[TriLUG] job opening at cerient

[Cristóbal Palmer]

Having experienced the Cerient interview process, I'll give you some pointers:

* Watch The Heathers[0] before coming. Be able to quote from it.
* Polish your anti-OSU jokes.
* Bring tennis balls (for the dogs).
* ???
* Profit!

Seriously though... If you value independence & flexibility and have a
good sense of humor (read: you have the linguistic equivalent of an
automatic nerf weapon), you'll love the company (and the Company).

On the downside, you have to get three copies of the Mission
Statement[1] signed and notarized. Also don't let him fool you on the
red tape. I've seen scrapbooking stuff all over his place--there's
bound to be a whole *rainbow* of tape in there somewhere.

Cheers,
CMP (Cerient employee)

[0] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097493/
[1] http://cerient.net/about.html

PS. This email is largely an inside joke. Mostly you should just read
it as an endorsement of the positive nature of Cerient. We *are* evil,
but only in our humor. :) If you actually want me to tell you why you
might like Cerient in detail, send me an email off-list.

On 2/15/07, Jason Tower <jtower at cerient.net> wrote:
> and for all of you linux geeks who don't want to live in lenior...
>
> the time has come once again for cerient technologies (http://cerient.net)
> to expand its labor pool - we're looking for a talented system administrator
> slash network geek slash linux hacker to join our somewhat non-traditional team.
>
> if you're looking for a nice relaxing 9 to 5 job then stop reading right
> now.  if however, you're interested in working at a highly linux/open source
> focused company, then read on.  our client list includes everything from
> individuals with a single PC at home to hosting companies with an entire
> rack of servers.  just to illustrate the kind of things we do, here are some
> of the projects that we're actively working on right now:
>
> - ltsp server also running vmware so thin clients can access both a linux
> and windows desktop simultaneously
> - multi server, high availability solution for apache, mysql, and openvpn
> services
> - asterisk server installation with both hard and soft phones (~100 extensions)
> - invisible firewall/traffic shaping device to handle individual ip
> addresses on a /26 public subnet
> - wide range wifi solution with multiple interconnected access points (using
> linux based wrt54g)
> - linux based backup strategy for linux/osx/windows workstations and servers
> - multi interface openbsd firewall with invisible proxy service (url
> whitelist) for specified hosts
>
> and so on.  if you really enjoy working on open source software and want to
> see your solutions in the real world we'll give you plenty of opportunities
> to make it happen.  here are some of the pros of working at cerient:
>
> - work from home = no daily commute.  you gotta like that.  you'll have to
> travel to client sites several times a week but rarely during rush hour.
> - flexible hours (i don't drag my butt out of bed until at least 9am most days).
> - lots of cool hardware to play with.  we like toys, the more blinkenlights
> the better.
> - shockingly little bureaucracy, red tape, or office politics.
> - distinct possibility of a "senior" or "vice president" title, impress your
> friends and family who never thought you'd amount to anything.
>
> of course we're still a small company so it's not all peaches and cream:
>
> - no health insurance, 401(k), or other "big company" benefits (at least,
> not yet).
> - unpredictable workload (might be very light one week, very heavy the
> next).  late nights not that uncommon either.
> - customer says jump, you say how high.  even at 2am.  on sunday.  christmas
> sunday.  and you're hung over.
> - difficult to blame problems on other employees (in fact we'll probably
> blame a lot of stuff on you).
> - no opportunity to steal office supplies.
>
> so what kind of person are we looking for?  since we have such a wide
> variety of clients and technologies that we support, the ideal candidate
> would fit the jack-of-all-trades mold.  specifically though, we're looking
> for the following:
>
> - reasonably proficient with windows (as a desktop, not a server.  like it
> or not, we still gotta support it.)
> - solid networking expertise.  not just ok skills, very good skills.
> - proven and demonstratable system administration skills.  you'll be
> directly responsible for the care and feeding of lots of servers doing lots
> of things, and failure is not an option.
> - the ability to learn new technologies on the fly and adapt to different
> environments.  i assure you that boredom is not going to be a problem.
> - most importantly, and i can't stress this enough, strong customer service
> skills.  "that's not my job" or "i can't help you with that" are not phrases
> that we use.
>
> i'll also tell you what we *don't* care about:
>
> - what kind of degree you have, or even if you have a degree.
> - a bunch of industry certs proclaiming how amazing your IT skills are.
> - the fact that you've worked at a fortune 500 company.
> - how long you've been (or not been) in the IT industry.
>
> i think its fair to say that it will be unlike any job you've ever had.
> this ain't IBM or GSK, and it sure as hell isn't a gov't job.  we have
> (mostly) cool clients, interesting work, and a passion for open source software.
>
> if you'd like to apply, the next step is simple: convince me you're the
> right person for cerient.  sell me on yourself.  surprise me.  demonstrate
> that you have what it takes to perform in a non-traditional setting.
>
> jason tower
> cerient technologies
> jtower at cerient.net
>
> ps - any and all .doc files sent to me will be promptly directed to /dev/null.
> --
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>


-- 
Cristóbal M. Palmer
UNC-CH SILS Student -- ils.unc.edu/~cmpalmer
TriLUG Vice Chair
"There are many roads to enlightenment, and thus many roads back to
the One True Debian" --crimsun