Why this Blog?

Help explain “Technology” to Business and Investment community in simple plain English without jargon! Read on…

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Why Technology Industry is important?

By market size, the Technology industry makes up almost one third of S&P 500. Not many people realize this, but it is the largest industry segment in S&P 500. Compared to other industry segments, any fluctuation in this industry has an out sized effect on the volatility of the index. Below is an infograph that shows the size of the technology industry among its peers in S&P 500 Index.

Just to make this point stronger, as of Sept 2, 2020 Apple’s market cap is more than S&P 500 Energy, Utilities and Material sectors combined. That in a nutshell shows the size of Technology sector. (Barron’s)

Trajectory of Technology

Technology is the fastest growing and most dynamic industry of all time, it is a proven fact. However, for people who are working in this industries and also for people outside of this industry, it is a challenge to keep up with the dynamism. A cutting edge technology today becomes obsolete in a matter of years. All the “electronic junk” we’ve accumulated in our garages and closets bear witness to this reality.

It raises the question, how do you learn about changes in this industry? How to keep track of what’s going on and keep the knowledge up-to-date? Most importantly how do you make money by working or investing in this industry?

Change is the only constant

I’v been living in Silicon Valley for the quarter of a century. I interact with many shakers and movers in this industry on regular basis, learn from the best constantly and try to be on top of latest developments. I also teach part-time in universities, mostly about the impact of technology on modern business environments. In spite of living in the technological hotbed, I find myself constantly re-learning about this industry and resetting what I learnt just a few years earlier.

Now imagine the plight of industry outsiders, students that are looking to break-in to this industry or regular stock market investors with no background in technology. How does someone, who is not entrenched as I am, keep track of latest developments or even understand the basics necessary to make money or career out of technology? Whether you are student, executive or everyday stock investor it is important for you to know the basics of technology, understand what the companies do, understand why the market is putting a premium on technology industry stocks.

If you are an outsider, why should you learn about Technology?

During my lectures I always ask business class students about how does Google, Facebook and Twitter make money? Almost 95% of the people in the class would have no idea!. Same is true with engineering students as well, percentage might be little less.

It gets worse when it comes to general public, many of them have no clue what technology companies do, what’s their strength, how they make money and why they are consistently out performing other industries in the stock market.

How will this blog help you?

This blog will capture what I read and learn on a daily basis, distill complex technical information to non-technical folks in plain language. Help people understand this complex industry and in the process help you make intelligent decision for investment or for your future career.

Who this blog is not for?

If you are interested in making quick money in the stock market or if you are a propeller head who is looking for an in-depth technical analysis of technologies, this blog is NOT for you. There are plenty of stock market “tips” blogs and equal number of blogs or websites for getting in-depth knowledge about technological topics, such as Database performance tuning, Machine learning or Artificial Intelligence. Move on and do a simple google search for the topic of your interest!.