Offered New Position..Need advice (Little experience in field)

Well first of all, let me say thank you to those reading this thread.

I've been recently laid off due to "end of year budget" a week before Christmas. Not so bad since I've been trying to enjoy my free time.

Anyways I was offered a new job/position for a small/medium sized business in my local area through a contract position. Long term contract, with the possibility switching to the companies full-time payroll.

$17-$18 an hour (previously made $14 my commute was 53 minutes - it will be now 30 minutes)

The position is Linux Admin (More so a Jr. Role)

Description:

The Ideal candidate will have experience with:

Ubuntu server (10.04-12.04)
VMWare. Experience with KVM a plus
Bash, Perl, PHP

Must have a knowledge of the underlying technologies (Linux, DNS, networking, virtualization) to do the administration and will need to be able to do some scripting/dev for maintenance and to meet business needs

What flavors of linux Primarily Ubuntu server (10.04-12.04), 1x Red Hat (RHEL5) – not essential

How many servers 3 hardware, 15 virtual

Any virtualization? If so, what technologies? Vmware and a desire to move to KVM

What scripting language? Bash, perl, php

Is there going to be any development or is it mostly systems administration? Split, must have a knowledge of the underlying technologies (Linux, DNS, networking, virtualization) to do the administration and will need to be able to do some scripting/dev for maintenance and to meet business needs

Honestly I told my situation. The situation is that I've only used Linux for a brief amount of time through various school work and very little at home. I have no real scripting knowledge, but there were still interested overall in my resume.

I have a phone interview with them today and from the looks of it the contractor is saying "they're looking for someone who is willing to learn the role and has very basic knowledge of Linux."

I'm more afraid of jumping into something that I haven't used in over a year and not on a day-to-day basis. Though the position sounds intriguing enough to take the position and actually start learning the language.

What would you do in this situation where you have little experience, but are being offered a rather high importance position?

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Comments

f0rgiv3n

I'm of the mindset that if you tell them your exact situation and they still want you, go for it! Once you tell them the 100% truth of your experience and lack-of-experience it's up to them to decide if you are what they want. If you tell them you have little Linux experience but are willing to learn (and they still want you), that means they are willing to teach you and allow for you to learn.

If it was me, I would do the interview truthfully and if it's something I was interested in... Go for it!

coreyb80

I agree with this 110%. Sometimes employers may see something in you that they feel may be beneficial for them such as you willing to learn the material. Congrats on the phone interview and much success on the journey.

spicy ahi

I'm with forgiven. If you let them know that you're not a day to day linux user and they still want to hire you then by all means go for it! Only thing I caution is to not emphasize the fact that you're inexperienced. Some employers may be turned off if you paint yourself too negatively. Just be sure to sell your high points and mention the low points and you should be fine if they are the ones who want to engage in conversation. Personally, I'd be excited for an opportunity to learn and grow in an area that I'm not familiar with. Paying me to learn is a bonus!

kurosaki00

wait wait
They already interviewed you and offered you a position?
So you had an interview and with what you gave them (hopefully all true lol) they offered you a position?

If this is the case, I think you should go cram those linux books, get cbt videos, dig all the info you can!
The first few days at work are always (usually?) about you learning their network, systems, how stuff works, macros, micros etc
Get all the info you can of the day, write that up and then go home and deconstruct all that info!
As your day passes and you get more info about your job, you take that info and take it home and simulate and learn about it at home.
You may not sleep very much the first weeks, but it will pay off.

If the case is that you were offered an interview... then just be truthful and talk with them, thats it.

Santa_

Incorrect - I may have made it seemed they interviewed me. My apologies. They are doing a phone interview today, but from the recruiter to the company they've been impressed with my resume. They've asked me via email what were some of my experiences with Linux and I told them the truth. That I had very little experience except that of what I have done in school. They still wanted to move forward however.

The recruiter told me that the IT manager is fairly quickly in deciding if they want someone to be hired. So I may know by the end of the day. If not, tomorrow.

f0rgiv3n

Good luck, sir.

coreyb80

Santa_ wrote: »

Incorrect - I may have made it seemed they interviewed me. My apologies. They are doing a phone interview today, but from the recruiter to the company they've been impressed with my resume. They've asked me via email what were some of my experiences with Linux and I told them the truth. That I had very little experience except that of what I have done in school. They still wanted to move forward however.

The recruiter told me that the IT manager is fairly quickly in deciding if they want someone to be hired. So I may know by the end of the day. If not, tomorrow.

Success on the journey. Sounds like you may be on to something with this position.

Santa_

My knowledge is very poor when it comes to Linux, but in all honesty if I did not know the answer to the question I told them "I don't know. Sorry."

Besides the Linux based questions everything else went well, but I will most likely not be getting offered the position. They require someone much stronger in the language, which I knew before going into the interview. They rather place me into a help desk type position which I'm far surpassed doing my time in this type of role.

I guess it's time to file for unemployment now and start my assessment test for WGU.

About7Narwhal

I just took a position 2 months ago that was exactly the same scenario: I went in for a Help Desk interview and next thing I know, I am in the office with the head of OPS. I told him I knew very little but was very excited to learn. They hired me in and all is going well. As long as they are aware that you will have some learning to do, things should be fine. They will teach you what you need to know. They will be impressed when you teach yourself above that point though.

Consider deploying ubuntu as a PRIMARY os and force yourself to use it. If you are like me, a dual boot just wont do. (I always pick Windows)

**EDIT**

There is nothing wrong with taking a lower position if you think they will graduate you to where you want to be. Help Desk can be hell, and you don't want to be stuck there, but it is easier to find a job when you have one. Food for thought.