[Ale-study] Linux system administrator

Fri May 2 22:25:12 EDT 2014

Hello all,

I'm not very technical, albeit part of the IT work force, so don't have advice directly related to Linux admin, but since I've helped a number of people transition to IT from completely non-technical fields, I figure I'd share.

In my opinion, the best way to transition into IT is to find the shortest path to get employed in an IT field, and then learn your way to your targeted skill / job. That way you learn while making money, and don't have to do it 'on your own time', so your family life is affected as little as possible.

The fastest way to accomplish this is through QA (testing). Basic QA tasks - especially in software development - are essentially an organized way of using an application. In other words a person manually testing the facebook application is using facebook in an organized fashion and reporting back findings of its features and bugs. The only thing he / she has to learn is that 'organized' part.

One can get the basic skills of a manual tester and be working as a QA person in a month's time (I'm speaking from personal experience helping people with this). Once you're in the environment, you can soak up a lot of knowledge from other coworkers and the environment in general. Essentially on the job training.

Robert, if you want help in this regard I can provide some guidance. Depending on our schedules, my friend and I can possibly guide you on the resume part as well. Ping me if you're interested.

aasem

- - - - - 
Sent from my blueberry flavored iAbacus
On Friday, 2 May 2014, 11:25, B. Robert <buzibar at gmail.com> wrote:

Tx Mathew

On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 11:03 AM, Matthew <simontek at gmail.com> wrote:

To my complete surprise,  I was recently hired at Indiana University as the GitHub admin. Not that I wasn't qualified, but the fact I don't have a degree was what surprised me. In this field, usually it doesn't matter whether or not you have a degree,  as long as you know the work. There are exceptions, such as schools and hospital's that have the prestige thing going on. Certs can help a lot. Granted a lot of them we as professionals see as a joke, but HR and gov't doesn't.  There are certs that do mean something such as the RHCE or OSCP. I currently hold the Linux+, net+, sec+, A+, LPIC1.  My other certs are medical related. 
>Just get an OS going, crash it, break it. Google how to fix it. Come up with scenarios you would like to use. Oracle's virtualbox is handy. Stil do a dedicated box though.  
>Howtoforge.com is a wonderful site. 
>On May 2, 2014 10:46 AM, "B. Robert" <buzibar at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>Lots of good advice from all of you
>>
>>
>>JD, ill attend the next meeting, would love the opportunity to learn from you after the meeting
>>
>>
>>When is the next meeting and where does that take place
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>On Fri, May 2, 2014 at 10:16 AM, JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:
>>
>>On 05/02/2014 09:41 AM, B. Robert wrote:
>>>> I moved here 2 years ago and looking to start a new career in IT,  I work 2 jobs
>>>> to support my family and looking to do Linux system administration
>>>> It would be tough to enroll in a main stream college program and my background
>>>> has not been strong in computers as i am a High school.
>>>>
>>>> I need some advice on how to go about this, from a professional point of view or
>>>> experience from someone who has been through the same.
>>>>
>>>> Looking forward for any guidance
>>>>
>>>
>>>Everyone seems to find their own way into becoming a UNIX admin. There isn't a
>>>set way to do it. Mine was strange too. Come to an ALE or GA-400 Linux meeting
>>>and I'll share the story after. I have ZERO formal training, but have been doing
>>>UNIX/Linux administration since 1996 in 1 way or another - never as my only job.
>>>
>>>So - the best way is to get the company to pay for you to get trained by Redhat.
>>>If you want to make money, Redhat Certification is the best, most-likely, way to
>>>get paid in the end.
>>>
>>>Lacking getting the company to pay, get a current Redhat Cert book, load up
>>>CentOS and start working through all the chapters systematically.
>>>
>>>It should go unsaid that you need to use only Linux all day, every day, only
>>>dropping back to Windows when absolutely necessary. The struggle matters.
>>>Fedora is the desktop distro that RH people run.
>>>
>>>It should be noted that I'm saying this as an Ubuntu Server Admin and Debian
>>>lover. That just is not where most of the money flows.
>>>
>>>Most companies willing to pay well for admins (in the USA) will run RHEL. There
>>>are exceptions, of course.  Similar thoughts happen for virtualization - VMware
>>>ESXi is the money-earner, XenServer 2nd, followed by all the free solutions.
>>>Virtualization is a core skill for any Linux admin now.
>>>
>>>DevOps is a buzzword too - real admins have been doing DevOps since the
>>>beginning of time, but the tools are better today. This is also a core skill for
>>>any Admin, IMHO.  Puppet, Chef, Ansible, CFEngine ... tools like that.
>>>
>>>Being on projects with a budget matters. Just sayin' - RHEL, ESXi, Puppet are
>>>the skills to get paid.
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
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