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New Conficker it out? Here's a detailed account
The "Conficker" worm is apparently the brainchild of some very gifted bad-guy software engineers, and notwithstanding one near-death experience has emerged wilier and more robust with each iteration. The linked story sets it forth for the lay reader. I found it interesting, but I'm just a graphics git. Some of you codeheads may detect errors and/or omissions in the tale that eluded me.

http://www.theatlant...nemy-within/8098/

code-ially,
New Mostly good ... except ...
Many, many computer-operators worldwide—you know who you are—fail to diligently heed security updates. And the patches are issued only to computers with validated software installations; millions of computers run on bootlegged operating systems, which have never been validated. Microsoft issues its updates on the second Tuesday of every month. Every geek in the world knows this; it’s called “Patch Tuesday.” The company employs some of the best programmers in the world to stay one step ahead of the bad guys. If everyone applied the new patches promptly, Windows would be nigh impregnable. But because so many people fail to apply the patches promptly, and because so many machines run on illegitimate Windows systems, Patch Tuesday has become part of Microsoft’s problem.

Sure, let's completely ignore a few other issues. First, Microsoft has a horrible track history of issuing patches that break things horribly. Or that introduce worse vulnerabilities than the ones being closed. Sysadmins who care more about the stability of their systems than about the plausible deniability of "I had no choice but to apply the patch" don't, as a matter of course, automatically apply every patch as soon as it's released.

And let's also ignore the fact that these patches frequently come with changes to the EULA. So even if you want to apply the patch, does a sysadmin have the legal authority to accept new contract terms on behalf of his employer? What is a reasonable delay to allow for legal review of the terms? What if legal decides that they don't like the new terms?
--

Drew
New Missing two of the biggest issues known...
ActiveX and DEEP DEEP integration into the OS.

Inserting Drivers and programs into Ring 0.

That single pair of issues, is nigh on the ROOT of all Microsoft's security issues. They COMPOUND EACH OTHER and make sure each other more vulnerable.

Period, end of game.
New Oh, forgot to come back when I finished the article
It ended with a doom-and-gloom scenario that this thing is still out there, still active, and no one knows how to kill it.

I know how. Prohibit vulnerable systems from connecting to the Internet. At the ISP level, deny connection from Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Poof, end of Conficker.
--

Drew
New I don't want to run Windows Vista or Windows 7
It has taken me many months to get my system just the way I want it. Many of the programs that I use regularly or infrequently won't run under either one (I've already tried using my wife's Vista box). Many of those programs are shareware or freeware and DO NOT have "updated" versions.

When you give me a free PC with Ubuntu on it to use as my Internet connection, only then can you justify your desire for a Windows-free world.




"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."

-- E.L. Doctorow
New Where did I say I desired anything?
What I did say was that there is a clear solution to this problem. It may be as politically infeasible as the solution they described in the article -- remotely accessing all infected machines and force-patching them -- but it would work.

If there were a car that occasionally blew up, taking out everything in a 50-foot radius, it would be reasonable to say you're not allowed to drive one onto a public street. It's not your fault, and you might really like the car, and you can't afford a new one, but you still don't get to put other people at risk.

Besides, Microsoft has end-of-lifed everything prior to and including XP. They're officially unsupported.

And finally, people have been pointing out the horrible security of Windows for decades. Anyone who chooses to use it anyway is taking a chance that they won't get bit by anything. Maybe it's time to pay the piper.
--

Drew
New Correction
XP SP2 and earlier have been (or will be next month) EOLed. XP SP3 is still supported (for security fixes) until 2014.
New Ahh, my bad
--

Drew
New Then show me
how I can translate my years of programming in Visual Basic, VB.Net and ASP.Net into a job in the Linux world ASAP.

You want to get rid of what (used to) pay my mortgage? Then show me viable alternatives, and not anything that will take a few years to get my foot into the door.

Meanwhile I'm going back to building a web site for a friend's personal business while I look for non-existent jobs here in Oil Town.




"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."

-- E.L. Doctorow
New Two things
First, nowhere did I say I wanted anything in particular. I'm simply pointing out that there is a possible solution to this worm that the article didn't address. They discussed one solution that was politically a non-starter and practically questionable. I proposed another one that is practically possible, but nearly as much a political non-starter.

