VB

LinkedIn tips to boost your job hunt

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 06:29:00 +0000

Consolidating my LinkedIn posts for easy access

Source : http://www.myrlandmarketing.com/linkedin-skills-endorsements-whats-going-on/

LinkedIn Tip #1 : Use CAPS wisely

This might look surprisingly trivial for some, but take a look at the LinkedIn profiles out there, you'd see all sorts of casing out there. To explain this more, take a look at the following
1. VINESH BALAN
2. vinesh balan
3. vinesh Balan
4. Vinesh Balan
which one looks professionally appealing? The 4th one of course. The first one is the worst you can do. All caps means you are yelling! When I joined in my new organisation, for some reason my name appeared in all caps everywhere - I was hesitant to ping/email people with that name.

This is applicable to everything else as well. Take a look at your designation
1. Software Engineer
2. SOFTWARE ENGINEER
why would you wan't to yell that you are a Software Engineer?

Organisation name
1. APPLIED MATERIALS
2. Applied Materials
Which one looks more elegant?

Of course there are exceptions. For example as a heading of your description, or the name of some organisations -
Eg : IRESS

Please note that if someone is trying to find you over LinkedIn, your name is the first thing that'll pop up. If that doesn't look professional, it might be an early deal breaker.

LinkedIn Tip #2 : Use a professional profile photo

The first things that we notice in a LinkedIn profile are

1. Name

2. Profile Photo

3. Headline

I've covered some important details regarding (1) in my previous tip ( https://lnkd.in/gz9Aup6 ).

Some may think a photo isn't important. But for me or thousands of recruiters out there, this might give out a picture that you are too lazy to put up a photo. This also might show your level of activity in LinkedIn and how aggressively you are pursuing for a job.

Don't put poor quality picture as well! Having no picture would be better than this. Here are a few tips on putting up a profile photo -

- Looks professional (not blurry or over saturated)

- Make sure your face is clearly visible, you don't need your full body in there

- No Selfies !

- Smile! You don't need a mugshot

- The photo should look welcoming. Use a bright background, wear professional attire

- Not too casual. If you'd make it a Facebook profile pic, you'd probably not want it on LinkedIn

Thoughts?

LinkedIn Tip #3 : Headline

As I mentioned earlier, the first things that we notice in a LinkedIn profile are

1. Name - Tip #1 - https://lnkd.in/gz9Aup6

2. Profile Photo Tip # 2 - https://lnkd.in/gfWmn4A

3. Headline

When you type your name in the search bar, or when you apply for a job this one liner is the best place to advertise your skills. But don't overdo it, or underdo(not sure if that's a word!) it. It should be short, precise, crisp and informative. Eg : in my case

Embedded Software Engineer | C++ | C | RTOS | Control Systems

This one liner shows what I am, and what my primary skills are. Another example -

QA Analyst | ISTQB Certified | Selenium | Java

I've come across a lot of profile that put in "Immediately available", "Actively looking for opportunities", "PR Visa" etc. These aren't required and actually portray you as desperate. There is an option in LinkedIn which allows recruiters to know that you are available. If interested, you can put one of these just to highlight that you are actively looking out, don't put a mix of all those.

These are from my perspective. Influencers, recruiters and other users out there, thoughts?

LinkedIn Tip #4 : Summary

Now that I've covered Name, Photo and Headline(summarised here - https://lnkd.in/gpaq-M9 ), the next important thing is to update your Summary

When your write the summary, there are a few things to keep in mind
- Don't write an essay/paragraph about what you are
- Present details in bullet points
- Don't be too technical and scribble down lot of technical terms
- The first point should summarise your role(designation), number of years of experience and high level skills
- Second point should list a few of your technical skills
- Make sure all these points are short and precise
- Add 6-7 additional points which summarise what you've done
Eg : "Proven record in conducting training exercises to ensure legacy knowledge can be successfully transferred"
- No need to mention the organisation names here (you have individual work experience sections to enter these)
- No CAPS!
- If you think you need to highlight your technical details add a section at the bottom which lists your skills

LinkedIn Tip #5 : Work Experience

This is a continuation of the series I've posted over the past few weeks - https://lnkd.in/gpaq-M9

I've seen a lot of people too lazy to fill this up. This is as important as the rest of the bits in hashtag#LinkedIn. Note that if you have an excellent LinkedIn profile, you can copy most of the content to your Resume as well. Take time doing this, don't rush through it.

Golden rules
- Do not overload this section with technical keywords
- Do not have too many bullet points
- Summarise your Technical skills in 1-2 lines
- Add 3-4 key achievements

Key achievements are best written when quantified. It should be of this format. Eg:
"Achieved X: entrusted responsibility for solving Y. Implemented A using B technique. A improved the performance by X%"
"Improved process X: revamped the architecture to improve Y. Implemented the solution using technique Q. Reduced cost of the process by X% resulting in increased revenue of $X"

Recruiters won't be going through every details of your LinkedIn/Resume. It's your duty to make it as attractive as possible. Do not overload it with technical details, nor do make it a fantasy story. It should have best of both worlds.

LinkedIn Tip #6 : Everything else

This is a continuation of the series I've posted over the past few weeks - https://lnkd.in/gpaq-M9

What does everything else include?
- Education - Specify Bachelors of X and your specialization in full(Don't put up CS, it's Computer Science Engineering)
- Skill and Endorsements - Only have the relevant ones. Push down your secondary skills. Get your colleagues to Endorse for you
- Accomplishments - Include any Certifications, Achievements with a short description. This would also be a right place to put up your personal blog
- Recommendations - Give and Receive quality ones

Looks irrelevant eh? I love one of the comments made by Adele Leah (Read it here : https://lnkd.in/gGig_4d ). In short -

"So an incomplete profile is the same as attending an event half dressed and connecting without a note is like shaking someone's hand and saying nothing!"

Exactly! If you miss any of the sections I've written about, it would be like you are not wearing something important(Note that there are a lot of other accessories/makeup you can add-on later). The one's I've mentioned are bare essentials - equivalent to not wearing a shoe, pants, top or a messy haircut.

LinkedIn Tip #7 : Networking

This is a continuation of the series I've posted over the past few weeks - https://lnkd.in/gpaq-M9

LinkedIn is meant to network. It's not a job advertising platform, it's a networking platform. If you use LinkedIn just to apply for jobs and bug recruiters, it's very likely that it won't work.

After following my first 6 tips, you are ready to network. The search button you see at the top is a very powerful tool. Type in your top skill and you'll see thousands who do the same thing you do. Then it's time to build a relation.

How do you do that? Like this!
"Hi Vinesh, attaching my resume please take a look/and or forward it to your network"
"Hi Vinesh, please refer me to relevant job opportunities"

Really? These are some of the messages I get everyday. And if I do, I can't imagine how a recruiters inbox would look. I'd leave it to you on how to build a relation, but follow these tips to start it -
- Never ask for a referral, job opportunity unless you are having a meaningful conversation
- Start with something like this
"Hi Vinesh, I came across your posts, and I'm really inspired. Would love to be part of your network"
- Make it about them, not you
- Make sure you have gone through their LinkedIn profile before asking questions
- Be nice

LinkedIn Tip #8 : LinkedIn activity

This is a continuation of the series I've posted over the past few weeks - https://lnkd.in/gpaq-M9

Almost all job hunters use LinkedIn for one sole purpose - to find a job. Once they are done, no more LinkedIn. What's wrong with this approach?
- You are like one of those people who calls up a friend just to get something done
- There is no 'meaningful' connection
- Every time you lose a job, you start from scratch

If you want to be successful in your career (not just your job hunt), you need to be active on LinkedIn. There are lot of ways to do this
- Connect to like minded people, build a relationship
- Write:be it technical, life experiences or inspiring stories. Connect to people
- Like, share and comment quality articles/posts (by quality I specifically mean not spam/forwarded posts).
- Comments have more brownie points than likes. Do not spam! Make meaningful comments
- Rinse and repeat forever!
- When your profile says you are passionate about technology, and your LinkedIn feed is empty - it's obvious you are lying!

Real life example - I started blogging in late Aug, and see how profile views shot up. Not only that, my posts grabbed attention of many recruiters I could never reach out to!

LinkedIn Tip #9 : Spamming

This is a continuation of the series I've posted over the past few weeks - https://lnkd.in/gpaq-M9

Wondering why this is a tip? Because this is one thing you should NOT do in LinkedIn. Spam with your personal accounts on Facebook/Instagram/Whatsapp and it wouldn't effect you as much as it would on LinkedIn. Now what defines as spam?
- Spamming your resume - even if it's on your own feed
- Begging for jobs or sounding desperate
- Sharing too many posts
- Commenting on meaningless posts
- Sharing random forwarded messages
- Spamming on connections - Blindly forwarding resume and asking for references

There are lot of spam posts going around. Especially the ones that sound like
- Comment '+' and your profile will be considered
- "I'm in a difficult moment ... "
- Comment "Yes" to get a freebie
- "This is my resume please share to your network.. "

Do not fall for these spams. Specifically if you are job hunting in Australia it will backfire. See this post by a recruiter - https://lnkd.in/gp6fPru

Job hunt the right way, not just for the sake of it. You never know when you'll be pulled down to this situation again.

LinkedIn Tip #10 : Likes Vs. Comments

This is a continuation of the series I've posted over the past few weeks - https://lnkd.in/gpaq-M9

I did not quite believe when I read somewhere that LinkedIn gives more brownie points to comments rather than likes. But sounds like it's true. Take a look at my statistics for two posts

POST 1 : The one with the Meetup photo
Stats : 58 Likes , 12 Comments = > 1520 views

POST 2 : The one suggesting a Meetup
Stats : 58 Likes, 88 Comments = > 16,482 views

Half of the comments on Post 2 are mine acknowledging the interest for meetup, so effective count could be in the 40s. You could argue that if I had 40 additional likes for POST 1 the views would go up - but I doubt it would go up 10 times! (I'll update the post if it does)

Things to keep in mind while commenting -
1. Do not leave a one word comment (Like Thanks, Awesome, Well done, Congrats etc.)
2. Make a meaningful point
3. Do NOT Spam!
4. Try to make it a conversation (More comments!)
5. Comment on posts related to your profile. This will help getting focused attention

Journey to Australia: Job Hunt Part - 3

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Wed, 26 Sep 2018 10:08:00 +0000

This has been an eventful week. Thanks to all my LinkedIn network for the comments and likes. Yes, I started working this week.

Lot of people have started asking me inputs for job hunting as well. I hope you'd get a lot of info through my blog posts. As always, I'd be happy to help - ping me on LinkedIn. This post is a continuation of the series. I'll be explaining the Quality strategy and how it improved my applications. I'll also add a few general do's and don'ts that would keep your spirits high during this period and how to retrospect your current situation.

When the Aggressive Strategy started to get more depressing and anxious, I met Terry(from OBP). He explained to me what he does, what I could've been doing wrong and what I can do differently. I was extremely hesitant to spend more money on these services as the first one hadn't worked out well. But desperation eventually took over and I decided to go with it. This is a more relaxed strategy(or rather I'd say less aggressive). A few differences from what I did -

Addressing the Employers directly, rather than focusing on recruiters. This was extremely useful for me as I believe the Embedded Industry has lot more opportunities directly from employers
2-3 applications a month. Instead of swarming with every other closely matched roles, I started being picky. When there is a role that is a very good match to my profile and the organisation is good - go for it. Taking time on the cover letter & resume, and addressing the keywords from the JD made a huge difference
I started learning other technologies that would help my application

These turned out to be very effective for me. I wouldn't say it's the best of two, it all depends on your journey. I can't reiterate enough - every journey is unique.

