December 17, 2021
Day 24: Cancun : Scourge of the 22 year old programmer
What with nine versions of Windows completed since 1985, and such capable websites as Google, Amazon and Booking working reliably to service millions (billions?) of requests daily, we have become accustomed to computer services that generally work. That's why systems in Canada to determine who can and should be vaccinated, to make vaccination appointments, and to produce vaccination certification passes have been such a desperate disappointment. I am fond of thinking that these have been written by summer students or new graduates, without the real world experience to check if their stuff actually works in real world conditions.
My latest scrape with such shoddy software came over two hours last night and three hours this morning. The culprit is Canada's ArriveCan app, gathering vaccination and testing details required to return to Canada. Sure, the thing tries stunts like using your phone camera to scan your passport (this never works, even with the dedicated machines found at airports), but last night, after collecting a ton of info, the app froze 80% through its save. I entered all the stuff over again, and it froze at the same place again. I fed it different sizes/formats of our vaccination proof documents, and it froze in the same place again.
So this morning I phoned back to the Government of Canada, on a hard to hear phone connection, and the advice was to uninstall and reinstall the app, or to use the online version. I started with the online version, using Windows 10 and a Microsoft Surface Pro - totally generic - and when the thing came to ask what airport we would be landing at, the input box for that was missing.
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So I tried the online system but using an Android phone. This went into an infinite loop of asking me to log in. Too bad, because I had already won a hard battle about the login password. The app had earlier advised me that I needed a goofy password with many requirements, only to leave that advice on screen, blocking me from actually entering anything.
If your head is spinning by now, if you are ready to skip to another less frustrating blog, I am with you. Let's get the hell out of this together!
But wait. In a last desperate try I fired up our other, almost identical android phone, and this time the App worked. Go figure. Too bad, because had it not, once on our home soil any Canadian officials looking to give us grief would be sorry they came to work that day - with the Grampies on their case!
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3 years ago
3 years ago
On the other hand, neither of us had any problems with the ArriveCAN app. But neither of us was ever on the federal payroll either.
3 years ago
3 years ago
3 years ago
We have just been released here in Victoria Oz from having to show our double vax certificates to gain entry to most venues. The programme certificate is issued by the Feds so we need to create a Mygov account.
But you cannot download your cert yet because you have to create a Medicare account which you then link to your Mygov.
Then you can download your vax cert which you then link to the Vic Gov app which you use to scan the QR code for track and trace then you show your vax cert to the bouncer at the pub before you can gain entry.
The good news is that all these restrictions were lifted the other day as the State is now 93% double vaxxed but don't hold you breath with the Omicron variant moving rapidly through the place!
3 years ago