[wplug] Leaving the area

[Justin Smith]

Even if I had, it would only have been a placeholder for something in Ohio. I've wanted 
to live closer to my significant other, who lives out that way, for some time.

I will say this, though: there /are/ IT jobs in Pittsburgh. However, you need to be either 
impossible qualified or impractically flexible in order to attain most of them. For 
instance, most local job listings either list a dazzling array of qualifications that 
disqualify most people short of industry veterans, or the originating company expects 
you to revolve your life around work.

But there are a handful of companies out there that seem to get it right. The Grant 
Street Group, which I believe still sponsors SNAPGH, is one such organization. I also 
had a positive experience with Wombat Security Technologies. Dick's Sporting Goods 
also employs Linux specialists.

The best advice I can give anyone in the area who's looking for something better is to 
get out there and talk with people like me who've been in the trenches. The people 
who work at job fairs will probably forget you, blindly pushing your resume out rarely 
works, and most recruiters are simply salesmen for the companies they represent.

Oh, and LinkedIn Premium is a /super/ nice tool for applying to job listings that happen 
to be active on LinkedIn. It sort of lets you "cheat" by bumping your resume to the top 
of the stack above everyone else who applied so you're more likely to get noticed.

Heh, if I had more time, I might even be tempted to give a seminar on what it means 
to look for IT work in the Pittsburgh area. If anyone reading this still has questions or 
needs guidance on their job search, contact me off-list, and I'd be happy to help.

On Monday, January 04, 2016 06:13:27 PM Zachary Uram wrote:
> Too bad you couldn't find a job in Pittsburgh. I keep hearing that
> Pittsburgh is becoming a big tech city, yet we don't have the jobs to keep
> people here. Big problem!
> 
> On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 11:45 AM, Stanley C Slomberg <scslomberg at gmail.com>
> 
> wrote:
> > A very large congratulations to you, Justin. I am glad you are really
> > moving up and northwest in the world. Cleveland is a nice town and it will
> > be an adventure for you in new surroundings.
> > 
> > Good Luck to you
> > 
> > On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 11:34 AM, <justin at adminix.net> wrote:
> > > Many of you know I've been looking for a new job for a little while now.
> > > 
> > > 
> > > Well, I found something. I've been hired by MIM Software, a medical
> > > imaging software company located in Beachwood, OH, to be their new "IT
> > > Analyst," which is essentially a jack-of-all-trades position where I'll
> > > be working with a variety of infrastructure duties.
> > > 
> > > My tentative schedule is to finish things up in Pittsburgh by the end of
> > > next week and start moving out to Ohio the following week. So this is
> > > goodbye - sort of. I'll be at the GUM this coming Saturday, but after
> > > that, you won't see me around very much, if at all. I'll still be on the
> > > mailing lists, of course, and I may help with coordinating "virtual
> > > events" if I can find a local Linux organization in the Cleveland or
> > > Akron area that might be interested in doing something like that with
> > > WPLUG.
> > > 
> > > I'll still be on the WPLUG board, incidentally, so there's that.
> > > 
> > > The board has known about this for a little while now, but I figured the
> > > rest of you deserve to know as well. I just wanted to say that it's been
> > > great getting to know you all, and I think you're all awesome. :)
> > > --
> > > 
> > > JUSTIN SMITH
> > > Linux System Administrator
> > > 
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > wplug mailing list
> > > wplug at wplug.org
> > > http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
> > 
> > --
> > Stanley C Slomberg
> > 412-361-7826 (STAN)   Home
> > _______________________________________________
> > wplug mailing list
> > wplug at wplug.org
> > http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug


*Justin Smith*
Linux System Administrator