i wonder if i'll ever get another job in this valley

[rone]

(Before you panic, i am still gainfully employed and have no reason to doubt this will continue for a while.)

I was recently contacted by a recruiter who found my résumé on the Web.  The dotcom's job req began: "You're smart, you're fast, and most importantly, you always get it done.  Admit it, you're a rockstar."

I had to suppress the urge to backhand my craptop's screen.  So instead i wrote this and asked the recruiter to pass it onto the responsible party:

This is embarrassing.  I wouldn't hire someone who calls himself "a rockstar" any more than i'd want to work somewhere that looks for one.  It sets the wrong tone for this sort of work, implying that this person is going to hog the spotlight. The only worse term i can imagine is "cowboy".

You know what?  Systems administration is hard work, and it gets harder every day.  Companies want you to know at least a bit of everything and to be awesome at something.  The line between network and systems administration has blurred, and the line between DBA and sysadmin is blurring as well.  Staying current is a tough chore, especially when you've been working all day.  So spare me your "rockstars" because the last thing i need is to deal with some strung-out narcissist with root access.

Comments

[adb-jaeger.livejournal.com]

You should totally submit this post to reddit.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Heh. Feel free.

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

I don't know... I've been seeing the "rockstar"'s meaning drift from "irresponsible diva" to "virtuoso" over time. I'd read the job in that light.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

It barely improves the tone, in my view. I don't want a company kissing my ass any more than i'd want to kiss theirs. Maybe the problem, once again, is me.

[dwell.livejournal.com]

hahaha, i love that last description.

i agree with racerxmachina in that i read "rockstar" as less the diva and more the contraction of "you rock, star"; i.e., "you get things done on time and in a most excellent way, you shining light in the otherwise bleak firmament that covers too much of my life".

oh, and sometimes the copy writer gets carried away and tries to inject a little too much personality into the job posting, i do it myself just because i don't want to write or read a 30-bullet-point laundry list of what i wish i could find in a job applicant. it seems they include those lines in every technical job posting of theirs. btw, this entry is already top 5 in the google search for those 2 sentences. heheh.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=You%27re%20smart%2C%20you%27re%20fast%2C%20and%20most%20importantly%2C%20you%20always%20get%20it%20done.%20%20Admit%20it%2C%20you%27re%20a%20rockstar.%22

bt

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Heh. Interesting... it seems that two other companies besides the one i got have used this exact verbiage. Now i wonder what its origin is.

[bryant]

I'm dubious about the kind of personality that wants to fit that definition of "rock star," too. I've worked with way too many sysadmins who got off on chaos. I don't want the guy who wants to be The One Who Gets Things Done -- I want the guy who wants to be part of the team who gets things done by doing it right the first time.

Too often, the rock star is that way because s/he's fixing a problem that could have been avoided if only we had time to plan but we were too busy fixing the last problem that could have been avoided, yeah, etc.

[pennyhill.livejournal.com]

I'd feel better about the listing if there had been a space between "rock" and "star," implying they were looking for an individual and not an energy drink. Plus, they could drop the "ly" from "most important" since they are referencing the thing that is most important and not modifying a verb.

But, hey: that's just me.

[h-postmortemus.livejournal.com]

Those are alwasy written by idiot HR people, with the list of requirements pasted in. Oh, and it was for a PHP developer, and I have to say developers do have a rockstar, prima-donna attitude. I think that's the main reason so much software sucks ass.
(I always remind my developer friends how amazingly stupid they are compared to me, keeps them in line).

And why the hell not Recover already? I'm waaaaaaay more happy in InfoSec, trust me. I still get to admin boxes. But they're mine! And no one at work has any clue how much I do with them, they just think I have this amazing ability to work fast. Mooo hahahahaahah!!!

[hwrnmnbsol.livejournal.com]

My competitors can hire the rockstars. I'll take the hard-working roadie.

first things first...

[drieuxster.livejournal.com]

The myth is that rock star is moving towards high quality player, and as most of your whining friends note, there is this problem that IF one were to take the time up front to do some reasonable analysis and design work, that one can avoid the need for 'heroics'....

But again, the problem is getting past the PR persons to the tech guy who will be leading the evaluation of what you really got.... On the last contract I had to explain to the HR person that the tarball I had sent as proof that I understood perl was a CPAN style distrobution, and that if she would be ever so polite as to pass that to the hiring manager....

My new solution is to update my uploads to the CPAN, and the next time I face the need to show code samples, just send the URL. Then in the interviewing phase discuss should tech folks check the various code repositories to see if the candidate uploaded anything they might have reviewed....

But that way of course means getting folks in the industry to get past the delusions... Given that the same meme is in so many postings, what it really sounds like is a fishing trip to get names onto a list of persons who could be interviewed, IF there were a job that they could be interviewed for....

OR head hunters are starting to worry that they are next....

Gosh, just like the HR folks....

[some_other_dave]

...the last thing i need is to deal with some strung-out narcissist with root access.

I love that!

[madmerle.livejournal.com]

I'm sooo with you here!

