May 9, 2011 at 12:29How to Become a System Administrator - A Beginner's Guide (Part 1)
It so happened that this spring I spent in searches / interviews of people as many as four vacancies related to system administration. I talked to dozens of people and noticed the typical mistakes and problems that they face. I state what I noticed, as well as my thoughts on how to solve these problems.
scope: novice system administrators, assistant system administrators, etc. Experienced administrators, as well as those who have a very specific specialization, will be useless if it is interesting.
An approximate structure of the series of articles - I will describe how I see the profession of a system administrator, I will analyze the current attitude to the profession on the part of the employer, then I will try to give general information about where to start and where to move on.
If you are very coarse, sysdamines are with specialization, and without specialization. Typically, a career begins without specialization, then they have several “bent” branches of development and one-two-three, in which further life takes place (the classic “builds” of characters in RPG correspond very well to this). The system administrator without specialization is an overgrown enikeyshchik (I will analyze this thesis a little lower). However, the demand for a sysadmin of narrow specialization is lower (if you count in pieces of vacancies) than for sysadmins of universals (I will also disclose this thesis below). However, with fewer vacancies, the real need for qualified specialists is much higher than there are specialists themselves, that is, the higher the qualifications, the less competition. At some point, you will have several offers from different companies, although you do not plan to leave the current one.
(Running a little ahead - the higher the qualification, the longer a new job is sought, for a top specialist to look for a job for half a year is quite normal. This is typical not only for admins, but also for other professions with high responsibility and narrow specialization).
Since the system administrator is a profession, they pay money for it. Money is usually paid to companies by employees. So, companies need system administrators.
So, in accordance with the above classification, there are two important types of employers - profile and non-core.
Let's start with non-core ones. Non-core employer is a company that is NOT involved in IT, or is engaged in it in a field far from the system administrator. Bright “antipodes” of IT-system: travel agencies, real estate companies, car dealers, etc. For them, the administrator is such an “electrician / supply manager for computers.” They do not need a complex infrastructure, they do not know about what the system administrators do, what is complex and what is simple. They cannot control the quality of the system administrator’s work, and the only sign of his success is “works” or “not”. The exact level of development of the company varies greatly and can boil down to “set up printers and ICQ” to accompany quite exotic programs (this is especially affected by medical facilities). In any case, the IT complexity of their configuration is most often minimal,
Separately, mention should be made of companies with a high degree of aitization of non-IT business. (A vivid example is retail chains, banks). Most often, in such a company there is still a person who is able to assess the quality of work and the complexity of the solution, he is usually able to speak with the system administrator in a normal language, and not speak birdish words about “the Internet does not work”, “the processor is eating under the table,” etc. d. However, despite the possible complexity of the configuration, it is completely limited by the budget and needs of the company, and usually does not require going beyond the minimum for work. The needs of the IT department are perceived as a pure burden that needs to be defended in this very bird language.
The second type of employer is specialized companies. Most large Internet sites are such, such as hosters, data centers (if they are engaged in something other than unit rental / dedicated), companies whose business is tied to computer technology (mobile companies, processing centers). Note that specialized companies also have non-core administrators (who are engaged in servicing jobs in the back-office), while finding a job you need to find out exactly what you will be doing for yourself.
Such companies usually look for employees “for tasks,” that is, they need a person who can engage in some area of their activity.
An important feature of core companies is the constructiveness of what you do. You are no longer an “electrician on computers”, you are a person who determines how well the main instrument of a company’s business will work. There is usually no concept of a “technology ceiling,” or a bird’s tongue.
In fact, such a profession does not exist. It so happened that many companies want to have a person on staff who will be responsible "for everything computer." Usually these are non-core companies. And they want one or two, not three dozen certified specialists. (For those who want to talk about their brilliant present as an Oracle administrator, etc. - I repeat, we are talking about the market situation). Hence the simple rule: they will want everything from you right away. Moreover, in the future you will find that superficial knowledge of everything is not particularly valued. However, these jobs are a great place to start - you can try everything and see what you like the most.
Thus, there is a clear contradiction between the work of a novice system administrator (more precisely, the requirements that apply to him) and further career growth. This contradiction does not appear immediately, but after a while, when a person is mastered with work.