Second, like I said, Microsoft has had a poor security record for years. Choosing to work with it anyway is like taking a plumbing contract on the Death Star. See Clerks for the full argument, if you haven't heard it already.
--

Drew
New Re: Two things
http://verydemotivat...-riding-superman/




"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."

-- E.L. Doctorow
New Keep ignoring advice...
at your own peril.

The writing is on the wall.

Restful services CANNOT be natively consumed easily by ANYTHING .NET or VB or pretty much Anything Core Mircosoft.

You really have to wrap them in WSDL/SOAP::WSDL.

WTF, we just got away from SOAP.

If you don't start learning new things, you will be left in the Dust. Stand still and you lose your relevance.

Even in System Administration, you have to learn new crap everyday. If you don't keep up with things, you become a piece of the furniture and become easily replaceable.
New And you're ignoring reality
As has been pounded into my head by dozens of recruiters these past months of unemployment, it doesn't matter what you teach yourself on your own time; the only thing that gets your butt into a potential employer's door is that fact that you used the technologies that they want at a previous employer and show it on the resume.

I've already taught myself C# for the .Net world, which is the language of choice when looking at job ads compared to VB.Net. But since EVERY JOB AD AND COMPANY demands that you have previous real-world experience with technologies, I'm left out in the cold.

But since you like preaching, I'd like you to provide practical advice on how I can get my resume in front of the real hiring managers who demand previous on-the-job experience of specific technologies that my past employers didn't use, even though I've learned these technologies on my own.




"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."

-- E.L. Doctorow
New Re: And you're ignoring reality
How? You ask how? How about not trying to be obtuse? How about stop being a DICK and assuming you are OWED a living, as that attitude comes across in any phone interview or Face to Face you may have.

Think I'm being farcical? Sorry, you are the one being pushed out and not re-called for 2nd or more interviews. Really, make yourself better.

I had the same problem for years.

Look at my web page (www.gregfolkert.net) and actually the LAST paragraph. Trust me, you can't have your "A game" on when you've got angst and vinegar underneath.
New Indeed.
<endtimes>Fuck me, I'm agreeing with Greg.</endtimes>

Linc, you can whine and piss and moan as much as you like about how it's just so bloody unfair that the nasty employers won't pay for you to be trained and experienced, but that's the way it is; it's business.

Adapt or die.

New I guess Hell has frozen over
when the two of you agree on something. Of course, since both of you are employed and aren't looking for work in the worst economy in over 80 years, you two have absolutely no fucking idea of how bad it is out there. Especially you Peter since you haven't written code in years and thus do not have to compete against H-1B and L-1 visa holders from India who are more than willing to work for 1/3 your salary.

Peter, you say, "employers won't pay for you to be trained and experienced". WOW! I totally have forgotten that over the past dozen years, thanks for refreshing my memory. Which goes right up to the paragraph above WHERE I STATE THAT I'M TEACHING MYSELF. Did you miss that? Sure reads that way in your post. My last employer-paid training program was in 1999, on a product that the team would never use. (The manager had to spend the money in his educational budget or lose it the following year.) Besides, Peter, please post the link to anything I've said in this thread where I even come close to alleging that I want the employer to pay for the training. Go ahead - I'll wait. But will you be man enough to admit that you went off on an irrelevant tangent by admitting that I said no such thing? I won't keep my hopes up...

For YOUR education, I'll say it again: without having it on the resume as being used at a previous employer, nobody gives a shit. Employers want someone who has USED what they have on their boxes today at their last job. If it ain't there, they don't care. Since dozens of recruiters have told me this, maybe there's some truth to it, ya think?




"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."

-- E.L. Doctorow
New Shrug
You're getting free advice in this thread, and you're wasting energy being a confrontational arsehead. AScott gave you a very, very good suggestion (volunteer) which you can use to get real, concrete experience ("Wrote/maintained module FOO for famous open source project BAR") which you can, in good faith, put on your resoomay.

