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The reply to that LinkedIn message is exemplary of Eurostar corporate culture. An arrogant company that has a monopoly over many train routes in northwest Europe and believes itself untouchable.

It looks like they might finally get some competition on UK international routes in a few years. Perhaps they will become a bit more customer-focused then.


They're so government adjacent that they've forgotten they're not a government.

A whole lot of government agencies and adjacent evil corporations behave exactly like that.


Government adjacent is only indirectly relevant as monopoly power is what matters. Google etc. happily pulls the same kind of crap.


One doesn't even need monopoly either, just a strong enough leverage against your customers. See Oracles.

It doesn't matter if there's competition at the customer acquisition stage, as long as there's some form of customer lock-in the corporation is going to abuse them somehow.

And companies without some kind of lock-in never scale in the first place, and that's why we must face this kind of bullshit pretty much everywhere even from companies operating in competitive markets.


I found it very apt. There is a certain flavor of arrogance exhibited by European monopolies which are government adjacent that infuriates on a unique wavelength.

Maybe totally imagined but they irk me quite unlike any other.

Just thinking about it now makes me uneasy.


It's 100% relevant, because more or less every government in the world sees clamping down on corporate monopoly and economic damage as part of their core responsibilities. But that tends to be forgotten when those corporations are government adjacent.

See: FTC rulings on mergers for this taken to the point of absurdity. Contrary to what one might think, especially if you're in a tech bubble, the FTC regularly cancels mergers and works to void potentially anti-competitive behaviors. But when it comes to big tech, which has become completely intertwined with the government, they are treated in a rather different way.


>But that tends to be forgotten when those corporations are government adjacent.

Is it "forgotten" or is it a mutually beneficial relationship?

Eurostar, EZpass, etc, etc. they take the hate for extractive behavior on the government's behalf the way ticketmaster takes the hate for the artists.


Government adjacent feels directly relevant considering the government is a de facto monopoly.


A government is a monopoly which is (in theory, at least) accountable to the people. Companies usually aren't, except as far as the lawmakers (accountable to the people) make laws explicitly restricting their behaviour.


In theory, if a company has shareholders then it is accountable to them. But in reality, a small shareholder tends to get about as much say as an individual member of the public does with most government departments.


MONUMENTAL | https://www.monumental.co/ | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Full Time | Onsite

We make robots that autonomously construct buildings. We are currently developing and manufacturing our autonomous bricklaying system in the beautiful centre of Amsterdam. And our robots are already earning real revenue operating on construction sites all over the Netherlands.

We're looking for experienced software engineers for PLATFORM and FULL STACK who can help us solve problems like:

- Data sync and analytics queries across a fleet of robots (that can be offline for hours at a time)

- Rapid deployment and iteration of experimental software changes across firmware, control software and UI

- Modelling buildings in code and finding the right UI for operators to edit them

Check out the progress we've already made on Atrium, our operating system for robotics: https://www.monumental.co/atrium

We're rapidly scaling up operations and we need experienced engineers who can build the systems that manage all of that complexity. If you think that 'full-stack' could reasonably mean debugging firmware, mixing buckets of mortar _and_ writing React components, we are looking for you. Robotics experience not required!

https://www.monumental.co/jobs


MONUMENTAL | https://www.monumental.co/ | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Full Time | Onsite

We make robots that autonomously construct buildings. We are currently developing and manufacturing our autonomous bricklaying system in the beautiful centre of Amsterdam. And our robots are already earning real revenue operating on construction sites all over the Netherlands.

