<font size="2"><font face="verdana,sans-serif">Thanks for the advise guys.<br></font></font><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 00:24, Morris Dovey <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mrdovey@iedu.com">mrdovey@iedu.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im">On 8/23/2010 9:25 PM, chris wrote:<br>
> I would like to be a linux/unix system admin. Some have said that is<br>
> crazy but its where my passion seems to be taking me. And of course<br>
> having the skills and pay that goes along with the title, in the 40k or<br>
> higher ranges.<br>
<br>
</div>I'm a programmer and not (ostensibly) a sysadmin, but my experience is<br>
that the pay is a lot more closely linked to the degree to which the<br>
system(s) is/are judged "mission critical" and to an individual SA's<br>
ability to "walk on water" than to the job title.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> Learning on my own and stumbling makes the trip very hard and slow<br>
> going. I learn better by doing and learn better with a hands on guide to<br>
> assist. Also need to be in the wild, there is only so much you can do<br>
> without being in a real environment.<br>
<br>
</div>OTOH, you can go a long way without being "in the wild". When things go<br>
to hell in a live environment, absolutely no one wants to hear: "I need<br>
a day or two to research a solution."<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> I would need to find an NPO that was willing to take an inexperienced<br>
> person on board.<br>
<br>
</div>Try local organizations, and offer to assist whoever they're already<br>
working with. I'm pretty sure there are folks here who're already<br>
helping local organizations and who might be willing to help you help<br>
them help the organization. :)<br>
<br>
Matthew's book offer is golden. Some of the O'Reilly books are really<br>
good (I'm not familiar with Apress). In my *nix work I've found the<br>
books in the Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series to be<br>
universally excellent for programmers and administrators alike. I<br>
suggest reading library copies first, then buying when having your own<br>
copy of a particular book becomes appropriate.<br>
<br>
Systems exist in a context of managers, users, developers, and vendors,<br>
and the best of the SAs I've known have had the ability to recognize and<br>
deal with all of these groups perspectives and priorities, and<br>
communicate with each effectively. I honestly don't know if that was a<br>
learned skill or a natural talent - but, either way, it's an ability<br>
worthy of developing.<br>
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