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Linux Business

Finding a Linux Job 145

Posted by timothy from the need-to-pay-the-rent dept.
Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier writes, "Kirrily 'Skud' Robert, CEO of Netizen [and part-time freshmeat appindex maintainer], gives Linux job-seekers a few tips on landing a job with a Linux-friendly company. Netizen is an Australian Open Source and Internet training and consultancy company." It's a fun read, but eminently practical. Among her advice: Have opinions on beer, get involved in open-source projects, keep track of your source code ... just not necessarily in that order.
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Finding a Linux Job More

Finding a Linux Job

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  • That's a good idea, and I tried it once. I applied for a job with a local company that is running a gardening store online. They were using NT, and I proposed he hire me and I'd switch him to Linux. He had to switch databases anyway - or so he thought.

    Unfortunately, he found a good way to stick with his current database so he didn't need to switch. And I wasn't gonna accept an NT job. :-)
  • What fumes me is the people that REQUIRE you to send it in Word format. Yes, there are some, even for UNIX people. Maybe not Linux specific shops though.

    For the longest time, I did my resume in WordStar 6 (yeah, I know) and gave people only ASCII text, but last year I finally converted to WordPerfect. I can now send RTF if necessary. I will NOT stoop to sending Word files though, and if someone requires that, SCREW THEM!
  • Personally, I would be very reluctant to hire someone for anything other than a basic unix admin job unless they had multiplatform experience - anyone who hasn't adminned more than one is going to have a hard time identifying when to use OS F v OS S v OS L, etc. Even for junior folks, if they haven't taken advantage of the multitude of freely available unixes out there, why should I believe them when they claim to be OS-agnostic? Anyone who claims "FooOS fits my needs, so I don't waste my time with anything else" is no good to me.
  • I totally agree. Frankly, I think that any wannabe admin should know both C AND some assembler, so they at least have a clue as to what what executable code leaves in its wake when it runs. Really helps. I simply cannot imagine the confusion of someone attempting to do anything meaningful with computers w/o knowing this stuff. I know I'm so glad I learned it.
  • This is extreemly important. I have so many tools on my resume because I was always been willing to say, shure I'll try, learn, and do it. It sure helps that I bothered to learn the fundamental computer science theories and am willing to learn more.

    I agree that it's important to know lots of tools, and to be willing to learn new tools, but I disagree about listing all of them. See my resume [unicornsrest.org] for an example. As someone who's spent a fair amount of time evaluating resumes, I would see most of your list as noise ... I would expect anyone who has Unix programming experience to be able to use shells and editors. I would be more interested in knowing how much experience you have with the important skills on your list: C, C++, Perl, Oracle, Unix, Windows. How long (and how long ago) did you use them, and what did you use them for?

    My rule of thumb for listing skills on my resume is simple -- only list those skills that you would want someone to ask you to use for a job today, or those skills that demonstrate depth of expertise in a specific area. I could list COBOL, Fortran, and 40 other programming languages, but I don't have (a) any interest in coding in them today, and (b) enough experience with any of them to consider myself an expert. On the other hand, I can always brush up on them if it's important for a job.

    If you have more education than skills, list your education first. If you have more skills than education (my case) then list the skills first. Never leave time gaps in your employment history -- it makes employers wonder why you weren't employed. Only list the non-paying jobs for one of two reasons: either to fill a gap where you weren't professionally employed, or when you don't have enough paid experience on your resume. Nothing before college matters unless (1) it was a professionally relevant job, and (2) you've been out of school less than 10 years.

    One last piece of advice -- don't job hop without a damned good reason. While it may be more acceptable these days to hire someone who's worked 6 months here and 12 months there for their entire career, given a choice between someone like that, and someone who works 2-4 years at any particular job, most employers will take the latter person -- because he/she is demonstrably more stable, and unlikely to leave just when they're becoming useful. If you have had to leave a position after a short amount of time, make sure you have a good explanation (and if it's short, so much the better). It's OK to state that your style didn't match the company's style ... as long as you only use that excuse once.

    True story: I've only worked at one job (other than my current job) for less than a year -- the company reorganized and moved from Connecticut to Texas, and I wasn't interested in moving to Texas. In every interview I've had since I left that company, I've been asked why I was only there for 6 months -- and I've always explained that the company moved to Texas, and I didn't think that I would look good in boots and a Stetson. Everyone laughs, and we move on to the next item ... but every interviewer has noticed the short-time job.

  • Frankly, NO.
    Proper administration of Linux requires the
    ability to understand C code, how it works, how
    it's built and installed. Not a super wizard, not
    somebody who could write a Linux device driver in one sitting, but you cannot get a meaningful Linux
    job just by knowing how to spell it, and maybe
    having gone through one or two RedHat installs. Does not distinguish you from the Button-clicking VB monkeys with Tear-off MSCE sheets....

    Using a stupid email name like scumbucket is not a plus, either.
  • While it is true that you can have an unrewarding job programming in Linux, I disagree profoundly that techies don't fixate on their OS. Consider your dwelling. State and federal regulations guarentee you'll have a bathroom, a refridgerator and stove, but it is the *details* of your domicile that make you love or hate it.

    It would be nice to be OS agnostic. I am not. I've been burned by M$ too many times. I'd rather work with technologies driven by coders than marketers. Of course, you may enjoy updating your Office every two years and applying service packs to beat the band.

    For me, it is a requirement that I be kept as far away from MICROS~1 as possible.

  • Not me :-) I hope to programming for a while yet.

    Yeah!

    For some reason people consider programming like an athletic skill, which fades with age. I think that programming is more like playing jazz. You get better with age.

    Some of the best jazz musicians (Duke Ellington, Miles Davis etc) performed and created new music until the very end of their lives.

    I expect to be writing open source code when I'm 64....

    ...richie

  • > From what you've told us, I think the major thing that counts against you is your age. With 17 years of professional work experience must place you close to 40 years old. I've heard of a great deal of discrimination in California of older workers. California would rather hire young foreigners on visas than anyone over 40.

    That may be the case, but the companies I interviewed didn't seem to see my age as a handicap. Instead, they seemed to see my experience as a benefit. I guess I did get lucky in that the company that hired me has a much older development staff than you would expect from an average startup. They are a group of older, very talented people who it is a joy to work with. They also have lives and understand that working super long hours is counterproductive.

    >In the Linux area, it seems like a lot of the 40+ set spend their time writing books on Linux and not working in Linux jobs.

    Not me :-) I hope to programming for a while yet.

  • Our class has recently graduated from the DeVry Institute of Technology. While we all have Bachelors of science in our hands none of us has yet to be placed after three weeks of job searching.

