MavEtJu's Distorted View of the World

Moving on from BarNet, to...

Posted on 2008-07-08 12:00:00
Tags: Happiness, Moving, Jobs

The rumours are true, it is official: I have quit my job at BarNet. For the last seven years I've worked in a couple of great projects, learned a lot more about networks, systems and people than I already knew.

A couple of highlights and learned lessons:

Over time, the network got replaced from simple central router plus remote FreeBSD based routers to a partly meshed network (still with a lot of FreeBSD based routers) with dynamic routing, a proper serverfarm and failover where possible.
I've learned a lot about radio links (which can be tricky due to the density of other radio links in the city) and laser links.
Over the years, we went from FreeBSD version 4.x to 6.3 now, with all changed in their technology and capabilities.
I learned a lot about the accessing of data in databases, database administration and realtime replication of database.
For in-house developed applications, it is good to have a framework which generates a consistent look-and-feel, plus gives easy access to often used datasources (databases, XML feeds).
VoIP Telephony and legacy systems integration... certainly a nice job, but not as something which is an add-on project, but as a full-time job. It will help you to find of some before-this-unknown problems in your network.

And some learned lessons:

Content Management Systems for webhosting is important to have done correctly, but none fits all. Programmers/system administrators are not a replacement for graphical designers. Are there any graphical designers which are capable of producing maintainable HTML, or does xmlindent(1) have to be used on everybodies output?
If you have a document storage application, and a issue tracking application, and a customer relation application, then it's a good thing to make sure you keep using the same names for the same topics: Use them consistent, don't invent different names for the same thing in every new application.

Of course, I could bitch and moan about the bad things which have shown up in the last year but let's keep it positive.

Now I'm in the handover phase... Which of course totally doesn't go as I had hoped for. We had two months time for it, in which we could do one month for handover, then two or three weeks for the last items which were missing or not clear or where the new people needed their hands to be held. But it was decided that it all should happen in the last two weeks...

Next step? Nothing set in stone yet, just talking. Want to talk to me?

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Comments:

From:	info@barnet.com.au
URL:
Posted on:	2008-07-15 21:46:33
Comment	Edwin, You write a great blog. What is great is that you think it desirable to "bitch and moan" without expressing what it is that you would bitch and moan about. You have always been invited to express that. But you haven't. It made it very hard when you had such pent up feelings which you have been incapable of expressing. I guess your tag for this item said it all.
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From:	naomi@mavetju.org
URL:
Posted on:	2008-07-16 11:32:41
Comment	I find "You have always been invited to express that" an amazing comment. I have heard Edwin try to express his concerns over and over and over again. And I am completely aware that his technical advice was ignored over and over and over again. Whether he was free to 'express himself' or not, is moot. But what was the point? Nothing was heeded, no genuine consideration was given. Why would he keep trying to smack his head against that brick wall? No wonder he disengaged from that. Oh, how I hope for him to find a position where his technical expertise is respected.
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