However, back to the work of the system administrator. Here is a list of areas that the system administrator most often encounters. Please note - these areas go far beyond the reasonable, but - see above, they want everything from you, right away, and preferably for little money:
(we are talking about universal system administrators, of course)
In addition, there are many specific areas: terminal servers, various ERP / CMS, service software for network maintenance, etc.
To summarize: it is impossible not to be that professional, but at least it’s more or less good to know all this. But you need to know. It is on this contradiction that the career of a novice administrator is built.
Separately, it must be said about those with whom you will encounter during the interview. Unlike other cases, people who are far from computers will be able to interview you with a 99% probability. And they will not check your knowledge, but your adequacy and "quickness of answers." If you shower them with clever words, they will not apprehend you adequately.
This is a man who blames all the poorly formalized and tedious work, communication with users and fuss with iron.
The main things that an enikeyschik usually does:
If the company does not have an enikeyshchik, then his duties are performed by the system administrator.
Note that the "assistant to the system administrator" is most often a consumable with high turnover. In one company, it came to the point that the head of the department did not know by the names of all the assistant administrators (3 pcs), because at least someone left once a month and a half.
From the enikeyschik’s point of view, such work is a springboard to system administration, but not the main profession.
We will talk about the profiles of specialized system administrators a little later, but for now about a career within these two professions.
My experience says that usually people without specialized education go there. Most often they’re young, although I interviewed my uncle for 42 years as an “assistant to system administrator”. Despite the fact that the duties described above are almost trivial, for many this is the most difficult step. Becoming an administrator from an assistant administrator is easier than becoming an assistant administrator.
The main reason: they will want knowledge from you that is comparable to the administrator. Moreover, half of this knowledge is not described elsewhere in books and is a passing experience (for example, fussing with bank clients). Another important feature is the “sense of computers,” I met a lot of people at interviews, they just could not appreciate the naturalness of what was happening on the computer, which greatly interfered with the analysis of the situation. This is a non-verbal experience, it appears after a long work with computers.
A typical career looks like this: assistant system administrator (or administrator in a small company with 5-8 people), administrator, administrator (maybe 2-3 more times administrator), the beginning of this specialization. Specialization can be of two types: improving the technical level (instead of superficial knowledge of everything, deep knowledge of a few), and administrative career - head of IT department, CIO (IT director), etc. These are two completely different directions - the first is connected with computers, the second - with people, personnel management, planning, budgeting, meetings, etc.
The transition from stage to stage is determined by several factors: 1) Theoretical knowledge 2) Practical skills 3) Knowledge of realities 4) Connections and relationships with other people (both inside the company and outside it).
Among this, the third point does not seem very clear. What are “realities”?
It is about knowing what companies usually use, how much it costs and how it works. Relatively speaking, this is a person who knows that modern offices put 5e, not ThickEthernet (as described in the 1993 book), that laying the 6th category is unjustified (although this is recommended by the manufacturer’s booklet), that programmers need an eye and an eye, otherwise the company will be tightly tied to a specific person, etc. In other words, knowledge of realities is the ability to say what is needed in terms that will be understandable to both the supplier and others.
Until a certain point, almost everything is decided. Without a certain set of skills, no theoretical knowledge will help. It simply includes “many kilometers behind the wheel” - solving many problems, skills to work with the console and standard software, knowing the symptoms of problems, and knowing typical solutions for typical cases.
At first, theoretical knowledge is not very important, because you do not have the proper sensation from computers to correctly perceive it. However, if you do not invest your time and efforts in theoretical knowledge, then you will not quickly notice how stuck at your level. The salary will grow a little, perhaps there will be a career, but the world around it will cease to change. The same technology, the same glitches. Lack of theoretical knowledge does not interfere with work - it interferes with understanding how it works and how to repair a broken one. Experience greatly replaces the theory in the sense of solving problems, but does not give forces to see the situation in general, to find the real reason (instead of an excuse).
Yes, they mean a lot, especially in the case of a career as an IT director. The only way to avoid the need to have a lot of acquaintances and play office games "king of the hill" is professionalism (read, experience and theory). If not, then only personal connections, knowledge of people, the ability to feel them, the ability to command them and otherwise guide them. According to my observations, approximately 30% of enikeyshchiki find the first job of acquaintance.
For highly specialized administrators, communications mean something completely different. The narrower the specialization - the smaller the range of employers, the more likely it is to know all or almost all. Having a familiar name greatly reduces job search time. In this case, we are not talking about “connections” in the everyday sense, but about professional fame.
