On Sun, Jun 29, 2008 at 6:56 AM, Dave Koelmeyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > So let's say I want to geek up and earn some serious dollars in the process. > What sort of opportunities are available out there for people with Solaris > expertise? For example, what are the sort of environments where people with > this knowledge would be in demand - ie. where should I be looking?
I think that Sun's key markets include finance, insurance, healthcare, and telecom. I've been employed and/or interviewed at large Solaris shops in all of these markets. > Also, what level of expertise should I be aiming at for the above in-demand > roles? What aspects of the OS do I need bulletproof knowledge of? I'm not > stupid, but UNIX is still very new to me, things like shell scripting I have > next to zero knowledge of. I can find my way around via CLI okay, but still > have a preference for a GUI when available :-p Pick an area that interests you and get really good at it. Getting really good at it will require you to learn other things along the way - which is essential to being a decent admin. One thing that I feel that every admin should know is how the system boots. That is, what are all the things that happen from the time that the power button is pressed until "svcs -x" shows no output. Don't just remember it from a book - break things and figure out how you can fix them. Alter the defaults and see what happens. > Should I do training or obtain certification? What's the best way to learn > "it" - maybe attach myself to a casual project and work "for free" for a bit? Some shops have Solaris certification as an entry or continued employment criteria. If you run into this, get the certification. When Sun comes out with new versions of their exams, they commonly run them for free in a beta program. Keep your eyes open for this when Solaris 11 (or whatever 10+1 equals) comes out. I took (and passed) the first half of the Solaris 10 SCSA beta exam to understand what it was about. I came away from it with little enough respect for it that I didn't bother taking the second half even though it would have been no cost to me. I've also taken (and passed) the RHCE exam and could clearly see that in order to pass the test you have to have good system administration skills and Linux/UNIX knowledge to pass. In other words, when I see that someone is Solaris certified I say "Great - you know how to study for a multiple choice test." When I see that someone has a RHCE I say "this person probably has a pretty good understanding of how a UNIX system works." Most places that have Solaris also have Linux. Having a Linux certification would certainly not be a detriment in such places. -- Mike Gerdts http://mgerdts.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
