I was not trying to leave Beatport. I was trying to add another job around it.
The Craigslist post wanted a Linux administrator for a hosting stack. I wrote back that I could do the bulk of the work after normal hours and on weekends. I could also be available around the clock for emergencies.
That was a strange offer to make while already leading an IT team.
My day job had moved toward architecture, people, budgets, vendors, and the larger operational system. I still liked getting into an individual machine and fixing it. A small hosting environment would give me more of that work and bring in additional money without forcing me to walk away from the company I was helping build.
I described the systems I knew: Linux, LAMP, hosting control panels, databases, networks, monitoring, authentication, caching, and disaster recovery. I said I could put together a resume if they wanted to keep talking.
The pitch was confident and a little too long. I was trying to remove every possible reason for the person to assume a director would not do the actual work.
There was also a practical scheduling problem. Beatport had to come first during the day. The side work had to fit into early mornings, evenings, weekends, and emergencies. I was volunteering to turn the hours that were left into another operating schedule.
More applications followed over the next few weeks. Linux. Postfix. Sendmail. Unix. Penetration testing. I kept looking for something remote and technical enough to be worth the extra shift.
This first note was simple.
I know the stack. I can start. I will do it from home.