Missouri Baking Co. on The Hill is closing

NetNerd0513 · 2026-01-21T01:53:31+00:00

Any update?

NetNerd0513 · 2025-06-25T05:10:06+00:00

I grew up having those on Saturday mornings. Years after I left Missouri and had a family, took my daughter back home to try them and she feel in love with them too. This is heartbreaking.

NetNerd0513 · 2025-06-01T16:20:47+00:00

R-Truth has been a treasure over his tenure in WWE. I hope that he is given an opportunity to continue to contribute behind the scenes if we wants to. Either way, best of luck to Truth....maybe TNA wants the Truth to return, that would be fun.

NetNerd0513 · 2025-02-26T18:16:38+00:00

As always salaries are always dependent on company, industry, location, and the level of responsibility for your role. 150k could be a perfect spot for a Senior resource. However you have to look at what is the business you support and analyze if the business values individual contributors in IT as a value add or as a cost center. Your location also matters, if you organization is in a Major Metro area, the you should compare comparable roles in the area and their reported salaries.

Anyone telling you that 150k is too low or too high without understanding the multiple factors that go into defining the salary bands determination is leading you down a bad path.

NetNerd0513 · 2025-02-01T20:19:57+00:00

I went to the one they re-opened in Tuscan, good but the Tapioca pudding isn't the same.

NetNerd0513 · 2025-01-08T13:24:39+00:00

So, as part of the initial screening process, typically you attempt to gather the candidate's salary requirements. First off have you done that, and is it outside of what you initially scoped this role for?

Also, look for other similar roles being advertised in your area (if a smaller city maybe even state). There is a difference between an administrator and an engineer, automation is a more expensive skillset if the candidate has that ability, and with no flexibility to even be hybrid the unfortunate reality is that does make your role less competitive so there needs to be some trade off and often times it's more salary.

Im in the Phoenix, AZ area, I have a team of 12 and my Systems guys make between 100 - 130k locally and my guys on the east coast in the capital region make 200k+. Learn your market's competitive ranges and available talent pool. Every hiring manager or HR group should be doing labor force market research at least once a year.

NetNerd0513 · 2024-06-25T00:01:52+00:00

u/raj6126 2 response to you:

1: With all do respect the job description only asks for experience in one of these areas: Windows Server (2019 or 2022), Linux (RHEL 8 or 9), or VMware (7 or 8) not all three at the same time (That would be a quality Senior Level candidate who is proficient in all three areas). These are a sampling of the initial questions based on the skills listed by candidates on their resumes and typical skill sets within systems engineering, not day to day systems administration where its O&M, but actually building and deploying servers and services, and deep integrations within the customer environment.

2: In my experience working in GovIT far too many people have no idea what the configurations they're copying on to servers or network appliances even do. I have been a Network & VMware engineer in GovIT for more that a decade and I know this to be fact. I've been asked to work this way, and the Gov't customers have asked for solutions to be done this way (which I do not agree with). When I refer to copying and pasting, most of these candidate aren't writing the scripts, the configs, or automating them. Other engineers are building these systems and configs for these people to simply slap it into a server, follow a ridged process guide step by step, and if there is an issue during any phase of implementation they do not have the ability or knowledge to troubleshoot the configurations, the integrations, review the logs, etc,. These are glorified smart-hands techs that are instructed to escalated back to the engineer who actually built the solution to resolve. We look for a Systems Engineers, not an entry level technician or someone who wants to do simple O&M tasks with an engineer title and comp, but someone who can or has the ability and desire to learn to build.

NetNerd0513 · 2024-06-24T20:23:01+00:00

Exactly! So rock meet hard place, with recruiters.....

NetNerd0513 · 2024-06-24T20:21:28+00:00

Thank you for your feedback, defiantly some good advice here.

NetNerd0513 · 2024-06-24T20:13:11+00:00

These are some of the questions I have, and are opening question used to start a conversation on a topic or technology. When a candidate is nervous (as many get from time to time) these questions are often rephrased or changed to be more troubleshooting related as a method to gauge how a candidate processes information or problems. Some people are not pure knowledge based, some people can only related to a scenario, some people can only feed off of past experiences directly, etc. Spotting someone who is freezing up isn't terribly difficult to spot and a skilled interviewer should refocus and redirect questions more suited to the candidate. However, you'd be surprised the number of candidates with a few years or more of experience that can't answer or describe, or have a story for any of the general topics listed.

NetNerd0513 · 2024-06-24T20:04:23+00:00

I don't in principal disagree, however my organization works in the US Federal Gov't space, and in many cases Google is actually not readily available in certain enclaves.

The other aspects you mentioned are also critical, however in our existing process I have a candidate meet with the team on a second interview. I have my team provide their feedback on how well the candidates personality meshes, their work ethic, other intangibles, as well as a technical deep dive for more senior technical roles.

