Job Search Preferences
Target Roles
- Broadcast / IP Broadcast Engineer
- Media Network Engineer / Media Systems Engineer
- Live Production Engineer / Live Video Engineer
- DevOps/SRE hybrid (with live video infrastructure)
Compensation
| Tier | Base Salary | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Ideal | $125K+ | Any benefits |
| Acceptable | $90K-124K | Strong medical benefits required (PPO, low deductible, family coverage) |
| Below floor | Under $90K | SKIP unless extraordinary circumstances |
Medical benefits weigh more than salary gap. Family has higher-than-average medical needs. A 500 deductible, 130K with a high-deductible HSA.
Location
- Based in: San Juan Capistrano, CA
- Preferred: Remote, or hybrid on U.S. coast (SoCal hybrid is ideal)
- Acceptable: East Coast relocation for the right role
- No: Inland locations (Midwest, Mountain states)
Dealbreakers
- Base salary under $90K
- Inland/non-coastal locations
- Overnight shifts (past midnight OK, full overnight not)
- Short-term contracts requiring relocation
- Roles unrelated to broadcast/live video/streaming
- Multi-faith religious verticals. Non-denominational Christian church roles are fine but need personal vetting.
- Pure software engineering roles requiring coding interviews (relies on AI-assisted development)
Evaluation Rules
- Rate fit on day-to-day job requirements, not keyword overlap
- Pre-sales and solutions engineering are NOT operations/engineering roles
- “Senior” or “Staff” at major companies with 7-10+ YOE in enterprise broadcast facilities are reaches. Flag honestly.
- Prioritize roles where running live production, building streaming infrastructure, and network troubleshooting are the actual job
Resume
- Current (April 12, 2026):
I:/My Drive/Business/Michael Pentz/Resume/2026.04.12/michael-pentz-liveop.json(and PDF) - Identity: AllySoft LLC, Managing Member, Software Division
- Previous identity (pre-April 2026): LiveOpTech (archived, do not use)