outlook for unix/linux careers?

I have recently taken an intrest in the Unix / Linux area after starting an intro course at my community college and will probably be pursing an advanced unix/linux course. I have heard that it can be very fulfilling career to jobs being scarce to come by, atleast out here in MA, just want to know from people with more experience in the IT field have to say, I'm definitely gonna learn windows and finish up my degree but is linux a good choice to focus in on? Or should I just stick to windows? Or perhaps networking/securit

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Xavor

Linux got me this job, can't complain too much. You'll have to love to read though.

shodown

DevOps world is on fire. There is gonna be huge demand for nix engineers.

fcp4life

Xavor wrote: »

Linux got me this job, can't complain too much. You'll have to love to read though.

What do you mean by reading? As in continuing education? I really wanna take this old desktop I got and configure a Linux webserver on it for fun

UnixGuy

The outlook is great. Things are going the DevOps way so pay a close attention to that. Having said that, I got enough of it and decided to move to security, will let you know how it goes

discount81

I think it will only increase in use with Cloud and DevOps being huge right now.

Also I think with a lot of companies trying to save money, cutting back on Microsoft licensing for something Open Source is going to happen a lot more in the future.

NovaHax

Linux is pretty big in the security world...which itself is certainly not getting any smaller.

Verities

I work as both a Linux and Windows sys admin, but I enjoy Linux much more. It can be a hard field to get into, but its much more interesting than Windows in my opinion and you will most likely get paid more as the demand is very high while the supply is very low. Also, as people have mentioned, its moving towards automating systems administration tasks with scripting and/or programming languages. I highly recommend learning how Linux works, mess around with some VMs at home, and once you get a good feeling of how it works, start looking at learning a programming language.

UnixGuy

Just to elaborate more on DevOps, I'd make sure you include these skills in your learning plan:
1) shell scripting (bash)
2) configuration management tool (like puppet)
3) higher level programming language (like Python)
4) VMware

The list can go on and on, but have these in your skillset. Also, pass the RHCE exam as well.

fcp4life

Im taking a Unix course this semester and I plan on taking the Advanced Unix course next semester along with C# programming and possibly advanced C# programming. Math can be a struggle for me but if I set my mind to it and sit right at the front I should be able to pass.

fcp4life

Some information on the Unix Classes I am taking here is the intro one first

This course will cover the Linux/UNIX Operating System. We will examine some theory behind the UNIX/Linux family of operating systems. Operating systems installation will be covered. Features and tools of Linux will be discussed along with some of the technical aspects of the O/S. The hands-on component will give the students exposure to Linux and many of the commands and tools. The students will learn Operating System management and Operating System troubleshooting. Other miscellaneous features will be taught in the hands-on environment.

The Advanced Unit course

This course will cover the Linux/Unix Operating System. We will examine the UNIX/Linux Operating System in depth. Advanced Operating Systems installation and some advanced features will be covered. Some advanced features include analysis and monitoring tools, DHCP, DNS, mail server management and other system services. Scripting and other advanced commands will be taught.

UnixGuy

yep sounds like a good course, learn as much as you can, and then grab O'Reilly's shell scripting book and study it as well.

Xavor

I can spend days reading about something dns using the bind package and still feel like I don't know anything. Or, you'll find documentation and howto's from 10 years ago that say to implement a package one way, to find it should be implemented another way today.

Using DNS as an example, the package you'll see referenced often is bind which implements the named (d for daemon) to run DNS on a system. An older way to implement it is with a chroot environment, but now Red Hat recommends not doing that because SELinux is more secure.

So, I found all that out on Tuesday around lunch, after doing a chrooted install "for learning", only to trash it and start over.

It's good you have a goal for your old machine, because I've found if I don't have a reason to build something in Linux I have difficulty applying what I'm reading. I always recommend starting with one distribution and learning the nuts and bolts about it. Learn how the firewall works, and learn how to implement services with it on. Same goes for SELinux. You will learn more about troubleshooting a system that way, and you'll learn important port numbers in the process.

I drank the Red Hat koolaid and went that path. I did it because they have a very strong distribution among server environments, and that means job opportunities. Solaris' Sun UNIX OS is all over the place as well, but since Oracle bought them I've seen more Red Hat migrations.

You'll see Ubuntu/debian for more of the bleeding edge open source stuff. Be familiar with the similarities and differences between the two and the skills to work on the system are transferable.

Get one of several Linux server administration books and work through all the chapters. Know how to work comfortably within the command line, and know that sometimes the gui is faster for some things.

I'd recommend learning on CentOS 6 first, and then CentOS 7 because so many things changed between them. Learning 6 first would help get a job today, and 7 for tomorrow. They're the Red Hat clones without branding and support.

I wish I had had that advice when I started. Good luck.

fuz1on

Outlook is very sunny - don't forget your sunscreen!

I think most companies are tired of the MS cycle-of-profit (which is why MS is trying to become more open-source now). For me personally, *nix variant OS's taught me how to really admin a system by breaking it down from the core to what you can do with streams instead of just pointers in MS technologies.

JamesKurtovich

UnixGuy wrote: »

Also, pass the RHCE exam as well.

I'm planning on getting the Linux+ as part of WGU's BSIT program. Do you know how RHCE compares as far as difficulty goes?

hiddenknight821

While we're still on the subject here, I'm curious to know how heavily involved the other vendors' knowledge are. Is VMware vSphere a 'must learn' for anyone going down the Linux path? What about NetApp and EMC? I've always thought they're convenient to have, but I'm finding more job posts asking for those skillsets.

UnixGuy

@Lord: RHCE is much more challenging and lab-based, while Linux+ is a multiple choice exam (I haven't done it). I'd start with RHCSA

burfect

Verities wrote: »

I work as both a Linux and Windows sys admin, but I enjoy Linux much more. It can be a hard field to get into, but its much more interesting than Windows in my opinion and you will most likely get paid more as the demand is very high while the supply is very low. Also, as people have mentioned, its moving towards automating systems administration tasks with scripting and/or programming languages. I highly recommend learning how Linux works, mess around with some VMs at home, and once you get a good feeling of how it works, start looking at learning a programming language.

I have a lot of interest in the area of DevOps though I am still learning as to what DevOps actually entails. Thanks for giving a primer... I have already started learning some Python and have a good grasp of VMware. In terms of learning resources, are there any specific areas to learn configuration management like Puppet, Chef etc?

Verities

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

While we're still on the subject here, I'm curious to know how heavily involved the other vendors' knowledge are. Is VMware vSphere a 'must learn' for anyone going down the Linux path? What about NetApp and EMC? I've always thought they're convenient to have, but I'm finding more job posts asking for those skillsets.

I don't think VMware is necessary to learn if you want to get into the Linux field, but you do need to understand virtualization. There are many open source options for virtualization, VMware just has the lion's share of the market since they were the first in the game. The reason you see companies wanting NetApp and EMC skills is because they're using those products as backend storage; that's where the VMs are housed. Virtualization and shared storage go hand in hand.

Verities

burfect wrote: »

I have a lot of interest in the area of DevOps though I am still learning as to what DevOps actually entails. Thanks for giving a primer... I have already started learning some Python and have a good grasp of VMware. In terms of learning resources, are there any specific areas to learn configuration management like Puppet, Chef etc?

I'm not in DevOps, but I see a demand for both Puppet and Chef, in almost all of the job postings for those types of positions. They appear to have some VMs available for both so you can develop your skillset: https://learn.chef.io/ and https://puppetlabs.com/learn

jdancer

edX.org has Introduction to Linux produced by the Linux Foundation. It's a free course to take.