Or just get the fuck out of IT and do something else - start your own business, become a conslutant, go on the game, become a celebrity sushi chef, etc etc.
New Re: Shrug
Yeah, AScott DID give good advice - you didn't; you just came in with a fuckwit attitude, and when called on it, still copped some attitude. For you to insult me is just one huge "Pot meet Kettle".

I'd love to get out of IT if I could afford to, but right now I have no desire to try to live on a starting over salary of around $30K (that's approx 24,400 in Euros), and that's only if someone would hire a person with no experience in that industry - a barrier I face everyday here in Houston where fully 48% of all jobs are in the oil and gas industry or support the companies in the oil and gas industry, an industry that rarely hires from outside the industry (unless we have a Bill Clinton economy, which ain't gonna happen for the next 10 years).




"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."

-- E.L. Doctorow
New Project much?
I read the last paragraph from your web page. I met your request - so now man up and meet mine: What skills can I learn NOW that I can put on my resume that will get a hiring manager to call me?

A simple request now turned challenge. Will you meet it or turn tail?

Outside of my posting that I've recently taught myself C#, you know NOTHING about my educational projects, so you have no real foundation to go off onto your posted rant.





"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."

-- E.L. Doctorow
New http://www.redhat.com/certification/rhce/
buy the book study like a dog until you know it backward and forward take the test, its a hands on with a strict timelimit. I end up on the bench I will get one.
New So... you have made it impossible for me to...
Meet your request.

Welcome to your self-fulfilling prophecy.

Have a nice life dude. Get on with changing. I had to change, I did it. I'm still changing.

Oh, btw, I got hired at the beginning of this really hard slide of this economy, I was out of work from July 2006 through July 2007 from WAM. Also, before that I was out of work from October 2002 through September 2003 on the downside of the Dot-Com bomb, from the College. Also was out of work from July 1998 through August 1999 from Genzink Steel. Before that I was in and out of about 7 jobs from 1990 when I went back to school. In 1990 I was working in a mold/model shop as a mold maker apprentice... 1990 was really hard for the Auto industry, Ford deleted about 40% of all existing model re-engineers and shut off the models. Chrysler did about the same... and GM canceled 65% of everything and said "keep the stuff you have we don't want it back".

So, suck it up... I've changed professions 3 times and learned new things while working them also... and also while unemployed. I worked on things for near free or free for companies to get experience.

It sucks, it not something you want to hear... but *CHANGE COMES FROM WITHIN* and it never comes from anywhere else.

Cheers!
New Re: So... you have made it impossible for me to...
you're right - you CAN'T answer my question, which makes me wonder why you jumped into this thread in the first place. Really, all you said was "keep learning stuff", which I said that I am. Were you assuming that I just sit at home downloading porn all day long?

What I asked for was specific suggestions on what to focus on so that I might get a leg up on the competition when my resume joins hundreds of others on a manager's desk. I know that C# is fast becoming the language of choice since Microsoft, for reasons unknown, seems determined to kill VB, so I taught myself that. Now I'm digging into a "teach yourself Java" book.




"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."

-- E.L. Doctorow
New I *CAN'T* answer because of your conditions set out.
First off, take a deep breath and take this for what it is, not a personal attack, but a truly heart felt observation that you don't/won't want to read or hear.

I would have rather given you some constructive answers, but you are very antagonistic and pissy and down right being an ass.

Since you can't *WON'T* change your attitude... it will come through on *EVERY* phone interview, every Face to Face, every skills evaluation... Any interaction with real people. If someone is looking for a reason to not call you back, the attitude projection gives them that excuse.

Trust me when I say this. You have an attitude that is keeping you (at least a big part) from making headway into getting and, finally when you get one, keeping a job.

Please don't keep brushing off my advice here. Your attitude is what is the main sticking point.

But beyond you attitude, make sure you DO indeed volunteer, or do some side jobs for peanuts... (I'm serious there). Try to work on a community/FOSS project, contribute code or documentation or even support users of the project.

