Uber, Ola, Didi driver application process in Brisbane QLD

You need to follow below steps to complete the Uber driver application process

1. Make sure you have working rights and you hold the QLD open driving license for at least 1 year.
2. Ensure that car is not more than 10 years old. 
3. Car documents - Comprehensive Insurance, Rego Certificate.
4. Complete the Medical assessment and then apply for Booked Hire / Taxi (BHTX) Driver’s Authorisation (DA) at Trasport department office. This cost me $200 for BHTX license and $85 for medical.
5. Get Certificate of Inspection from authorized inspection centers. I would recommend Redbook. This cost me $65. Note that Roadworthy certificate (also called as safety certificate is different)
6. Vehicle should by covered by correct CTP insurance.  Class 26, or Class 4, 10A or 11. Mine car has CTP class 1. So I had to change it by contacting CTP provider (Allianz in my case). Your current CTP provider is mentioned in the Car rego certificate. 
7. Then apply for Booked hire service license (BHSL). You need to complete this step for every vehicle you want to drive. This cost me $250
8. Get ABN and Register for GST.
9. To pick up rides at Brisbane Airport, you will need to get e-Tag installed in your car. I got it from Linkt
10. Contact Comprehensive Car insurance provider (Note that CTP Insurance provider may be different from the Comprehensive insurance provider) to inform them about your intention to use car for carrying passengers. You will have to pay extra premium as well for this.
11. Get Roadside assistance certificate
12. You also need to get Uber/Didi/Ola stickers that must be displayed on wind shield.
13. Prepare for tax implications. 

Once you have all above documents, you can apply for driving with Uber, Ola or Didi. Same documents would be required by all ride sharing companies.

What do you think on this topic? Please express your opinion or ask any question through comment below. You can write to me at reply2sagar@gmail.com

Ubereats delivery driver in Brisbane Australia - Earnings, perks, drawbacks, eligibility

It is a simple business model. You pick up the food from participating restaurants and then deliver it to customers and get paid for delivery.

Eligibility

1. Bicycle, Motorcycle (Motorbike), car
2. For bicycle, no license, rego, insurance 
3. For motorcycle and Car - open license, car rego, insurance
4. Working rights
5. ID proof - passport
6. Criminal background check
7. ABN and TFN Number 

Ubereats driver App

You can download the Ubereats driver app from the app store or Google play store. You can submit all required documents from within app only. Application is usually approved in a week. But may take more time depending on queue. Once your application is approved, you can go online and earn money.

UberEats Driver App

Best time and places to go online

You will get maximum delivery requests during below times. Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights are always busy. If you are using bicycle or motorcycle, I would recommend working in CBD as there is no parking issue. If you have car, I would recommend any area outside of CBD.

Best times to work as UberEats driver are given below.

1. Breakfast time - 8-9 AM in the morning
2. Lunch time - 11AM to 2 PM
3. Dinner - 5PM - 9PM

Ubereats earnings and perks

1. Average hourly rate - $20 per hour
2. Average daily rate - $100 (If you are online for 5 hours)...So Weekly earnings would be around $400 which is not a bad part time income. You will have to deduct petrol expenses of around $40 and car maintainance costs and tax from that income to calculate actual profit. 
3. Payments happen on weekly basis - usually by tuesday
4. Other perks - discount at Caltex petrol station, Car Service discount, Tax Filing discount

UberEats Driver Earnings

Final Thoughts

1. Good for anyone not having full time job
2. Some do it using bicycle because bicycle riding is a good exercise
3. Drawback is - Lot of time is wasted when pick up is not ready or when customer address is not found
4. Overall - It is good as a part time gig

If you want to sign up as an UberEats delivery driver, you can click here.

What do you think on this topic? Please express your opinion or ask any question through comment below. You can write to me at reply2sagar@gmail.com

Rural Entrepreneurship ideas in India

Here is the list of business ideas for rural areas. Water and electricity are major hurdles in setting up business in Village.

