I started writing this in a blog, then realized it wasn’t the right venue. I’ve long accepted that I’m not going to know everything about the technologies I work with, let alone those I only help with. Still, it’s interesting and fun when I learn little bits about those things that I’ve used so long they often feel like second nature at times. For whatever reason I keep applying for jobs that list “2+ years Linux systems administration experience” in their descriptions; having multiples of that, I often chuckle as quietly as possible when people start asking me basic what command I’d use to monitor the system resources or what the difference is between raid levels 1 and 5. I guess they have to expect I’m lying about my experience or something.

When making the list of protocols I have experience with for my resume I had a little bit of a tough time finding the result of what makes a good keyword ad what I’ve used enough to call “experienced”. During an interview at another company a month ago someone asked me an OSPF question and said that most of the people he’s met with OSPF on their resume can’t remember what it stands for, forget actually having any experience with it.

A friend of mine who’s been round these circles for a few years longer than me said to just accept nobody was going to take me seriously and offer me senior roles until I was 30. I just laughed and agreed. I mucked around my first ISP when I was something like 15, so I can’t say I don’t have experience with that sort of attitude.

Of course, once people get to know me they realize I’m not lying about knowing a little bit about Linux. Hopefully the social networking will pay off eventually. In the interim, I guess I’m in no hurry. I’m happy at my job and was happy at my last job, it just seems there’ll come a point in time when the social situations are right where I can make tens of thousands more for doing the exact same shit I do now, which, is sort of troubling in a “ha, ain’t the world a funny place” way. I was introduced to the term “social climber” not too long ago. I hadn’t heard it before and it was used in the same way most my friends use “hipster”. Something about it feels appropriate in this thought process.