Companies complain that they can't find the right technical people. Technical people complain that companies have no idea who they're actually looking for. This time, Jack crosses to the other side of the table with Ashley Randall to find out why both might be right.

We look at how organizations turn operational problems into job descriptions, why they search for impossible unicorns, and what happens when the person they hire has the right skills for a job that doesn't actually exist as advertised. From HR screening and mismatched expectations to KPIs, management workshops, organizational silos, and the eternal question of whether HR is really there for you, we explore what happens when technical specialists and the business speak very different versions of the same language.

Sometimes the problem isn't the person you hired. It's the job you thought you were hiring them for.

To find out more about Ashley Randall and Aspiring Redirection, visit:
Ashley Randall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-randall7/
Aspiring Redirection: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aspiring-redirection/

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-27-wrong-person-right-skills/

00:00 Introduction
00:43 Business Perspective
02:03 Hiring Challenges
04:48 Evaluating Talent
07:02 Structural Issues
08:52 Role Mismatches
13:24 Miscommunication Effects
17:15 Improving Processes
24:00 Culture and Metrics
33:43 HR and Employee Relations
39:23 Conclusion

Jack talks with Harvey Scolnick about his years working with air traffic control technology and the failures that came with it. From construction work accidentally cutting a critical cable and knocking an air traffic control facility offline, with systems unavailable and aircraft still in the sky, to the people on the ground having to fall back on procedures, neighboring facilities, and some very human problem-solving.

In addition, we look at the redundancy behind air traffic control, what recovery looks like when safety-critical infrastructure fails, and why even carefully designed systems can still be brought down by something remarkably mundane.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-26-cleared-for-disaster/

Find out more about Harvey Scolnick : https://www.scolnickatc.com/

00:00 Introduction
00:55 Harvey's Journey
02:13 Becoming ATC
05:34 Airways and Radar
07:03 Separation Standards
11:21 Busy JFK
14:33 Iconic Aircrafts
21:12 Technology Upgrades
29:27 Preventative Measures
38:10 AI and Future
41:27 Weather Challenges
43:57 Conclusion

Someone asked us why we weren't on MeshCore yet. First we had to establish that it wasn't a new kind of thrash metal. Then we discovered an off-grid messaging network built from little radios, antennas, repeaters, and licence-free spectrum.

So we started digging. How does it route messages ? How private is it ? What happens when repeaters disappear ? And haven't we built something suspiciously similar before ? MeshCore turns out to be considerably more interesting than just another messaging app.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/jacks-rants-meshcore/

MeshCore documentation used :

- FAQ : https://docs.meshcore.io/faq/
- Packet Format : https://docs.meshcore.io/packet_format/
- Payloads : https://docs.meshcore.io/payloads/
- Companion Protocol: https://docs.meshcore.io/companion_protocol/
- CLI Commands : https://docs.meshcore.io/cli_commands/

MeshCore Map : https://meshcore.co.uk/map.html

00:00 Introduction
00:46 Discovering Mesh Core
02:09 Radio and Repeaters
05:19 Free Radio Insights
10:35 Encryption and Privacy
14:26 Old Meets New
15:19 Infrastructure Challenges
18:16 Conclusion

IT may run on the same protocols everywhere, but the people operating it certainly don't. Put teams from different countries, companies, and working cultures onto the same project and apparently simple questions about responsibility, communication, deadlines, and escalation can suddenly have very different answers.

This episode looks at what happens when those differences become part of the technical problem. From assumptions that nobody realised they were making to communication styles that work perfectly well locally but collide spectacularly across borders, we discuss how international IT teams get themselves into trouble — and what years of working across cultures can teach you about avoiding it.

And no, the solution isn't another mandatory cultural-awareness PowerPoint.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-25-cultural-differences-in-it/

00:00 Introduction
00:41 Cultural Intricacies
03:12 Sales Challenges
06:02 Engineering Insights
10:32 Crisis Management
14:10 Data Center Differences
16:00 Luxembourg's Unique Edge
17:52 European Culture Wrap-up

Texas, 1978. Robert was working at a cotton co-op running what may have been one of the world's earliest online auction systems. Farmers received punch cards representing their bales of cotton - occasionally complete with enough stray cotton fibres to jam the card readers - while buyers placed bids remotely using leased IBM 3270 terminals and acoustic coupler modems.

After an upgrade, the mainframe refused to come back properly. An IPL produced a corrupted device address before dropping the machine into a hard wait. Single-cycling the processor indicated that an UNPK (Unpack) instruction was producing the wrong output from perfectly good input. The instruction itself had effectively broken.

And yes, this episode contains a lot of old IBM hardware and mainframe terminology. We know. That's part of the fun.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-24-when-unpk-broke/

00:00 Introduction
00:43 Robert's Background
02:14 IBM DOS
03:27 Cotton Auction System
05:37 Online Auction
07:14 SNA Protocol
09:05 Hardware Issue
13:20 Debugging Unpack
17:13 IBM Fix
21:23 Conclusion

A modern pinball machine isn't just flippers, bumpers, lights, and a very large box making expensive noises. It's a connected computer with software updates, online score tracking, player accounts, remote management, and an Internet connection. Evert Brochez from Torius joins Jack to explain how pinball evolved from electromechanical machines into something that looks suspiciously like an IoT device.

But once you connect a pinball machine to the Internet, familiar IT questions start appearing. Who maintains the software? How long will it be supported? What can operators manage remotely? How much do we trust the manufacturer with security and access? We look at modern pinball from the operator's perspective, the realities of software quality, and the surprisingly unanswered cybersecurity questions that appear when the arcade machine becomes another device on the network.

Find out more about Torius :

Website : https://www.horecaspelen.be/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Bingovit
Flippers & Bier Podcast (in dutch) : https://open.spotify.com/show/5kvyHkIfo6HfdlulPeDScL

More about Comic Sans :

Gent : https://cafecomicsans.be/
Brussels : https://www.comicsansbrussels.be/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/cafecomicsans

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-23-pinball-as-iot/

00:00 Introduction
00:34 Pinball Enthusiast
02:20 Pinball Operations
03:54 Maintenance Insights
05:16 IoT Integration
06:53 Player Engagement
09:44 Tech Challenges
13:41 Future Features
21:57 Software Updates
30:19 Conclusion

The Three Envelopes: Blame, Reorganize, Repeat

There is an old management joke about an outgoing manager leaving three numbered envelopes for their successor. When the first crisis arrives: blame your predecessor. The second: reorganize. And when the third arrives... prepare three envelopes.

We look at why this joke has survived for decades, and why anyone who has worked in corporate IT will recognise far too much of it. From inherited problems and reorganisations to management changes that somehow leave the underlying problems untouched, they explore what the Three Envelopes tells us about blame, accountability, and the wonderfully repetitive nature of IT organisations.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-22-the-three-envelopes/

00:00 Introduction
01:01 The Three Envelopes
05:02 Blame Management
10:28 Management Insights
19:10 Entertaining Anecdotes
23:35 Conclusion

Jack's Rants - Why You Need to Reboot : Why Rebooting Your Computer Actually Fixes Problems

"Have you tried turning it off and on again ?" became an IT cliché for a reason. Rebooting clears accumulated state, resets resources, and fixes a surprising number of problems.
From Unix uptime bragging rights to mainframe IPLs and Windows servers nobody is allowed to restart, every system has its own relationship with rebooting. Maybe what we really need is a reboot SLA.

Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/jacks-rants-can-i-keep-your-id/

00:00 Introduction
02:17 Developer Habits
04:01 Mainframes & Servers
06:18 Reboot Realities
08:19 Conclusion