[Cialug] Job Posting - Linux Admin

[Corey Chandler]

On 2/25/10 9:30 AM, Josh More wrote:

The last meeting's topic was sparked by "vague job descriptions."  In 
that spirit I'm going to attempt to address a few of those concerns in a 
lighthearted manner (don't worry, I know you didn't write it!):

>
> Requirements:
>
> Associates Degree in Information Technology

This is the first requirement in the list, and it's kind of a strange 
one.  Generally the first requirement is the most important (that's why 
it's first, after all!), but an associate's degree is a bit odd; 
normally if they're degree centric they focus on a bachelor's or higher. 
  Stipulating that it be in "Information Technology" is horrendously 
specific, and leads me to suspect that this is either a) not that 
important of a requirement, or b) that it's being this specific in order 
to set the job up for "Our Friend Steve the H1B" by excluding most other 
candidates.

> Three (3) or more years experience in server and network administration

This requirement is pretty standard, and it's a decent one.  They're 
letting me know that I shouldn't apply if I have ten years of experience 
doing this stuff, nor should I if I "installed Ubuntu on a laptop this 
one time."

> Experience with Unix/Linux servers and VoIP/PBX required
Here's where it starts to get a little dicey.  Do they want that 3 years 
of experience to be on Linux/Unix, or would that guy who "installed 
Ubuntu on a laptop once" but worked in a Microsoft shop be a viable 
candidate?

> Knowledge of routers, firewalls, and switches

Okay, at what level?  "I can point to one in the datacenter" versus "I 
architected a network for a dentist's office with three remote sites" 
versus "I have a CCIE-level understanding of this type of thing?"

Now for the stuff I don't see:

None of the above are particularly horrific, but what I don't see, would 
love to see, and likely never will see is a salary range for the 
position.  I know two guys who'd perhaps be interested in this job-- 
one'd be thrilled to make $12 an hour (not me), and another who doesn't 
roll out of bed for less than $150 an hour (also not me).  The latter is 
likely to be rather irritated to go through an entire interview process, 
only to discover that he's asking for twice what the job is willing to 
pay, while the former is potentially going to find himself in WAY over 
his head when they start expecting work quality that's way above his 
current pay grade.

I'd also love to see the job description broken out a bit more; what 
particular aspects of admin work do they particularly need help with? 
Sendmail/Postfix, Apache's httpd, MySQL/Postgres, trending & monitoring, 
etc.  Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, but "I want an admin" 
does very little to cull the field without additional data.


Those are my thoughts; I welcome yours.

-- Corey / KB1JWQ