That was really interesting to read, thanks. It sounds like you are or at least were at one point on the way to becoming a (semi)competent sysadmin. Any advice on how one does that for those who think it’d be nice to have a marketable skill that can be learned to employable levels in 3-6 months?
Any advice on how one does that for those who think it’d be nice to have a marketable skill that can be learned to employable levels in 3-6 months?
I don’t think one can. Optimistically, one can learn the Unix environment (shells, scripting, the CLI tools, that sort of thing) in 3-6 months, but that’s just a start.
Great Ghu. Okay, I believe. Does the answer change if employable is taken to mean worth hiring to do some low level work under supervision of someone who is genuinely competent?
That makes me hesitant to combine learning linux through Ubuntu and Python. Is that a reasonable hesitancy?
Does the answer change if employable is taken to mean worth hiring to do some low level work under supervision of someone who is genuinely competent?
I don’t know. My imagination is impoverished, and I can’t think of anything that your basic Linux poweruser is useful for that doesn’t require more advanced sysadmin chops.
That makes me hesitant to combine learning linux through Ubuntu and Python. Is that a reasonable hesitancy?
Python (and most FLOSS languages) work best under a Linux, so it’s not unreasonable. It’s more reasonable than learning it under Windows, for example.
Power user! I don’t think I’ve heard that word in a long time. Google Trends somewhat confirms my intuition, showing a fairly steady decline since they started keeping track. Unfortunately they only have data back to 2004, my intuition suggests that the word had already been in decline for some time at that point.
I picked up a skill point or two in server wrangling, but I’m nowhere near employable as a sysadmin (I’m a C++ programmer). So the only advice I can offer is generic: mess around with stuff that interests you until you get good at it. It’s not very structured advice, to be sure. :->
Why would you be hesitant to learn (one or more flavors of) linux and python? I’d call such learning autotelic, but even if it’s not fun for you, there are thousands of things in life (including but not limited to many diverse career paths) that are improved by the ability to get a computer to help you do stuff.
You should include your opportunity cost in the question, though. What’s the next-best thing you will be (not “could be”, but actually expect with the same likelihood as learning linux and python) doing if NOT learning these things. Learning windows administration details and C# is probably pretty valuable. Learning accounting standards and how to talk to business people is valuable. Actually working for someone and learning their specific business is valuable.
Reading less wrong and learning/discussing/exploring far-mode rationality is valuable too, but probably a lot less than the above options.
This question is offtopic for this post, but it could make a good discussion in an open thread. I’ll give my answer anyway because I don’t have the willpower to resist (or to phrase in the current metaphor, because it’s exothermic to do so, and the activation energy is less than my current ambient heat).
I tend to agree with others that 3-6 months is ludicrous to start from scratch and end up with marketable technical competence (there are exceptions, of course—some truly unusual individuals or those starting with competence in some related endeavor might be able to do so).
If you’re genuinely interested in the topic, you likely started years ago, and you really should ask “given where I am now, how should I focus my learning to get started in employment in the field”. If you’re not interested, it’s hard to imagine that you’ll ever be good at it, and you might should ask “how do I generate interest (in myself) for this topic so I can get good at it”.
That was really interesting to read, thanks. It sounds like you are or at least were at one point on the way to becoming a (semi)competent sysadmin. Any advice on how one does that for those who think it’d be nice to have a marketable skill that can be learned to employable levels in 3-6 months?
I don’t think one can. Optimistically, one can learn the Unix environment (shells, scripting, the CLI tools, that sort of thing) in 3-6 months, but that’s just a start.
Great Ghu. Okay, I believe. Does the answer change if employable is taken to mean worth hiring to do some low level work under supervision of someone who is genuinely competent?
That makes me hesitant to combine learning linux through Ubuntu and Python. Is that a reasonable hesitancy?
I don’t know. My imagination is impoverished, and I can’t think of anything that your basic Linux poweruser is useful for that doesn’t require more advanced sysadmin chops.
Python (and most FLOSS languages) work best under a Linux, so it’s not unreasonable. It’s more reasonable than learning it under Windows, for example.
Power user! I don’t think I’ve heard that word in a long time. Google Trends somewhat confirms my intuition, showing a fairly steady decline since they started keeping track. Unfortunately they only have data back to 2004, my intuition suggests that the word had already been in decline for some time at that point.
I picked up a skill point or two in server wrangling, but I’m nowhere near employable as a sysadmin (I’m a C++ programmer). So the only advice I can offer is generic: mess around with stuff that interests you until you get good at it. It’s not very structured advice, to be sure. :->
Why would you be hesitant to learn (one or more flavors of) linux and python? I’d call such learning autotelic, but even if it’s not fun for you, there are thousands of things in life (including but not limited to many diverse career paths) that are improved by the ability to get a computer to help you do stuff.
You should include your opportunity cost in the question, though. What’s the next-best thing you will be (not “could be”, but actually expect with the same likelihood as learning linux and python) doing if NOT learning these things. Learning windows administration details and C# is probably pretty valuable. Learning accounting standards and how to talk to business people is valuable. Actually working for someone and learning their specific business is valuable.
Reading less wrong and learning/discussing/exploring far-mode rationality is valuable too, but probably a lot less than the above options.
This question is offtopic for this post, but it could make a good discussion in an open thread. I’ll give my answer anyway because I don’t have the willpower to resist (or to phrase in the current metaphor, because it’s exothermic to do so, and the activation energy is less than my current ambient heat).
I tend to agree with others that 3-6 months is ludicrous to start from scratch and end up with marketable technical competence (there are exceptions, of course—some truly unusual individuals or those starting with competence in some related endeavor might be able to do so).
If you’re genuinely interested in the topic, you likely started years ago, and you really should ask “given where I am now, how should I focus my learning to get started in employment in the field”. If you’re not interested, it’s hard to imagine that you’ll ever be good at it, and you might should ask “how do I generate interest (in myself) for this topic so I can get good at it”.
It might be possible to do it in a year, however:
http://philip.greenspun.com/teaching/undergrad-cs
http://philip.greenspun.com/teaching/teaching-software-engineering
(Perhaps with some additional techniques like spaced repetition?)