Continuation: habrahabr.ru/post/118966
scope: novice system administrators, assistant system administrators, etc. Experienced administrators, as well as those who have a very specific specialization, will be useless if it is interesting.
An approximate structure of the series of articles - I will describe how I see the profession of a system administrator, I will analyze the current attitude to the profession on the part of the employer, then I will try to give general information about where to start and where to move on.
What are the system administrators?
If you are very coarse, sysdamines are with specialization, and without specialization. Typically, a career begins without specialization, then they have several “bent” branches of development and one-two-three, in which further life takes place (the classic “builds” of characters in RPG correspond very well to this). The system administrator without specialization is an overgrown enikeyshchik (I will analyze this thesis a little lower). However, the demand for a sysadmin of narrow specialization is lower (if you count in pieces of vacancies) than for sysadmins of universals (I will also disclose this thesis below). However, with fewer vacancies, the real need for qualified specialists is much higher than there are specialists themselves, that is, the higher the qualifications, the less competition. At some point, you will have several offers from different companies, although you do not plan to leave the current one.
(Running a little ahead - the higher the qualification, the longer a new job is sought, for a top specialist to look for a job for half a year is quite normal. This is typical not only for admins, but also for other professions with high responsibility and narrow specialization).
Who needs system administrators?
Since the system administrator is a profession, they pay money for it. Money is usually paid to companies by employees. So, companies need system administrators.
So, in accordance with the above classification, there are two important types of employers - profile and non-core.
Let's start with non-core ones. Non-core employer is a company that is NOT involved in IT, or is engaged in it in a field far from the system administrator. Bright “antipodes” of IT-system: travel agencies, real estate companies, car dealers, etc. For them, the administrator is such an “electrician / supply manager for computers.” They do not need a complex infrastructure, they do not know about what the system administrators do, what is complex and what is simple. They cannot control the quality of the system administrator’s work, and the only sign of his success is “works” or “not”. The exact level of development of the company varies greatly and can boil down to “set up printers and ICQ” to accompany quite exotic programs (this is especially affected by medical facilities). In any case, the IT complexity of their configuration is most often minimal,
Separately, mention should be made of companies with a high degree of aitization of non-IT business. (A vivid example is retail chains, banks). Most often, in such a company there is still a person who is able to assess the quality of work and the complexity of the solution, he is usually able to speak with the system administrator in a normal language, and not speak birdish words about “the Internet does not work”, “the processor is eating under the table,” etc. d. However, despite the possible complexity of the configuration, it is completely limited by the budget and needs of the company, and usually does not require going beyond the minimum for work. The needs of the IT department are perceived as a pure burden that needs to be defended in this very bird language.
The second type of employer is specialized companies. Most large Internet sites are such, such as hosters, data centers (if they are engaged in something other than unit rental / dedicated), companies whose business is tied to computer technology (mobile companies, processing centers). Note that specialized companies also have non-core administrators (who are engaged in servicing jobs in the back-office), while finding a job you need to find out exactly what you will be doing for yourself.
Such companies usually look for employees “for tasks,” that is, they need a person who can engage in some area of their activity.
An important feature of core companies is the constructiveness of what you do. You are no longer an “electrician on computers”, you are a person who determines how well the main instrument of a company’s business will work. There is usually no concept of a “technology ceiling,” or a bird’s tongue.
Who is a universal system administrator?
In fact, such a profession does not exist. It so happened that many companies want to have a person on staff who will be responsible "for everything computer." Usually these are non-core companies. And they want one or two, not three dozen certified specialists. (For those who want to talk about their brilliant present as an Oracle administrator, etc. - I repeat, we are talking about the market situation). Hence the simple rule: they will want everything from you right away. Moreover, in the future you will find that superficial knowledge of everything is not particularly valued. However, these jobs are a great place to start - you can try everything and see what you like the most.
Thus, there is a clear contradiction between the work of a novice system administrator (more precisely, the requirements that apply to him) and further career growth. This contradiction does not appear immediately, but after a while, when a person is mastered with work.
However, back to the work of the system administrator. Here is a list of areas that the system administrator most often encounters. Please note - these areas go far beyond the reasonable, but - see above, they want everything from you, right away, and preferably for little money:
What is meant by system administration?
