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

Cross-skilling is a must

[TripMaster Monkey]

I myself am coming from the opposite direction (Microsoft guru, *nix acolyte), and from what I've seen, a decently cross-skilled admin can pretty much write their own ticket. I wouldn't go so far as to say that if you aren't cross-skilled, you will eventually be unemployable...there will always be work for an admin that's competent enough, especilly a Unix admin like yourself. But a cros-skilled admin brings much more to the table...not just for the obvious reason of being able to work on either platform, but because they can work on both platforms. The point I'm trying to get across here is that Unix/Microsoft interoperability is a big matzah ball in today's tech world, and an admin that can understand how Windows and Unix play together (and why they occasionally don't) will be valued much more...in essence, the cross-skilled tech is worth more than the sum of his parts.

Re:Cross-skilling is a must

[joe_bruin]

Everyone here is going to tell you the same thing, diversify. But here's the reality: if you limit yourself to one domain (like only UNIX) you're really closing some doors for yourself. If you know enough of NT administration (I assume you'll have to be interfacing with Windows at some point), you're far more useful. !!HOWEVER!!, don't confuse that with becoming a master of Windows admining, unless you want to face the very real possibility that this is what you'll be doing exclusively in the future. When some PHB in your company decides to put in some Windows servers, who's going to be admining them, you, or your coworker who only knows UNIX systems? Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Know enough to fix problems when they affect your work. Don't know enough (or at least pretend not to) so that the bulk of the work of NT administration is Somebody Else's Problem.

Re:Cross-skilling is a must

[bonehead]

I do exactly that. In fact, I think I may have stumbled across a whole new career path as a result.

I can't even go into much detail about it, but my dabbling in some (relatively) new tech, combined with attending a convention related to the industry that my company is in (not IT related), resulted in me being able to sit in meetings and say "why not just do such and such" and watch peoples jaws hit the floor. My ideas weren't brilliant, in fact they were painfully obvious. It's just that the IT guys didn't understand the industry well enough to see it, and the industry guys didn't understand IT well enough to see it. I've only been home from that convention for a week and there are already contracts being drawn up for my company to partner with some pretty heavy hitters to implement my ideas.

I don't say that to brag, believe me. I'm the type that will probably get so focused on the tech aspect that I get screwed on the business aspect. Nothing to brag about at all. I simply bring it up to point out the value of developing at least a working familiarity in as many different areas as possible.

You don't have to master everything you dabble in, but there is real value in being reasonably well versed in as many areas as possible. Never lose sight of the bigger picture.

Keep in mind

[agent dero]

These are usually recommendations on job sites for resumes that companies most likely will toss out because the guy hiring "knows some guy."

I honestly can say I don't have a certification in any regards, I have experience, and "I know people."

IMHO, 9 times out of 10, knowing somebody will get you farther than another bullet point on a resume

More likely

[temojen]

The HR people have a checklist of skills (or worse, certifications and buzzwords) but don't actually know what the job requires.

Re:More likely

[fiveRocketCars]

I can testify to that point. The HR folks are generally given a boiler plate job description in which they ask if you have the specified skills. They usually don't even know what the acronyms stand for.

Competent/confident individuals should just appease the HR folks with yes/yes/yes/..., and then talk to a technical person at the next stage to see what the company is looking for, and if you are a good fit.

And those ratings of 1 to 5 are very subjective, and think of some of the idiots you've worked with in the past, and what rating they would chose for themselves, and then chose your own accordingly.

Realistically I might consider myself a 3-4 level at a particular skill (because I know there is ALWAYS, much, much more to learn), but for an HR screening interview, i'm always a 5 for the critical skills.

Re:More likely

[laird]

While it's certainly true that HR people only know keywords and not substance, there's a good reason to hire people with cross-platform experience -- it's much better for the company.

First, it gives the company more flexibility. If you need more NT or UNIX work done right now, you can shift people fluidly rather than having one team idle while the other is idle.

Second, it leads to more mature and coherent decision making. If you have separate UNIX and NT teams, they'll each come up with a completely different set of answers for everything (and usually compete, which is crazy for morale), so you'll end up running two separate environments, and thus two of everything, so IIS and Apache, Active Directory and LDAP, etc., with little to no integration. But if you hire people who understand both platforms, you can come up with a a unified strategy for the entire company, and make decisions based on technical issues rather than religion.

Re:More likely

[cayenne8]

I find that an SA, at any level...if you work as a good DBA or other high level user...can if you have a good working relationship, can help drive new purchases...steering away from MS, and go for Unix/Linux boxes. I work with Oracle a great deal, and I know I work to push avoidance of MS whenever I possibly can.

With security in DoD systems...we run into the ability of granual rights privs. Now, on Oracle systems on windows...we have to have an SA sit with us to log us in, and basically sit and read a book while we do simple things like apply the new quartely security updates, or new software.

A total waste of money. On the Unix/Linux systems, we can be given proper privs where we can do what we need to...even sudo or IAS systems...and not have to have an SA sit 'babysitting' us.

Sure..you need to know a bit about all OSes...but, if everyone pulls together in the server room...you can sway in many cases the PHB's to go for a working platform....something MEANT for the server environment.

Sure...win can be good for the desktop, but, we gotta all pull together in the server area to get a platform we can all work on easily.

Put it in terms you can understand

[Hadlock]

What they're trying to tell you is, if you're a 12th level Unix Mage, it wouldn't hurt to pick up a 2nd level XP Paladin. If your party's level 15 XP Paladin dies, the party still needs the Paladin's basic skills, like light network healing and saving patch all infected computers roll abilities. You can keep working on getting your level 18 Unix Mage, with the Write kernel from scratch Feat, but you're gonna have to make some sacrifices for the party to keep it moving forward.

