cruise

How to Remote - Part 1 of n...

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 15:45:00 +0000

I just scribbled this down since I’ve been asked multiple times on how to be efficient when working from home. Here’s some tips that will hopefully help you:

Have a separate place to work. Have a separate place to sleep / eat / relax. Do not mix them up. Everyone makes the mistake of working from their beds. Stop that!
Have specific times to work. Dont go into this never-ending spree of working because you have a stable internet connection and uninterrupted power. Start at a fixed time, STOP at a fixed time. Note the emphasis on Stop.
Take regular breaks. Go for a quick walk - Even if its the confines of your home. Stretch, stay hydrated, spend a few minutes talking to your family - The context switch lets you come back fresher and geared up for more. I’ve worked remote nearly half of my career of 15 years and trust me - That context switch is insanely powerful!
Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. You’re no longer working face to face. The key to working efficiently when remote and not under someone’s watchful eyes is to communicate. Its fine to bombard the channels with what you’re up to. When your team knows what you’re up to, everyone works smoother.

With that, here’s some tips for the leads / managers / whoever manages a team:

This remote work thing that everyone is going through - the scale of this is unprecedented. Too many people, including yourself have been thrown into the paradigm without a chance to prepare. So, here’s some tips for you:

Remote work does not mean you ping your team member every minute to check if they’re working. Trust them to deliver and they will. Trust them to not, they’ll prove you right!

You have to grow into a larger role than the manager you were at work! You need to now prepare to enable your team to work without supervision and deliver. Spend a few minutes every night to prepare a task list for each of your team members to try to accomplish the next day.

Note: The task list is a happy list. You and your team aspire to complete it. But you do not penalise if its not done. A good middle ground is if atleast 60-70% is done.

Ease your team into the remote paradigm - Have a call with them first thing in the morning. Walk through the list and help them understand very clearly what the tasks are so they can operate on them independently. Choose the right set of tools so you can enable them to collaborate well. Refer to point 4 in the list above. Communication starts from you and flows downward.
Make sure you understand the team well and make them feel comfortable - They’re scared. Everyone has the right to be. Their productivity will not be the same as how it was when you were all in the safe confines of your office. Be their support system.
Change every conversation from “why you did / didnt do this” to “how can we change the process so this doesnt happen”. Make the discussion about issues. Not about people. Its embarassing to be screamed at when one’s at home and is surrounded by family. A job is a point of pride, make the effort to keep it that way.

Will throw in some more tips next time…

Take care! Stay safe!

Go Remote or Wind up!

Tue, 10 Mar 2020 06:08:00 +0000

The whole #covid19 pandemic is an amazing opportunity to gear up for the next level.

For every single organization looking to hire for the best employees out there, here’s just 2 words: Go Remote!

Treat this international situation as an opportunity to hire remotely. And Here’s why: A person who says he / she will work remote has already ticked off a lot of boxes -

They’re self motivated
They learn on their own
They can work with a broad requirement and dig around to get work done.

These are some of the main qualities that you look for when you hire. All you need to do is hire a person ready to work remotely, enable them and trust that work WILL BE DONE.

When you want someone to work with you and they do not have to be in your office, your talent pool increases exponentially - You now have the entire world of talent to tap into!

This is an experiment at a global scale. Be part of it. Benefit immensely!

I’d love to help you / your organizations go remote. Email me at mail@cruisemaniac.com and we can get chatting!

#remotework #hiring

Sassc nightmares with Docker

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 17:47:00 +0000

We run our infra on AWS Fargate. This means docker images. Our docker image is based on debian buster packaged with Ruby 2.6.5.

Of late, we’ve had crashes on and off everytime the container boots up. They all have the same symptom: Rails tries to load the sassc gem and it barfs!

The biggest problem is the unpredictability of the crash. It might happen.

It might not!

Dear team that built the sassC gem, you guys are giving every docker operator nightmares. It crashes sometimes, it doesn’t crash sometimes.

