10+ year Linux systems admin/engineer, ask me anything!

antielvis

Nice to see this thread. Like you Technomancer, I started my career off in ISP dialup support. The pay sucked, the hours sucked but hey, I got to use PINE email & the shell. Time passed and I ended up in the Enterprise Windows world but still had that penguin bug. Earlier this year, I wrote my Linux+ exams and passed both. A few months later I landed me a job in Jr Linux Admin (from Senior Windows Admin). The transfer to the *nix world was made easier in that I understood routing, switching and DNS/DHCP and VMware. What's interesting is that I find the atmosphere in the Linux world different from Windows. It's a little more geeky & with a more counter culture set of characters. A lot of the folks are older too & the senior guys tell me recruiting is very difficult.

What I noticed the most was the difference in the interview process. In the Windows world it was focused on soft skills & perhaps the odd technical question. In Linux it was entirely technical.

--chris--

@Techno....

I picked up some Udemy.com courses on Linux when it was 70% off, I've been working through them as I get time and found Linux to be something I really enjoy.

My question:

Do you think its possible that there are "hot areas" and "cold areas" in the country as far as Linux demand goes? I'm in Metro Detroit, I have seen 1 Linux specific job posting in the last 6 months of looking at everything on dice, monster, craigslist, etc...

I feel its possible to pigeon hole myself with an area like this if I were to dive deep into Linux work. Maybe it would just be better to know the basics and be handy with it, but keep it at that level...

Whats your take on this? Am I just not seeing the jobs or are these the kinds of jobs that you only find once you are "in" i.e. word of mouth/etc....?

tier~

What's your opinion of the options available to Windows sys admins looking to transition to a more *nix based role or even the ability of becoming a dual threat so to speak? I realize the two worlds are quite a bit different but are places like web hosting companies the sort of environments where you can move freely between the two or do they tend to keep the teams separate?

You mentioned you worked at Rackspace, how did they handle it? Reason I ask is one of their competitors is located about an hour from me and they just seem like a helluva place to work for. Not sure my Windows knowledge alone would be enough to get me in the door though but I've kicked it around. Had a phone interview with them in the past but didn't have the experience at the time to make a face to face worthwhile for everyone involved.

W Stewart

I work in a web hosting company and although we have a lot more linux people than windows, the windows guys are valued for their knowledge at the more senior level. At the lower-mid level, they want us to be able to handle both windows and linux issues.

The Technomancer

@--chris--:

There are definite hot/cold markets. If you're near a military installation, most of the jobs will be Windows-based since that's what the military teaches and that's their main employee pool. If you're near a tech startup area or a financial hub, there's probably a lot of Linux jobs in the area. I think that you aren't finding Linux jobs due to location, and if you aren't in one of the Linux hotbeds, you're looking at remote work (which is rare) or having to move for a job.

@tier~:

Rackspace had Windows admins for Windows stuff, and Linux admins for Linux stuff, with the lower level tech support handling easier issues for both platforms. You can become a dual-threat, so to speak, but nearly every role you're in will end up with you doing 90% of your work in one or the other at the senior level, with your ability to do something on the other platform regarded as "being able to help out".

gkca

The Technomancer wrote: »

Rackspace had Windows admins for Windows stuff, and Linux admins for Linux stuff, with the lower level tech support handling easier issues for both platforms.

@Technomancer:
So, what would be the best choice as a secondary skill for the virtualization admin/engineer, Windows or Linux admin skills? So, let's say one is well versed in VMware and storage, what would be the best "add-on"?

The Technomancer

@gkca:

Depends on what part of the industry you want to work in, and which OS has more career opportunities in your area. Obviously, I'm biased towards Linux, but both storage and virtualization are pretty much OS agnostic of the industry, so it really comes down to which one of the two will be more useful in getting into a type of company you want to work for.

Bryzey

When you did the red hat boot camp training how did you find it?


Edit:

What sort of practical test would you put Linux System Admin recruits through? I have a practical hands on troubleshooting test coming up for a web hosting company where I will be spending a few hours fixing various things on a broken server. Even if I don't pass make it through to the next stage it will be great experience for me.

--chris--

The Technomancer wrote: »

@--chris--:

There are definite hot/cold markets. If you're near a military installation, most of the jobs will be Windows-based since that's what the military teaches and that's their main employee pool. If you're near a tech startup area or a financial hub, there's probably a lot of Linux jobs in the area. I think that you aren't finding Linux jobs due to location, and if you aren't in one of the Linux hotbeds, you're looking at remote work (which is rare) or having to move for a job.

