Unix job?

Good day, I have a really good opportunity to do some unix stuff at my job. The main unix guy is training on everything he does on top of my job. It's mainly solaris but im sure the basics of unix is all the same.

My question is how big/important is unix in today's IT field? Im interested in learning and wouldnt mind making a career out of it if I be in a higher position. Any insight?

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jdancer

QuantumKnight wrote: »

...It's mainly solaris but im sure the basics of unix is all the same...

Get the basics down, you should be ok. You may want to learn some Linux things as well. You do know all this stuff morphing into a "cloud" administrator position, right?

ptilsen

It's big and important. It always has been, and it always will be. There are probably more jobs in Windows, but also more professionals. Unix and Linux admins and engineers do very well both because they tend to require more skills to do their jobs even adequately (compared to being an "adequate" Windows admin, which frankly is not that hard) and because there are fewer of them and therefore a higher demand.

I don't see any big changes in terms of market share coming. UNIX and Linux servers have their place. So do Windows, and I haven't seen any evidence that UNIX and Linux are on the road to really eliminating Windows' share in any particular area. Similarly, I haven't seen that Windows is replacing Linux or UNIX.

It's a safe career bet. I certainly wouldn't turn down an opportunity to get some skills with Solaris from an expert, even though I'm really not interested in jumping that fence at this point in my career. In general, I wouldn't suggest backing away from any such opportunity unless it's truly and unquestionably out of line with your career goals.

W Stewart

I would definitely take it. Having unix skills will keep you employed and well paid. You've still got to know Windows for some roles but's it's not as big of a learning curve. I haven't used solaris yet but I've used FreeBSD and it seems to be a little simpler than linux.

lsud00d

Linux/unix is huge in the enterprise for it's efficiency and cost savings, to be very broad and general. *nix is a great skill to have and IMHO makes Windows a chore-bore to work with. I only started working with linux 1.5 yrs ago for the sys admin position I'm in currently but my confidence has skyrocketed in my IT abilities...I can pick up Windows/Powershell very fast and have developed a degree of intuition that spreads to other domains with CLI-based technologies.

QuantumKnight

Thank you all for the response. What would the one need to know to be a unix systems administrator or engineer? Also whats a good time frame to start looking for more unix roles? Right now I deal with active directory. My unix trainer is going to start me with gettibg use to the environment and simple password resets.

jdancer

QuantumKnight wrote: »

...What would the one need to know to be a unix systems administrator or engineer?...

If you can get your employer to pay for it, get some Linux certs.

Start with CompTIA Linux+ followed by Redhat RHCSA.

Daniel333

Linux is essential to your career in IT. LPIC1>> LPIC2 >> RHCSA >> RHCE, do et!

log32

Linux/Unix skills are required at almost any job as an advantage

ptilsen

Dolev wrote: »

Linux/Unix skills are required at almost any job as an advantage

Daniel333 wrote: »

Linux is essential to your career in IT.

As someone who advocates for Linux and UNIX as highly valuable career skills, I couldn't disagree with these statements more. You can go an entire career without touching Linux, accomplish a lot for a lot of organizations, and make a lot of money. Again, I find these skills highly valuable and worth learning. I similarly find them completely and totally unnecessary; you can succeed in this field without ever using Linux, and I would wager there are more IT infrastructure jobs that don't involve any Linux than there are jobs that do involve any Linux.

In short: be careful on using absolutes or broadly encompassing terms like "essential" or "required at almost any" in a context like this.

log32

ptilsen wrote: »

As someone who advocates for Linux and UNIX as highly valuable career skills, I couldn't disagree with these statements more. You can go an entire career without touching Linux, accomplish a lot for a lot of organizations, and make a lot of money. Again, I find these skills highly valuable and worth learning. I similarly find them completely and totally unnecessary; you can succeed in this field without ever using Linux, and I would wager there are more IT infrastructure jobs that don't involve any Linux than there are jobs that do involve any Linux.

In short: be careful on using absolutes or broadly encompassing terms like "essential" or "required at almost any" in a context like this.