    Seems that in Canada, employers are less likely to hire less experienced programmer / administrator / developer to fill a position. Also with the Y2K scare and the leap year scare many companies up here put a hiring freeze into effect (TransAlta being one I can recall) which is taking a long time letting down.

    I have looked though a lot of Online job sites and receive job listings from the newspapers online. Which this I normally see the following criteria for what seems to be a junior position:

    • Minimum two years of experience
    • Knowledge of a massive amount:
      • Languages
      • Databases
      • Operating Systems
    • Ability to work in a team environment
    • Ability to work by ones self
    • Required communication skills
    • Willing for work for low pay

    With criteria like the above, I find it hard to even find a position I can apply for... Let alone consider applying to. Even with one-and-a-half years of technical support experience, and contract work that dealt with custom server installations and Perl programming, I get little or no responses.

    So in essence it is difficult to take the advice of the article when it states that you should only apply to a Linux job (probably any job for that matter) when you meet all of the skills or have relevant experience. How can you? And what is the harm if you apply to a place with less experience? Then worst I can see happening is that they will not call you up for an Interview.

    As for applying to another city, province or country... Does this not make you look like a less promising Candidate? I mean you obviously cannot just show up for an interview (unless you can afford flying from Calgary to Toronto on a daily basis). This added to the simple fact that they would probably have to help you move seems to put any interview I have been interviewed with (over the phone) into a scare.

    Of course, perhaps it's just me.

  • -Of course, if you have 50 companies on your resume, and you've never worked for one place for more than a year, you're much more likely to get passed over for FT employment should you ever decide you want to stop contracting...

    Not really. Working for a lot of places doing lots of things means that I can do a lot of things. I've hit all the hot technologies in the past three years at various jobs. Basically if anyone calls looking for a buzzword technology, I am able to do the job, as long as it's not a Microsoft shop. Also, if someone was under the impression that I'm a bad employee for switching jobs, they should bear in mind that through the entire thing I probably only worked for a single consulting company. If they don't want to hire me, then I'll scratch them off the list and consider the other 150 companies on my list. :-)

    These are good times to be a computer programmer.

  • You mention consulting companies, and by that I guess you mean body shops...

    I work for Ciber, which you could probably consider to be a body shop. They have me working at IBM on a web site development project. I've got a Linux box on my desk, and another one in the machine room. I do Java development mostly, but I've done some TCL too. I work a lot of hours, and because of that I'm going to make much more than Linus Torvalds does this year (I read that he makes $120,000).

    I countermand your note. PREFER consulting shops to permanent employment.

    -You'll get to do many more things in your career. -You'll work with many more interesting people in your career.
    -You'll get to stack your resume with lots of company names: I've personally worked with State of Michigan, Ford, Chrysler, American Express, IBM, Motorola, Dept. of Defense, and Avnet.
    -You'll get paid overtime.
    -You'll get to pick and choose the projects you want to work on.
    -You won't have to pretend that the old social contract is still in force, and consequently you won't be surprised when your permanent employer decides to fire you at age 53, rather than let you retire and have to pay you a pension.
    -You'll still get stock purchase plans, 401K's, health and dental insurance, and 3 weeks of vacation a year.
  • Tried it.. some interviews.. second interviews even.. all seem to go well but then none of them ever hire me. I have no idea why. I am very experienced in Linux and programming but I don't seem to get any decent jobs. I don't even ask for a lot of money or extras so I don't know what the problem is. The unemployment rate here is claimed to be the lowest in the U.S. but the best tech job I can get pays like $8/hr.. the pizza guy makes $10/hr here. Really frustrates me. I'd really like a contract job by some company for web sites or something so I had my free time to write OSS software but so far I haven't found such a job. My current favorite language is PHP. I love it because it makes developing complex web sites so easy. No nasty hoops to dance through like with C or Perl, though those languages are of course better for some specific tasks. :)
  • Actually... whether or not one is writing for an open source operating system *is* a key technical issue.

    Having the ability to read, and make patches to, the OS kernel code is unbelievably useful sometimes, especially in the embedded market.
  • I spent 5 years studying to get my Bachelor of Sciences in Mechanical Engineering. In the last 6 months of my time in University, I spent every night hacking on Linux, teaching myself the environment and learning C. I did this for lack of a social life and because I was generally curious. As luck would have it, I got hired on at a company that made a VMS emulation suite for UNIX. Once there, they picked up on my love of Linux, and made me head of the Linux port. From there, I got a job working as a Linux SYS admin, and now I get paid a large sum to do what I originally started doing as a hobby. The moral of the story is that there are many more Linux jobs out there, and more coming every day. Roughly 30% of all servers on the Internet are running Linux, even if the companies doing it wont admit it. In the next 5 years, Linux experience will pay a handsome bounty. I'm getting paid about 30% more than if I had stuck with Mechanical Engineering, and my future earnings potential is greater than what I would have had as an engineer. For all my efforts at University, it was those last 6 months with Linux that has put food on my table. Maybe I live a fairytale life, but I don't think I'm at all unusual. Maybe it's just Austin Texas, but Linux is very hot here, and getting hotter.
    If you can't get a start in Linux, at least get some UNIX experience. Sooner or later, you will end up hacking on Linux, and getting paid a royal sum to do so :)
    -Cheers, and Much love to Linus, Alan, and all the crew that work to make Linux a reality.

  • Some of us fully under stand Microsoft's browser war tatics, but refuse to lower ourselves to their level. The point of your resume is to show how good you are at doing your job. If was looking at your site to determine if you were a suitable canidate for a web coder or admin I would reject you immediatly. For the plain and simple reason you don't show you know how to communicate to the general web user population. Further more it shows that you place confrontation above communication. Both traits are bad in an employee.

  • Relax. There will still be plenty of jobs when you get out of school, unless, the Internet isn't popular anymore and we enter a recession, neither of which looks likely at this point.

  • I would think that other than in ISPs and small to medium Linux
    savvy companies, one might be wise to have some experience in the other OS as well.

    That's true -- we can't forget the BSD's, can we?

  • wow! is this for real ? i didnt know mp3.com was actually running linux boxes..
  • i'll second that. get a job you want and then gradually switch the company over to unix. its a lot better to make your own job (and become an admin at the same time).
  • Pfft. Come over here and say that :)
  • 2. Do you have two X chromosomes?

