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RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Wizard of the Deep posted:

Verbally accepted a :yotj:

Going out to my car after lunch to find a spare gently caress to give.

You keep a growler in your backseat too?

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RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Dark Helmut posted:

And on the way out, leave an upper decker in each toilet. :lesnick:

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Would I be crazy to not follow up with a Google recruiter contacting me?

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Tab8715 posted:

May someone show or describe what good recruiter-catching LinkedIn looks like?

Anything. I have a lovely, half completed LinkedIn Profile, and I still get at least 2-3 recuiters approaching me a month, including one from Google this week(sadly, my networking skills are not up to where they want them, so she will call back in a year :v:)

Just have it, join a group or 2(I am in 2 different linux sysadmin groups) and make sure you have people endorsing your skills, and sit back and let it flow.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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psydude posted:

It's more so they know you're serious. LinkedIn isn't facebook, it's basically an ongoing networking event.

I've gotten bites from internal recruiters at places like Facebook and Splunk via LinkedIn. Yeah there's a lot of crap that comes through, but it's no worse than sifting through a bunch of poo poo on Indeed. It's like anything else in life: you get out of it what you put into it. So if you're confident that your real-world networking skills are good enough, then don't bother. But at the same time, given that it takes not very much time at all to set up a decent profile, all you're really doing is shutting yourself off to would-be opportunities.

Its better, since you can mark poo poo as spam, while you have to wade through the spam on job posting sites

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Username seems oddly appropriate.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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I signed an NDA about my salary, so cannot discuss it.

It really doesn't matter that the NDA is on the back on an envelope on my desk at home, I still signed one, and that should be the end of the conversation.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Vulture Culture posted:

If you're American, this is probably illegal under Sections 7-8 of the National Labor Relations Act. Of course, that's not an argument any recruiter wants to have.

Doesn't that only protect discussing it with your co-workers? I worded it so that it was discussing it with anyone outside my company.

Also, since its not a document my employers actually asked me to sign(I literally wrote it up on the back of an envelope 5 minutes before going to an interview with another company) I am 100% free to ignore it if I want to. It just gives me an out with a recruiter who wants my current salary. We are underpaid here based on the state data about sysadmin wages, tho the relatively relaxed environment somewhat makes up for that, so I wanted to protect myself against lowball offers based on my current income.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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quicksand posted:

Guys, Saskatchewan isn't that bad ok :(


I swear..



send help..

Sir Scratch-a-wan?

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Zorak of Michigan posted:

Use classic Yes lyrics. Even the plain text lyrics have no discernible meaning, so it's another layer of security!

Perfect password generator. Get high as hell and change all your passwords, no one will EVER guess 'hamster nipples'

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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bull3964 posted:

Those are great for installing, but I've found nothing removes cage nuts easier than Channellock pliers. Seriously, with a set of channelocks, you could de-nut an entire rack in like 2 minutes.

Pretty sure Channellocks with de-nut anything in pretty short order.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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lampey posted:

How did you end up with such a long commute?

I know plenty of people who have commutes like that here in the DFW area. One co-worker does 140 miles each way.

e: Can someone explain the difference between a sysadmin and a system architect? As far as I have ever been able to tell architect is just the final form for a sysadmin.

RFC2324 fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Jul 7, 2015

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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:yotj:

Just signed an offer, getting about 70% more in pay, and more like double once you factor in the additional compensation. Not significantly farther than my current commute, and has a stop possibility of moving me to the Pacific Northwest in a year or so(Yay for getting the gently caress out of Texas!)

For all those stuck in a lovely job, Linkedin really is the answer. I wasn't even looking(my current job isn't bad, just underpaid) and they reached out to me and made an offer.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Japanese Dating Sim posted:

Congrats! Especially on the possibly getting out of Texas part, heh.

I'm pretty much in your same situation - good job, just pretty underpaid. Did you do anything special on your LinkedIn to generate responses? I keep mine updated and have all my certs listed, but I don't get a ton of traffic.

