farming, sustainable technology that could be possible! Things are moving so fast that businesses, schools and governments are still playing catch-up when it comes to software technology. It's doubtful that we will ever reach a plateau, but we can all jump aboard for the ride.

A whole new way of working is needed. Society will either shape those changes or respond to them, but traditional ways of doing things are becoming more alien to what is needed in today's world - or rather - tomorrow's world.

References:

Hedge funds poach computer scientists from Silicon Valley, by Robin Wigglesworth, Financial Times US markets editor (22/11/2015)

Joel Spolsky's Guide to Standing Out & Attracting Top Talent

#HedgeFunds Join the Clamour for #Tech #Talent. Old world, new tricks, don't mix? https://t.co/qdprVg6joA #FinTech pic.twitter.com/4Wa2BHtkIg

— Danielle Curio (@DanielleCurio) November 24, 2015

Take the Fear out of Negotiation - Remember: You Have Choices!

I had a summer job in an engineering firm when I was at school. I worked for an engineer, and I was really interested in learning about what he does, but he was not interested in teaching me. He preferred to recruit men into roles that had career progression opportunities, because he had very old fashioned views about women in the workplace (that he was quite open about). I was never going to be anything more than an administrator if I wanted to continue working in that business. So, I decided that I didn't want to work there anymore. I wanted to have options.

The experience of having my gender dictate my role in the workplace was a very early baptism by fire, but it really did prepare me for later life. I did not let it change my character, or my femininity, but it did change the way that I approach things. I learned the power of negotiation.

When it comes to asking for a promotion or pay rise, if you feel that you have taken on more responsibilities, or you would like to, then treat it as a business transaction. There will be times when you hit a brick wall. There could be institutional reasons why you cannot progress (as was the case with my first job), so you need to weigh up the pro's and con's of taking your expertise elsewhere, sticking it out for a bit longer, or pursuing a different course of action.

Since leaving that first job, in subsequent positions when, for example, the question of salary came up, I have negotiated. In one case, I negotiated for two months before I got the salary that I knew my male counterpart would be getting. I treated the process as I would any other business negotiation. If you can present a reasoned argument with sound business sense, if you have exactly what they are looking for (or more), then don't give up. Your male counterpart wouldn't give up, because they don't see it as personal. It's just business.

Although the attitude of my first employer is completely different now (we still keep in touch and he's my biggest advocate now!), there are still people out there who are the gatekeepers of the glass ceiling. They may not be overt about it, but they do exist. However, don't let them stop you from achieving your full potential. As the saying goes, you cannot continue doing the same things and expect different results. Get used to negotiating.

One book that really helped me - it was like a lightbulb moment - is 'Getting to Yes: Negotiating An Agreement Without Giving In'. It is based on the Harvard Negotiation Project. I used to carry a copy around with me! It gave me the confidence I needed to hang in there, because it's ultimately about getting the best result for both sides.

Think about it. If both sides get what they want, it's a win win situation. In any negotiation, you are there as equals, otherwise it's not a negotiation. It's a hostile takeover.

Take The #Fear Out Of #Negotiating. #Women & #Careers: #Knowledge = #Empowerment https://t.co/bPKk0P9Dc3 pic.twitter.com/L0sFb4ryVf

— Danielle Curio (@DanielleCurio) November 24, 2015

Work Life Balance - What We Can Learn From The Doctor (Doctor Who of course!)

Even if you're not a fan of 'Doctor Who', episode 9 of series 9, which is intriguingly titled 'Sleep No More', takes a fascinating - and unsettling - look at work life balance. It's reminiscent of the Channel4 series, 'Black Mirror', and explores how technology can be used to scale productivity, but at a cost.

With the Government expecting Junior Doctors to work longer hours, this episode of Doctor Who is especially poignant.

In many professions, working longer hours is often expected, and colleagues could try to 'out work' each other in order to win brownie points in the bid for promotion. However, long hours can be counter productive in terms of work performance, health and wellbeing. A tired, unhealthy and unhappy workforce is not likely to be super productive. In fact, the costs to the business and the individual can be very high.

According to a study conducted by University College London, scientists 'found that those who work more than 55 hours a week have a 33% increased risk of stroke compared with those who work a 35 to 40 hour week. They also have a 13% increased risk of coronary heart disease.' (The Guardian)

'Sleep No More' explores the possibility of a workforce that can go without sleep for prolonged periods of time, by using the 'Morpheus' machine. The inventor of Morpheus believed that time spent sleeping was a waste of time, so he created a machine that would consolidate your monthly sleep into a 5 minute nap, freeing up all that extra time to work! Great aye! But there are side effects... The sleep still accumulates in your eyes, and you eventually turn into a flesh-eating sandman. Yikes!

Sleep is part of the work-life balance. It's part of life. No matter how much we want to be good at our jobs, or how much pressure we are under, something's gotta give. What are your time, your health and your relationships really worth? Is your job really worth losing sleep over? 

Resources

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60295-1/abstract

Become part of the new generation of wide-awakes. #WorkLifeBalance #lessons from #DoctorWho https://t.co/n9qsMuWp0t pic.twitter.com/V1LcztrjOB

— Danielle Curio (@DanielleCurio) November 24, 2015

Why Your Twitter Campaign is Missing the Mark

Is it just me, or does anyone else get seemingly random and irrelevant suggestions from twitter about which accounts to follow? Within the last couple of weeks 'Slim Fast' has popped up as a suggestion and I couldn't figure out why at first. I don't tweet about diet, weight-loss or anything like that, so that set the little cogs in my brain turning.

Initially I thought that maybe twitter was gender profiling me. If I believe the media, we women are always on diets and worrying about our weight. But surely the twitter algorithms are more sophisticated than that? So, I dug a little deeper.

When I looked back at my tweets, I could see that I had mentioned the word 'weights' a few times because I lift weights and tweet about it. Bingo! But therein lies the problem. Weight lifting is different to weight loss. It might not sound like a big deal that I'm getting recommendations to follow Slim Fast. I can just ignore them right? Yes, of course I can, and I will; however, there is a wider point that social media marketers should note.

If I am getting targeted suggestions based on misinterpreted data, what other messages are missing the mark?

Another example of a badly targeted twitter interaction was when I tweeted about Stratford upon Avon, someone added me to a list of Avon cosmetics representatives...

Beware of double meanings and mixed messages.

Why Your #Twitter #Campaign is Missing the Mark https://t.co/deMx1V5H3u #SocialMediaMarketing #Hashtags #KeyWords pic.twitter.com/GTfrqiHqGc

— Danielle Curio (@DanielleCurio) November 13, 2015

Make Yourself Investible! What We Can Learn From The Apprentice

Make Yourself Investible - What We Can Learn From The Apprentice

I love a rags to riches story, and Lord Sugar is an inspiration. The tasks that are set for the contestants in The Apprentice are a reflection of the Lord Sugar's personal journey to business success. That's all good and well, and it's a very entertaining TV show, but it took a while for me to figure out the method behind the madness.

If I went to a venture capitalist with a fashion business idea, I'd be shocked - to say the least - if they asked me to set up a food stall in a market for the day. Something that is seemingly so unrelated to the business plan. That's what the whole process of BBC's The Apprentice (or 'Lord Sugar's Wheeler-Dealers & One-man-bandits') looked like to me, until quite recently.

When I need a bit of inspiration, I go to the Playbook, and have it running in the background whilst I work. It's kind of like a bitesized TED Talks, but it's just for business. Now that I am running my own business, and I work remotely most of the time, I like to maintain a sort of business energy to keep me going and keep my mind fresh. Playbook does that for me.

Something caught my ear a few weeks ago, and I wish I knew who the speaker was so I could recommend the video. This person invests in business start-ups and he was sharing the secrets as to how he decides what to invest in. What struck me was that he said it's not really the business that he's investing in. It's not the what, but it's mostly the who. He invests in exceptional people. The business may or may not succeed, but he is confident that the person behind the business will be a success. He will invest in those people time and again because he knows they have the right attitude and the aptitude for success.

Although the winner of The Apprentice will hopefully not be expected to put up shelves or head to France with a random shopping list, they will be expected to get stuck in. Lord Sugar is not looking for an employee, he is looking for a business partner.

