Another opportunity

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Well, a company I've been keeping tabs on since June finally has an opening. Their system admin came to work last Thursday and said, Tomorrow is my last day.

Anyway, since I've been talking to these guys on and off for months, I'm about the only candidate in the running for this job. A couple of the main developers are on my side on this too. They are giving me recommendations to the owner and telling me what it takes to impress the guy so I like my chances. The system administration would only take up about 30-50% of my time and the rest would be spent doing software testing and writing help files for their software. The last two duties would basically pay for my salary because they are billable time for one of the company's very large clients.

I'd be administering a couple of Gentoo web and database servers running Apache and Postgresql, and also administering the AD domain they have set up for the two offices they have. Starting in January they are going to start hosting their own servers in the office so I'd have a couple of switches, routers, and a firewall or two to take care of too.

It sounds like a fun job to me, and it looks like the last year and half of learning Linux is going to pay off. It's funny. I've come closer to getting jobs because of my Linux knowledge than I have from Windows knowledge. I wouldn't even be considered for this if I didn't know anything about Linux.

So, Phoenix, I just may be picking your brain about Gentoo from time-to-time from now one....

 

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Sounds very promising for you Freddie.

I'll have my fingers crossed for you mate, good luck!

 

Best of luck freddie

Sounds like your in with more than a fighting chance.
Hope all works out for you.

 

Good luck Freddie

 

Sounds like one of those fantastic opportunities that just comes along when you least expect it!

 

all the best mate! im sure you'll get it.

 

Go grab it, Freddy

 

Best of luck Fred, hope it works out.

Other than Linux+ is there any other certs around?

 

Boyce,

There are several. LPIC has a couple of different certs and Redhat has 3, I think. Novell probably has a cert related to Linux too, or soon will have anyway.

Linux+ is the most generic and the easiest of all of them to get. It probably means about the least to employers too.

 

Good luck, Freddy. Remember...kick butt, take names. We're all pulling for you, bud.

 

Thanks for the support guys.

I really think my chances are good on this one. Probably 70/30 or so that I get the job. Maybe even better. I've never had employees on the inside of the company pulling for me, or had my non-IT skills really count heavily in my favor before. I've never even had my age as something in my favor for a potential job before either. This time they definitely want some maturity and understanding of how decisions affect the business.

 

Hey Freddy, if all goes to plan, be sure and send a kind note to the charalatans at the previous place for helping Folks with disablities who refused to consider you for employment on the grounds of a disablity. Not sure exactly how you would phrase it in your neck of the woods, but here, I would use a term along the lines of "get it round ye !!!"

 

Best of luck with the possible job, Freddy!

 

What follows is a copy of what was sent to the business owner, and cc'ed to her bosses at Voc Rehab.

 

A damn fine piece of word-mongering there, Freddy. I hope that, even if you get no response, that it hits them square in the conscience, and a reality check ensues.

Still prefered mine tho

 

It has caused some thinking to go on in the organization already. I spoke with the head of DVR in Spokane on Thursday when I was up there job hunting and there were nothing but profuse apologies from him in my direction.

He's not someone who readily apologizes or admits that something went wrong either. So, maybe this will at least help convince DVR to at least take the project under their own umbrella and fund it so some disabled people can work.

LOL. I could have hit them a lot harder by mentioning the 80% unemployment rate among people with disabilities and how they were actually contributing to that number....

 

So why hold back ? In the short period of time I've "known" you, you are not one for withholding your opinion (meant in a positive way, btw)

Just curious - don't elaborate if not necesarry

 

LOL. Wasn't smart enough to think of it at the time....

 

Well, here goes again. I last contacted the company that I started this thread about back in December a few weeks after they decided they couldn't open a position for me at that time.

Well, when I contacted them then I was told that they may have a position or two coming open after the first of the year. So, I called them today again just to talk and see what was happening. Turns out they have a need to be filled, not for an employee, but as a consultant doing some work for them. The owner is going to call me this weekend to talk to me as he will be in the area then.

Who knows? Persistence just may pay off with a few days of consulting work a month for them. If it does I'll make about as much in a few days a month doing consulting as I would have working full time as an employee, and still have the ability to bring in income from elsewhere.

LOL. This is the same way my HVAC career started. I couldn't get an hourly job in the trade and I ended up starting my own business through people asking me if I wanted to do contract work for them through my own business....

I've only been talking to these guys on and off for about 9 months now.... It really takes someone on the inside fighting for you sometimes and that's what has happened here.

 

Good luck Freddy, my fingers are once again crossed for you