Please fix this...
— Ashwin Murali (@cruisemaniac) February 4, 2020

If you run rails and make use of the sassc gem which you most probably will do, you might run into a problem when the gem is loaded:

/vendor/bundle/ruby/2.6.0/gems/ffi-1.11.1/lib/ffi/library.rb:112: [BUG] Illegal instruction at 0x00007f759d834a15

You’ll see a nasty long thread dump and your app will fail to start.

This is caused by the 2.2.1 version of sassc where the portability between processor architectures was removed post version 2.1.0.

There’s two ways to fix this:

Downgrade your gem from 2.2.1 to 2.1.0 until the team releases an official patch - The bug is still open and has been reported across multiple ruby versions.
Install the gem manually like so:
```
gem install sassc -- --disable-march-tune-native
```
The above step will cause a manual compile of the underlying libraries for the gem and the problem goes away.

Happy rubying!

Secure your DNS Queries

Thu, 22 Feb 2018 15:22:00 +0000

As part of my home server setup (which warrants a post very soon), I’ve setup a DNSCrypt resolver. This was heavily inspired by Abhay (Nemo) who’s setup a DNSCrypt resolver on Digital Ocean in Bangalore.

My server takes the second number for DNSCrypt resolvers in Bangalore, INDIA.

Here’s the configuration for the tech guys and hence the TLDR;:

ProviderKey A6FA:B764:A3D7:A1C7:208D:11DA:0184:8602:81A5:0887:BC42:3DDE:FD33:CF77:0B7A:EFFF
ResolverAddress 106.51.128.78:4434
ProviderName 2.dnscrypt-cert.qag.me

The server does not respond to insecure DNS requests on port 53. This means you’ll need to setup either Unbound / dnscrypt-proxy to get this going. I’ll put up a post on how to set this up shortly.

The server does not log any DNS queries. The only metrics I get out of the server are these:

total.num.queries=2357
total.num.queries_ip_ratelimited=0
total.num.cachehits=894
total.num.cachemiss=1463
total.num.prefetch=606
total.num.zero_ttl=2
total.num.recursivereplies=1463
total.requestlist.avg=4.02465
total.requestlist.max=31
total.requestlist.overwritten=0
total.requestlist.exceeded=0
total.requestlist.current.all=0
total.requestlist.current.user=0
total.recursion.time.avg=0.645631
total.recursion.time.median=0.889858
total.tcpusage=0
time.now=1519313244.596154
time.up=4252.237591
time.elapsed=4252.237591

What you get out of using a DNSCrypt based resolver is more important - No one knows what websites you’re asking for. Google does not need to know what you’re up to! They mine ONE LESS user’s data. The internet is a decentralised place! Lets try to keep it that way!

Since this is a DNS server, downtime at my end can break your internet. While all attempts will be made to keep this rolling strong, I have setup a (status page) to let you know if it does go down!

To an internet without the devils!

Starting Off 2018

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 08:40:00 +0000

2018 has started off slow, but steady. I’ve promised myself to NOT set any resolutions to keep up / follow for 2018. I’ve also promised myself to concentrate on one thing and ONE thing only.

Get things done. One thing at a time.

Well, in that regard, I’ve finally gotten around to setting up my Home server - It now hosts the following:

My personal document store
My mail server / MX (Huge shout out to the ACT tech team for getting this done quick) - separate blog post coming in soon
My web server + test bed

Things to come soon:

DNS resolver - WIP
Plex Media server for home
Other non-descript stuff that I can work with

I’ve also gotten back to cycling with much more earnest than before. I have a target to achieve this year and while this is not a resolution, It would be awesome to hit that number!

73km of Unknown done. ;-)

I think this is how I’ve always intended to live life - Take it as it comes!

A rant on IT

Wed, 20 Dec 2017 14:28:00 +0000

The IT industry needs Bouncers

A doctor is supposed to invest time as a student, work as an apprentice and then gain a post-graduation to be able to get into an operation theatre and perform surgery on a human. To top it all, they’re required to swear by an Oath to protect human lives and act with compassion.

Why is it then that a an engineer is not required to undergo any of this jugglery? See the “jugglery” derogative there?

