₦airaland Forum

airsaylongcome:
So my knowledge in these techniques is dated. 2005 when I had to build a proof-of-concept. We attacked the UE/BTS connection which was unencrypted at the time (has this changed?) Perhaps they have tightened it.

Now you are going to make me get one of those OSS BTS solutions and maybe try some techniques. You are right though. The aim of security is not to make it 100% impenetrable. It’s to increase the cost of penetration versus the benefit

Wow. 2005
You must be very old with playing around in tech. I learned most of those things from others. When you've been in the business world, regulatory framework is very important.

tensazangetsu20:
Well to each their own sha. But it's good to have options especially with the way Nigeria is going, if APC wins the Nigerian elections again. I don't think the Nigerian economy can ever recover to be honest.

Your guy is young, I pray the startup works sha. I resigned from a job In Europe as a very young man to come and focus on my startup in Nigeria. It never worked out and I really regret doing that when I was much younger but I have learnt a whole lot and gathered experiences I dont think I will trade for money.

There are some things that we don't have control over in life and I don't bother myself about those things. In fact I hardly have serious worries. All humans make mistakes, but like the saying goes...you don't cry over spilt milk. I'll tell you a little about myself. I was a shareholder in two small companies in Nigeria, they became so successful and I could travel anywhere in the world. I reached a settlement with the founders and moved on. I've started 3 businesses in the US and they all failed, the bank took my house as a collateral. I worked with one of the best companies in the world and got laid off, worse, I don't have anything to show for it. My mates are married with kids but I still have debt hanging over my head. But you know what, I'm perfectly fine, I've learned from the past, I don't sulk, I re-strategize. As they say we move.

airsaylongcome:
Na why I no dey reason japa laidis so. The only real draw back for me is the work hours. 5pm to 2am in my case

If you already have a good paying remote job in Nigeria, I don't see the reason to japa. The time is normal for US workers. Millions of persons work 2nd and 3rd shifts.

tensazangetsu20:
Gbam I swear how can you be on H1B for ten years and counting you didn't solidify your stay you even married a fellow H1B holder lol.

It simply shows that piority differs. What you consider as very important is of no value to others. I know some Nigerians who left the US immidiately after their studies. Some have their own businesses and are doing well. A guy in Lagos recently rejected an offer from Amazon to focus on his startup, he told me during an investors meeting.

If you are serious about relocating.

Study in the US
Focus on a startup
Marry a USC

truthCoder:
It has been in existence since o.

As airsaylongcome said earlier, it us highly insecure.

You would need extra funding for losses that you would incur through “local wire”.

I am building a fintech startup at the moment but not along these dynamics. Unfortunately, due to the simple reason that there are people smarter than me here and possibly better funded, I cannot disclose the USP.

Your USP is what sets your business apart, if it is truly unique getting funds will not be an issue.

airsaylongcome:
It’s not so expensive to to build and deploy BSS/BTS these days o. With the right software (I don’t want to mention two readily available ones) and small technical know how you can build one in no time. Now think about a MITM attack in a location where it is known that mobile internet is almost non existent and people there use USSD as primary means of banking transactions. Carnage. Yes it is a very targeted attack. But as long as it’s possible, it’s very high risk

The USSD mechanism has different security lapses but I don’t see the on path attack as easy as you stated. As greatigboman pointed out, it’s not been used in Nigeria for the following reasons.

The BTS you’re purchasing has many limitations. One of them is range, it can also be detected on networks.

The attacker will need knowledge of electronics and telecoms. Knowing how to make certain adjustments and tweaking, understanding Air interface, Abis Interface.

There is an end-to-end encryption over VPN that uses SSL or TLS to secure communication since 2017.

USSD is encrypted for mobile transactions. So, the attacker will need to understand decryption techniques and rainbow tables.

If there’s an incident, the device is blacklisted, and you go again to buy another device and change location. The same location may not work for your new device.

Even if an attacker succeeds, the investment to reward ratio is low and he also needs to cover his tracks.

In the past 5 years how many reports of such attacks have you heard of?

GREATIGBOMAN:
If man in the middle attack is very easy.

Why isn't there more USSD based scams and hacks? At least Ij Nigeria.