When you are starting your own business, you have to know the whole business inside and out. In most cases, you don't get the million dollar investment capital, so you have to be the whole business! The receptionist, the bookkeeper, the van driver, etc. If you cannot get stuck in and do things that are outside of your comfort zone - get your hands dirty - you won't get far. So what looks very silly and entertaining from the outside, is actually a brilliant business and general life-skills bootcamp that anyone would benefit from.

So, venture out of your comfort zone and Make Yourself Investible!

Make Yourself #Investible! What we can learn from #TheApprentice @bbcapprentice @Lord_Sugar https://t.co/kixhu5dz4e pic.twitter.com/H23CJPpR2u

— Danielle Curio (@DanielleCurio) November 12, 2015

Mr. Robot - eps1.9_zer0-daY.avi - Episode 10... The Finale - IT Nut Blog Review

Mr. Robot - Episode 10 - The Finale

Some Reddit threads during the early episodes of Mr. Robot had been speculating that Mr. Robot was just in Elliot's mind, and that the show has a bit of a 'Fight Club' vibe going on. In the early episodes, mainly the first three, the writers of the show were still on the ball, and Mr. Robot only showed up when Elliot did. That fell apart quite quickly later on (as covered in 'Who is Mr. Robot?') and I was not convinced.

The quality of the plot aside, we now know that Mr. Robot is Elliot's imaginary friend and that's that. Or is it? Maybe White Rose is in just in Elliot's mind. We (the viewers) are, so why not any of the other characters? Picking apart the plot won't change whatever random twist the writers choose to introduce in the future. I'll just have to deal with that when it comes, but I know that my secondary school teacher would not have been amused if I handed her an assignment with such glaring inconsistencies. Anyway, moving on!

Micheal - or Lenny - the guy who Krista had been dating, tugs on Krista's heartstrings with some nonsense story about him dying, and tricks her into a meeting him again. He was sore about being hacked by Elliot, but now that his wife has found out about his infidelity anyway (thank you Ashley Madison) and his family has fallen apart, Lenny figures he's got nothing to lose by going after Elliot and taking Krista with him. Talk about a sore loser! Rather than taking a good look in the mirror and sorting his life out, he needs someone to blame.

This whole hacking scenario is very convenient for Lenny, because he can now move the goal post from his lying and cheating ways, to Elliot's illegal activities. Lenny even tries to get Krista to break the professional trust that her clients expect from her. "I'm not the enemy here. He is." Really! What a creep! Thankfully Krista does not sink to Lenny's level, and she walks away.

"Who am I?" That is the question! Who are you, Elliot Alderson? Elliot wakes up in Tyrell's car, in some random car park, and he has now idea where he is, or how he got there. It appears that some days have passed, and he doesn't know about the global economic melt down, or anything else really.

When Elliot gets back to fsociety HQ, he finds that he'd been gone for three days, and that the coordinated hack with The Dark Army had been executed at some point during that time, but he has no recollection.

All debt (and financial data) has been destroyed and everybody's happy! Yay! There's no mention of what happened to people's savings, but hey, it's America and everyone is drowning in debt right? Anyway, credit cards are not working, so people have to spend what they actually have. What?! They want people to live within their means? That's the fsociety dream apparently.

"We are finally awake!" Hmm, yes, but what now? Old habits die hard. People will always want what they cannot afford. The loss of legitimate financial institutions has left a void and something has got to fill it. The revolution will open the way for a new regime. But will it be better? Loan sharks and the mafia will undoubtedly make their move. The Dark Army will swoop in.

https://twitter.com/PreviouslyTV/status/658675883725758464

Elliot is retracing his steps in search of Tyrell. He finds a pair of sunglasses in Tyrell's car and one of the arms is also a USB key. Hello Dr Who sonic sunglasses! Maybe Mr. Robot is Dr Who! The USB contains a video file that shows Elliot falling off the railings at the seaside. Mr. Robot is not there. Elliot wasn't pushed. He jumped.

Angela had asked Colby what the meeting was like, when he and the other Evil Corp executives had discussed the industrial accident that lead to the death of her mother. He just described it like it was any other day. And now we see Angela, in a shop, buying shoes, after James Plouffe (E Corp EVP of Technology) has just committed suicide, right in front of her. Like it was any other day. She has blood on her shoes! When confronted by the shop assistant, she shuts him down like a corporate pro. Well done Angela, you are now one of them.