I hate to code, I hate to document, but I sure as hell can help people fix things when they are having issues. I did that for years on Debian-User and Debian-Devel. I also helped write docs and break through some of the SAMBA issues about a few years ago (I think Barry will remember that). I helped John Terpstra work through some issues using Barry's system to fix/change/debug them... but not exposing Barry's systems to the world at large. I also help the EXIM team do some config planning (and then it got tossed along with Debian's way of handling the exim.conf).

IOW, pick up a torch and start working it. You only have you to rely on. Nobody else really and truly gives a damn about you in that respect, Brian. You have to help the change come from within to the outside. Attitude changes are only the first step.

I still have a serious problem with authority and it shows when I get pulled by the TSA for additional searches. Nearly every time I go through a TSA scanning point... I get nabbed for additional searching.

So, don't think the world isn't out to get you... because it is out to get you. Just not in the way you think it is. Because if you don't watch out and make a real concerted effort to stay ahead of the game... the steam roller that is slowly following you *will* catch up and squish you like a bug.
New I give up
I've asked two questions in this thread, and NO ONE has answered either one.

All but one person responding here has said "I have a bad attitude", etc., and they're people who I have never even talked to in a social situation, let alone as part of a telephone or face-to-face interview. If they're going only on what I've written here this week then they are truly full of it. To say that my "attitude" must be coming out in interviews is a total crock of horseshit because I haven't had any interviews since I lost my job. That is why I posted the two questions, to get ideas on WHAT TO ADD to my resume so that someone will consider talking to me!

As I pointed out more than once: I have recently taught myself C# since it's much more popular than VB.Net currently; I'm picking up Java; and I'm doing a web site for a friend's side business. She is not in any hurry so I don't have a completion deadline and can spend the time writing it in C#, so that I can add it to the resume. Let's see: teaching myself new things? Check. Doing volunteer work for free to gain experience? Check. Advice that was given by Another Scott that I'm already doing. I thought that mentioning it made it blatantly obvious but it appears that some posters missed them both times. Funny thing: when you get laid off near the tail end of a recession you find that most everyone else are already doing what has been proposed. I was looking for advice that was fresh and different.

Greg, if you had posted something like, "I'm a Linux sysadmin; I don't know as much about GUI development tools or languages in the Windows world, so I'd recommend learning Ubuntu and software X, Y or Z", then I might have let you slide. But you didn't. You say that I set conditions regarding my questions that prevented you from answering them. I'm calling bullshit on that - we all know that you're too smart to use that crutch. Based upon your earlier posts, if you want to go off on that tangent, then start up a new thread and let's jump onto it there.

This community is weighted heavily towards Mac users and Linux professionals. Nothing wrong with that, though we used to have a larger variety of skillsets in our last incarnation. Linux in the networking and data centers rocks, but out front, in my opinion, the business world is still a Windows shop. That's where my bread is buttered and until the economy improves significantly. that's what will continue to be my forté. I asked my questions to see if there was something that I had overlooked, any tools or languages that IWETHEY members are using in their places of employment. Again, they went unanswered.

I know that the world is out to get me. I just want to add some new and effective arrows to my quiver with which to defend myself.

This dead horse has been more than beaten to death. The funeral is over, the casket is closed and it's time to go to the restaurant and get drunk.




"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."

-- E.L. Doctorow
New Awesome. Now that you have finally come to the...
ropes end, you have finally given me the full story.

You have never coherently explained things, just intimated the issues. You've never came out and said *WHAT* it is you really wanted, just side-swiped it and told us to look at the impression it left on the side of it. You finally gave me the meat of your argument, rather than complain about it without fully backing it.

Now that you've finally done this... now we (at least *I*) can start answering your questions. This is an full explanation of what I do and what I am and some advice at the end... please don't just skip it and go to the end.

First off. I'll tell you what I have, what I use and what I do.

I have about 60 machines (from real hardware to virtualized machines). These machines are *ALL* Linux, either RedHat v5.2 though RedHat v7.3, a couple of Fedora Core Machines, and CentOS v3.x through CentOS v4.x through CentOS v5.x.

For various reasons the older machines have become static machines devoted to specific tasks but updated as needed to appease the PCI gods. The still maintained distributions are kept up to date in an ad-hoc manner due to PCI (Payment Card Industry) and least amounts of downtime requirements.