Now a few do's and don't that you should follow, especially if your job hunt is taking long
Don'ts

Never get depressed/anxious about feedback. It's very common that recruiters will take time to get back to you, and sometimes never. Don't refresh your email a 100 times a day, or keep your eyes glued to the phone.
Don't sit idle. Try to upskill on some related technology
Move on - Don't ponder over a failed interview/test

Do's

Spend time on every application. Work on your resume and cover letter to match the job description keywords
Make sure you have an excellent LinkedIn profile, and a mature resume
Upskill - use LinkedIn learning/Lynda(free if you are as a PR in Australia), Hackerrank and other avenues
LinkedIn

Try to be visible on LinkedIn. Blogging was a great tool for me to get attention
Connect to people in your network and build a relation. Call/Message/Email and keep the relation even after you've succeeded. You never know how this'll work out for you

Every failure teaches you a lot. Personally I wrote down all questions asked in an interview, found it's answer and these answers are something I'll never forget. It's a great way to learn. Take positives out of a failure, and make it your strength for the next one

It is very important to understand your current situation, look back - see what going wrong and act on them. Here are some general pointers to identify.

If you are applying a lot, and not getting any callbacks - your LinkedIn or Resume is at fault. Work on it
If you are getting callbacks, but no client interviews - the way you communicate with recruiters is at fault(or the above)
If you are getting into client interviews, but not converting - your technical skills is at fault. Or your effort on understanding the company/culture/requirements is at fault

Look back at these, write it down on an excel sheet, work on it and make it your strength for the next one. Feel free to comment or connect to me if you would need any information on all these.

Finally, I'm switching my roles in LinkedIn from a consumer to a producer. I've been consuming the network so far, now it's time to give back to the community and I'd be happy if someone could gain from my experience.

Read all the posts related to my Journey to Australia -

Journey to Australia: Job Hunt Part - 2

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 02:00:00 +0000

Hope you have found my posts related to my Journey to Australia useful. So far I've outlined my journey starting from why, moving on to how and eventually arrival at Melbourne. This post will explain in brief of my experience with job hunting in Melbourne, as an Embedded Software Engineer. The post would be highly specific to Embedded Engineers, but there would be general pointers here and there as well.

Once you've arrived and all ready to fire all guns, what do you do next? For me, it was to put into practice all the inputs/strategies I had received from Career Launch Australia(henceforth mentioned as CLA). I can't go into much details on this. But in a nutshell it was to have a blockbuster resume, excellent network and communication skills, positive attitude, and an aggressive approach.

Did this work? This is where my journey hits a roadblock. Yes it works, for certain profiles which heavily use recruiters, and is in high demand. For example, in the case of Anitha. She is an Automation Test Analyst with experience in Selenium Web driver(note - this is in high demand over here). The second day after we arrived, she connected to a recruiter(with the help of CLA) and had a great chat in person! The following week she approached another recruiter, who arranged an interview for her with the client. The client had a 30 minute discussion(not very technical), and boom - within 2 weeks of landing in Melbourne, she had started working.

This was a great start, and my belief in the strategy was at it's peak. I had to take some time off all this activity as we had to move out of the temporary accommodation and house hunting is a full time job of it's own over here. But I was confident of getting something soon(if not 2 weeks, even a month). But did I? (Hint : it's my 8th month of joblessness right now)

So what went wrong? After 8 long months of my job hunt, here are my observations. I'll be explaining on the different strategies I adopted, why things did not work for me, what helped me, what boosted my spirits, and what put me down.

Strategies
All information below is from my personal experience. It may differ from person to person.
I came across two major strategies

Aggressive - where it's all the number game
Quality

With the Aggressive strategy, you build up your LinkedIn connections exponentially. Connecting to anyone related to your domain/profile and recruiters in the same field. Talk to them, understand the market, ask for referrals inputs that could get you a job. Call up recruiters before applying to ads seen in LinkedIn/SEEK. Try to meet recruiters as often as possible. In short as I said earlier, it's a number's game. The more connections/conversations/meetups you have, the better your possibility of getting a job. This is the CLA strategy

The quality strategy on the other hand is all about applying for the right job. Just have 2-3 quality applications a month. Take time to research and draft cover letters and Resumes tailored for the opening. This is the strategy advised by OBP

The aggressive strategy is best applied when you have just arrived, your job is in demand and it almost guarantees you a job within a few weeks. But will this work for everyone? I doubt. This might help you put yourself in the market, and yes this worked perfectly for Anitha too. But, as an Embedded Software Engineer - this probably won't fetch you results. Here is my explanation on why -

The Embedded systems market in Australia is very limited. There are only a few companies in the field, and most of the opportunities would need certain niche skills(Eg: Embedded Linux, strong C++, Finance exposure etc.)
The recruiters in this space are not very vibrant, approachable. Unlike recruiters who work on popular domains(Full stack, .NET, Java, Testing etc.), you won't see many posts by recruiters in the embedded space. They are specialised, have their own closed network and have a good technical knowledge as well.
Because of this, it's also important to have technical jargons present in your resume. Don't overload it with Achievement and Skills as told by Google. It's a common assumption that the recruiters would prefer achievements and numbers to tech stuff. But if the recruiter is technical, your resume will go unnoticed
Majority of embedded jobs are not sourced via recruiters! Yes. This was one late realisation for me. In fact, the only access to these opportunities would be via internal referral. This is where your LinkedIn network could be helpful.

Because of these, I started getting frustrated a few months down the lane. You try to connect and call up recruiters to get their attention, and unfortunately it doesn't work. And then I started the recruiter names coming up again - as in the same recruiter started posting multiple requirements over the months. Knowing that you had already called them up, sent emails, messages over LinkedIn - it becomes hard to reconnect. It's like they know you are here, but you still aren't.

After around 6 months of countless rejections and silences, I approached OBP. Before I go on to that part of the story let me explain a little about the silences I mentioned above.

As already known to many job applicants, there is a high probability that you'll never hear back after an application, test, interview, or what not. Things are not different here. There are some recruiters that are really nice and helpful(Thank you guys!), but there are some that really don't care. Let me highlight a few experiences here - I will not be doing any name shaming today

The first recruiter I met, was a wonderful experience which turned out eventually to a very sour one. Being the first meetup, I was anxious and excited. It was in one of the tall rises in Melbourne, and the people, reception and everything screamed corporate suits to me. Everything was incredibly professional and scary in a way Software Engineers aren't used to. The recruiter I met was very friendly and I realised that all this fear was just in me and I was very comfortable in the talk. He offered my couple of roles and asked me to reply with a resume and a cover letter to approach the clients. I was very happy at the end of the chat and came home with high hopes. Later that day he sent me the job descriptions and I sent across the cover letters and resume. Little did I know what was coming. I waited for a week patiently to see a response and then mailed him. Nothing. Mailed him again - nothing. Called him up - no response. Called up the work phone - went to reception and left a message. Still nothing. Texted him, messaged him on LinkedIn. Still nothing. This shatters you. This might not be anything for someone who is already working and just looking for a job change. But for someone who is job hunting for survival, and just counting on a response for experts/recruiters - this is heart breaking.
This was about 3 months after I arrived. At 8.20pm I suddenly receive an email saying a company X would like to proceed with my application. It was a very friendly and honest email, and they asked me to take an online test. The test had 3 questions and 90 minutes to complete. I took a couple of days to prepare and gave the test. In my opinion, I solved all the questions to my satisfaction. I replied to them and waited. And the wait lasted forever. This was even worse than the first one considering that I had given time and put effort on doing the test. And I knew I did well too. What happened? Guess no one will ever know...

I understand that recruiters are really busy and get thousands of applications everyday. But it's their job as well to connect to candidates like me and keep up the relation. Personally, I feel there is no excuse in not replying a mail, message or call. If any recruiters have taken the time to read through this, please spare a few seconds to respond to a mail you have received recently. I would be happy to see if someone has done this.

I think this post has gone long enough. I'll explain the second strategy in my next post. Feel free to contact me over LinkedIn. I will try to help in anyway possible. If you have any questions, concerns or different experiences - feel free to leave a comment. Who knows? Your story might be an inspiration to someone else.

Read all the posts related to my Journey to Australia -

Journey to Australia: Arrival

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 11:08:00 +0000

This post elaborates things to be done at your Arrival to Australia(the following post focuses specifically on Melbourne).

Landing on an unknown country can be scary if you are not well prepared. With Internet, you can be best prepared for what is to come. But there are things you can still miss out. I'll try to put my experience in the best way possible. If you have questions/concerns please leave a comment.

The following points would be explained here

At the Airport

Immigration
Border Protection/Customs
Phone SIM cards

Day 1

Myki Card
Bank Account
Medicare
Centrelink(if you have kids)

Things to do

Tax File Number
Library Card
Driving License

Misc info

Shopping?

At the Airport
Have your documents ready after landing at Melbourne. By documents, I specifically mean -

Passport
Print of Visa Grant
Declaration form(which was provided to you during flight)

Make sure the Declaration form is filled correctly. Australia has strict border protection policies and quarantines. This helps them safeguard the biodiversity from diseases present in rest of the wold. You must respect that and declare any food/organic products that you bring in. For Eg: if you have any sort of food with you, check the corresponding box. Food means cooked, packed, dried or whatever. Even if it's chocolates. It's important that you declare what you are bringing. The people at the Airport are smart if you try not outsmart them, and it doesn't come cheap. Fines can be anywhere upward of AUD 200.

After landing, head to the Immigration queue. There would usually be a long wait over here. Hand over your documents to the officer, answer any questions he asks and keep moving. The next queue is for the Border protection(customs) clearance. Here is where your bag would be checked(if they are suspicious). We had declared everything and the officer(before the queue started) was happy and let us across to the exit.

As soon as you exit the Airport, buy your phone SIM cards. This is essential as you can make calls and use data for communication/navigation. All major telecom providers are available here - Vodafone, Telstra, Optus. While purchasing chose your prepaid plan to accommodate international calls. Most of the tariff plans available have unlimited calls/messages and enough data. This would cost you AUD 30 and above. Activation is immediate. Use your passport as identification here, if you are taking two connections - use the corresponding passport(otherwise it will be difficult to port/convert to postpaid etc. in the future).

Exit this area and grab a Taxi to your accommodation. There is option of taking a bus, but being the first time I'd recommend to go by Taxi. The Airport is far from the City, and could cost you approx. AUD 70 to the city. Make sure you have contacted your host and have everything sorted out for the accommodation.

