In network with x nodes, adding a (x+1)^th node means there 2x additional potential connections between nodes.

For example, on a telephone network, a new subscriber can call all existing subscribers and they can call back.

So the number of possible connections increases with the size of the network.

If the network is commercial one with nodes representing customers and each connection has a fixed value then the value of adding one more customer increases as the size of the network increases.

For a network with x nodes, there are x(x-1) connections.

When networks get large – so large that (x-1) is more or less equal to x, the value of the network is x² .

This is why network products and the companies selling them have what mathematicians call exponential growth.

Think of it as the difference between stuffing bank notes under your mattress and or investing it in a compound-interest account.

In Economy at risk as IT graduate numbers fall? I said it's weird speculating about the shortage of computer science graduates triggering the collapse of New Zealand's entire economic infrastructure at a time when US employers are sacking large numbers of IT workers.

It appears there could be a fresh supply of willing recruits closer to hand. In today's Australia IT, Jennifer Foreshew writes:

The economic downturn has prompted jittery employers to force IT staff to take leave over the holiday season following a widespread slowdown in activity.

What's more, she continues: "The moves come as IT employment experiences a big slump, with job vacancies down as much as 30 percent compared with 12 months ago."

Contrast that with this paragraph from the New Zealand Herald story attributed to John Hosking who is a professor of computer science at the University of Auckland:

Parents often had a strong influence over their children's career selection, and following the dot-com crash there was a perception that IT was not a solid career choice.

Which just goes to show. Mummy and daddy know best.

Consulting firm Mercer says the global financial crisis won't solve New Zealand's skills shortage.

Like many other countries, New Zealand has an aging workforce and a severe shortage of workers with key skills.

On top of these problems, there's a brain drain as skilled workers travel overseas to find better rates of pay, lower taxes and brighter opportunities.

The report says that New Zealand's employers need to focus more on older workers to maintain a viable workforce. Not only are there already more older workers than younger workers, but their numbers are growing faster.

If anything, the problem is less pronounced in New Zealand than many other first world countries.

In my experience, New Zealand employers have been slower to recognise the shift towards an older workforce than their counterparts overseas. In particular, Australian employers seem keener than New Zealand employers to hire older workers.

"The four most dangerous words in investing are: It's different this time."

Sir John Templeton, quoted in The Asian Age.

Not only are there no new economic paradigms, the moment anyone mentions the word paradigm in connection with your money, I suggest you run for the door.

In The Stark Difference between Skills-based and Knowledge Workers Michael Hanley at the E-learning curve suggest this table from John Doerr at Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers should be kept by every learning professional's desk as a reminder of the value of their work.
It's just as valuable for knowledge workers seeking to navigate the new economic landscape they inhabit, mind you, some of the elements in the table now look out of date (Hanley admits he dug this table out the attic so it wasn't created yesterday.) For example, haven't public/private partnerships fallen out of fashion?

Hasn't the term Win-Win become yet another meaningless management cliche? You don't hear too much talk of options these days. And, given the financial turmoil of recent weeks, I suspect right now many readers would choose security over risk-taking at the moment.

Nevertheless, this is worth book-marking or clipping for future reference.

Table 1. The Emergence of a New Economy

Source: John Doerr, Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers

Australian companies account for a major slice of New Zealand's market. There's no question trans-Tasman trade is important.

Wisely or not, many multinationals run their New Zealand operations from Sydney. And tech support hours are often geared to Eastern Australian Time.

Yet this isn’t the whole story.

For a start, despite what many people think, our neighbour is not the single, unified market it seems.

Mark Twain's experience illustrates the point perfectly. When, more than a hundred years ago, the author travelled between Melbourne and Sydney he had to change trains at the Victoria-New South Wales border because the two colonies ran different railway gauges.

He wrote, "one or two reasons are given for this curious state of things. One is, that it represents the jealousy existing between the colonies. What the other is, I have forgotten."

This railway gauge mess isn’t ancient history. Until 1995, Australia was the only first world country whose main cities were not linked by standard gauge railway tracks. Even now trains in different states run on different gauges.

Another example is the confusion in on the Gold Coast when New South Wales moves to daylight saving, but Queensland does not. Next time you're invited to an industry knees up on the Gold Coast, try catching a flight to Brisbane and returning from Coolangatta – at certain times of the year the experience is, well, interesting.

Train tracks and time zones are the thin end of the wedge. Australia has many regional economies, inter-state rivalries and local tribalisms. They can’t even agree on a single football code. About the only thing uniting Australians is they support one national cricket team and even then supporters rubbish out-of-state players.

So while you'd be right if you thought senior executives sitting in glass tower overlooking Sydney Harbour fail to give much thought to the wants and needs of their partners, resellers and customers in New Zealand. Remind yourself the same people also disregard business partners, resellers and customers elsewhere in Australia.

What does this mean for us? Well, curiously enough, we get a better deal than our counterparts in rural and regional Australia. Being a distinct, separate market helps. Having a different currency and tax system means they have to sit up and take more notice than they do of, say, Tasmania.

Our four million population is tiny compared to Australia’s 20 million, but for many major IT vendors the New Zealand market is between 25 percent and 30 percent of the Australian market.

While a vendor might be persuaded to open support lines early to accommodate New Zealanders – Perth customers don’t have a hope.

Over the long-term, companies and brands investing and hiring in New Zealand punch above their weight in this market. Companies and brands who fail to invest here under-perform.

This is a simple fact of life bean counters clicking mice over Excel spreadsheets in distant offices don't getr. Their mistake is your opportunity.

This post is a reworked version of an opinion piece that appeared in New Zealand Reseller News. I wrote the original story in response to suggestions New Zealand's technology market is economically indistinguishable from Australia's.