[ale] Prelancing oportunities?

[Mike Thornton]

Thanks Leam,
I noticed one of your previous post recommended skills in cloud based 
virtualization,
so I'm setting up a private cloud with centos and openbox. Thoughts anyone?
Are there gotcha's I should know about ?


On 2/13/2012 7:39 PM, Leam Hall wrote:
> On 02/13/2012 07:00 PM, Mike Thornton wrote:
>> Prelancing is described by some as 'pre-compensation freelancing'. AKA
>> working for free.
> Mike,
>
> I'll chime in with what has worked for me, and a few hopefully useful
> ideas.
>
> First, I think your plan is a great one. I started on Linux on an i386
> that took until 2 AM to compile the kernel. I started because we were so
> poor I couldn't afford a Windows upgrade. One time my wife splurged and
> bought me OS2 Warp. Gotta love her, even if the OS is gone...
>
> My background is sort of similar; as a kid I played with those
> electronics sets. In the military I worked on old teletype hardware;
> computers were the "new" thing coming in. After the military I tried
> some different tracks but found my enjoyment playing with/on my computer.
>
> I volunteered to help a friend with a Netware based FidoNet BBS. My
> first remote sysadmin work. I took a class in C, played with Solaris,
> and my wife got me a Slackware book with a CD. The BBS friend gave me an
> old Mitsumi single speed cdrom and off I went.
>
> We moved to Italy and I got a "job" working for an ISP. I mostly
> volunteered so I could do stuff there; the phone rates were high and
> speeds were slow. Whenever they asked me if I could do something in
> Linux, my response was "Oggi no, domani possible." Today, no. Tomorrow,
> possibly. I'd go home, figure it out, and come back the next day and set
> it up.
>
> Came back to the states and found a part-time job doing SCO Unix (uk!)
> that lasted long enough to get a full time SA position based on
> experience. Yup. that ISP, the part time SCO job, and the BBS stuff were
> enough to get me in with the Wall Street Journal. My hiring manager once
> said he wanted "someone who does this stuff at home" and I fit the bill
> perfectly.
>
> To answer your question more directly, look at non-profits, churches,
> schools, etc. Lots of places don't the the money to buy Windows capable
> hardware but they need file servers, web servers, etc. Setting up
> networks wouldn't hurt either. Many places could use web services where
> they're not charged an arm and a leg for a decent site. They also often
> have custom needs to resolve and no real backups or recovery postures.
>
> Another idea for you is to look at the "Go" programming language from
> Google. It is my feeling that some good things will happen with it and
> your background seems well suited to utilize a good systems language.
>
> Really, I think your possibilities are pretty good. Your attitude will
> be a key ingredient. Don't overlook places like LinkedIn, either.
>
> Figure out what really energizes you and follow that path. Your
> happiness will show and help sell you.
>
> Leam
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo