Hi!
Currently, I am not actively searching for a new challenge.
As you can see from my profile on LinkedIn, I have worked most of my life in various technical roles, mostly as a Senior Systems Engineer Linux and OpenShift, Technical Lead or Team Lead.
Putting it all into a tag list would produce something like Blogger, Podcaster, Author, Speaker, Apprentice Trainer, Mentor, Linux Penguin, Container Pusher, Systems Administrator, Systems Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Technical Architect, Technical Solution Engineer, Technical Lead, Team Lead, Product Owner, Team Coach, Project Manager, Open Source Contributor.
At the moment I would like to continue my way to work more people and culture related, involving more communication and maybe people development, but I would like to add more technical work.
Depending on the corporate culture, I can imagine working in large companies. If I don’t know the company or I don’t like the culture, I set an upper limit of 5000 employees, the smaller the better.
With my background, I do not want to throw away the knowledge I have gained over 30 years in various technical roles. Based on my experience, I can see myself working on the following topics or in the following roles.
- Digital sustainability manager.
- (Apprentice) Trainer.
- Speaker on conferences.
- Workshop leader.
- Podcaster in a business context.
- Manager of a small team.
- Team Coach.
- Product Owner.
- Technical account manager.
- Technical or Solution architect.
- Project Manager.
- System Architect.
- Presales engineer.
All above ideally is open-source-related with a business focus.
According to a CliftonStrengths assesment I took in July 2023 my top five strengths are:
- Developer – People exceptionally talented in the Developer theme recognize and cultivate the potential in others. They spot the signs of each small improvement and derive satisfaction from evidence of progress.
- Strategic – People exceptionally talented in the Strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
- Ideation – People exceptionally talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
- Learner – People exceptionally talented in the Learner theme have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. The process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites them.
- Intellection – People exceptionally talented in the Intellection theme are characterized by their intellectual activity. They are introspective and appreciate intellectual discussions.
Maybe one word about my motivation for getting out of the “machine room”: Doing Linux for more than a quarter of a century, I saw nearly everything what can happen on a system. If there is something new, everything is exciting and fun, but those occasions are pretty seldom.
If I may say so, I have two “superhero skills”, one is human networking and getting to know people, and the other is getting an overview of complex technical systems and landscapes very quickly. The second is due to my age and the experiences I have had and is a result of crystallized intelligence.
Apart from work contents, I like to speak about the work conditions and benefits. Just handle the list below as a wishlist.
In my opinion, we don’t need to talk about obvious things like flexible working hours, but we need to have a common understanding of this. By that, I don’t mean that you can freely determine the start and end of work around a core working time of seven hours (of course functions must always be available, but people don’t have to), I like to have real flexibility.
Here are my wishes:
- Free choice of client operating system.
- Local admin rights.
- Access to the Internet.
- Focus on Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS).
- Training budget.
- Open Source conferences and other congresses.
- Understanding that some of them are held on weekends.
- Budget for travel and accommodation.
- Presentation preparation within work time.
- The latter is also a good opportunity to present as an employer.
- Appropriate payment AND appropriate raises (see Workload of Two and Retention Strategy).
- (First Class) General season ticket (see GA Travelcard in Switzerland or BahnCard 100 in Germany) or comparable.
- Possibility for remote work
- If you do not have a “real” remote culture: Remote work at last for two fixed days per week. Exchange within the company is important, so no 100% remote job.
- If you have a “real” remote culture: I am happy with being completely remote.
- Autonomy.
- Mastery, I like to become better in what I do, so please give me the opportunity to grow.
- Culture, where I don’t have to ask for permission to order technical small things like e-books.
- Free coffee ;-)
Only if it comes to a technical role:
- Work with cutting-edge technology (client and server).
- “Engineering time” as part of the working time should be used to evaluate new technologies and to implement them if useful.
You have read this far and are not deterred?
Then I look forward to hearing from you by e-mail.
All the best!
Dirk