Boys? Guys?

[cniebla]

...the UNIX boys do the UNIX stuff and the NT guys do...

Shouldn't we have to be MUCH MORE willing to accept that there are girls in IT? we start by accepting this fact, and being less and less "boy" centric, and many will come ;)

... my experience ...

[ninjagin]

I was at a very small startup a year ago, and now I'm at a Fortune 15 company. At the startup, we supported one product on windows, SunOS and Linux. Here, we support dozens of products on windows, linux, AIX, HP and any number of handhelds, but our office is mainly a UNIX shop. My office machine is a winXP laptop, but the real technical work I do is all performed through xterms to the big UNIX servers in the data center. Being able to get around and do what you need to do on all platforms your company uses seems to be a thread I've recognized in my last three jobs.

Where I've found that I've been able to demonstrate the most value is in those situations where we need to get something done on a platform that nobody on the team has used before. I don't have a whole lot of fear of alternate platforms -- their really just new learning opportunities. Sure, I have assumptions and preferences about what one can do better than another, but these become more educated opinions the more I have to work in alternative platform contexts. For example, I have to drive a continuous integration project for some development teams that use C# and .Net, when most of my experience has been with Sun Java and Web Services. I recognize that I don't know diddly about how to do the job under the new conditions, but I'll have more value (I hope (crosses fingers)) when I get to the end because of what the challenge will force me to learn.

As a rule, I'd say that being adaptable, and willing to accept the challenge of learning new stuff has been more important to me (and how I think I'm being valued) than being (and staying) the uber-733+ lord of one platform or technology. Then again, I also have a lot more resources to draw upon at the current job. At the last one, I'd have to buy the necessary books and learn it all on my own. Were I still there, I might think differently.

Hope it helps,

Not true in small shops

[tentimestwenty]

In smaller businesses or development houses, it's simply a monetary issue. You want to hire one guy who can do it all, or at least do it all 90% of the time and find a creative solution the other 10%. You only have to pay one person as opposed to two. It's the same in creative houses. Nowadays if you want to be a web developer on your own or in a small house you have to be able to do everything from HTML to PHP to PERL to Flash/Actionscript and maybe even MySQL. Since the bottom fell out of the market, companies just can't afford to hire 5 experts where 1 guy with medium knowledge will suffice.

It is indeed a very simplistic view

[apankrat]

Almost everything boils down to a matter of syntax

In case of Windows it actually boils down to being ready for most bizzare sh*t you cant even imagine.

Like installing buggy USB driver f*cking up DHCP client's ability to renew IP address. Or installing desktop skinning software causing Windows to start failing installation of virtual network adapters. Or that disabling (certain) personal firewall software actually not having a full effect on a traffic until the next reboot.

Truly entertaining stuff. Far more lively than just mastering command syntax :)

Also

[Sycraft-fu]

Even if your gorinization is big enough to have seperate techs, never say that you'll never have to work on the other side. I mean say you are the UNIX guy for a company, all you do is mind the UNIX servers and write programs for them and so on. Windows is handled by a team of Windows guys. Then, one day, all but one of your Windows guys isn't there. They are sick, or on vaction, whatever, it's just one guy and something major happens. A virus starts making the rounds as the CEO has a big presentation to give.

Well, if you say "I don't do Windoze that's not my job, go away," you won't be very popular. Sure you aren't a Windows guy, however users don't really understand that. You are a computer guy, why won't you come fix their computer? If, however, you know enough about Windows to do basic systems tasks, you can help the Windows guy, go get the CEO setup with Powerpoint and such, and come out looking like a hero because you were able to fix things not directly your responsiblity.

I know if I were in a technical management position, I'd much prefer those with some skill, and more importantly willingness to work with all our various platforms. I'd rather not have a Linux guy that will only do Linux because if time comes I need 110% out of the crew I have for a problem on a different platform, he's not going to be any help.

Re:certifications are a waste of money

[Anonymous Luddite]

>> I am (as an employer looking to hire) less interested in certs than I am in quantifiable skills

You, Sir are in the minority.

Most large companies have HR staff that think Excel is a programming language and that MCSE means something. (I work with many MCSEs - you need to force an admission out of the competent ones, but the useless ones all put it in their .sig file - but I digress.) Most businesses large enough to pay well for a skilled professional also have hiring processes that hinder selection of real talent.

If I sound bitter, I am. Not cuz I'm looking for work, but because I have to work with the results of a broken hiring process...

The enterprise ain't the norm...

[Leomania]

However, after coming from large enterprise environments, where the UNIX boys do the UNIX stuff and the NT guys do the Windows stuff [snip]

After watching friends in the IT industry deal with difficult employment situations in Silicon Vally, I have to say that cross-functionality is a must. One friend in particular has been forced to accept positions at relatively small companies, and the people that run these places just don't understand, well, much of anything about computer infrastructure. One choice quote: "If the CEO isn't having any problems, he thinks that no one else is either." The same guy that thinks a four-hour per week IT consultant can keep their systems, network infrastructure and Windows boxen all running happily. Decisions are made more through egotistical and micromanagerial mechanisms rather than entrusting the computing environment to the ones knowledgeable enough to make those decisions.

So while the enterprise may have more vertical job functions, the smaller shops have a variety of needs dictated more by the (lack of) knowledge of the management than the real needs of the computing infrastructure. You should probably increase your employability by getting your MCSE, but at the same time be wary of those smaller shops. Without wanting to be a pessimist, I'd assume the worst if you're going to be the sole IT guy/gal, or even part of a team of three or less.