    Most people have several billion.
  • You will probably have more luck finding Linux-based work in start-ups rather than in larger, more established companies.
    Larger, more established companies are more likely to have invested a considerable amount in operating systems on which they standardized years ago. Even if the company were to switch to Linux simply by downloading and compiling the source, it would still cost a lot of money in terms of personnel-hours, retraining users and developers, re-jigging their system to work under Linux and possibly rewriting whatever custom software they had. This doesn't mean that a larger, older company can't switch to Linux; it simply means that there's considerable cost in doing so. Even when companies can afford to make the switch to Linux, they generally do so slowly to work out the inevitable kinks in any switch-over.

    On the other hand, start-ups generally come into existence as blank slates. There's a certain freedom in not having a pre-existing infrastructure in place, and as a result, you'll find more start-ups using Linux either as its sole OS or as in a mix with other OSs. Money is extremely precious in a start-up, so if software is either very cheap or free, it tends to be used. There's also a "break from the status quo and break new ground" mentality that seems to be common to start-ups, which also makes Linux particularly attractive to them.

    Schmooze.
    Not as easy as it sounds, especially since the majority of geeks tend to rate as INTP [keirsey.com] on the Myers-Briggs personality test. However, those who present themselves well tend to be rewarded (and that will only be an addition to the fact that you're a pretty skilled person too, right?)

    A great place to meet potential employers is at computer-related conferences, especially those that tend to attract either developers or managers who have the authority to hire or recommend you. While these conferences are expensive if you attend the sessions, the passes for the showroom florr tend to be pretty cheap, and the showroom floor is the place where you meet people. You may find potential employers behind the booths, but the best source of jobs are the people wandering the floors, looking for solutions for their firms. Keep your eyes open for people's companies (it's typically on their badges) and your ears open. Have some material -- business cards, resumes, the URL to your resume site or a CD of your past work, a 50-word-or-less spiel why you would be a great employee at a Linux firm -- at the ready.

    There's more to development than coding.
    (I can already hear them saying "Wha'chu talkin' 'bout, Kode Fu?")
    Not everyone can be a coder, because not everyone has skill and not everyone has the will (cue rap music).

    I myself am the odd man out in a family of doctors. I've seen first-hand that it takes more than just doctors to make a hospital run; it takes more than just programmers to make a software firm run, too. Different software firms will have different needs, but based on experience, here are a few positions that a Linux-based software company may need:

    • CEO/President/Supreme Boss: Someone has to be the big-picture leader. While this person should be technologically savvy, s/he should also have business sense and expertise. While this conjures images of Dilbert's pointy-haired boss, you would be amazed at what a good CEO can do. You'd also be surprised at the number of tech companies looking for someone to handle the non-tech big picture issues.
    • CFO/bread-head/accountant: Someone's got to watch the money. The world of money is just as strange to outsiders as the geek world is.
    • Marketing: No matter what you think of marketers, you need 'em. Your better software mousetrap is just another idle collection of bits if it's simply languishing on your hard-drive. They're useful not only in the end, when you have a product to market, but if you're looking for investors or start-up cash, they can help sell market your vision.
    • User interface specialist: Rare, but given that there are CHI (Computer-Human Interface) SIGs all around, there must be some of these people. You will be doing your users a disservice if you don't get some usability expertise on-board.
    • Graphic designer: If your software has graphic elements, get a graphic designer. You will get better-looking results, and your users will thank you. Be sure, however, not to confuse UI specialist with graphic designers -- they are not the same thing. Graphic design does not have to function, but UIs do.
    • Production manager: This person's job is to ensure the smooth flow of production, which means making sure that all obstacles are removed from the development team's path. If the team needs a new machine or peripheral, a set of books or some software, this person makes sure that this is provided (as long as the request can be reasonably met). This person, along with the lead developer, keeps an eye on the schedule, making adjustments as necessary, and makes sure that certain necessary tasks get completed, even if they are tedious (for example, daily backup comes to mind).
    • Systems admin: There is a little coding involved in maintaining a system, but not on the scope of a your typical software project. Murphy's Law dictates that companies without a dedicated sysadmin will suffer a massive systems failure very, very soon.
    • Writer: Many projects need the services of a writer. There's a lot of writing involved with a major software project -- the requirements doc, design docs, risks docs, developer docs and user docs, for starters. Perhaps the company needs someone to write copy for its marketing materials or web site. You might even want a writer for your business plan or whatever material you have to present to investors.
    • Testing: Someone's gotta do it... I'm not just talking about beta testing, but also testing pieces of the software thhrough the development phase. To paraphrase Frank Lloyd Wright, it's easier to use an eraser on the blueprint than a sledgehammer at the construction site.

    Never underestimate the power of a good dye job and rock and roll accordion playing [smackfu.com].
    Hey, it got me a few offers at LinuxWorld Expo NYC and my job at a Linux company [steelbridge.com]...

  • I'm employing people to work with (amongst other) Linux systems. Check our jobs page for positions managing a Linux NOC, Java/XML/XSL/Oracle developers [ultimatebb.com].
  • I'm not so sure about this. There is definitely a level of frustration if the problems that you're trying to solve stem from poor design choices so that it becomes much harder to write a robust program. It is also doubleplusunfun to debug in batch mode, logical pleasure notwithstanding.

    So it does matter to some degree what computing environment you are using.

    On a tangent, I suppose to a certain extent it makes a difference to be patient - there are a few applications at our company that could benefit from a beowulf cluster! But someone's got to understand the issues and make a business case for it. So I guess what I'm saying here is that perhaps your job may be a potential linux job and you just don't know it yet!

    Michael
    ---

  • It might be helpful to have the opinion of beer that it should not be consumed while coding, unless it's for the obfuscated code competition.

    -----------------------

  • Most importantly, don't send your resume in MS Word format unless specifically asked to

    Damn - maybe that's why I keep getting rejected

    "Oh, I got me a helmet - I got a beauty!"

  • you really are a lowlevel proofreader, aren't you?

    Interesting thoughts though. Sounds like a bit of the old "It's not what you know..."

    "Oh, I got me a helmet - I got a beauty!"

  • >> If you answered 'Yes' to all of the above,
    >> congratulations, you're qualified for
    >> practically any job out there.

    1) Yes, I have a pulse

    2) Yes, I am a crack addict

    3) Yes, I plan to immediately defraud the company

    4) Yes, I have been convicted of homocide.

    Therefore, I am qualified for any job out there (!).

  • Are there (m)any jobs out there for someone who knows admin but not C? I haven't had the time to learn C, but I've been making shell scripts lately and they're fun. Phone tech support pays the bills, but it'd be kind of fun to have work with Linux while actually getting paid.

  • beer (Score:1)

    by passion ( 84900 )

    As for code, I use someone else's to develop my own. I then offer to give it away for free.