Not talking about the one where a scammer steals your SIM card and reset your bank details to transfer your money.


I mean the real hacks done by a hacker on multiple sims or USSD based device

I want to learn more

You're right. Such attacks are not common in Nigeria. Theoretical knowledge is different from practical demonstration. There are other types of USSD scams but haven't got many reports of on path attacks.

Kvngfrosh:
it’s free and paid.

I'm aware of that. He claimed it will not be monetized.

Besides what's the essence of a free product if you can't use it. The difference for me is worth far more the cost.

Hannania:
The ChatGPT it self will not be a paid service. That's why they lunched other subsidiaries. Microsoft invested $1bn for a reason. They're playing the same game they did when they bought Github(remember they had Copilot). Presently, The company's infrastructure is hosted on Azure(owned by Microsoft ).

This thread will give you a good overview about it::

https://twitter.com/callmehouck/status/1605918585238552578?t=qTQfIfZadt0dyKwWSeYceA&s=19

Theres even an investment cap on the company, where stack holders can't get more than 100% of their investment.

PS: It does not contain data for 2022 yet!

I rebutted your claim earlier. Now you know it's a paid service.

georgee:
Share the website

starlink .com

Enter your address and you see the amount in NGN

airsaylongcome:
I’d be interested in the hours worked

In some cases the hours can run simultaneously. You just switch between jobs. However the greatest issue is human error and some have occurred. It's one of the reasons some companies opt for non compete agreement

tensazangetsu20:
600k per annum. America is the real deal. Others are spectators in the league of nations. God of mercy

You can even make more than that if that's what you want. Many do so by working multiple jobs and guess what a few have contributed to serious security breaches.

MemoriesAndMe:
As I said before, I'm beyond that level where anyone will even think of offering me an IT support role even here in the US, not to talk of Nigeria. If a firm can't pay me $150k PA and above, let them keep their job. I haven't earned less than that since the past 7 years and sometimes I do multiple jobs and clock about $600k PA.

So why would I want to settle for tech support job that only pays around $50k or just a bit more per annum?

I don't know how much they pay them in Nigeria, but it's God Forbid for me. Tech support audience is even totally different from my audience and I don't even expect going backwards.

I started as analyst - my Bachelor's here was in Information Technology and I majored in Systems Analysis. After I graduated here, I was immediately hired by NCR Corporation at their world headquarters here in Atlanta, Georgia. NCR exists in Nigeria too.

I resigned from NCR after 3 years and joined General Electric, stin in their IT space, I was an IT lead there in their Governance, Risks and Compliance space, I left and joined another firm as a developer, I then went into consulting - I wotker for at least 3 consulting firms that sent me anywhere in the world they want me to go for various project.

I got tired of all the traveling and I'm back in Atlanta where I live and work with a bank here as a Cybersecurity Engineer.

Does that answer your question?

You've got a great profile. it's nice when individuals try to upskill themselves. I hope you've gotten your TS/SCI.

So now to the meat. Broadly roles in IT is either you're working as a developer or support. We've got a few roles in between but let's keep it simple. I know in everyone's mind IT support refers to the desktop support or entry level IT positions. But because of my background I have more respect for the support teams than developer teams. This is because support teams provides technical assistance by troubleshooting and resolving IT issues by IT experts. There are hundreds of unresolved IT issues today because we lack experts.

Let's take an aspect of cybersecurity. Packet analysis which is a branch of network forensics, requires deep knowledge of various IT domains, your tools can range from Wireshark to Splunk, Dynatrace and whatever ...but the work is troubleshooting.

In Cloud and Telecoms and some of the support teams requires minimum of 10 years industry experience. You can get paid as much as 50k for receiving a page. Some of the IT support consultants take away over 100k a month.

The IT space lacks specialized skills today. For example BGP is the most complex IP routing protocol and in the past many people worked all their lives studying BGP but today the interest is different. A 3-month course and everyone is claiming a specialist. The race for quick delivery has left security loopholes in many systems and applications, that's why security sells. From DevSecOps to SecDevOps to DevOpsSec to SecDevSecOpsSec shows the different challenges that security has in integrating into the software development lifecycle. It's going to get worse.

What's your role in the bank? cyber analy, Appsec, audit, Inc res, Pen tester, Net sec, architecture, admin. I just like learning.

