Category: SSMS

Interview Body Language: Dos and Don'ts
Jan 02, 2020 4 min read

To make the whole concept clear to you, we thought of giving you a tabular comparison of some of the major common dos and don’ts of interview body language. Keep reading to make the most of these powerful body language tips.   The Dos Enter confidently: You must enter confidently since the recruiters even check with the reception about your body language. They believe in observing from the beginning and noticing all the changes. First impressions do matter and, in some cases, they matter the most. Don’t be too nervous and try to breathe deeply to calm yourself.    A firm handshake: As mentioned earlier, a firm handshake makes an interviewer feel your enthusiasm and confidence. But remember to let go at the right time. A firm handshake makes them confident about your self-assured personality. Sit straight: Keep your back straight (not too stiff) and maintain your posture in such a way that your legs are firmly placed. Lean in towards the interviewers to give an impression of you being interested in what they speak. Maintain eye contact: It is of utmost importance that you look directly into the eyes of the person who asks you questions. Make eye contact with every panelist, to look confident and convincing. The average time should be 10-12 seconds. If you get nervous, look at their nose for a few seconds Smile: The panel never wants someone who is grim and grumpy. While it is necessary to take questions seriously, it is also important to show them the light side of you. Smile and make them aware of your pleasant and agreeable persona. Also, it makes you look less nervous, so it is a bonus! Pay attention to your hands:  Hands should not ever come in between the direct line of vision between you and the interviewer. Closing them to form a fist, fidgeting or bending your knuckles are a few things that must be avoided. Focus on making gestures with hands and if that is not possible, then start taking notes. Writing will not let your hands be idle and they won’t attract any undue attention. Additional things to do:  Keep your phone on silent/flight mode. Remember to carry a pen in your pocket. Place your feet firmly on the ground to make the process of answering the questions easier.     The Don’ts; Come up as overconfident: Overconfidence is a big no when it comes to interviews. Interrupting the recruiters believing that you know the company better than them and trying to behave overconfidently are the things which will make you look negative and arrogant. Be polite, humble and use your curiosity judiciously. This is a very important point in the common dos and don’ts of interview body language. A loose handshake: A weak handshake shows your lack of confidence and enthusiasm. You must try and mirror the handshake of your interviewer if you want to look active and confident. Don’t put too much pressure too because it can make you look aggressive. Slouch/bend too much: If you lean outwards too much or keep your shoulders bent, then it’s time for you to correct it before you appear for an interview. There is nothing more annoying than a lazy candidate who looks insecure all the time. Stare blankly: There is a difference between eye contact and staring. If you continue to maintain eye contact for more than 15 seconds at a go, then it would surely make your interviewer uncomfortable. Staring at the other things in the cabin shows that you are a distracted personality. Be the focused person they are looking for. Toying with objects: If you have a habit of clicking the pen repeatedly, adjusting your hair too often and touching your nose all the time, then you should seriously practice some ways to stop these. All of these actions look gross and interviewers would be irritated with them. You are there to impress them, not annoy them. Fidgeting or drumming your fingers on the table: These habits are signs of restlessness. Changing the position of your hands, legs or even fingers too much can seriously affect the continuity of the interview process. The last thing any company would want is a person who is so distracted that he disturbs everyone around him. Fidgeting affects everyone around you, so try to keep it in check for a positive interview experience. Additional things you should never do : Chewing a gum, checking the clock on your phone, taking a call, trying to be over-friendly/personal or going in for a hug. Maintain the decorum of your interview, as this is a thumb rule in the common dos and don’ts of interview body language.