Of course you could do well without knowing/touching Linux, in a Linux environment you could also do well without knowing Microsoft Server/OS.
it WILL help you get an advantage in interviews over other candidates because nowadays, recruiters look for all-in-one ESPECIALLY in the Microsoft scene since there are just so many people in this field, that any knowledge you come with that is not just Microsoft is a benefit and will provide you an advantage in the interviews. and in short: there are just so many more GUI people than CLI people that knowing Linux could only do you good.

ptilsen

I agree with all of this. I just wanted to clarify that just as you can do without Windows, you can do without Linux. Knowing both is of course more versatile, and ultimately being able to script and handle more complex tasks in either is the best bet.

In hindsight, I probably would have been a better Linux admin, but hey, it's all fun, and I may well branch out someday. Getting back to OP, I will reiterate that it's a great opportunity and I would certainly take it.

QuantumKnight

Thank you all for your response. I read somewhere though that linux+ isnt a big name cert when it comes to experience and certification. Would I be better off just preping for the red hat cert or is linux+ still a good option?

W Stewart

QuantumKnight wrote: »

Thank you all for your response. I read somewhere though that linux+ isnt a big name cert when it comes to experience and certification. Would I be better off just preping for the red hat cert or is linux+ still a good option?

If you aren't familiar with linux/unix then linux+ can give you a good idea of what to start learning. I wouldn't actually pay to take the test unless you're still looking to get your foot in the door in a linux job. Just review the objectives so you have an idea of what to study. I would also check out the objectives for the RHCSA and the RHCE once you feel like you're ready for them.

The most important thing to remember is not to worry about taking some test. That's not going to make you a good linux admin. Start messing around with linux and doing all of the tasks that are mentioned in the objectives on an actual system or VM. Learn how to perform all of your day to day tasks from the cli with the exception of web browsing. (Not that you can't do that from the cli too but it won't be as pretty as firefox.) Once you start to understand the way linux/unix works, those man pages that may seem boring at the moment will become your best friend.

jdancer

QuantumKnight wrote: »

Thank you all for your response. I read somewhere though that linux+ isnt a big name cert when it comes to experience and certification. Would I be better off just preping for the red hat cert or is linux+ still a good option?

If you had to get just one Linux certification, then get RHCSA. Get the employer to pay for it.

UnixGuy

I've been working exclusively with Solaris for 5+ yrs, and my career has been lucrative. Also, if you like traveling, then there's a demand for Unix admins world wide (I get job offers from different parts of the world).

Solaris certifications are not what they used to be (now there's a mandatory training), but they're essential. Learn the topics in SCSA. Then look at RHCSA/RHCE, they're practical and challenging but they don't include all the things you need to do your job as a Solaris admin.

If you work with Solaris, then you need to learn things like Solaris volume manager, ZFS, Solaris Zones, SMF, maybe Veritas (although I don't use that), and other things. Keep in mind that if you work with Solaris, you will need to learn a lot about Hardware (SUN Servers, and sometimes X86) and Storage as well. It opens doors to things like backup/restore, disaster recovery, high availability (Sun cluster/Veritas Cluster), ...etc. It's a good career, but the learning curve can be challenging at the beginning. It gets easier though..

QuantumKnight

Thank you all for you input. I am going to take it slow at work and just start with the simple password resets, and adding users and groups until I get comfortable with the system. I will be setting up a a small lab on my computer. Do you guys recommend OpenSolaris to practice with or am I better off just learning at my job? I do like using the CLI but I am very slow right now and would like to do something on the side at home to practice the commands.

QuantumKnight

UnixGuy wrote: »

I've been working exclusively with Solaris for 5+ yrs, and my career has been lucrative. Also, if you like traveling, then there's a demand for Unix admins world wide (I get job offers from different parts of the world).

I'm glad to hear that. Are their any positions that allows you to be a combination of both Unix and Network Admin? I want to do networking as well.

UnixGuy

QuantumKnight wrote: »

Do you guys recommend OpenSolaris to practice with or am I better off just learning at my job?

Oracle discontinued the OpenSolaris project, there's OpenIndiana now. You don't need OpenSolaris, just install Solaris 10 (I'm assuming that's what you have at work?) on VMware and start practicing. Learning on the job alone is not enough if you want to move forward

QuantumKnight wrote: »

I'm glad to hear that. Are their any positions that allows you to be a combination of both Unix and Network Admin? I want to do networking as well.

That was my initial plan as I was CCNA certified. Unfortunately it wasn't possible where I work, and network was handled by separate team. There are many places that allows this combination, but in bigger environments usually the network has a separate team to take care of it.