I'd like a dumbphone that runs WhatsApp as 99% of the time that's the only way my family and friends communicate with me. Carrying around a smartphone all day just in case someone WhatsApps me feels like overkill.

It's so rare that someone actually calls me or sends an SMS. And when my kids call me, it's always through WhatsApp as they barely understand the concept of non-Internet calling.

I wasn't, but don't focus on the actual amounts - they were just arbitrary figures. Although salaries in Europe are a lot lower than the US.

But my point was that a lot of employers are flexible and will make exceptions for good candidates, regardless of experience. Specifying a salary can cast the net too narrowly. Finding a good developer is hard over here, there aren't many available.

@scottalanmiller said in Job postings with no salary listed:

@RandyBlevins said in Job postings with no salary listed:

I never understood the whole asking salary is taboo thing.

that's an excuse. It's not taboo to anyone. That's something employers claim in the hopes that people won't call their bluffs.

Discussing money generally is something of a taboo in the UK, but I understand it isn't in the US. I have some sympathy with firms not advertising salary if (and only if) it is because they are willing to look at a wide variety of experience and talent and will pay market rates depending on the candidate they offer the role to.

For example, let's say you want an experienced developer at $50k, but find an inexperienced one willing to work for $30k, and they are the stand-out candidate, you might prefer to employ the inexperienced one and train him up, with a view that he'll start on $30k but will eventually be paid $50k (or $60k). By advertising the role at $50k, the inexperienced candidate might not even apply.

Sure, you might advertise the role as "$30-50k depending on experience", but does that help? I can see that argument that says candidates know what they're worth, this is the job requirements, if you think you can make a difference then apply and if we agree we'll pay you what you're worth.

On the other hand, if you're on $50k then you're never going to take a job that pays $40k and you don't want everyone to waste their time just because money wasn't discussed early enough in the conversation.

But this is where a good external recruiter should be able to handle things.

@scottalanmiller said in What Are You Drinking:

@travisdh1 that's REAL Pilsner Urquel!

Wait, did America steal Pilsner Urquel as well as Budweiser?

Our local micro-brewery now does deliveries of cask ale. One of the brewers just dropped off 3 litres on the way home from her shift. So I'm fairly happy again, after all the pubs/bars have been closed here in England since March.

@Dashrender said in Microsoft Teams:

Thanks for this post - my early googles didn't land me on anything, but this morning got lucky.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/change-participant-settings-for-a-teams-meeting-53261366-dbd5-45f9-aae9-a70e6354f88e?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

A good example of what's wrong with Teams. It's so complicated that even someone like you can't always figure it out. Bob the Sales Manager has no chance.

I've never understood how Microsoft manage to make products so convoluted. Then someone like Zoom comes along and shows how simple things can be.

Like I said above, he likes programming Python, nothing to do with gaming.

Thanks, he's going to take a look at solarus. He does like 2D, he loves Terraria.

His favourite game is Dota 2. He wants to become a developer, so anything that will teach him to code is great, but he's also studying art, so anything that helps develop his art skills is also educational. I'm trying to find something that he can get in to whilst stuck at home, but will also help him educationally.

Keep the suggestions coming please.

I'd like my 14-year old (a keen gamer) to develop a game, whilst he's off-school for the next few months. He's learnt some Python at school (which he enjoys), but that's it.

Can anyone recommend a good environment he can get into? Maybe something like Unreal Engine (first Google result). I'd like something that is quick and easy to get going ideally, as I'm having trouble inspiring him to give anything a go. As a kid, I loved writing games for my ZX Spectrum (in Basic, never got into Assembly). He's very artistic, so I'd like something that inspires him from a graphical design perspective.

Ideally, I'd love something that he could work on collaboratively online with his best mate.

@scottalanmiller said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

Installing a bath tub and working on system documentation.

Impressive multi-tasking there

@scottalanmiller said in Compare Azure to Windows On Prem for Normal Business Workloads:

Yes, it integrates with O365 which is nice, if you have O365 which they do with the customer that uses it. They don't like it, though. But they put up with it for the integration and price.

Integration with O365 is the only reason to use Teams IMO. But it is crap. I introduced it in our organisation and now most people hate me

However, Microsoft have spent a lot of money on slick TV adverts in the UK for it, so hopefully they'll invest in it and make it good.

We use it as a user-friendly front-end for Sharepoint, but I still end up opening Sharepoint if I want to do anything other than rudimentary document management, as Teams struggles.

We use it as a replacement for (consumer) Skype for messaging and screen sharing, but getting people to use it instead of Skype is a struggle. Skype is not great, but it's better. We use it for meetings, but free Zoom is much better.

I've never managed to get the calendar working correctly when organising Teams meetings. The chat is confusing, and we have lots of examples of people missing messages. To the extent that users sometimes send a Skype message that says "Did you get my Teams message?" Although I don't always get my Skype messages, so....

The embedded document editor is flaky, to the extent that I tell users to always select "Open in Desktop App" rather than "Edit in Teams".

I've tried using Microsoft Planner for project management (separate product but integrates nicely within Teams), but it's just not as good as the free version of Trello.

But, but, but.....I like the concept of a unified front-end interface to all our apps (Sharepoint, Planner, Word, IM etc etc), it's just not there yet. But it's still relatively new, and Microsoft have enough money to throw at it to make it work, eventually. I'm hoping my colleagues will eventually like me again