We're looking for experienced software engineers for PLATFORM and FULL STACK who can help us solve problems like:

- Data sync and analytics queries across a fleet of robots (that can be offline for hours at a time)

- Rapid deployment and iteration of experimental software changes across firmware, control software and UI

- Modelling buildings in code and finding the right UI for operators to edit them

Check out the progress we've already made on Atrium, our operating system for robotics: https://www.monumental.co/atrium

We're rapidly scaling up operations and we need experienced engineers who can build the systems that manage all of that complexity. If you think that 'full-stack' could reasonably mean debugging firmware, mixing buckets of mortar _and_ writing React components, we are looking for you. Robotics experience not required!

https://www.monumental.co/jobs


MONUMENTAL | https://www.monumental.co/ | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Full Time | Onsite

We make robots that autonomously construct buildings. We are currently developing and manufacturing our autonomous bricklaying system in the beautiful centre of Amsterdam. And our robots are already earning real revenue operating on construction sites all over the Netherlands.

We're looking for experienced FULL-STACK ENGINEERS who can help us solve problems like:

- Data sync and analytics queries across a fleet of robots (that can be offline for hours at a time)

- Rapid deployment and iteration of experimental software changes across firmware, control software and UI

- Modelling buildings in code and finding the right UI for operators to edit them

Check out the progress we've already made on Atrium, our operating system for robotics: https://www.monumental.co/atrium

We're rapidly scaling up operations and we need experienced, generalist engineers who can build the systems that manage all of that complexity. If you think that 'full-stack' could reasonably mean debugging firmware, mixing buckets of mortar _and_ writing React components, we are looking for you. Robotics experience not required!

https://www.monumental.co/jobs


MONUMENTAL | https://www.monumental.co/ | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Full Time | Onsite

We make robots that autonomously construct buildings. We are currently developing and manufacturing our autonomous bricklaying system in the beautiful centre of Amsterdam. And our robots are already earning real revenue operating on construction sites all over the Netherlands.

We're looking for experienced FULL-STACK ENGINEERS who can help us solve problems like:

- Data sync and analytics queries across a fleet of robots (that can be offline for hours at a time)

- Rapid deployment and iteration of experimental software changes across firmware, control software and UI

- Modelling buildings in code and finding the right UI for operators to edit them

Check out the progress we've already made on Atrium, our operating system for robotics: https://www.monumental.co/atrium

We're rapidly scaling up operations and we need experienced, generalist engineers who can build the systems that manage all of that complexity. If you think that 'full-stack' could reasonably mean debugging firmware, mixing buckets of mortar _and_ writing React components, we are looking for you. Robotics experience not required!

https://www.monumental.co/jobs


MONUMENTAL | https://www.monumental.co/ | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Full Time | Onsite

We make robots that autonomously construct buildings. We are currently developing and manufacturing our autonomous bricklaying system in the beautiful centre of Amsterdam. And our robots are already earning real revenue operating on construction sites all over the Netherlands.

We're looking for experienced FULL-STACK ENGINEERS who can help us solve problems like:

- Data sync and analytics queries across a fleet of robots (that can be offline for hours at a time)

- Rapid deployment and iteration of experimental software changes across firmware, control software and UI

- Modelling buildings in code and finding the right UI for operators to edit them

Check out the progress we've already made on Atrium, our operating system for robotics: https://www.monumental.co/atrium

We're rapidly scaling up operations and we need experienced, generalist engineers who can build the systems that manage all of that complexity. If you think that 'full-stack' could reasonably mean debugging firmware, mixing buckets of mortar _and_ writing React components, we are looking for you. Robotics experience not required!

https://www.monumental.co/jobs


I see Rust+WASM mentioned; does the stack include Yew, Leptos, or a similar Rust-frontend framework?


Nope, our frontend is a TypeScript+React app.

We compile Rust to WASM and pull it in as library code for use in the frontend. It lets us reuse data structures, algorithms etc. that are also used in backend code.


MONUMENTAL | https://www.monumental.co/ | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Full Time | Onsite

We make robots that autonomously construct buildings. We are currently developing and manufacturing our autonomous bricklaying system in the beautiful centre of Amsterdam. And our robots are already earning real revenue operating on construction sites all over the Netherlands.