Iolo:
Let us say your argument is correct. Google and the likes are now profitable and have become bloated. I don’t disagree with the bloated part.

You are still not getting the point that the reason why VCs exist is to provide a source of funding to tech start ups that are otherwise unable to raise funds due to their business models. Nearly every tech company starts off unprofitable and starts off with an untested business model. The WhatsApp you use everyday has never been profitable, without VCs they won’t exist up until Facebook acquired them. Amazon took over 10 years to become profitable. Even Twitter you mention only become profitable after several years. Without VCs these companies would not exist. They would have died a natural death without getting the chance to even IPO. Most tech business models take scale and network effects to generate a profit. You need to invest to generate those network effects. Your balance sheet will look negative up on till that point.

A company can only raise funds through Debt or Equity. A start up can’t take debt because debt is expensive and they have no revenue to support interest payments. However, allowing a VC take a % ownership of the company at a certain valuation in exchange for money isn’t a bad bet. You should also know the VCs take a huge risk in this model as less than 30% of VC investments lead to a profit for them.

Your point on OpenAI even supports this. They have raised billions of USD without making a profit till date. OpenAI is led by Sam Altman who was previously President of YC the worlds most well known Tech VC.

Nice understanding of that space. It is now very difficult to become a Y Combinator startup.

MemoriesAndMe:
I'm a Cybersecurity Engineer bro, I've been a US citizen for almost 20 years now. I schooled here too, got both my bachelor's and masters here in the IT space, my masters is in Cybersecurity.

Ofcourse people get IT jobs without having any certifications, but those with certifications stand a better chance. Some jobs advertised specifically ask for certifications or push employees to be certified after getting hired. Most of my certifications were paid for by employers as some of them are very expensive.

I'm aware of the layoffs, just saying it doesn't mean everyone laid off are IT folks working for the firm.

No one will offer me an IT support role as I'm much above that level in the tech world with experience and certs to show for it. I have consulted for many big forms here and understand the internals.

I'm just talking about what I've seen and I'm used to, it may be a different experience for others.

You're correct. Many laid off are not tech workers.
I'm curious by what you mean by the bolded. If you're not in IT support, then what are you into?

Halifaxguy:
No matter what there are still high demands of Software developers, Data Engineers, Cloud Engineers, data scientists etc. My current company is massively recruiting for Azure Data Engineers and software developers. Any one who has good programming skills and cloud skills like Azure, AWS or Google cloud will never get short of high paying jobs offers.

The biggest tech companies are the ones laying off. The issue is not high demand, can the companies pay? My friend makes over 400k, and many make over that amount. how many positions do you see advertising such?

airsaylongcome:
We know you already here. Very envious somebody. The guy owes no one any "epp". Dey there dey "guru up" while people are already growing their careers

Thanks man. I already know we have many ugly people on the forum. Worse is, this section is no longer exciting as it used to be because of such people. Thanks for making the man come back to his senses.

LikeAking:
Who u epp?

Enjoy ya loss.

I appreciate dissenting voices but I don't have any loss. You don't know me and you have no idea about my values and principles.

tensazangetsu20:
I am really sorry bros. You said the thing affected you. I really learnt a whole lot about the US immigration system from the current layoffs. It's heartbreaking to be honest. I feel that real Americans would have no problems but those from poor countries with no opportunities would especially if they had to go back.

Sure many visa holders were affected some have worked for over a decade and some for a week. That is an unpleasant situation to be in because many are looking for sponsorship. I got a report about Chicago based companies hiring many of these visa holders. The only advantage the USC have is they can take their time to get other jobs. For many that will be a pay cut, some will relocate and others will venture into other areas.

I noticed an increase in startup meetings. The last meeting I attended had over 500 participants and 8 guys from Lagos gave their startup pitch.

From Jan. 30, 2023, all pending and new (initial) petitions for EB-1 and EB-2 now have Premium Processing. It's good to know that you'll have closure in 45 days.

