poole
Member
Registered: 12th Oct 03
Location: Sheffield, UK Drives: 2.5 v6 Calibra
User status: Offline
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I've come to a point in my life where i'm stuck.
I've self taught myself alot of stuff (alas no uni degree) however i was wondering if there was anyone with linux sysadmin experience who could help me?
At the minute im very familiar with the main distros (debian, rhel, centos, fedora etc....) on an OS level and i'm also very experienced in kernel configuration and drivers.
I know how to use and configure all the mainstream opensource software (apache, lighttpd, exim, courier, OpenSSH etc....) on a small scale but i'm stuck.
I'm proficient in PHP programming language wise and tend to pick things up very quickly once I've had a look at the documentation. (I know a bit of bash and python).
Currently i work in technical support for an ISP where i use none of my technical knowledge whatsoever which doesn't help much but the main problem is having no previous experience working on large scale systems and not being able to walk straight into a sysadmin job.
Does anyone have any advise where i should move from here?
The way i see it i have the following options:
A) Get a certification and a decent sysadmin job.
B) Move to london and work as a monkey in a datacentre.
C) Give up and do something else.
(excuse spelling and grammar mistakes wrote this quickly at work).
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Shane
Member
Registered: 10th Jan 04
User status: Offline
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A
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willay
Moderator
Organiser: South East, National Events
Premium Member
Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Roydon, Essex
User status: Offline
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certifications arent really needed, looking at your profile I realise you have talent. Being able to generally admin a linux box at a service provider level will land you a job.
a) fuck certifications, though if you went down this route I feel something like a CCNA would compliment your skills
b) monkey in datacentre.. you mention nothing about networking skills or understanding of TCP/IP. If you have real Cisco/networking experience behind you then this is a possible option
c) dont give up, you sound like a bright lad and just the kind of person I would reccomend to my boss for a job!
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willay
Moderator
Organiser: South East, National Events
Premium Member
Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Roydon, Essex
User status: Offline
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Just to give you some insight, I'm the same age as you and have homebrew experience in FreeBSD 4+, general setup and have a good knowledge of internet technolgoies.
That was two years ago, now I have hands on experience with Solaris 8,10. Cisco routing (1700/2500/2600/3600/MFSC), Cisco PIX (6.x ), Cisco switching (2950,3550,3750,6500), general IOS, better knowledge of TCP/IP. Cacti, smokeping, bash, and various bits of windows stuff.
Not a single certification insight apart from my GCSE's and some shitty btec certificate. If you have the motivation then you can get onboard with a good company who will use your skills to their full potential.
[Edited on 05-01-2007 by willay]
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ShEp
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 05
Location: Dingwall, Highland
User status: Offline
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in todays world its all about expierience not certs.
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poole
Member
Registered: 12th Oct 03
Location: Sheffield, UK Drives: 2.5 v6 Calibra
User status: Offline
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Great, thanks for the advise.
I think my next move will be moving into the NetOps team within the ISP i currently work for (my manager has said i'm stupid for not doing this so far but i've been considering my options). Then once i have large scale systems experience i will be moving into the consulting area.
I was noticed for coding a few PHP web applications for the company so they where trying to shove me in the way of development which i didn't really want..
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MarkW
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Registered: 19th Mar 04
Location: Orpington, Kent
User status: Offline
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like willay and others have said above is definently not about certifications, its more about experience, determination and apptitude.
i worked since i finished my gcse's got good grades but nothing special, worked in IT support for the past 4 years starting on 12k and now on 14.5k, now i have accepted a job in london as a junior network engineer starting on 25k with excellent benefits progression and all the training and certifications i want 
now i landed that job through determination and physically showing them what i can do, i did a 6 month CCNA OU course which gave me great experience though i don't have a full certification as i don't yet have enough experience....
employers see you much more as a whole now and experience counts...
i reckon with the skills you have you could quite easily walk into a job as a sysadmin, and just progress and train as you work 
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