In each of the previous episodes, no one bats an eyelid when Elliot interacts with Mr. Robot. It's only at the end of the last episode, by the graveside, that Darlene asks Elliot who he's talking too. But now, Elliot is in a coffee shop, supposedly talking to himself, and the other customers are all having a good look. They do a 'now you see him, now you don't' thing when they show Elliot pinning himself up against a wall, when he thinks he's having an altercation with Mr. Robot. It's weird. But Mr. Robot does make a good suggestion: "I recommend you get yourself one of those bluetooth headsets. That way people just think you're the local douche."

fsociety throw an open-house 'End of the World' party at their HQ so they can cover their tracks with loads of random finger prints. Only time will tell if that was a good idea.

In Elliot's final hallucination, he sees his whole family. His mum, his dad, his younger self; but where is Darlene? Why does he only hallucinate about her once in the entire series? And we never actually find out where Elliot's mum is.

In Elliot's final scene, he gets home and watches the news. Knock knock Elliot. Who's there? Maybe Tyrell? Only time will tell.

White Rose makes a second appearance at the very end of this episode and has a meeting with Philip Prince of Evil Corp. Prince says he knows who's responsible for the hack, which implies that he knows about Elliot. But does he know about the part played by The Dark Army? White Rose likens Prince's inaction thus far to emperor Nero watching his city burn. Who are the real winners and losers? I'm hoping we'll find out in the next series.

Who Is Mr. Robot? IT Nut Blog Takes a Look - Spoiler Alert!

Who is Mr. Robot?

Ok. So... In episode 8, we find out that the man who we've been referring to as 'Mr. Robot' (because he wears a jacket with a Mr. Robot badge) is Elliot's dad... And in episode 9, we discover that he's is a figment of Elliot's imagination... Right... This is becoming all kinds of weird.

There are still lots of loose ends to deal with, like why did Elliot not recognise his dad in the first place? He talks about his father all the time, and shares those memories with us. Also, why does Elliot not remember that he has a sister? Why is she in none of Elliot's memories?

These revelations are highly confusing, and annoying, so I had a quick flick through the previous episodes, to see if I missed any tell-tale signs.

It seems that Mr. Robot has been cleverly and subtly integrated into the story line. Whenever Mr. Robot talks to anyone, he is always right next to or in the immediate vicinity of Elliot. So it looks like Mr. Robot is having the conversation, but it could just as easily be Elliot who is having the conversation. That's fair enough. There are some major exceptions, however, that I have found so far.

In episode one, Elliot sees Mr. Robot begging outside a restaurant. The people he's begging from look directly at Mr. Robot and they use body language / make hand gestures to dismiss him. That's a bit confusing.

After Elliot's first visit to the fsociety headquarters, also in episode one, he did an online search for Mr. Robot. NOTHING came up in his search. That's really odd, because if Mr. Robot had been the name of the computer repair shop where Elliot's dad worked, SOMETHING would have come up SOMEWHERE online.

When Darlene turned up at Elliot's apartment in episode 2, it makes sense that she made herself so at home, because she is his sister. Why does Elliot not remember his connection with her? If we go back to the hallucination sequence of episode 4, there is a girl on a scooter, and we are now to believe that she was the young Darlene. It's not too far fetched.

In response to Elliot walking away from fsociety, Mr. Robot throws Elliot off some railings, but it is plausible that Elliot could have jumped of his own free will.

In episode 5, after the successful penetration of Steel Mountain, Darlene wants to go ahead with the plan regardless of the fact that they no longer have the support of the Dark Army. Elliot is standing a behind Darlene, a few feet away, and Mr. Robot, who is to her right, leaps over to physically restrain her, and they have an exchange of words. Darlene then turns around to directly address Elliot and ask for his instruction. Mr Robot then picks up some equipment and smashes it on the floor before walking in the opposite direction to Elliot, and continues a two-way dialogue with Darlene. Surely there cannot be any doubt at this point that Mr. Robot is a separate entity and visible to the other hackers, because they are all looking at him.