I literally have an almost blank linkedin profile, just a job history and my endorsements, as well as being a member of like 2 or 3 groups(that I never post in). I have quite a few endorsements, tho, and thats what I like to attribute, in part, to why I get hits.

Also, I currently do work for a fortune 500 tech company, so that may help too.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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I wish Cisco Jabber had inline gif support :(

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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22 Eargesplitten posted:

Entry level is zero professional experience, that's why they call it entry level. Because you're entering the industry.

1000x this. When I was last job hunting I got so tired of seeing lobs listed as jr or entry level, and asking for 2-5 years of experience.

If you have 5 years experience, you would have to be an idiot to accept any job listed as jr or entry level unless it was that or starve.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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goobernoodles posted:

~*~butt firewall~*~

How does this even work? It makes no sense to me that you could keep the device for separating you from the internet out on the internet instead of being part of your network.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Interesting day so far today... I started new job yesterday, last week was my last at old job. This morning I got woken up by a flurry of txts from co-workers at old job.

They cut the entire department this morning. The entire sysadmin department is just gone other than the guys over in India(maybe them too, they obviously don't have my personal cell) :negative:

Now people seem to think I knew something was coming, and are freaking out.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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BaseballPCHiker posted:

Are they farming it out to an MSP or something or just going without? I've always been interested in seeing how drastic cuts in IT can effect an organization. I'd like to think that they would suffer major consequences but a lot of times they seem to just trudge along for a good long while until something bad happens and poo poo hits the fan.

We actually were an MSP, the company we were farmed out to decided to cut the sysadmin contracts and farm it out to India. With us, they got decent enough work, but never great since we were getting paid so low(I made less than half the average in the area for someone with my job title last year) that people would use it to get in the door, then after 1.5-2 years leave for somewhere that paid what we should be. The couple of people who did stay on longer than that were all people who had started with the company right out of school, worked there 20-30 years before getting cut and being told to come back as contractors with severely reduced pay, since they are all afraid to try working anywhere else.

Now it is all being farmed to India, instead of just the overnight poo poo, since they are literally paying the people in India 27 cents per hour(9k a year for 16 people to cover the night half of operations, ie 12 hours a day, prior to this, and an average time there of 6 months instead of the 2 years each they got out of us)

The CEO came up through the ranks as a bean counter tho, so all that matter is bottom line. I shoulda known how hosed the company is when I found out they sold of the division that made calculators, and the division that did government black research.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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psydude posted:

http://www.rfc-editor.org/ien/ien28.pdf

Really takes me back (to 11 years before I was born).

e: There's an actual ASCII conceptual sketch of the OSI model before it actually existed in that document

Stop making people feel like olds! :corsair:

That came out the year before I was born...

Are you sure you are old enough to be posting on this forum?

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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CLAM DOWN posted:

An unflappable smugness about OS superiority and the ability to post in YOSPOS

I'm a Linux admin(not jr!) and I tried posting in YOSPOS, couldn't stand it.


evol262 posted:

Scripting. Do you know how to script? In a language that's not shell? Now's the time to start learning python or something.

This is a WIP for me as well, I can do Bash scripts, but am still hammering away at learning Perl. New job should work wonders tho, we are allocated mandatory training time every day, so I can spend time studying without girlfriend distracting me.

I can admin the hell out of some linux tho, my single biggest skill is Google-fu. and this appears to be true across every job I have worked(I was a star admin because I had superior Google-fu)

Edit: good test - Read all these threads, find where people post problems, then try to google up the answer without reading where someone here posted the solution. Once you think you have the answer, read the posted answer here and see how close you were.

RFC2324 fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Aug 6, 2015

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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I'm learning perl first just because I spent so much time in a legacy environment it was the only non-shell language I knew would be there, much the same reason I learned vi over any of the other options. The alternatives are there on almost all modern systems, but not so much when you are working on systems that haven't rebooted in 3000 days.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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GnarlyCharlie4u posted:

we did this at my last job, it kind of backfired.

