Einsteinmc2300
Hi there, anyone here a system administrator or have a friend who is one? Can you give me some info on what they do etc and if they like their jobs? I've been reading ALOT about the subject and I've come to the conclusion that I want to be one =D i.e. I'd rather hold a job as a system administrator for the next several years rather than any other job. Mostly because it sounds like fun.
So please post some personal or ... indirect but personal experiences!
xp
I'm currently in my 3rd year of college studying for this type of work. I can tell you that it's not easy, you'll have to apply yourself. Some of the topics you'll have to cover:
Routing - This means you'll have to learn how to program routers, which is no easy task. Unless you want a superficial understanding of this, you'll have to study for about a year to get
decent at it. Some people will tell you they picked it up in 2-4 weeks, but it's crap, ask them a few questions that beyond basic commands and their lost.
Securing Networks - This is kind of an addon to routing but it adds to the confusion
razz
Command Line Linux - This is the bane of humanity, for me at least
xd . I'm currently studying it and you'll have to learn know positively what this means "echo 'zack is back on track, jack' | sed -e 's/a/A/g' -e 's/k/K/g' " or "sed 's/[0-9]*./$&/' receipt " and about 1000 other commands that are just as confusing
razz
The up side is that you'll have a few classes that are easy, like A+ classes (computer repair), Net + (windows/linux gui servers)
As far as working in the field goes, I know a few people who do it. It's pretty stressful work, as anyone in the field can tell you, when the s**t hits the fan, your the first person they come to. Sometimes an office building will need to be connected to the servers all day every day and if the connection or server is down, its a big problem, and you have to figure it out quickly. If you can't figure it out quickly, don't expect to leave until you have figured it out.
Not to scare you away from the field, I'm doing it because It's what i love to do, and if that means working my a** off to know what I'm talking about when I get a job, so be it. but that's what your in for, it's like being a stock broker without the chance at making millions !!!
razz Good Luck!
