Cross Skilling Across Multi-OS Platforms?

drtheman asks: "I have been working in the IT industry for the last 10 years, 7 of those as a UNIX system administrator. I have been noticing over the last year or two that companies are becoming very pedantic about specific skills that a UNIX sysadmin should have. Most troubling for myself is the so called multi-skilled UNIX/NT administrator. It's a given that any seasoned UNIX admin should have *some* Windows knowledge, and cross skilling is something that shouldn't be balked at. However, after coming from large enterprise environments, where the UNIX boys do the UNIX stuff and the NT guys do the Windows stuff, I just find it a little troubling that if I don't adapt with certifications in these platforms I may become unemployable. Do other enterprise admins think that this is too much for us to take on, and companies are just expecting more bang for their buck these days? I can understand that these multi-skilled people are needed in the smaller shops, but I would like to know how it would work effectively in larger ones."

Comments

Just say "No!"

[Syre]

Just say NO!

Using Windows NT servers is a symptom of lack of technical knowledge in a company.

Windows servers tend to be unreliable security risks, so you're getting yourself into a double headache by supporting them: not only do you have to deal with the servers, but you also have to deal with the corporate mentality which approved them in the first place.

So my approach: just say "NO!" and don't work for companies where you're expected to support Windows servers.

Then you don't need cross-platform knowledge and you don't get the headaches.