Hey, I Need a New Job!

More importantly, I want a new job.

I’ve made my résumé available here, so let’s see how you can help me.

What kind of New Job do I want?

I’ve thought about this a lot and ideally I’d like to find another job as helpdesk manager or a lead that has some stake in policy and procedures. I had the most fun and learned the most about myself when working as helpdesk manager to get a team motivated and trained up to solve people’s computer problems. Of course I come from the old school, lone-gunman, get-in-fix-it-get-out method of working with computers, but realistically I know I function my best when I get to work directly with people who are smart, driven, and fun to be around. I know I can probably get a job as a senior IT technician or a system administrator, and I’d be very successful working solo to support a very small business or as part of a team to work on higher end technical problem sets, so I am not ruling those jobs out yet. The reason I want to focus on a higher level role is because it makes the most of my technical and non-technical skills.

I can pick up and learn technologies very quickly and implement solutions authoritatively. I research very well, so I’m rarely stuck, and when I do get stuck I always know to admit it and get the appropriate help. I have been extremely fluid in learning new skills that my job requires and there are few instances where I can’t be helpful right away in solving a technical problem because of a healthy knack for troubleshooting and problem analysis, a broad level of experience over many hardware and software platforms, and a genuine enthusiasm for applying new technology to make work more effiecient.

Information Technology is at its core a service industry that requires good communication skills. I communicate effectively with all levels of people: those who are not used to technology and often just need a little hand-holding, power users who overstep their means and break things in the most creative ways, managers who don’t want to know ‘how’ a problem is fixed just ‘when’, and other engineers who want to feel like they make a difference when they go home at the end of the day.

Another thing that an effective IT department thrives on is process. It’s not enough to just throw people at a problem, those people need a framework in which to act and resources to be successful. I have a short story about my methodology to fix it, and while it’s a little longer than I’d like to relate here I’ll gladly share it with you over an interview or a quick meal (or both).

What I could really use now is networking help — you know someone who knows someone who would probably think I’m the bee’s knees, so we should get that going and reduce the number of degrees of separation between that someone and me. I probably owe you a lunch anyway, so let me know and let’s schedule it.

If you have a Linkedin.com account, then you might be able to see my profile. If you’re feeling extra kind, maybe you could give me a recommendation? I’ll gladly reciprocate with a recommendation in kind or if you’d rather I buy you a beer (or give you a bottle of the homebrew) we can work that out also.

In the meantime I will be chasing job leads wherever I can find them and continuing to work out, play ukulele, and generally do what I can make my wife happy.