Day 1

Myki card - This is the travel card used for public transport in Melbourne. You can use this for Trains(Metro), Tram and Bus services. The fare is approx AUD 4.30 for 2 hours and AUD 8.60 for the whole day(See this - Fares). You can buy a Myki card from any convenience stores(Eg: 7 eleven). To be safe, swipe in and swipe out whenever you use any public transport(you don't have to actually swipe out in Trams, or swipe at all in Free Tram zones). Travel within the City(CBD), is entirely free for Trams. Once you get the card, you can register it online to enable Auto top up.
Bank Account - If you have setup the account from India, they would've arranged your Debit card for collection at your choice of branch. Activate your account and collect the debit card. If you don't setup the account earlier, it will take a few days for the debit card to arrive(via post or you can chose to collect). Major banks - ANZ, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank
Medicare - Medicare is the Govt. provided medical service for all. It covers a lot of services, and it's important that you set this up immediately. Private doctor visits can be really expensive if you have no insurance at all. Goto Medicare, fill up their forms and your card should be delivered within a few days. You can use this card to make GP(General Practitioner) appointments for any illness. Any GP prescribed tests are also covered in Medicare. Just make sure you visit a place that Bulk Bills so that everything is processed cashless. Medicare Card can also be used as a form of ID.
Centrelink - Centrelinks provide social security services. For eg: if you have kids you might be eligible for some allowances like day care services.

Things to do
The following items need not be done urgently, but good to be done at the earliest.

Tax File Number(TFN) - This is like your PAN in India. You can register for TFN online, and the number will be delivered to you by post within a few days. This is mandatory while you start working
Library Card - As a permanent resident, you have free access to the Public Library. Register for this and collect your card. You can rent books, movies, games, music, magazines and lot more from the public library for free.
Driving license - You can drive in Melbourne with your Indian License for a period of 6 months. It is better to apply for a license at the earliest as this would be your best possible ID card as well. Here is a summary of things you have to do to obtain a license(if you already have one in India). For more info - Vicroads
The whole process takes more than a month as you need available slots for the tests. It also costs around AUD 200-300 approx. for the whole thing(doesn't include driving lessons)

Call and take an appointment for Overseas License Conversion. Go with required set of documents and pay a fee for this. Post this book an appointment for Learners test
Practise and take the learners test. This is an MCQ test. References - Vicroads, Aussie Driver. It's not very difficult to crack this, but practice is important - don't be over confident and driving knowledge in India is NOT enough. After you pass this test, book your next tests. You can opt to get the Learner's permit - but this will mean that you can no longer ride with your International License. Take the Learner's permit if you are past 6 months. Note : The rules are very strict, and drivers with Learner's permit have lot of restricions
Hazard Perception Test - This tests your reflex and ability to respond to a variety of situations. It'll look something like this. After you pass this book your Driving Test
Driving Test - I'd recommend going for driving classes even if you are an expert. There are things you have to follow to pass the test(Eg : Head Check, if you don't know what this is - it a critical fault). The lessons cost about AUD 200-300 and it's totally worth it.

Miscellaneous Info

Shopping - The best places for all in one shopping is at the huge supermarkets of either Coles or Woolsworth. They have their stores all over the city/suburbs. Other hotspots for shopping are Target, IKEA, Bunnings etc.
Grocery shopping - You can get fresh and cheap produce at markets. Victoria Market is one of the best places to go to.
Indian shopping - there are lot of Indians stores available in the cities and suburbs. City stores are usually more expensive.
Indian Cuisine - Melbourne has an amazing range of cuisines available including Indian. Its not hard to find the food you are looking for.

I think this summarises all the important points that you need to take care once you arrive at Melbourne. I hope this is helpful to you. Leave a comment if you feel I missed something, or you would need more info on.

Read all the posts related to my Journey to Australia -

Journey to Australia: Time to Fly!

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Wed, 05 Sep 2018 09:01:00 +0000

It's time to Fly!

Dec 2017
As per plan, I'd be travelling to Melbourne in about a month. I was on my notice period at my current company, and good byes and how did you do it comments were floating around me. I felt happy that I was doing something different, and excited about the future.

Source : https://www.imore.com

With January fast approaching, I still had to make a few decisions. Summarising a few below

Flight - Which one? Where to? What route?
Accomodation
What to pack?
What documents should I keep ready?

These might be routine stuff to a seasoned traveller. But for someone migrating to an unknown country - preparation was key.

Flights
As we had already rounded up Kochi as source and Melbourne as destination. It was time to find out how. Google flights is your friend here. We started tracking the flight rates for the whole duration. Cheapest one usually was Air Asia. I was under the belief that the later you book tickets, the costlier it gets. But our observation(and data analysis), proved that the prices were going down. We were targeting to travel in January mid, and unfortunately due to Australian Open the flight rates didn't go down much(realised this late). The flight had a few hours stop over at Malaysia. The overall journey took around 18 hours(4 hours to Malaysia, 3 hours layover and 8 hours to Melbourne). It was a pleasant journey for us, probably because we were excited.

Accomodation
This can get tricky. Getting a place for rent isn't easy in Melbourne. There is a whole inspection -> Submit Application(with a lot of documents) -> Approval process to be done. If you haven't been in Australia before, the probability of renting a place is almost 0.
The next option in Airbnb. This should be the last resort though. Airbnb options can be really expensive, and you might not need that kinda luxury to start with. The cost can come upto AUD 100 per day(approx. Rs. 5000), which can be huge considering your length of stay.
The most effective option is house sharing. House rental is expensive in Melbourne. Lot of people with 2 or 3 bedroom houses rent out one of their rooms. The best place to find such house shares are at Gumtree. There are multiple advantages to this

Cheap - Less than AUD 200 a week
You get a new friend to get yourself comfortable
You get all appliances to share - kitchen, washing etc
You deal directly with the tenant, so no legal binding or hassles of document
If interested, you can look for Indians sharing house

Gumtree has a catch though, you cannot connect to advertisers if you are outside Australia. Use any VPN and connect through an Australian proxy to overcome this. See this, that site has a free coupon for 10 days usage as well.

As for us, we managed to get a studio apartment for rent. The tenant was going on vacation for a month, and luckily for us our travel dates coincided.

This would be your temporary accommodation(few months or weeks). Once you get a job, you can formally rent an apartment.

What to pack?
This depends on individual preferences. When I called up my friend here in Melbourne, she suggested to pack a small cooker(we Indians are heavily dependent on that, and it's expensive to buy one here). But in my opinion, you can buy almost anything you need from Melbourne. Don't pack things you can buy. Take a few set of clothes, basic medicines, a few footwear. That's all you need to start a new life! Things can be expensive in Melbourne, but you are going to earn good as well.
Note that Australian immigration prohibits carrying a lot of stuff, especially food items. Do a proper research of what you can bring, and what you cannot. The fines can be huge if you get caught.

Documents
Unlike other countries, all you have as proof of Visa is an e-copy of the visa grant letter. And that's all you need. Have multiple copies though, you'll have to show this when you leave India, and when you enter Australia. Before landing, you'll get a form to declare whatever items you have. Do this accurately.

Hope this preps you up better for your journey. Have a great flight!

Read all the posts related to my Journey to Australia -

Journey to Australia: Job Hunt Part-1

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 10:00:00 +0000

I guess this would be the burning question for most people thinking of migrating to other countries. Most of us are used to have a job, and the thought of going jobless is uncharted territory. Will I get a job? What if I don't? What if can't prove myself? What if I go jobless for long? How will I survive?

Source : https://www.bridgebc.edu.au

First things first, you have made a decision - you have to go now. Keep those worries aside, they are not going to help you at all. By this, I don't mean flush down all your worries and sit back and relax. You have a lot to do, and the earlier you are prepared - the better. I'm splitting my job hunt journey into two. The first part(this post) explains what I did before arriving to Australia. The second part is still going of for me(as of 04-Sep-2018), and will account my lessons learned through my journey.

Now what can you do before you get here? Lots. Let me break it down for you

Research
Prepare
Network

Research
First step - understand the market. Australia doesn't have a huge presence in the IT industry. Understand what skills/technologies sell. The best place to start is SEEK and LinkedIn. Look at the jobs available in the city you are looking to move. For me, being an Embedded Software Engineer with C/C++ in the Semiconductor Industry was a big let down. Australian market is dominated by Finance and Telecom. There are plenty of roles available for Java, Web technologies, Full stack developer(very popular), Cloud technologies, Automation Test Analysts etc. Embedded is a very limited industry, with a few opportunities here and there that would require niche skills.

The next important thing to understand is how the market works. Hiring in Australia depends heavily on Recruiters. They post ads, you apply, and if they are happy with your application - you'll get a call back. After meeting you, if they are happy, they'll present you to the client for an interview. The difficult part here is to get the attention of Recruiters. You have to use all means possible - phone call, meeting, email, LinkedIn. This is where your LinkedIn network comes handy, and referrals mean a lot!

Now if you are worried about all these, and have no direction on what to do - go for help(or feel free to leave a comment! I'll try to help wherever I can). There are lot of Consultancies that will help you make your life easier. Note : No Consultancy/agency can guarantee you a job. If their website site says Guaranteed, then it's probably fake and you'll have to double think before making your decision. Look for reviews, connect to people who have already taken their services and do due research before taking their services. It doesn't come cheap.

Prepare
Irrespective of how you prepare, you should be ready with the following before you land at Australia.

Resume. This is the piece of paper that brings attention to you. Google on Australian format resumes and spend a lot of time reworking your resume. If you land in Australia and don't get calls - your Resume is at fault! Resume's are read by both humans and machines. Humans being mostly recruiters and machines being ATS(Application Tracking System). Your Resume has to beat them both.
Tech Interview : Be prepared for tech interviews. Interviews here are generally not very difficult(except for a few organisations). But be confident of what you've done and prepare questions related to you technology. Some companies/recruiters do a MCQ test, which can be very confusing to crack.
Behavioural Interview : This is a huge part of interviews in Australia. Look up general interview questions and be prepared with answers. Eg: What are your strengths? Explain a scenario where you were in conflict with your manager?
Possible organisations : It would be good to understand the organisations where you can find work. Will help you understand the domain, and target resumes

Network
Network aggressively on LinkedIn. Find people who have similar profiles as you. Connect to them, talk to them. Understand how the industry is over there. They can also be excellent referrers, but don't jump the gun too soon. Be nice, and extract information. Aussies are extremely friendly people! Take their advice, put them into practice and things will begin to happen.

So all this is general advice, what did I do? I was lost. Had no idea how the market works, had no network to ask what has to be done. Applying via SEEK and LinkedIn with my old resume led to no responses at all(not even an email). So we started looking for help. The first such consultancy that caught our eye was - Career Launch Australia. You can go through their website and take a look at all their services. I'm on a contract which mentions not to reveal details, and I'm sticking to that. Rajiv Bedse, the CEO of CLA is a very charming person. Talks with him will relax you and assure that things will work out right. His team prepared us for interviews(non -tech), resume, and with any questions we had. He was our mentor who helped us while we were on road to an unknown world.

Now am I recommending CLA? No. Although it was helpful, it did not work for me and was really expensive. I'll add a few more points in my next post. There are other consultancies that provide similar services at a way cheaper rate(as cheap as 1/5th!) Eg : OBP

Hope this helps! As always, don't hesitate to leave a comment!

Read all the posts related to my Journey to Australia -

Journey to Australia : Visa granted, now what?

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 12:28:00 +0000

Sep 2017
When I got the call from an excited agent informing that our Visa is granted, I was surprised. 10 months back we were enjoying our new jobs and doing what every other software engineer does in Bangalore. We hadn't thought about uprooting to any other place, we had no plans at all. The Visa grant opened a new door for us, and we had no idea what lied on the other side of the door.

