You could just say you work in tech, at CTO level, if that’s the case.
Infra and DevOps would be something I’d bring up only if someone asked. And at companies in the Bay Area / Silicon Valley for instance those usually are separate teams unless you’re at somewhere pretty small or an early stage startup. Even in DevOps for instance there would be sub teams.
Personally, I’ve coached managers including CISO, CTO, head of DevOps, etc. That’s because I was an exec team leader and worked cross functionally and was asked to coach a wide variety of managers and execs. I work well with many technical folks, because I tend to think like them and they like having things broken down to specifics, connecting principles. I’ve been married to a tech guy for nearly 30 years, too, LOL.
As a homeowner and a sitter both, I would say that I like longer applications! From the homeowner perspective, I really want to know why our sit (in particular) appeals to you, and what you are expecting once you’re here. Do you want to work remotely? Is this the first time you’ve been here? Will you have a vehicle? Who else will be coming with you (if anyone)… I would like to know whether an applicant would likely be a good match from the beginning, so I pay more attention to people who take the time to provide a personal, informational application. I really don’t like the one or two line applications that are obviously just sent to every potential sit. But I understand why it is done.
Obviously, many sitters only write one or two lines, or have a pre-written, generalized application letter so they can send their application quickly to be one of the first 5 applications. As soon as a sit comes up - BANG - send something!! I understand. It is quite restricting from the homeowner side, too. We have to try to make a choice between five applicants. I think this might be the reason homeowners are quick to click that ‘decline’ button. For us, “first come, first served” does not necessarily apply here. Those one liners are really a turn-off, for me, at least. It’s time consuming to go through many applications, but I do it, because often the first applicants are the really short, knee-jerk applications that say nothing. I then have to decline applications, and manually re-start the listing in order to get any more. It takes a while, but we do it because we want the best for our cat.
That said, I always try to respond to the people who apply for our sits personally, and in a timely manner - even the ones that don’t tell me anything. When we have to decline people (which is my personal torment), I try to let them know why I’m doing it. But if I have nothing to go on, well…if an applicant doesn’t have the time to greet me by name, and mention my pet, should I really take the time to delve any further by researching their profiles when I’m stressed already about finding a sitter? Let me know why I should take a closer look at you! I’m sure I’m missing some great sitters by having this perspective, but it’s how I feel. (And I have the same perspective when applying for a sit. I figure the people would want to know why they should take a closer look at us. If they don’t, it just wasn’t meant to be.)
I totalky agree with you. As long as the information given in the application is relevant to the sit, I don’t mind a bit longer application. But I do not need to read every detail of every single sit the sitter has done (where, when, what animals, how many etc.).
