Linux advice :)

Ryuksapple84

Hey Folks,

So... my wife needs a career and she wants to get into IT.
She expressed in going for LINUX maybe becoming a Linux admin...

She does not have any IT experience and I am at a loss as to what direction she should take.

Can you guys give us some advice? We are in the Dc area and I would like to know if she should go for Red Hat? What other stuff should she get?

When applying to jobs, what should she expect? give it to me straight guys, lol.

Also, thanks for taking the time to read this and for your answers.

NightShade03

That's a great area to be in for any kind of IT work, although Linux seems to be pretty popular as well. The most important thing is going to be experience. If she has none she will need to take some certs like the Linux+ or LPIC series to compensate for lack of experience. She will have a hard time finding a job with no experience *however* she should apply everywhere because someone will eventually give her a chance and that's her foot in the door.

brownwrap

NightShade03 wrote: »

That's a great area to be in for any kind of IT work, although Linux seems to be pretty popular as well. The most important thing is going to be experience. If she has none she will need to take some certs like the Linux+ or LPIC series to compensate for lack of experience. She will have a hard time finding a job with no experience *however* she should apply everywhere because someone will eventually give her a chance and that's her foot in the door.

Find a job these days is tough, with or without experience. I had plenty and it was still rough. While I was out of work, I tried a lot of things I hadn't worked on. One thing I found was "Linux From Scratch". Building your own Linux using whats out there in Open Source. A great learning tool.

ehnde

brownwrap wrote: »

Find a job these days is tough, with or without experience. I had plenty and it was still rough. While I was out of work, I tried a lot of things I hadn't worked on. One thing I found was "Linux From Scratch". Building your own Linux using whats out there in Open Source. A great learning tool.

Definetly agree with this. And if you can successfully install Welcome to Linux From Scratch! you're going to be better prepared for the LPIC exams.

Slowhand

She should start by looking at an entry-level certification that'll give her a nice introduction and overview of Linux. Right now, CompTIA has partnered with LPI to make the Linux+ cert and the LPIC-1 certs one and the same. Linux+ has always been a great place to start, so picking up two certs in one shot isn't a bad deal at all.

After that, she'll have a pretty solid foundation in Linux. The LPIC-1/Linux+ exams don't focus on one particular distro, but she'll definitely be familiar with Red Hat, Debian, and Slackware, if not also Ubuntu, after working through the study material and getting some hands-on practice. After that, if she wants to continue climbing the vendor-neutral LPI ladder and go for LPIC-2 and LPIC-3, or perhaps go for something like Red Hat's RHCT or RHCE, she'll have no trouble proving her expertise and will definitely raise her chances of finding a job she'll enjoy.

Daniel333

No IT experience? Ouch.

A+, HDI, MCTS: Windows 7, configuring, Server+, Linux+, while she works a Geek Squad/help desk job for a year or so. Then move into LPI-2, RHCT.

Ryuksapple84

Thanks guys, well it seems like she wants to jump on the Cisco wagon with me. But I am still interested in going for Linux eventually.

recommend any good books?

Chris:/*

If you are in the DC area it is best to study openSUSE, Red Hat, CentOS and Fedora since those are the dominant Linux variants you see in that area and in fact the corporate world.

For Linux:
Amazon.com: UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook (4th Edition) (9780131480056): Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Trent R. Hein, Ben Whaley: Books: Reviews, Prices & more

For Unix:
Amazon.com: UNIX System Administration Handbook (3rd Edition) (0076092029496): Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, Trent Hein: Books

If you have the extra money buy a decently powerful desktop and a copy of VMware Workstation (if you want a free utility use VirtualBox). Load up multiple copies of those versions of Linux and practice commands, VI and some of the free labs out there that prepare people for the RHCT.

You can also download a copy of Solaris 10 for free to practice Unix command and configuration as well. Ensure you read both those books cover to cover they will help you understand the world of NIX a lot better.

RobertKaucher

Ryuksapple84 wrote: »

Thanks guys, well it seems like she wants to jump on the Cisco wagon with me. But I am still interested in going for Linux eventually.

recommend any good books?

Make sure she gets introduced to database stuff like SQL Server. There are quite a few more female MVPs in the SQL Server area than in any other technology I have noticed.

varelg

+1 for Kaucher's observation. Ladies seem to get along with SQL quite well.
Chris, UNIX admin handbook was published 2000, isn't it a bit outdated?

WillTech105

Slowhand wrote: »

She should start by looking at an entry-level certification that'll give her a nice introduction and overview of Linux. Right now, CompTIA has partnered with LPI to make the Linux+ cert and the LPIC-1 certs one and the same. Linux+ has always been a great place to start, so picking up two certs in one shot isn't a bad deal at all.

After that, she'll have a pretty solid foundation in Linux. The LPIC-1/Linux+ exams don't focus on one particular distro, but she'll definitely be familiar with Red Hat, Debian, and Slackware, if not also Ubuntu, after working through the study material and getting some hands-on practice. After that, if she wants to continue climbing the vendor-neutral LPI ladder and go for LPIC-2 and LPIC-3, or perhaps go for something like Red Hat's RHCT or RHCE, she'll have no trouble proving her expertise and will definitely raise her chances of finding a job she'll enjoy.

Speaking of -- after finishing my CCNA I want to take on the Linux+ since it seems alot of its commands go hand in hand.

I looked on CompTIA's site it looks like I need to take 2 exams to get Linux+ and I can take either the LPI or CompTIA version. Anyone mind clearing up which is what?
Thanks

Chris:/*

The reason the commands are similar is because the Cisco IOS is based on BSD Unix.

The CompTIA Linux+ has two exams now that also earn you the LPIC-1 and you can then petition Novell to earn CLA because you have earned LPIC-1.

Ryuksapple84

Thanks Guys!

WillTech105

Chris:/* wrote: »

The reason the commands are similar is because the Cisco IOS is based on BSD Unix.

The CompTIA Linux+ has two exams now that also earn you the LPIC-1 and you can then petition Novell to earn CLA because you have earned LPIC-1.

Gotcha. I scheduled my ICND2 exam this Monday and I feel 110% prepared for it. In the meantime I am getting a headstart on Linux+. I installed Fedora and I am reading the Sybex Study Guide. Finished chapter 1 and I am like "....what?".

I'm not bothering with the "details" yet since I'm sure after playing around with it I will get what the book is saying.

I am sure this has been asked amillion times but is there any other good matierla to study for the L+?

Chris:/*

I don't know of any from experience sorry but typically Sybex as you know has good stuff. It is a CompTIA/LPIC exam so it is brute force memorization of information.

zeratul

in my opinion, man & info pages + config files are still the best reading materials.
I would start with reading 'info coreutils' and 'info bash'.

just my 0.002 cent

Chris:/*

zeratul wrote: »

in my opinion, man & info pages + config files are still the best reading materials.
I would start with reading 'info coreutils' and 'info bash'.

just my 0.002 cent

Very true but it depends on how much basic knowledge the person has to interacting with Linux and how the system actually works in the first place.

varelg

WillTech105 wrote: »

Gotcha. I scheduled my ICND2 exam this Monday and I feel 110% prepared for it. In the meantime I am getting a headstart on Linux+. I installed Fedora and I am reading the Sybex Study Guide. Finished chapter 1 and I am like "....what?".

I'm not bothering with the "details" yet since I'm sure after playing around with it I will get what the book is saying.

I am sure this has been asked amillion times but is there any other good matierla to study for the L+?

What you are doing now with Fedora and what is tested on L+ are two different things.
To get from "I am getting my feet wet" phase to "I am reading the L+ objectives and know how to do what is required on half of them" get Sobell's latest guide on Fedora and Red Hat. The language of that book is not noobish but it's not terse manpages legalese ("if and only if") either.
"LPIC-1 in a nutshell" is also a splendid resource, seems that this is just a new edition of the same classy "... nutshell" guide but updated for the new objectives and sans LPIC-2.
My first linux distro was also Fedora, what was most difficult for me to comprehend at that time was what goes into which directory.

Slowhand

WillTech105 wrote: »

Speaking of -- after finishing my CCNA I want to take on the Linux+ since it seems alot of its commands go hand in hand.

I looked on CompTIA's site it looks like I need to take 2 exams to get Linux+ and I can take either the LPI or CompTIA version. Anyone mind clearing up which is what?
Thanks

The current version of Linux+ is called "Powered by LPI" because the two certs are now the same sets of exams. If you take the tests through CompTIA, you earn both the Linux+ and LPIC-1 certs. (I don't believe you'll earn Linux+ if you take them through LPI.)

WillTech105

So basically by taking the two 2 Linux+ exams you get the Linux+ as well as the LPIC-1 cert.

Reading the Sybex book right now, I am slowly trying to understand what its explaning but it seems like its just a matter or getting used to the material and praticing it.

Seemed to me like the Microsoft exams were easier to do since I already knew the "theory" to the maddness. I'll just have to kept at it!

demonfurbie

install a linux os and you'll understand

mrphantuan

+1 for Kaucher's observation. Ladies seem to get along with SQL quite well.
Chris, UNIX admin handbook was published 2000, isn't it a bit outdated?









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Pash

mrphantuan wrote: »

+1 for Kaucher's observation. Ladies seem to get along with SQL quite well.

Because SQL is logical and it involves queries

Forsaken_GA

Pash wrote: »

Because SQL is logical and it involves queries

use husband:
select answer from husband.brain where question='Does this make me look fat?';

+

---

+
| answer |
+

---

+
| Of course, now hurry up already! |
+

---

+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

drop database husband;

Chris:/*

mrphantuan wrote: »

+1 for Kaucher's observation. Ladies seem to get along with SQL quite well.
Chris, UNIX admin handbook was published 2000, isn't it a bit outdated?

Not really because it is not for the particulars of each OS at a version level more of a dynamic level of interaction.

Jander1023

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

use husband:
select answer from husband.brain where question='Does this make me look fat?';

+

---

+
| answer |
+

---

+
| Of course, now hurry up already! |
+

---

+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

drop database husband;

LMAO! I know you posted this 6 months ago, but I just read it. Thx! I needed a good laugh this morning.