[Cialug] facebook

[Matt]

I'm sorry that you find yourself in a situation like this, I I support 
your need to vent your frustrations, but I don't think it's a good idea 
to vent your political frustrations on the list... particularly during 
an election season.  As for the technology firms having a bias against 
disabled people, that doesn't really have anything to do with Linux.  If 
you want help from people on the list trying to find a job in IT, I am 
sure there are plenty of people who would be willing to try to help you 
not only narrow down where you might be able to find a workplace that 
would be willing to meet your needs, but also help you find ways to work 
around your problems more efficiently.  You might be able to demonstrate 
how you have come up with ways to improve your productivity in an 
interview, and having done so might also show the prospective employer 
how they might be able to easily offer other ways to help overcome your 
disability, which might allow them to see you as someone who is equally 
as valuable as someone else with the same skill set, but who is not 
disabled.

My first recommendation would be to not mention any disabilities until, 
at the earliest, a face-to-face interview.  If an employer has a giant 
group of faceless sheets of people who all claim the same job skills and 
all have similar academic performance, it is that much easier to dump 
the resumes of people who point out that they are pregnant, disabled, or 
elderly.  It doesn't matter how illegal it might be to do so, it is 
simple enough to just say that other people were "more qualified" or 
that they found and hired someone before they "got to your resume in the 
stack."  They are required to make accommodations for you under the ADA, 
but they don't have to make those accommodations until you are hired.  
If you can show them in an interview that you are doing your own work to 
get around your disability, then they might see that as dedication to 
your career, and with a workforce that is full of apathetic people, that 
could be a huge plus in their eyes.  Also, working in a datacenter with 
a TBI rings a lot of alarms in my head when I think of insurance 
liability.  I'm not a doctor, so I don't know whether you are going to 
be messing with a server one day and black out or have a seizure.  It 
would be a good idea to have a doctor write you up a statement that 
details what issues you may or may not have.  If you aren't going to 
have any physical problems, then that could allay some of those fears.  
The people doing the hiring are the type of people who got there because 
they have a supernatural ability to cover their asses, and it's probably 
easier to not hire a disabled person and cover their ass versus the ADA 
than it is to deal with the fallout should the person who told you they 
are disabled injures him-/herself on the job as a result of their own 
disability.  Take away any reason to bust out the ass-shield during the 
interview.

These are all just cynical suggestion from an armchair quarterback, 
though.  I've never had the opportunity to hire anyone for an IT 
position, so ask for people to help you off-list.  There are plenty of 
people on this list who have been in a position to hire people for IT 
work.  Let's try to keep any mentions of political parties off the list.

-- Matt (N0BOX)


On 3/5/2020 11:17 AM, Kyle H wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 5, 2020 at 10:11 AM Kyle H <khamil8686 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Facebook contacted me one or two weeks ago about working at their
>> datacenter that I live a couple miles from. I went back to college in 
>> 2011
>> after my traumatic brain injury in 07. I ended up earning a 4.0gpa, 
>> Honors,
>> certifications, etc by 2014. Went into the workforce and found i couldn't
>> keep up with things when I didn't tell anyone I had a tbi and my good 
>> work
>> comes with a little extra time, as shown in my school work, but it's 
>> worth
>> it. Eventually I ended up drifting between a couple jobs because when I
>> would finally tell people I had a tbi everything would go south from 
>> there.
>> The workforce, especially IT is very discriminatory...
>> So, I'm back on disability now. I responded to the FB email honestally,
>> saying I had a tbi but went to college post tbi and did super well. I 
>> would
>> need some basic accommodations and asked if they wanted to talk 
>> further. I
>> didn't have anything to lose if they didn't respond to me, if they 
>> did then
>> that would be cool to work at Facebook with a relaxed environment.
>>
>> ...haven't heard from them since then. The work world is filed with
>> discrimination so the Republicans saying that people on benefits 
>> don't want
>> to work... We can't because of the damn work environment you fostered. It
>> really pisses me off.
>>
> When I talked to them before and didn't mention I had a brain injury, they
> offered me a job higher than the pay bracket for the job in question.
> However I took another job that was Linux system admin instead of just 
> help
> desk at another place that paid more.
>
> thanks for reading :)
> have a good day
>
> _______________________________________________
> Cialug mailing list
> Cialug at cialug.org
> https://www.cialug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cialug