In episode 7, Darlene meets with Mr. Robot in a bar - just the two of them. They have a dialogue. This definitely makes no sense. Mr. Robot also has a one-to-one meeting with Romero, one of the other hackers. Am I missing something?

The last confusing scene is in episode 8, when Mr. Robot gets into a car with Tyrell and they have a two-way dialogue...? Somebody please explain!

I'm still not overly convinced that Elliot is the man behind the mask. Elliot makes this discovery in episode 9. He has been living a double life that he seems to know nothing about. The whole Jekyll and Hyde thing is all good and well, but I didn't have that "Ah hah!" or "Yes, of course!" moment when the revelation is made. It doesn't sit well with the plot, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt.

Just one more episode to go!

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Mr. Robot - eps1.8_m1rr0r1ng.qt - Episode 9 - IT Nut Blog Review

Mr. Robot - Episode 9

That last episode ended a bit weird... Mr. Robot is Elliot's dad... Moving on!

Episode 9 begins! How did they get all those antique computers and pristine bits of hardware for the shop! It's like a museum piece. Amazing! So, this episode starts with a flashback to Elliot's youth, and his father's computer shop, which is called 'Mr. Robot'. Get it? Ok. It's all very lovely. Blah blah blah whatever.

It gives us an insight into Elliot's criminal past. He stole $20 from one of the shop's customers, and his dad covered up for him. "Even though what you did was wrong, you're still a good kid. And that guy was a prick. Sometimes that matters more." Right...

Mr. Robot mentions to Elliot that he met with Tyrell last night. We don't really know what they talked about at this point.

Elliot is understandably disconcerted that neither his father nor his sister thought to reveal their identities earlier on. He thinks he's going crazy, and we see the first bit of passion from Elliot since the beginning of the series. Btw, has there been any mention of where Elliot's mother is?

Mr. Robot takes Elliot on a trip down memory lane, and they end up at his childhood home in New Jersey. They recreate the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, but a window is smashed and it's not very romantic. In the mean time, Angela and Darlene are frantically rushing around in search of Elliot because he has gone AWOL. They finally catch up with him and things descend further into confusion!

"Elliot. Who are you talking too?" That question is about 9 episodes too late! And no, we didn't know all along. It wasn't obvious at all! Elliot's dad is dead. He was dead all along. He didn't come back as a zombie or a ghost or anything like that. He was a hallucination.

Yes Elliot, we're going to make you say it. "I am Mr. Robot."

This is not a particularly rewarding revelation. What do you think?

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Mr. Robot - eps1.7_wh1ter0se.mv4 - Episode 8 - IT Nut Blog Review - Spoiler Alert!

Mr. Robot - Episode 8

Darlene does ballet...? With Angela??? And they're bonding over their mutual friend, Elliot... This is so random! Since when did Angela and Darlene know each other? The implication is that they are childhood friends. Strange.

Note: This whole episode seems to pose more questions than it actually answers.

The meeting with White Rose (the Dark Army's mythical leader) is set up! Elliot is about to meet his unlikely ally, thanks to Darlene's persistence. The suspense is palpable!

In other news, Tyrell waltzes into work as though nothing has happened. He hasn't told his wife what he did either. It's unclear what Tyrell's goals are, beyond becoming CTO, but he seems to be losing his self-control at an alarming rate!

Gideon Goddard of Allsafe has turned the infected server from the first fsociety hack into a 'honeypot' in response to the attacks, and in order to trick the hackers. His suspicions are becoming firmly focussed on Elliot.

Elliot meets White Rose - who is wearing a pearly king jacket - and White Rose tells Elliot about the honeypot. White Rose has allotted exactly 3 minutes for the meeting. Elliot wastes the first 2 minutes going over old ground, and then when it finally gets interesting, the time runs out. We don't learn why the Dark Army are helping fsociety, but they do agree to help.

Finding out why the Dark Army are helping fsociety is a vital detail to the overall plot. The Dark Army appear to have a sophisticated network, influence and money. fsociety have none of the above. They are operating from the fringes, which is not to say that fsociety can't achieve big things, but they are vulnerable. What is in it for the Dark Army? I suspect that they have bigger fish to fry, and that fsociety is just a tiny part of a big plan for the Dark Army.

