Where Should One Go for Unix/Linux Training?

jwitko asks: "I work for an international telecommunications company. They're pretty enormous when it comes to size/budget so their willingness to send employees to get training and to better themselves is pretty strong. I am simply a student who got lucky to become a part-time contractor with this company and I've loved every minute of it. My job primarily relies on working on Unix platforms and installing/configuring our product on laptops for sales people to go out and sell to telecommunications company's (ex: T-Mobile, Verizon, and so forth). However, before I came to this company I had barely ever even touched a Unix-based OS. This summer, I would like to travel to as many different seminars, lectures, and classes to really get experience with *nix based operating systems and learn a lot more about how to use them. Where are some good places to find ongoing seminars, lectures, etc. in Unix and Linux that you think would really help a somewhat-new guy learn a lot and become more experienced?"

Comments

LISA 2006

[Corbets]

I highly recommend LISA, although if you're truly novice it may be a bit above your level. It wasn't the most advanced training, but it did assume an intermediate knowledge of Unix when I attended in '04. There's a variety of seminars you can attend, learning about topics that interest you or discussing up and coming technologies that your company could/does make use of. I focused on the security track and got to learn some very interesting things that I later applied in my environment (about 150 systems at one point).

It's a by-Unix-people for-Unix-people sort of thing, so not really formal training, but still very educational.

Of course, when I attended it was in Atlanta (Hotlanta?) which may have made it more enjoyable than this year's Washington DC location. :)

A few random ideas...

[Noryungi]

Off the top of my head...

1. Get this book: Invaluable. Read it, from start to finish. It's that good.
2. Get this other book: also very good.
3. Check out your local Linux/BSD/UNIX user group: google is your friend for this. For instance, NYCBUG is very good if you live in New York City. Also Linux International has got a lot of conference-related announcements.
4. Pick a Linux distribution, any Linux distribution really, and try to find forums and User's group in your area. Then, do the same for another distro. And another. Lather, rinse, repeat.
5. For complete newbies, Linux Questions and The Linux Documentation Project are invaluable places to start. For more advanced advice, check out Unix Guru universe, or the O'Reilly web site.
6. Finally, do check the local university and/or community college to see if they offer some sort of training
   

But, in everything you do, just remember: Google is your friend.