HR lady made a big stink about not being able to see this or do that (like view other people's desktops files, which she really didn't need to do... like AT ALL) so we were just told to give her and her only FULL ACCESS and admin privileges.

Guess who got us cryptolockered twice in 2 days?

Seems like a success to me, in that it revealed an incompetent who probably shouldn't have her job.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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The Fool posted:

Cougar Mountain

Ashley Madison 2.0?

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Walked posted:

^^^^ Flipside: DC job market is awesome and you could jump ship very easily, but yes - gently caress recruiters regardless ^^^^

Guys; we're approaching my favorite time of year: end of fiscal year blowout buy everything time :woop:

I just got confirmation I get to basically re-spend my annual budget over the next 30 days. :getin:

edit: Any things I should look at that are just too cool not to consider - we're pretty stable generally speaking on infrastructure/licenses/environment? I'm going to replace our aging routing and switching infrastructure, but that'll eat up a third of it at most. Probably commit some of it to an AWS enterprise agreement... but that's about all I've got in mind. Help figure out whats worth pursuing. It's use it or lose it guys. Use it or lose it.

Spare pool + exact copy of prod env for testing.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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QuiteEasilyDone posted:

I have reserves to last a while and will use the time I have wisely and educate myself in the coming months.

I read this as wisely = whiskey, and was disappointed when I realized I had misread.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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theperminator posted:

*downloads malware infested porn*

From what I have seen, porn seems to be the safest when it comes to malware. I get more hits after visiting Yahoo or CNN.com than when scanning the porn VM.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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CloFan posted:

There was an email a couple weeks ago about an injured hawk in a parking lot, wildlife officers were informed and it turned out to be a young'un learning to fly :unsmith:

Everywhere I have worked, someone would have just come out and shot it. Same with the bears, rabbits, anything else that they might throw in a pot.

loving Texas.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Judge Schnoopy posted:

Any job that doesn't want you to leave will gently caress you on exit evaluations out of spite. A lot of IT departments know this and will take references with a grain of salt. I'd put your favorite person to work for down anyway because the balls it would take for them to sink a job opportunity for you in the future rarely exist.

I don't think anybody I've interviewed with has actually made a reference call, they just cared I was able to provide two names of people I know.

My current job is the first one I have ever had that actually checked references, and I was surprised as hell when those people mentioned that they had been contacted.

I always make sure the people I ask will give me a good one on the off chance they do check, tho, and, again, this was the first time I had ever provided my current manager as a reference for a new job(I had an extremely good relationship with her, and was always up front with her that I don't see any job as forever. She encouraged me to move on when I could no longer grow in that position from day one)

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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FISHMANPET posted:

I'd think that a reasonable policy would be that if you're working from home you should have some basic level of technical knowledge to be able to take care of yourself. If not, come to the office, where IT can hold your hand every step of the way.

Otoh, do you REALLY want the guy who thinks he knows how to work on computers taking a power drill to one of the laptops you are ultimately responsible for?

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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FISHMANPET posted:

That sounds like something to be covered in your WFH agreement.

I kinda have this same discussion whenever we start talking about BYOD at my office. The big question I have is "why?" Generally these are pretty much commodity workers. And I know they don't have the technical knowledge to really take care of a device properly. I'm much happier with a $700 small form factor tower I can bolt to their desks that I have full control over. And it not only makes me happier, but it makes them happier, because I've made sure to take care of all the stupid bullshit of maintaining a computer.

I am currently a remote worker(sysadmin), and I have a simple approach to this. Before I make changes to company property, I shoot an email to desktop support(who are still responsible for supporting my hardware) to ask them how they want me to handle it. I'm competent and knowledgable, but its not my machine to make changes to freely.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Alder posted:

TBH, any reasonable job or career would be great atm. Mostly concerned with the idea of 2+ yrs of working exp in various fields.

Ignore the experience requirements, either the tech screen will show what you can do, or you have to fake it til you make it. In the latter case, there was no real tech screen, and you are working for people you can BS with 'I gotta figure out the specifics of the environment' and 'This project requires considerable non-standard configuration and testing' that you can use as cover for learning the technology.

