International students who want to supplement their U.S. degree(s) and academic knowledge often turn to Optional Practical Training (OPT) programs to gain on-the-job experience, especially in STEM fields. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) OPT programs allow international students to extend their stay in the U.S. without changing their immigration status by extending their F-1…
Women make up less than twenty percent of the technology workforce. We need not discuss the many downsides to this low number; our time is better spent working to improve it. Rahul Merchant is doing just that. He is executive sponsor of TIAA’s IT Women’s Council, a multi-faceted employee resource program at the $6B financial…
Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic among IT and business leaders as it promises to be the biggest driver of change in human history. The way we work, live, learn and play will never be the same once AI is infused into all of our devices, cars, appliances and everything else we interact…
In today’s IT world, hard work, reliability and productivity are no longer enough to ensure long-term career success. Few of today’s top leaders were able to make a name for themselves — or boost their position and compensation — by working quietly and diligently behind a desk. Like it or not, getting noticed and applauded…
Approach technology decisions from the standpoint of what solution you are trying to bring to bear upon a particular business problem. The solution is the approach to each business issue. The approach may involve multiple specific technology products, but the solution mindset sets forth how those technology products should be integrated to provide the answer to…
Kanban definition Kanban is a simplified workflow management system aimed at achieving efficiency and agility in the production process. While it is commonly used in software development, Kanban focuses on gradual improvement in every area of the business — not just IT. Developed in Japan by Toyota in the early 1940s, Kanban is not designed…
If there’s one thing CEOs fear these days, it’s being Ubered, the dreaded code word that describes how ride-sharing startups have shaken up ground transportation. The fear is so strong that the verb changes depending on the industry, from retail (Amazon.com), to real estate (WeWork), to hospitality (Airbnb), and beyond. But the common denominator for…
Creating a data strategy a decade ago was relatively easy compared to today. Back then, database experts debated the capabilities and performance of relational databases from Oracle, Microsoft and IBM, or whether to use open source databases like MySQL and PostgresSQL. A minority of enterprises explored NoSQL databases including document stores, key-value databases and columnar…
One of the nagging challenges IT leaders face is cultivating enough talent to adopt and implement cloud services, so they often resort to poaching from other companies or scouring universities for engineers schooled in modern computing skills. But that piecemeal approach can take precious years that companies can’t spare. FedEx is trying a different tack:…
In an ideal business world, enterprises would forge strategic partnerships with their cloud services providers that lead to prosperity for all involved. It doesn’t always work out that way, however. Things change over time, and in many cases the relationship between the customer and its cloud provider does not evolve to account for that change.…