Finally got a job

[buzzbass]

Lost my CBS IT Director job in Sept of 2020 (due to the CBS/Viacom merger) and have been out of work since. I'll be a new IT Manager @ the Univ. of Tenn., in Knoxville. I was beginning to think nobody wanted this old man anymore. You'd think 35 years of IT experience is a desirable thing, No ? Anyway, thanks U Tenn, glad to be a Volunteer now.

 

[MonetBass]

Congrats!

 

[bobba66]

Age discrimination is real! Congratulations on your new position!

 

[Gorn]

Anyway, thanks U Tenn, glad to be a Volunteer now.

Volunteer?

 

[Selta]

IT (widely speaking here) is difficult. I'm partially responsible for hiring where I am (software engineers for a company everyone in the industry knows). There's lots of things that end up sticking out:
- At this point, if a person has been at a place for 10 or more years, it's seen as neutral leaning negative (unless they have significant title and responsibility changes they can demonstrate)
- It's a constantly changing industry. "Admins" that mostly sit and push buttons in UIs are no longer favorable or sought after. DevOps, SREs, and SEs are the hot ticket now.
- Time in field doesn't mean much - demonstrated ability means everything. Having semi-recent code commits to OSS will make you stand out, and things like that.
- Interviewing is as much a skill as doing the job. I can often tell when someone has practiced or been going through a few interview loops, versus someone just getting into it.
- Likewise, resumes are a difficult thing now. You gotta grab our (hiring manager's) attention quickly and in an impactful, meaningful way. We have a lot of them to sort through, and not tons of times to read bullet points across two pages. That first 2" of the top of the first page is your "elevator speech" section. Make it boom and make me want to call you back based on that alone

And I shouldn't have to say this:
- Lying or being deceitful will get you into the no bucket faster than just about anything else. There's been numerous applicants over the past ~9 months that talked a nice game on their resume, but when it came to interview time, they couldn't execute even two levels below what they made themselves out to be.

 

[Oddly]

Best of luck!

 

[buzzbass]

Volunteer?

yeah, that's the team name for sports teams

 

[bholder]

Volunteer?

Name of the sports team, I assume OP's getting paid.

 

[Gorn]

yeah, that's the team name for sports teams

Name of the sports team, I assume OP's getting paid.

I wasn’t making the connection between the joy over getting a good job and being a volunteer. I’m not a sports ball fan. Congrats.

 

[Riff Ranger]

Congratulations! It’s tough out there. In 2019, I thought I finally had everything together just as I started knocking at the door of middle age. By the time I actually hit 40—on U.S. Presidential Election Day 2020*, no less! —I had torpedoed my own career to resurrect that of my partner, whose job was among the first lost after COVID-19 hit North American shores. Now I live a state away from “home,” working very occasionally outside of my field and at a greatly reduced wage, still spending A LOT of time with a child still ineligible for a vaccine. It gives me hope to hear of you bouncing back, and of course I’m thrilled for YOU!

*not a remotely political comment; just saying it made enjoying a milestone birthday extra challenging

 

[Selta]

I totally forgot to say: Congrats!

 

[MrLenny1]

Age discrimination is very real. My wife & I were subject to
a lot of poop at work because we were senior employees
still carrying a huge work load. They wanted to pressure us out.
Congrats. America is not worker friendly especially when mergers
happen. The last merger I was involved with laid off 2000 people in 12 months.

 

[StyleOverShow]

Congrats

 

[buzzbass]

Congratulations! It’s tough out there. In 2019, I thought I finally had everything together just as I started knocking at the door of middle age. By the time I actually hit 40—on U.S. Presidential Election Day 2020*, no less! —I had torpedoed my own career to resurrect that of my partner, whose job was among the first lost after COVID-19 hit North American shores. Now I live a state away, working very occasionally outside of my field and at a greatly reduced wage, still spending A LOT time with a child still ineligible for a vaccine. It gives me hope to hear of you bouncing back, and of course I’m thrilled for YOU!

