I'm going to let you in to three TOP SECRET rules for getting hired. These are the hidden techniques used by TOP interviewers… Never Tell The Candidates The Rules Of Success I read an infuriating blog post recently: "If someone doesn't send a thank you email, don't hire them". This is a great way to limit your talent pool. Personally, I've been hiring for a dozen years, and I've never received …
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The GNU Unifont project is amazing. It contains every Unicode glyph in one single file! I am going to argue that you should bundle it with your apps, your operating systems, and - at a pinch - your websites. The Unifont is a perfect fallback font. If your app or website uses a Unicode character which isn't supported on a device, the user will usually see � - a replacement character. If you i…
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My pal Thea Cochrane is doing brilliant things with the British Library Sound Archive 🔊 💾 Download this audio file. You can follow along @BLSoundHeritage. 🎧 Stick this Podcast Feed into your podcatcher. 🍏 Subscribe on iTunes. 🎵 Intro music "Gran Vals" performed by Brian Streckfus. ⏱ Stopwatch Icon by Ilsur Aptukov from The Noun Project. 🄯 This podcast is licensed under a Creative …
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I use a password manager. I have 2FA set up on everything. When an organisation asks me to set a recovery question, I generate a 32 character passphrase. I don't use my mother's maiden name or my first pet's birthday on anything sensitive. I monitor my email addresses for breaches, and I regularly check my credit file. I'm doing everything a geek can to protect their online life. Is it enough? …
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I loathe performance reviews. OKRs, KPIs, EYRs? Bleugh! There's a level of introspection which always makes me intrinsicly uncomfortable. Besides, I always feel like I've done nothing worthwhile other than arse about on a computer. In my new job, I decided to keep an achievement journal. Well, a Trello list of tasks I've done well. This has been most useful. I looked though my record of…
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I'll be wording this post carefully as What 3 Words (W3W) have a tenacious PR team and, probably, have a lot more lawyers than I do. W3W is a closed product. It is a for-profit company masquerading as an open standard. And that annoys me. A brief primer. The world is a sphere. We can reference any point on the surface of Earth using two co-ordinates, Longitude and Latitude. Long/Lat are…
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How can you quickly tune up your computer security? Dan Raywood - Contributing Editor at Infosecurity Magazine shares his wisdom with us. 🔊 💾 Download this audio file. If you're interested in an open source password manager, I'm happy to personally recommend BitWarden 🎧 Stick this Podcast Feed into your podcatcher. 🍏 Subscribe on iTunes. 🎵 Intro music "Gran Vals" performed by Bria…
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When I was at school, we had to wear a uniform. Black trousers, white shirt, brown blazer, brown tie. Coincidentally, it was more-or-less the same uniform as the local supermarket. On the last day of school, I ripped off my tie and vowed never to wear one again. And, aside from the occasional wedding and funeral, I've kept my promise. Which leads me to this 100% true story. Jessica…
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When the NHS was launched in 1948, this leaflet was sent out to everyone. I wanted to recreate the coat of arms that was on top to print on a t-shirt. Sadly, the scan available is too low a resolution for most modern purposes. Wikipedia has vector logos of most of the coats of arms - but not this one. In desperation, I emailed the College of Arms. They sent me back the most delightful LMGTFY …
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I'm joined by my old school-chum Rebecca Bradshaw - as we talk about an innovative recycling company - TerraCycle. You can find out more about their recycling programme on Twitter. 🔊 💾 Download this audio file. Sorry for the slightly iffy audio-quality. The call recorder on my phone is OK for admin, but not brilliant for podcasting. Will try to record future episodes in person of via V…
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I'm joined by Suw Charman-Anderson - powerhouse and founder of Finding Ada. 🔊 💾 Download this audio file. You can follow Finding Ada on Twitter and you can support the project on Patreon. If you'd like to have a chat with me - get in touch. 🎧 Stick this Podcast Feed into your podcatcher. 🍏 Subscribe on iTunes. 🎵 Intro music "Gran Vals" performed by Brian Streckfus. ⏱ Stopwatch Icon…
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Like all true geeks, my laptop is a smörgåsbord of stickers dedicated to openness. And, like all true geeks, I have loads of t-shirts that advertise failed start-ups, trendy apps, and unconferences. Why not combine the two? (Thanks to Matt Edgar for the NHS artwork.) (Thanks to Jukesie for his MVB design.) You can buy them from the GovGeeks SpreadShirt store. Available in a range of s…
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