From: royc@tcsrtp.uucp (Roy Andrew Crabtree)
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc
Subject: Re: Gaining system administration skills
Date: 4 Sep 92 01:33:43 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Triangle Computer Society

In article <trussell.715332715@cwis> trussell@cwis.unomaha.edu (Tim Russell) writes:
>brettw@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Brett D. Watson) writes:
>
>>  Can the basic system administration skills learned be carried to
>>another job with a different flavor of Unix?  If I learned solid admin
> ...
>    *Probably* pretty doubtful.  First of all, Xenix is a loooong way from
>a much more sophisticated system like SunOS.  SunOS requires skills in
>things like NFS, Yellow Pages, OpenWindows, etc etc, which you just don't

	UNIX differs system to system, _but_ the key to being a true
	_system_administrator_ is learning how to learn the differences
	fast.  Even within one HW and OS version, great differences
	abound in _specific skills_ for applications (such as NFS, RFS
	STARLAN, TCP/IP, etc.): nonetheless, _communications skills_
	and knowledge _do_ carry across:  flow control and pacing
	concepts; resource exhaustion, contention, access, and management;
	buffer pool concepts (file system, STREAMS, clists);

		they are all fundamentally the same.

	I know; I've done this for 15 years.

	Again, you will have a high learning curve the first 2-4 transitions.
	Thereafter it becomes:  Another YP?  A _unique_ LAN?  Cut mea break!

		And I make $50/hour cleaning up the messes the other guys
		(the one who have 6 Sun OS years and _nothing_else_)
		create and leave behind as "a properly tuned system".

>get running a Xenix system.  I doubt that many interviewers are going to
>consider Xenix experience relevant.

		That comment is truth.

		Please note:  knowing enix ain't knowing Sun.

		BUT:

			- knowing SUn/Ultrix/Xenix/ODT/Sun/AT&T/COSMOS/
			  ESIX/Inreractive/HP-UX/COSNIX/VMS/VM370/  ....
					and so on

				DOES mean:  learning SVR4 _is_
				(detailed but) trivial.


		AND:
			... most interviewers in personnel

				who do not know their high end from their
				fundament when it comes to  Sys Admin
					(or network admin or DB admin)

			... cannot see this

				which is why I get $50/hour cleaning up
				crap from the gurus who were first hired
				for their "in depth U***X experience"

		PLUS:
			the average technical interview is close to being
			a "crunchie"

				Definition: "crunchie":  anyoone who says
				you've got to ghave 5 years doing X in X
				language in order to do X in X language

					Examples:  COBOL crunchie,
						    UNIX wizard
						   X expert (most are ex-)
					amd so on.

			so they will react adversely to anyone (the proverbial
			"Renaissance" approach) who CAN do these things, ...

				by denying it can be done.

		SO:

			Being _able_ to do the job will NOT get you hired.
		YOU MUST:
			Be able to _sell_ these types that you can
				which is a totally different
				ball of wax from

			Learning to be able to learn the job in days
				or hours, after 15 years ...

>
>    It's been my experience that companies who want someone to run their
>SunOS systems usually specify previous *SunOS* experience, not just
>generic Unix skills.  Perhaps they figure that way you'll already know
>where all the security holes in SunOS are.  :-)

	Truth!

	But the sad fact is we have a 4 trillion dollar
	problem in the country that will get 400 billion bigger this
	year, and a part of it comes from:

		You can only do X of you've done X

	That is wrong.
	Interviewers react this way
	Crunchies reinforce it

		And I get paid to clean it up after the deadline has past

	And if you think these experts are right, let me ask two salient
	and very pertinent questions:

		= How much money did these experts who INVENTED UNIX
		  make inb their first six years selling it?

			... and look at ALL the rest for the last two years

		= Have you ever wondered why SO much of the administrative
		  interface for UNIX is braindead?  If, when you first saw
		  what has to be done to "tune" a kernel, though it was
		  absolutely ridiculous, and expensive in terms of time
		  and effort and expertise to do it well, and limited in
		  the prospective impacts for constructive reesult, and
		  that it used 25 year old concepts ..... etc ...

			You were right ...

	DON'T tell the interviewer this;  but keep it in mind as you
	learn HOW to administer systems;   you will be able to pass on
	_rapidly_ to the next version as a result.

	WIll it get rid of the braindead interviewers and crunchies?
	No.  Federal bankruptcy might.  In 10 years, when no one can
	afford that type of stupid, wasteful approach anymore.

>
>--
>    Tim Russell                 Omaha, NE              trussell@unomaha.edu
>One of the richest men in the world made his billions selling a toy "operating
>system" that is more accurately described as a glorified bootstrap loader.
                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	Yep.  And how useful are thecomputers that use it?
	And have you wondered why his company has made a habit
	of selling packages to "add on" at $49.95?  ... which
	are now $69.95? ...

	NT stands for Not True, fellas.  Or Not There.
		And UNIX had AND HAS the same problems.

		All ya gotta do is look to see where

			The Salesman Lies

	Do you wantto be a billionaire in a world gone bankrupt?
			(Then go for it!)
>                                                  -- Phil Karn
Newsgroups: misc.jobs.misc