Unix Administrator Career Guide and Counseling

Question: Is 46 too old to become a Unix Solaris Administrator? I was thinking specializing in Solaris. I know nothing about Unix or Linux. How hard is to learn the material? How long will it take me to get an entry position? Also I am 46 so is it too late to switch career? Now , do employers hiring Solaris Administrator expect a degree with high profile tech? Or they are willing to give chances. Thank you.

Answer: It can be hard or easy depending on how deep they go into it and what computer stuff you have done in the past. A company with custom hardware/software like Sun would have tech support for the administrators so once you get out there in the workplace you can call em up for help if there was something you missed in the course and there's always google too. Some bigger companies/recruiters who may get lots of applicants may throw away resumes if they don't have certain qualifications. But I've met some people with degrees who tell me they don't know anything cause they only teach them theory there. If you have a steady career history at 46 they may consider you more than a younger guy, from my experience a lot younger people last 2 yrs max in the same job.

Question: How long does i6t take to become a Linux or Unix Administrator? I was told 2 years of study?? I am 45 so I don't have much time in front of me , can I do that in 6 months? Is it possible?? Also what Linux or Unix you guys recommend me to start with? Thx

Answer: that depends on YOU, how quick do you learn things? how much time are you willing to devote to it? almost anything is possible i fyou put your mind to it but 6 months is rather short unless you learn things quickly AND devote alot of time to it 8 hours a day for a year is 2920 16 hours a day for 180 days is 2880 so I suppose you could do it, but you also have to keep in mind that studying for that much time takes its toll (on you and family) but doctors do it (only longer) so why not? a good linux version to start with would be centos (its the free version of red hat advanced server 4.0 a popular distribution of linux) dougc

Question: At 46 can I become a Linux or Unix Administrator? If yes , how should I proceed? I have some PC knowledge , I know how to work around PCs , did a little bit of web design etc... Should I take the path of a certification? I have home 2 PCs , 1 with Server 2003 , the other is XP pro , I also have another drive with Ubuntu 7.10. How long will it take me to get there & find a job? Thank you .

Answer: yes, you can become an administrator at any age with the proper motivation and training. I would suggest you take some courses at a university or community college in operating systems, networking, yada yada (basically a Computer Science tract or similar). You can also do online study. Certification is definately an option, but can get quite costly if you're not prepared for the tests. Knowledge of your subject matter is crutial for these exams. With dedication and training, you could very easily have an intro-admin job in a couple of years. Full admin in 4-6.

Question: How can i become an UNIX system administrator by independent learning?

Answer: Just play around with the setting in UNIX.

Question: what is a unix system administrator? what is a unix system administrator? do they make lots of money? what do they do?

Answer: As a linux sys admin, you have to maintain a linux systems. Typically, they're used as servers. You have to be knowledgeable about installing linux, maintaining permissions for users, how to setup services, and how to install new software. Depending on what the server is used for, you may need to do things like systems engineering where you have to architect a load balanced cluster of web servers or build a cluster of high performance servers. Linux sys admins can vary greatly in pay range. Entry level postiions in Los Angeles can start from 35k. However, if you start doing cluster work, you can make upwards of 100k with 5-7 years of solid experience.

Question: Unix Administrator - What do they do?"? Can anyone explain to me what a unix administrator does in non technical terms?!?!? Thanks

Answer: Exactly the same as Windows administrators, but on Unix machines. Setting up machines, controlling users and security, maintaining networks, recovering from user errors and trying to keep everyone happy. Quite a lot of them live in super luxury house or apartments, these are generally the best at their job, and are often unrecognisable as Unix admins. This last rule also applies to Windows and Linux administrators.

Question: Which pays more, network security or windows/unix administrator?

Answer: Generally Network Security pays more. It's more specialized and there are less security specialists around than there are admins. For the most part there's not a huge difference between the two as far as skillsets, since an admin should be quite familiar with security. However, the security issues most admins deal with is related to users and internal network security, whereas a specialist would be knowledgable in all aspects. I specialize in network security, and also have years of experience in network administration. For admin work I typically charge around $60-100/hr ($80/hr average) while for security specific work my rate is $100-$150 with the average being $120. I'm an independent so for a salary comparison you're looking at $40-60k for an admin vs $50-80k for a network security specialist.

