1 Decoding Your IT SysAdmin Career PathwayIndex

http://blog.cbtnuggets.com/2017/01/decoding-your-it-sysadmin-career-pathway/

We talked with some of our expert trainers and they weighed in on what certifications and training would set you up for a successful SysAdmin career. […] Trainer Shawn Powers makes a strong argument to include Linux, particularly the LPIC-1, early in your SysAdmin career. If you get stuck or struggle with LPIC-1, consider backtracking to Linux Essentials to fill in the gaps.

“Linux continues to dominate in the data center, so having advanced knowledge and problem-solving skills makes for better technology decisions.” With Linux so prevalent in the lives of SysAdmins, there are lots of reasons to go open source.

“Being a system administrator is more than knowing the tools and systems,” Shawn continued. “It really requires the ability to think outside the box. Learning [Linux] ultimately prepares you to be a system administrator, which makes you far more valuable as an employee (or potential employee).”

2 So You Want To Be A System Administrator?Index

Is Computer Systems Technician the career path for you? Do you really want to do sysadmin work?

I still maintain that if the tech has no independent interest in technology and just regards it as a job, it will be an ongoing battle to keep the tech up to date with the latest developments or to elicit any form of enthusiasm or excitement for the work. Having a tech who is engaged and excited about new technology becomes particularly important during a rollout, where the tech is uniquely positioned to influence users’ attitudes toward the changes in their environment. Rollouts can cause considerable stress to users who are now required to learn a new product to perform their job function. Having a tech who is excited and engaged with the new product will encourage and reassure the users. – Traits of a top-notch support technician

• Traits of a top-notch support technician

  • Self-discipline
  • The ability to effectively prioritize tasks
  • Dedication and commitment to problem resolution
  • A detail-oriented working style
  • The ability to learn from experience and from informal/formal instruction
  • The ability to think logically and creatively
  • A demonstrated independent interest in technology

• 10 signs that you aren’t cut out for IT.

  • You lack patience
  • You have no desire to continue your education
  • You refuse to work outside 9-to-5
  • You give up quickly
  • You’re easily frustrated
  • You can’t multitask

• 10 signs that you aren’t cut out to be a support tech

  • You hate technology
  • You’re a bit shaky when it comes to problem solving
  • You lack patience
  • You give up quickly
  • You’re easily frustrated
  • You can’t multitask
  • You’re not really driven to keep up with tech trends
  • You have no desire to continue your education
  • You don’t handle stress terribly well
  • You refuse to work outside 9-to-5

• The Computer Systems Technician program is well-suited for students who:

  • Like it when things go wrong
  • Have good problem-solving and analytical skills.
  • Enjoy the challenge of a constantly evolving field.
  • Are interested in learning how to design and implement computers, operating systems and networking technology solutions.

• To keep your job in IT, you need to know your stuff and add value that can’t be purchased for $5/hour overseas.

• A College education may be an advantage. Students know that a university education today is no guarantee of a good job and only offers a leg up in a brutally competitive job market. That is why many now combine a degree with a vocational qualification from a college […]

• The steps up to graduation may be small compared with the step after

• What are you doing with your spare time? Playing with computer science or playing card and video games? Which will give you better answers at your next job interview?

3 On Work and Liking What You DoIndex

• Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield’s advice:

Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow, and the day after that. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought you’d be, but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in. Don’t let life randomly kick you into the adult you don’t want to become. Hadfield’s reddit chat, quoted on forbes.com

• Philosopher Alan Watts on doing what you desire (many versions):

  • What do you desire?
  • What do you desire?
  • What do you desire?
  • Intermixed with words from Steve Jobs: What do you desire?
  • Transcripts only of What do you desire?:
    • Illustrated at Zen Pencils: What do you desire?
    • What do you desire?
    • What do you desire?

• Everything starts with an idea. This is the first of the four jobs – the Thinkers. Builders convert these ideas into reality. This the second job. Improvers make this reality better. This is the third job. Producers do the work over and over again, delivering quality goods and services to the company’s customers in a repeatable manner. This is the fourth job. And then the process begins again with new ideas and new ways of doing business being developed as the old ones become stale.

• Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, on work:

  • Excerpt below audio

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.

Author: 
| Ian! D. Allen, BA, MMath  -  idallen@idallen.ca  -  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| Home Page: http://idallen.com/   Contact Improv: http://contactimprov.ca/
| College professor (Free/Libre GNU+Linux) at: http://teaching.idallen.com/
| Defend digital freedom:  http://eff.org/  and have fun:  http://fools.ca/