@tier~:

Rackspace had Windows admins for Windows stuff, and Linux admins for Linux stuff, with the lower level tech support handling easier issues for both platforms. You can become a dual-threat, so to speak, but nearly every role you're in will end up with you doing 90% of your work in one or the other at the senior level, with your ability to do something on the other platform regarded as "being able to help out".

Thanks a lot, its appreciated.

arrogantbastard

The Technomancer wrote: »

If you want to do Linux work, find Linux gigs -- networking and systems administration really are their own fields in the Linux world. There's not a ton of crossover. The entry level Linux jobs you'll want to be on the lookout for are those that have you doing technical support for a hosting company (or other company) that utilizes Linux in their environment. Many junior level sysadmins get promoted from the tech support ranks in the Linux world, and those jobs generally don't get posted often -- the senior ones that can't always be filled by internal candidates are the ones that get posted regularly.

I'm in the military and getting out next year with the last four years spent in WAN/PSTN technologies with some routing and switching thrown in. I'm about to finish my CCNA finally in the next month or two and want to make a career of networking. Looking towards the future I scour job postings almost every day to see what employers are looking for in my area (SF Bay area) and almost all the ones that list a CCNA level experience ask for some knowledge of Linux/Windows server administration among many other things, with linux being the most asked for. These seem to be mostly data center jobs and I've been considering picking up skills for server administration on Linux. What is your opinion on where I should be focusing and your experience in jobs that work with routers/switches (net engineers/technicians etc) and how often they touch servers and such. I wouldn't mind learning linux administration (tinkered around with it off and on for many years, but that's about it) and if it's with the investment in time and resources. Thank you very much.

googol

Linux is great with networking because a lot of the network software is linux based, such as network monitoring, the actual software for hardware is linux based, such as Arista's EOS..among other things. I always truly think that one should have at least 2 focuses, like VMware/Windows, Linux/Networking, VMware/storage, at least, but some do the tri-fecta of 3 similar technologies.

If you are willing to work with Linux and networking, I think you can do quite well. You will learn the rest to help out sorta thing, basic stuff.

The Technomancer

@arrogantbastard:

I think I've posted this earlier in the thread, but if it's a "job requirement" that doesn't actually have to do with the core skillset defined by the job title, it's a wishlist. Doesn't hurt, but again, you'll be doing 90%+ of your work in your main title. Positions that actually use multiple skillsets like that either happen very early in the startup/bootstrap stage of a company, or you're 15+ years into a career and doing architecture work for new backend products (or a new DC buildout, etc).

As far as advice, I'm a big fan of doing what you find fun. If you enjoy networking far more than server work, focus on networking. You'll pick up the server stuff you'll use regularly just by running into it on a day-to-day basis. Hell, that's how I picked up what networking I do know -- learned the common stuff I was requesting so I wasn't bugging the network administrators all the time.

In the SF Bay market, there's not a ton of overlap, because startups are launching in the cloud, generally, so networking's not really needed, and by the time the cost/benefit analysis between staying in the cloud and moving to colocation or building out a data center comes up, the business is large enough to have a dedicated networking guy.

That being said, if you enjoy systems administration work, you're more likely to find future work outside of a data center if you do that rather than networking as your main focus. Linux owns the SF Bay/Silicon Valley market, so I'd suggest that. The alternate route is to focus on Windows (or Mac, given the SFB/SV area's proclivity to roll with MacBooks and iMacs for workstations) workstation administration, PBX support, and office networking, and be the internal IT guy for an office.

And for the record, I've never been an internal IT guy -- I've always been production operations focused, so there's a very good chance I've got a bad case of confirmation bias.

googol also has a point -- Linux is seeing a lot of use in custom networking gear and software-defined networking setups.

W Stewart

The Technomancer wrote: »

Linux owns the SF Bay/Silicon Valley market, so I'd suggest that.

I might just drag my family out there one day. Hopefully before my son gets old enough to start making friends.

JDMurray

SF Bay/Silicon Valley is one of the most expensive places in the USA to live. California itself has very high state taxes, city taxes, property taxes, energy taxes, and food prices. The California Assembly spends money like drunken politicians on worthless projects and wants more and more money from businesses and the taxpayers. I say that as a 30-year, tax-paying resident of California.