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.

_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

Re: [BLUG] considering a job in computers

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 01:10:19PM -0400, Mark Warner wrote:
> No offense taken. I know I'm a grunt. Nevertheless, people pay good
> money for grunt work. How much does your auto mechanic charge? Does he
> have a BS in automotive engineering? :-)

Heh. Personally, I have a service technician come out and take care of
my servers when it might involve anything I'm not familiar with in the
case. I'll swap a hard drive easily enough, and if it is hot-pluggable
I'll do pretty much anything. If it's a 1U case and I've little idea how
it is setup or configured, I'd much rather have someone who may have
dealt with it before take a look at it. It's in my support contract, so
there's no reason for me to stress with it.

The HP techs I've dealt with recently have all been based in Indy. Even
the ones that used to be based in B-ton relocated further north where
there's more work.

> Providing good service at a fair price is honorable work, no matter what
> the field. That goes for plumbers, delivery drivers, waiters, and hod
> carriers, in addition to computer-fixers. I have a small but loyal
> number of clients that rely on me for their computer support. I charge
> them a fair price and provide them blue ribbon service, within my
> limitations. I'm just not in a position to strike out on my own.

My father had a little computer shop in a small town for a year or
so. I worked for him there some. We went so far as to even do one-off
short-order software contracts. (We had someone come in once and ask how
much it would cost for a program to test keyboards in 3 days.) It just
didn't get enough business in the end, and we had to close shop.

Cheers,
Steven Black

_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

Re: [BLUG] considering a job in computers

Steven Black wrote:
> Mark Warner wrote:
>> I'm a middle aged working class hero that got "into" computers about ten
>> years ago. (I'd been using them in the workplace since the early
>> eighties, but considered them 'magic boxes'.) I'm totally self taught,
>> with no credentials and no tech-related work history.
>
> Mark, part of the problem here may be that when it comes to grunt labor
> fixing computers (particularly Windows computers) there are a number of
> clear certifications that they look for. If you really want to repair
> computers, you should probably look in to getting A+ certified.

I know, I know...

> I mean no offense when I say "grunt labor", but it is actually how many
> manufacturers have seen the issue. I knew a fellow in the late 90's
> that repaired computers for a number of manufacturers. Depending on the
> problem a different component would be replaced. There was none of the
> elegance or thought required to replace either the right part or to
> preserve the user's data. The first thing replaced was generally the
> hard drive, and that without informing the owner. He didn't like it, but
> that was all the manufacturers were paying for. If he did anything else,
> he'd be doing it for free. They either had backups, or they knew their
> error and would have backups in the future.

No offense taken. I know I'm a grunt. Nevertheless, people pay good
money for grunt work. How much does your auto mechanic charge? Does he
have a BS in automotive engineering? :-)

Providing good service at a fair price is honorable work, no matter what
the field. That goes for plumbers, delivery drivers, waiters, and hod
carriers, in addition to computer-fixers. I have a small but loyal
number of clients that rely on me for their computer support. I charge
them a fair price and provide them blue ribbon service, within my
limitations. I'm just not in a position to strike out on my own.

The best fit for me and my skill set would be in a large organization
that supports a lot of desktops, or in a retail repair shop. In either
case, I've not had any luck getting my foot in the door for even as much
as a discussion or interview. Not surprising in this town, but it is
discouraging.

--
Mark Warner
_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

Re: [BLUG] considering a job in computers

Pawsitive Results wrote:
> Just FWIW, what worked for me was getting a job with a small business
> who had traditionally outsourced all things IT. I hired in an unrelated
> position (bookkeeping, specifically). Gradually, my "Oh, that's not a
> big deal; I can fix that!" translated into the powers that be realizing,
> "Hey, we'd be money ahead if we hired a new bookkeeper, and let Ana
> handle the computers (and marketing, which had fallen to me in about the
> same way.) They were well aware that I wasn't really-truly qualified,
> but with a good sense of when to give up and yell for help, that kind of
> on-the-job training can add up to some good skills and solid experience.

Actually, that's kinda where I'm at now. I was hired in as a
buyer/purchasing coordinator. Their workstations were a mess. First
thing I did was blow mine up and rebuild it from scratch. Soon enough, I
was doing all the tech stuff that they had normally outsourced.
Unfortunately, we're a real small outfit, so that doesn't amount to
anything close to full time work. It's just another entry on the "Mark
can do that list". I don't mind -- it gives me a break from the normal
routine, and I'm given non-monetary consideration for doing it.

