IT Horror Stories with Jack Smith tells real stories from the world of IT: outages, failed migrations, broken infrastructure, cybersecurity incidents, software failures, networking disasters, cloud problems, Shadow IT, and the occasional decision that seemed like a good idea at the time.
Jack Smith talks with the people who were there about what happened, how they got out of it, and what others can learn from the incident. Stories are anonymized where needed, and the focus is on technology, processes, and organizations rather than blaming individuals. New episodes weekly, with Jack's Rants in between.
You are one of us.
Wrong Person, Right Skills : Technical Hiring Failures and Why Companies Mismanage IT Talent
Companies complain that they can't find the right technical people. Technical people complain that companies have no idea who they're actually looking for. This time, Jack crosses to the other side of the table with Ashley Randall to find out why both might be right.
We look at how organizations turn operational problems into job descriptions, why they search for impossible unicorns, and what happens when the person they hire has the right skills for a job that doesn't actually exist as advertised. From HR screening and mismatched expectations to KPIs, management workshops, organizational silos, and the eternal question of whether HR is really there for you, we explore what happens when technical specialists and the business speak very different versions of the same language.
Sometimes the problem isn't the person you hired. It's the job you thought you were hiring them for.
To find out more about Ashley Randall and Aspiring Redirection, visit:
Ashley Randall: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-randall7/
Aspiring Redirection: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aspiring-redirection/
Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-27-wrong-person-right-skills/
00:00 Introduction
00:43 Business Perspective
02:03 Hiring Challenges
04:48 Evaluating Talent
07:02 Structural Issues
08:52 Role Mismatches
13:24 Miscommunication Effects
17:15 Improving Processes
24:00 Culture and Metrics
33:43 HR and Employee Relations
39:23 Conclusion
12 Oct 2026
Cleared for Disaster : Air Traffic Control Technology: Outages, Failures, and Recovery
Jack talks with Harvey Scolnick about his years working with air traffic control technology and the failures that came with it. From construction work accidentally cutting a critical cable and knocking an air traffic control facility offline, with systems unavailable and aircraft still in the sky, to the people on the ground having to fall back on procedures, neighboring facilities, and some very human problem-solving.
In addition, we look at the redundancy behind air traffic control, what recovery looks like when safety-critical infrastructure fails, and why even carefully designed systems can still be brought down by something remarkably mundane.
Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/episode-26-cleared-for-disaster/
Find out more about Harvey Scolnick : https://www.scolnickatc.com/
00:00 Introduction
00:55 Harvey's Journey
02:13 Becoming ATC
05:34 Airways and Radar
07:03 Separation Standards
11:21 Busy JFK
14:33 Iconic Aircrafts
21:12 Technology Upgrades
29:27 Preventative Measures
38:10 AI and Future
41:27 Weather Challenges
43:57 Conclusion
Someone asked us why we weren't on MeshCore yet. First we had to establish that it wasn't a new kind of thrash metal. Then we discovered an off-grid messaging network built from little radios, antennas, repeaters, and licence-free spectrum.
So we started digging. How does it route messages ? How private is it ? What happens when repeaters disappear ? And haven't we built something suspiciously similar before ? MeshCore turns out to be considerably more interesting than just another messaging app.
Want even more info ? Read our show notes and related blog post related to this episode : https://blog.ithorrorstories.eu/jacks-rants-meshcore/
MeshCore documentation used :
- FAQ : https://docs.meshcore.io/faq/
- Packet Format : https://docs.meshcore.io/packet_format/
- Payloads : https://docs.meshcore.io/payloads/
- Companion Protocol: https://docs.meshcore.io/companion_protocol/
- CLI Commands : https://docs.meshcore.io/cli_commands/
MeshCore Map : https://meshcore.co.uk/map.html
00:00 Introduction
00:46 Discovering Mesh Core
02:09 Radio and Repeaters
05:19 Free Radio Insights
10:35 Encryption and Privacy
14:26 Old Meets New
15:19 Infrastructure Challenges
18:16 Conclusion
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
3,632
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 28 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
29
Social presence
0
YouTube
68
Engagement
0
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