@SiteRelEnby@tech.lgbtDon't want to come across as begging but I'm scared. 130+ jobs applied for, 2 interviews, 2 rejections. I know it sucks for everyone right now but I really need work.
Laid off while recovering from long COVID. Remote worker since 2015, or blue state with relocation assistance. Project 2025 is on the horizon and fucking terrified because even if Kamala wins, I don't think she's going to protect trans people in red states. At this point a month left before both health insurance & money run out.
All the usual SRE stuff plus all sorts of indepth Linux stuff, actually enjoy cursed bash and regexes. Not the World's Greatest Rockstar Dev but can get by in Python, C, and Go. Lots of monitoring, observability, and big data stuff, also done some heavy security work in the past, plus AuDHD hyperfocus on demand and willing to learn anything.
Will fix any problem in a company, technical, political, or other. Maybe now finding team lead level confidence but also autistic af.
@SiteRelEnbyLiterally a worse positive (i.e. interview offer) response rate than I had as a new grad right as the great recession was starting to seriously hit, and I've been applying for lower level jobs than my old one too.
Have a disabled, also-queer partner who I'm doing this for too. Slightly less broken people caring for broken people - I need some schedule flexibility and excellent health insurance, but in return I'm willing to work weird hours and she understands the importance and I'm willing to take the shitty oncall shift, etc, if needed. Will make your engineering team at least 600% cuter and have random insights out of nowhere between being funny, and be a loud voice of the underrepresented within the engineering org and the company as a whole.
Will automate everything, and I mean everything. Have both said "I could replace you with a shell script" and actually done it. Recently broke through the wall and became reasonable at writing, and learned how to update the team docs.
@SiteRelEnby(if how depressed and drunk I am while posting about this didn't make it clear: no security clearance. Will be the privacy-first cyberpunk influence you subtly wish your company had. Actually great at audit-type stuff, can write all of the verbiage whatever random cert the board wants to have like to see, but not the government type)
@xinit@mastodon.coffee@SiteRelEnby "Will automate everything, and I mean everything"
I routinely mention something like this in my cover letters, or in interviews. My job as a sys admin / sre / whatever is to do as little work as possible.
Sometimes, trying to do no work TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT.
@xinit @SiteRelEnby I came here for both of those xkcds, not disappointed. Good luck in your search.
Is there a version of this xkcd that accounts for rustling up enough Executive Function to actually start on the one-shot task vs just letting the crontab do the thing daily?
@SiteRelEnby@EndlessMason @xinit I need to know. That's the hard part.
Somehow the agile charts never have that? Seems like an oversight
Jilg 
@daniel@social.telemetrydeck.com@SiteRelEnby damn I wish I could afford you. Best of luck with your search!!
@SiteRelEnby I truly with I was hiring. I really do. Sadly in the US I'm not :-(
I hope you don't mind a CV suggestion? Instead of stating what you did in each role, state what you achieved. I made a similar change a while back and it had a net positive effect. Potential employers could see what I'm able to deliver.
Examples here: https://silverwraith.com/cv.php
@SiteRelEnby@avleen Thanks, that's helpful. CV writing is not the easiest for me.
@SiteRelEnby It's a challenge. And more often than not it feels like guess work.
I'll keep an eye open for opportunities!
@xinit@mastodon.coffee@SiteRelEnby the paragraph starting with "all the usual SRE stuff" paragraph could be my own resume. I went on an interview where they demanded that I tell them about a subject that I'm an expert in, and I kind of threw my hands up in the air.
"I'm a generalist that knows how to look things up. It pretty much says that on my CV."
@SiteRelEnby@xinit Yeah, mood. Always good to pick a couple of absolute top skills you can talk about indepth, because they will ask you to, but overall whenever I've been on a hiring panel I've valued "ability to learn" over someone who has one rigid way of thinking.
@xinit@mastodon.coffee@SiteRelEnby That interview was very strange. It felt like they wanted a TED Talk on a topic. It was really odd because on a personal level, we were really getting on. I had good stories for everything, but then they (metaphorically) flipped on the stage lights.
@SiteRelEnby@xinit Yikes. Seems like kind of a red flag for working somewhere too.
@SiteRelEnby just a thought. Have you considered using your skills on the mainframe, where it's more difficult to find people. Thinking initially Linux on Z but being an SRE with Z experience could give you an edge, or becoming a Z/CICS/IMS/MQ system programmer - there's a need as many come up to retirement. It might be a bigger step to look outside your primary area of competence but looking in related areas might offer an edge. Good luck.
@SiteRelEnby@gregalotl If there's somewhere that would hire someone with zero mainframe experience but willing to learn, but a hardcore dedication to the UNIX philosophy and a lot of ideas of how to integrate that world with the modern web one, I'd be extremely interested, but at that point that sounds like a unicorn job... I basically have a month left before we're packing our stuff into a van and moving in with friends, not really conducive to learning a new skill from scratch.
@SiteRelEnby just thought your Linux experience may get you a foot in the door for Linux on Z jobs and if you get through that gate, there are interesting and sought after skills beyond. Maybe that's looking too far ahead when you've got more pressing needs.
@SiteRelEnby@gregalotl Yeah, understood and will definitely consider looking forward but right now it's "can I put off paying the power bill for long enough to pay for my partner's healthcare?"...
@SiteRelEnby I can't divulge names but mainframe Linux is used by banks, insurance, healthcare, airlines, utilities, etc (sorry I can't say more or if you know this already)
@SiteRelEnby this might be a fit: https://www.edifecs.com/careers?p=job%2Fo7Yfufwy
@SiteRelEnby Have a look and see if Red Hat are hiring in your geo.
Okay so no job unfortunately but some unsolicited CV advice.
I was looking for a job in Canada at some point and was working through a head hunter recruiter. His advice was that on each job have an introductory paragraph before you list your competencies. In the paragraph you list what you learnt from the job, what improvements you implemented and soft skills you used.
It should be an expression of your value in normal English expressed in a concise form. It also tends to be what the interviewers focus on. And is a great way for you to show your worth.
You can use it or not but I really hope that you get something sorted before the end of the month or better still you get a relocation to safe state as well.
@SiteRelEnby@Weanerdog Thanks, really appreciate it.
@SiteRelEnby @Weanerdog in that thread, https://www.askamanager.org/ has some decent advice regarding CV and cover letters and job searching.
@SiteRelEnby@viq @Weanerdog Thanks, much appreciated, will take a look.
@tayfonay
Welcome to my world... Over a thousand jobs applied for, less than 50 interviews / screenings, 0 jobs offers.
Wishing you better luck than I have had.
@SiteRelEnby some places I have decent idea they're hiring and may be ok places to work at:
Akamai
Box
Dropbox
@SiteRelEnby why are our descriptions almost identical?!
@SiteRelEnby@gobborg Common person/moment right now, it seems.
@SiteRelEnby I'll take a look tomorrow and see what I can find.
@SiteRelEnby Sending best regards….
@SiteRelEnby @mckern I wonder if Jill Wohlner of https://www.thegoodrecruitingcompany.com/ has anything that’s a fit?