(we are talking about universal system administrators, of course)
- Network Administration. In the minimum, it is the “guru of the configuration of the desktop wi-fi router”, the maximum is the person who plans the network for 1000 people with branches in five cities. This includes: network topology (which piece of hardware to stick into and why), SCS planning (where and how many outlets), configuration of nat's and vpn's, etc. All sorts of Internet access control services go to the same bunch - squid, IIS, smart and dumb firewalls, IDS, etc.
- Administration of workstations. Burnt PSUs, reinstalling Windows, solving a problem with another bank-client, fixing a print that has fallen off, solving a problem "how do I open this file", anti-virus for windows, etc. The minimum level is to set up an office, the maximum level is to develop a group policy for automatically rolling a new version of software that does not have msi (you will have to do it yourself). At the same time, problems are solved with the automatic deployment of workstations, backups, safe deletion, etc.
- Centralized authorization. This is usually Active Directory. One of the most “pure” disciplines, it is also one of the most difficult. Minimum level - add / remove users, drive the workstation into the domain. The maximum is to implement automatic policy assignment for users of a given OU in case of access to a computer in one of the nodes of a neighboring tree in the forest (we all love this terminology, yes).
- Post office. It is conditionally divided into three worlds: small Windows mail servers (Kerio class), powerful and terrible Exchange, normal linux / freebsd server with any sane mail server (postfix, exim, sendmail, etc.). Minimum level: add a mailbox, add another domain and add an additional email to the user. Maximum level: configure the mail ticket system, mailing list, spam filtering, automatic mailboxes, etc.
- Databases - most often it is part of another infrastructure. Specialized database administrators are a completely separate league. Minimum level: install, restart, connect in the application, add / remove a database. Usually the same ability to make a backup and restore it (which is more difficult). There is no maximum level, because if you are well aware of any DBMS, SQL, are able to deploy a server with an active asynchronous subscription to another database, then this is not quite a “universal system administrator”. The conditional ceiling can be considered the ability to repair a battered MyISAM database.
- 1C. Despite the fact that 1C is such a company that produces toys and instructional discs, “1C” usually means 1C: Enterprise, 1C: Bookkeeping and other nightmarish creations of perverted bookkeeping and programming. A person who knows a lot about “this” is called a “1C programmer” (not to be confused with normal programmers). Minimum level: create a new database, start / delete a user. Maximum level: correct the configuration, add a field to the report, understand how 1C rests with SQL.
- Sites. This can mean almost anything - from "ordering shared hosting" to "solve the performance problem in django-orm when working with postregsql". Copywriting, search engine spam (SEO), web design, web programming, etc. can easily be included in this area. Minimum level: to be able to make up a little bit in html, the maximum does not exist, because different professions are listed. By the way, there is a real systadmin among them: the web server administrator - load ballancing, failover, high avablility, clusters, etc., which again goes beyond the category of "universality".
- Access control systems and video surveillance. Most often they are made by specialized organizations, however, it happens that the system administrator has to bother. Minimum level: pick up another camera, register an access card. Maximum level: auto-export video to the archive, synchronization of all types of control. The future is most likely not admin, as far as I know, administrators usually do not like this area.
- Automatic telephone exchange. Another area that falls into system administration by accident. Minimum level: add call forwarding, connect an additional incoming line. Maximum level: raise your asterisk with a voice menu by 300 points, a sip-skype gate, routing that can flip between IP, copper and E1 depending on the conditions. Also, telephone legacy often gets here, “knock on crowns”, sort out all sorts of plesiosynchronous incoming lines, E1, etc. I repeat, this is not an admin specialization - in general, telephone operators are engaged in this.
- Print / Scan. Most often a trivial task, until you have to make printers network and solve the problems of any industrial printers. Minimum level: pick up the printer; The maximum level is to solve the problem of color profiles, connect the label printer as a network, automatically assign printers when the user logs on to the computer.
In addition, there are many specific areas: terminal servers, various ERP / CMS, service software for network maintenance, etc.
To summarize: it is impossible not to be that professional, but at least it’s more or less good to know all this. But you need to know. It is on this contradiction that the career of a novice administrator is built.
Separately, it must be said about those with whom you will encounter during the interview. Unlike other cases, people who are far from computers will be able to interview you with a 99% probability. And they will not check your knowledge, but your adequacy and "quickness of answers." If you shower them with clever words, they will not apprehend you adequately.
Who is a system administrator assistant?
