A change and a challenge

For a while now, I've been wanting to work in a different environment. UBC is a lovely place to work, and the people at CHiBi are wonderful...but I've been there more than five years now, and I was getting itchy feet.

Last year I wrote down what exactly I wanted out of a new job:

• Larger scale: I took my current job because it was a chance to work with so much that I hadn't before: dozens of servers, an actual server room, HPC, and so on. I want that same feeling of "I've never done that before!" (See also: "Holy crap, what have I got myself into?")

• Linux/Unix focused: It's no secret that Linux makes the sun shine and the grass grow, and BSDs make the planets go in their orbits. Why would I ever want anything else?

• Actual coworkers: For most of my time as a sysadmin, I've worked on my own. I had a junior for a while (Hi Paul!) and that was wonderful, but other than that I've been alone. I really, really wanted to change that. Andy Seely, a damn good friend of mine, likes to say "If I find myself the smartest person in the room, I know I need to find a new room." That was exactly how I was feeling.

• Friendly. I work in a friendly, open place, and I've no desire to give that up.

I kept my eye out. And back in April I saw that OpenDNS was hiring. So I sent in a resume. They got back to me. There were lots of interviews (I think I talked with five different people), a coding test (two, actually, and they made me sweat) and a technical test. And then, finally, I was sitting in their offices in Gastown, talking to the guy who'd just offered me a job.

Larger scale: check; they've just opened their nth and n+1nth data centres in Vancouver and Toronto. Linux/Unix focused: yep; Linux and FreeBSD rule the coop. Actual coworkers: they're on it; there are two other people I'll be working with (and they've been running all, or at least a lot, of the infrastructure for the last few years). Friendly: four for four, because everyone there has been really, really...well, friendly.

So: I start July 15th as a Systems Engineer with the good folks at OpenDNS. I'm excited and a little freaked out to be working with all these good, smart people.

In the meantime: if you want a job as a Linux sysadmin, working with the excellent people at the Centre for High-Throughput Biology who do a science EVERY DAY, you can apply here. Closing date is Friday, June 20th, so hurry. Apply early and apply often!