We basically have 5 type of machines:

Type 1) Firewalls: we technically have 7 of them. Two Firewalls in hi-availability mode also doing gated load balancing as part of the hi-availability role, one VPN server which operates only Site to Site, network to network connections. Two firewalls that operate as routers with access rules and exceptions and two web applications firewalls using squid, apache and mod_security.

Type 2) Database machines: We have 10 of these (one with two mysql instances), 3 pair with master-master, row-level circular transactional replication. 2 slaves (one for reports and one for backups) off one of the main master-master, and one slave (to the same other machine for backups) from another master. 1 standalone machine for stats logging related to webservers.

Type 3) Dedicated Webservers: We have quite a few of these. We have a modperl instance backing a reverse proxy plus webserver (port 81 for the modperl, port 80 for the proxy). These setup vhosts are served by 2 triple clusters, they all run from a shared "runtime environment" and all run the same apache configs (multi configs per vhost for all the machines and only the affected addresses work for each machine). These webservers also use the same DB machines (one set as master the other slave, the newer ones use either as failover write or read only) and use DB caching which speeds up the large setup like we have. These machines are access through the Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) which also load balance them. The WAFs are them selves load balanced through the gated firewalls using least busy connections selection. This works relatively well and can be very robust.

Type 4) Application Servers: These are the meat of the system. This is where our Software product shines. We use a heavy mixed of C, Perl and Shell. These application servers host our API daemons, SOAP servers (both CGI and persistent Perl), Restful Services, Reporting frontends, SSH terminal access to our "legacy" terminal application and also allows access to our new "GUI" pointy clicky client which is a cross platform Windows, Linux, OSX application written in Perl and wxWidgets. (More on this in a moment)

Type 5) Miscellaneous Servers: These range from super old single use single task machines (ie 500MHz 256MB ram... automagically throttles throughput to an acceptable level) for bulk sending of e-mails. To very fast and powerful machines, that some are used for Reporting, for monitoring (with nearly full instrumentation for the deployment process, but not yet for QA, Development or testing processes) or for things like Centralized logging and LDAP, DNS, TIME (NTP), log analysis, machine IDS logging, or for Virtual Machine hosting duties.

A word on our "GUI Client" for our software. It is written in Perl and uses wxWidgets. It runs on Windows (now using Active State Perl vs Strawberry Perl). It runs on OSX using Perl. It runs on Linux using Perl. Its fast, communicates very gracefully over bad connections, vs SSH which is *very* connection oriented and very susceptible to disconnect.

Now, a word on Staff requirements, which also apply to me:

Windows (XP, Vista, 7) is only a testing environment, preferred method of the machine == VM. It cannot be used as a Primary Workstation, it will not be paid for if its in the cost of the monthly reimbursement and you are not using either OSX or Linux or *BSD. As a VM OS you can buy a full edition.

Staff preferred OS == OSX. Acceptable OS == Linux or BSDs. Private/Public Key Authentication is the only method to get into our Login relay machines for Staff, a PCI requirement.

I administrate, deploy and maintain the deployment and stability of these machines. These machines also are my charge, I have to make them work right. I have to setup the services properly (from Firewalls, to DB machines to Reporting machines etc...). I grasp all the backend parts and how things work together and am able to recover from catastrophic problems relatively quickly... but actually explain our software stack... ummm no.





Now a word on your real question, which is *WHAT* can I put on my Resume to "guarantee" a phone call from a recruiter or HR type persons?

Answer: Nothing, Everything. The real question is, making sure your resume/CV represents you and your aims and wishes... not what you will settle for.

My "recruiter" resume... well was kinda jammed into one page. If you want to look at it, I don't care if you do look at it. Its kinda plain and very stark in my opinion and really SUCKS.

It got me exactly BUPKISS, no interviews or face to face, a couple of recruiter calls giving advice to compress it even more:
http://www.gregfolke...olkert-resume.pdf

Now, the one I traditionally have is full and very detailed and stylized (but not comprehensive). This helped. A lot in fact. I don't care what Recruiters tell you, they are only looking for easy picks and obviously you ain't one (not a BAD thing about you, but it is a BAD thing for you as == no job). I'm not one either and I got passed over for MANY "Enterprise" Linux jobs through recruiters as they assume nobody good is in Grand Rapids, MI and all have to come from Detroit or from New York or Raleigh North Carolina (etc).

