Re: Who can be a Seniour unix sys admin?

[Bayard Coolidge USG ZKO3-3/S20]

Niall Kavanagh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>>> Everybody at my current (but soon to be old) company is a
>>> "senior consultant/analyst"

Well, so much for a meaningless strata.

Here, the old DEC had titles like:

{hardware|software|manufacturing|...} Engineer I
{hardware|software|manufacturing|...} Engineer II
{hardware|software|manufacturing|...} Senior Engineer
{hardware|software|manufacturing|...} Principal Engineer
{hardware|software|manufacturing|...} Consultant Engineer
{hardware|software|manufacturing|...} Senior Consultant Engineer

And no one was promoted to the Consultant titles without having gone
through a rigorous review board at the corporate level. Typically the
Engineer I's were promoted technicians; college new-hires were I's or
II's, and so forth. Compaq has changed the levels so that there are
now 6 titles (I-VI) spanning the sub-Consultant levels. The Consultant
levels have been renamed "Member of the Technical Staff". These folks
are viewed as _the_ gurus - typically having had papers and/or books
published, recognized in the industry as the movers and shakers who
work on Standards committees, etc.

Many of these titles can be traced back to job descriptions that
have been adapted from various US government (as well as various
Engineering societies, such as IEEE and NSPE) job descriptions which
cite things like education, experience, breadth and depth of knowledge,
size of responsibility (sub-component, component, multiple components
in a project, entire projects, etc.), number of people directed, etc.

So, yes, there are always other people and/or positions that your job
can be compared to, in one form or another. Just because a particular
organization has no "junior" people, doesn't mean the senior people
aren't worthy of the title. I once had to install some equipment in
a particular activity of the U.S. Navy - there was no one in it below
the rank of Lt. Commander (O-4, or "Major" in the other US Armed 
Forces),
except the company clerk and the (E-5) enlisted man who was the "system
operator". He left the Navy a few months later after he finished his 
Master's!

Just my 20 millidollars' worth,

Bayard


-- 
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Bayard R. Coolidge      N1HO    DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed are
Compaq Computer Corp.           solely those of the author, and not
Nashua, New Hampshire, USA      those of Compaq Computer Corporation
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (DEC '77-'98)              or any other entity.
"Brake for Moose - It can save your life" - N.H. Fish & Game Dept.
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