Employee Perception for the Organization
Dec 23, 2019 2 min read

Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both recognizing environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli.  Perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste. It also includes what is known as proprioception, a set of senses involving the ability to detect changes in body positions and movements. It also involves the cognitive processes required to process information, such as recognizing the face of a friend or detecting a familiar scent. That was about what is a perception in layman language, here we will understand how the perception of an employee matter for any organization However -Not necessarily something based on reality, it can just be a perspective an individual has based on one’s view of a particular situation. When we talk about an organization, what matters the most are the employees and so what they perceive about the organization itself becomes key to its growth. Reality may be different but how employees view reality is something for organizations to look at. In employee relations, perception is a major factor. Most of the time, it is formed by organizational roles, styles of leadership, styles of communication at the workplace, etc. and so it is very important that the organization be able to form the correct perception in the minds of its employees. Thus proper and effective supervision is required to prevent employees from having a wrong understanding. If the perception of an employee is positive then it will affect an organization positively but if it is negative then it can affect the organization adversely The human mind cannot effectively deal with chaos. The mind is programmed and designed to create order when confronted with many objects. The consequence of this is that human beings generally do not really see objects; they see classes of objects. People see categories of things, and the objects that they are confronted with are seen then as instances of a specific category. Seeing a category rather than a thing is called a “perception effect.”

Insights into IT Company's Benefit Dilemma
Dec 04, 2019 2 min read

WHERE TO STOP? Offering great benefits is the key to building a strong workforce. From health insurance to paid time off and flexible schedules companies have been on a constant endeavor to ensure employee retention. But, the effort to minimize costs incurred by the company while still satisfying employees still remains a constant battle.   Employee benefits offer them with some amount of flexibility and freedom to work along with managing some aspects of their personal life. Companies compete to offer varied benefits so as to attract and retain top talent. Offering health insurance, paid time off, work from home options, HRA, performance-based incentives, professional development with training programs and workshops, wellness programs, pension plans, maternity and paternity leave, and the list goes on…. Well, in this blitz of completion and in the attempt to retain top talent, HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH? Where should a company draw a line? Where is the golden mean – where companies are not completely drained off their funds while trying to keep their employees motivated enough? Many companies worry that offering too many employee benefits will be too expensive for the business to bear. The truth is that you cannot afford not to offer benefits. Investing in employee welfare will definitely pay off in the long run. The trick of the trade is to strike a balance between welfare and the hole it drills in your pockets. There are many options out there. Choose the ones that are best suited to fit your work culture, long term goals, and your company policies. Employee welfare need not be so complicated! Simply take care of your employees before they rush out of the door – straight to your competitors! After all, if you do not take care of your employees, your competitors will!  

The 8 characteristics of the Top 1% of Good Performers!
Nov 20, 2019 3 min read

It is a tough task when you have to select top performers out of your team of many. We all have been in the situation of judging others or being judged. But, to actually identify a good performer tends to many common parameters I've found the below to be the top 10 characteristics of the top 1%:   Goal-Oriented: These people know what they aiming at! They are clear right from the beginning why they have started and what they have to do to accomplish. Ability to Persevere: Once you have set goals, automatically challenges show up! Top pros know this and can persevere through to achieve the goals. Whether it is a challenging prospect to internal battles of ability to deliver, they are able to persevere through the most difficult challenges to still win! Creative: You might have heard “winners don’t do different things; they do thing differently” that quality of them make them separate from the group. Self-Starter: The people belonging to 1% are not going to sit around and wait; they are the first to take action and they are constantly on the move to see what they can do to progress. They are constantly thinking about their funnel and what they need to do to grow it! Growth Minded: These fellows are not content with just doing the basics. They are focused on constantly growing their skill sets to become a better version of themselves. They are focused on what else can they learn to become better at their craft, which ultimately leads to a humble mindset. Compassionate: Hey, care - they truly do care. They care about their prospects, their reputation, their brand, and all the people they work with to deliver their solution.  Ownership Mentality: Accountability is not a "bad" word in the mind of a top professional. They believe they have full ownership of their results and everything else. If they have a bad month, they don't blame anyone else but themselves. No matter the result, no matter the circumstances, they always take full ownership and accountability and that is why they are successful. High Coachability: At the end of the day, no matter how good they are, they can always take feedback whether it is from their sales leader or their customers. AND they can execute on the feedback. They are willing to put the ego aside and be coachable no matter the circumstances!   So there you have it - The Top Characteristics of the Top 1% of well-performing Professionals! How many of these do you have? If you want to join an organization that trains you to develop the right characteristics, has an amazing culture, upward mobility, and more then check out www.magnusminds.net    

Easy Git Branching Tips & Tricks
Oct 22, 2019 2 min read

Best practice for the Git Branching and what is the key usage and difference between each. For the Git workflow, branches can be differentiated: Feature: All features/new functions/major refactoring should be done in feature branches, which branch off of and are merged back into the develop branch (usually after some kind of peer review). Release: When enough features have accumulated or the next release time frame comes near, a new release branch is branched off of develop, which is solely dedicated to testing/bug fixing and any cleanup necessary (For instance, altering some path names, instrumentation default values, etc.). Master: Once the QA is satisfied with the quality, the release branch is merged into master (and also back to develop). This is then what is shipped/used by the customers. Hotfix: If a major problem is found after release, the fix is developed in a hotfix branch, that is branched off of the master. Those are the only branches that will ever branch off of master.   Note: Any commit in the master is a merge commit (either from a release or a hotfix branch) and represents a new release that will be shipped to the customer. master and develop branches should be protected branches which will prevent direct commit. All the changes must be incorporate via pull requests only. Please be aware that this model is mainly meant for: big software projects that follow classic release versioning and have a separate QA team Many popular repositories on GitHub follow a simpler model.

What is MSBI? Learn MSBI: Your BI Guide
Oct 16, 2019 2 min read

MSBI stands for Microsoft Business Intelligence. This powerful suite is composed of tools that help in providing the best solutions for Business Intelligence and Data Mining Queries. This tool uses a Visual studio along with an SQL server. It empowers users to gain access to accurate and up-to-date information for better decision making in an organization. It offers different tools for different processes that are required in Business Intelligence (BI) solutions. MSBI is divided into 3 categories: SSIS – SQL Server Integration Services – Integration tool. This tool is used for integration like duping the data from one database to another like from Oracle to SQL Server or from Excel to SQL Server etc. This tool is also used for bulk transactions in the database like inserting lacs of records at once. We can create the integration services modules which will do the job for us.   SSAS – SQL Server Analytical Services -Analysis tool. This tool is used to analyze the performance of the SQL Server in terms of load balancing, heavy data, transaction, etc. So it is more or less related to the administration of the SQL Server using this tool. This is a very powerful tool and through this, we can analyze the data inserting into the database like how many transactions happen in a second, etc.   SSRS – SQL Server Reporting Services – Reporting tool. This is a very efficient tool as it is platform-independent. We can generate the report using this tool and can use it in any type of application. Nowadays this is very popular in the market.   “A visual always helps better to understand any concept.” The above Diagram broadly defines “Microsoft Business Intelligence (MSBI)”   RELATED BLOGS: POWER BI Report Integration

Unlocking Windows 10's New File Explorer
Oct 14, 2019 1 min read

It's been ages since we have the same look and feel for the Windows Explorer. There are some updates but the look and feel remained the same for long. However, the Redmond giant is working on a new File Explorer which is based on UWP (Universal Windows Platform). This is hidden but it's been discovered by a Redditor. So, if you want to try out the new File Explorer on Windows 10 then follow the steps below. Open File Explorer. Paste this into the address bar shell:AppsFolder\c5e2524a-ea46-4f67-841f-6a9465d9d515_cw5n1h2txyewy!App Hit Enter. At this point, the new File Explorer should startup. (Optional): Right-click the program and "Pin to Taskbar" for quick access.

