[ale] [ALE-jobs] Systems Technical Analyst- RHEL

[Jeff Hubbs]

On 1/4/13 6:37 PM, David Tomaschik wrote:
> FWIW, there's worlds of difference between a "System Technical 
> Analyst", which reads as "RHEL tech support" in the description and 
> something like Software Engineers.  Yes, its offshoreable, but not as 
> easily replaced on a whim -- knowing the system that you built carries 
> a lot of value.
You'd like to think that were the case, but in my own experience and in 
what I've seen colleagues experience, even *that* isn't worth much.

You can be *the* guy who built something arcane and involved or *the* 
guy who pored over the intricacies of something critically important 
built by people long-gone and still get pushed out the door, replaced by 
one or more low-experience contractors.  Building things that are 
bulletproof or documenting the hardware, software, and processes you put 
into place in case something happened to you works *against* you in this 
regard; it means that your sacking can be that thing that happens to you 
and what you left behind will just run and run.

This has a lot to do with why I got out of the business; given that 
loyalty to employees has long since gone the way of powdered wigs, 
developing a work ethic around the idea of getting better and better and 
becoming a real craftsman made me *less* desirable, not *more.* Slapping 
together any old thing and living with the consequences was preferable, 
no matter how much it cost or how many people's working lives were made 
worse indefinitely as a result.

I expect to continue to dabble in IT (it's kind of cool to be able to 
set up your own file, app, web, and database servers in policy work) but 
I won't miss that thankless job cycle.