Random: Tyrell has a one-to-one meeting with Mr. Robot...? Since when did they know each other? Who is Mr. Robot working for? What is going on?

The climate control hack on Steel Mountain is going to plan. The data will be destroyed soon!

This is when things start to get weird. Elliot gets all hot and heavy with Darlene, and she flips out! She asks Elliot if he's forgotten who she is. Darlene is his sister!!!??? That does not make any sense! How did he forget who she is? Apparently he's not been taking his anti-psychotic medicine, which has affected his memory and his grasp on reality.

For everyone that Elliot hacks, he downloads their data onto a CD, puts it in a folder under a dresser where he keeps all the CD's, and deletes the data from his hard drive. When Elliot gets home after the shock revelation of Darlene's identity, he finds that he also did a CD for his own data. He searches it to find some evidence of his sister, and finds loads of pictures of Mr. Robot! Relaxed, family album pictures. Some of those pictures are of the two of them together, when Elliot was a child... Mr. Robot is Elliot's father! Why doesn't he remember his father either? He reminisces about his father all the time. It's all very odd. And his father is supposed to be dead.

This new twist does not sit well with the plot, and I'm starting to get the same vibes from this series that I got from 'Lost' and 'Prison Break'. They kept drawing things out at the expense of good writing and great storylines. Hopefully I am wrong.

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Sprout Social - Free Trial - IT Nut Blog Review

I've heard a lot about Sprout Social, and I wanted to know what it can do, so I signed up for the free trial. If you are thinking of using Sprout, I hope you will find this review slightly helpful. If you do use it already, maybe you have some insights that I have missed, so please share your comments.

At the moment, I keep on top of the social media for my business using tweetdeck, twitter analytics, unfollowers, and the integrated analytics tools for Facebook and LinkedIn. That means I usually have at least half a dozen pages open on my laptop at any given time just to keep on top of the usual social media platforms. Plus the other platforms that I am exploring, such as medium, reddit and livejournal. That's not to mention keeping tabs on my website and blogs - Sumo.me and Google Analytics are my nbf's!

The Sprout Social Dashboard gives a quick snapshot of how your different social media profiles are performing. The main sections of the dashboard are:

• Group Trends - Which displays the stats used by the various platforms (E.g. tweet impressions, engagement, etc.)
• Audience Demographics
• Connected Profiles

The buttons across the top of the app interface take you to the 6 main sections:

1. Messages
2. Tasks
3. Feeds
4. Publishing
5. Discovery
6. Reports

1. MESSAGES

The term 'messages' seems to be used as a loose term. It includes twitter Mentions, Direct Messages, Retweets, Retweets with Comments, New Followers and Sent Messages. For Facebook it includes Wall Posts, Comments and Private Messages.

The results are filtered by selecting / deselecting the checkboxes next to each of the above categories. You can also save messages here.

There is also an option to add 'Brand Keywords' to further filter / expand the results. You are able to add 5 'Brand Keywords' to filter the results. I sent Sprout a tweet asking if they just limit it to 5 keywords for the free trial, or if that's standard with the paid version too. They responded with the following tweet:

2. TASKS

Tasks are created by going back to the messages section, selecting the desired interaction and clicking on the drawing pin icon. You can then leave an 'internal' comment and select a 'Task Type' from the following options:

• General Task
• Sales Lead
• Support Issue

The task will then show up in the Tasks section. This creates a 'to do' list that is very useful and easy to action / follow for future reference.

3. FEEDS

I connected my twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles to sprout social. This section allows me to access those separate profiles in a central place within the Sprout Social app, rather than checking the profiles within the other apps individually. Having this central location definitely saves time.

4. PUBLISHING

This is a way to publish content across multiple platforms from one central location, and posts can be scheduled in the calendar for future dates. Again, this will doubtless save time for busy social media marketers.

5. DISCOVERY

The main subsections and sub-subsections are:

• Suggestions - 'Your Followers', 'Conversed with', 'Have mentioned you'
• Cleanup - 'Silent Accounts', 'Irregular Usage', 'Do not follow back' - I currently use unfollowers to check the accounts that are not following back. Sprout incorporates this into the app, so that is a plus.
• Smart Search - This does what I use tweetdeck to do. It's great that this function is housed within the Sprout Social app, but the advantage that tweetdeck has over Sprout is that tweetdeck displays the keyword searches in columns, so you can glance across multiple topics, side-by-side, without having to change the display.