    When it comes to beer - I brew my own, then give some of it away for free, and teach others on how to make it on their own. Brewing can be open-sourced as well. more information at: http://www.umich.edu/~nsbc [umich.edu]

    Share your knowledge. Do it yourself.

  • here is a poll about jobs [slashdot.org]
    and here [slashdot.org] is another.
    and here is a totally unrelated polls about your root password [slashdot.org]

  • And also, brain cells are not too fond of alcohol. I think they're important for any serious work, too. Not that anyone who drinks is immediately going to go brain dead...but I would think of someone's drinking habits being like someone's sexual habits...they're there, you just ignore them(don't ask "So, what's your favorite beer?" I would answer "I don't drink. I prefer Coke. It's much cheaper!(The cola, I mean.)" ).

    Welcome to Slashdot. Please do not feed the trolls.
  • I haven't been as successful as I like but I am not a loser either. I am married. I drive a new car and I just purchased my wife a new car as well the day before yesterday. I have a nice house in the suburbs and I am one of the youngest homeowners in my entire nieghborhood at 24 years old. I enjoy my job although it is not exactly what I was looking for. You have the advantage of a college education. The truth is there are people like me who can outperform people like you. Are you scared your boss might find me, or are you just a typical jerk?
  • I have been using linux for about 3 years (don't recall the kernel version), but I started coding when I was 10 years old. I am now about to turn 25 and now that I am married, my programming is interfering with my personal life and I would like to make it my profession and keep my freetime as my freetime. I have been a computer tech support person for the last 3 years, which is the most computer related job I have been able to find in Memphis. I have been employee of the month several times and I am always in the top on the charts. I have been selected along with about 4 others to assist with the creation of tech support tools for a new computer related product which is somewhat interesting but I am still looking for a programming job like I always have. A major setback is that I don't have any credited college or professional programming experience, but then again - was a supervisor at Office Max before I worked here but I seem to be doing fine because I am very skilled, motivated and a superfast learner. I have applied for several jobs but people want me to relocate. I just bought a house with my wife and she has career ties here as well. I have been thinking of seeing a recruiter in desperation. Many people have told me that this is not a good idea but I am running out of ideas and this is beginning to cause problems for me. I don't need the best paying job. I just want to do what I enjoy (coding) and make cost of living without having to pull a second job. I am fluent in multiple languages and have even begun trying my hand at X things like GUI design with C++/Qt. Can anyone out there offer any suggestions or give me a fair shot at a job? My present employer would probably write me a recommendation.
  • Since we are on the subject of Linux jobs, I was wondering if those of you who have gone before use who are still in collage could tell us what you think should go on a resume. I am being told to put the following on: Courses taken, education(what collage and greaduation date [expected]) work experience, computing experience, interests and activities, awards and places that I have been (i.e other countrys). Also I have put on programs that I have writen and were they are loacated. My question is, is that to much, what will a propective Linux job oppotunity be looking at. anything that would be needed. I am no thinking about this stuff now that I am in my 3rd year of collage and expect to be graduating next year, I am looking at a BS in CS.
  • The other way to do this is to do your crap jobs as early as possible. I have spent the past three years working crap computer jobs (mainly during the summer). With each job they get less stupid and more fun. Except for a brief stint in Tech Support, which was horrible.

    My first project was organizing the software cabinet, and checking out the companies licensing position. By the end of the summer, I was macro programming for clients. By the end of the next year, I was writing database apps, and maintaining a database server.

    I lucked out, I convinced my boss to hire me on expected skills. He thought I would make a good programmer. He also did everything he could to make me one. Congrats on getting a good job without a CS degree. I found it very hard to be taken seriously without a High School diploma, much less a CS degree.

    The only thing I can add is network, network, network. Making contacts can get you more important and interesting jobs. And search a lot at small start-ups. They will be more likely to give you a chance.

    Best regards,

    Nate Custer
  • Perhaps, you should not look for the best as they stand, but the best as they will be... Not everyone is particulary good at C or is an out of the box kernel hack, but there are plenty of people who more than anything just want a chance.

    There are intelligent, self-motivated people, who have on their own started pushing into technology from other fields. Find them! If they are intelligent, and can demonstrate they can learn coding then HIRE THEM.

    Hell, I've had so much success in this that I don't hire anyone who lists what I need on their resume. I hire those that want to learn it. Of course, as I am in a university and do teach these things I have more allowances.
  • "2) Which edition of the "C programming Language" did you learn from? (trick question)"

    What am I missing here? Why is this a trick question? I've always thought of it as a perfectly reasonable book to learn C from.
  • Hear hear. If I see one more ridiculous job posting like "PC technician - requirements: BSCS and MCSE" Im gonna friggin puke. You know some pointed-haired HR dumbass writes the requirements.

    In response to other posts:

    Word format. I submit most of my resumes in Word format from StarOffice for one reason - I've found most places wont even look at your resume unless its in Word format. HR people do Word. Like it or not, its a standard in business. I like to eat and make my rent and car payments.

    As to the guy who blocks IE on his website, you're shooting yourself in the foot. That kind of arrogance wont get you a job. And IE doesnt run on only Windows. Tomorrow I find out if I got myself a sys admin job working with NT and Mac OS X servers in a 90% Mac shop. Guess what the guy that took my resume and interviewed me uses on his Mac? Internet Explorer. And MS Word. Software is a tool. Software does not have any intrinsic moral value, only instrumental value. People use what works, and what they prefer. Its that whole CHOICE thing OSS is all about. You just alienated a lot of people who may have been willing to give you a job, just because they happen to prefer IE over Netscape. Bad move.

  • while it seems like I have people lining up to give me near 6-digit positions in the fortune 500 club, getting a linux job anywhere is another story. I think half my problem is that many of these big companies frankly over-pay because they are simply stupid/wastefull, and hanging arround them long enough makes you into a "dull-blade". I decided to deal with this by beefing up my linux training, hanging out arround more linux related activities, and deal with a massive pay cut. Yea it's tough, but the writing is on the wall - anyone who doesn't "get it" (with Linux) is simply gonna get it.

    David

  • I had an interview there and the first question that I was asked was "do you even know what linux is?". For years I'd been taking a whipping at other companies because they blew off my attitude about Linux as naieve, only to be totally humiliated in my attempts to embrace it. Other than that it was the most intelligent and insightfull interview I'd ever been in, but I came off like a UNIX idiot. I felt misjudged (or perhaps rail-roaded by the unchallenging overpaying corporate jobs I've been in) it was soo very fusterating. The experience I had seemed to count for nothing.
  • Long term prosperity does not come from overpaid work, but productive work - otherwise you're just inflating a baloon. The simple fact is that the linux paradigm is able to achieve much more for a fraction of the cost. Only an idiot would think that they are isolated from the free market competition because too many people value their comfortable place. Too bad, deal with it.
  • I've been burned by M$ too many times. I'd rather work with technologies driven by coders than marketers.