Rural ideas

1. Green House
2. Poultry
3. Nursery
4. Wooden toy making
5. Tailor and clothing and bedsheets
6. Jewellery
7. Logistic company for rural area
8. Candle making
9. Seeds
10. Flowers farming
11. Agri tourism
12. Animal husbandry
13. agarbatti making
14. bindi making
15. Printers and Xerox machines, Laminations
16. Tempo Hire
17. Food stall
18. Shopping center
19. Library
20. Computer, business Training and Guidance
21. Clinic
22. Video shooting
23. Sell seeds on Amazon
24. Sewing machine
25. Radium sticker making
26. Poulty farm
27. 
    

Business ideas in Food sector

1. Spices and other food products
2. Pickles
3. Wafers
4. Farsan House
5. Papad
6. Food processing - Mahabaleshwar model
7. Biscuit making
8. Papad
9. Bakery
10. organic food
11. Eggs laying like poultry
12. Milk products
13. Tomato Ketchups and Red Rock Deli type dips 
14. frozen vegetables
15. Wheat, Bajra and Jowar flour, corn and byproducts
16. All diwali sweets and Namkin - Chakli
17. Popcorn
18. Chikki
19. Salted Ground nuts
20. Tea/coffee
21. Sevaya
22. Crackers, Tasty nuts, Bhujjia, CRAX
23. Spreads
24. Kurdaya
25. Sugarcane juice

Business ideas with low logistic cost

1. Festival related items - rakhi
2. All god idols
3. Bakery
4. Jewellery
5. Home Decor - Wall paper/Wall stickers, Idols -  Jesus christ idols, budhha idols, Hindu God Idols, Artificial flora, Fridge magnets, Wind chimes and dream catchers, Incesne sticks, Scented candles, Posters, Photographs
6. Gifts - gift card from archies, Birthday, Anniversary, gifts for her, him
7. Festival or seasonal decorations and gifts - Xmas, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Mothers day, Valentine day, Fathers day,  Friendship day, Happy New Year, Women's day, Teachers day
8. Kids - plastic toys
9. Clothes - shirts, blazers, customized printed clothes
10. Home/Kitchen/Pet
11. Mobile accessories
12. Screen protectors and covers
13. Women fashion - clothes
14. Wallet
15. Pet supplies - dog accessories
16. Car accessories
17. Door mat, carpet, bed sheet
18. Craft (Sewing material) and handloom (Textile material)

Experiences 

1. Baking
2. Cake
3. Film making - Photography, Video editing, Shooting, DSLR tutorial

Skills in demand

1. Aircon
2. Wahing machine
3. Refrigerator
4. Dish washer
5. Car repairing

What do you think on this topic? Please express your opinion or ask any question through comment below. You can write to me at reply2sagar@gmail.com

Spiritual Thoughts - Buddhism teachings

If you want to get rid of suffering and pain in life, you need to remember below lines and try to follow in daily life. If you lead your life based on below principles, you would live happily without any suffering.

Mind

1. Mind is like water. When it is turbulent, it is difficult to see. When it is calm, everything becomes clear. Composed mind is all you need to remain stress free.
2. With our thoughts, we make the world. If some thoughts are inducing negativity, change your attitude.
3. Mind is everything. What you think you become.
4. With composed and clear mind, you can increase your productivity by at least 10 times.
5. Before you speak, let the words pass through 3 gates - is it true, is it necessary, is it kind (sweet)?
6. Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
7. Do not dwell in the past. Do not worry about future. Concentrate the mind on present moment. Remembering a wrong is like carrying a burden on mind.
8. Heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds you want to plant is in your hand.
9. There is no fear for one whose mind is not filled with desires.
10. Your real enemies are not people but kama (lust), krodh (wrath), lobh (greed), moh (attachment) and ahankar (pride). Conquer these evils and you will conquer the world.

Happiness

1. Happines should come from within you (Inner world) and not from someone else (outer world).
2. Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have
3. Every morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.
4. Happiness never decreases by sharing
5. Happy people build their inner world. Unhappy people blame their outer world.
6. There are so many things that can make you happy(e.g. Talk to your loved ones, Just sit back and meditate with your eyes closed, Eat delicious food, Watch movies, Travel). Do not even think about things that make you sad.
7. If you want happiness, love everyone including your enemies.