--
Mark Warner
SimplyMEPIS Linux v6.5
Registered Linux User #415318

_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

Re: [BLUG] considering a job in computers

Just FWIW, what worked for me was getting a job with a small business who had traditionally outsourced all things IT. I hired in an unrelated position (bookkeeping, specifically). Gradually, my "Oh, that's not a big deal; I can fix that!" translated into the powers that be realizing, "Hey, we'd be money ahead if we hired a new bookkeeper, and let Ana handle the computers (and marketing, which had fallen to me in about the same way.) They were well aware that I wasn't really-truly qualified, but with a good sense of when to give up and yell for help, that kind of on-the-job training can add up to some good skills and solid experience.

--
Ana Greavu
U-AgI Norwood's Linux Hypervisor (Xen)
U-AgI Thunderpaws Blackheart NA NAJ PS1 PJ1 CL2 CL3-R (Jett)

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 11:50 AM, Steven Black <blacks@indiana.edu> wrote:

On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 07:13:36PM -0400, Mark Warner wrote:
> I'm a middle aged working class hero that got "into" computers about ten
> years ago. (I'd been using them in the workplace since the early
> eighties, but considered them 'magic boxes'.) I'm totally self taught,
> with no credentials and no tech-related work history.

Mark, part of the problem here may be that when it comes to grunt labor
fixing computers (particularly Windows computers) there are a number of
clear certifications that they look for. If you really want to repair
computers, you should probably look in to getting A+ certified.

I mean no offense when I say "grunt labor", but it is actually how many
manufacturers have seen the issue. I knew a fellow in the late 90's
that repaired computers for a number of manufacturers. Depending on the
problem a different component would be replaced. There was none of the
elegance or thought required to replace either the right part or to
preserve the user's data. The first thing replaced was generally the
hard drive, and that without informing the owner. He didn't like it, but
that was all the manufacturers were paying for. If he did anything else,
he'd be doing it for free. They either had backups, or they knew their
error and would have backups in the future.

Again, if you can solve problems and communicate well with people I'd
still recommend starting in a support position somewhere. Unfortunately,
depending on your existing commitments, this may not be something you
can afford doing.

If you want to get in to software, there are plenty of people that
started off by making a great piece of software on their own. This is
something that can be worked on as a hobby while maintaining a day job
making ends meet. With an end product that is open source, it is easy
for a potential employer to look at some of your actual work to decide
whether you have the skills they are looking for.

Cheers,
Steven Black

_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug

Re: [BLUG] considering a job in computers

On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 07:13:36PM -0400, Mark Warner wrote:
> I'm a middle aged working class hero that got "into" computers about ten
> years ago. (I'd been using them in the workplace since the early
> eighties, but considered them 'magic boxes'.) I'm totally self taught,
> with no credentials and no tech-related work history.

Mark, part of the problem here may be that when it comes to grunt labor
fixing computers (particularly Windows computers) there are a number of
clear certifications that they look for. If you really want to repair
computers, you should probably look in to getting A+ certified.

I mean no offense when I say "grunt labor", but it is actually how many
manufacturers have seen the issue. I knew a fellow in the late 90's
that repaired computers for a number of manufacturers. Depending on the
problem a different component would be replaced. There was none of the
elegance or thought required to replace either the right part or to
preserve the user's data. The first thing replaced was generally the
hard drive, and that without informing the owner. He didn't like it, but
that was all the manufacturers were paying for. If he did anything else,
he'd be doing it for free. They either had backups, or they knew their
error and would have backups in the future.

Again, if you can solve problems and communicate well with people I'd
still recommend starting in a support position somewhere. Unfortunately,
depending on your existing commitments, this may not be something you
can afford doing.

If you want to get in to software, there are plenty of people that
started off by making a great piece of software on their own. This is
something that can be worked on as a hobby while maintaining a day job
making ends meet. With an end product that is open source, it is easy
for a potential employer to look at some of your actual work to decide
whether you have the skills they are looking for.

Cheers,
Steven Black

_______________________________________________
BLUG mailing list
BLUG@linuxfan.com
http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug