telebone_man

I don't know but if you go into the input box and type on your keyboard...

UUDDLRLRBA

It pops up a cute little rainbow

Development (full stack), server admin, data center management, DevOps, project management, managing teams, VoIP, routing/switching, training, sales... the list goes on.

I was a 'generalist' for most of my career. I had started, run and sold a successful business that required me to touch all parts of the business.

Until a Sales Director absolutely schooled me in the theory that underpinned his work. He seemed insulted that I claimed to be proficient in sales. It was an insult to his specialism.

I would suggest you really test yourself in one of these areas before claiming you're proficient. I've never met a single person who was proficient in all the above. I've met plenty of people who could trudge along in those areas.

I may be a bit late on this one, but here goes :)

It's technically feasible.. but in my opinion, if it's happened with you then it's very likely to be happening with others.

There's no one single way to setup telco infrastructure, so it would be educated-guesswork in the case of Google Fi.

Worth noting VoIP is real time, it either works or it doesnt. And if a call is being setup between two parties and it's otherwise a good quality call, then monitoring is unlikely to mark it as a bad call.

Personally, I would recommend logging this as a bug (if Google Fi allow it?) as I suspect it will be near impossible for them to spot these scenarios, even with clever monitoring tools.

I'll be keeping an eye on the news for follow ups on this one!

The ITU provides the answers you need, in various forms. But captured well here - https://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/VoIP.pdf where it says...

"In India, VoIP is allowed, but only for computer-to-computer communications. India deregulated IP Telephony on 1 April 2002 following the ITUís World Telecommunication Policy Forum held in 2001 on the topic of ì IP Telephonyî. Indiaís proposed unified licence regime, however, would impose no restriction on VoIP telephony or other IP-enabled services, provided they are offered by operators with a unified licence that have duly paid all required registration charges."

..In practice, this means Twilio can terminate a call into India, as long as the route the call takes is via a licensed operator. This is Twilio's problem, not yours. (unless it says otherwise in their terms).

It also means if an individual, physically within India, chooses to make an outbound call, over the Twilio service, then the endpoint has to be another IP-endpoint. Or if to a 'copper cable endpoint', then at least traverse over an appropriate Indian carrier at some point. Probably using some kind of PSTN-IP gateway. Again, Twilio's problem and not yours (unless it says otherwise in their terms).

These complications were introduced to prevent people in India setting up copper cable-IP gateways, taking advantage of cheaper retail call bundles, and selling them cheap on the wholesale market. Naughty!

Personally, I would contact Twilio. They won't be able to give legal advice, but they will at least tell you if they can legally facilitate the requirement.

I think it'd be fun to ask their thoughts on something controversial, within a field relevant to the role.

Doesn't have to be technical, in my opinion.

Just remember you deserve to be paid something equivalent to the value you will add to the business.

There was an article along the lines of ‘100 top developer tips’.

One of them was something like ‘don’t under estimate the value of wasting time on hacker news’.

Held true!

Something on the back of your car, that using a combination of your speed, the distance between you and the car behind you, an understanding of the weight of both cars (using a lookup on the Reg), and the stopping distance, taking into account weather.. is able to calculate the likelihood that the car will crash into you if you slammed on your breaks

And then display that figure in a big lcd panel in your back window.

Haven’t done it, because every time I remember it, I’m driving my car and forget by time I’m home.

I would say it's a dangerous road. Child or not!

Imagine being challenged at work... in a sales team, for example. Make a sale, get to do a lucky dip. Say two people make an equivalent sale, one wins and the other doesn't. I would personally feel less motivated if I lost.

I wonder if you did it to kids, they would learn to weigh up whether doing any given task was worth some arbitrarily set lost/win.

It's the difference between learning that "washing a car is worth $10 of my time because it will takes x hours and the cost of soap is y and so on" vs "washing a car is 50/50 worth nothing or $10".

Just some food for thought based on some recent experiences.

Sometimes, you'll be taking a job that someone in the team thinks they should have been offered - but didn't for whatever reason (perhaps current management weren't aware... or they simply aren't appropriate skilled...)

These people can also be well respected by others in the team. And winning their respect is therefore particularly important, as they may be the ones to validate you on behalf of others.

You can normally spot them, as they will lean back, fold their arms and keep to themselves (out of frustration). Or act the opposite and be completely outspoken over the top of others.

I would consider that these people do exist, and need to be wooed in a slightly different way. Instead of asking 'what do you want?' perhaps it'd be better to ask 'where do you think the problems are?'.

Really?

That's almost same thing you say to vocally authorise yourself with HMRC in the UK...

It's something like "My voice is my password".

I wouldn't want me saying that phrase released into public...

I appreciate there's a sense of logic that manufactures the sounds that this produces.