Love

1. Be kind and lovely to all creatures.
2. Do not close the book when bad things happen in your life. Just turn the page and begin new chapter.
3. No matter how hard is the past. You can always begin again.
4. You only lose what you cling to. If you do not cling to anything (no attachment to temporary attachment), you have nothing to lose. You become fearless and free of anxiety.
5. If you want to be loved, use sweet words always.

Anger, Stress and anxiety

1. You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your own anger.
2. Stress is not something that happens to us. It is our response to what happens and response is something that is in our hand.
3. Holding on to anger is like grasping the hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else. You are the one who gets burnt.

Pain

1. Pain is certain. Suffering is optional.
2. Forget who hurt you yesterday but do not forget those who love you everyday.
3. Forget the past that makes you cry and focus on present things that make you smile.
4. Forget the pain but not the lessons you gained.

Others

1. Right is right even if everyone is against it. Wrong is wrong even if everyone is for it.
2. There are only 3 solutions to the problem - accept it, change it or leave it. Do not keep worrying about same problem everyday. Try to fix it. If you can not fix it, leave it. 
3. No one (Not even closest relative) can save you but yourself. You are the sculptor of your own life.
4. Nothing can erase our good deeds.
5. Best response to stupid or angry person is silence. If you react with aggression, it means you accepted his views. So simply ignore with composed mind and focus on positive things. If you remain silent, it does not mean you are loser. It is actually proof that your thinking level is much higher. Forgive stupid person not for his sake but for yourself.

What do you think on this topic? Please express your opinion or ask any question through comment below. You can write to me at reply2sagar@gmail.com

Moving house in Australia - some useful tips

Moving house can get very complicated. Here I would explain you some important things to keep in mind while moving the house. Here is the checklist for moving house.

Update addresses

1. Office address
2. Hospital or medical center
3. Bank
4. Immigration authorities
5. Car registration and driving license address at road and transport office

Insurance Companies

1. Buy contents cover. This is optional but recommended.
2. Update the car insurance policy. Address change may impact premium.
3. Update roadside assistance address.

Scheduled payments

1. Stop payment scheduled for current rental if any
2. Schedule rental payments for new house

Connections and Disconnections

1. Electricity and/or Gas - note down meter readings
2. Water
3. Internet

Packing and furniture

1. Get Gas bottles if Gas is not available at new house
2. Packing boxes
3. dismantle furniture and think about if new furniture will fit in there
4. Book Packers and Movers
5. Furniture - Washing machine+fridge
6. Washing machine and dish washer installation

Final settlement and Bond cleaning

1. Hire cleaning service
2. Track bond refund

What do you think on this topic? Please express your opinion or ask any question through comment below. You can write to me at reply2sagar@gmail.com

House rental process in Australia

There are basically 4 steps in house rental process in Australia. 

1. Search for property on realestate.com.au
2. Register for inspection
3. Apply
4. Payment and moving in

Search for houses 

You can search for properties on Realestate.com.au. You can filter the properties based on below parameters.

1. Budget
2. Suburb
3. No of bedrooms
4. No of bathrooms
5. Gas/Electricity availability

In Brisbane, lot of Indians live in below suburbs. 

1. 4070 - Moggil, Bellbowrie
2. 4300 - Gailes, Camira
3. 4074 - Jamboree heights
4. 4074 - Middle park, West lake, Riverhills
5. 4075 - Oxley
6. 4076 - Darra, Wacol
7. 4077 - Richland, Doolandella, Durack, Inala
8. 4078 - Forest lake, Ellen Grove
9. 4110 - Heathwood, Acacia Ridge, Pallara
10. 4105 - Moorooka
11. 4107 - Salisbury
12. 4108 - Coopers Plains
13. 4109 - Robertson, Sunnybank, Sunnybank Hills
14. 4115 - Algester
15. 4116 - Calamvale
16. Runcorn
17. Kuraby
18. Underwood
19. Mt Gravatt
20. Rochedale
21. Springwood
22. Eight mile plains
23. Wishart

You can find reviews of suburbs on https://www.homely.com.au.

