Daily Twitter Roundup

[robotech_master]

Here are the things I am willing to admit to having done today:

• 00:59 Sidekick owners, like @foomf, take note: the class-action lawsuits begin! bit.ly/gBNUv #
• 10:29 What's with all these twitter spammers that have popped up in the last day or so? Are they DARING users to use Twitter's new report feature? #
• 12:38 I love reading @smilinstanlee's tweets. He tweets the same way he does everything else: enthusiastically and exuberantly. Excelsior! #
• 13:31 @squidlord Well, Sheherazade would certainly agree with that. #
• 13:32 Hiding in my room while the rest of the apartment ventilates after spraying for fleas. #
• 13:41 Hopefully that will keep the fleas down for a while. May need to get more frontline #
• 13:46 Hey, @henrymelton - life imitates art. j.mp/2vJJLR #
• 13:59 Funky. Earth & Jupiter in same photo, taken from Mars. bit.ly/38U68j #
• 16:12 Just hit bank to deposit WRITING CHECK and get cash out for the weekend. Now waiting for bus to get me back home before houseguest arrives. #
• 17:21 twitpic.com/lnttq - My friend Felix on my laptop with my cat, and me in the foreground. #
• 17:43 RT @SailorCallie: RT @NewsFirst5: Missing boy found safe---he was in the attic. bit.ly/3D743c Good news to hear. #
• 22:47 Just finished watching Will Vinton's Adventures of Mark Twain. I always forget how brilliant that movie is until I watch it again. #

Comments

[humanblue.livejournal.com]

Your call, I suppose. Until you believe in yourself and your abilities, nobody else will either.

I know you have the required skills and experience, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince you of it. It sounds like even if I got you an interview, you would go in and sabotage yourself with self-pity.

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

The job posting states:

Familiarity with most basic system administration tools and procedures; for example, BASH, MySQL, MsSQL, IIS, Apache, ProFTPd, Web Control Panels, use backup programs and verify disk integrity, maintain system files (groups, hosts, aliases).

BASH: Don't have it. Never used it. I use tcsh, and even then I just use config files someone else set up for me. I don't have any scripting know-how.

MySQL, MsSQL: Don't have it. Never used it. Took a class in SQL back in college but all that's stayed with me is the very basic command syntax. I couldn't write an SQL script now if my life depended on it.

IIS: Don't have it. Never used it.

Apache: The most I've ever done is set up the version of Apache that came with Ubuntu so I could copy files over into the web directory and have them available from elsewhere using DynDNS. That required changing very few settings in the default configuration. I've never done anything fancy with it.

ProFTPd: Don't have it. Never used it.

Web Control Panels: I do have that from my time doing customer service for a web hosting provider.

backup programs and verify disk integrity: I do know how to run fsck, but have never used any backup programs.

maintain system files (groups, hosts, aliases): I always have to ask for help with this whenever I need to set up another user on my box and give him the appropriate permissions. I do know how to make ln -s aliases, though.

I appreciate that you believe I'm more skilled than I really am. But I'm honestly more of a user than an admin. I know how to compile programs, true—config, make install, make clean—but am completely stumped and have to give up if there's any kind of compilation error.

If you think that they're just preferences, and I could get by without those skills, that they wouldn't really care as long as I could do everything else, I'd be delighted to apply. But if they are solid requirements, and they give me any kind of quiz on how to do those things (I know I would, if I were hiring someone who was supposed to be able to do them) I'd probably strike out right away.

[humanblue.livejournal.com]

They are not solid requirements by any means. They are listed to help define the area of the job. Let's go over this real quick so you can get a better idea of where I'm coming from...

BASH: Do you know what a terminal is? Can you navigate through a filesystem? (basic commands like 'mv', 'cp', 'pwd', etc). That is enough and would put you in the top 1% of candidates who have no exposure to Linux at all.

MySQL: Do you know what it is? You will not be developing a database. This knowledge is here so that if a customer calls and says "I have this weird SQL error" you at least know the general problem area.

IIS (and Apache): Honestly, there isn't much to know for most users. You install it and it works. There are things like mod_rewrite that you would learn about by on the job training.

ProFTPd: Have you every used ANY FTP program of any sort? Yes? You're qualified.

What I'm saying is that even though you don't fit the job description TO THE LETTER, keep in mind that most people don't. Instead, talk about what you DO know. Saying simply "Linux" does not differentiate you at all from some guy off the street that heard about it once - you do know these things and you do have experience that sets you apart from the crowd.

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

I begin to see. What sort of things would you suggest adding to my résumé? "Linux shell"? "Linux admin"? All of the things mentioned in the description?