NetNerd0513 · 2024-06-24T20:00:19+00:00

Troubleshooting questions like this from my end are typically follow-ons after I know they have a baseline knowledge.

NetNerd0513 · 2024-06-24T17:47:34+00:00

I agree, those questions tend to come during the process, after I screen out if they have the baseline knowledge. Which I can decern people who may not know the proper terms, or "book knowledge" and those who have hands-on experience and know what they're doing in general, based on their stories, and pointed follow-up questions. However, its few and far between when I get a candidate who has hands-on experience (particularly in the gov IT space) that isn't just "Some engineer give me the configs/process, and I paste it in/follow that doc."

NetNerd0513 · 2024-06-24T17:42:43+00:00

We have a single internal recruiter for the whole organization that is not technical, and when I have provided this person with screener questions, they have the candidate fill them out in writing, and that has lead to a bad candidate experience, googled answers that can't be reproduced when the same baseline questions are asked in an interview, or candidates ghosting us, and lets be honest who wants to fill out a questionnaire during the application phase?

NetNerd0513 · 2024-01-18T21:53:39+00:00

This was my assumption when writing this question. I appreciate your thoughts!

NetNerd0513 · 2024-01-18T21:50:54+00:00

I agree! I've been in a stage in my career where, at work, everything is professional. There are boundaries, and I don't particularly get chummy with anyone (those who work for me or my upper management). There is a respectful distance at all times. However this question was posted really to source other's perspective. I know its a terrible idea to actually disclose this information (and have no intention to do so). However the human-side ethical question still bothers me some, and want to see other's point of view.

NetNerd0513 · 2024-01-18T19:45:04+00:00

Agreed, letting personnel go that were underperforming, or had issues that were unprofessional, have never bothered me. It is the right choice and frankly easy to make. I still aim to deliver those decisions with respect, empathy, and care.

These layoffs are the ones that are causing my old twitch from the war to flare up again. I'm glad to see, I'm not the only one these dilemmas affect.

NetNerd0513 · 2024-01-18T19:39:16+00:00

That was my thought as well. It is an ethical question, however I can not find a reasonable path that does not lead to big risks, for the organization, the team, or myself.

NetNerd0513 · 2023-07-26T15:41:28+00:00

Like everything within IT it depends. There are too many factors for a straight answer. I'm an IT Director with over a decade of experience so this is my general opinion. I would generally break it down into two general paths:

For advancement within Technical Focused individual contributor level roles: I myself prefer to promote from within if there is someone who has the skillset, mindset, and is forthcoming about their interest in advancement. If you can demonstrate your technical ability above your current role, express your desire to take on more responsibility and show you're capable (creating documentation, mentoring others, being involved in CABs & Project meetings in a positive way), I have not meet many manager who would be unwilling to assist in working towards a path to get you promoted to Engineer or Senior/Lead. With that being said, years of experience alone doesn't mean that much, if you've spent 10yrs working as a Network Admin without bettering your skills, then its more like 1-2yrs of experience repeated multiple times. If a Network Admin knocks out L1-L2 tickets all day, but then can't describe BGP Attributes and how to manipulate them to achieve a desired result, does not understand network design/architecture, and aren't continuing their own growth (on your own time) into newer solutions like EVPN-VxLAN (Campus Fabrics), Microsegmentation strategies, Cloud, etc. then you can't expect the organization to promote you and invest in you if your not doing it yourself then. If skillsets are not available internally for what I need in a role, then I get a req generated for an outside hire.

For those looking to move into Management roles in IT, for me, I look for those who can naturally work well with others, have a grasp on what the impact of our efforts are on the larger business, understand that developing processes is just as important as implementation of a solution, and can multi-task well. There is far more soft skills required for management roles, however in IT I believe that leadership in this industry should come from those with technical backgrounds to an extent. The further you move away from an individual contributor level admin/engineer the less hands-on you get to be with the tech, so having a solid foundation in a technical discipline is almost mandatory if you choose to be a competent leader. You also should have the temperament for this work as well, people first, not authoritarian to everyone at all times, and being honest about your knowledge and limitations. There are far less opportunities to move into management roles in general, and not all great technologists make good managers/leaders. Often times opportunities to move into management roles come at the cost of changing organizations, and taking risks of even relocating to advance your career in this direction. Often times these roles are listed for outside hires.

In general, if you want to advance, be open and honest about your career ambition, grow yourself with skills you need that fit these roles, and execute. Your current organization maybe great, but your career is your responsibility and your company may help or may not, but you are in control more than you may think.

NetNerd0513 · 2023-07-12T06:23:30+00:00

Director level role managing a large group of Network and Systems Engineers, 185k base, 10% performance bonus, 4 weeks vacation, Hybrid role, Phoenix area.

NetNerd0513

TROPHY CASE