Around the end of the month the SLT ADSL line starts to suffer. Usually when I change packages it seems to be fine for a few months then my connection seems to drop off constantly.

When I complain 2 guys show up and fiddle with the weather battered and corroded switch-box outside and make it work for a few more weeks.

I gave up a while ago. I’ve been using a Etisalat data dongle as a backup and it seems to be the only option that I have today.

I found this in the VirtualBox forum. It turns out you need to install these packages first.

sudo apt-get install dkms build-essential linux-headers-generic


Then install the deb file

sudo dpkg -i virtualbox-4.2_4.2.10-84104~Ubuntu~quantal_amd64.deb


Skype 6.3 crashes on Mac OSX 10.8.3 – Skype Community

I use Skype quite often so I’m going to hold off for a bit longer until things are sorted out.

Please add profile pictures if you want to connect.

By: Keith Williamson

Somebody has to say it. Being a professional in Sri Lanka is hard work. Most of the time you have to deal with people who don’t know what they are doing.

Without ranting on let me lay down a few cases and try to offer some advice (even though it might not be my job to do so).

1. Answer the phone

I’ve had a few freelancers do this to me usually when they are a bit late to deliver a project. Answer the phone. Tell me when or if you can deliver. That’s all I want to know.

Whatever the situation you answer the phone and deal with it. The more you dodge calls the less likely you are going to be hired the next time.

2. Other phone etiquette

• Don’t answer if you are in a meeting or you can’t take the call.
• Don’t answer the phone and tell me you are in a meeting or can’t take the call.
• Return my call during the day.

3. Do your job

There are a lot of people who know to sell but they don’t have much skills. You are killing the market by under pricing and delivering short.

Do your homework and do your job well, or someone will come along and clean up after you. After that you are done.

4. Customer Care

Figure this one out. I don’t think most of the big companies here know what they are doing when it comes to customer care.

The customer is not always right but they have a right to be treated well. Be transparent and forthcoming. If you can’t deliver admit it and find a way to come to a decent resolution.

5. Finish

Its easy to pick up a projects and drop them half way (and start dodging calls). It takes a professional to finish. In software usually the last 10% is crucial.

It doesn’t matter how many projects you have going on what matters is that you complete projects and your clients are happy.

6. Pay on time

Clients in Sri Lanka assume they get about 30 days credit on an invoice. Unless it says on the invoice there is no credit period. If you want credit ask for it or assume it needs to be paid right away.

Vendors need to mention this in invoices so there is no confusion.

Like I said it may not be my job to tell you how to be professional, but if you do a good job at it you can stand out from the rest.

So I went in and disabled almost everything I could find.

And now it looks like this.

I found a solution to hide the DropBox icon as well, but I figured I can live with these for now.

This is what happens when my 4 year old gets hold of my phone for 5 mins.

Keep your day job, start on the side if possible.

No one is going to lend you money at first but when things are picking up investment will come. It depends what you want. I chose to be independent for now.

Don’t borrow money from friends and family if you want to keep them that way. Ask them for referrals but don’t take their business.

Don’t say yes to everything. Pick your battles. Say no when you have to.

Don’t take a project if you can’t deliver or you don’t know what the requirement or scope is.

Take an advance, bill in stages, collect on deliverables. If payments stops, work stops. Move on.

Stick to your core skills, don’t get distracted by what others are doing.

Hire the best team possible.

By: Ramunas Geciauskas

Going through my messy blog posts for the last 5 years I realised that I need to become a better writer. Although it’s not my current job to write well, I think it needs to be better so I can improve my life.

All this time I thought this was a coder’s blog, one that shows I’m a good programmer and I’m willing to share and learn.

Boy was I wrong. There was very little I had written about coding at all. Mostly it was tech tips and rants.

I mean I didn’t check myself, I would just share something and go back to work.

Okay this changes everything. I’m 5 years too late to talk about code. I’m not just a coder anymore.

I belive if I rather share my unique story and my experiences it would be more meaningful and useful, so that’s what I’ll do.

Even if I fail again a few years down the line as a writer, it was worth going through this process to figure this out.