Vlad is an Engineering Manager at 2600Hz. He joined 2600Hz in 2019 as a developer and was promoted to Engineering Manager and now works on the Provisioner, Cluster Manager and Shipyard applications. 

Don’t tell anyone, but he truly IS THE VLADMASTER! of “security first” model for provisioning devices – and that’s a challenge on its own. Here’s some stories from the master himself. 

How long have you been a software developer? 

In high school I opted for a technical specialization in electronics. I learned assembler to program PIC microcontrollers for the school projects and I realized I enjoyed programming more than actually building electronic components.

 I discovered PHP and started working on a fork of a tool to send SMS – which happens to be my oldest repository at GH [1]. After working on it as a hobby for about a year, I got hired for a 1 month temporary job and stayed there for the next 7 years doing all kinds of crazy PHP projects. I’m still good friends with my ex-boss. 

Where did you start, what kinds of projects did you work on prior to 2600Hz? 

I started in 2006 in a small family-owned business working on systems for diverse commercial activities. One of the sites is still working unchanged since 2010! I moved to Telus International in 2014 as a developer, and soon became the team lead. We handled the company internal tools and social network. 

Then I met Bret from 2600Hz and I was convinced that this was the correct change in my professional life. Eight months later I was promoted to Engineering Manager where I work with interesting products such as Provisioner, Cluster Manager and Shipyard. 

What were the first technologies you used when you started out as a developer? 

I was convinced that anything could be done with PHP so I used it for pretty much anything, then market changed and suddenly we had Android so I had to explore Android Studio but ultimately and unknowingly at the time that it would be the trend for the next 10y I ended up doing server-client apps written with PHP I had to create software to produce receipts for devices with low resources so I learned C# (Mono) with GTK#.  I think I used Geany and Komodo as IDEs for pretty much everything. 

What are some of your favorite parts of being a developer? 

I believe the think that I like the most about being a developer is that it is an ever-changing field, you can’t simply stop learning and it’s entertaining to discover new ways of solving problems, so it’s a challenging field where you explore the limits of your problem-solving skills. What are some technologies you have seen that may interest you for future use? Erlang, ReactJS, Python and Go are definitely at the top of my list. I think that Kubernetes and Docker along with cloud services will become a must in the near future. 

What do you spend your time primarily working on in terms of software development at 2600Hz? 

Currently I work on Provisioner and Cluster Manager, and I’m looking forward to learn more about our internal tool for package building. 

Can you talk a little bit about what it’s like managing an entire team that works to support KAZOO? 

I love that we can empower the developers to be creative with their solutions. This means that we avoid micro-managing and as a result people usually come up with impressive ways of solving and issues or creative ways to introduce new features into the app. 

We maintain 3 apps in our team, they don’t relate too much with each other so it’s a total context switch with every sub-team working on them, so I can be talking about the particularities of provisioning SIP phones in the morning and then working on the deployment process for a new app in the afternoon; I would say that my team is full of incredible talented people so they make it really easy for me 

What do you like about the KAZOO ecosystem from a developer perspective?

 I like that’s it’s an ever-evolving application that closely follows the market needs and oftentimes is ahead of it as it’s planned by inspiring people that knows the industry very well and it’s passionate about its future. As a developer I like how easy is to integrate an application with KAZOO, the API is mature, well designed and documented. 

If you were to develop your own personal project app (just something for fun) for the new App Marketplace, what would it be? 

A VoIP troubleshooting app that test and provides feedback your connection and signal quality, as well as hints on how to resolve the issues.

In 2012 Eugen ( U-jen ) joined us as a Certified 2600hz Kazoo BETA member. 

He has never looked back. His knowledge of the GUI has made him a credible resource on the platform as an Admin of our forums.2600hz.com. 

He enjoys sharing his Kazoo savvy, troubleshooting aptitude and brainstorming in general with others on the Kazoo forum. 

"What I LOVE about the Kazoo GUI and 2600hz, is the flexibility the platform provides on so many different levels to meet the diverse needs of our clients". 

The dependability that the 2600hz team provides in running the servers, data centers, and keeping cyber security contingency plans on the ball, allows me to have peace of mind, creating solutions for my clients on a platform that I know, can take each company's desired experience and personalize it in so many ways. 

Advanced Call Flows App is one of my favorite tools to offer a customized experience for our clients! The Call Center App has had rave reviews (even for small 3 phone offices!). I continue to pursue a better understanding of the API integration 2600hz offers. API's on the platform make the sky the limit on customizable user features." 

Auxium.com (Ox-e-uhm) uses predominantly Yealink phones for its clientele, Eugen likes to dabble in Yealink Custom Configs, which allow for greater flexibility and less clicks when programming up phones. Having access to Yealink Device Management - Zero Touch provisioning allows for simpler programming of phones in general, but especially in large rollouts of new users/devices.

Eugen is able to provide training and guidance on the Kazoo user administration side of the platform on a personal level or in group sessions. He can also give "level two" engineering support and troubleshooting help with problems and questions that come up in day to day use on the administrator side of the platform. Eugen enjoys connecting with others and brainstorming about the reseller resource possibilities 2600hz can offer. Here's to chatting about all things Kazoo with some of you soon!

Bună ziua!

Chandrashekar Vooradi

is a Software Engineer at Reply Cloud where he joined in 2019 to design and implement a VoIP network monitoring, testing and troubleshooting platform.

Where did you start?

I started his career in 2007. In the initial days I worked on PHP web applications in the Social Networking domain. Later I worked on payments monetization for micro payments am an expert in LAMP stack.

What is Reply Cloud?

Reply Cloud is a service assurance platform for hosted voice carriers, providers, and enterprise customers. It combines a software, hardware and testing server solutions that allows device, LAN, and WAN visibility. Pre and post installation value by providing key troubleshooting tools to diagnose and resolve issues that the industry has struggled with for years. The feature set includes pre-Installation VoIP network assessment, persistent network monitoring and alerts, remote network testing and troubleshooting, and historic network reporting.

What do you do in Reply Cloud?

We have 3 different teams here. An IoT Team, API / Portal Team, and a software application team. My IoT team has developed an IoT device to monitor the VoIP Network. We built this IoT device in Embedded Linux OS with OpenWrt platform. This will monitor the network and send the data to our API server. API and Customer Portal team will capture the data from IoT and present the data to end customers in Customer Portal. Our App Team has developed applications for both Windows and Mac Os Platforms. These applications provide immediate access to testing for most of the functions as our hardware solution for single user environments.

This spot is reserved for you Telco Fanatics -- share your stories, and tell us how you Kazoo!   

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