Source : http://pagosafunzone.com

I'll be summarising a few decisions we had to plan to open the door effectively. I'll categorise it as follows

Where to go?
When to go?
How to go?
Do we go as a couple, or one after the other?
How much money would we need?
What's the strategy for job hunting? - I'll be putting this up for another post

Where to go?
So like all good software engineers, we resorted to Google for the next few days. The first thing to decide was where to go? I had no idea what the major cities in Australia were(except Sydney though - which I thought was the capital of Australia as well! Apologies my fellow Aussies). We started digging deeper and figured out Software Engineer opportunities was available mostly in two cities - Sydney and Melbourne. I had friends over at Sydney and Melbourne - both provided equally good feedback. Melbourne was all over the news for being the most liveable city for 7 years. Also Anitha wanted to get her MBA done and Melbourne Business School was on top of the list.So we decided Melbourne it is.

When to go?
When the Visa is granted, there is a clause which mentions that you have to make an entry to the country within a date mentioned. The entry date is usually one year after you take the Police Clearance Certificate(this is done through Passport office and the validity is for 1 year), My entry date was in Feb 2018, which gave me less than 5 months to go. We decided to go at a safe date before the last date and rounded up in Jan mid(avoided the December rush). This was a mistake though. We made an observation(thanks to Google flights) that the price of flight tickets were going down the later you book(yes, this was surprising). But for some reason the flight prices for Jan mid week did not go down. Later I figured out that it was Australian open time, and that time of the year is expensive to travel. But we had to travel anyway.

How to go?
Flight of course. But which route? Which flight? Of course cost was the major factor for us. Our home being in northern part of Kerala, we had to go to either Bangalore or Kochi to get to Melbourne. Flights from Bangalore was slightly expensive, so we chose Kochi. Air Asia was the most economical flight. Costed us around Rs. 60,000(inclusive of addition baggage allowances).

Do we go as a couple, or one after the other?

Our research on the job opportunities in Australia reflected that it was a bad market for an Embedded Software Engineer and an excellent market for Automation Test Engineer. Anitha being one, I was thinking of asking her to go first, get a job and then I would come over. But then we realised how hard it would be to live in a new country alone, with no friends and no idea of how things work out there. We believed that we could go through any hardship together. So we decided to quit and get on the boat(er flight) together.

How much money do you need?
This was the tough part. We were expecting to go jobless for a worst period of 6 months. Rent being a major expense, a rough research shows that the per month rent would be around AUD 1000(shared basis). It is atleast 2000 for an apartment near to the city if you choose that.That's almost Rs. 50,000 a month. So 6 months makes it around Rs. 3 lakh. Assuming an additional AUD 1000 a month for all other expenses(phone, internet, grocery, travel, food etc.), a safe bet would be to have around AUD 10,000. And an extra AUD 1000 in hand as cash. You can open an account in any bank in Australia from India and transfer the money from any money exchange centres.

I hope you enjoyed the read, and the information. Let me know if you need any additional info to this. Leave a comment! Next post would be on the job hunt strategy.

Read all the posts related to my Journey to Australia -

Journey to Australia : Cracking PTE

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 02:49:00 +0000

A test to prove your English proficiency is the only Exam you have to pass to get an Australian permanent resident visa. You have a choice to take PTE or IELTS. In case of PTE, you need a minimum score of 50 for all categories to be eligible to apply for visa. However, this wouldn't help you reach your 65 points as 0 points are awarded for a score of 50 - 65. 65 - 79 gets you 10 points, and 79+ gets you 20 points. If it's IELTS, you need minimum of 6.0. Above 7.0 fetches you 10 points and above 8.0 gets you 20 points. Note : You need to get the score mentioned for ALL the categories i.e., Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Details on the points distribution can be seen here -English Language Test and Points Table

Source : https://www.economist.com

Now why did I take PTE? I never wanted to give a test per se, but unfortunately I had to be the primary applicant as Anitha was an Electronics Engineer doing Software Engineer and things won't be easy if she applies. But then why not IELTS? Because I've been hearing IELTS everywhere, and it was kinda a scary exam for me. I had no idea what it is, but somehow there was a frightening picture painted in my mind. Probably because it has popped up in huge fancy banners as seen in this picture - >

So how did I go about the preparation? As we engineers do in this generation - Google. I collected all the information I could, plus the free sample tests online. Here is a short list of useful information I've collected - Note : This is as per the test format in Jan 2017, things might've changed recently

Quora links

A few very good tutorials -

Playlist by E2Language - E2Language
Brilliant webinars - this WILL help you through all the sections, even though only a few of them are available. Practice this :)

Official guides - Test Tips and use the Offline practice test available in the official site

Just get used the format mentioned in the above materials and you should be good. As for my personal experience, the Bangalore PTE centre wasn't a very appealing place. The cubicles are very close spaced and your neighbours chatter can distract you very easily. While starting the exam - the first section being Listening was very overwhelming, I even had a timeout on one of the answers. I wasn't very confident after the exam, and was preparing to give a shot at the exam again.

BUT - a couple of days later I got the result, and TA-DA! I had scored an overall of 85+! I strongly recommend the materials shared above, as those were the only information I had about the test and I was very much successful. This high score added up 20 points in my application which helped the process as well. Because of this I got the EOI within a week(usually takes 2-3 months)!

Good luck if you are giving a shot at this. Be calm, and be confident!

Read all the posts related to my Journey to Australia -

Journey to Australia : The road to get a Visa

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 10:12:00 +0000

Image courtesy - https://welcome2kuwait.wordpress.com

the process to acquire a Permanent Resident Visa to Australia
my journey
some important info like cost, timeline etc.

The Process

After some extensive Google'ing, we decided to approach Visasavenue as our agent(Note : I'm in no way promoting Visasavenue. Just sharing my experience. The process of applying for a Permanent Resident Visa as per December 2016 was -

Check how many points you get is the Points system. You can do this yourself here - Points Table. When I applied, the minimum points required for application was 60. It has been increased to 65 recently. A point to note, there are hidden points in each of those categories. For eg : if you are doing a job unrelated to your degree, the first 4 years(I think) of your job experience won't count. i.e., if you are an EC engineer doing software, it'll be tough for you.
Skills assessment - This requires a bunch of documents, mainly your resume. The process is different for Software Engineers(done by Australian Computer Society - ACS) and other Engineers (Done by Engineer's Australia). This step primarily validates your skill with the advertised job requirements by the Australian Immigration. If they are happy with your profile, you an assessment completion letter and you can move to your next step. Usually takes 2-3 months to get it done.
File for Expression of Interest - Basically you are expressing your interest for acquiring a Visa. You provide some information and apply it. Post this, you just wait for the immigration to get back with an EOI
Apply for Visa - Now starts the actual work. This step requires lot of documents, and going with an agent - you get a huge list of documents and just submit to them. I'm not getting into the details here. Submit all the required documents and file your Visa application. You'll also have to do a medical checkup for the Immigration authorised medical centre.
Wait... - Everything is done! Now the wait, which can take upto a year(the processing period has been revised recently). One fine day, you'll get your Visa grant via mail :) Ready to go!

My Journey

My experience with Visasvenue was really good. At first, I made a visit to their office to understand the whole process and fees. Post that all communication was via phone and email. My dedicated agent was based in Delhi. At every step of the application, the case officer Kirti would sent me a list of documents required. Our duty was to collect it and send it back. A few of them that I recall are -

Resume
Letter from all previous employers stating the job description and salary
PTE or IELTS score
Same set of documents for partner
Police Clearance Certificate
Certificate for English for partner (instead of IELTS/PTE score for partner)
School and college certificates
and a lot more, feel free to ask if you need info on anything specific

I fortunately did well with PTE and the high score gave additional 5 points to make our points to 70. This high point also helped in quickly receiving the EOI.

Important info

Cost

Agent fees - Around Rs. 70,000
Visa fees(for a couple) - AUD 3600
PTE fees - around Rs. 10,000
Misc fees - Medical, notarising certificates, PCC etc.
Approx Rs. 4.5 lakhs for a couple

Timeline

We started the process in Dec 2016
Applied for Skill assessment in first week of Jan 2017
Received the completed assessment by end of Jan 2017. By this time I got my PTE score
Submitted EOI by end of Jan 2017
Because of my high points, received EOI by early Feb!
Submitted Visa application by end of March 2017
Got Visa grant in September 2017

PR Visa conditions and benefits

5 year validity
Right to work
Medical and Educational benefits
Have to enter Australia within 6 months of Visa grant(you can visit and go back)

Misc info

All these steps have a validity. For example Visa application must be done within 60 days of receiving EOI
You can do PTE or IELTS for English proficiency. Need minimum of 70(I think) in PTE to get the minimum 5 points
Have a credit card with enough limit (3600 AUD!)
Unlike the process of other countries, you don't need to stamp your passport, attend any interviews, have any bank balance etc.

Note : I don't recall all the details, the process might've changed as well. Please do your due research. Also if you have questions, don't hesitate to comment!

Read all the posts related to my Journey to Australia -

Journey to Australia : The Beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 14:33:00 +0000

As outlined in my previous post, I'm kicking off my series, which shares my experience in making once in a life time decision. Please note that this is my journey. you are free to criticise and I would be happy to understand your views on this. Feel free to comment.

In this post, I'll be briefly jotting down the points that made me decide that it's time to move on. I won't go into intricate details, but will make sure that I paint a good picture of why I(or lot of people out there) tend to do this.

It all started in 2016. I did not realise that it had started, but looking back I can firmly say that it was the beginning. I was the kind of person who had no intentions to leave India. Anitha being a person rooted to Kerala, and especially the cuisine - was a big reason for that. I remember my relatives asking me why I wasn't trying for opportunities abroad. My answer was - I'm not interested. When I met my professor Dr. Sudheep in 2015, he casually mentioned that he was proud that I was a person who had clear insights of what and where my future lies. This had reaffirmed my decisions and thoughts.

But then what changed? In 2016, Anitha joined Beckman Coulter, and I joined Applied Materials. Both of us got a huge pay raise, and our quality of life started improving drastically. As a first step, we decided to cut-short our treacherous journey through the infamous Bangalore traffic. Within 5 kms radius to Anitha's and my office, we found a perfect place at Marathahalli - Purva Fountain Square. We were paying huge rent, wow-ing friends and family. But we had the money, and it was time we upped our style, so why not? But the story would change soon.

While we enjoyed the time within the gated colony, the world outside remained the same. Same traffic, same pollution(or worse), same quality of life. Anitha's office was 4 kms away, but she took an hour of stressful journey to get there(even though she tried Ola/Uber every day!). I stopped taking my car out as it exponentially increased my travel time. This started to stir my thoughts. In future, I might buy a Jaguar, but where do I drive it? What's next for us? If we start a family, what is the state of education in Bangalore? - Pathetic was the only word. People back home, or young folks at my office don't understand the term Quality of Life. I don't blame them. Bangalore might be a huge upgrade from wherever we were brought up. But the current Bangalore is a ticking bomb - be it real estate, pollution - smoke, water, noise, waste, traffic, amenities, infrastructure, education, you name it. In short, I wasn't seeing a future in that city. And that's the best I could get in India.

Late in 2016, we received a final push which made me seriously question What's my future here in Bangalore?. So then the question was - What next? Thanks to Anitha's excellent Girl Power gang - Nanda, Kavitha and Archana, Australia came up. Canada was the next option which is easy to migrate, but both of us aren't big fans of the cold weather. Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking, why not USA? United States is very volatile, there was no guarantee whether you'd be kicked out from the country, and then there was Trump as well. It's difficult to get in as well.

