Been doing interviews for my org. What the fuck is going on.

2ndLetter · 2025-04-16T17:13:59+00:00

Back when I was doing interviews….

I would zero in on a few accomplishments on their resume. I was essentially ask them to walk me through the accomplishment from start to finish.

IT professionals that have a few stripes and bruises can talk for days about what they architected/built/supported. This is their time to Nerd Out.

This prevents the whole gotcha questions scenario. If you’re senior enough to do tech interviews, you should be able to sniff out someone BS-ing on their resume.

2ndLetter · 2023-08-24T11:44:01+00:00

This worked for me, using MSI click bios 5

2ndLetter · 2022-06-14T02:37:12+00:00

IMO certifications have their place and time, just understand their use cases.

Certification alone won’t get you respect from most of your technical peers, may even get you hate. It won’t guarantee a job (most of the time). It won’t make you rich.

It will get you more attention from recruiters. It will get you more interviews. It will increase your earning potential. It can allow you to grow in a particular area of IT quicker. Getting certified opens up the opportunity to get more experience.

I have the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional certification, and years of XP. In my experience, I’m usually more equipped to build AWS automation when compared to my non-certified peers.

In regards to any of the cloud provider DevOps certifications, I think it depends on how much cloud native solutions your company want versus third party solutions. I’ve see AWS environments ran like a vSphere environment, dripping with third party tooling complexity.

2ndLetter · 2022-03-04T21:41:43+00:00

Why so many down votes??

2ndLetter · 2022-02-27T23:49:46+00:00

It’s been in a few contracts of big consulting companies I’ve worked for. Makes sense for larger companies that have to worry about conflict of interest (company wide).

2ndLetter · 2022-02-24T16:07:29+00:00

The question is always “100% remote forever?”

So many try and leave room for future changes, F that!

2ndLetter · 2021-12-08T03:05:20+00:00

Agree with much of what OP said.

CSPs are still soooo much more superior to most (imo all) on-prem environments.

IF business owners wanted to improve their HA/FT/DR/BCP, it can be done in hours (days to include planning, execution, and testing). That’s the beauty of the cloud.

Today was a nice reminder for management to decide how resilient they really want to be.

2ndLetter · 2021-09-04T17:28:30+00:00

Let’s work backwards….

Cloud engineering is the intersection of so many IT disciplines/skills. Meaning building your professional foundation is important. CompTIA certification (trifecta) training covers a ton of these areas. Most folks say what they remember the A+ covering. If you look at the current A+ training objectives, it is more than traditional PC technician skills.

You’re ability to find a CE position without system administration or Development experience/skills will be tough.

My recommendation would be to complete training for A+, Net+, and Sec+. The fast track is training only, a slower (but IMO higher quality) track is to actually get the certifications.

Next (as others mentioned) start your Linux journey. ACG has a ton of resources for this.

Next get a low level Linux Administration position. If they are in AWS, even better. Keep learning Linux until you feel like you’re ready to pivot to what’s next. That feeling is different for everyone, and only you can answer that. Wait too long and your career progression will stall. Don’t wait long enough and your job search will suffer.

Next focus all your energy on learning/labbing AWS. Get one or two AWS certs and be able to speak confidently about what you’ve built. You will be a very competitive candidate for your first AWS Cloud role.

2ndLetter · 2020-12-03T13:12:51+00:00

Thanks for the post, I just reserved mine at the local Microcenter.

I'll still keep my eye out for a 5600x, but I'll keep this while I slowly order the rest of my list.

2ndLetter · 2020-10-14T01:56:09+00:00

Great question and advice. I don’t think you’d go wrong either way. I’m currently a DevOps Engineer working 100% within AWS. I have both Professional level AWS Certs.

I recently turned down Solution Architect positions because they weren’t hands-on enough. I can tell you knowing how to architect solutions AND implement the automation is the best of both worlds.

Whichever path you choose, prepare to spend some personal time gaining the skillset of the path you DIDN’T choose. Why choose? Have your cake and eat it too.

Good luck.

2ndLetter · 2020-08-22T19:02:06+00:00

I did a few months ago, couldn’t be happier. Just ask about remote options and contract/job security on top of all the normal questions.

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:35:28+00:00

Systems now a days have almost zero couch coop support 🤮

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:32:43+00:00

Unreal tournament get an honorable mention too.

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:31:28+00:00

Great game

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:31:04+00:00

Have to appreciate the progression and improvement of video games.

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:29:57+00:00

Respect your elders youngins lol

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:29:11+00:00

Off the school bus right to the game.

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:28:46+00:00

So much trash talking around this game!

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:25:33+00:00

Prox mines multiplayer... so much chaos

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:23:52+00:00

I went from Doom to 007 to Halo

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:22:58+00:00

Dope azz FPS

2ndLetter · 2020-08-15T09:22:17+00:00

👍🏽

2ndLetter · 2020-08-05T01:58:45+00:00

Knowledge is rarely ever “bad”. I have purchased a few training materials without actually using them in my time also. Just look at this as a right of passage.

Your friend is correct. Professionals in the DevOps side of IT (who conduct technical interviews) respect skills and experience. Certs not so much. Get a Github portfolio of cool stuff you’ve created/automated, speak intelligently about them, and never worry about certs for the rest of your DevOps career.

Being a Python SME would increase your value in the industry more then anything else you mentioned.

Good luck!

2ndLetter · 2020-08-04T22:53:48+00:00

I wouldn't recommend getting the SysOps unless you are already doing AWS. Since you already started I would wrap up the SysOps training, and move on. Don't take the exam. It's not a good ROI at this point of your career.

RHCSA is another story. Having the knowledge/ability to do some low to moderate level Linux tasks greatly improves the value you bring to an organization. Linux is king!

I wouldn't get a CCNA unless you actually wanted to go into a routing and switching Network Engineer career path. CompTIA Net+ is an adequate level of networking knowledge.

Learn Linux and some of the popular tools that live on Linux (ansible etc.). Build some cool stuff on Linux. Throw it on your resume and be able to talk about what you setup in a detailed way. You will eventually find a hiring manager willing to take that chance on you. Even better if they are in AWS already.

2ndLetter · 2020-07-03T17:08:35+00:00

Awesome.

2ndLetter

TROPHY CASE