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Finding a Linux Job
Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier writes, "Kirrily 'Skud' Robert, CEO of Netizen [and part-time
freshmeat appindex maintainer], gives Linux job-seekers a few tips on landing a job with a Linux-friendly company. Netizen is an Australian Open Source and Internet training and consultancy company." It's a fun read, but eminently practical. Among her advice: Have opinions on beer, get involved in open-source projects, keep track of your source code ... just not necessarily in that order.
I was looking for a new job recently and I had some interesting experiences. I have been a C and C++ programmer for about 15 years (mostly C, only a little C++), with about 17 years of professional programming experience. My last two jobs, a total of 11 years of work, have been doing Unix work. My first Linux kernel was 1.2.8, back in about 1996. I live in San Francisco and was looking for work near home - I did not want a car-only commute. At my last job I used almost all the popular commercial Unicies - AIX, HP, Solaris, SCO, Digital, NCR and so on.
I was looking for Linux work, and got two hits on my resume from Linux-related companies. The first was a company making a Linux-based product. I had a somewhat unusual phone interview - the guy who was the chief tech wanted to know how much Debian experience I had. My preferred ditribution is Slackware but had installed Debian twice. I really didn't use it with any regularity, or have any specific experience. He semed to be interested in Debian install packages, and didn't seem to think that my experience building install packages for seven different Unix native installers meant much. I guess my lack of Debian-specific experience counted quite a bit against me, but I also got the impression that because I didn't use Debian I was somehow politically incorrect. The other problem I had was that I could not offer any code samples from my last job. All the code was proprietary and even though I am quite proud of my coding skills I could not prove anything. I have not had time to work on any outside of work Open Source projects so I could not show any code from that source. I think that this also counted against me in the "politically incorrect" category. The thing that most annoyed me was that after the phone interview, I never even got a call back from the company or their in house recruiter. I figure if you bother to do a phone interview, you should at least have someone call back and say "Sorry, we are not interested."
The other job was with a big name Linux distributor who was interested in doing alot of new kernel feature work, plus some interesting user space stuff. They were a much more professional operation, but once again I felt that the fact that I had not contributed to any open source projects counted against me to some extent. I felt I had a good shot at a position there because I had skills that matched one of their specific needs fairly well. Their main drawback was that they were a very bad car-only commute from my place.
In the end, I decided to take a non-Linux job doing Java Programming. This was because the vast majority of jobs I saw listed were Java jobs and I decided that I better pick up some new skills so I could continue working for the next few years. Also, a good friend works with me at my new company, and the staff is mostly older people who have a good sense for "quality of life" issues and are more interested in experience and proven skills than flash.
There were not many really good looking Linux jobs, from my rather narrow perspective, but this will change over time. The current jobs seem to prefer a certain amount of Open Source credibility. In the end I think I made the correct decision for my future, but I would have liked to have a job in the community. Maybe next time!
I've had my resume out there for a while, and while I wouldn't consider myself even close to the top echelon of linux coders out there, I get a whole lot of calls just based off of the fact that my resume is out there, and people are interested in hiring me.
I'm in college, and I'm going to be looking for a "career" soon, but so far, I haven't really had to look, companies seem to just find me on the internet.
It seems at times that with the economy that we've got now, and with the job market in our sector the way it is, here's my checklist --
1: Do you have a pulse?
2: Are you a crack/heroin addict?
3: Do you plan to immediately defraud the company?
4: Do you have any convictions for homicide?
If you answered 'Yes' to all of the above, congratulations, you're qualified for practically any job out there.
While that is a bit exaggerated, it has seemed to me recently like a lot of employers are desparate for employees. Good economy means expansion in business, expansion in business means that you need more employees. And there aren't any to be had as far as I can see....
(Note: stay away from consulting firms - I've interviewed with 2 - and they seem to be of two breeds - the sharks, and the pimps)
My $0.02
-- Truth goes out the door when rumor comes innuendo. -- Groucho Marx
Plain text or simple HTML are very good universal formats. If somebody can't deal with either of them, are you sure you want to work for them?
I once maintained my resume in MS Word format, but decided that it was a waste maintaining a Windows system at home just so I could maintain my resume. I now have my resume posted on my web site. I keep the HTML in it and my web site simple as it is there for information transfer, not glitz. If someone needs it in text format I will transfer it over to text buy having Lynx translate it. The resume is currently in flux as I'm updating it for a new job search. I'm looking for a place that will allow me to only work 30 hours a week preferably in web security or programming.
However, at the end they recomend four job portals: Linux.com, Linux Today, User Friendly's GeekFinder and Linux.org.au. I agree with the first two, and (since I'm in North America) have no valid opinion on Linux.org.au.
The problem with Geek Finder is that it is really just a front for Dice.com. Unlike all the other resources mentioned, dice.com charges employers for listings, instead of being community-based and advertiser-supported.
Instead, I would recomend the following additional job portals, where I have actually posted jobs:
- Superexpert.com: not great, but it does host linux jobs.
- JustLinux: a smaller Linux portal, with a nice jobs page.
- Free Software Jobs Page: This is the GNU jobs page. It is strictly for free software jobs, so only hard-core open source jobs get posted there.
Finally, WireX's research jobs are here and our production jobs are here.Crispin
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Crispin Cowan, CTO, WireX Communications, Inc.
Immunix: Free Hardened Linux Distribution
Jobs!
OK - Item number 1 (actually the 2nd item) dealt exclusively with source code. Do you have to be a programmer to be a player in this game? I hope not, I gave up programming about 10 years ago, I really got tired of dreaming about the code I was currently working on. I've now moved on to other things (project management, specifically) but I still love the whole Open Source/Linux thing. What percentage of /. 'ers are actually programmers? Would this make a decent poll?
mas cerveza, por favor politically incorrect stu
This isn't really anything new. To find a job in any field, the key is to demonstrate that you know what you're doing. Open source involvement and having the skills that you're looking to get employed in is of course good. But this article seems to be for the geeks out there who would like to code for 36 hours straight rather than actually develop some social skills as well.
Sorry to burst your bubble - but for most of you looking for a job, there's probably someone at least a qualified. The KEY to finding a job is how well you come off in person. Are you a likeable person...do you work well with others? This is a VERY important aspect of finding the right employee being that the IT industry seems to have a very hight percentage of assholes in it. (read: tech support). Many seem very aloof and overconfident in their skills.
Your resume should speak for your skills/interests, but that's only about %25 of it. Your resume gets you in the door. The interview gets you the job...so concentrate on that.
BTW - As far as the word format on your resume...sorry to burst most Ub3r h4x0rz bubbles, but most companies have lots of management, and management uses Windows...word is still the way to go in a resume, but that doesn't mean you have to like it.
-FluX
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