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Mandarin And Boondocks

I think it was in the book Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost where I read about how, the center of gravity of the world of technology has shifted to China. Or it could be that I had read that somewhere and Troost's book reminded me of that line. Whatever the source, I figured it would be hard to argue that contention and as a suitable next step, it would only be prudent for J to learn Mandarin – the sooner she got started the better.

However, in my neck of the woods, no one acts like the axis of their world has titled far east. The edge of the world and the boundaries of our county coincide quite nicely even today. In a sense, I am living in a time wrap so a friendly reminder about the true state of the world is always welcome. Then a few days ago, I read this update on my Linked In homepage.

I am interested to co-develop these Chinese
IDN domains into directories with an Indian entrepreneur that would like to market Indian services in China in Chinese.

It is a moment of truth when you read something that resembles what you are familiar with and realize a) Though you have been in the information technology business for quite a while and do what you can to remain "informed", you did not understand what that sentence meant but more importantly b) You have no idea exactly how much you don't know what you don't know. This becomes critical when the difference between knowing and not could determine your prospects in the job market of the future.

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