Re: sysadmin qualifications (Re: apt-get vs. aptitude)
Joe wrote:
On Sat, 12 Oct 2013 09:15:16 -0500
John Hasler <jhasler@newsguy.com> wrote:
Joe writes:
I think the vast majority of computers are used with an Internet
connection, which these days means a router rather than a modem.
1) A dialup connection to the Internet is still an Internet
connection.
Indeed, but it tends not to involve local networking. And before your
next post, I know it could, but I don't know of anybody who has ever
done it. I've only networked the odd mobile dongle. I do know of a
couple of people who use dial-up, but they are very much the exception
rather than the rule.
Well.... just as a data point, connecting via a mobile phone quite often
"behaves" like dial-up (at least it does if you use a bluetooth
connection), and as soon as you have a laptop that you use in multiple
locations, you are doing some level of systems and network admin.
What's the point here of the pedantry? The current sub-topic is about
automatic local network configuration, which anyone with a single
computer on a PPP Internet connection doesn't need. Modems by
definition use PPP links, and most people don't use their PCs or
laptops as routers. And yes, before you reply, I know they can. I used
to know without looking it up where the Windows registry key for
TCP/IP forwarding was.
Well, just to add to the pedantry: Modems do NOT use PPP "by
definition." PPP is a specific link-level protocol, which, if used, is
usually running on one's computer, not on the modem.
Now.. as to the larger question at hand:
Personally, I run, support, and configure:
- my own computers (laptop, development "sandbox" under my desk, android
smartphone, android tablet, backup storage device, printer)
- my family's computers (multiple laptops and handhelds, storage
devices, network storage service, more printers, household network)
- a work-provided laptop (dual-administered by the company's IT and
network admins - large microsoft environment)
- a department sharepoint server (shared admin role with several other
people - running on a virtual machine, someone else administers the cluster)
- 4-server high-availablility cluster sitting in commercial data center
(leftover from a hosting business I used to have, currently a
combination of a development sandbox and a product system for a bunch
of email users, lists, and web servers - mostly for local non-profits)
Do I consider myself a sysadmin (and/or a netadmin)? Well:
- I used to sell hosting services for a living, and did most of the
systems administration involved in doing so
- I certainly administer a significant number of machines and network
devices/services, and,
- for some of them, I'm on call 24x7 (my phone rings if the cluster goes
down), but...
- none of this is paid for, and other than the cluster, it's all informal
- I don't have a particularly in-depth familiarity with things like
Nagios, serious shell scripting, any of the new devops tools, storage
area networks - hence, I probably could not go out and get a full-time
job as a professional systems or network administrator
Bottom Line:
- I certainly feel comfortable saying that I DO a lot of systems and
network administration,
- I would feel on very shakey grounds calling myself a (professional)
system or network administrator (it's not my day job)
- I wouldn't put it on my resume anywhere other than as a couple of
bullet points re. "skills" - certainly not as a title I could lay claim to
Miles Fidelman
--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra
Reply to: