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Old 10-14-2008, 10:39 AM   #1
paperbag
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Junior linux admin role -- few questions


i am a college student now, after i finish college i want to go to work as a junior linux admin, ill get some certificates during the summer, but i am wondering which ones are the best ones to get ? i am pretty sure the cisco ones are priority.

I have perl, python, php programming backgrounds, i am interested in linux generally and keep up to date with the news and stuff =]

any current linux admins could you tell me whats the best stuff to start learning now ? ;]

thanks in advance for any answers.

Last edited by paperbag; 10-14-2008 at 12:23 PM.
 
Old 10-14-2008, 11:07 AM   #2
ncsuapex
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My advice is to continue learning what you already know. In an interview really highlight your current skills and what you are interested in learning, even if it's for personal interests. For a JR Admin position they are looking for someone that has enough knowledge to learn their systems and who is also interested in learning more.

Once you get your foot in the door you can certify in something that relates to their systems. They will be more willing to pay for certs if it directly involves knowledge gained for their systems.


Before you interview try to learn as much about their company and what software they use so you can familiarize yourself.
 
Old 10-14-2008, 01:31 PM   #3
paperbag
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ncsuapex View Post
My advice is to continue learning what you already know. In an interview really highlight your current skills and what you are interested in learning, even if it's for personal interests. For a JR Admin position they are looking for someone that has enough knowledge to learn their systems and who is also interested in learning more.

Once you get your foot in the door you can certify in something that relates to their systems. They will be more willing to pay for certs if it directly involves knowledge gained for their systems.


Before you interview try to learn as much about their company and what software they use so you can familiarize yourself.
But I'd still need to get a few certs before i start looking for the job right ? ;] Cause if I don't have anything rather than being self-taught how to code, administrate linux and stuff like that..(except that i am studying IT in college now)

My tutor says that i should go to uni anyway to get a degree in networking and such, but i think thats a waste of time... as most jobs with linux require experience not degrees...
 
Old 10-14-2008, 03:04 PM   #4
amnesiavivace
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If technical knowledge was all that a job interview was based on, a cert like CCNA, RHCE or Novell CLP would be all that was needed. But, in the real world, most companies will only take you seriously if you have a degree in a computer related field. ---at least this has been my experience.
 
Old 10-14-2008, 03:49 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by amnesiavivace View Post
If technical knowledge was all that a job interview was based on, a cert like CCNA, RHCE or Novell CLP would be all that was needed. But, in the real world, most companies will only take you seriously if you have a degree in a computer related field. ---at least this has been my experience.
how any business are gonna accept me after i finish lets say my... networking/CS degree which includes like 2% of anything to do with linux/unix =] and with like 0 practical experience ;|
 
Old 10-14-2008, 03:56 PM   #6
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Ask for a resume? Recommendations? Proof of prior work?

Gentoo

Last edited by loperz7; 10-23-2008 at 04:00 AM.
 
Old 10-14-2008, 03:59 PM   #7
paperbag
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Ask for a resume? Recommendations? Proof of prior work?
either you are in the wrong topic or i don't understand you :|
 
Old 10-14-2008, 04:01 PM   #8
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If you can, learn about SAN, iSCSI and other storage related technologies. Also every job I've had as a *nix Administrator, I usually have to deal with Tomcat, JBoss and Websphere (yeah, don't get me started), so learn those if you got the time as you're the one who has to troubleshoot, install, configure, etc.

Familiarize yourself with RPM and other package managers. Learning to build RPM's and such is a huge benefit to have at times.

Learn virtualization as well. VMware, Xen and the others, but focus on those two, they're the more popular ones.

And I can't express enough on security, always study security on *nix systems.
 
Old 10-14-2008, 04:10 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by trickykid View Post
If you can, learn about SAN, iSCSI and other storage related technologies. Also every job I've had as a *nix Administrator, I usually have to deal with Tomcat, JBoss and Websphere (yeah, don't get me started), so learn those if you got the time as you're the one who has to troubleshoot, install, configure, etc.

Familiarize yourself with RPM and other package managers. Learning to build RPM's and such is a huge benefit to have at times.

Learn virtualization as well. VMware, Xen and the others, but focus on those two, they're the more popular ones.

And I can't express enough on security, always study security on *nix systems.
Do you have a degree ?
 
Old 10-14-2008, 04:20 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by paperbag View Post
Do you have a degree ?
Nope, worked my way up.

No certifications either. But my current employer is sending me off to get Websphere Certified end of this month and in December, even though I've been dealing with Websphere for 6 months now at current job without ever touching it before. My tomcat experience helped get my foot in the door though with that.
 
Old 10-14-2008, 04:27 PM   #11
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Nope, worked my way up.

No certifications either. But my current employer is sending me off to get Websphere Certified end of this month and in December, even though I've been dealing with Websphere for 6 months now at current job without ever touching it before. My tomcat experience helped get my foot in the door though with that.
ah sweet, thats what i want to do, work my way up, somehow ;-D

currently have a home made server, getting another one soon, gonna start playing around with different stuff to get started learning before i finish off college =]

how have you started off ?
 
Old 10-14-2008, 05:00 PM   #12
trickykid
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Originally Posted by paperbag View Post
how have you started off ?
You mean, what did I start with?

Well, I started with several distributions many years ago. If I were to start again, I'd probably go with CentOS to learn since it's a RHEL clone as most commercial businesses run RHEL or CentOS.

Everything else I've just acquired through playing around and or on the job.
 
Old 10-14-2008, 05:52 PM   #13
ncsuapex
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Quote:
But I'd still need to get a few certs before i start looking for the job right

Not necessarily. I do not have a degree in any computer field and I have no computer related certificates. Although I have been taking the Red Hat course at the local community college and will be taking the RHCE soon. I have been into computers as a hobby for 20 years.. And left a completely unrelated field to get a IT job. Worked my way up and still used Linux at home and that home experience helped me learn more than just about any real world experience I had.

Im the Network Admin(mainly Linux Admin) for my small company. But we have 80+ servers that run some variation of Linux.



Quote:
But, in the real world, most companies will only take you seriously if you have a degree in a computer related field
Some do.. Some don't. Im my experience employers cared more about experience than education. You might make more money with a degree and certs. But to get your foot in the door, experience and showing the desire to learn will get you hired. A boss told me once that if I wanted to get into management then go for the degree, if you want to stay technical get the certs. A degree certainly wont hurt in any case. But it's not required if you can show them on a resume and in an interview that you can do the job.



Quote:
how any business are gonna accept me after i finish lets say my... networking/CS degree which includes like 2% of anything to do with linux/unix =] and with like 0 practical experience ;
That's the tricky part. There are employers out there that do hire recent college grads with no real practical experience. I guess they want to mold them into their type of employee?

That's where you have to show them any experience with *nix you have at home. Set up a spare PC with apache, mail server, samba, etc and play around with it. Use that knowledge in the interview.


Oh and you might have to take a crappy job working nights and weekends if you want to work your way up
 
Old 10-14-2008, 06:30 PM   #14
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Oh and you might have to take a crappy job working nights and weekends if you want to work your way up

lol ;-D how crappy ? :]] what it could involve?
 
Old 10-14-2008, 08:05 PM   #15
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changing tapes... helpdesk...
 
  


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