Unit 23 Reading Activities Plus Questions

Listen to the audio recording while you read the text below. Then answer the comprehension questions that follow the text.
USA Listen to Larry
Top 15 American IT Companies

For some reason, most of the large IT companies in the world are American. For instance Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, etc. As an IT professional, you are expected to know about big IT corporations, revenue, profits, budgets, and other economic matters.

Why?

Because these things affect your capacity to perform your tasks. The economy tends to go in cycles. In an up cycle, you will get resources to build or improve systems. In a cycle you will be pressured to cut spending and possibly even lay off staff. This is business as usual" and nothing to get excited about. Over the span of your career you will experience many up and down economic cycles.

Studying what the big IT companies do right and wrong will help you think of ideas how to improve your own IT department. No matter if you work for a small company, non-profit organization, or a government institution, you will learn quickly that most decisions are based on money. The best way to implement your "great idea" is to argue that it will save time or increase profits. Trying to argue a point without keeping efficiency, profits and budgets in mind will be difficult.

Below is a chart of 15 American IT companies I think are important to know about. The more you know about the business of IT, the better IT professional you will become.

Company Rank Revenue  Profit  Products
Adobe

443

5,854

871

Graphic Design Software / Flash Media
Advanced Micro Devices

565

4,272

471

CPU / GPU

Apple

3

215,639

14,013

Computer Hardware / Software

Cisco Systems

60

49,247

7,767

Networking Equipment

Dell

41

64,806

2,635

Computer Hardware

Google

27

90,272

8,505

Search / Software

HP

61

48,238

8,761

Computer Hardware / Services

IBM

32

79,919

14,833

Computer Services / Software / Hardware

Intel

47

59,387

11,464

Microprocessors, Components

Microsoft

28

85,320

18,760

Computer Software

Oracle

81

37,047

6,135

Database Software / Services

NVIDIA

387

6,910

-30

GPU / CPU / chipsets

Symantec

550

4,888

1,138

Antivirus / Security Software

Western Digital

217

12,994

1,382

Hard Disk Drives / Computer Hardware

Quiz: Reading Questions

1. The author of the article is pretty sure he knows why most of the largest IT companies in the world are American.
2. The author thinks it's not important for programmers to know about the financial status of Fortune 500 IT companies.
3. Laying off employees is a pleasant task for managers in a business down cycle.
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