From junkmail@chisp.net Sun May 9 19:18:44 1999 Path: news.service.uci.edu!usc!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!pln-w!spln!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!rprowel From: junkmail@chisp.net (Bob Prowel) Newsgroups: comp.unix.solaris Subject: Re: Solaris Career Advice..anyone? Date: Mon, 10 May 99 02:18:26 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 111 Message-ID: <7h5f9b$51f@enews3.newsguy.com> References: <37327E97.19E7A67F@yahoo.com> Reply-To: mlholloway@yahoo.com NNTP-Posting-Host: p-428.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: News Xpress 2.0 Beta #2 Mark: I'd love to share some observations with you about flavors of UNIX and what is really relevant. First, UNIX is UNIX is UNIX...Now, let me qualify that. If you fully understand UNIX (and I mean you fully understand things like why a boot block is necessary on a hard disk and the difference betweeen user and system mode) then it really doesn't matter what flavor of UNIX you speak. It comes down to the difference between a real computer scientist and a person who thinks that you use admintool to add users because that's what they told you to do in the SUN systems admin class. Unfortunately, the marketing companies (pimps, headhunters, agents) that usually advertise in online job services have a different agenda. Their goal is 1) to provide someone with the exact skillset that comes across their screen in a job work order. 2) to provide someone who will work cheap enough to keep them in business and give them a nice bonus or commision. I could spend many pages going into why the goals of most marketing/consulting companies are not compatible with your goals but you'll have to wait for my book on that one. To summarize: it's really tough to find headhunters who are technical enough to understand for themselves why it doesn't matter that you use SUNOS 4.1 and Solaris 2.5.1 when the job order is for Linux, or that you are a master with HPs LVM but the job order specifies someone who can setup paritions with Veritas Volume Manager. Most of these recruiters at headhunting firms are re-educated HR folks who have no clue. My advise: Yes, try to get as much varied experience on as wide a variety of equipment and software as you can, but only so that you begin to see that they're all pretty much the same, and so that you begin to be able to predict the behavior of equipment you've never touched before. The one caveat I can share with you is that your FreeBSD is based upon technology that is going by the wayside. To remain marketable you must start using SVR4 compatible systems. Sure, a BSD person can use a SVR4 machine but they will spend a lot more time trying to figure out the syntax of the commands and where things like startup files are located. Hang in there and go for the gold! -Bob Prowel I am bob at prowel systems dot company, but without the word systems in my address and the word company should be truncated to com. In article <37327E97.19E7A67F@yahoo.com>, Mark Holloway wrote: >Hello.. I don't kow how to start this out other than saying I'm a BIG >FreeBSD fan! I've been using it on my Peniutm II machines at home and >now only is it fast, but it's powerful. > >Now for the bad news.. I went to Dice.com, Headhunter.com, and >Monster.com. When you do a career "search" based on OSs this it what >the ranks of available jobs/wanted skills look like: > >Solaris (5500+) >HP-UX (2300+) >AIX (2000+) >IRIX (400+) >*BSD (280+) >Linux (300+) > >So does this mean I should dump my FreeBSD system in favor of >Solaris? To say the least, I have the Solaris 7 promo from Sun. I >*just* got a Sparc 4 that I have temporarily from a friend. I also have >someone willing to sell me a [slow] decent Sparc 10 dual 40/1MB Cache >system complete with 20" monitor w/remote for $650. > >Sometimes I feel like a needle in a haystack with FreeBSD. My skills >wouldn't be in as high of a demand as Solaris. At the same time, my >PRIMARY focus [and what I do at my current job] is 95% hardware >related: switches, routers, hubs, fddi, frame relay, isdn, telco, etc.. >I hold several certifications and I'm studying for my CCIE right now. >So, part of me says "Who cares which Unix you learn because it may not >matter so much later!" - but then the othe half of me says "Are you >crazy? Having top notch Cisco + Solaris skills can't be beat!". > >Sure, I know a handfule of companies use FreeBSD: Yahoo, Gamespot, >Hotmail, Link Exchange, UUNET. That's great publicity but Excite, >Lycos, Netscape, and tons more are using Solaris. At my work everything >is NT and HP-UX. [89 NT Servers, 60 HP 9000 K Series Servers]. But who >cares. > >My ultimate goal within the next 2 years is to establish a career in the >"Internet" community. I worked in it before (using my MCSE in that >area) and enjoyed it a lot. Now I work in one of the USA's largest >Health Care Organizations. It's fun, but doesn't deliver the same >satisfaction is working for an amazing IPO like Yahoo, Netscape, etc, >you get the idea.. > >I guess there are two factors: > >1) Since my primary focus is Network Hardware, does it even matter >whether I learn Solaris, FreeBSD, or Irix for that matter. > >2) If I buy a Sparc 10 dual 41 is that going to be enough for learning >sys admin stuff at home? IE. DNS, Sendmail, Squid, Raptor Firewall, >and whatever else? With building my Cisco lab I am not in a position to >buy a $3k Ultra right now. > >Thank to whoever read through all of this. I appreciate any feedback! > >Regards, >Mark Holloway > > From junkmail@chisp.net Sun May 9 19:18:44 1999 Path: news.service.uci.edu!usc!