News You Can Use: 4/8/2020


Photo by Per Lööv on Unsplash

  • Call for social media platforms to act on 5G mast conspiracy theory

    Broadband engineers have also faced physical and verbal threats by people who believe that radiation from 5G masts causes health risks and lowers people’s immune systems.

    The mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, revealed he had received threats after he dismissed the theory as “bizarre”.

    Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove branded the conspiracy theories “dangerous nonsense”.

    And the NHS director, Stephen Powis, added: “The 5G story is complete and utter rubbish. It is nonsense – the worst kind of fake news.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/05/call-for-social-media-platforms-to-act-on-5g-mast-conspiracy-theory

  • Tech supply chains are still a complete mess

    On Friday morning, analysts at S&P’s Panjiva Research laid out a grim picture, with US sea imports from China (which includes most of the electronics you buy) down more than 50 percent in the first three weeks of March, a result of the countrywide lockdown in China. At the same time, the subcontracting companies that actually build the hardware (the most famous is Foxconn, but of course there are a lot of them) are thinking about getting out of China entirely, at least as much as they can. Wistron Corp, which does a lot of work for Apple, boasted last week that it could move as much as half of its business outside Chinese borders within a year.

    It’s a huge sea change for tech manufacturing, and while it has been building for a long time, it’s going to be a lot faster and messier because of the pandemic. It also means that, while these companies are scrambling for labor and parts, they’re also going to be scrambling to stand up a whole new set of factories.

    https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/4/21207276/tech-manufacturing-china-supply-chain-lithium-benchmark

  • Tech hack: These 4 steps will make your phone less distracting
  • Google’s director of talent explains how to write a killer résumé

    In addition to what you learned, think about the impact you’ve made in your previous roles and projects. People are often taught to use data in a résumé, but it needs to be connected to impact, says Ewing.

    “Include sentences to describe that data,” says Ewing. “You need language to bring it together.”

    If you are applying for a business role—in account management, for instance—convey your experience by sharing what you accomplished, how it was measured, and how it was done. For example, “I grew revenue from 15 small business clients by 10% quarter-over-quarter by mapping new software features as solutions to their business goals.”

    This framework can also apply to any relevant leadership positions, university honors, or other types of recognition. “It’s okay to humblebrag, but there is a way to do it with humility,” says Ewing.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/90458024/googles-director-of-talent-explains-how-to-write-a-killer-resume

  • Know When to Stop Overdelivering at Work

    Understand what it’s costing you to always aim for outperformance. What else don’t you have time, energy, attention, and willpower for? Perhaps your own health, your big goals, or your family. If you assess that the costs are significant, try having a rule of thumb for when you’ll overdeliver. For instance, you might decide that in three out of ten situations in which you have the urge to do so, you will, but not in the other seven.

    She suggests switching to a mindset in which you give your employer and/or clients exactly what they ask for, within the discussed time frame—because that’s what both of you agreed to, after all. Doing extra work without extra compensation isn’t going to help your career as much as you might think it will, especially if you’re in the part of your career where you’ve already established a professional reputation and skillset.

    https://lifehacker.com/know-when-to-stop-overdelivering-at-work-1842060789