Re: [BLUG] considering a job in computers

FWIW, I got where I am by pursuing my own interests both on and off
the job, and by doing it in the open source community I left an open
"paper trail" (blogs, mailing lists, published stuff) that my current
employer was able to use to assess my aptitude in lieu of a
certification. (Though I'm now pursuing my LPI cert.)

A year ago I was working as bottom-rung tech support at a high school,
but I'd gotten a chance to work with Linux and I loved that; it
scratched an intellectual itch I hadn't been able to scratch in a very
long time. I scratched and scratched that itch.

Scratching that itch plugged me into all kinds of different
communities revolving around my interests and passions. The
announcement that this position was opening up landed in my Inbox, and
it practically had my name on it.

The opportunity came to me, and I was ready to recognize it and take
it, because I'd pursued my own genuine interests. I'd woven a web (no
pun intended) and eventually something landed on it.

I will gladly acknowledge that there was a heavy element of
chance/luck/synchronicity; I definitely feel blessed/lucky. I'm still
sort of in awe at how the stars aligned right when I was ready for
them to.

I would be selling myself short, though, if I didn't acknowledge all
the work that I put in to be in the right place at the right time,
even though I wasn't doing that work with this outcome in mind. (I
don't think I would have put that much effort into it if I had been
doing it just to get a job, to be honest.)

Simón

P.S. I did have to be open to moving away from Bloomington—not
something I'd wanted, or have totally gotten over yet—to be open for
the opportunity I took. The Bloomington job market is pretty brutal.

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