Provide a clear, concise description of what I would be doing as part of the 
job; Specific information about installing which software/OS, administering 
database Foo v6, maintaining/upgrading Fuzzball routers, etc. Be as specific as 
possible. There's no need to list all the skill sets you think I will need to 
perform the job. If you ask for a DBA for PostgreSQL, then you can vet the 
applications based on the skill sets and experience listed.

--Craig Constantine, http://constantine.name


On Sep 9, 2013, at 3:59 PM, Dan Ritter <[email protected]> wrote:


[I *think* this is the right list. Arguably, lopsa-profession would
be better, but it appears to be completely defunct, or so the archives
would have me believe. Please redirect me if warranted.]

I'm the lead sysadmin, network engineer, and occasional HVAC tech at
a small software shop near Boston. We're a combined IT and operations
team of three, and we need to be four, and that means writing a want ad.

The majority of want ads fall into a few easily sortable
buckets:

- the large company where everything about hiring is controlled
 by HR. The ad features an acre of boilerplate text, legal reassurances
 that mean nothing because violating them really would be illegal, and
 ends with an invitation to submit a resume at a website which either
 asks you to complete a dozen-page profile or mangles the parsing of
 your uploaded resume... or both.

- the startup buzzword factory looking for a SuperNinjaRockStar DevOps
 person. 

- the non-technical company which wrote a job description by
 summarizing what people think Bob did, and wants somebody just like Bob.
 (Sometimes this works out well.  Other times, it turns out that
 the reason Bob left is that nobody recognized what he was really
 doing to hold the company together.)

- the recruiter who has a list of technological skills that must
 be checked off, but no actual understanding of the company or the job.

Please assume, for the sake of discussion, that we can avoid
most of the above traps.

What, as an experienced systems administrator, could actually attract
your attention to a job ad? What holds your attention long enough for
you to write a thoughtful cover letter and update your resume?

Suggestions from this thread are likely to be used in an ad on
sajobs in the near future.

-dsr-
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