This is the resume that got more interviews than *ANY* recruiters combined ever got me. Its located here:

http://www.gregfolke...FolkertResume.pdf

I've not updated it since 2007. But since its in Open Office and not in Word... I export to PDF just to piss off the recruiters, its the one thing they don't quite get.

All this to say: You have to make sure you do what *YOU* need to do. I stopped listening to so called Hiring recruiters as they have one thing to do... fill a position as quickly and as cheaply as possible for the customers so the recruiter can get the biggest bonus for coming in under the stated maximum. They don't care about you... only themselves. You have to start cold calling places, even if they don't like it... it lets them know you really would like to work and are making your it your job to get a job. That is a big plus no matter what the recruiters tell you.

I hope you get what I am trying to tell you and have been the whole time... change what you are doing to make yourself more desirable. Stop making excuses and just do it.

I had to change, a divorce was in the making, I had to change to the extreme.

Good luck and do it.
New Hey Greg (just saw this thread)
Love your 2nd resume'. Really. I only got your "official" one years back.

But, one word scares me.

"Promoting" open source. I know in the 2nd one you demoted it to "promoting". But really. Can't you find a word that signals your endorsement of open source while not making it seem that you will ignore perfectly valid non-open source solutions? Or be prejudiced against them somehow? It's a no win word.

The word will be a disqualifier for some people, and won't get you that many brownie points with the people you care about. You already got max brownies based on tech skills with them.
New Well, its true... I *DO* prefer OSS stuff over
equally as good Proprietary systems.

Key word there - equally. At least equal in places where it matters to the application of said product/system.

I guess you are right... promoting would be better said as: Favoring where applicable

So, you are right.
New Don't give up. It's just getting good. :-)
I know this job market is terribly frustrating. I have a great deal of sympathy for what you're going through.

But I think you're missing an important part of the story.

The job market doesn't work the way we were taught when we were in school. Especially these days.

In the vast majority of cases, there is nothing that you can add to your resume that's going to get you job interviews. Resumes are an important part of the hiring decision, but they're down the list in the process.

Where I work, nobody gets a job interview based on a resume received in the mail. Filling out an SF-171 won't get you an interview either. That's simply a mountain of paperwork that doesn't open doors.

You get interest and interviews and job offers by networking, or by getting your foot in the door at an entry-level or trainee-level position. (Unless you're willing to dramatically change careers, trainee-level is probably out, so you've got to network.) Employers have to know you before they'll take a chance on you.

It's great that you're doing a web page for a friend's business, but that's not what I meant by volunteer. You need to be part of something that's like a job. You need to be part of a formal team. You need to show that you can meet deadlines, that you can work with others, that you can follow instructions, that you can think on your feet. Your work for your friend isn't going to tell a potential employer that you can do that work in a real-world environment that has stresses and deadlines. It won't tell them how efficient you are. It shows you're willing to help a friend, and it shows you will take the initiative to learn new skills. But that's not enough.

You need to treat your downtime as a job. Not just searching Craigslist and Monster, not reading language manuals, not sending out hundreds of resumes, but mostly getting out and meeting people who knows someone who knows someone who will help you find a job that you want to do. I know that family gets in the way, but you've got to do it. Supposedly, there are at least 6 people looking for every job opening. You've got to stand out as a person, not as a resume.

There's nothing wrong with coding in VB if that's your passion. If you're still interested in VB, connect (ideally in person) to a VB users meeting and work on a project with a group. If you want to move into C# or Java (but remember your experience and be careful about getting locked in again), connect to a users meeting, find a group project, etc. If you're already doing that - great. Keep it up, and network more.

You only need one job. You need to find out what you have a passion about and find someone out there who has the need for a person with that passion. That's how you'll get the interview.

