[svlug] Help me in Defining what a "Sr Linux Admin" is.

[James Sparenberg]

On Thursday 04 September 2008 20:29:17 Chris Miller wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 3:20 PM, Alvin Oga
> <alvin at mail.linux-consulting.com> wrote:
> >
> > hi ya james
> >
> >> james at linuxrebel.org wrote:
> >>
> >>    One of the things I want to do (That is polite) before I depart 
my
> >> current position is to leave behind a proper definition of what a 
Sr.
> >> Linux Admin is.  (and thereby explain why I'm no longer wanting to
> >> remain with them under the guise of my new "duties" or rather lack 
of
> >> duties.)
> >
> > ...
> >
> >>    The PHB's seem to think it has more to do with Time in slot, 
than
> >> knowledge and I'd like to properly define things otherwise.
> >
> > - yeah, them phb's think its somebody on call when something happens
> >  that can come fix it .. no matter what time of the day it is
> >        ( it's the wrong view of "Sr" anything )
> >
> > - beginners and intermediate admins will be asking "howto" questions
> >
> > my view of the world, sr people should be able to:
> >
> > - work and get the task done w/o the use of google/yahoo
> >        - "what do you know" and what has been your past experience
> >
> > - can automate their task ( esp silly things like monitoring )
> >        "automate" as in write your own tools since most all
> >        existing monitoring tools are lacking something or other
> >
> > - definitely needs to be able to do reliable backups which does
> >  not contain the "virus" that killed the corp network
> >        - most folks end up overwriting the "good backup"
> >
> > - sr admin should be using multiple partitions for
> >  /tmp, /var, /usr, /opt, /home, /Backup, ...
> >
> > - sr admins can build a box and not touch it for the next 3yrs
> >  and it'd be working fine
> >
> >  other side of the coin, they can build a box, have it update
> >  itself daily, and still be working fine for the next 3 yrs
> >
> >        - aka, they can buy reliable parts from reliable vendors
> >
> >        - there is NO such thing as disk failure or power supply 
failure
> >        ( buy something better from better sources )
> >
> > - sr admins would have been involved or witness near corp meltdowns
> >  and have learned what NOT to do ... or allow to happen or exist
> >  to prevent their job would be at risk since management needs
> >  to point their fingers at somebody
> >
> > - sr admins can and should manually maintain say 10-30 machines at 
the
> >  nitty gritty level
> >
> >        - sr admins can also maintain 100 or 500 or 1000 machines
> >        in an automated fashion ( 100% hands off except for the 
initial
> >        put the box on the rack and turn it on )
> >
> > - sr admins can provision new boxes with hands on ( build yourself )
> >  or hands off ( automated with scripts )
> >        - sr admins will NOT have "this hardware is NOT supported 
problem"
> >
> > - sr admins will make do with the computer resources they have on 
hand
> >  and put in a request for the new widgets and if said widgets does
> >  not arrive by a particular period, xyz things are at risk
> >
> > - sr admins can argue the merits and problems of any distro ( OS 
including MS )
> >  compared to another
> >
> > - sr admins ( the community minded ones ) might be publishing stuff
> >  and or have websites and/or volunteer their time/skills at other 
places
> >
> > - sr admins have built hobby projects w/ 555 timers, 741 op amps, 
2n2222, etc
> >  and wrote ( video, kb, disk ) interrupt routines to run with 8080, 
6800, z80, ...
> >        - aka, solid understanding of computers and how it works
> >
> > - sr admins know that 80% of comptuer failures will be due to people
> >  doing or not doing what they should have been doing to prevent the 
failure
> >
> >        - email that cant be sent or received might be a people 
problem
> >        since not everybody is computer literate
> >
> >        - not being able to print stuff might be a people problem
> >        since not everybody can change the printer toner properly
> >
> > ... endless list of what sr folks should be able to do ??
> 
> That's interesting.  I would have defined it as an individual
> competent enough in his art to effectively manage junior
> administrators.
> 

In many ways I would too.  But I also know that Alvin is competently 
independent in his style.

James