[ale] Breaking into the field [Inquiry]

Sun Sep 24 19:25:21 EDT 2017

Heh.  My path was different than yours.  Most of my career has been in
software development, not system administration.  I can't resist chiming in
on programming languages though. Python is a great first language.  For a
development career, you're gonna have to understand Object Oriented
Programming thoroughly ( object creation/destruction, inheritance,
composition, access control, polymorphism ). I dunno whether that is
strictly necessary for sysadmin gigs.  Python has the advantage of allowing
you to write just procedural code before you have to encounter and digest
OOP concepts.  Languages like Java and JavaScript don't allow you that
luxury. C++ is extremely fun, and you can use your C++ compiler to write
strictly procedural C,  but the language has some gnarly stuff which can
torpedo an unwary or novice programmer.  Plus it's not as commercially
fashionable as it used to be.

There ain't no substitute for getting your hands dirty in a language.
Reading code or reading about code won't show you how the compiler ( or
interpreter ) fails, nor will it help you understand what errors you
individually are likely to fall into.

Once you've got a thorough grasp of your first programming language and
built one or more non-trivial projects in it, the next one will be
significantly easier to pick up.   If you spend enough time working with
software, you'll almost certainly write stuff in a bunch of special-purpose
languages like HTML, JSON, OpenSCAD, R,  Expect, TCL/Tk, Awk, Flex (Lex),
Bison (YACC), PL/pgSQL, TeX,  et cetera. I'm kind of a language magpie, and
I really enjoyed Lua and Forth -- but there are few commercial applications
for those, at least here in the States.  Of course any *real* programmer is
fluent in kvikkalkul and INTERCAL (heh). One good resource for learning a
new language is Project Euler ( https://projecteuler.net/ ).  It has lots
of crunchy fun problems to work on.

A lot of sysadmin work from my understanding involves databases.  For any
kind of development job, knowing at least enough SQL ("Structured Query
Language") to be dangerous is essential.  SQL is way different from
procedural languages like Python.  Install PostGRES on one of your Linux
boxes, grab an on-line tutorial or an O'Reilly book, and spend an afternoon
or two futzing around with it.  You'll be very glad you did. Extra points
for sysadminning if you learn how privilege works (and doesn't).

Good luck.  I was a Classical Languages major in college, but I graduated
in 1980.  I think I'd have a much tougher time breaking in to the field
these days.

-- CHS

On Sun, Sep 24, 2017 at 5:10 PM, Antony Natale <antonynatale at gmail.com>
wrote:

> My first steps were similar, I studied for A+ then did Network+, Security+
> and Linux+. I took them hoping to get a foot in the door without experience
> but did not expect much more then entry level as certs dont make you a pro,
> that's for sure. I wanted to show that i was willing to work hard to learn.
> Getting comfortable with CentOS is a good idea too, we use RHEL exclusively
> at my job.
>
> I agree with Chuck that learning languages like Python, or Ruby, or if
> you're braver than me Perl is useful and adds value in your career but
> first I would get comfortable with Bash and shell scripting. Being able to
> write little loops on demand to hit multiple servers can mean big on an
> important outage call.
>
> Also like Chuck said start getting familiar with the new hot things like
> puppet, chef, devops culture and its underlying toolset, but be sure you
> know the basics first otherwise thats all going to be confusing.
>
> Sent from BlueMail <http://www.bluemail.me/r?b=10698>
> On Sep 24, 2017, at 4:46 PM, Arie vW <willigen.van.a at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Thank you all for the input! What I have surmised is that I need to
>> continue in my current track and keep an eye open for any and all
>> opportunities. The various meetups have been invaluable and it's nice to
>> hear that my little home lab setup is beneficial. My next step I think is
>> installing CentOS (using KVM) and learning my way around the platform. Up
>> until now it's been all Debian based. How much emphasis should I put on
>> learning a programming language? I've been dabbling with Python for years
>> but it's been kinda out on the back burner. Any other must-knows for the IT
>> field in general? I'm currently studying for the CompTIA A+ cert just to
>> showcase that despite no degree, I do have a fundamental understanding of
>> computers. At some point I would like to extend my certification list to
>> include the LPIC cert but probably not until I can better afford it. Thanks
>> again for all of the responses! They give me hope that I was beginning to
>> lose.
>>
>> Arie
>>
>> On Sep 23, 2017 10:49 PM, "Chuck Payne" <terrorpup at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Guys,
>>>
>>> I started out at a help desk, some 27 years ago. The one thing that
>>> helped me is hard work, never saying no, keeping an open mind, and pushing
>>> myself to keep learning.
>>>
>>> The only regret I have I never learn a program language, so if you can't
>>> join on of the free online course.
>>>
>>> I would as well recommend coming to the meetings, asking questions here
>>> on the mailing list. A lot of the greybeards know a thing or too. I don't
>>> mind helping, feel free to ask question. Don't get stuck with one distro,
>>> many people install Ubuntu, but the market is more geared more toward Red
>>> Hat so, install CentOS or Fedora. Even better, Arch Linux because they have
>>> a wiki that is the best to learn really thing. If you really want to learn,
>>> try Slackware.
>>>
>>> Devops is the hot thing, so try to read up on Puppet, Chef, Salt Stack
>>> or Ansible. Free IT Athens rebuild old PC with Linux on, see if there is
>>> something in your community you can do some free IT work. Volunteer work
>>> counts as much a paid job. My first job was an Interm at TV station for two
>>> years, with no pay, but I learned so much.
>>>
>>> You can set up a small home network on the cheap. For $100 bucks you can
>>> buy like 3 or 4 Pi and setup file server, media server, and workstations.
>>> You don't need expensive hardward to learn, and labs are so great, if you
>>> have a laptop install VirtualBox it's free an a great to run other
>>> os without having to buying equipment.
>>>
>>> Amazon use to let you have a free account, it's a great way to learn
>>> AWS, which is another hot skill to have.
>>>
>>> Keep notes, Google is great, but if you are working on a system with no
>>> internet access, notes are great to help, no one going to look down on you
>>> for having them, they are more like to look down on you for not having
>>> notes.
>>>
>>> Remember this, there are no stupid questions, so don't be afraid to ask.
>>>
>>> On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 10:22 PM, Antony Natale <antonynatale at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> As someone who is pretty new to the field I can only offer what I did
>>>> but frankly I feel my success is equal parts hard work and luck. I was
>>>> working in retail for years, mostly in print  when I decided I was going to
>>>> pursue my new found passion. I had worked on getting some certifications to
>>>> try and get some entry level help desk work being my only experience was
>>>> personal, not work related. After a year of applying I got nothing.
>>>>
>>>> A year later I decided to go back to school for an IT degree and
>>>> started applying again and got lucky and nailed a great desktop support job
>>>> for an insurance company. Maybe it was the promise of a degree or
>>>> coincidence, who knows. Only complaint was there was zero linux. So I
>>>> focused on learning all I could there, and outside of work learned all I
>>>> could about linux through reading, VM labs, Linux academy, just doing all I
>>>> can.
>>>>
>>>> Finally, thanks to the ALE, a job posting came for a junior admin
>>>> position saying they would take entry level. I didn't expect to get it but
>>>> I did and I think its only because I could get through 50 minutes of
>>>> various Linux related grilling and show how passionate I was about the job.
>>>>
>>>> So my suggestion is do all you can on your own, setup labs and vms, etc
>>>> and shoot for the entry level jobs, and be ready to commit some time to
>>>> learn because in the end my life is so much better for it. Thanks for
>>>> getting me the job ALE!
>>>>
>>>> Sorry for the novel
>>>>
>>>> Sent from BlueMail <http://www.bluemail.me/r?b=10698>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Terror PUP a.k.a
>>> Chuck "PUP" Payne
>>> -----------------------------------------
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