FSF looking for Sys Admin

Jon maddog Hall maddog at li.org
Thu Dec 16 10:10:01 EST 2004


Hi,

brian at datasquire.net said:
> This makes me REALLY wish I was a coder.  I'm recently unemployed and  fit
> (or could reasonably fake) all the requirements except: 3+ years experience
> with at least two programming languages. (and of course the programming
> skills requirements...) 

crschmidt at crschmidt.net said:
> More to the point, I'm lacking the undergraduate college degree they're
> looking for, and probably have a bit less experience as a sysadmin than  I'd
> be expected to. Unfortunate, since it looks like something that would be
> really cool other than that.

People looking for employees often list more qualifications than they are
willing to accept.  If the ad has been running a while, it means that they
have not found the person they want, and they are still looking.

My first job out of college was programming in IBM assembler on an MVS system.
While in college I had never touched an IBM system, or studied IBM assembler.
I picked up everything I had to know by reading a book an studying on my own
AFTER I had taken the job.  I was up front with the employer, and told them
that I had learned PDP-8 assembler by self-study, and based on this, they
hired me.

You show up and apply for the job.  They point out that you have something
lacking.  You tell them that you are a quick study, that they could hire you
for six months and if you don't work out then you leave and everyone is
better off.  In the meantime:

	o Brian, you would take courses in programming.  You may already know
	  one language: bash and shell scripting.  If you know that, Perl is
	  not too far behind.

	o Christopher, you tell them you will go back at night and finish your
	  degree.  Yes, you can do it.  I got my Masters at night while working
	  full time.  You might even get them to pay for it after a short
	  "trial period".

If you don't apply for the job, you will never get it.  If you do apply and
they turn you down, at least you will know you tried, and they missed out on
getting a really good sys admin.

Warmest regards,

maddog

-- 
Jon "maddog" Hall
Executive Director           Linux International(R)
email: maddog at li.org         80 Amherst St. 
Voice: +1.603.672.4557       Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A.
WWW: http://www.li.org

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