But, in every practical sense, the sounds are seemingly random to the listener.

Abstract expressionist art can be enjoyed regardless of the fact it's visually just a bunch of random scribbles.

But the sound this machine produces has to then be sculpted - lest we listen to a droning tone.

Would be cooler if you could describe the timbre of a sound you want to hear, and it produces that...

"I want a woody.. tinny.. percussive sound" (out pops some kind of glockenspiel marimba hybrid) or "I want a breathy sounding noise that sounds synthesized with the tone of tenor vocalist but a punchy distorted entry".

Are you able to measure which cold calls are filtered, that you would otherwise like to hear?

For example... A call from a garage to say your car is ready to be picked up, or perhaps some kind of emergency service? I imagine their calls would start with similar wording to sales calls. "Hello, can I speak to so and so?"

Neat!

There's a business called Pindrop that conduct an analysis of audio data to guess where a call is originating from. The idea being, if a call originates from somewhere like India it'll take roughly a certain route that will produce certain audible artifacts on the line.

They also score a bunch of other stuff. I'd recommend reading the patents their CEO filed if you're interested. It's interesting.

I wondered if you could share, roughly, what your algorithm is doing? Are you also analyzing audio data?

FWIW... I use Spotify quite a lot, and when I first open the app, I'm immediately presented with pre-curated playlists that seem to cater what I might need at that time.

On a Sunday morning, I get 'Sweet soul Sunday' or 'Easy Love Songs'. At 9am on Monday it's 'Concentration Music' or 'Background Synth Songs'. Around 2pm, you start to see 'Workout Mix'.

Then you have 'Daily Mix 1', 'Daily Mix 2' and so on which are automatically created playlists, based on what I've listened to. They themselves are generally categorized into rough timbres or styles.

I think Spotify actually employs 'agents' that curate and search for new music for a given style or scene. I think Apple does too.

I very rarely search on Spotify. I've never created my own playlist.

If it's relevant, I would consider myself well versed in music. I studied it during my younger years, and whilst I don't these days - it's a passionate hobby of mine.

I just wanted to mention this, as you've mentioned things you want to do, that Spotify already does well, in my opinion. I can't speak for the other services.

That being said, maybe you could do it better. So I don't mean to discourage you.

If you could build something exactly like Spotify, that allows me to filter out songs with explicit content I would snap that up in a heartbeat. LOL.

I normally wear what, generally, everyone else wears. I know this sounds a bit weak-willed but hear me out...

When I was contracting, I would go from businesses to business, every 6 months or so. I would always start by 'dressing up', full suit. Tie. Etc.

I'd then suss out how people acted on the first impression. Some companies have a culture where a suit = respect and authority. I wanted this because I was there to get a job done quickly and needed people to be on board, as I was only there for a few months.

Then, some companies have alternative views. Suits can provoke anti-establishment mentalities. So, I'll dress more like my colleagues and rely on more honest things to gain that respect.

One man can change the world, by recycling every day, hugging a loved one or cycling instead of driving. But the way people jump to conclusions based on the way someone dresses is unfortunately far too ingrained in our society. And this has been the case for 1000s of years. There's little value in making a statement by wearing something different.

FYI, if I'm not in a suit is probably a plain t-shirt, dark jeans and a 'smart trainer' (such as converse?). Take a look at some of the high-street shops and find a style you like.

A language that everyone used would be great.

note: have been happy with my current job for a while now. But as a contractor for a few years, I have experience with the job search process.

It's not enough to just be the best. You have to be (one of) the first applicants. I wrote a simple scraper for a bunch of job-aggregators (indeed... jobserve...) that would send me a SMS and e-mail when a job matching my keywords was posted.

On the subject of keywords, sometimes jobs are posted with bad spellings. I work in 'telecommunications'. But there would be jobs posted under telecoms... telecomms.. telecomunications...

Sometimes you were a near perfect fit for a role, and sometimes you're a perfect fit. If you're a perfect fit, spend an extra few minutes finding the recruiters direct email and phone number. Then apply both via the website and then communicate directly with them.

Make the recruiter's life as easy as possible. In any e-mail you send, attach your CV again. Make sure you finish your email with your contact details.

Try to get good at understanding what an employer wants. Sometimes it's unwritten (someone hardworking.. someone loyal..) and sometimes it's written between the lines (e.g. 'experienced xyz needed' = 'we currently don't have skilled people or have too little of them'). Sometimes it's these unwritten requirements that are more or just as important as the written ones.

And finally, if you're unsuccessful, do your part in contacting the recruiter to thank them for their time.

As a musician, I like to listen and appreciate the technique, passion or effort spent in making the music. Depends on my mood!