If you don't know what you feel passionate about, or you feel that you just want to make a contribution and be treated with respect and earn a decent living but it doesn't matter much what the job is, well, in this job market, you're guaranteeing more weeks of frustration. Companies want to hire what they think are the best people, and that means a level of genuine enthusiasm. Companies that are hiring can have their pick. If a company just needs someone who is a middling performer, they can use an agency or even hire someone in Bangalore. You don't want to compete with them, do you?

If you were starting over, what would you be passionate about working on? Not as a hobby, or for relaxation, but what do you find stimulating intellectually? Find someone who works in that area and talk with them....

None of this is a magic bullet - it's still going to take work. But it gives you a leg up on everyone else out there who thinks that the resume is the key.

HTH a little. Hang in there.

Cheers,
Scott.
New if you are thinking java join the local SUG
sponsored by Sun in large cities and tend to have a lot of java type free demos, white paper. You dont care about that because you are networking with people with jobs that you can leverage like scott sez
New That would be strike one.
Volunteering for experience is a good thing.

Putting something together like a website that you can demo..good.

You spoke of adding things to your resume that will get you in. Any more, your resume should be customized to the job every time, just like the cover letter.

And to Greg's point, jobs go to folks in the NETWORK. Going to the hotel bar and drinking (unless it is a bar crowded with people in your field) will seal your fate to NEVER get another job.

This is the environment we are in today. In my little town here you can't even get into McDonald's anymore unless you are referred by someone already there or at least someone who knows someone. It is that bad.

Will it improve? Certainly. But not anytime soon.

Also don't know about your location flexibility...you really do need to be able to move to where jobs are if you are in a location where jobs are not.
I will choose a path that's clear. I will choose freewill.
New Advice from a career counselor.
http://andrewsulliva...er-counselor.html

Good advice.

Hang in there.

Cheers,
Scott.
New Volunteer somewhere doing what you like/want to do.
You're facing the same problem someone just out of school often faces: Companies want someone with experience with a particular thing that they can drop into a job. They don't want to pay for training, they don't want to take a chance. They want a cog that fits perfectly.

If you want to get out of the IT area you're in, you need to find someone who will let you work on what you want to work on. Not working by yourself (even though that's important, too.) Even if that means not getting paid. (People just out of school often have to take internships that pay very little just to get some "real world" experience. These days, some kids even pay the company to get a prime internship.)

During your downtime, maybe volunteer at a non-profit, or a church, or a GPL project, or something, doing the kind of work that you want to earn a living at. You'll get some experience, maybe they'll like your work enough to pay you something, and you'll be able to network. From there, you could branch out into temp work if necessary and build a foundation in your new area.

Don't just pick a new area based on what has the *buzz*. Pick something that you're interested in. IOW, don't just chase Linux. "Do what you love, the money will follow" has a lot of truth to it.

I know it's hard. But until unemployment in your area suddenly drops below 2%, this is what you probably have to do to move into a different sub-area in IT.

My $0.02. Good luck.

Cheers,
Scott.
New With recent statement from you...
You *HAD* a machine that could easily have run Linux.

Wow.
New Yeah, a Linux distro from a few years ago
Current ones are getting as large as recent versions of Windows - not something to be proud of.




"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."

-- E.L. Doctorow
New Not so
Although there's a lot of software in a Linux distribution, the desktop will run on computers with fewer resources than WIndows XP thru 7.

I have an ancient Compaq Presario V4000 (512MB, some tatty Celeron or other, you know the drill) that my mother was going to scrap. It had Windows XP Home on it which, when freshly installed, was fine; once it had been loaded up with all the bits and pieces that are required on top of a base WXP install to make it useful, it was a dog.

It's now running Linux Mint 9 and is more than adequate for running Firefox, Evolution and other internetty things. I have no doubt that it would make a fine, if slow, development box.
New For someone who claims to know very little about linux
you sure are opinionated.
New I'm running...
XUbuntu 10.04 on an 800MHz 512MB Dell Laptop... Just fine. All the eye candy turned off... just like I do on my 3 year old T61.

You seem to think everything is insurmountable. Hence, you are a victim.

Same Story, Different Day.