    I understand this very well. I was a Windows' programmer up until about a year and a half ago. Every time somebody installed a new version of Office, my host connectivity middleware wouldn't work any more! Of course, debugging on my machine never yeilded any problems - since I refused to install Office for at least 4 years.

    What I finally did was to get my project converted to Java - then I would work on my FreeBSD partition for development, and only use Windows for testing. I've now got somebody else to do the Windows' testing, so I'm free to just develop on FreeBSD and/or Linux.

    What's more, since switching to FreeBSD (and Linux) full time, I've felt like my mind has been coming out of a coma. Double clicking and dragging and dropping are fine for some things. But coding requires a keyboard. Vi doesn't take my hands far from the home keys, which couldn't be avoided with VC--. Shell scripts, makefiles, etc. All of those wonderful utilities I used to use back in college that save time when used well, slowly came back to me. I was able to think again!

    I used to be the "answer man" for any kind of problem with Windows - since I'd probably had it and figured out a work around. Now, I tell them, "I don't do Windows."

  • That's true -- we can't forget the BSD's, can we?

    That's right... FreeBSD being the most prolific (I personally run NetBSD at home). &nbsp ;-) And don't forget the VMSs and the Novells that are out there in many places as well, etc.

    ;-)

  • -You'll get to stack your resume with lots of company names: I've personally worked with State of Michigan, Ford, Chrysler, American Express, IBM, Motorola, Dept. of Defense, and Avnet.

    Of course, if you have 50 companies on your resume, and you've never worked for one place for more than a year, you're much more likely to get passed over for FT employment should you ever decide you want to stop contracting...

    -You'll get to pick and choose the projects you want to work on.

    I work FT for my current company, and I pick and choose my projects for the most part. And if I get stuck on some crappy, death-march project, I can always quit...

    -You won't have to pretend that the old social contract is still in force, and consequently you won't be surprised when your permanent employer decides to fire you at age 53, rather than let you retire and have to pay you a pension.

    I don't know anyone that still belives this farce (at least nobody in high-tech).

    I wouldn't say that FTE is better than working for a "body shop" or vice verse. It all depends on your situation at the time.

  • It's obviously all about html! Especially if you are a coder... write some tight simple html that can be seen anytime ... (even printed from within Word if necessary) ... The days of paper resumes for tech jobs should be nearing an end soon... just as black text on white backgrounds deserve to die (monitors are NOT paper either!) but that's a different rant. Am I right or am I right? Props to Beppu-san for teaching me this. TTFN & Shalom.

    -PipTigger
  • As for other helpful job search engines, I find that Techies.com [techies.com] and Monster.com [monster.com] are two fairly great job sites as well. I like how you can narrow down jobs to a certain merto area.
  • Sure, we all like to sit at our computers using linux, playing some games etc, but we try not to let it rule our lives. A social life is important, girlfriends are important (as illustrated in a linux using friend of mine. He has a girlfriend who lives in Hong Kong and that he's never met, who's coming to visit him in Australia where he has recently started going out with another girlfriend.) What can this poor man do? Try to sort out the situation. Not sit at home at his computer all day and all night. He has an external life. If you choose to get a job where you work 9 hours a day at a computer screen using linux, where do you find the time for girlfriends. You would most probably become obsessed with your work. If you want a job, get a job that allows you to interact with different people and different environments away from your little "linux hobby" at home. You will find that your life will; have new meaning, and different social pathways will open up to you. It's your decision about your future, but choose wisely lest you wish a sad, desolate life in front of your linux box.

  • Finding the Right People (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    This may seem implausable but i'm tring to find linux people that i can hire. The company i work for is a startup and is desperate need of good hackers to do linux kernel code, general systems code and maybe even some mathimatical coding.

    All i can tell is, the good people live out side the states or already have killer jobs elsewhere. I've been thinking about just running down all the linux kernel comment looking for hackers that might be unemployeed or looking for better jobs.

    Maybe i'll run down http://advogato.org/person and see if i can find some canidates. We are looking to hire anywhere from 10 to 20 coder over the next 4 months, so, i'm sure it, behoves us to start looking now.

    If anyone has any idea on how to go about hiring this kind of skill or what sums of money its going to take, i'm interested in hearing from you.

    It seems to me most people here talk a brave fight, but i have to wonder what its going to take to put together the team of coders/hackers that is going to form our development department. There has been talk about 'raids' on tech companies such as intel, but i'm not convinced thats a road we want to go down. We might wind up with a largly inefectual big-business framework without having the techincally savy we need. Sure everyone wants to make programming a process that monkeys can do, but for a startup you don't want the dead weight these processes impose upon talent in the organization.

    matt at cgibuilder.com

    /* Nice thing spellings not a prereq here. :) */


  • BTW - As far as the word format on your resume...sorry to burst most Ub3r h4x0rz bubbles, but most
    companies have lots of management, and management uses Windows...word is still the way to go in a
    resume, but that doesn't mean you have to like it.

    Depends on the company. If it's an old corporate behemoth then layers of Microsoft-dependent pointy-hairs are likely. If it's a small startup or Linux consultancy, or it comes from an academic/UNIX background, that is not so.

  • Perl monger [pm.org] meetings, usually held once a month, are better than LUG's if you want to meet other programmers in your area.

    0. Sending your application and resume
    Don't. If the person your sending it to doesn't already know who you are and isn't expecting your resume, this is a bad idea. If there are a hundred applicants for a new job, which do you think a manager is likely to choose
    • 99 resume's from people he's never heard of who may or may not be lying.
    • One guy who has been recommended by people already on his staff and who understands the job.

    What it takes is a little research of a few companies that interest you and some contacts. If you haven't met somebody from a perl monger meeting or LUG working there, then just call up an engineer at the company. That is tough, I know. But you're not calling them to ask for a job, just for info. You want to find out about the open job, what skills it requires, the group manager, and the company in general. Remember, the guy at the other end is a geek just like you.

