[ale] Looking for some leads/networking

[Dow Hurst]

Jerald,
I'll find out if there are openings in the MosesCone Health System here 
in Greensboro.  I have no idea right now, but can ask.  Sorry to hear 
your losing sleep and are bored in an oppressive environment.  I 
remember a SGI employee who taught me the Basic IRIX Admin say that it 
doesn't take long to find out how a company's personality and quality 
are going to be.  He was of the opinion that it really isn't worth the 
personal cost to work in an oppressive environment, usually brought 
about by personality quirks of those on high, unless you just really 
needed the money.  Economics can dictate this stuff for a person, but 
usually persistence will win out in finding something new.

I'm glad to hear you like the Powerbook!  I think they are pretty sexy 
too.  I don't have one but several users have passed thru bearing the 
silver trophies making me quite jealous!  I wish Apple would open source 
all the scripts and code that make up all the ease of use.  That would 
really put a dent in the Windows lusers right there!  Can you imagine 
all the Linux laptops that would make use of that?  I've had some 
printer queue problems over the past month and my wife asked me the 
other day if everything was hard on the computer because we used Linux.  
That pissed me off royally, as you can imagine!!  I know that the 
printer is just going to sleep and not be used enough.  From her 
perspective, it doesn't matter that it isn't a "Linux" problem but a 
stupid printer hardware problem that requires a "Linux" solution on my 
part that I haven't worked out.  She just wants to print what she wants 
printed and have it look like she expects.
Dow


Jerald Sheets wrote:

>Howdy fellow ALEers.
>
>Sorry I haven't written in awhile, but I've been busy as you'll soon see.
>
>I've been sticking it out at McKesson for the last 4 months or so, picked me
>up a Powerbook G4, and been busy back into my favorite hobby.  (Drum and
>Bugle Corps -->  http://www.nikknakks.net/Drumcorps/corps.html)
>
>**********
>
>First the cool geeky stuff -- the Powerbook.
>
>I've had quite a few computers since I've started doing this, many of them
>laptops.  I've had several Dells, a ThinkPad or two, the HP many of you saw
>at LISA '04, and now the Powerbook G4.  By far, the Powerbook outclasses and
>outperforms every machine I've ever worked with.  I can get a lot of work
>done on my Mac and can pop open a terminal and get right down into it.  Good
>times, good times. 
>
>Just picked up Tiger, and am still getting used to Dashboard, but as I learn
>more about what I've got here, the more pleased I am day to day.
>
>**********
>
>As I said above, I've been toughing it out at McKesson.  As many of you
>recall, I was very unhappy with the environment from the start, but on the
>urging of many of you (and other close friends) I thought I'd try to give it
>as much time as possible.
>
>Well...the bad has escalated to worse.
>
>I was moved to third shift in late January, and now find myself toughing
>through that shift doing not much more than routing calls (worse yet, my
>subdivision is under heavy development, and the next house to be built is
>roughly 50 ft from my head...no sleep to be had there).
>
>On the occasional opportunity where there's a serious issue on our shift, I
>call out IBM, HP, DG, etc. to replace the defective part.  I have inquired
>about training and stepping up to some certs I've not obtained in the past,
>but have been discouraged in doing anything that would take me from the
>night shift.
>
>In fact, I mentioned to my supervisor that I was interested in moving from
>night shift to fdays in some capacity, and was informed that I "knew what I
>was getting into" when I took the job.  Now, I'm a nice guy, and really love
>people.  I'll bend over backward for you, and am really loyal to my
>company...usually the last one to think about leaving a position that I
>love.  This kind of set off my entire line of thinking that I really was
>right about this place in the first place, and should be looking around for
>new opportunities.
>
>I originally took the gig since it looked as though I'd have a lot of
>exposure at the administration level to quite a few more platforms than I
>currently specialize in (AIX & Linux) and broaden my scope somewhat.
>Unfortunately, the position (billed as a third-level Sysadmin--what my name
>plate, job description, and salary level all reflect) still is not much more
>than a simple phone support guy.  In fact, our overnights are frequently
>spent babysitting AT&T conference calls regarding router reconnects, DMARC
>troubleshooting, etc.
>
>***********
>
>Translation:  Now that I've given it the old college try, and really applied
>myself in the position, I find that it really isn't for me and I should
>start looking again.  I feel my skills are slipping away a brain cell at a
>time (I'm not getting any younger :P) and many things that I used to do
>every day I haven't done since I was laid off on November 30th.
>
>Having said all that, many of you know me, but if any of you know of, are
>representing, or are in need of a UNIX Admin, 9 years exp.  Specializing in
>AIX & Linux, basic scripting in ksh & Perl, exposure to Solaris, BSD, OSX,
>windows environments, major ERP software (Lawson) over AIX with an
>Apache+Tomcat appserver, capacity planning, network infrastructure and
>server farm planning, etc. etc.  (primary responsible admin in large
>hospital environment type experience) than I'd appreciate it if you could
>send my info around.
>
>My resume can still be found at http://www.jeraldsheets.com/resume.  I've
>had it looked over by 3 separate recruiter friennds that I know, and each
>had positive things to say about what I've got there.  It's worked very well
>for me.  However, I am not beyond rewriting the thing from top to bottom if
>it will help me procure the right spot.
>
>I'm interested in a medium-sized (100+) little site with a group of machines
>I can be responsible for, but given the right management find it easy to get
>my mind around a large operation, and can excel there as well.  Do
>monitoring, app installation, user management, etc.  I love to do research
>into FOSS products and solve problems in new ways the management may not
>have thought of before (the main subject of my work at Linux.com--Enterprise
>Linux Deployments).  I enjoy working with things like Big Brother, Nagios,
>etc. and have a propensity to excel in web hosting and hospital
>environments.
>
>If any of you can point me in the direction of a position that you may be
>aware of that sounds something like the above, I'd be most grateful.  I'm on
>a weird shift, missing time with my family, and church attendannce is
>suffering too.  This position has not only been a challenge to our family
>life, I'm starting to reach a situation where I just don't feel as well as I
>have in the past due to loss of sleep.
>
>I'd appreciate any information, contacts, or networking information you guys
>might be able to send my way, and first round's on me if I can actually land
>something from one of your recommendations.
>
>Thank you all in advance for any help you can put together for me.
>
>  
>