We're looking for experienced FULL-STACK ENGINEERS who can help us solve problems like:

- Data sync and analytics queries across a fleet of robots (that can be offline for hours at a time)

- Rapid deployment and iteration of experimental software changes across firmware, control software and UI

- Modelling buildings in code and finding the right UI for operators to edit them

Check out the progress we've already made on Atrium, our operating system for robotics: https://www.monumental.co/atrium

We're rapidly scaling up operations and we need experienced, generalist engineers who can build the systems that manage all of that complexity. If you think that 'full-stack' could reasonably mean debugging firmware, mixing buckets of mortar _and_ writing React components, we are looking for you. Robotics experience not required!

https://www.monumental.co/jobs


Assuming you mean a bicycle, yes, you absolutely deserve safe segregated infrastructure to keep you away from conflict with vehicles. It's better for everyone and I think many cities are now catching onto that.

And you should also feel entitled to clean, breathable air while walking and cycling. Any local government that cares about the safety of residents would agree, I think.


No, ICE emissions and brake dust from heavy EVs is bad for my health and therefore should be banned for the safety of people without a giant machine that has air filters


MONUMENTAL | https://www.monumental.co/ | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Full Time | Onsite

We’re creating robots that autonomously construct buildings. We design all of our hardware and software in-house in central Amsterdam, starting with autonomous bricklaying robots.

Building a robot like this means solving all sorts of interesting challenges: figuring out the robot's position with sub-mm precision; navigating autonomously around the building site; automating measurement and calibration of new robots; lots of distributed systems and so on.

Our robots are now continuously deployed on customer sites and we are earning real money as a masonry contractor. The full team is more than 60 people and we're growing rapidly to meet demand.

Our stack is mostly: Rust, TypeScript, Python, NixOS.

Some open roles:

- Software Engineer, Full Stack

- Software Engineer, Controls

- Software Engineer, Machine Vision

- Assembly/manufacturing technicians and robot operators

https://www.monumental.co/jobs

P.S. When we say full stack, we really mean it. Bolting things together, mixing mortar, embedded firmware, (software) build systems, React components and everything in between. Happy to answer questions.


Afraid that I can't apply for this (because it's on-site), but what you are doing looks awesome. Hope that you succeed!


I'd be really curious to see what a next gen robotics stack looks like after working with ROS channels spaghetti code for years. Best of luck to you!


MONUMENTAL | https://www.monumental.co/ | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Full Time | Onsite

We’re creating robots that autonomously construct buildings. We design all of our hardware and software in-house in central Amsterdam, starting with autonomous bricklaying robots.

Building a robot like this means solving all sorts of interesting challenges: figuring out the robot's position with sub-mm precision; navigating autonomously around the building site; automating measurement and calibration of new robots; lots of distributed systems and so on.

Our robots are now continuously deployed on customer sites and we are earning real money as a masonry contractor. The full team is more than 60 people and we're growing rapidly to meet demand.

Our stack is mostly: Rust, TypeScript, Python, NixOS.

Some open roles:

- Software Engineer, Controls

- Software Engineer, Machine Vision

- Assembly/manufacturing technicians and robot operators

https://www.monumental.co/jobs

P.S. We're always on the lookout for very strong generalist engineers who can operate at any layer of the stack (firmware, networking, UI, application code - whatever's needed!) Drop me an email if this sounds like you.


Monumental is "unable to support relocation", but you can sponsor visas -- does this just mean you won't help pay relocation expenses or is there a more fundamental reason why someone couldn't move to Amsterdam to work for you?


Ah, this is specifically for the Forward Deployed Robotics Engineer role.

For that role, we are currently looking for candidates who are already living in the Netherlands. If you are a foreigner, but already live here, we can continue sponsoring your visa.

For the other software roles we will consider candidates who want to move to Amsterdam from abroad. We can get you the necessary work visa.


Very cool! What is your email? Might drop you a msg


Link on my site, in my profile


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