In the former, they know that it takes time to get up to speed even for someone with experience.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Mrit posted:

Almost no company will give a 70% raise. You'd be better off getting a new job.
Disclaimer: I got a 45% raise once, but I was horribly underpaid, the company was desperate to keep me, and it still took 5 months and the intervention of the Sr. Vice President to get it approved.

Confirmed. I just changed companies to the tune of 70% more(100% more when you calculate in total compensation) after spending 2 years trying to fight to get enough to just pay rent, and being the only person there who actually managed to get 2 token raises in a 2 year period.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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I've been going with the 'I signed an NDA' approach, personally. Once I am at a point where I will entertain an offer, I pull out a sheet of paper, write 'I hereby agree not to disclose my salary information to anyone outside of {current employer}' sign it, and leave it on my desk at home.

If they want me to violate NDA, I ask them if they really want to hire someone who would so casually violate contract. Its never gone beyond that. I can also produce the signed document at any time, tho I can't see anyone challenging to that degree. Even if its a contract with yourself, I am pretty sure it is binding.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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:shrug: I have had hiring managers actually say this was a good idea, as you DID technically sign an NDA. Not gonna argue too much, and it does work, so why act like its crazy?

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Barracuda Bang! posted:

Listen, if you think that I wouldn't sue the poo poo out of myself for NDA violation just to prove a point, then YOU'RE the delusional idiot

I'd take myself for millions!

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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NippleFloss posted:

That's perhaps the correct answer for an individual but a company can't say that to a worker who is asking why his peer makes more than him. That's part of the reason that companies try to prevent workers from discussing compensation with one another. It tends to lead to resentment and dysfunctional office dynamics.

The worker friendly solution to this is to do what most Union shops do and have fixed public pay scales that are based, at least in part, on seniority.

Oh god, not union chat :negative:

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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psydude posted:

Yeah wait we've had enough chat about divisive issues in the past few days.

What are y'all drinking? I just bought a bottle of Glenmorangie Port Cask.

Sadly, I am on a Miller lite kick. Mostly because moving has left me broke and I still have to pay off my friends who have helped with stuff.

RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Dark Helmut posted:

Thanks to y'all tellin' me your current salaries I'm all like:



In my current job I am looking at relocating to Portland in about a year, and everyone keeps telling me that what I am making that is comfortable(and in line with what I should be making as a Linux System Administrator) in the DFW area is going to be me being poor as poo poo in Portland, but looking at the comparative numbers I am right between the 2 average pay scales for the 2 cities(there is like a 1.5k difference, based on a salary calculator someone posted earlier).

Should I demand they pay me an extra 10% when I move to account for the legalized marijuana budget? :homebrew:

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RFC2324
Jun 7, 2012

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Judge Schnoopy posted:

I walked from a help desk manager promotion to a network admin offer, and the change can be pretty jarring. I went from closing 10-20 tickets a day to seeing one ticket a week. It felt like running full speed in to outer space; no matter where I looked there were no problems to fix and I was flailing for something to grab on to and fix.

It's been a month and the adjustment is sinking in. I participate in multiple conference calls a week with various venders for budget numbers, new implementations, hardware recommendations to complete some other departments project. I've been creating network diagrams of everything, and any time a proposal comes up I diagram what will have to change and how much it costs. I sat in on the disaster recovery meetings and took notes.

But more than anything I realized I'm paid for my knowledge. I know the topology off the top of my head, I know the equipment in place, the utilization of that equipment, and how it's configured, I know what traffic goes where at what times and why. And my company is willing to pay big to know I'm here with a handle on it all.

So my recommendation to getting off help desk and in to network admin is to start taking those higher level tasks and just soak it up. Network admins don't have much work on the day to day if they're doing their jobs right so the hands-off stuff becomes really valuable.

This does depend on the specific admin role, I'm a sysadmin, and while my workload is nowhere near as hectic as it was when I did phone support, I still never lack for something to do. Engineering roles tend to be even slower paced, from watching my co-workers going at it.

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