  • You mean other than for or (gasp!)against? O.K.
    Q."What's your favourite beer...?"
    A. cold
    --or--
    A. free
  • If you belong to a LUG or writing a OSS you can always find some type job related
    on my LUG'S listserve they always have job postings.


    http://theotherside.com/dvd/ [theotherside.com]

  • Where I live, there are practically NO linux systems deployed in such a manner that they need folks yesterday. This is industrial/agriculture/lumber country, so the tendancy is toward AS/400. The only major IT shop in the area wants Windows and Mac folks to write code on those platforms. The employer offers the same hypercasual, laid back dress code; the same Mountain Dew supply and the other perquisites to attract what they need. Pay is less than average, but expenses like rent and electricity can be less than average, too. What really matters when it's all said and done is how much disposable income is left in your pocket when the paycheck is received.

    This doesn't mean folks aren't wanting employees yesterday; they do, but in skills like truck driving, nurse's aides, machinists and home care aides.

    All the folks flocking to programming has seemed to leave a void in skills like machining, sheet metal workers and tool and die makers. I can't swing a dead cat around the classifieds in the paper without finding decent industrial jobs.

    And, no, I cannot move. There are many reasons someone older cannot easily pick up and move.


    --

  • This is extreemly important. I have so many tools on my resume [visi.com] because I was always been willing to say, shure I'll try, learn, and do it. It sure helps that I bothered to learn the fundamental computer science theories and am willing to learn more.

    My own technical book collection is now a couple of shelves larger than the 4 foot wide floor to ceiling book case I originally allocated for it. Sure some of the books are now old and dusty, but then I've been collecting for 2 decades. The dustier ones will soon be cataloged evicted to boxes till I get a larger place. Sure it's expensive to maintain your own persomal technical library, but I've found it indespensible. I use books as refferences nearly daily. I consider it much more important to know how to research and look up something than it is to know it off the top of the head. More often than not the memory isn't quite all there, but you know that printed page ratains what it was told very faithfully. It's also much easier to hand to somebody else so you can off load the task and get on to some more important task.

  • Was to simply get on the Linux Users' Group mailing list of the target city and _ask_. It took a bit the first time, but the second time (different city), I had a contact in a week and an offer in three.

    Networking, networking, networking.

    --
    See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like Linux,
    you have to be a sneaky bastard too ;-)
    -- Linus

  • Why keep yourself to only US workers? Notice the way that list of kernel hackers has lots of email addresses that have something after the ".com" or ".edu"? There are some pretty good coders outside the US, you know!

    They are cheaper, too, and don't even try saying that you need all the people in the same place for a project to work well - there's that whole kernel thing, again.

    You also get the benefit of having people in different timezones, so when you get to work in the morning you'll find a days work has been done while your asleep.

    (I'm in Australia, so I'm a little biased. OTOH, I'm not really looking for a kernel hacking job, so I'm not that biased. YMMV, though.)

  • Just out of personal experience, the most important skill any potential candidate can have for ANY position at all is:

    A willingness and ability to learn.

    We recently hired an employee to do Linux / PERL work, not because of his skills (no PERL at the time) but because he was willing to go learn it over the weekend. So far, he's worked out better than we had even hoped.

    Cheers

  • Re:Beer (Score:2)

    by VB ( 82433 )
    Actually, I've noted two different breeds of coders:
    • Jolt Coders
    • Beer Coders

    And, while I've dabbled some in beer coding, it has, at times, produced some interesting results. But, sometimes these can be refreshing and re-educating, such as boning up on Linux installation techniques. Since I already have 15 machines running Linux in various parts of the world, it's becoming a little pointless to build any more. Unless of course, it's to make a little more progress on my Alien Searching [berkeley.edu]. Actually, I may need to do this soon, since I'm almost losing ground at this point. Almost......

    So, returning from my tangent, a good beer-hacking session sometimes gives you an opportunity to go through the process of re-installing Linux. Plus, you never know when someone's going to have a system get DDoS-ed while you're out singing karaoke, and, maybe a little toasted, and, you'll have to do some drunk typing in a production environment. I would encourage people to do their beer-coding in a test environment, however.

    Also, remember that brain cells are darwinist in their operation, and, the weak brain cells are the first to die. Since we only exploit 15% of our brain cells at any given time, I would think killing off the weaklings with a Coors Light, or a Sam Adams would be a fairly intelligent thing to do. So, cheers, everybody! Drink up and ./configure && make && make install and see what comes out of it.

    As for Jolt Coders, they can be pretty manic, at times, but, they do have their place. I mean, who's gonna do the debugging for the Beer Coders?

    >:)

    Linux rocks!!! www.dedserius.com [dedserius.com]
  • I dont know about anyone else's experience in landing a job, but I know I had to work the crap jobs for 2 years before I have had companies consider my resume. Its hard if you have no experience, only a degree. Its even harder if, like me, you have no Computer Science degree. I went to college for Philosophy fer cripes sake. But if you do have a CS degree, its gonna be a lot easier. Take those crap jobs. Get your bastard lessons, take your lumps, do your time. Keep your eyes on the job postings. Sooner than later you'll get a crack at a good job. Best of luck.
  • I would think that other than in ISPs and small to medium Linux saavy companies, one might be wise to have some experience in the other OS as well. &nbsp Reason being that many companies have had Linux hiding in the background in the backend, and the higher ups having discovered it, have often appreciated its usefullness. &nbsp Thus places such as these are slowly becoming more "Linux friendly" as well. &nbsp However, these companies often have a large user and/or server base of something else, and often need migration-saavy IT staff, knowledgeable in multiple OSes.

  • Make your own Linux-friendly job (Score:3)

    by Proteus ( 1926 ) on Sunday March 19, 2000 @10:15AM (#1192173) Homepage Journal
    I've found more use from getting a job at a smallish company who is open-minded than from a job at a "linux-friendly" company.

    There's something about convincing the CEO that Linux has significant advantages for some project or other, and that it costs less too! The look of enlightenment on the face of a PHB who suddenly groks the advantages of OpenSource is priceless. And it gives a real chance for OpenSource advocacy when the BSA audits you and finds that you're using a whole lot of OpenSource software, so they can't say a damned thing! :)

    Plus, it lets me put BSD in where I see fit too...

    --
    : remove whitespace to e-mail me

  • I work at a Linux-friendy company and.... (Score:3)

    by hazeii ( 5702 ) on Sunday March 19, 2000 @12:11PM (#1192174) Homepage
    ...the sort of questions that come up at interview time are:-

    1) Can you survive outside Visual Studio?
    2) Which edition of the "C programming Language" did you learn from? (trick question)
    3) Which kernel version do you use?

    ...and if you get offered a job, they point at the tie you're wearing to the interview and say "You won't be needing that!"