After some thought, we rounded up Australia and made the call to a Visa agent - visasavenue in December 2016.

Read all the posts related to my Journey to Australia -

I'm Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 02:14:00 +0000

It's been almost 3 years since I last blogged. Time, priorities, work and life took over. After years of intensive blogging about Tech, my journey with TCS or anything that came across I was bored and lazy to find out topics to type in. Eventhough I tried to muster all my will power to blog again, it died soon.

So why am I back now? As I said earlier - Time, priorities, work and life.! I made a huge calculated risk that gave me plenty of those. I'm exploring something that I never thought I could. And as I did before, I trust that sharing information can help a lot of people.
Over the coming days, I'll be blogging about my journey that started a couple of years back. I'll be trying to share information on these-

What did I do?
What made me do it? Read here - The Beginning
How did I do it? Read here - Road to get a Visa
Was I successful, where am I now?
What could I have done better?

Now to those who don't know what I did - I, with my wife Anitha moved to Australia in Jan 2018. Starting a new life from scratch.

Android Marshmallow 6.0 on Xiaomi MI3 (How to setup, and short review)

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 08:42:00 +0000

The MI3 is one of the best phones by Xiaomi. Eventhough launched a couple of years ago, the hardware still holds good in the current generation. Now being a tech geek, I get easily bored by the same software and often keep changing. Personally I've used these ROMs on my MI3

MIUIv5
MIUIv5 China Dev ROM
Android 5.1 by Ivan
CyanogenMod 12.1 Official
MIUIv6 Global Dev ROM
Android 6.0 by Ivan

Of these, the ones I used the most of Android 5.1 and MIUIv6. Now that we have Marshmallow, it's time to experiment on this. Here is a short review, and brief steps on how to set this up.

Note : Most of the info is available in the XDA Forum here . And as usual, I'm not responsible for phone bricks and anything that happens to your phone. Please backup all your data before experimenting

Setting up the phone
These are the steps followed to switch to Android L, from MIUIv6(or any ROM)
Download these before starting

Fastboot drivers and TWRP recovery - Fastboot
Android 5.11.7 - Android ROM
Gapps - Gapps

Steps to flash

Primary requirement - TWRP recovery

If you are familiar to the embedded world, this is similar to a bootloader(Eg: uboot in linux). This helps you flash/clean/backup etc.
The best way to set this up is described here . To summarize, these are the steps

Download the "Recovey by fastboot.zip" from the above thread and extract the files into a folder
Reboot your phone, which booting up(at the MI logo) hold Power and Volume down together. The phone will boot into fastboot mode(you can see the fastboot image in your phone)
Enter the commands

fastboot devices
fastboot flash recovery twrp-2.8.5.0-cancro.img
fastboot reboot

While rebooting, you can hold Power and Volume Up to enter the TWRP menu

Download the ROM

Android 5.11.7 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByaT1kNEpeRZMV9UMWRoa0M4TGM/view
Gapps - https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=24052804347835438

Copy the ROM and Gapps into your phone internal storage and flash the ROM

Wipe cache and data from TWRP
Flash android 6.0 ROM
Flash Gapps

Reboot (Enjoy!)

Review

I've been using this ROM for 4 days, and it looks pretty stable. I'll list down the issues faced below. Listing down what I like about this ROM

It's Android 6.0(Yeah!)
It's buttery smooth
Almost everything works fine - WiFi, data, calls, music, radio, bluetooth, camera and everything that's required for daily use
Battery life is acceptable(not upto MIUI)

Here is my battery usage for the past 3 cycles

Cycle 1

Was a bit worried of the WIFI usage here. But the phone lasted a day for me

Cycle 2

Cycle 3

Summary of Battery Usage

Although I was worried of the high WIFI usage in the beginning, it seems it was an estimation error. The first two cycles lasted a day, and my typical usage involves

No mobile data
WIFI always connected
Facebook, browsing on chrome
Games Earn to Die 2 and Simcity BuildIT

For the third cycle, I played Earn to Die for more than 2 hours - which is very acceptable. Note that I started using Greenify from the third cycle onwards(slight improvement)

Issues in the ROM

Major Issue - you can't get into "Mobile Networks", As a result, no access point configuration, 2G/3G selection possible. As a workaround for the 2G/3G selection(I normally force it to GSM only and I don't use mobile data) dial #*#*4636*#*# goto Phone Information and set the "Preferred network type" Note: This is reset during every restart
Battery - not really great, but acceptable
Many apps crash - mostly because of the permission issues. You have to provide access to the apps individually to make them work. This is a generic issue as many apps are still adopting to Marshmallow
Google on Tap crashes if you long press Menu button. Workaround in to enable on screen buttons, try the Google on Tap, and come back

In short, I'm happy with Android 6.0 on my MI3. If you have any questions/suggestions, please post below.

Teewe transforms your TV to a Smart TV

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 11:13:00 +0000

Recently purchased an interesting piece of gadget - Teewe. Straight to the point, what is this?

It's a wireless HDMI dongle
It has Android/iOS/Windows apps for phones
It has a Desktop app for PC/Laptops
It has a Chrome plugin

What do all these do? Transforms your TV, into something more than a Reality show/Saas-Bahu box. With this,

You can 'cast' photos/videos/movies from you PC/Phone/Tablet to your TV with a couple of touches
You can control whatever is playing on Teewe, with any devices connected to it
You can 'cast' Youtube videos - Teewe directly streams from Internet
You don't have to ask you wife/friends to connect the Laptop to TV everytime ;)
You can use your laptop for whatever you want to, while playing content on Big screen!

This device is an Indian version of Google Chromecast. Although I haven't used the Google one, I'm pretty much happy with what Teewe could deliver. I believe the Desktop app is one major difference with the Google Chromecast. The Desktop app let's you play the movies/images stored in your laptop without any hassle of cables. I watched a couple of movies with this, and the streaming is lag free so far.

Now getting deeper into details on my 2 week experience with Teewe

I have never heard of Teewe, nor did I know such a thing existed. Coincidentally, an ad popped up in my Facebook timeline(spot on), Teewe was having some 'Deal of the Day' offer in Amazon. It said it was a wireless dongle, and I could get it for 1,899 INR for that day. This looked appealing to me, and I thought - why not give it a shot.
The next day it was delivered, a petty little box - packed well, looking premium. I was still skeptical about the gadget though - reasons being I've never heard of this thing before, and when it gets to wireless, things can get ugly(on the side of performance).
Eager to set it up, I reached home and plugged the device to my TV. It had a charger too, which I plugged in as well(not sure if this is required always, I've never removed it though). A screen with the TV logo popped up in the TV - all purple and looking good. Then with the app installed in my phone, I was able to easily configure the device. NOTE: All the devices should be connected to a common wireless router! And that was it!
The Android app identifies all media in your phone and puts it up neatly on the app. It's easy to chose and cast on your new TV. You can actually also control the media(pause/play/volume) from another device connected to your Teewe. Now it was time for some tests

Youtube casting works like a charm. Everything is controlled via the app though. Select any Youtube app and ask to play on Teewe. The Teewe directly streams this via Internet
Sharing images might be a bit laggy if the image size is huge. But it's still great to see your Mobile pics on big screen
Same is the case with videos as well. Sharing videos on phone are a bit laggy if the resolution is high
Now time to install the desktop app. Note this app is in beta, and can get laggy at times. But once setup, you can add the desired folders and it will detect media from the laptop. All media is neatly put up as various categories in the app(this is more like a media player). Now just click play and Tada :) No lags, no wires, sit and relax. I watched a few movies using this, and the experience was really good!

Feel free to ask any questions below!

You think that's Snow? Look closer, it's from Bangalore

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Fri, 24 Apr 2015 07:10:00 +0000

Update 4[07-Jun-15]: Updated more photos
Update 3[21-May-15]: A video of the 'firey' lake. Part of my video made it into news :) Scroll down to view it
Update 2[17-May-15]: There has been a fire at Bellandur lake. Apparently the methane deposits from the polluted lake caused this fire - Fire on Bellandur Lake
Update 1[12-May-15] : Added more photos, videos, and news links

It's been ages since I've blogged. Life, work and laziness got in the way. But here I am, blogging about something that has bothered me everyday.

I live at Sarjapur Road, and commute every day to Bagmane Tech Park(CV Raman Nagar). After dropping my wife at Ecospace, I take the route via Yemalur which get me to HAL. This route flows right next to the Bellandur lake, and every day I get bothered about the condition the lake is in. While the view looks gorgeous, the sad truth is it's just pollution and a very stingy smell. Here is how it looks

This foam covers this part of the lake completely(there is another section towards the other side of the lake). On searching for more info, I found this video -

I have no idea what this is, but I know it's bad. Can we do something about it? Let me know in the comments.

A video -

News links -
http://www.thenewsminute.com/article/alarming-images-bengaluru-lakes-bubbling-over-authorities-shrug-responsibility
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/when-the-varthur-lake-bubbled-over/article7148523.ece?w=city
http://www.evartha.in/2015/04/29/05859.html
http://www.mathrubhumi.com/story.php?id=547064
A screenshot from Singapore Newspaper(Thanks to +Shahid AC )

IRCTC generates a daily business of Rs.50 Crore! Wait, where's the Login page?

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Tue, 29 Apr 2014 15:45:00 +0000

IRCTC a.k.a. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd, is an widely popular, useful, convenient portal for booking train tickets in India. Along with these, I'd like to add the adjectives, painful, frustrating, unreliable and pathetic(Agree?). If you don't agree with this, please click the link - IRCTC and let me know if you where able to login(or even see the login page!)

Yeah, yeah, I had a terrible week with the web portal, trying to book Tatkal tickets a very very important occasion. And 3 times, 3 days, I was left with nothing but a login screen(once in a while). I might be writing this out of pure frustration, I hope I make some sense(If no, please correct me, leave a comment!)

So I went out to dig in some information about this business enterprise. Here are my points

An average of 4.7 lakh train tickets are booked in a day(Source : Forbes)
Rs.10(minimum amount) is levied on each of these tickets. I believe this exclusively goes to IRCTC. That mounts to a profit of Rs. 47 lakh(minimum) a DAY?
As per this article - We are sensitive to users' pain from congestion on IRCTC website, 8 lakh users login between 8 to 8.15 am. That post was back in 2012. This could be probably tripled by now, and the traffic bursts would come in two slots(normal and tatkal opening). Note that these pages have third party ads and Adsense(I think?). This could be a huge revenue, definitely in terms of millions of Rupees.(and that's every day)
As an update to statistics - IRCTC Stats. It indicates around 26 million hits a month. You do the math. And to further solidify how huge this is, the Alexa rank of the site is 451 - Alexa IRCTC. To those who don't know, Alexa is a huge database that ranks sites based on their popularity. The list is lead by the familiar sites Google, Facebook etc.
These stats would be great for a company as huge as Google, Yahoo etc. But for something like IRCTC, for which I'm not aware if it has a stable employee base, office, infrastructure etc., isn't this tad bit huge? Where does all these money go to? And what are we getting in return(a forever loading page?)

