[LA.pm] jobs available, going unfulfilled

[Todd Cranston-Cuebas]

OK, here's the situation as far as I can see... given how all encompassing
job descriptions have been lately (great communication skills, presentation
skills, client management, strong technical knowledge, leadership abilities,
etc.), employers are looking for candidates who can fill multiple roles,
have ultimate flexibility to handle any situation, and perhaps of most
importance, give the impression that the are a "can't miss" hire. Times are
tight, right? When a hiring manager gets the bucks to open a position it's
usually because there is a strong, "right now" kind of business incentive.
This means that the candidate has to come in ready to hit the ground running
and have an immediate bottom line impact. This is also pushing the job
descriptions, and interviews, to lean more heavily on "proof" that you can't
fail if given the job. Proof comes in many forms but a degree and/or
certifications really are key indicators since they're tangible things you
can point to.

So, where does all of this leave you? Getting a degree in CS and/or certs
certainly can't hurt. It shows dedication and the ability to set a goal and
achieve it. Employers love that! It also shows that you have been at least
exposed to most of the fundamentals (even classes you may like to avoid like
a class on algorithms) so there shouldn't be any surprising missing holes in
your background.

On the other hand, I have seen individuals who have focused more on heavy
involvement in the altruistic and synergistic world of open-source
engineering. These individuals have taken a love of what they do to the next
level, learned from each other, mentored others, all to further some
application, development platform, language, etc. Yes, they typically
scratch their own itch, but it can lead to serious learning in an
environment outside of traditional education. One issue though is that this
kind of "geed cred" is recognize within your own community but may not be so
obvious to the uninitiated hiring manager. Hopefully, your particular "itch"
happens to be in a technology that is hot enough, and the hiring managers
clued in enough, so this won't be an issue and it's all about your proven
ability to be creative, produce, and have the chops to succeed. That was an
easier "sell" in the early dot-com days than it is now with perhaps the
exception of either cutting-edge technologies or technologies that just have
to done to put out a product now (e.g., rich client interfaces just have to
be done --> javascript is hot, etc.).

Of course, both forms of education (class-traditional vs. virtual
participation-altruism) should not be in conflict and very strong candidates
have a mix of both.

Not sure if that helped ;)

Todd


On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 1:49 PM, Aleksey Tsalolikhin <
atsaloli.tech at gmail.com> wrote:

> 2010/9/22 Todd Cranston-Cuebas <geekhunter at gmail.com>:
> > You all know I'm a huge fan of open-source and I'm convinced that the
> > OS world can provide an alternative educational track than going the
> college route.
>
> Hi, Todd.  Could you please elaborate on that?  I'd like to get a
> basic education in computer
> science but am not sure where to start.  (I've been a sysadmin for
> over 12 years.)
>
> Best,
> Aleksey
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