Question: which is easy job linux administrator or sql server 2005 dba or unix administrator?

Answer: DBA administrator.

Question: what is the salary of unix administrator in the company netapp in india?

Answer: Man youare too specific.Have you tried to search the company online Maybe you can find some INFO .Good luck.

Question: Your advice wanted, how do a retired Unix administrator since 1995 get back into the field even as an operator I have 10 years experience in Unix Systems administration, HPUX, Sun, .... What are the options available?

Answer: UNIX sysadmins are still in demand, but the flavors of UNIX have changed as new functionality has been introduced. You would do well to review the Google newsgroups for comp.unix to see the discussions and how much you remember. Even if retired, if you still hobby'ed around with LINUX on a PC, this may be helpful to add to your resume when you update it. And another user had a good suggestion. It is hard to find a job these days unless you know someone or are the first to hear about it. So the newspapers are probably the last place to look. Many companies are using placement agencies to find new employees, so they do not have to dedicate someone's time to interview hundreds of applicants. Check your local yellow pages for employment agencies and let them know you are available, your qualifications, and what type of job you are looking for (part time, contract, or permanent). If you are willing to relocate, try posting a resume on Monster.com or an online service. And also check the Monster webpage for their salary calculator, to give you an idea how much an operator, sysadmin, and such might make in the area you select.

Question: what are the job prospects as a unix administrator?

Answer: In India? Excellent. Inthe USA? Terrible.

Question: I would like to learn unix and the data storage. Can anyone give me notes from the BASIC? Will theoretical knowledge be enough to go through the interview for unix administrator or we also need some practical knowledge. I want some one to help me out with regards to this. Want to know where to start.... Mail me at likscorner@yahoo.co.in

Answer: theoretical knowledge will not be enough to interview for a unix admin job. they will probably ask you what is the syntax to do this and that and what certain files do and where they are located. For instance, if you do not know what the passwd file, the shadow file does, or what the "ps" command does, then you need to either do some intro classes for unix or read an intro book for unix, since these are basic topics.

Question: root access for administrator in unix? I have mistakenly changed the path of shell for administrator. Now when I am trying to sign in it is giving the error as incorrect shell path. Now I am unable to enter as administrator. Somebody please help me to rectify this problem

Answer: It depends on the flavour of unix, but when booting, you need to set the init parameter to /bin/sh for example. Or, if you can still log on through other accounts, you can use the su command and specify a shell on the command line there.

Question: Which job is better in the long run, Unix System Administrator or an IC Design Engineer?

Answer: depends on what you want. a sys admin is never only unix so you have to know windows mac linux unix cisco router configs. its a challenging job but i like it. makes massive money. never been an IC engineer but the engineers i know are making decent money and seem to like it. then again so are the accountants i know so i guess decided how big you want your house how fast you want your car and what you want to do with your life then find out what works best for you. sys admin works best for me

Question: Which o/s is the best to study if you want to be a Systems Administrator? Windows, Linux or Unix?

Answer: There is never a best. There is only Pros and Cons. Maybe it would help if I tell you when and who I recommend running each of those. Windows I recommend when an ISP needs to provide some management access to many people. Such as a server where customer service people need to get in and change things. Its usually a dedicated server (doing only one job such as customer support OR email OR newsgroups etc etc) Linux I recommend for small or mid-sized ISPs. Especially if they want one machine to do many service jobs at once. Webserving with email etc etc. Unix I recommend when an ISP needs a server to do a really big job. Large databases, accounting, overall management over many smaller linux servers. In general I would consider Linux to be more fun to learn. Windows is a more laid-back admin job. Unix is fewer jobs but they tend to carry more reponsibility and are with companies that offer better benefits in their hiring. OH and an added note. Unix learning carries over very well into Linux learning in case you want to consider having more than one.

Question: Network administrator or Unix admin? Which is a better job in the ways of job security and salary? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Answer: You want to go into network administration, unix while it is useful is on it's way out and network administration is more useful and broad and will be useful into the future.