This past week has been a rough week for many that work in tech giants. I was laid off from my role and to be honest I was surprised. Not because I was laid off but because of the expenses the company incurred on my behalf and the manner in which the laid off happened. I have been a coach who have advised others to have side gigs and to make lemonade out of lemons.
In my career I have had the opportunity to have worked with smart people. People who are in the 0.2% in leetcoding, many from elite colleges and Individuals with double PhDs. To be honest I have moved on. Nothing shocks me in today’s world. When I tell others there’s no big deal in working with FAANG, they ask if I know the meaning of FAANG. Contrary to what many people think, these companies are not efficient in many areas.
For now, I just sleep, eat, and chill. But this is not about me. What have you learned from the layoffs?

Note this: In any company that you work, the weak" is anybody that isn't S-team. S-team refer to the senior executives. You can be fired at any time.

Understand Tech but understanding business is more important. The reason is tech is a tool, just like hammer is a tool but businesses are rewarded by the earnings that they post.

Take care of yourself. Take breaks, have fun, refresh, and relax. Companies have replacements for you, but you don’t have replacement for yourself. The most valuable things don't cost any money.

Hiring and firing is part of life. One in 5 Americans have been laid off in the past five years. Learn self-discipline, be content, be prudent, and plan for the future.

Believe in yourself, work hard and be focus. Remember all men are equal because we all share the same destination.

adigun27:
Plss someone want to help me get sponsored unskilled work in usa with 5million how real it this

You mean you're paying N5 M to get an unskilled work visa. This falls under the EB 3 category. Unskilled Workers (Other Workers)

These are the requirements.
You must demonstrate the ability to perform unskilled labor (requiring less than 2 years training or experience), that is not of a temporary or seasonal nature.
You must be performing work for which qualified workers are not available in the United States.
You must meet any other requirements specified on the labor certification.

Whether your agent can deliver on that, I can't tell. All the information you need is online and you must be diligent.

I only know those that can assist for O-1 and EB-1 immigrants.

Gerrard59:
Additionally, from the US immigration website, slightly above 1000 Nigerians petitioned for H1B (chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/data/h-1b-petitions-by-gender-country-of-birth-fy2019.pdf). Meanwhile, more than 11K Nigerian students are studying in the US – the highest from Africa (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2021/06/number-of-nigerians-studying-in-us-increased-by-93-in-10-years-erudera-com/). So, where the remaining 10K+ go after their studies? Dem no see work? If they got employed, how did they become citizens/permanent residents?

One might suggest a PhD, but not everyone has the time, mental strength to undergo the degree

https://twitter.com/bradchattergoon/status/1554906852852465665?s=20&t=y6XsFbta5Y9pvIQcFzGHGA
https://twitter.com/anthonyjdella/status/1615817810311278592

So fellow Nigerian students who have now naturalised in the US, how did you do it?

Broadly through marriage and EB-visas.

To be honest, it's a rough path when you're going through the employment-based option. You have to be sound upstairs and I know some who have gone through that route. The marriage is an easier option that every Tom, Dick and Harry uses. I must also state that some students find genuine love, get married and become naturalized citizens.

I was impacted by the layoffs and worked with some very brilliant individuals. Many are from prestigious colleges in the states. Some will find another job and others will go home. It is what it is.

Paulheyman:
Dear op and respondents
Based on the Japa syndrome, these are my dilemmas:
1) I got an offer of a postdoc in US for a 2yrs stay with possible offer of becoming a faculty member (I am not sure if I will be taken as a faculty member). The pay is $65k/annum

2) with the recent offer of a QTS visa by UK for qualified teachers. I am also very much interested based on variations in the number of years US (2yrs): UK (5yrs - so I heard)

Note: I want to get into the US or UK using (but not limited to) the academic root and possibly diversify later on

These are my challenges
1) I am a sickle cell patient. I hope I am not taking much risk based on my health? How's the health system in US compared to UK?
2) on skills: I officially left music production in 2014 to focus on my academics. So, on skills, how lucrative is music production in both countries?
3) Based on academic skills: I can perform most computer based simulation in chemistry/biology including DFT experiments, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, and other computational chemistry/biology techniques with little or no difficulties
4) I would love to switch probably from class room teacher to a full time lecturer (if UK is found worthy). How possible and easy can it be?
5i) How lucrative is teaching job in the UK?
5ii) Do the country (UK) permit home lessons?
5iii) Can I combine class room teaching with other side hustle

*** My intention is to stay there for ten years and come back and invest but if I find their land fruitful, I will stay a little longer than expected


I need guidance please!

