[KLUG Members] Linux System administrator

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> What constitute as a *qualified* Linux System administrator ?

Some background in C* (structs, use of compilers, linkers, etc...), a
complete shelf of O'Rielly books, a confident but not meglomaniacal
personality, and the ability to deconstruct a situation (maybe some
Logic classes will help,  I'm grateful for my digital electronics
classes).

* If you can't grasp what .so files are, or what strace or ldd are
outputing - you're screwed when it hits the fan.

I am a "certified" UNIX System Administrator and what I was taught was
really pretty useless and glancing at current curriculum pretty much
shows the same thing still being taught.  These are good for stuffing
full of information, but not so much for tackling any kind of *new*
problem.

But it all depends on allot of things.  The most effective and
successful Sys-Admins I know evolved into that position rather than
having gone out an got a "Sys Admin job".  It requires an understanding
of both what applications are (binaries, libraries, etc...) and how they
got that way, as well as what the applications are for and how they are
used.  A good sys-admin is very much a middle man.