6. REPORTS

Last, but definitely not the least!

Note: This is where you can include Google Analytics for your website or blog. Very useful.

The subheadings are:

• Group Report - This is similar to the Dashboard.
• Engagement Report - Goes into more detail about the overall engagement across the group profiles.
• Facebook Pages - Gives detail on engagement with Facebook pages.
• Twitter Profiles - Gives detail on engagement with twitter profiles.
• Trends Report - Reports for each individual twitter profile.
• Twitter Comparison - This is a really useful tool! It allows you to generate comparison reports between your accounts and other twitter accounts. A great way to gauge your effectiveness compared to main competitors!
• Sent Messages - Tracks the performance of tweets in which you have mentioned other users.

IN CONCLUSION...

Sprout Social is a great app with lots of very useful features. I'm sure it is an invaluable tool for very large or busy businesses, that are running lots of social media profiles and campaigns simultaneously. Running a small start-up company, however, I'm not sure if I can justify the cost just yet, when there are so many great tools out there already that I can use for free... It's definitely an aspirational app for me, and now that I know exactly what it does, I can make more informed choices in future. Thank you to Sprout Social for extending my free trial for an extra week.

Mr. Robot - eps1.6.v1ew_s0urce.flv - Episode 7 - IT Nut Blog Review

Mr. Robot - Episode 7

It starts with a flashback... And then we fast-forward a month from where the last episode ended.

Angela makes progress with her case against Evil Corp, but not without compromising her values, and thus begins the slippery slope.

Darlene's attempts to get the Dark Army back on board finally pay off, but she loses Cisco as an ally.

Tyrell loses the plot and fires his advisors for no apparent reason, just because he can. He's obviously still sulking from being outsmarted by Knowles, the new CTO of Evil Corp.

Evil Corp host a party to formally announce the promotion of Knowles to CTO. Tyrell and his interesting wife, Joanna, are in attendance and they are scheming as usual. Joanna gives Tyrell the nod, and he makes another move on Sharon Knowles, the wife of Scott. Just when we thought that things couldn't get any more grubby, they do. Tyrell is losing control and he lashes out, with disastrous consequences.

Elliot comes clean with Krista and confesses that he hacked her. That he hacks everyone. What is the purpose of this confession? Why now? Why at all? Will there be repercussions?

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Mr. Robot - eps1.5_br4ve-traveler.asf - Episode 6 - IT Nut Blog Review - Contains Spoilers

Mr. Robot - Episode 6

This episode looks quite normal to start with. Elliot and his dealer / girlfriend, Shayla, are having dinner in a dingy diner, with their characteristically one-dimensional facial expressions.

I haven't really mentioned Shayla much because her part is more like ambient noise than central to the plot. Shayla's supplier, a pleasant chap by the name of Fernando Vera, was sent to prison, thanks to an anonymous tip. Vera has now discovered that the tip came from Elliot. He's understandably annoyed, so he uses Shayla to get to Elliot. Vera figured that if Elliot could put him in prison, Elliot could also get him out. Vera arranges for Shayla to be kidnapped in order to get Elliot's attention and cooperation.

This is another interlude that feels a bit like the hallucination sequence in episode 4. It takes up a lot of time and it's not immediately obvious what value it adds to the main plot. Anyway, long story short, Elliot succeeds at breaking Vera out. Sadly, Shayla is collateral damage.

In the previous episode, Tyrell goes all creepy in his pursuit of his CTO ambitions. The CTO position was given to someone else, Scott Knowles, and Tyrell pays him a visit. What looks like a civilised dinner at the guy's home turns into Tyrell's biggest mistake. In this episode it becomes clear that by looking for the flaws in his opponent, Tyrell exposes his own biggest flaw. Arrogance. Knowles has Tyrell's card marked. That CTO position is even further from Tyrell's grasp than ever.

Angela is up to her own games also. She has resurrected the case against Evil Corp, relating to the death of her mother and Elliot's dad. What will happen next?

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