*not a remotely political comment; just saying it made enjoying a milestone birthday extra challenging

Thanks man. Yeah, that job loss prompted my move to Tenn, from Jersey. The house down here is paid for, simple as that. We're renting the Jersey house to family now, that covers the mortgage. At first I thought it would be temporary. I've grown to like it down here. Much lower cost of living among other things. F Jersey. Keep trying. There wasn't one day that went by, all this time, that I didn't send out at least 1 resume'. Sure that entailed sifting through about 30 search agent Emails a day, but I stayed consistent. I wish you luck sir

 

[Pilgrim]

Lost my CBS IT Director job in Sept of 2020 (due to the CBS/Viacom merger) and have been out of work since. I'll be a new IT Manager @ the Univ. of Tenn., in Knoxville. I was beginning to think nobody wanted this old man anymore. You'd think 35 years of IT experience is a desirable thing, No ? Anyway, thanks U Tenn, glad to be a Volunteer now.

Hey, congrats!! You will find that university work is very different from commercial work in terms of the culture and practices.

I retired from 40 years in higher ed in 2019 and for the last few years, I was in charge of classroom technology and design for a 30,000 student university. I worked with the IT folks all the time because all technology is digital to some degree now.

For instance, that university has 200 lecture capture rooms and each lectern in those rooms has 8 network drops run to it just to handle the devices we have in the lecterns. We tried using switches in the lectern but the management became difficult as the number of installations multiplied.

Feel free to PM me if you have any thoughts or questions. I think you will find that it's a great setting with good benefits, but if it's like most universities, never quite enough people to get the work done.

Anyone with a Ren & Stimpy avatar must be good people!!

 

[buzzbass]

Hey, congrats!! You will find that university work is very different from commercial work in terms of the culture and practices.

I retired from 40 years in higher ed in 2019 and for the last few years, I was in charge of classroom technology and design for a 30,000 student university. I worked with the IT folks all the time because all technology is digital to some degree now.

For instance, that university has 200 lecture capture rooms and each lectern in those rooms has 8 network drops run to it just to handle the devices we have in the lecterns. We tried using switches in the lectern but the management became difficult as the number of installations multiplied.

Feel free to PM me if you have any thoughts or questions. I think you will find that it's a great setting with good benefits, but if it's like most universities, never quite enough people to get the work done.

Anyone with a Ren & Stimpy avatar must be good people!!

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, @ 60 I'm still a bit of a smartass. I figure I have 10yrs left, would be nice to finish it out in a "quieter" environment. I'll do whatever they throw at me and the team. If not, I'll manage the project/vendor when needed. What shocked me though is that each major dept seems to have its own complete IT team and Infrastructure. Crazy.

 

[two fingers]

Congrats! I gotta have a reason to get up and get a shower every morning. I can't imagine two years off. Glad you're back at it!

 

[FunkHead]

Congratulations! Best of luck to you.

 

[MJ5150]

Way to go buddy. I suppose I have one reason now not to dislike the Vol's.
Any exciting projects they are going to get you involved in right away? I work in IT as well, so always curious as to what my fellow IT buds are in to.

-Mike

 

[Pilgrim]

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, @ 60 I'm still a bit of a smartass. I figure I have 10yrs left, would be nice to finish it out in a "quieter" environment. I'll do whatever they throw at me and the team. If not, I'll manage the project/vendor when needed. What shocked me though is that each major dept seems to have its own complete IT team and Infrastructure. Crazy.

That's one way that it can be done, and usually it's because no one funds a central IT unit so colleges (not departments) start building their own IT units. It happens with A/V units too.

Not economically as effective as a good central unit, but you have to understand that money doesn't flow through a university the way it does in a commercial business. Each college has their own funding sources. Engineering and hard sciences have decent money to support these functions. Humanities and Arts have less money coming in and often have lower levels of technology and support.

If you're in a central unit, learn the personalities involved (they make a huge difference) and figure out where the units are with money, and what their power is within the university. They will often also be the units with the most fixed ideas of how to do things, and a determination to do things their own way.

Being flexible and making friends is a good way to get started.