You got an offer. What are your concerns? Based on your profile you can easily become a US PR. TWoods have already outlined the steps. In No 1 above are you referring to faculty member or tenured faculty? Once in the US, you can easily migrate to the UK. Whichever way you'll be fine. So get up and go to work.

ahiboilandgas:
it above that in nimasa ,NPA ,pencom ,DPR PEF NSWF and NFITU and some subsidiary of NNPC like duke oil. Strangely top directors in the agency earn more than the president of Nigeria !

That rate was for the public sector. I know some agencies have far higher rate especially those in the O&G sector. Many in the private sector earn far more than the president. It's the power that make him powerful.

justwise:
[/b]
All made up figures from someone who got no idea how Estacode works .

Keep calling for a ban each time you reply my post, i will do you the favour when the time comes.

Estacode is from $200 to $1000 depending on the grade level. Power corrupts, you have to learn how not to misuse your ability to ban despite disagreements.

DesChyko:
True. Most Nigerian bosses are evil. I am a teacher too and I have a lot of evil things to say about my boss. That's if I choose to ignore all the positives he's had in my life. This is an experience that probably goes the opposite direction of yours.

Nice. Focus on the positives.

LikeAking:
How person go live Google, go coinbase?

Many Google employees leave after a year. There's nothing special working there.

tensazangetsu20:
This is true. I was reading up on a company called carvana. That business model made zero sense but they had like 3000 employees. They laid a lot of people off recently and they are still laying off.

Honestly, people should research companies before joining and ask hard questions. If the business model makes no sense, don't bother. If it's a remote role, don't quit your formal role. That's how someone I follow on Twitter left google to join Coinbase despite being on H1B and Coinbase just laid off and he has 60 days to find a new job or go back to his country but google has never laid off anyone. It's not always about money.

Alphabet is also laying off.

thebosstrevor1:
Like literally, most of the global layoff all over the world including Nigeria have been in the tech industry, from twitter, coinbase, amazon, jumai to Quidax.

Seems like tech businesses aren't recession proof.

First and foremost the businesses in tech are over valued because of speculation and ipo purposes, they employ a lot of people and then when recession comes, they are always the first to layoff lot of workers.

Till today, i still dont understand why tech companies will have 5k to 50k workers.

Back in the days, you only need 5 to 10 employees to run a very successful tech business. And most of these businesses were profitable.

The reasons for the layoffs are well documented. A hiring spree during the pandemic, inflation, supply-chain problems, and revenue revenue growth for tech companies.

semmyk:
Noticed today that there's the O-1A route. Has lots in-similitude to EB-1A and EB2-NIW.
Probably, it should be on a different thread so as not to derail this well-managed EB thread. Kudos to all.

General Eligibility
To qualify for an O-1 visa, you must demonstrate extraordinary ability by sustained national or international acclaim, or a record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture and television industry, and must be coming temporarily to the United States to continue work in the area of extraordinary ability.
Extraordinary ability in the fields of science, education, business or athletics means a level of expertise indicating that you are one of the small percentage who have arisen to the very top of the field. For detailed information regarding how USCIS evaluates evidence to determine O-1A eligibility, including examples and considerations that are especially relevant for those in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, see the USCIS Policy Manual Volume 2, Part M, Chapter 4, Section C, and Appendix: Satisfying the O-1A Evidentiary Requirements.
www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/o-1-visa-individuals-with-extraordinary-ability-or-achievement

Part M: www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-2-part-m-chapter-4#3

The O-1 visa is a temporary visa and you require a sponsor.
It's just a longer route to PR.

airsaylongcome:
So it's stuff I'm still "feeling" my way through. The customer provides the content they want displayed (static pictures or videos), and what time they want the content displayed. I manually schedule them on the digital signage software I use and share proof-of-play reports weekly. It's all very manual right now as the customer base is very tiny. But I'm actively researching how to automate certain parts of the process (sending in new display assets and scheduling them). It's a very small side gig at the moment with very small income. But I see (or at least I think I see) some potential.

That's nice. There'll definitely be a wider adoption and you'll definitely want to automate when you have a large base.