These are the negative points I see. Have more? Please add in the comments! Also do let me know all these thoughts are just a spur of the moment.
Now after reading the article - We are sensitive to users' pain from congestion on IRCTC website, especially the para

There are about 7.5 lakh people who go dissatisfied each day. If we increase our capacity to handle 15 lakh concurrent connections, then about 14.5 lakh customers will go dissatisfied. The solution is to increase the capacity and number of trains.

True, but isn't dissatisfied better than frustrated or better than a never loading page? Can't there be an alternative to the never loading page? Can't one of the best e-commerce sites in whole of Asia Pacific perform better than this?

Am I wrong? Please enlighten me!

Top 10 Free Android Games that will keep you occupied for a long time

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Fri, 25 Apr 2014 20:17:00 +0000

I've tried out a lot of games on my Xperia P for the past two years. Here is my list of the Top 10 Android games(Free). Please note that this is my personal opinion, do leave your list in the comments!

Candy Crush Saga - I've heard a lot about this game, especially in Facebook with all that invites to play the game. But for some reason, I felt the game wouldn't be of my liking. But then, one of my friend plotted an interest of this game in me. I installed it, and Ta-Da, turned out to be my favorite game so far. This is almost a never ending game, and every level plays differently every time. It's fun, and simple, and engaging!
What's the game about?
Classic group three or more similar candies to break them and keep progressing. There are different types of missions you need to complete and progress through the levels(which are almost indefinite!).
Temple Run 2 - Now this is a classic game which requires no introduction. The first installation - Temple Run 1 set the trend for such a themed game. Simple, fun, engaging and never ending. There are tons of similar games around, Subway Surfers and Despicable Me: Minion Rush are similar fun games you have to try
What's the game about?
Run, Run and RUN! Just make sure your character doesn't fall of the ledges, or hit any road blocks. It's a simple swipe on different directions to make your character run through the levels
Hill Climb Racing - A neat game wherein you go through different terrains with specialized vehicles. Earn coins, upgrade your ride, or buy new ones! The controls are neat, with acceleration and brakes only(plus balancing the ride)
What's the game about?
A 2D driving game
Plants Vs. Zombies 2 - The initial installation, was the first Android game I played on my friend's phone. I then tried the PC version, and very much liked it. This game stands upto it's reputation and is fun to play. With a wide variety of levels, and environments, you never get bored of this. It gets a bit too complex with progression though, which can be a deal breaker if you are just looking for fun.
What's the game about?
It's about protecting yourself from getting eaten by Zombies. You have a set of shooting plants to protect your house. You require proper strategy to master this game
2048 - I just installed this game yesterday, and boy I have spend atleast 6 hours on this game already. Such an addictive yet simple game, keeps you going until you achieve the target. Topped my list of favorite games within 3 hours of game-time!
What's the game about?
Adding up number blocks to make an equivalent of 2048. As simple as that! But incredibly fun!
Bus Parking 3D - This one might not be really a smooth/stable game. But the driving mechanics put in to maneuver the bus. For driving fans out there, this should be a good drive through to park your bus!
What's the game about?
Park your bus without scratching the road blocks
Dr. Driving - Another driving game. This time it's just ride on the roads, avoiding the traffic. This game doesn't have great sound effects or effect, but the gameplay is neat!
What's the game about?
Driving
Angry Birds - I don't think much intro is required for this game. It's super popular, so is it's next gen game Bad Piggies. This game has a lot of different versions which add a different taste to them. Definitely fun!
What's the game about?
Slingshot the Angry birds to some set of blocks to destroy the villain Pigs
Where's My Water - I've had very little experience with this, but I enjoyed the bit I had. Go ahead, give a shot!
Air Control Lite - A simple game, where you have 3 runways specific for 3 types of Airplanes. You have to manage the traffic so that they don't crash into each other. It's upto you to draw the path!
What's the game about?
Manage the air traffic and land the planes without crashing

10 Simple Tips to Improve Battery Life of your Android Phone

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 19:54:00 +0000

I own an Xperia P, and anyone who owns it knows how bad the battery is. It's equipped with a 1305 mAh battery, which is way below par for the otherwise awesome phone. I've done my fair amount of research for the past two years, and here are my observations. I've sorted it according to the ease of applying the tip and the effect of the tip(Eg: 1 --> Is easy and most effective).

Greenify - Without any doubt, I'll put this app on the top of my list. Greenify lets you select the apps installed in your phone, and hibernate them in a single click. This has a huge huge impact on the battery. Apps like Facebook leech the battery at a very high rate. By greenifying the app, you put it into hibernate mode, this means that until you manually open the app, it'll be sleeping. Make sure you don't greenify apps like Whatsapp(which will make it sleep, and thus stop receiving messages unless you manually open it)
2G/3G - Atleast on my phone, using a 3G network was a very costly affair(in terms of battery). By this I do not mean of using data connection. When your data is not on, you can simply switch to 2G network. You can find the settings at Settings ->Mobile Networks->Preferred Network Type. On some phones it will be GSM(2G)/WCDMA(3G)
Switch off Auto-Sync/Auto-Update apps - I personally do not find the need for auto syncing contacts, calendar, photos(major impact on battery), regularly. These can be done manually at some intervals. Also unchecking the "Auto-Update apps" in Play store settings will help improve the battery life
Switch off Location sharing - This might not have a huge impact on the battery, but it's a feature that you needn't use always. I think KitKat has a couple of battery saving modes for Location sharing as well
Switch off Google Now - Do you really use Google Now? Ask for yourself. Personally, I don not have any major use of it. Showing the time to different places of interest(feature of Google Now) will drain the battery
Switch of WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC etc when not in use. WiFi has a lot of interesting battery saving techniques which you can use. The stock Android available on Xperia phones have a Battery Saver mode which switches off all these comms when the phone goes to idle mode.
Remove unnecessary apps - If you don't use an app, remove it. Some apps might run in the background, eating away your Memory and Battery. Try to avoid Battery Saver apps(if you don't really find a use of it) and Anti Virus apps(if you read around, you'll know Anti Virus apps don't really do much on an Android phone)
Use Dark Wallpaper, avoid live wallpaper - The first time you own an Android phone, you are definitely going to be excited to have a Live wallpaper. It fades away with time, and it better do as it drains out the batter for just a visual fantasy. Also using a dark wallpaper would help the scree to drain less juice from the battery
Switch off Screen Auto brightness - Certain phones provide the feature of Auto Screen brightness. While this is useful, it means sensing the light around constantly and changing the brightness. Keep your brightness to low to get better from your battery. I personally still use this though, it's something that I can't avoid
Custom ROM - This would be the last thing you would want to do. It's quite complex and comes with certain price. Read more about this here - Get most out of an Xperia P

By following these, I could make sure that the battery drain was minimal when the phone wasn't operating. See this screenshot.

Rest would certainly depend on your usage.

Please share you thoughts and suggestions! Thanks!

Google Camera and Chrome Remote Desktop for Android

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 09:20:00 +0000

Google recently launched a couple of useful apps for Android - Chrome Remote Desktop and Google Camera. I just tried them both

Google Camera - brings in some useful features
-- Photo Sphere
-- Panorama
-- Lens Blur
The photo sphere allows you to take 360 degree pics, which does look interesting, but I didn't like it much. This mode makes you take atleast a couple of dozen photos(you have to keep a dot in the screen aligned), and finally stitches it into a big sphere.

Panorama is a standard feature, nothing more to it

Lens Blur is interesting. Some of the latest high end phones(Nokia and Xperia) have pitched in this feature earlier, and I was excited to get that on my Xperia P. With a couple of tries, I got an idea what it could do. Haven't spend much time on it though. For starters, this is what it can do

The first one is the original pic(left), you can basically select a focus point and blur the rest. I know it's not perfect, I think I can make better pics with practice :)

On the other hand, this app is only available on devices running Android 4.4 KitKat. And as I am using a custom ROM(read here), it came with a fair amount of glitches. I could not open the "Settings" of this app, it just resulted in a crash. The camera screen wasn't full screen either.
Chrome Remote Desktop - This is an interesting concept, to be able to use Chrome to share desktops(No more Teamviewer or Microsoft RDP), it's just chrome everywhere(which we already use, just have to install an extra app). I have concerns with it's security too, it's like Google takes over everything! However, here even after setting up Chrome Remote Desktop on my Ubuntu 13.10 and on my phone, I was not able to like my laptop on the phone. I assume this could have something to do with Ubuntu. Will have to figure this out. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions, please do share!

My Playstation Plus experience

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Sat, 12 Apr 2014 17:30:00 +0000

A Playstation was a huge dream for me. About 7 years ago, my Dad bought me a brand new Playstation 2. But unfortunately, the gig got outdated with the arrival of Playstation 3. Late in 2012, I made that dream come true, there I had a brand new Playstation 3 Ultra Slim. Along with it I got Uncharted: Drake's Deception and Grand Tourismo 5 free. Later on I owned Fifa 13 and Grand Theft Auto 5. But these games are very very expensive, and then I subscribed to Playstation plus.
So what is Playstation Plus? It's a subscription based service which gives you lots of online services and games free. Named as Instant Game Collection, Sony gives away atleast 1-2 games awesome games(on PS3). For Rs. 2950 a year, this is a great deal. Here is the my experience of the IGCs since Dec, 2013(I'll keep updating this, and I do not play all games). All these are completely my personal opinion, it might not be the same as yours.

DmC : Devil May Cry : This was the first one I tried. I did some research on the game before the download completed, and the reviews were mixed(especially with the history). The game looked brilliant to start with, with pretty decent graphics and smooth gameplay. I played this for quite sometime. With a combo of superpowers and guns, it looked fun. But as the game progressed, the whole sequence became repetitive. It was like start - kill 10 guys - go to the next section - start over. Yes there was a wide variety of superpower, and the storyline was good too, but this repetitive sequence just made me hate the game. I eventually deleted this

Pros : Cool graphics, smooth gameplay
Cons : Too repetitive
Rating : 4.5/10
Remember Me : The presentation of this game looked wonderful and futuristic. Nilin, the female protagonist starts the game with her memory partially stripped. The quest to know who she is follows. The gameplay involves shooting plus combo actions(no superpowers, just kick and punch). There are varieties of kicks and punches though, and you can make a lot of combos and special stuff with them. The game looked really interesting to begin with, but somewhere the same repetitiveness caught me again. There were some interesting things, and the story line was interesting too, but the gameplay was way too much repetitive and the action was a bit more boring than DmC. Remember Me had the same result as DmC for me.

Pros : Nice concept(tweaking into memory and modifying it, kind of inception), nice presentation
Cons : Too repetitive, and the combos become boring after sometime
Rating : 4.0/10
Guacamelee : I did not really play much on this. It's a 2D action game with a heavy Mexican background score. The game is fun, with a lot of combos, which take some time to get hold off. I never got much into it, because something bigger was coming up.
Borderlands 2 : I know this is a really great game, but I don't think I have the huge patience to crack it down. I chose to skip this adventure.
Metro Last Light : I had tried out Metro 2033 a while back on my laptop, but it couldn't handle all it's glory. So here I was sure this game would be really good, and it was. Standard FPS shooter, which a wide variety of guns and customization. The game is set in a post apocalyptic world, and you have to wear a gas mask if you get out(literally :) ). With a tinge of supernatural elements, the game looks and feels great. The storyline moulds in great, with a multi climax depending on the choices you make. This would be the first PS Plus game I completed.