  • Looking for Open Source people (Score:3)

    by PhiRatE ( 39645 ) on Sunday March 19, 2000 @10:40AM (#1192175)
    I have rarely had any difficulty ascertaining the skills of a fellow hacker. Its like a painter judging the technical skill of another painter, its easy, you can see why they do what they do and how. A few examples and a fairly short chat will do it. On the other hand, when I try and figure out whether a painter is a good painter, or whether a banker knows what the hell he's talking about, I'm in the dark, and pretty much no amount of evidence that they can provide will enlighten me beyond "gee thats a lot of stuff".

    My personal urging towards employers at least is ensure that when you go to speak to your prospective hacker, bring along another one, one you trust, because they will see right through them (assuming a reasonable social ability :) if they're trying to pull something. Simply find a friend or employee who is a Good Hacker (tm), explain carefully what you want in a new employee, then let them sit in on the interview, and if they want ask questions.

    As far as going for a job, I'd be concerned if I was merely interviewed by management, unless said management is particularly technical. Kirrily may not see this from where she is, she is surrounded by the tech world and more importantly, a good judge herself, but if the interviewing group doesn't consist of at least one person fairly familiar with the stuff that you do, you simply aren't going to get a good show. The job will go to the person with the best social skills and the ability to sell themselves, which is all fine and dandy unless the person concerned can't actually do the job.

    They say interview technique is important, but more so these days is Who you have at the interview, than what you do there.

  • I didn't even realize this was an issue (Score:3)

    by Junks Jerzey ( 54586 ) on Sunday March 19, 2000 @01:00PM (#1192176)
    This is a really weird article. Getting a job that's Linux-based isn't necessarily a good thing, or at least it has very little to do with your personal satisfaction. Linux is, after all, just an operating system. What's more important is the type of work you're doing, the people you're working with, how well a company is managed, and so on. If you want a Linux job solely because you think Microsoft is evil, then you need to pull back and look at your personal crusades in perspective. If you enjoy programming, then you'll get the same problem solving and code writing pleasures regardless of whether you're working on a mainframe, a proprietary embedded system (much more common than either Windows or Linux in the job market), a handheld device, or some form of desktop PC. Ranting about how Linux is superior to Windows really does give the same impression as arguing whether Captain Picard could take down Captain Kirk. It looks really weird to most people, because most people, even the techies, don't fixate on which operating system their computer is running.
  • I'm currently a college senior looking for work and I'm having the hardest time finding a job for after I graduate. Just about all of the companies that I talk to are looking to fill immediate opennings, i.e. within two weeks. No one is interested in looking for someone who has the skills and the education, but isn't available for another two months.

    At my school, most (if not all) of the recruiters looking to fill full time positions come in September. The Career Center says you should have a few offers by December. Then you should make a decision by Janruary. Well, that was true for CivE, ChemE, and MechE, but the only jobs available for CS at that time were from companies that "need people." Those are the jobs where you go to work eight hours a day and come home ready to die. *bleah* I had one this summer, I don't want another.

    How am I supposed to get one of these "linux friendly" companies to take a look at me months in advance? I have the education and an excellent GPA (3.5). I go to the conferences to learn about new technologies, not the freebies. I've been using Linux for four years and I finally use it on my desktop. I do linux programming when I can, but my coursework takes up most of my time. And most of all, Linux really excites me. All the IPOs are cool, but I really don't give a damn. I just want a roof over my head, food in the fridge, and small part in the Linux Revolution.

    Any help would be much appreciated.

    Nate
  • I've deliberately waited before posting this message for fear that a lot of people might consider it spam. I get enough hassle for having a commercial tagline that if you are likely to be offended, just skip the message, ok?

    Two summers ago, I tried to find a job at a startup company. My resume is pretty good, at the time I had done a lot of work on Java, had been published in books on Java, etc etc. I had worked at Microsoft. I figured my chances were pretty good.

    But, to my tremendous surprise, none of the resources that I had at my disposal resulted in any really strong leads. I emailed my resume around, I posted on HotJobs, Monster, etc. all the big sites. I did a lot of searches for open job postings. And although I got a few offers, it was an awful lot of work.

    So, a friend of mine and I started our own company, which we called Catalyst Recruiting. It's designed to help students and recent graduates who are smart and have a high skill level get connected with startup companies. We've been in business since last August, and have a web site built 100% from free and open-source components. I designed most of the technology, and I think it's pretty revolutionary relative to what's out there for recruiting today. We even plan to open-source the software (check out enzyme.sourceforge.net)

    But enough about me. I think that we are a great resource for /. folks to check out and maybe land a great job. Of particular interest is that we just signed up Transmeta to use our service. Thought maybe that would be useful.

    Anyway, that's my spiel, hope you didn't read it if you're not interested. If you are interested, there's a link in my sig. We don't spend a lot of money on advertising (except for our sponsorship of The Onion), so I try and get the word out any time I have a chance and a sympathetic audience.

    Thanks,

    Eric

    Want to work at Transmeta? Hedgefund.net? Priceline?

  • Re:Keep an open mind (Score:3)

    by technos ( 73414 ) on Sunday March 19, 2000 @11:29AM (#1192179) Homepage Journal
    Exactly.. Even after you've hired him, that willingness to learn will make him better than his peers. You can stick that guy in anywhere, and have him swimming in a couple of days. Buy him a book, point him at a test system, and he'll be up to speed before management has sorted out the project specs. Many, many times I've been given the 'fun' stuff to do, not because I knew 'X' intimatly, but because I could learn 'X' well enough in a couple of days. Granted, I've been given some weird stuff 'Jim, you'll be taking over for someone in Marketing this week. Here's the proceedure manual' or 'We know you haven't touched VC++ since 4.0, but we need a .DLL wrapper to let the Unix box screen values coming into the DB', but on the whole it's been great for me and the company..

  • My recent Linux job hunting experiences (Score:4)

    by MinusOne ( 4145 ) on Sunday March 19, 2000 @11:26AM (#1192180)
    I was looking for a new job recently and I had some interesting experiences. I have been a C and C++ programmer for about 15 years (mostly C, only a little C++), with about 17 years of professional programming experience. My last two jobs, a total of 11 years of work, have been doing Unix work. My first Linux kernel was 1.2.8, back in about 1996. I live in San Francisco and was looking for work near home - I did not want a car-only commute. At my last job I used almost all the popular commercial Unicies - AIX, HP, Solaris, SCO, Digital, NCR and so on.