IT has an extremely low barrier to entry - so low that you can get in and learn on the job, make mistakes, forget, be forgiven and move on… Because software and data right! - they can always be corrected.

And us engineers are aplenty - one goes, another replaces the gap. And therein lies the problem. Absolute lack of respect! Absolutely no commitment to the task at hand! Almost absent ethics and value systems!

And somehow, we end up using swathes and swathes of software and drive the digital revolution forward. Its sad that most of us do not realise this is a problem.

Lets go out of the way and do some math: The formula for mathematical average:

Sum of all Entities / Number of Entities.

Now, given a mean value or average, as you add more entities that are lower than the mean value, the average goes down even further.

Eg: (5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1) / 5 = 3

(5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1.2 + 1.3 + 1.4 + 1) / 8 = 2.36

Magically! The converse works just as well - When numbers greater than the mean are introduced, the mean value goes up:

(5 + 4 + 3.2 + 3.3 + 3.4 + 3 + 2 + 1) / 8 = 3.1125

Okay, math class over.

Apply this to the IT industry - The more working pool you have below the mean, the harder it is to get good output from the industry. Snowball this and you suddenly understand why the IT slowdown and layoffs are affecting us.

Technical competence has never been the strong point of our industry. In fact, its our achilles heel. Our competence in the world has been on cost. Something that has been exploited to the point where even with the lowest cost in international business markets we’re losing business.

I like to present it as it really is - we’re heading straight up for armageddon in the Indian IT space.

This can be handled in one of two ways -

Ensure people learn and learn really well.

This is definitely not possible since neither the employee nor the employer wants to spend time and most importantly money on actual learning.

We’re as a society flawed in our approach to education. Our emphasis has always been on the destination rather than on the journey. We have engineers who know the terms and have insanely high grades but are not employable because they never spent time understanding how something works under the hood!

What we’re behind is “certification” - a piece of paper which somehow adds “completely absent” value to the possessor with regards to a particular technology - and this is the biggest SCAM in the Indian IT industry today.

Raise the barrier to entry. Bring on some bouncers here! Why does an engineer need to be in IT if its only for the money? The stock market makes more right? Ensure that your interviews are tightened down.

Companies of size no longer matter. Suddenly with all the SME’s playing hardball, the game is to play hard and play fast. Complacence and Authoritarian setups don’t work anymore.

Companies and employees both need to realise that engagement in IT is a two way street - Accountability from both sides. As an employee, You’re paid to add value! As an employer, you’re paid to consume that value the right way and expend it to the customers you serve as an organization.

For a lot amongst us, IT is a legal get-rich-quick scheme - Yearly hikes, foreign travel, possible immigration, you’re set for life!

But for a lot of other people, the genuine ones that drive the industry forward, this is blood and passion! This is their life’s work, this is their life’s dream! I think its bloody time we respected that!

No More Facebook

Fri, 20 Jan 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I got off facebook today. My account isnt active anymore. There’s a point to which you can stand those ToS changes that Facebook makes and then breaks for their benefit. To have random ads showing up in my feed is just not worth anymore! And sitting there isnt giving me any money either.

I’m no big Security and Privacy advocate but if Facebook knows when you’re taking a leak, you should definitely be concerned!

If you ARE really interested in deleting your facebook account, and should you be interested to know why I did this, read up more here.

I’m still on twitter. And I’m trying out diaspora… Lets see how that turns out!

As a parting note, let me leave you with this thought:

Don’t confuse privacy with secrecy. I know what you do in the bathroom, but you still close the door. That’s because you want privacy, not secrecy. (From I have nothing to hide. Why should I care about my privacy?)

And then we rode...

Tue, 15 Nov 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Day one - Tour of Karnataka .

What a day! I couldn’t be happier! 150 km covered in just over 7 hours of riding…

The usual knee pain, but in all an amazing ride.

Idli and vada did not help once again… And I had to resort to energy bars to push to lunch point at 119km.

The heat almost killed me post lunch.. Hassan should be renamed HAS-ONLY-SUN. Chennai would lose hands down in heat wave comparisons.

