My work

My pre‑professional background is described in this note.

TP SA (2001–2004)

Work tends to consume more of me than I’d like — but there are plenty of rewarding moments too.

What do I actually do? I worked in the ISDN customer‑service maintenance team. My opinion of ISDN? Paraphrasing Einstein: God created analog phones; everything else is the work of the devil…

So it’s customer support, but also signaling tests — mainly DSS1 and SS7 — and all the protocol test gear that comes with it.

Protocol testers are fascinating devices. I mostly used Tektronix equipment — the K1297 (Classic and G20) — and my favorite: the distributed signaling monitoring system Net‑7 (also Tektronix).

I’ve realized telecom protocols have become my professional hobby horse, but I won’t bore you with them here.

I also do some software work around telecom. I’ve built a few apps — some better, some worse — but the most appreciated (not necessarily the best 😉) was Web‑to‑UUS2 Gateway, built with a colleague.

We submitted it to the internal Telekreator 2002 competition and in February 2003 it won second prize in the Services category. Quite a thrill — even a handshake from the CEO.

I keep improving my C++ skills. Coming from old‑school C, the hardest part was changing how I think. It’s slow, but I’ve reached the point where I can’t imagine a program without classes and objects.

I also discovered the power of Perl — because what other language lets you write code that looks like a censored conversation between sailors?

I’ve also been using PHP and SQL (MySQL, SQL Server 2000, Oracle 8). Useful tools, all of them.

Siemens (2004–2006)

For over a year I worked at the Wrocław branch of Siemens Com SDC SI B 1.

My job involved integration of intelligent‑network projects. I hope to find time to write more about INs and, especially, the protocols used there.

What carried over from my previous job?

• Reading decoded protocols. Tektronix dominates the protocol‑tester market, and both TPSA and Siemens (and, as I learned later, most operators) use K1205/K1297‑class gear. My TPSA experience was directly useful. Protocols differ (E‑DSS vs CAP, SINAP, MAP…), but the tools feel the same.
• Programming? Not much day‑to‑day. If I code, it’s small tools for my own use — mostly in Perl. But every engineer should be able to hack together something that makes work easier.
• SQL knowledge — definitely useful. Intelligent‑network systems (SCP/SEP) are mostly databases plus logic. It helps to peek under the hood.
• Unix — useful, but you don’t need to be an expert. A little vi, ls, and shutdown goes a long way 😉

TVP3 footage filmed at our site [video (22MB)]:

Sadly you won’t see me there — I was out of town 🙁

Another video about the Wrocław Siemens branch (produced by Siemens Com.tv) [video (13MB)]

eSG (2006–2010)

Since August 1, 2006 I’ve been working in the Warsaw branch of eSG. Beginnings are always hard… and I missed Wrocław — I really liked that city.

Oracle (2010–?)

The prepaid‑platform part of eServGlobal was acquired by Oracle (along with the engineers working there). That’s how I became part of Oracle.