    I was looking for Linux work, and got two hits on my resume from Linux-related companies. The first was a company making a Linux-based product. I had a somewhat unusual phone interview - the guy who was the chief tech wanted to know how much Debian experience I had. My preferred ditribution is Slackware but had installed Debian twice. I really didn't use it with any regularity, or have any specific experience. He semed to be interested in Debian install packages, and didn't seem to think that my experience building install packages for seven different Unix native installers meant much. I guess my lack of Debian-specific experience counted quite a bit against me, but I also got the impression that because I didn't use Debian I was somehow politically incorrect. The other problem I had was that I could not offer any code samples from my last job. All the code was proprietary and even though I am quite proud of my coding skills I could not prove anything. I have not had time to work on any outside of work Open Source projects so I could not show any code from that source. I think that this also counted against me in the "politically incorrect" category. The thing that most annoyed me was that after the phone interview, I never even got a call back from the company or their in house recruiter. I figure if you bother to do a phone interview, you should at least have someone call back and say "Sorry, we are not interested."

    The other job was with a big name Linux distributor who was interested in doing alot of new kernel feature work, plus some interesting user space stuff. They were a much more professional operation, but once again I felt that the fact that I had not contributed to any open source projects counted against me to some extent. I felt I had a good shot at a position there because I had skills that matched one of their specific needs fairly well. Their main drawback was that they were a very bad car-only commute from my place.

    In the end, I decided to take a non-Linux job doing Java Programming. This was because the vast majority of jobs I saw listed were Java jobs and I decided that I better pick up some new skills so I could continue working for the next few years. Also, a good friend works with me at my new company, and the staff is mostly older people who have a good sense for "quality of life" issues and are more interested in experience and proven skills than flash.

    There were not many really good looking Linux jobs, from my rather narrow perspective, but this will change over time. The current jobs seem to prefer a certain amount of Open Source credibility. In the end I think I made the correct decision for my future, but I would have liked to have a job in the community. Maybe next time!

  • Actually... (Score:4)

    by Uruk ( 4907 ) on Sunday March 19, 2000 @09:45AM (#1192181)
    I've had my resume out there for a while, and while I wouldn't consider myself even close to the top echelon of linux coders out there, I get a whole lot of calls just based off of the fact that my resume is out there, and people are interested in hiring me.

    I'm in college, and I'm going to be looking for a "career" soon, but so far, I haven't really had to look, companies seem to just find me on the internet.

    It seems at times that with the economy that we've got now, and with the job market in our sector the way it is, here's my checklist --

    1: Do you have a pulse?
    2: Are you a crack/heroin addict?
    3: Do you plan to immediately defraud the company?
    4: Do you have any convictions for homicide?

    If you answered 'Yes' to all of the above, congratulations, you're qualified for practically any job out there.

    While that is a bit exaggerated, it has seemed to me recently like a lot of employers are desparate for employees. Good economy means expansion in business, expansion in business means that you need more employees. And there aren't any to be had as far as I can see....

    (Note: stay away from consulting firms - I've interviewed with 2 - and they seem to be of two breeds - the sharks, and the pimps)

    My $0.02

  • Plain Text or Simple HTML (Score:4)

    by Bryan Andersen ( 16514 ) on Sunday March 19, 2000 @12:24PM (#1192182) Homepage
    What other format is there? Oh, okay...I'll use WordPad...

    Plain text or simple HTML are very good universal formats. If somebody can't deal with either of them, are you sure you want to work for them?

    I once maintained my resume in MS Word format, but decided that it was a waste maintaining a Windows system at home just so I could maintain my resume. I now have my resume posted [visi.com] on my web site [visi.com]. I keep the HTML in it and my web site simple as it is there for information transfer, not glitz. If someone needs it in text format I will transfer it over to text buy having Lynx translate it. The resume is currently in flux as I'm updating it for a new job search. I'm looking for a place that will allow me to only work 30 hours a week preferably in web security or programming.

  • Since I am an employer seeking Linux staff, I thought I'd provide my input. I agree with much of the advise in the article [linuxnews.com].

    However, at the end they recomend [linuxnews.com] four job portals: Linux.com [linux.com], Linux Today [linuxtoday.com], User Friendly's GeekFinder [geekfinder.com] and Linux.org.au [linux.org.au]. I agree with the first two, and (since I'm in North America) have no valid opinion on Linux.org.au.

    The problem with Geek Finder is that it is really just a front for Dice.com [dice.com]. Unlike all the other resources mentioned, dice.com charges employers for listings, instead of being community-based and advertiser-supported.

    Instead, I would recomend the following additional job portals, where I have actually posted jobs [immunix.org]:

    • Superexpert.com [superexpert.com]: not great, but it does host linux jobs.
    • JustLinux [justlinux.com]: a smaller Linux portal, with a nice jobs page.
    • Free Software Jobs Page [gnu.org]: This is the GNU jobs page. It is strictly for free software jobs, so only hard-core open source jobs get posted there.
    Finally, WireX's [wirex.com] research jobs are here [immunix.org] and our production jobs are here [wirex.com].

    Crispin
    -----
    Crispin Cowan, CTO, WireX Communications, Inc. [wirex.com]
    Immunix: Free Hardened Linux Distribution [immunix.org]
    Jobs! [immunix.org]

  • What do the rest of you do? (Score:4)

    by el_guapo ( 123495 ) on Sunday March 19, 2000 @11:21AM (#1192184) Homepage
    OK - Item number 1 (actually the 2nd item) dealt exclusively with source code. Do you have to be a programmer to be a player in this game? I hope not, I gave up programming about 10 years ago, I really got tired of dreaming about the code I was currently working on. I've now moved on to other things (project management, specifically) but I still love the whole Open Source/Linux thing. What percentage of /. 'ers are actually programmers? Would this make a decent poll?

  • Ok...the deal (Score:4)

    by fluxrad ( 125130 ) on Sunday March 19, 2000 @02:10PM (#1192185)
    This isn't really anything new. To find a job in any field, the key is to demonstrate that you know what you're doing. Open source involvement and having the skills that you're looking to get employed in is of course good. But this article seems to be for the geeks out there who would like to code for 36 hours straight rather than actually develop some social skills as well.

    Sorry to burst your bubble - but for most of you looking for a job, there's probably someone at least a qualified. The KEY to finding a job is how well you come off in person. Are you a likeable person...do you work well with others? This is a VERY important aspect of finding the right employee being that the IT industry seems to have a very hight percentage of assholes in it. (read: tech support). Many seem very aloof and overconfident in their skills.

    Your resume should speak for your skills/interests, but that's only about %25 of it. Your resume gets you in the door. The interview gets you the job...so concentrate on that.

    BTW - As far as the word format on your resume...sorry to burst most Ub3r h4x0rz bubbles, but most companies have lots of management, and management uses Windows...word is still the way to go in a resume, but that doesn't mean you have to like it.


    -FluX
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