Do it! You've got nothing to lose. Write stuff that wouldn't be appropriate in a CV. Such as, why you want to work for them in particular. Have a look at their job spec, try and understand their key motivation in wanting someone to fill that role, and sell that you can do that.

For what it's worth, the agreement (or lack of) is between the company and the recruiter. It's none of your business! If asked about it by either party, I would refer them to the other party and simply state you have no authority on the matter.

The employer is the recruiter's client, not yours. You don't work for the recruiter. You are the asset in this equation.

Personally, I would take the job and let things play out between the recruiter and employer. You said yourself you're struggling to find work. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Is it legal? You are acting legally. It's none of your business if the employer is or isn't. Is it moral? Nothing you are doing is immoral. You have fulfilled your obligation by only allowing the recruiter to represent you for the role. It is a disappointing situation. Not immoral!

Considering my whole career, I'd say you should probably get used to it and evolve!

I don't mean to sound defeated. Sometimes projects are done 'properly'. Documentation... Good code over 'code that just works'... etc. But sometimes the business need to just get something released can outweigh that.

Picture this - the business has an opportunity that will generate £x in revenue. This revenue will ensure your job. It'll contribute to the coffee you get to drink. And other benefits you might take for granted. The catch is, the code to fulfil this opportunity needs to be written in 3 months when you know that it should take 9.

This situation just requires a different way of working. And a different set of skills. Such as understanding the requirements to a tee so that you can produce the absolute minimum. Delegating where possible (such as letting others do the testing - if they're doing that badly, that's not your problem). I'd say over time I've gotten better at reading code that isn't commented. (hint:learn how to use a debugger for your given language). I've also gotten better at writing short snappy docs.

To answer your queastions directly, again across my career... - Tech stack is normally 50/50 modern and legacy. - Both the modern and legacy languages/frameworks/tools fulfilled the end-user requirements set out in the first place. - Common practice is 50/50 people who care about their job and those who just want the paycheck. - 75% ask for advice on architecture from the 25% that can do it well. - Culture is what you make of it. If there's no scene, create one. (just like punk music). - People only communicate when they need to - Deadlines? Yes! They're normally not met though. See above! - Management reasonable? Subjective :)

I commute Nottingham>London about 3 times a week. Coding/working on the train is the only way to stay sane!

I have a Macbook Pro 2017 13". It's the first Macbook I've ever owned. It barely weighs a thing (1.37KG). Feels durable. And feels quite ergonomic to use. I can run 2 VMs in virtual box at full pelt for 1.5 hours and use 50% of the battery. I think that's pretty good. Best notebook I've ever owned.

Otherwise, Boss Quiet Comfort 25s.

4G is very hit and miss. I swear the newer East Midlands Trains carriages are surrounded by a faraday cage. That being said, they offer 15 minutes free wifi... cough MAC address... cough which performs very well.

Referring to FreeSWITCH in particular here (although it is the case for Asterisk, OpenSIPS and Kamailio at least)... The books cover those topics!

Maybe you've chosen the wrong job? You claim to have oodles of experience. Both technically (as a 'coder') but based on some of your other comments, also an architect and even a people manager.

Hotmail apparently! 2001!

Honorable mention to my MySpace account, from 2005. Which I just visited and it took much longer to load than a random more recently created one. I wonder if they archive old accounts?

Indeed, but I'd like to add that these recruiters are often penalised if the candidate leaves the business before a set period.

So they have a financial motive with not just placing a candidate, but also them staying there.

Food for thought... Whilst you might find the 'typical post-conference drinks to be incredibly tedious', you will find that this same thing (or something similar, in principle) will encompass part of being an exec at most businesses...

These businesses are looking for 100% the right person when filling these roles. And if you look like the right person, and they haven't yet filled it, then it won't matter when you apply.

But to answer your questions directly.

- I wouldn't waste yours and the other person time trying to force yourself to enjoy a conversation. Just chalk it up as one of your weaknesses when asked in an interview. - Yes there are specialist firms, and they typically have headhunters, and in my experience are quite good at finding candidates. - There is indeed a narrowing of the pyramid... Execs are at the very least highly motivated and highly intelligent. There are also very few jobs!

I personally have a Sonos soundbar, which connects to the digital output of my TV. The soundbar then connects to my home router (either via wifi or ethernet).

Then I connect my subwoofer and 2 surrounds to the same router. And the soundbar distributes the relevant audio channels over wifi.

In this scenario, the soundbar is your 'small router-sized device', however it's the size of a sound bar..

I can't fault the sound of the system as a whole. I think it sounds great.

Out of curiosity, from someone in the education arena.. Would you think augmented-reality style apps would be a step in the right direction?

I remember being told it would bring forward the 'outside world' to people otherwise glued to their phones. But then, I drove past a pokemon go party the other day and the only difference was they were all stood outside...