Pros : Cool graphics and environment. Awesome story-line, multiple endings.
Cons : None
Rating : 8.0/10
BioShock Infinite : Another awesome game, but not my type. I began the game with huge expectations, but then as game progressed, it was literally a zombie attack. People keep coming, you keep killing and move. It took me a long time to reach a logical checkpoint, but I never made it to the next one. I deleted this game.
Tomb Raider : I've been a huge fan of Tomb Raider season, played almost all the previous games. My laptop couldn't handle the graphics of this one, and the Playstation 3 version was really expensive. But then here it was, this game totally made PS Plus worth for me. This installation of Tomb Raider is not as linear as the previosu games. Puzzles would be something you'd miss in this game though, not many tough ones are out there. This game takes a path of intense drama, survival instincts and pure gut feeling. The game is simply awesome, looks awesome, great island to crash in, slick gameplay, stealth and bust in options, and everything you dreamt of in a Tomb Raider game. You also get to explore the whole island(after finishing the story mode) which is a great addition. Already looking forward to the next Tomb Raider game. I completed this game in 5 days, which kinda disappointed me.

Pros : Cool graphics and environment. Huge island to explore. Multiple options of combat. Very dramatic story line. Exquisite setup(gorgeous yeah!)
Cons : None. A bit short? Maybe.
Rating : 9.5/10
Brothers : A Take of Two Sons : A neatly executed game. This game revolves around two Brothers in a quest for retrieving some magical medicine to treat their father. The gameplay is something new and fresh to me. It involves only 2 button(R2 and L2) and the two analog sticks. The R controls the elder bro and L controls younger bro. The specialty here is that you gotta control both the bro's simultaneously to execute certain slick actions and solve puzzles. It is quite difficult to get used to, and you certainly forget which set of controls move which brother. But the more you play, the better. The game is a tad bit emotional in the end, and eventhough the language of the game is not English(something gibberish like the SIMS), it doesn't make a difference at all

Pros : Nice puzzles, refreshing new gameplay. Storyline.
Cons : Controls might get confusing. Irritating bugs.
Rating : 7.5/10

Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 : Coming soon
Sly Cooper: Thieves in time

Get the most out of a Sony Xperia P

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Sat, 12 Apr 2014 13:49:00 +0000

Xperia P was one of the most impressive smartphones by Sony in 2012. I personally felt it way better than it's big brother Xperia S. The only thing that bothered me all the way was it's battery backup. With a mere capacity of 1305mAh and a non-removable battery, it was difficult to survive more than a day with it. Using a 3G network was a luxury this phone could not afford. However, it was a great phone that suited my purpose which were

Aesthetic looks(the transparent strip embedded with buttons)
Handles most of the games
Brilliant screen(with auto brightness which is missed in Xperia S)
Decent camera(not really great though)
Solid build(not much damages, apart from scratches after almost 2 years)
NFC, WiFi hotspots, Bluetooth, OTG and all those features cramped into the device
And... updates(which started to disappoint recently)

Although the phone was shipped with Android 2.3(Gingerbread), I did not have to wait long before getting a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich. It was a good update, with the look and feel adding to the aesthetics of the phone. And the down the road came the Jelly bean update too, which kind of refreshed the longevity of using the phone to me. But with that did come a few irritating bugs too, the ones which bothered me a lot are

Battery draining was off the chart, the phone barely survived 8 hours
Call logs got really laggy(know issue apparently). A factory reset did not resolve this, trying third party apps wasn't quite the experience
And the fact that I wouldn't get to taste KitKat on Xperia P

To get myself distracted from these, I starter using other launchers. The Windows 8 launcher entertained me for sometime, then I moved on to other popular launchers like GoLauncher, Nova Launcher etc. But these never lasted, I was back to the stock experience in a while.

So the inner geek in me pushed me for more, and the thoughts of rooting/unlocking/custom rom began roaming in my brain. But I was a tad bit reluctant on getting into the flow for some reason. But then one day, I decided to get in, and the post that guided me was this - Techglen

Let me summarize what, how and why I did stuff on my phone

What am I doing?

I am installing a Custom ROM on my phone. Custom ROM? What's that? It's like installing another OS to your PC/laptop. Except the issue here is every phone required a particular type of ROM, unlike the concept of a Windows or Ubuntu on any PC.

So someone should take in the Android sources, tweak it for the particular phone, and publish it. That's what CyanogenMod ROMs specially do(there are lot more out there too). So some guy(tons of thanks to him and team) picked up the sources and ported it on Xperia P.

But is it as easy as installing a new OS on a PC? Sadly no.

There are a few things you have to take care before going into this process

Take a backup of your phone. You don't want to lose your contacts, messages and other app info
It's likely that your phone gets screwed up in the process(known as bricking), which is a risk you take
To take a complete backup, you might have to Root your phone. Rooting is similar to sudo su in Linux or Run as Administrator in Windows. Normally phones do not give admin privileges to users, and thus some exploits are used by developers to get this access.
Unlock the bootloader. If you know what a bootloader is, you might as well understand what this does. All phones have a bootloader, which is bound to load only specific ROMs. In this case, the bootloader only identifies ROMs provided officially by SONY. Manufacturers provide an option to unlock bootloaders, which comes at a price - which is warranty void. My phone is almost 2 years old, and I certainly do not care about that. If you still do not get what a bootloader is, then in Ubuntu terms it's like uboot and in Windows terms something like BIOS(the blue thingy that sometimes comes during boot).
Find if a Custom ROM for your device exists, and it is stable. These ROMs are published by developers, who continuously work on improving the experience. But they are not paid employees, they do this because they love to. Don't expect the terms "guarantee/timeline/deadline" etc. from them. They'll try their best to make it work.

If you can dig in a bit, please find all info you need here - XDA developers

How did I do it?

Techglen gives a detailed description on the details. Here is a summary of the steps you need to do.

Download required stuff

ADB drivers(not required if on Ubuntu)
Custom ROM
Flashtool(Available for Windows and Ubuntu). For Ubuntu check here

Prepare the phone

Root and use and appropriate backup mechanism(I used Titanium Backup)
Unlock the bootloader
Copy the custom ROM into your SD card

Do it!

Flash the custom bootloader available along with the ROM(Follow detailed steps)
Enter CWM recovery(Power on and then tap Volume up/down buttons, varies with devices)
Flash the ROM
TADA! And you are done :)

Why did I do this?

Apart from the reasons I mentioned above, the experience with custom ROM has been really great.

The phone works well(better than it was),
KitKat looks great, has some neat features
Tons of customization possible
I'm getting a way better battery backup. To improve on this, I installed Greenify(hibernates the apps if not used), disabled all auto sync(Gmail, Play store, Google Now etc. ). My phone survives more than 24 hours now

Please not that this might have bugs. I found some issues with WiFi(found workarounds as well), and the ROM officially has some bugs with Bluetooth, NFC. But these are something that doesn't come in my day-to-day routine, and there is mostly a workaround for everything.

So in short, the experience with my phone looks better than before, and I'm still exploring the options! It's almost like you have a brand new phone to play with(I should say this is one big disadvantage for Windows/IOS based phones)

Don't hesitate to shoot any questions :)

Reacting to harassment, does it change anything?

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 11:07:00 +0000

Many a times as a girl I have come across scenarios and situations that made me feel that for a girl she is first a body then a person. Men ogling ,passing lewd comments, and even worse trying to get a touch as if that is going to offer them nirvana. What I don’t get is why do men take this huge risk of being caught and complained for such a minimalist amount of pleasure. Or is it that there is no risk at all? Recently we have been seeing this outcry that girls should start reacting more, and that would eventually lead to men being afraid and some how they will start respecting women. In my opinion Respect can never arise from fear. And the recent experience I had just fortifies it.

On the eve of new year I was travelling from my Hometown to Bangalore. Yeah the whole world was celebrating and I was in the dingy old Rajahamsa KSRTC. I was seated in the second row just behind the conductor. And after a while a guy got into the bus, kind of in his twenties. Normally when you book in RedBus, seats next to single ladies seats are reserved for ladies. Somehow this guy had his seat next to me. As in my character the precaution buzzer in my head got switched on as soon as dis guy occupied his seat next to me. It was a cold night and I was covered in a shawl , sweater and a blanket. So literally if he could make out I was a girl was only from my hair. After a while I could feel this guys elbow encroaching my side of the armrest. Though I was uncomfortable I adjusted myself in my seat telling myself that I was being a little too cautious and judgmental of guys. Even if it was a lady her elbow might’ve touched me. And then I slept off hoping for a happy new year. In between I was awaken by the same encroaching elbow .The guy seemed asleep, I woke him up and asked to move his hand away from the arm rest. No harm till now and I dozed off again.
A little while afterwards, his knees were giving company to his elbows and it was pushing me off to a corner of my seat. And the guy was sleeping in his seat turning to me. I was irritated this time and got up and sternly asked him to sit proper and not to put his arms like that on the arm rest. So folks, according to the general theories the guy might’ve already understood that I am not so tolerating and am reactive.that is I reacted when I was uncomfortable. And this should have set the guy off. And yet after a while I got up to find his hands crawling on my chest. Just to remember here that I am covered under a pile of blanket and sweater. So I hope the judgmental wont accuse me of being exposed on scantily clothed. In a reflex I caught his hands and twisted it. I could see him wincing in pain, and I was not satisfied by this. I started shouting at him in English and after a while in Malayalam. All he was uttering was sorry madam. Wasn't madam a phrase for someone you respect? I thought so. And so infuriated I was that I slapped him. I don’t know how everybody could sleep so deep in a rickety bus like that, whatever the case was none responded. I asked him to get up and go and turned to the window side . It was 3 am in the morning. What a great beginning to a new year. I sat there awkwardly staring into my phone. It was not that I was not able to sleep, I did not even want to try to. I sat their feeling repugnant of the creature beside me, waiting for the conductor to ask for a seat change. After a while I turned to the aisle side and then the guy started justifying or apologizing ,whatever you call it. “Madam somehow it happened, I could not help”. This broke loose the hell in me. My hands doesn't wander to anybody else’s body without my permission, do they?. What was he expecting? , that I will say ‘oh its OK brother, I know your hands could not contain that there is female body in the next seat in a bus and it went for a ride?’
I turned to him and shouted so loud and angry that I am going to complain this and all that. The passengers around started looking, and by the time the conductor who was next to me turned at me. But none said or asked anything. Why is it that people find it so hard to help someone in a situation like this?? Not even the conductor. Luckily or unluckily the next moment bus stopped at Mysore and this guy got out.

Thanks to the guy my new year morning was already spoiled. At 6 I landed in Bangalore, ready to face another year of harassment. And my new year resolution was to fight it off even harder than last year.Even if changes anything or not, at least I won’t feel guilty that I joined the lot of people who stood and watched my body being betrayed.

- Devilish Angel

Happy Auto, a must have app for Bangloreans, by Bangalore Traffic Police!

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 06:42:00 +0000

How many times have you been harassed by an Auto driver, how many times have you been overcharged? In Bangalore, people with no private vehicles go through this a couple of times each and every day. There is nothing anyone can do, even the Traffic police puts a blind eye on this most of the time.