[tau-iota-mu-c.livejournal.com]

It triggered a certain part of my brain that made me want to kill something. My thesis supervisor described himself as a rockstar to anyone that would care to listen. Before he committed academic fraud and was booted out of the university.

BAD epithet! No cookie!

[madmerle.livejournal.com]

I have also seen this boilerplate, and not just for sysadmin positions. Never blew my skirts up either...

Damn straight sysad work is hard. I'm a Tier-1 in a SMALL company and although I feel I've ingested a colossal amount of information in the past 9.5 months, I still know I've only seen the tip of the iceberg. Hell even the sysads who've been there 5 years confess they don't know *everything*, and yes all those lines you mention are definitely blurred, at least from what I've seen in my limited experience.

We wear many hats and those who depend on us often expect us to A) work miracles, B) work them in "Scotty-time" (faster than light speed), and C) work many miracles simultaneously, as if we had 5 clones with eight arms and 3 heads each. Oh, and don't forget the kick me sign attached to your back. Does that sound descriptive of what most people would think of as a "rockstar"? Mmmm... i think not...

I'm also a HUGE believer that a good Ops team is worth its weight in gold. A team who knows the objective is never self-glorification, but quality support and improvement of service for the good of all involved, possibly beyond.

:)

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

The word 'rockstar' is important.

The one thing I've learned in project management and software design is that a surprisingly large amount of the success that a project has, assuming that it has clearly-defined requirements and a finite scope (which is my job) depends upon one other person besides me: the rockstar programmer. In my career, I have had three rockstar programmers working for me, and I wouldn't trade 'em for anything. I've known plenty of programmers who were simply good at their jobs, but there are a rare few who not only understand the requirements at first glance, but who then, in less time than you estimated, produce better software than you asked for, accounting for edge cases that you didn't even think of.

And these people are worth every penny of the $100/hr they cost. Why? Because they're rockstars.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree. Also most "rockstars" have "been there done that" which cuts loss time/money on maintenance, enhancements, bugs, or capacity issues.

IMO, true "rockstars" also have REAL WORLD admin/engineering experience across the entire software stack that is being used.

Unfortunately most senior programmers are not rockstars which can greatly demoralize a company.

[epileptikitty.livejournal.com]

Boot ROMS, dude. Boot ROMs.

[(Anonymous)]

You were snowjobbed, dude. Rockstars appear to be rockstars by engaging in one, all, or some of the following behaviors:

1) Failing to anticipate requirements, thus inducing a situation that requires the last-minute heroics that so impress. "The Team got us into this mess, but I'm the lead rockstar -- I'll fix it!"
2) Leaving an enormous mess for the next guy to clean up, while the Rockstar moves on to the next rockstar-task.
3) Knowing exactly how to play the political games necessary to claim other's work as their own.

There are a few more I could probably think of from years of experience in dealing with self-proclaimed rockstars, but it's late, and I need to get my rockstar beauty sleep.

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

...years of experience in dealing with self-proclaimed rockstars...

See, those aren't rockstars, those are just mediocre programmers with an overdeveloped sense of self-importance.

You don't get to proclaim yourself a rockstar, you arrive at that label by other people comparing you to other good programmers, and finding you not even on the same scale.

[(Anonymous)]

What's the difference between a rockstar and a mediocre programmer with an overdeveloped sense of self-importance?

A genuinely good programmer knows damn well that he knows very little, and would take umbrage with being called a rockstar.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

"Rockstar" is definitely not the label i have for people like that, but yes, that level of talent is highly desirable.

Spot on

[(Anonymous)]

Couldn't be more true. In addition the heavy use of scripting languages to automate things--we are required to be competent in programming as well. IT is has many skillsets that almost force us to be a jack-of-all-trades but master of none.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

If your admins are rock stars, they aren't doing their jobs. Unless the network is burning to the ground, my job is to be invisible to the end user. If they know I exist, something somewhere is broken.

[wolffire.livejournal.com]

...some strung-out narcissist with root access

that is a lovely turn of phrase. still enjoying reading this thread as it develops.

because i too hate those job descriptions as it relates to my profession, i read them mostly for laughs now. found my current contracts through a friend i respect and who respects me and the work i do. old-fashioned, in-person (and online) networkiing with trusted colleagues is the way to go...if going you are.

[epileptikitty.livejournal.com]

This is not the worst. "Kick-ass" has appeared in multiple job descs I've seen.

Kick-ass. Obscenity in a job description. Stay classy.

[haloumi.livejournal.com]

Takes me back to the times when I used to read CVs that effectively said "I wish to use your company to get a better job because I have such a big tech dick that I will rupture your company."

That's the kind of person who gets flattered by "rockstar".

The rest of us just peer disdainfully at those words on the screen, much in the same way you'd peer at Yo Yo Ma for abandoning the cello to fart Warrent's Cherry Pie at a concert.

Dude, seriously ...

[freelikebeer.livejournal.com]

you want to be a rockstar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-8GVi2Fdi4&feature=player_embedded)

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Heh. Nerd fantasies straddle the line between amusing and embarrassing too often for my taste.