[Cialug] a question

[Matthew Nuzum]

On Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 9:25 PM, chris <c.rheinherren at gmail.com> wrote:

> I would like to be a linux/unix system admin. Some have said that is crazy
> but its where my passion seems to be taking me. And of course having the
> skills and pay that goes along with the title, in the 40k or higher ranges.
>
> Learning on my own and stumbling makes the trip very hard and slow going. I
> learn better by doing and learn better with a hands on guide to assist. Also
> need to be in the wild, there is only so much you can do without being in a
> real environment.
>
> I would need to find an NPO that was willing to take an inexperienced
> person on board.
>
>
In what way do you learn best? Here are some examples: taking a class,
playing with something and learning by trial and error, reading a book,
watching an online video tutorial.

Here are some suggestions:
Check out a book from the library. I know that the Johnston/Urbandale
library has a pretty liberal policy on buying books and any Iowa resident
can get a library card. If you request a book they'll often buy it (it helps
to ask nice). Or you can ask me for a newly published book, sometimes I can
get books for free, especially O'Reilly and Apress. In exchange you have to
give a review on Amazon.com.

Experiment with EC2. It costs 8.5 cents per hour of usage. So you can set up
a network of 3 or 4 servers and play with them over an evening for the cost
of a fountain drink at Quick Trip. (just be sure to shut them all down when
you're done)

Decide on something you want to do and then look for ways to do it. There
are a lot of employers out there who respect a "get it done" attitude. For
example, using the EC2 server set up LDAP directory so that you can set up
user accounts on one server and log in with them automatically on the other.
Or create a home network and install a mumble server using a virtual server.

Look for video tutorials on youtube and try them out. For example, do you
have a spare computer you can use as a server? It doesn't have to be big or
powerful. Set up a Linux server and connect some windows computers to it for
file, printer and Internet sharing. I searched for "samba server" on youtube
and found scads of examples. (btw, this is a very good example of a service
you could provide to a non-profit that would help them - NPOs can often get
donated computers but the software to run a server can be quite expensive)

Sign up for a low-cost hosting account and register a domain name. Set up a
website with Wordpress and customize it to do cool stuff. You can get a
domain name and a year's hosting with Godaddy for $50. If you'd like to do
some coding you can use a free hosting service like Google App Engine or
Heroku or set up a blog using wordpress.com or blogger.

Once you start exploring you'll run into problems and you can ask us for
help.

If you want more ideas on marketable services give me some hints on your
bent and I can give more specific examples.

-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin, identi.ca and twitter

"Never stop learning" –Robert Nuzum (My dad)
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