Well, here is a step forward to ease things up. An Android app - Happy Auto. Go to the link on your Android phone, download it, and register your phone number. And then, you can rate every Auto ride you take in Bangalore! If you rate them good enough, the Auto Driver gets certain goodies from the Bangalore Traffic Police!(Yes you heard that right). They also will provide "Happy Auto" stickers, which in turn will help commuters to identify the "Good" auto-rickshaws! A brilliant, and much needed initiative in my opinion. Here is the screenshot of the feedback you can give for an Auto-Rickshaw

There you go, spread the word, utilize the opportunity, and let's make life better :)

Hope, that's making me blog again! #HopeProject

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Sun, 15 Dec 2013 16:39:00 +0000

It's been over an year since I jotted down a word on this blog. Not that I didn't want to, but I was too lazy to fetch content, put it into words, and then spread the word. I was more into wasting time, working, playing video games, watching series(Friends and now Breaking Bad). I'm still doing it, but something made me do this today.

I happened to attend the Milaap IndiBlogger Meet today. What is that? I had no idea till today noon, except that I'd have some fun with fellow bloggers. My usual partner decided not to go for this meet, so I was doubtful on whether to go for it. But then, it was again a lazy weekend and I wanted to do something.

I reached the venue, which was Microsoft Research India Labs, and had the usual faces of Vineet and Karthik greeting at the doors. There was also the cute lady photographer of IndiBlogger making rounds at the reception(Hope I'm not getting into trouble for this ;) ). I took my seat, and the crowd was looking a more serious and focused one compared to the #SoakNoMore and Office365 meets.

Then came in the Zombie, with an ever energetic mic to start-up things. Not including the details of the meet in here, I'm writing this for another cause.

A particular line by Zombie opened my eyes - "... with #IndiChange, we are making change, and we want to grow the sense of Social responsibility along with the each individual system... "

Yes! That is what we are lacking in our current generation. With AAP causing ruckus up in North, there is an indication that people want to do more. But where do we start? What do we do? Charity? Go up for social service? Not all these are practical for the current generation.

Here comes the interesting concept of Milaap. - http://milaap.org/how-it-works
Instead of giving charity to unknown agencies, or going down to earth to help people, you can make a loan to people in need. Now how many times have your friend borrowed a 1000 Rs from you? Can't you do the same for a greater good? The greater good being that you help people in need, to grow off their problems. Every penny you spend can be tracked, i.e., you know what it is being spent for. And to make it better, when then borrower pays it back as a loan(very very low interest), over a flexible period of time. Ain't it interesting? Well it's easy too. Go to their site, chose the project you want to support, give the money you would like to loan, just in a matter of clicks!

That's that for my first attempt over years... #HopeProject

It's Official - I'm a Blogger!

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 17:06:00 +0000

August 4, 2012 : 1.09 pm
The clouds were playing hide and seek, droplets spoiling the texture of my overcoat. I had stopped by a Red, and traffic was piling up on a busy afternoon at MG Road, Bangalore. I was on my two wheeler, the red beast, which was not too hot with the gloomy climate.
Rajbhavan Road kis tharaf hai?[Which way to Rajbhavan Road?], that question woke me up. Yes, I was heading to Rajbhavan road too, and I was asking the same question to lot of people to catch up. But when someone near asked the same question, it struck me, are they going to the meet too?

August 1, 2012 : 8.30 pm
Argh! Another boring day, when would I ever get back to the blogging spree? I was upset that I was not spending time on my Blog, which once made my life interesting. But with time, I went to the writer's block. Work caught up with me, and spending time with blog seemed to be difficult. Indiblogger was the only blogging community I followed, and I was clicking on random posts in there. It was the chance of this post - Life..Love Interrupted to get my attention, and full attention did it get! Great post in there Nabanita! Scrolled down to jot down a comment, and then scrolled up on the comments. That's when this particular comment, by Mr. Mahesh, caught my eyes...

"... I will be at the Indiblogger Meet at Bengaluru this weekend! Would you be coming? ... "

Wait what? A meet? At Bangalore?

August 4, 2012 : 1.11 pm
Ghosh! Traffic, I hate it. I hate to be at the meet at 1.30 pm, I have only 19 minutes! Being earlier than schedule was my hobby, and my need. I wondered if I would be late for the meet, which I definitely did not intend too. Then I hoped the people who asked the way to Rajbhavan might be going there too! Fellow Bloggers! I've never met any virtual fellow blogger, ever, and today, I was about to meet tons of them!

Dang! Tons of horns honking at top of its voice, the signal had gone green, time to swish through the traffic. And time to be at the meet on time.

August 1, 2012 : 8.35 pm
I was looking at the Indiblogger site which holds the details of the meet. It said - 1 Seat Available. Should I register? Before I asked too many questions to myself, I clicked on Register[I always regret on lost opportunities, not this time]. I filled in my name, and other details as if I was booking a Tatkal ticket on IRCTC, and it was done(Unlike IRCTC, this was much more efficient!). God! What have I done? Am I actually going to a public meet, to meet 150 strangers? 150 people who were virtual till date? Would I be ignored? Would I look stupid? Would I? Would I... ? 1000 questions came up. But in the end, I decided to go. I was officially going to be called a Blogger, and be a part of a huge community. Too big a task?

August 4, 2012 : 1.16 pm
Again traffic besides the Chinnaswamy Stadium, I've never been to this place. I've been checking Google Maps and asking people for the way to The Capitol Hotel, Rajbhavan Road. That's the place I'm going to meet a lot of strangers, and be a part of it! My heart was bumming on the thought of it, I've always been a quite guy, and especially Be away from Strangers guy. And I was still here, and ... crap, those horns again. The signal was green.

I sped past the stadium, crossed Dr. Ambedkar Road, and there I saw the Capitol Hotel. It looked like a Hi-Fi Hotel, god, where am I? Parked bike at the basement, and walked towards the entrance. I doubted one second before stepping in, which was catalyzed by the beaming Door Keeper. I went straight to the receptionist, but could not ignore the gleaming chandeliers hung by. I was wondering, what if I'm at the wrong place? What if the receptionist laughed at me on saying Indiblogger?. With all my courage, I asked, Indib..blogg.. meet, where is it? The receptionist acknowledged what I said, and pointed downstairs. So I was at the right place! I stepped down, and met a welcoming guy in Purple shirt who had Indiblogger written on it. Hi, I'm Karthik. We shook hands, and I replied We've met?, Of course we have! Karthik was beaming, this boosted myself. I entered the hall, which was Soaked by #SoakNoMore tags and Surf Excel. Registered myself, and found a lonely seat the last row. I spend some time alone there, exploring my new piece of gadget, Xperia P.

There were people in gangs, laughing, playing, enjoying... seems people know each other. Sigh, I'm going to be the lonely one... Then a guy with a Mic came to the center stage asking us to sit forward. The first rows were unoccupied, and then Harsha Chittar ran to sit upfront. 6 months Surf Excel free for Harsha! And there it began...

August 4, 2012 : 5.45 pm
With a gift hamper(1 kg front load Surf Excel), Two Tee-Shirts, a DVD Player(Yes! Samsung DVD Player!), I'm confused on how to get back home on a bike. And to add to this, it started drizzling. I wore my rain coat, barely stuffed the DVD Player into my half zipped bag, and clinged the gift hamper onto my bikes handle. I started going back, but again, the direction was a problem. I went through unknown roads, went through wrong roads, and finally got onto track. On familiar roads, I started looking back - what had happened the past 4 hours? I can barely recall everything...

August 4, 2012 : 2.15 pm
We started introducing ourself, the names would come up on the screen, and we had to introduce ourself. My name came in second! Omg, I ran out of words, gobbled something, and passed over the mike. People introduced, people laughed, gifts showered. And when all completed their part, it was time for action. We had to form groups of 4, select shirts, and give a team name. My team had Orange, and we were a bunch of enthusiastic brats. ! The first event was to throw balls into a bucket, with prizes handed over as T-shirts, then came Lagori! People were running up and down the hall! It was terrifically fun! And then we had to make anagrams with letters on our T-shirt. After somehow squeezing out 4 words of the 26 people group, the host - Anoop Zombie started talking
"... with 4 anagrams and 26 people, the winner of this Event is Team orange, and each one of them get a dvd player.."
Wait, what? Did I hear a DVD Player? Before I could verify what I heard, cheers poured in. Seriously? A DVD Player? OMG! I won a DVD Player! I couldn't hold myself, I roared - Orange Team Kiii!

August 4, 2012 : 5.55 pm
The drizzle was getting stronger, but less traffic means I can get to my destination less soaked. Haha! I had pledged to #SoakNoMore! On reaching home, I posted on Indiblogger forum, Had an awesome time @Indi's!!! It was just great! I scrolled up the other comments, and I found one I had posted earlier.

August 3, 2012 : 7.55 pm
I know none going to join the meet, what am I going to do there? I started adding up people who had registered for the meet, hoping for some contacts. Then I posted on the related thread. But I barely got any response. ! People are ignoring me, except Leo, and Princess Poo who filled the thread with smileys. They were the only people I could look forward to

August 4, 2012 : 6 pm
Laughing at myself on how dumb I was thinking that I was jumping to a sea of strangers. Fellow bloggers, best place to meet. I'd love to Soak with these bloggers again and again, ouch! Sorry, #SoakNoMore!

Nice meeting you guys, I know only a handful of names to thank - Leo Vinay, Princess Poo, Nabanita, Sibichen, Shiju, Mamata, Raghava, Farida Rizwan, Balaji, Anoop, Shruti, Anupama, Karthik, and the boss Renie! And of course all those who I've met, or seen - and to the pretty photographer too(I do not know her name) ;) Here is what I owned for the day!

and ofcourse

You can read more about our experience here - #SoakNoMore
Take a look at our pics here Pics

Mockdrill Havoc at Bangalore

noreply@blogger.com (Vinesh Balan) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 11:29:00 +0000

This incident happened at Bommanahalli(Opp. Salarpuria Serenity apartments), and next to my office Kalki Communications Ltd. on 7th August 2012

Another fine day at office(I wonder if fine and boring could be synonyms), after a heavy lunch at Paulosettan, Google Hurdles was the best past time. With flashes of coding and debugging coming in between, it was still a normal afternoon. But it was soon to be not so normal.

Amidst the monotonous rituals, alarming sounds began to buzz. They were coming from all around. Ah, it must be some VIP trying to get to some place, so I soothed myself. But then the Sirens remained, with hopes of silence diminishing. People started looking out, just to see Army Vehicles swishing around and parking in style, trucks sidelining, with people in classic Military green running around. There were people with florescent green and orange life-jackets running around. Wait, did I miss something? What is going on! No one had any idea. I moved on to the terrace, hoping to see a better view. Ambulances where swishing around, it had rained earlier, had a building collapsed? Or is it just a mockdrill? No idea. The hypothesis of Mock drill faded when people were rushed into ambulance, which rushed on again. Roads blocked, people running. Army around put forth the hypothesis of a terror attack, but they were just holding their rifles and enjoying the scene. So then, I uploaded a pic into Instagram

Chaos at Bommanahalli

There were lots of people looking around from my office, but none knew what was happening. Me and my colleague decided to take a stroll at the crime scene. And when we asked around, we came to know that it was a Mock Drill. Ouch! That sounded silly to us, here are a few pics.

Fire Engines soaring high

Rescuers carrying dummy casualities

The Boss(I guess)

Clearing out the road

Managing people - Not that easy eh?

The Boss(Again, I guess)

Neatly lined up trucks

It was a nice view to catch! And I hope the people had a great experience too!