[sf-lug] New to SF Bay Area

[Michael Paoli]

There certainly are jobs out there.
I know of openings without thinking far at all from where I work
or have worked:
http://www.rawbw.com/~mp/job_openings.html
And when I was investigating other opportunities late last year /
early this year, I certainly wasn't underwhelmed with responses and
queries.

Many, probably most, user groups, tend to have rather restrictive
policies about job postings on their web site(s) and/or lists, so one
might not see all that much information there.  Some groups have
separate job posting areas/lists, or the like.  Talking to folks tends
to generally be quite useful (and network, network, network!), and
certainly doesn't hurt to let folks know what you're looking for.

If you're a member of SAGE (http://www.sage.org/) that can be a very
useful resource.

There are lots of user groups around the Bay Area.
Though this list isn't quite up-to-the-minute, it's still quite
useful:
http://linuxmafia.com/bale/
In the East Bay there's at least:
BUUG http://www.buug.org/
EBLUG http://www.eblug.org/

There are a few gazzilion recruiters/agencies out there, ... quality
varies radically.  If you hang your resume out there (e.g. make it
searchable on Dice), you may well get hammered with responses.  If you
have lots of time to process them all that might not be too bad, ... but
if you're quite busy it could be rather overwhelming.

Dice (http://www.dice.com/) can be a good/excellent place to check for
jobs.

Craig's List can be a good resource for looking too - a former
coworker of mine found his current job on there - and has been there
over 3 years now.

You might also want to get a bit settled into the Bay Area first,
before deciding on a "permanent" work location.  Commutes and such
may not be what one might guess them to be - and geographic distance
along is often a very poor indicator of how long a particular commute
typically takes.  And of course not only do employers/companies vary
a lot, but what it's like to work at/around a particular location can
also encompass quite a broad range, within the Bay Area.  E.g. the
nature of a location - from amenities/conveniences at hand or close by,
or lack thereof, and even climate, can vary quite substantially.

Welcome to the Bay Area!


Quoting Ernest de Leon <dryicezero at gmail.com>:

>    I would like to take a brief moment to introduce myself to the group. 
> My
> name is Ernest de Leon, and I am a Systems Admin moving to Alameda from
> Texas.  I am mainly moving because my significant other is an environmental
> consultant and the market for environmental anything is practically zero in
> Texas (it's an oil and gas state - go figure.)  At any rate, I will be
> moving the middle part of August and I wanted to see if there were any
> recommendations for places to work.  You can visit my personal website at
> ernestdeleon.com and get a better idea of what it is that I do.  I
> currently
> run a mixed Windows/Linux server and desktop enterprise along with the
> networking, backups, etc.  I will probably talk to Robert Half also, but I
> have found that it is often best to talk to the people in the local
> industry
> before you make any type of career move.