Quick Guide: Query Optimization Tips
Oct 11, 2019 4 min read

The most underrated but most important topic, which is a must while implementing the SQL Query, Stored Procedures, or Functions. While implementing any SQL operations knowing the syntax and structures is a good thing, but one must know optimization. Without knowledge of optimization, any developer can create DDL and DML statements, but they are not well-designed procedures. You know why? Because while executing those statements there are chances that it will take time or may create a deadlock situation. Proper joining is also considered to be part of optimization. This above is an actual execution plan flowchart. The most simple query execution flow is mentioned below: From Joins Where Group by Having clause Column list Distinct Order by Top From: First it will fetch all the records from the table mentioned after the ‘From’ keyword. Join: joins are an essential part of any SQL statements. A developer must have proper knowledge of tables; otherwise, it can cause the wrong data population of data or extended execution time. Where: It another filter applied to any query after applying joins. It is used to decrease no. of records provided filter wise. Group by: It is used for grouping the records with aggregate functions or grouping the records particular provided column-wise. Having: When we need to provide an aggregate function with a filter then we should use it in the ‘Having’ clause. Column list: While putting ‘*’, we are calling all the columns and all records from a particular table. If not necessary then we must provide only those columns which are actually useful. Distinct: It is used to remove duplicate records while fetching the details through a select statement. Order by: This is useful to sort the data ascending or descending column-wise. Top: It is used to limit the no. of records to be displayed on the screen. Above mentioned query execution flow is 1st step of the optimization ever keyword should be placed as per the above plan. The last 3 steps (7, 8, and 9) are most crucial because it will process all the records and then do operations accordingly. ‘Group by’ and ‘Having’ clauses are also taken time while execution because it uses aggregate functions in it. Along with that, it is necessary for you to know that if not necessary then don’t do for inbuilt functions. ‘Convert’ and ‘Cast’ is the most frequent built-in functions that can extend the execution because of conversion. As mentioned above Joins are the most important part of any SQL statement because a good join increases the performance where wrong can mislead you. First of all, while implementing a join please check whether tables are properly indexed or not. Indexing is very important while the creation of a table, a table must have at least one clustered index. The lessor or no use of temp tables. Temp tables tend to increase the complexities of the query because it increases the continuous use of ‘tempdb’ database. If necessary then create a clustered index on that temp table which increases the performance and doesn’t wait for the temp table to be dropped automatically, drop it when it is of no use. Go for the execution plan if the query is taking too much time, by seeing the plan we can easily fetch which query or portion of the query is taking the time. The execution plan shows which table used maximum process time from the overall time. Make your indexes unique using integer or unique identifier which increases the performances. A table must have one clustered key and can have one or more nonclustered keys. Use small data types for indexing. For the existence of any record don’t dependent on the count statement in the query. For example, Always use ‘with (nolock)’ keyword to avoid locks while fetching records from the table. Avoid the use of ‘NOT IN’ statement in where condition, instead of that you can go for let join. In the same way no need to go for the ‘IN’ statement, you can simply use inner join. Please avoid loops and cursors while creating any store procedure, because looping also causes CPU process usage and calling the same statement again and again. So avoid it is not needed. Use ‘UNION ALL’ instead of ‘UNION’ for combining two or more ‘select’ statements.  