Register for Inspection

You can register for inspection online on realestate.com.au Some real estate companies do not accept the applications if you have not inspected the property. At the time of inspection, you need to consider below things.

1. Internet connection?
2. Gas and or electricity
3. Any repairs
4. No of parkings
5. Ventilation
6. Kitchen amenities
7. If any furniture is included or not?
8. Nearby shopping centers and public transportation

Apply

If you are happy, you can apply for the lease. Multiple people can apply for same property rental. So if you are interested in house, do not wait for the application. Apply as soon as possible.

Below documents will be required for rental application.

1. Driving license
2. Salary slips
3. Tax return acknowledgement
4. Current address proof
5. Bond refund document
6. Rent ledger
7. Medicare
8. Bank statement
9. Car registration certificate
10. Birth certificate
11. Agent references of previous 2 addresses 

You do not need to submit all documents. But minimum required documents will have to be submitted.

Payments and Move in 

If your application is approved, you will have to sign the agreement and pay bond amount (4 week rent amount) and rent amount of first week (Sometimes you need to pay 2 weeks rent in advance before collecting key). Then you can grab the key of house on the commencement day of lease and move in. It is advised that you plan move on weekdays as some offices remain closed on weekend. Also energy companies will not provide electricity and gas connections on weekends.

What do you think on this topic? Please express your opinion or ask any question through comment below. You can write to me at reply2sagar@gmail.com

Automation testing project and how to overcome challenges

80% of the automation testing projects turn into a firefighting mode post delivery.  

What are the common reasons for poor automation projects.

1. Synchronization issues
2. Application changes over a period of time breaking the automation code
3. Bad Framework design
4. Poor coding techniques
5. Impact of changes in environments (SIT, UAT, DEV) and data issues in different environments
6. Unstable environments - Interconnected systems and services not working properly
7. Poor reporting mechanism used in the automation framework does not help to find out the exact problem in the application under test. 

With so many issues in automation project, engineers usually find it very frustrating to be working in such projects. Instead of providing return on investment, most of projects turn out to be expensive due to the heavy maintenance efforts required to fix the issues that keep cropping up. So how you can make the automation project a big success. You can follow below guidelines to handle any automation project with ease.

1. Remember that 80% of the problems in the code occur due to 20% issues. If you can nail down recurring issues, you will have a big sigh of relief.
2. Add robust synchronization points to synchronize your automation code with the application response. Application response time always keeps changing. So avoid fixed time outs. It's a big NO. Problem with fix timeouts is that they are very inefficient and does not solve the purpose of synchronization at all. On the contrary, heavy use of time outs may lead to slower execution time. Additionally, what if application takes more time to respond than fix time out? To handle such scenarios, try to always use the synchronization points based on the application objects, properties and values. Sometimes, you may need to repeat certain steps (Code block) to better synchronize the application.
3. Design a proper reporting mechanism and error handling in the code which will help you catch the problems by just looking at the report of execution. What is more frustrating is to reproduce the issue by manually executing the test. To avoid it, create impressive reports that will be easy to read. Video recording the test execution can be very useful in troubleshooting the problems.
4. Major problems occur at the time of executing tests in different environments. So you should have detailed documentation on how to set up the build agents, how to set up configuration files and any other prerequisites that may require. Always have separate  configuration files for each environment.
5. Never ignore application errors and exception that you see while automating the application or executing your tests. Try to handle all these errors and report them so that you can easily explain to the stakeholders why tests failed. For each error that you handle, try to add recovery logic to resume the execution in more graceful manner. 
6. Property values used for identifying the objects should be very robust. Slight change in the values should not break the ability of the code to identify the objects. Using regular expressions wherever possible could be very handy.

What do you think on this topic? Please express your opinion or ask any question through comment below. You can write to me at reply2sagar@gmail.com

car driving differences between India and Australia

Here are major differences in car driving between India and Australia.

