FSF looking for Sys Admin

Fred puissante at biz.puissante.com
Thu Dec 16 12:03:01 EST 2004


On Thu, 2004-12-16 at 09:46, travis at scootz.net wrote:
...
> I've never felt that me not having a degree has hurt me in any way as my
> work experience shows a diverse range of skills...

I've found -- painfully -- that while having a diverse ranges of skills
was a "shoe-in" in the 90's, it actually is a hindrance today, but that
may be changing. Too many places I've interviewed at wanted *specially*
someone who had X years doing skill Y, and looked down upon you if you
had many years doing A, B, and C too. And in my 25 years of being in the
field, I've "done it all".

It's a brutal market with some bright spots. Many of my friends have
fled the IT field and are doing or in training to do just about
everything else you can imagine. One became a State Policeman (!),
another a Minister (!!), and another is in training to be a Nurse (!!!).

I, being the old die-hard that I've always been, decided to wade it out.
Besides, there is nothing else I really would enjoy doing -- outside of
scientific research, which pays peanuts and have too many other
annoyances. But it was a challenge. I actually thought about becoming a
lawyer (!!!!). Well, I shouldn't say this especially here, but I even
seriously considered becoming a patent attorney (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I
even came up with a scheme to work around the degree requirement --
basically, taking the FET. I looked at what was required, and it's not
much -- just some basic physics and calculus. With half a brain and good
week or two of study, anyone here should be able to pass the test. The
Patent Bar is *much* harder -- that would take 2 or 3 months of
preparation. After that, then you've got to find a patent firm that's
willing to take you in, and it's an *extremely* competitive market. But
the salary's good -- 90K and up well into the 6 figures after you've
been there awhile.

Fortunately, the field rebounded enough that I did not have to shame
myself. Phew! And no tomatoes please. I actually found a place thav
values my extensive experience over "3 years writing Java servelets and
nothing else to an Oracle database on a PC painted green using a
Microsoft Mouse".

-- 
Fred -- fred at lrc.puissante.com -- place "[hey]" in your subject.
Cogitation for the day -- what does a bee and a galaxy have in common?





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