The Tlog – a technology blog

Continuing with my recent “jobs” theme…

I mentioned in the previous post that there are some things I don’t want in a job, and that, if I go looking for one, stating those in advance might potentially save both me and a couple of companies a bit of time. But what are those things? And why?

Assuming you’re curious…

1. No Microsoft technologies. For many people, having a permanent “scapegoat” (“hey, software crashes occasionally, it’s normal… what can anyone do?”) is probably a boon, but I simply despise the idea. If something goes wrong with my work, I want it to be my fault, my responsibility, and fixable (and avoidable in the future) by me. Windows, MS software, and closed source software in general, take too much control away from the user. I need to be able to vouch for my tools.
   Note: I don’t mean that I refuse to ever touch MS software. If I’m in a company, I’m the Unix admin, a Windows server needs something done to it and the Windows admin is at home sick, of course I’ll help. I simply don’t want it as part of my “regular” work.
2. No helpdesk work. I’ve done it in the past, both to calling customers and to co-workers, and didn’t like it. This is not “arrogance” or “I’m too good for it”; I’m simply a technically-inclined, introverted, and sometimes shy person, and, at work, I feel much more at ease with computers than with people.
   Note: as before, I wouldn’t refuse to help a co-worker in need, sporadically. I simply don’t want it as part of the job description. And, yes, “everyone in the IT department does some helpdesk” does qualify as “part of the job description”.
3. No outsourcing. Sorry if I offend someone, but I sincerely believe that outsourcing is an evil, evil thing. As most countries have incredibly collectivist laws which make it less expensive and time-consuming to keep paying an useless employee than firing him (because he “needs” the job, so the law is on his side, and other crap), this has given birth to companies which employ people themselves, pay them a salary, and then “rent” them to real companies, for much more money, just so companies can “fire” a bad worker with a snap of fingers. And companies prefer to pay twice the money, if not more, just so they don’t risk ending up with an “unfirable” parasite. Obviously, I don’t like the concept. In fact, I think it stinks. I’m not saying that there aren’t very nice people as part of outsourcing companies, but, to me, those companies shouldn’t exist in the first place.
   Besides, when working as a “consultant”, you can go one day to a company, another day to another, and I don’t like that. Personal taste. And most companies will treat you as a “stranger”, instead of as part of the “team”. And you won’t have any power to change anything for the better, only do as you’re told. And you’ll have to do reports and more reports. Why spend your life in a situation you hate?

A little clarification, mostly about the first two: you may be thinking that I’m some conceited “prima donna”, that I accept working only in ideal conditions, and expect to do only things I like. That is not the case at all. I’m not naïve; I know that in any job a person, from time to time, has to do something boring or frustrating. But those cases should be the exception, not the rule. If you know in advance you will hate a significant part of a job, why take it at all? It’s not the job you want, and you’re not the person they want, either.

A simple metaphor: let’s say you’re a gardener, and you’re also able to cook, but you hate cooking. Would you take a job as cook? Or, if someone wanted to hire you as a gardener, but then told you that you’d also have to cook for the entire family every day. Would you still want the job, in that situation?

I think not… and it’s the same scenario, here.

For some reason, after the last post about my disillusion with having been a sysadmin for about a decade, I’ve been thinking about past jobs, job searching, interviews, and so on, and there’s a point I’ve never seen addressed anywhere, and about which I’d like to have some reader opinions. Yes, that means you.

During the last two times I searched for a job (in 2000 and 2004, if I remember correctly), there were several times when I went to a job interview, and during the first 5 minutes of that interview, it became painfully obvious that I wasn’t what they wanted… or that the job included something I didn’t want as part of it… or both. This happened more than once, too.

Some were obvious cases of they not having looked at my CV at all (which is apparently increasingly common [link in Portuguese]), as nothing else explains why they’d ask a guy whose CV lists mostly Unix and open source software skills to do helpdesk for Windows desktops! But, in other cases, it was something that a CV typically doesn’t say, such as “no helpdesk work” or “no outsourcing”.

So, at the time, I talked to friends and family about it, and told them that I wondered if it wouldn’t be better if, when applying for a job, I stated in front (in the original letter / email, or as part of the CV) that there were several things that would make me refuse a job offer (I’ll write about them in a future post).

“No!”, everyone replied. “Are you crazy? If they read something like that, they’ll dismiss you then and there! You can’t show such arrogance when applying for a new job! You need to show humility, and readiness to do anything they require from you!”

I don’t know if this is common in other countries, such as the United States, but here in Portugal we still tend to see a job as a “favor” the employer does to the employee. That’s why such extreme humility — almost like we are beggars — is expected.

But I don’t see this as arrogance at all. In fact, it is in the company’s interest as well as mine: it potentially avoids wasting their time. It’s like a filter in a search; you exclude — or allow others to exclude — the results you already know you don’t want. Is this “arrogant”?