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A little more about me

I recently applied for a grant. Considering how long it has been since I posted anything I thought it would be nice share how I am moving forward.

I am an intrepid entrepreneur who is a geek at heart. I have always been fascinated with applied technology and how it can make things easier for everyone. A funny thing about me is I sometimes I find it easier to talk with computers. Computers can't lie; they don't brag or try to flatter the user. They do exactly what they are commanded when they are commanded. Although I find it frustrating at times to correctly use its syntax, computers do what they were correctly programmed to do. My fascination with these machines started when I was in High school back in 1992. I was a member of our school's computer club. Back in the day D.O.S., logo programming, BASICA, WordStar, Lotus 123 were state of the art. I got my first computer as my high school graduation gift. It was an IBM compatible 386 dx machine running at 33 MHz with 2 megabytes of EDO ram.  It didn't have a hard drive nor a dial-up modem, but the word processor running of the 1.2 MB 5.25" floppy drive helped me write my term papers. Nowadays with multi-core and touch screen smart phones everywhere, it's easy to conclude how accurate Moor's law remains true to this day.  Immaterial of how fast the technology evolved over the years, one thing has remained constant. That constant is my fascination and interest in technology.  I have two bachelor degrees under my belt and I've had the distinct pleasure of learning from and working for some telecom giants here in the US through their outsourced off-shore providers.  The irony however is that my academic degrees fail to reflect on my own personal interests.

By participating in the program I hope to acquire the necessary technical expertise and certifications   necessary to secure gainful and meaningful employment. It is my hope and desire to become an authority in my field of interest.

In five years’ time, I hope to become an organization's I.T. director. Should I fail to break through the glass ceiling however I would like my own business aspirations as outlined in my website (see: http://jakecastle.wix.com/solutions) become a reality. It goes without saying that I would like to gain financial independence and attain a certain degree of comfort and security.  I would like to have my own slice of the American dream: my own house, the means to start my own family and become a productive and responsible member of society.

One of the most inspirational moments in recent memory was when a kid around my neighborhood handed me some noodles. He said that it came from their clique to show their appreciation for putting up my humble gaming and internet shop.

I am a recent immigrant from Philippines from the city of Manila. It is a poverty stricken third world country where personal computers and broadband internet access are luxuries beyond the reach of a vast majority of the inner city kids. With minimal capitalization I managed to convert a portion of my residence into an internet cafe. Without formal academic training and without hiring external professionals I built and refurbished computers, installed the software, crimped the cables, installed the local area networked and opened shop.

 It was in that first week when I opened shop that the kid gave me that snack.  Those noodles were food for the soul. It was a token of their appreciation for my efforts. It was a symbol of what I had achieved and the amount of appreciation the public which I served had for my undertaking.   Whoever said you can't have your noodles and eat it too eh?

Odesk, a catalyst for change.

We thank Gary Swart for making it easier to outsource jobs offshore via oDesk. We thank american corporate greed for making our lives better. For better or for worse the we are grateful for the sacrifice of every american job outsourced to us. Some of the bail out money afforded to wall street fat cats were invested to further outsource more jobs to 3rd world countries. As a citizen of the world this blogger is not insensitive to how he american middle class was screwed by the 1%. American jobs like these    http://siva-ph.jobstreet.com/_ja/jobstreetAssist.asp?companyid=23625  among  so many others are among the primary contributors to America's growing unemployment. That's just how the world works. Corporate greed is a part of the human condition. Corporation have no national allegiances, no sense of patriotism. Make no mistake what so ever; but Odesk too is a corporation. Never forget that Odesk makes 10% off whatever you make. The fact that I have been shadow writing with an alias on Odesk despite their efforts to bar me proves of just how uncaring the world can be.

Pinoy Odesk reads about Colnect and Gary Swart

This Pinoy Odesk newbie saw this and realizes a simple fact 1. To get to the correct customer support (people further up the food chain than Ron Aquino ) you really got to speak with Gary Swart 2. I am posting this because to date oDesk and it's  Outsourced Customer  Support Off shored in the Philippines  continues to wash it's hands and has yet to offer a sincere  apology for the damage they've done to the author. this post was orignally from http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/odesk-c433747.html Odesk

Posted: 2011-03-22 by   Collector Coin

No care for business owners Complaint Rating:  Company information: oDesk United States Full version of this complaint is here: hThe short version: after working with oDesk for 6 months and hiring dozens of contractors, oDesk suddenly suspended Colnect's account which had 26 active contracts WITHOUT even providing a reason. It took 5 days and many requests to realize that oDesk did it since bonus payment to one of the contractors was passed using PayPal and not oDesk. As I was unaware of this being a "serious violation" of oDesk's rules, I offered that contractor to get her bonus via oDesk or PayPal and she chose PayPal. About 2 months later, when we ended our contract, she decided to complain on oDesk since she didn't like the feedback she got. So basically, they lost less than $5 commission from that bonus not passing through their system and decided to suspend Colnect's account although thousands of $USD were passed on oDesk and got we got only excellent feedback from contractors. After their support failed to answer my issues properly, I contacted oDesk's CEO Gary Swart with the story. Finally, after 2.5 weeks, oDesk resumed Colnect's account. They never apologized for the damage they've done to Colnect and 26 active contractors without a good reason and they refused to change their policies or consider any compensation to the contractors they hurt or Colnect. This is the reason this post has been made - to warn employers relying on oDesk. ttp://blog.colnect.com/2011/03/odesk-warning-for-employers.html Lucky for Colnect they were able to reach Gary Swart, guess this is why lots of people read my blog still.

Odesk Profile in the Old Days

oDesk upgrade causes providers to loose their hard earned earnings

Recently it appears that an ODesk upgrade has caused all it's providers a great inconvenience due to a bug which they have been unable to fix. If you see this error message popping up in your screen, then that means that you are unable to bill time and whatever work you do while this remains unresolved will not be credited.

oDesk customer support headed by Ron Aquino based in the Philippines has yet to comment on this blog or post a resolution. The question remains:

1. will providers be credited for lost hours due to this bug
2. Will contractors be the one made responsible to credit for lost time or
3. will odesk be the one to credit lost billable hours
4. Will oDesk ever recognize the hardship they cause the providers by their sheer incompetence?

ODesk Providers please do share your experience concerning this disheartening news.

Just wanted to share

In Search of my Soulmate Slideshow: Jake’s trip from Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines to 11 cities Hong Kong, Macau Peninsula, Boracay, Makati, Cebu City, Palawan, Tagaytay, Tacloban, Samar, Corregidor Island (near Cavite, Luzon) and Pagudpud was created by TripAdvisor. See another China slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.