Business Benefits of Negative Reviews
Oct 01, 2019 5 min read

So, you’ve somehow received a couple of bad online reviews. Is your business doomed? Certainly not! Even big brands have had their fair share of angry outpour from disgruntled customers and survived. While larger companies’ reputations can sustain a few blows without actually collapsing, small businesses can’t rely on the benefit of the doubt to amortize customers’ wrath as effectively. But you should actually be grateful for bad reviews, as they help your business grow. one out of twenty unhappy customers complain, and the other 19 leave without telling you “why.” This gives you no opportunity to learn from your mistakes or fix what’s broken. In fact, most brands hear feedback from less than one percent of their customer base. But we know that customer feedback is absolutely critical, and that we need to be gathering it at the right times and places. Negative feedback is like pain – it’s a warning that there’s something wrong and that you should do something about it. Without bad reviews, you’d be resting on your laurels while your business is crumbling and your customers fleeing. Here’s how you can benefit from these negative experiences and turn them into wins. 1. Own Your Mistakes The worst thing you can do upon receiving a bad review is turning a blind eye, trying to cover the problem up, or being hostile towards the customer who complained. Any of these approaches can hurt your reputation more than the negative customer experience itself. Even if the review is exaggerated and vicious, you shouldn’t try to “get even.” It’s crucial to always be polite, civil, and promise that you’ll look into the matter as soon as possible. By taking responsibility, you show that you’re willing to change and improve your customer experience, and owning up to your mistakes can be excellent PR. Texaco, one of the world’s biggest petroleum companies, was sued by former employees and accused of racial discrimination back in 1994. Instead of offering them hush money, Texaco took a totally different approach. The company’s CEO publicly apologized, while executives travelled to every office location to apologize in person. Finally, hiring an African-American-owned advertising agency to do its upcoming campaign was the crowning touch. 2. Show Your Customers You Care Business lost $75 Billion in 2018 because of poor customer service. If you ignore customer complaints, you’ll paint your business in a negative light. But if you carefully monitor what your customers are saying both to your customer service reps and in their online reviews, and respond to them, you show that their opinion matters. There’s another stat which illustrates the importance of handling customer complaints properly – people who have their issue solved during the first interaction with a company are two times more likely to purchase from the same. In order to ensure top-notch customer service, it’s a good idea to implement chatbots. These smart algorithms are like first responders in case of an emergency , and unlike your customer service reps who can’t be online and available 24/7, chatbots can: and they can offer troubleshooting and answers to some of the most common questions. They can collect your customers’ complaints and help you identify the problem. 3. Respond in a Timely Manner In 2014, General Motors faced a huge crisis after faulty ignition switches caused 124 deaths. The company had to recall 2.6 million vehicles over the first three months of the year. It would be an understatement to say that their customers were unhappy. Many of them took to social media to express their dissatisfaction, and G.M.’s social media team jumped in to save the day and the company’s reputation. Not only did the company respond to each and every message across different social media channels, it also provided their customers with immediate help by paying for replacement vehicles and covering the other expenses incurred as a result of the issues they had with their cars. But in order to be able to respond in a timely manner, you need to be aware of an upcoming PR disaster, and social listening is a strategy which allows you to track every mention of your brand, products, and keywords on different channels and spot the issue before it snowballs into a full-fledged PR armageddon. 4. Encourage Online Reviews Now that we’ve established that you won’t be able to save yourself from negative feedback (nor should you try to do so), it’s important to mention that you can always balance the scales with positive reviews. Many companies ask for online reviews directly and encourage their happy users to share their experiences with others. This can partially neutralize any negative review that throws shade on your business. Promote your customers at right time and place, within your app to boost five-star ratings. You can solicit positive reviews from people who love your app and intercept (and stop) negative feedback from unhappy customers. 5. Correct Your Mistake and Promote Changes Once you fix product bugs or resolve a particular issue that a customer had with your company, you shouldn’t be silent about it. Revisit all the negative reviews, describe what you’ve done to fix things, and encourage your unhappy customers to see it for themselves. To illustrate the point, let’s talk about another automotive behemoth who was involved in a scandal. In 2010, Toyota had to recall 8.8 million vehicles due to safety defects. Although the company’s initial response was slow and clunky, it managed to justify its previously impeccable reputation in terms of customer service and product quality by fixing the issue and offering extended warranties. Apart from that, the company’s marketing strategy revolved around its attempts to fix issues and convinced its customers that they didn’t have a reason to worry about safety. As you can see, negative customer experiences and bad online reviews don’t have to turn into a kiss of death. If you leverage the right problem-solving strategies and an honest and responsible approach, you can even benefit from the wrath of an occasional unhappy customer.