Linux Day Jobs

jgalun sent us a ZDNet article about Linux Hackers going from the underground to Linux Day Jobs. They talk about VA Research, SGI, LinuxCare and assorted other companies that many of us lust for employment at. They don't mention BSI though *grin*.

I know what you mean

[Anonymous Coward]

At my college CS courses, there were a fairly consistent 3 or 4 students (out of 30 to 60) who were studying for the passion; the rest were in it for the money. Talking with those about computers was scary and confusing. Many had never programmed a computer before college, and did not use a computer at all except during classes/labs. I just wanted to shake them and scream SO WHY ARE YOU HERE?!? but I knew that if they answered, what they said would depress me horribly.

-- Guges --

*Sigh*

[Skyshadow]

This just goes to show that the folks who write about the tech culture generally still suffer from a serious lack of understanding.

In my experience, most folks who really know their stuff tech-wise (aka, not the MIS people) are the people who learned it by messing around with it, not by going to some training class. That's not to say college is useless, but the really impressive folks are the ones who learn a lot more than what's in the classes. Hell, I know CS majors who are graduating this year who've never seen a UNIX prompt (don't worry, I have an A-6 with a full load of napalm on standby; I'll hit 'em on their way down the isle at graduation).

----

Tech support rules!

[heroine]

Looks like it's not coding but telephone skills that are in demand for Linux coders. The comment on coming out of the closet did clear things up. I always wondered why interviews seemed to go downhill after the L word leaked out. "Lin what? Oh you're a (cough) cracker jacker" I won't do that anymore.

Linux Jobs

[ChiefArcher]

I work for an ISP in Northwest Indiana.. Our company has totally embrased linux.. All the Tech Support Tri-boot between NT, 98, and Linux. The techs tend to spend the majority of their time in Linux. Also, a lot of servers are moving toward linux too.. Including the Oracle Server, DHCP, Web Servers, and soon the radius server..

We're always looking for linux people... They're just so hard to keep them...

ChiefArcher

Linux ISP

[ChiefArcher]

We're running Dec Unix 4.0e (OSF/1) for the radius server now

Chased away from a tech job

[msuzio]

Well, although that sucks as far as your short-time employment situation, I think you'll find you're better in the long-term (or ever mid-term) being out of there. Any place that makes foolish decisions like that is not someplace to work.
In the current economy, and especially in this field, there are plenty of opportunities out there with more clueful firms. I left PHB-land a little less than a year ago, came to a small company, and find my skills are put to much better use.
Oh yeah... we love Linux here. We don't all use it, but our essential infrastructure runs on it, and we pretty much refuse NT jobs. We recommend our clients use Linux or Solaris. Clients who go with something else become less attractive to us when they come back for the next phase of a project.... :-)

Ja, we do indeed exist

[anneke]

yup... even chicks are Linux lovers too :).

--Anneke

Leonard Zubkoff ROCKS!

[cthonious]

I depend on his drivers every day. And they kick flaming butt. Way to go!

Austin, TX

[PD]

Anyone in Ausin TX need a Linux guy who's been programming since 1982, and running Linux since 0.97pl4 (June 1993) ? I'm experienced in C++ and UML.

Oh, come on. :)

[Iesu]

You'd think they'd be able to find night work too, at huge companies like that...

*Sigh*

[MikeTurk]

Tell me about it. I learned what I know by banging around for 12 years now (I'm 20), and people wonder how I've internalized so much of it. Others read these books and think that should make them experts ("Of *course* I can fly this plane! I've read Piloting Commercial Aircraft for Dummies! Twice!").

Most of the people in CS/MIS are true posers who are in it for the money and not the love. These are people who don't grok the many connotations of `nifty' and look at me like I'm an idiot when I say it.

And (unfortunately) I'm getting my MCSE -- credit with the PHBs. I am not looking forward to the night terrors that come with administrating IIS. [shudder]

Mike
--

On the bright side...

[the_tsi]

On the bright side, not ALL CS departments are like that. At my school, MS donated a bunch of computers, obviously running NT. They've barely been touched since they were installed four months ago. The only time people used them was when Omni-X was installed so that people could use them as xterms.

-Chris

could be worse

[Shad99]

you could have meet people like I've had classes with that *hate* computers, but think there is money in knowing something about them so came to 'study' about them. It's something I try to avoid thinking about...

Chased away from a tech job

[eyepeepackets]

Anyone else here ever been chased out of a job because they use/espouse Linux? I was recently. The MS techies were so afraid that Linux might start doing well, they axed any and all "messengers" who favored it. I was given the information that this attitude was directed by management and executed by the MS techies (all studying furiously to get their MSCE papers, ugh.)

*laugh* It was most rewarding to see that the very next month (March) Linux was all over the press with major announcements from database and hardware vendors. I very much hope this company from which I was driven takes it in the shorts during the next year or two as Linux stomps MS in the desktop market.

Desktop market? You seen WindowMaker running with a recent Linux kernel on a PII? Makes MS WIN* look like a cheap toy. Add the most pleasant fact that it's as solid as the proverbial rock and MS is deep in the stinky, sticky stuff.

Another concern

[assimilated]

Can you get hackers to show up for work before noon and come in everyday? There are too many that just can't fathom the concept of a normal workday. It doesn't mean come in for the 5-hour shift, kick off the sandals, and crank up the Grateful Dead.

Linux Jobs and ISPs

[assimilated]

It sure sounds like a great way to get an ISP off the ground cheaply when you don't need to pay for the software.

MIS

[assimilated]

MIS is clueless in almost any org or technolgy. That's why the MS consulting business is booming.

Another concern

[assimilated]

I wrote my reply before reading the article. I guess I hit that one right on the head. Other people agree there is a dependability factor.