1. Honking - In India, people honk without any proper reason. Here in Australia, you can honk to warn others only when other driver is making any mistake
2. Strict rules - In India, people tend to ignore traffic rules. But in Australia, All road rules are very strict and most importantly people follow road rules strictly.
3. Fines and demerit points - In India, fine amounts are very less so people are careless and tend to break rules. But in Australia, road fines are very heavy and also demerit points will be logged againt your license. If you accumulate lots of demerit points, your licenses may be cancelled. All traffic history is recorded in central database.
4. Parking zones and limits - In India, parking limits do not apply. If you get a parking spot, you can park the car, for unlimited hours. In Australia, there time restrictions for each parking at certain spots. I was fined $65 for exceeding parking limit by just 5 mins. 
5. Prams - In India, there are no rules related to baby and pram. But in Australia, if you are travelling with baby, baby must be sitting in a pram. You can not just hold a baby in your arms and travel. 
6. Driving test - In India, driving test is very easy to pass. In Australia, driving test is very difficult.
7. Intersections and roundabouts without traffic lights - In India, at intersections where there are no traffic lights, people cross the intersections without following any rules. But in Australia, we have certian rules when there are no traffic lights
8. Speed limits and speed cameras and automatic rego plate recognition - In India, there is a limited use of speed cameras
9. Rego after every year (not one time) - In India, you have to pay registration charges only once. But in Australia, you have to pay rego charges every year.
10. Fuel stations or petrol pumps - In India, car drivers do not need to fill the petrol on their own. You will find fuel station employee everywhere in India. In Australia, you have to fill petrol on your own.
11. In India, you can sit in UTE trailer and travel. But in Australia, you can not travel in UTE trailer.

What do you think on this topic? Please express your opinion or ask any question through comment below. You can write to me at reply2sagar@gmail.com

My practical car driving test experience in sherwood Brisbane QLD Australia

In this article, I am going to share my practical car driving test experience.

Booking a QLD practical driving test

I booked a test by calling TMR department phone number and paid $65 as a test fee. I chose the "Sherwood" test center. You have choice to select the test center. I would recommend choosing such a center which is located in the suburb where you have done a driving practise. Knowing roads in suburb will help you feel comfortable during test.

On test day

I arrived at the test center 15 mins before actual appointment time with all required documents. Note that if you are using your own car for test, you need to ensure that car is in good condition (roadworthy). But it is not mandatory to produce Roadworthy certificate at the time of test. You need to carry your any existing license, id proof, license application form - QF3000 and appointment sheet - QF3910. You might need to provide car driving instructor details but it is optional. Test examiner verifies all documents. 

Predrive check

During predrive check, examiner checked that all lights and indicators are working fine then tyre conditions and mirrors were also checked. Then She asked me where wipers and hazard lights are located. I answered that correctly. If you fail to answer car control questions correctly, you may fail the test.

Practical car driving test

Finally actual driving test started. Overall I made 6 non-critical errors as mentioned below.

1. After 1 minute of driving, I came to the railway level crossing. This is where I made first non-critical driving error (NCDE). I failed to scan and observe at the railway level crossing
2. Next error was that I failed to do shoulder check during slow merging. Whenver you are turning left or right or merging to left or right, you have to do shoulder check. This is also called as blind spot check.
3. Next error was related to U-turn. Test examiner asked me to do U-turn at T-intersection. I took inappropriate course during U-turn.
4. Next error was I did not enter the intersection when there was a green light. I kept waiting for oncoming traffic even though I had a chance to cross intersection.
5. Another NCDE was positioning the 1/3 of vehicle  on the incorrect side of road
6. Final NCDE I did was driving too slowly at school zone when school holidays were going on. During school holidays, you can drive at normal speed. School zone speed limits apply only during school term is on. I drove at 40 kmph instead of 60 kmph.

Post test assessment report

At the end of test, Examiner said "Congrats! you have passed the test". What a relief it was! She also gave me the driving assessment report mentioning all errors I had made.  You can make maximum of 8 non critical errors, otherwise you would fail the test.

Practical car driving test help

If you need any help related to practical car driving test, please contact me on reply2sagar@gmail.com . I live in Brisbane city and can definitely help you.

What do you think on this topic? Please express your opinion or ask any question through comment below. You can write to me at reply2sagar@gmail.com