... aka enikeyschik.This is a man who blames all the poorly formalized and tedious work, communication with users and fuss with iron.
The main things that an enikeyschik usually does:
- helpdesk is a help desk. Answer the phone calls of employees, show how to press any key, help find the column sorting button and pick out a disk stuck in the drive.
- Preparation of workstations - installation, connection, laying of wires, installation of OS and software, etc.
- The solution to any indescribable garbage with user applications - this especially applies to software from the tax and bank clients.
- Correction of SCS (new sockets, transfer of existing ones), diagnostics of problems, switching, if there are crosses, then their embroidery.
If the company does not have an enikeyshchik, then his duties are performed by the system administrator.
Note that the "assistant to the system administrator" is most often a consumable with high turnover. In one company, it came to the point that the head of the department did not know by the names of all the assistant administrators (3 pcs), because at least someone left once a month and a half.
From the enikeyschik’s point of view, such work is a springboard to system administration, but not the main profession.
We will talk about the profiles of specialized system administrators a little later, but for now about a career within these two professions.
Who goes to enikeyshchiki?
My experience says that usually people without specialized education go there. Most often they’re young, although I interviewed my uncle for 42 years as an “assistant to system administrator”. Despite the fact that the duties described above are almost trivial, for many this is the most difficult step. Becoming an administrator from an assistant administrator is easier than becoming an assistant administrator.
The main reason: they will want knowledge from you that is comparable to the administrator. Moreover, half of this knowledge is not described elsewhere in books and is a passing experience (for example, fussing with bank clients). Another important feature is the “sense of computers,” I met a lot of people at interviews, they just could not appreciate the naturalness of what was happening on the computer, which greatly interfered with the analysis of the situation. This is a non-verbal experience, it appears after a long work with computers.
Career
A typical career looks like this: assistant system administrator (or administrator in a small company with 5-8 people), administrator, administrator (maybe 2-3 more times administrator), the beginning of this specialization. Specialization can be of two types: improving the technical level (instead of superficial knowledge of everything, deep knowledge of a few), and administrative career - head of IT department, CIO (IT director), etc. These are two completely different directions - the first is connected with computers, the second - with people, personnel management, planning, budgeting, meetings, etc.
The transition from stage to stage is determined by several factors: 1) Theoretical knowledge 2) Practical skills 3) Knowledge of realities 4) Connections and relationships with other people (both inside the company and outside it).
Among this, the third point does not seem very clear. What are “realities”?
Knowledge of realities
It is about knowing what companies usually use, how much it costs and how it works. Relatively speaking, this is a person who knows that modern offices put 5e, not ThickEthernet (as described in the 1993 book), that laying the 6th category is unjustified (although this is recommended by the manufacturer’s booklet), that programmers need an eye and an eye, otherwise the company will be tightly tied to a specific person, etc. In other words, knowledge of realities is the ability to say what is needed in terms that will be understandable to both the supplier and others.
Skills
Until a certain point, almost everything is decided. Without a certain set of skills, no theoretical knowledge will help. It simply includes “many kilometers behind the wheel” - solving many problems, skills to work with the console and standard software, knowing the symptoms of problems, and knowing typical solutions for typical cases.
Theory
At first, theoretical knowledge is not very important, because you do not have the proper sensation from computers to correctly perceive it. However, if you do not invest your time and efforts in theoretical knowledge, then you will not quickly notice how stuck at your level. The salary will grow a little, perhaps there will be a career, but the world around it will cease to change. The same technology, the same glitches. Lack of theoretical knowledge does not interfere with work - it interferes with understanding how it works and how to repair a broken one. Experience greatly replaces the theory in the sense of solving problems, but does not give forces to see the situation in general, to find the real reason (instead of an excuse).
Communications
Yes, they mean a lot, especially in the case of a career as an IT director. The only way to avoid the need to have a lot of acquaintances and play office games "king of the hill" is professionalism (read, experience and theory). If not, then only personal connections, knowledge of people, the ability to feel them, the ability to command them and otherwise guide them. According to my observations, approximately 30% of enikeyshchiki find the first job of acquaintance.
For highly specialized administrators, communications mean something completely different. The narrower the specialization - the smaller the range of employers, the more likely it is to know all or almost all. Having a familiar name greatly reduces job search time. In this case, we are not talking about “connections” in the everyday sense, but about professional fame.
Continuation: habrahabr.ru/post/118966