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!pln-w!spln!extra.newsguy.com!newsp.newsguy.com!rprowel From: junkmail@chisp.net (Bob Prowel) Newsgroups: comp.unix.solaris Subject: Re: Solaris Career Advice..anyone? Date: Mon, 10 May 99 02:18:26 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Lines: 111 Message-ID: <7h5f9b$51f@enews3.newsguy.com> References: <37327E97.19E7A67F@yahoo.com> Reply-To: mlholloway@yahoo.com NNTP-Posting-Host: p-428.newsdawg.com X-Newsreader: News Xpress 2.0 Beta #2 Mark: I'd love to share some observations with you about flavors of UNIX and what is really relevant. First, UNIX is UNIX is UNIX...Now, let me qualify that. If you fully understand UNIX (and I mean you fully understand things like why a boot block is necessary on a hard disk and the difference betweeen user and system mode) then it really doesn't matter what flavor of UNIX you speak. It comes down to the difference between a real computer scientist and a person who thinks that you use admintool to add users because that's what they told you to do in the SUN systems admin class. Unfortunately, the marketing companies (pimps, headhunters, agents) that usually advertise in online job services have a different agenda. Their goal is 1) to provide someone with the exact skillset that comes across their screen in a job work order. 2) to provide someone who will work cheap enough to keep them in business and give them a nice bonus or commision. I could spend many pages going into why the goals of most marketing/consulting companies are not compatible with your goals but you'll have to wait for my book on that one. To summarize: it's really tough to find headhunters who are technical enough to understand for themselves why it doesn't matter that you use SUNOS 4.1 and Solaris 2.5.1 when the job order is for Linux, or that you are a master with HPs LVM but the job order specifies someone who can setup paritions with Veritas Volume Manager. Most of these recruiters at headhunting firms are re-educated HR folks who have no clue. My advise: Yes, try to get as much varied experience on as wide a variety of equipment and software as you can, but only so that you begin to see that they're all pretty much the same, and so that you begin to be able to predict the behavior of equipment you've never touched before. The one caveat I can share with you is that your FreeBSD is based upon technology that is going by the wayside. To remain marketable you must start using SVR4 compatible systems. Sure, a BSD person can use a SVR4 machine but they will spend a lot more time trying to figure out the syntax of the commands and where things like startup files are located. Hang in there and go for the gold! -Bob Prowel I am bob at prowel systems dot company, but without the word systems in my address and the word company should be truncated to com. In article <37327E97.19E7A67F@yahoo.com>, Mark Holloway wrote: >Hello.. I don't kow how to start this out other than saying I'm a BIG >FreeBSD fan! I've been using it on my Peniutm II machines at home and >now only is it fast, but it's powerful. > >Now for the bad news.. I went to Dice.com, Headhunter.com, and >Monster.com. When you do a career "search" based on OSs this it what >the ranks of available jobs/wanted skills look like: > >Solaris (5500+) >HP-UX (2300+) >AIX (2000+) >IRIX (400+) >*BSD (280+) >Linux (300+) > >So does this mean I should dump my FreeBSD system in favor of >Solaris? To say the least, I have the Solaris 7 promo from Sun. I >*just* got a Sparc 4 that I have temporarily from a friend. I also have >someone willing to sell me a [slow] decent Sparc 10 dual 40/1MB Cache >system complete with 20" monitor w/remote for $650. > >Sometimes I feel like a needle in a haystack with FreeBSD. My skills >wouldn't be in as high of a demand as Solaris. At the same time, my >PRIMARY focus [and what I do at my current job] is 95% hardware >related: switches, routers, hubs, fddi, frame relay, isdn, telco, etc.. >I hold several certifications and I'm studying for my CCIE right now. >So, part of me says "Who cares which Unix you learn because it may not >matter so much later!" - but then the othe half of me says "Are you >crazy? Having top notch Cisco + Solaris skills can't be beat!". > >Sure, I know a handfule of companies use FreeBSD: Yahoo, Gamespot, >Hotmail, Link Exchange, UUNET. That's great publicity but Excite, >Lycos, Netscape, and tons more are using Solaris. At my work everything >is NT and HP-UX. [89 NT Servers, 60 HP 9000 K Series Servers]. But who >cares. > >My ultimate goal within the next 2 years is to establish a career in the >"Internet" community. I worked in it before (using my MCSE in that >area) and enjoyed it a lot. Now I work in one of the USA's largest >Health Care Organizations. It's fun, but doesn't deliver the same >satisfaction is working for an amazing IPO like Yahoo, Netscape, etc, >you get the idea.. > >I guess there are two factors: > >1) Since my primary focus is Network Hardware, does it even matter >whether I learn Solaris, FreeBSD, or Irix for that matter. > >2) If I buy a Sparc 10 dual 41 is that going to be enough for learning >sys admin stuff at home? IE. DNS, Sendmail, Squid, Raptor Firewall, >and whatever else? With building my Cisco lab I am not in a position to >buy a $3k Ultra right now. > >Thank to whoever read through all of this. I appreciate any feedback! > >Regards, >Mark Holloway > >