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Seeking Hands-on Training Programs?
thekernel32 asks: "Recently the topic of getting people trained in the Linux/UNIX environment has troubled me. Where are people going for this stuff? I recall taking an Microsoft Networking Essentials class that I dropped out of. The reason why I dropped the Microsoft class was because we were being taught about the existence of Routers, File Servers and other networking topics, but we never saw or [worked with] any of them. I really feel that it would have been more useful to get hands on experience with daemons and real hardware, rather than just being told that they exist. What decent training programs out there have a hands on approach?"
Where are people going for this stuff?
A few hours with a LUG will do wonders. Yeah, people harp about 'certs' and 'proper training', but noone knows linux better than the people who love it and are willing to help others.
You can do both. Sysadmins who code are usually more competent. Programmers who sysadmin often write more usable system administration programs.
When I was in junior high school, I still thought programming was fun. On my trusty Apple ][e I experimented with fractals and cellular autonoma, and wrote some pretty sophisticated Zork-style text adventure games. Then I got to college and took my first actual programming courses. There I discovered that in the real world I was going to be spending most of my time writing programs other people wanted.
After changing my major a few times, I eventually ended up back in the IT world, this time on the administration side of things. As another poster pointed out, the appeal of sysadmining is watching the whole system work. I get the same thrill out of controlling a remote server thousands of miles away, as I did running my model railroad as a kid.