[TriLUG] OT: Job and request for help!

[Mauricio Tavares via TriLUG]

      If it makes you feel any better, I too did not know UNC
reputation was very bad; I assume they meant IT. I left a primarily
Linux (though I personally supported AIX, Solaris, Open/freeBSD, OSX,
and Windows) job in FL for one at UNC that is primarily
Windows-centric. Primarily because I have been applying Linux
approaches to solve issues even when the recommended solution is the
traditional "download this executable from this creepy site and run it
as admin without thinking" that is traditional in the Windows
environment. Or the just buy some commercial solution. So, I can see
that this way of thinking does not rub the right way with members in
this list, and I did hear from other members, and have seen it too,
that politics can take precedence over knowledge on the decision
process. But, from that to UNC having a very bad reputation is a bit
of a jump.

As I have considered finding a more Linux/network-related job at UNC,
I can't help but wonder what was meant by that.


On Sat, Feb 27, 2016 at 12:27 PM, Paul G. Szabady via TriLUG
<trilug at trilug.org> wrote:
> Folks,
>
> Thanks for all the awesome responses, some offline and others to the list.
> !!!
>
> I'm going to try to summarize all the questions ideas below, addressing some
> directly and others overall. Of course, some of these we be improved upon
> and/or clarified.  Others unfortunately, are personal preferences or
> ambitions and either can't addressed directly or we're limited by state
> and/or university policy.
>
> Not in any specific order:
>
> * "Weekend work occasionally"
> Someone mentioned they can't ever work weekends due to personal commitments.
> Not much we can do about this one.
>
> * Work from home office
> I personally would love that, but the state/university doesn't allow for
> that.  In some cases, exceptions are made, but there's no official policy
> like what the Cisco's of the world have.
>
> * Include link(s) to benefits information so that applicants can estimate
> total compensation package, not just base salary.
> I may be naive, but this is something I would expect the applicant to do in
> their investigation of the position and it's entity. Anything that is not
> determined in advance should be brought up in the interview process.  I
> think too many people consider an interview to be a "will you please hire
> me", rather than a time for two people to discuss an opportunity and
> determine whether or not there's a fit.
>
> * A lot of technologies mentioned, but no mention of the value of experience
> with competing products.  E.g.: Openshift vs Heroku, apache vs nginx
> Interesting point.  Seems like there is room for improvement in this space.
>
> * We mentioned application monitoring tools, but didn't specify which
> one(s).
> In this instance, the reader misunderstood us to meaning something akin to
> nagios or zabbix.  However, we were actually referring to things like
> AppDynamics (used here), CA's Wiley, New Relic, Blue Stripe, etc.  So if it
> was misunderstood by at least one, there may have been others.
>
> * Where did we post the opening?
> By default, I believe we post / email internally, our HR website, and two or
> three of the monster.com's of the world.  I personally have posted them to
> groups such as TriLUG, NCSA, and Linkedin Groups like Linux Expert.
>
> * Salary is not enough when compared to consulting gigs.
> Not much we can do about the state budget.
>
> * No actual mention of what operating system experience is required for the
> position.  Nor did we specify distro(s).
> What the <bleep>???  How did we not see the forest through the trees here?
> <Slaps forehead>
>
> * Remove the requirement for a college degree, and I bet you'll quickly fill
> it with a highly competent person.
> I'm not sure that this is an actual requirement, but have an email in to my
> boss to see if it is.  Generally, I believe work experience is considered in
> lieu of degrees, 2:1.  So 8 years of experience for a BS, etc...
>
> * No part of that posting sounds or looks like a Linux sysadmin job.
> 'Solutions Engineer?'
> We brainstormed for a "catchy" name because past attempts using systems
> administrator weren't attracting what we needed.  Maybe we should reconsider
> the name...?
>
> * Multiple people said the posting wreaked of a developer.  Possibly even a
> full stack developer (web, app and db type).  Many said the tone wasn't
> quite right, but couldn't quite pin point the issue. Many were turned off.
> Wow!  That is definitely not what we are going for.  So I think we need to
> make some adjustments.  We work in a horizontal support model and as such,
> we in essence work above the OS and behind the GUI.  For example, when we
> need a system, we spec out what we need for CPU, mem, diskspace and any
> standard or non-standard bits we may need (like nfs, san, or local storage;
> 10gb links instead of 1gb, etc).  We install and configure our own compiled
> apache/php stack via puppet, jenkins, etc and monitor with appdynamics for
> performance and zabbix for services.  We have subject matter experts (SMEs)
> for things like wordpress, sakai, jboss, tomcat, etc but we work as a team
> and try to cross train in everything.  Hence the large list of service
> offerings and tools.  We provide and support the infrastructure for the
> enterprise (zabbix) service monitoring, (appdynamics) perf monitoring,
> (wordpress) CMS for thousands of sites, openshift, etc.  The list goes on
> and on but we are the middleware team, *between* OS support and
> developers/DBAs.  Maybe we need to rework this in a better and more
> meaningful way.  We have so many opportunities to learn new technologies as
> well as supporting the existing ones.  I can truly state I love going to
> work.
>
> * Pay seems low compared to fortune 500 company
> Hmmm, I may need to start looking around.  ;)
>
> * UNC's Reputation is very bad.  I have heard nothing good, only bad.
> Ouch.  I don't even know how to respond to that.
>
> If you guys know of anyone that's interested, please send them the link
> and/or have them contact me for questions.  In the mean time, I will talk to
> my boss about what changes we should make to the position.
>
> Thanks again!!!
>
> Paul
> @ Thy Service
>
>
> On 2/26/2016 12:01 PM, Paul G. Szabady via TriLUG wrote:
>>
>> Greetings, TriLUG!
>>
>> I have posted a number of times about openings in our group, but have yet
>> to see any applicants mention trilug in their application/interview.  So I
>> can't help but wonder, is there something wrong with the way we are
>> advertising LINUX sysadmin positions that we don't get any viable
>> candidates?  Here's our most recent post, which is in it's third or fourth
>> repost.
>>
>> https://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/93013
>>
>>  - If anyone has any recommendations on what may entice people with linux
>> experience to apply for this position, I would love to hear from you.
>>  - If you know of a better forum to post these positions, I'd like to hear
>> from you.
>>  - If you're interested, PLEASE go apply!
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>
>> --
>> Paul
>> @ Thy Service
>>
>
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