I have to agree with a majority of the comments here. To break into the field requires persistence, a way to get in (either by a college-level job or volunteering), and some nominal skills that are not solely obtainable by certifications. I do need to point out other aspects of the job, having almost been a career admin myself until I got lucky. (It is true: once you mention admin experience on your vitae, you are branded for life.)
Generally, a UNIX admin job is not as desirable as other jobs within a typical organization. Truth is, not many people want to do it for the long-haul. Why? It's looked on as drudge work. Professionals pride themselves more on innovation, less on execution - and an admin job is typically executing day-to-day problem resolutions, not creating intricate designs (there are excpetions). It's not a glossy job - you are seldom put in front of a customer, few opportunities to be a "hero" on a project, or receive other recognition; instead, you face day in, day out in the machine room. Another point, the hours can be flaky: any *good* admin knows not to pull the file server down for an upgrade during the typical work-day, instead preferring to come in at night or on weekends for these kinds of jobs.
Last but not least, the admins don't control their schedules: most wear pagers. If anything goes wrong, you are pulled in to fix it. I don't care that you logged 45 hours this week and it's only Wednesday. On the contrary, a job in software development means you decide when you are going to show up and when you are going to leave (mostly).
Admins generally don't have a rich career path (jr. admin, admin, sr. admin, group manager) compared with other tracks, such as development: jr developer, sr developer, system engineer, project manager, senior scientist, presales tech, and on and on.
Because of these truths, an admin job is typically a transient role, with three cases being the norm:
(a) a fresh-out college graduate that doesn't have enough experience to be a developer will fall into an admin role for 6-12 months; (b) a mid-career non-computer engineer will do "time in the trenches" to join a high-profile project; (c) an end-of-career person will take admin because they know how to do it and/or are looking to hold on until retirement, and admining is usually the job that's always open.
Are admins important? You bet! Are they given recognition proportional to their import? Hardly! Is it a fun job? Yes. Is it a rewarding job? Well, the answer to that question ultimately defines whether you are a *good* admin or not. Folks who find their jobs rewarding are always better at it than those who don't. Unfortunately, most of the admin jobs are peppered with transients looking to move on, instead of tradesmen looking to hone their art.
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I have to agree with a majority of the comments here. To break into the field requires persistence, a way to get in (either by a college-level job or volunteering), and some nominal skills that are not solely obtainable by certifications. I do need to point out other aspects of the job, having almost been a career admin myself until I got lucky. (It is true: once you mention admin experience on your vitae, you are branded for life.)
Generally, a UNIX admin job is not as desirable as other jobs within a typical organization. Truth is, not many people want to do it for the long-haul. Why? It's looked on as drudge work. Professionals pride themselves more on innovation, less on execution - and an admin job is typically executing day-to-day problem resolutions, not creating intricate designs (there are excpetions). It's not a glossy job - you are seldom put in front of a customer, few opportunities to be a "hero" on a project, or receive other recognition; instead, you face day in, day out in the machine room. Another point, the hours can be flaky: any *good* admin knows not to pull the file server down for an upgrade during the typical work-day, instead preferring to come in at night or on weekends for these kinds of jobs.
Last but not least, the admins don't control their schedules: most wear pagers. If anything goes wrong, you are pulled in to fix it. I don't care that you logged 45 hours this week and it's only Wednesday. On the contrary, a job in software development means you decide when you are going to show up and when you are going to leave (mostly).
Admins generally don't have a rich career path (jr. admin, admin, sr. admin, group manager) compared with other tracks, such as development: jr developer, sr developer, system engineer, project manager, senior scientist, presales tech, and on and on.
Because of these truths, an admin job is typically a transient role, with three cases being the norm:
(a) a fresh-out college graduate that doesn't have enough experience to be a developer will fall into an admin role for 6-12 months; (b) a mid-career non-computer engineer will do "time in the trenches" to join a high-profile project; (c) an end-of-career person will take admin because they know how to do it and/or are looking to hold on until retirement, and admining is usually the job that's always open.
Are admins important? You bet! Are they given recognition proportional to their import? Hardly! Is it a fun job? Yes. Is it a rewarding job? Well, the answer to that question ultimately defines whether you are a *good* admin or not. Folks who find their jobs rewarding are always better at it than those who don't. Unfortunately, most of the admin jobs are peppered with transients looking to move on, instead of tradesmen looking to hone their art.
That's been my experience.