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Wow, landing contract work can be time consuming. Sometimes it takes more work to find the contracts than to fill the commitments. In the last couple weeks I was able to land a few good deals and get few solid leads, but I had to let a big one fall through so I could attend an out-of-state family funeral.

I think I’ve pretty much decided against the full-time employment route. Contract work has been fun so far, but it’ll probably be a month or two before the flow of contracts becomes more or less steady. With that in mind, I’m starting to think that in the long run I’d rather sell a product than my time. I guess I’ll keep looking for contract work, meanwhile revisiting some of the business plans I’ve drawn up in the past…

I noticed that there will be a few voip-related tracks at UTOSC tomorrow. If you’re going to be there want to talk shop on open-source telephony, I’m game.

A big thanks to those that have reached out with employment and contract leads. I’m sincerely grateful. Make no mistake, no matter what entrepreneurial schemes I come up with, I’ll still need any work I can get. After all, I’ve still got mouths to feed. ;)

Looking for work has actually been kinda fun. I get the feeling it has something to do with looking at the right time, being in the right place and having the right skill sets.

I’ve known that Utah was a hot-spot for tech and I assumed it was a great place for Open Source hackers. This post over at Pingdom seems to confirm my suspicions. The point is that no matter what Linux or Open Source topic you pick, Utah tends to be at the top of that search trend. Try it: Linux #1, Kernel #2, BSD #2, GNU #2, GPL #1, Apache #1, Postfix #1, Bash #1, Python Scripting #3, Asterisk #1, IPTables #1, Cron #1, MySQL #1, PostgreSQL #1… As you see, I could go on and on. I don’t know what can really be learned from those rankings, but one thing is sure - there is a lot of local interest in Open Source.

Just for fun, let’s see how Utah does for 5 random words. Thinking… taco (not in top 10), printing (not in top 10), ear plugs (not in top 10), drills #9 and microwave (not in top 10). Well, I’m glad I’m not selling drills door-to-door.

Also, I find it interesting that while I’ve been looking for different types of work (in this order: consulting, contracting, business opportunities and full-time work), nearly everyone I’ve interviewed with wants full-time employees. They say that although business is down a little (economy, or whatever), they’re all mostly cookin’. I say, good for them, good for Utah and good for me. ;)

Scary and exciting. That’s how I would describe my new occupational path. I’m going to be accepting contracting work while I look for a more stable arrangement (read: get-a-job). I want to be able to look around and get to know some of the many businesses in the valley that have need of a Linux sysadmin/programmer before I make the choice to join one of them. I don’t want to be overly needy when searching for the right fit.

Anyway, if anyone has advice on job searching, contracting, resume building, networking or has any other general advice they would like to share, I’m all ears.

I also feel like I need to get plugged back in. I’ve been pretty heads down for the last year and a half. I haven’t been hanging out on IRC, blogging, posting to mailing lists, attending local user/business groups, volunteering or developing my skills. Heck, I haven’t even been logged into IM more then a handful of times during that period.

Along those lines (getting plugged back in)…

I’m changing over my IM contact to gabe@gundy.org using Jabber (XMPP). Feel free to add me to your buddies if you use Google Talk or another Jabber service. If we already chat using my old account, you’ll notice a change sometime later today.

It’s also a good time for me to breath life into my LinkedIn profile. If you and I have worked, played, studied or chilled together, send me a LinkedIn invite so I can keep in touch and see what others are up to. BTW, I don’t do “social web” stuff very often, but LinkedIn is one service that I find useful.

Lastly, if you (or anyone you know) has need of an experienced Linux sysadmin, drop a line. I can do just about anything, but I mostly enjoy and work with Linux, Asterisk, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Python, Mono, C#, Bash, IPTables, Django, Postfix, Mailman, Apache, Subversion, Django, FreeSWITCH and all things Open Source.

Thanks and I’ll be seeing more of you!