I'll attend today's meeting hopefully<br><br>On Sunday, May 4, 2014, JD <<a href="mailto:jdp@algoloma.com">jdp@algoloma.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
On 05/03/2014 08:46 PM, Paul Cartwright wrote:<br>
> On 05/03/2014 08:21 PM, William Bagwell wrote:<br>
>> One bit of advise I did not see mentioned by others, is you *must* be willing<br>
>> to go where the jobs are.<br>
>><br>
>> Live in the rural burbs myself (boonies to you city slickers) and not being<br>
>> willing to drive to Atlanta killed my chances. Entry level Linux jobs are<br>
>> few and far between and I have only seen *one* in ten years of lurking on<br>
>> the ALE jobs list (<a href="javascript:;" onclick="_e(event, 'cvml', 'ale-jobs@mail.ale.org')">ale-jobs@mail.ale.org</a>) that was close enough to me to<br>
>> bother applying for.<br>
> yup, living in Athens, all the jobs are in Atlanta/Alpharetta.. luckily I get to<br>
> work from home for another year:)<br>
> contract work.. not permanent.<br>
><br>
<br>
Ah ... moving to a different state will likely be necessary. I've lived in 9<br>
different states, 11 different cities. We are a mobile society. Interesting<br>
work happens more than 200 miles from here. I've known people who commuted from<br>
rural NC to Atlanta daily - crazy. If a job isn't fun/rewarding enough to move,<br>
then I probably don't want it.<br>
<br>
Some recent Linux group people moved 4 states away for positions. Just sayin'.<br>
<br>
I've had some amazing jobs over the years ... and as great as they all were,<br>
left each for career growth reasons. That made me more valuable for the next<br>
and the next and the next jobs. The more, different, experience you get, the<br>
more valuable you will be to companies. Keep moving forward. Eventually, even<br>
the greatest job gets boring. I loved most of those jobs and liked the people<br>
at them (mostly). After 3-5 yrs, it is time to move on, learn something new - IMHO.<br>
<br>
Also, while using a Linux desktop is important, it is not a substitute for<br>
running linux servers. Do everything from the CLI/shell. Forget point-n-click -<br>
that just isn't how it is done on servers. Try to automate everything possible<br>
on 1 machine, then try to automate across multiple machines. Have computers work<br>
for you, not the other way around.<br>
<br>
There are exceptions, of course. But many things we P-n-C today are a waste of<br>
time. That's ok, provided we have the time to waste. RSS feeds are 50% more<br>
efficient (at least) than browsing and don't interrupt other work.<br>
<br>
Contract vs permanent. I much prefer contracting. Very little politics. Usually<br>
higher pay and MORE time off! Just do the work. I've worked places with major<br>
layoffs - it was always the employees being fired, NOT the contractors actually<br>
doing the important work. Plus, as a contractor, it is less likely you'll have<br>
people reporting to you. For me, that is a plus. My last job as an employee had<br>
me in a leadership role and it didn't agree with me. I hated NOT being able to<br>
do technical stuff - their just wasn't time. They say we are all promoted<br>
1-level beyond our competence level? I suspect that happened to me.<br>
<br>
Anyway, hope to see some of you at the GA-400 meetup today.<br>
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</blockquote>