When you stop playing the victim and stop being the broken record you claim I am, then I'll be glad to help you.
New Definitely not so.
The *current* Debian will run a-okay on a Pentium 200 with 96Mb of RAM. I know this because that's what my server is.

I wouldn't run X on it, though. Well, actually I wouldn't run GNOME on it. It would probably do quite okay with XFCE or WindowMaker. But for a lightweight website and mail server, it's fabulous. I've learnt a lot running that on an old server.

Wade.

Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers?
A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
New 'Ring 0' says it all..
Haven't heard the phrase lately.. not since the lengthy tirades at previous IWE venues -- and especially the contretemps when tech-'ish' Softies would attempt to justify their execrable House of Greased Cards as, somehow bitchin.

PIty that 'Ring 0' is so recondite; you can't make sense about the implications, unless the listener has, at some point -- actually peeled a fair number of onion layers about these ultra-fast/but..dumb machines.
Got Ring 0? PWNED.

Love. It. but knowing that, still won't drive that mouldering stake into the $heart$ of The Beast :-/
Little-Billy's desire to Own It All has doomed millions to servitude under a million buffer-overflows, for the {ugh} foreseeable.

SAD, innit? that a 'civilization' would permit such amateurishness to spawn like the Cancer Doze now Is.


(His wife may have indeed civilized Billy as to Real priorories -- but that can't cancel the millions of rogue elephants loaded with this toxin. For him to acknowledge idiocy like Ring 0 access, would be ~~ to commit seppuku. NObody's That Brave. Well, besides Ghandi and a few.)




I could almost see voting for Palin in 2012 on the grounds that this sorry ratfucking excuse for a republic, this savage, smirking, predatory empire deserves her. Bring on the Rapture, motherfuckers!
-- via RC
     Conficker it out? Here's a detailed account - (rcareaga) - (38)
         Mostly good ... except ... - (drook) - (37)
             Missing two of the biggest issues known... - (folkert) - (36)
                 Oh, forgot to come back when I finished the article - (drook) - (34)
                     I don't want to run Windows Vista or Windows 7 - (lincoln) - (33)
                         Where did I say I desired anything? - (drook) - (26)
                             Correction - (altmann) - (1)
                                 Ahh, my bad -NT - (drook)
                             Then show me - (lincoln) - (23)
                                 Two things - (drook) - (21)
                                     Re: Two things - (lincoln) - (20)
                                         Keep ignoring advice... - (folkert) - (19)
                                             And you're ignoring reality - (lincoln) - (18)
                                                 Re: And you're ignoring reality - (folkert) - (17)
                                                     Indeed. - (pwhysall) - (3)
                                                         I guess Hell has frozen over - (lincoln) - (2)
                                                             Shrug - (pwhysall) - (1)
                                                                 Re: Shrug - (lincoln)
                                                     Project much? - (lincoln) - (12)
                                                         http://www.redhat.com/certification/rhce/ - (boxley)
                                                         So... you have made it impossible for me to... - (folkert) - (10)
                                                             Re: So... you have made it impossible for me to... - (lincoln) - (9)
                                                                 I *CAN'T* answer because of your conditions set out. - (folkert) - (8)
                                                                     I give up - (lincoln) - (7)
                                                                         Awesome. Now that you have finally come to the... - (folkert) - (2)
                                                                             Hey Greg (just saw this thread) - (crazy) - (1)
                                                                                 Well, its true... I *DO* prefer OSS stuff over - (folkert)
                                                                         Don't give up. It's just getting good. :-) - (Another Scott) - (1)
                                                                             if you are thinking java join the local SUG - (boxley)
                                                                         That would be strike one. - (beepster)
                                                                         Advice from a career counselor. - (Another Scott)
                                 Volunteer somewhere doing what you like/want to do. - (Another Scott)
                         With recent statement from you... - (folkert) - (5)
                             Yeah, a Linux distro from a few years ago - (lincoln) - (4)
                                 Not so - (pwhysall)
                                 For someone who claims to know very little about linux - (crazy)
                                 I'm running... - (folkert)
                                 Definitely not so. - (static)
                 'Ring 0' says it all.. - (Ashton)

What a cruddy, unimaginative anti-climax.
222 ms