So You Want to Be a Systems Administrator? Part 2 - What Course Should I Do?

So I got pretty well to the top of my field - without going overboard and becoming a super-specialist / cranky old 20 year veteran, before I got promoted out of the field a few weeks ago.

Before the memories fade too far I wanted to write down what led to my success - and mistakes I made that others could avoid - so that aspiring sysadmins could take advantage of my past few years work too. Especially aspiring sysadmins who have what it takes (See part 1 of this series to find out if you have what it takes) because in my new job, I need more of you guys around!

Part 2 - What course to do?

University? I'll admit I'm probably biased against university. I didn't go myself - when the time came to make that decision the courses open to me were near totally irrelevant to the business world outside. Old programming languages nobody used, acres of academic drivel, lecturers and tutors with little or no relevant industry experience... Maybe universities have changed since I last gave them a close look - but the feedback I'm getting from recent students says otherwise. As a rule, I think if graduates are still finding the real world bewilderingly unfamiliar after spending years supposedly learning about it, the mark has been missed.

Not only are universities struggling and largely failing to re-acquire relevance to the industry, but their archaic courses (computer science? what the hell is that? when did computer techs last wear lab coats?) are extremely generalist - they touch on Very Neat Programming For Robots, Unix Administration Strictly By The Book but they don't make you a sysadmin. True, only experience will do that, but for courses to get you started, there has to be a better option than university.

Depressed about until now I've said all that? Cheer up - completing a degree gives you a lot of points. Sooner or later, not having _any_ degree is probably going to hurt my career. I haven't hit that barrier yet, and when I do I might very well be faced with three years of uni, or more years 'part time' in my 30's or 40's - not so cool as going when you're 18. University is also a great social mecca for young people that I missed out on. It's got good points - if you're halfway through a degree, stick with it and finish it. An unfinished degree won't look so hot on your resume.

Again though - don't kill yourself if you've got a half finished degree. If you're young, you've probably heard a lot of bull from older people like that your life will end if you don't get the right qualifications. This is crap - the most valued thing in this industry at least is experience - and you can only get that by doing the job. Qualifications are there to help you break down the door and get your first job, or beef up your resume against the other candidates when you're looking to upgrade.

Cisco?

Cisco courses are the bees knees if you want to be a network engineer. If you want to spend the rest of your life messing around with routing, fire walling, load balancing and doing a hell of a lot of planning for not much work - this may be your career of choice. If you're obsessed with networking, it very probably IS your career of choice. But Cisco courses are not for systems administration. Cisco makes the world's best routers and arguably hardware firewalls - not the world's best servers or operating system.

Worse - Cisco courses are old-school. They include written / multiple choice exams, they include a load of old technology nobody uses anymore, and demand you memorize a lot of crap to pass the exams. Uh oh! Doesn't that mean someone who's good at memorizing stuff but barely understands networks could pass? Well frankly YES for the entry level CCNA - but beyond that maybe not. It gets complicated.

Still, you're on a better track here - industry certifications are far more valuable on your resume than a university degree, if systems administration is your thing. And don't get it into your head that sysadmins don't need networking. You need to understand net masks and firewalls, basic routing and stuff - and a lot of the problems you face will be network related - so understanding networks will help you a lot.

I'm not saying don't get a CCNA. I'm saying don't rely on it to get you job as an SA. I've interviewed a few guys who knew nothing about anything but had a CCNA. They did not get the job. Every git and his goat seems to have a CCNA nowadays.

Microsoft?

Warmer... Microsoft Certified Reboot Engineer isn't the 60-minute-cram-the-night-before-pass-the-exam-still-clueless joke it used to be - and if Windows is your thing (Windows Servers aren't the joke they used to be either) there is no other choice. Better yet, Windows is a perfectly valid back door into Unix administration - many positions involve a little of both so you can make the crossover. But it sure isn't my pick - I'm really not into shrugging my shoulders when the boss asks me why the servers are screwing up. I like to have real answers. Preferably before the servers screw up in the first place - but that's a rant for another day.

To me, looking at someone's Resume, an MCSE is meaningful but no cigar. They're still not that difficult to get, and they're still marred by the old stigma of the laughably-easy... we've all met an 'MCSE' long ago who couldn't figure out that DNS wasn't configured on a desktop... 'Why doesn't The Internet work?'

RedHat?

RedHat are my choice. If you take their pre-assessment exam, you will see they have a range of courses for everyone from the total noob to the hardenened Unix veteran. My personal experience of RedHat courses is that they're up to date, keenly relevant, completely practical, well taught, and the exams are right on the money - favoring practicality and "does it work?" above all else. Oh and I know how they got there too - there's an exit survey on your way out of the course. They've been asking the best people in this field about how to improve their courses for years. Smart - as usual.

The upper echelons of RedHat certification - RHCT, RHCE, RHCA are no joke to obtain. I found RHCE to be extremely challenging, for all the right reasons, after years of Linux administration. If I see RHCE on someone's resume - even if their experience isn't quite up to what we're asking - I'm likely to want to interview them. You just can't get that certification without knowing what you're doing - and that makes it valuable - and rare.

Other Linux?

Two problems spring to mind here. Firstly, RedHat dominate the field of commercial Linux. They do it better than anyone else, and both their product and their service kicks butt. Why do you want anyone else's name on your resume? Second: Who? There's a couple of really common Unix certs you can get, none of which are well known or understood. As a general rule, avoid all lesser-known certifications! What is the use of it, if nobody at the company you're applying to has any clue what it is, or what it means you know?

Whichever way you cut it, doing courses will cut into your time and money - if you're at the beginning of your career placing you in debt in some way. In my view, RedHat training is the best value for money, and the best value for time. Remember, your first 12 months on the job are more valuable than any qualification you'll ever get. If you're new, you want a qualification to GET you those first twelve months - if you want one at all.

If you're an aspiring SysAdmin, you need to look at courses as a stepping stone to get you in the door of your first sysadmin job. Once you're in that door, if you succeed, you're made - because the most valued thing on your resume is experience.

Breaking down the door is the subject of our next exciting episode.

James Hicks owns and operates http://isnerd.net/

He has ten years experience in the Information Technology / Information Services industry, including eight as a Linux Systems Administrator. He has worked as a senior Unix Administrator for Primus Telecom Australia (a large Australian telco/ISP) and is currently Production Support Manager at AusRegistry - the infrastructure company that maintains the com.au, net.au, org.au (and other) domain spaces.

He became a RedHat Certified Engineer in 2003.