on Mon, Jan 08, 2001 at 07:50:36PM -0700, Ray Percival (squadboy@mail.sisna.com) wrote:
> This is a general question for some of you who may be lucky enough to
> be able to use Linux in your jobs. Besides coding what skillsets would
> really set someone apart as a person looking for a Linux job? I'm
> currently thinking about what to start learning next and thought I'd
> ask. Sorry if this offends anyone. Thanks.
What do you want to do?
GNU/Linux is a tool, there are lots of possible applications of it, and
related employment.
Many tracks parallel Unix and (in cases) Legacy MS Windows equivalents:
- Sysadmin (shell, admin utilities, security, netorking, X11, ...)
- Development (C, C++, Perl, Java, Python, Tkl/Tk, ...)
- DBA (MySQL, Postgres, Oracle, DB/2, ...)
- Web (Apache, HTML, ...)
- Mail (Sendmail, qmail, exim, postfix, ...)
- Networking (TCP/IP, routing, DNS, security, ...)
- Documentation (HTML, XML, SGML, DocBook, LaTeX, ...)
Various specialties have their focuses, benefits, and disadvantages.
Experience in multiple specialties makes you more versatile and
flexible. You don't need to know everything. You can start in an area
and branch out.
There's an O'Reilly poster available that's a neat overview of GNU/Linux
space, with the kernal at center and various aspects and layers of the
environment layered around it. You'll know it if/when you see it. Very
cool representation of various parts of the GNU/Linux universe.
My own suggestions:
- Grok the Unix/Linux philosophy. Read Kernighan and Pike's _The
UNIX Programming Environment_.
- Learn the shell. That's the bash shell, these days.
- Get the fundamentals of system administration.
- Know enough networking to set up your PPP or DSL connection.
- Learn *both* vi and emacs. The first is God's Own Editor. The rest
is his universe -- the tools and add-ons to emacs are awesome.
- Figure out which of the remaining areas are of interest to you, and
explore.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? There is no K5 cabal
http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ http://www.kuro5hin.org
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