A few things to note and a few learnings from what went wrong:

Your pace matters. Not your comrades… If you have a match, awesome, else, ride solo…
Random speed changes don’t work… There’s a reason “Cadence” is the undertone for cycling.
Water, Aqua, hydrate the fuck out of your body… No water is dangerous. You have energy you cannot spend and you start sweating which is step 1 to bonking.

One thing that I noticed was my body overheating and complaining - basically revolting to pedal… Head -> water -> dunk.

Thanks to Chethan Ram for the amazing act he’s put together in the name of TOK!

If someone who picked up a cycle after 16 years 2 months ago managed 150km in 7 hours, a huge chunk of credit goes to the team…

It does work if you have a good leader….

More pain, more updates, tomorrow…

I will however leave you with a thought:

To overcome pain, you need to learn to enjoy it…

That’s like saying you want front row seats to a showdown between your butt and your seat refreed by a sponge wearing Spandex.

Cycling and the Tour of Karnataka

Sun, 13 Nov 2016 19:00:00 +0000

I moved to Bangalore in July this year and the first thing I realised that there was no way I was prepared to share my paychecks with Uber. There was no way I was going to stay stuck in traffic for 2 hours in each direction either.

The only option left, that I’d put on the back burner was Cycling. So I went ahead, spoke to a few friends, met the inspiring Mr. Chethan Ram, and bought myself a Marin.

The first ride from the shop till home made me question myself - Why did I plop such a huge chunk of my savings on a piece of metal that doesnt have a fuel tank OR an engine? I’ve trekked, I’ve gone swimming… But nothing drained me like this blue piece of aluminium.

And then the morning rides started.. First it was an attempt to better the 10km with a 20… Then came the 20km rides every other day. And then 40km mark.

One bright sunny day, the commute to work happened… 20kms, peak bangalore traffic, 1 hour. Note this - ONE HOUR via Bannergatta road all the way into Indiranagar!

When some guys said that cycling is contagious, I thought they were kidding and it was for only the guys in the prime of their fitness, not for a middle-aged geek like me. I couldnt be further from the truth!

Fast forward to today, I’ve put in over a 1000kms on the bike AND have signed up for the longest bike ride I’ve yet had my signts on - 600kms from Bangalore to Udipi across 4 days - The Tour of Karnataka, starting Nov 16.

Cycling, I’ve come to learn, is an individual thing…

The breeze on your face, the sweat in pushing for that extra mile, the conscious self-checks to ensure you dont bonk, the muscles crying in agony, gritting your teeth to push and better your last run - its a goodie bag of everything.

The folks cycling with Cadence90 have been nothing sort of stellar, I’m in the tour more for the company, the dialogues, the culture, more so than the cycling and the distance itself..

Yes, there’s bound to be amazing food, great views, the mere challenge of climbing the western ghats and coming out the other side, those are just free add-ons…

Cycling is my new signature!

Follow me on strava here.

Git vulnerability announced! Upgrade your git client

Fri, 19 Dec 2014 06:50:00 +0000

Git just announced a new release (ver 2.2.1) of the git client that fixes a vulnerability affecting all git users on Windows and Mac OSX operating systems. Github says this:

The vulnerability concerns Git and Git-compatible clients that access Git repositories in a case-insensitive or case-normalizing filesystem. An attacker can craft a malicious Git tree that will cause Git to overwrite its own .git/config file when cloning or checking out a repository, leading to arbitrary command execution in the client machine. Git clients running on OS X (HFS+) or any version of Microsoft Windows (NTFS, FAT) are exploitable through this vulnerability. Linux clients are not affected if they run in a case-sensitive filesystem.

We strongly encourage all users of GitHub and GitHub Enterprise to update their Git clients as soon as possible, and to be particularly careful when cloning or accessing Git repositories hosted on unsafe or untrusted hosts.

If you’re using homebrew, the process is very very simple:

brew doctor

brew update

brew upgrade git

You can download the latest clients for windows and OSX from the links provided. They have been patched for the vulnerability already.