On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 1:11 PM, Eric Lovrien <eric.lovrien at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am just wondering how many people work a full time job working on just
> Linux? I see many job postings out there for Windows Admins ..etc with
> experience in Linux (1/90th of the job role). Over the last few years I have
> been dreaming of the day I can do it full time. I don't see many job
> postings out there for these types of positions.

I almost fit this description.  I work at a software development and
support company (Nagios Enterprises), and our software is designed on
and runs on Linux only.  Our supported platforms are Red Hat and
CentOS, although most of us use Ubuntu writing the code and such.
We're not "just Linux" as our desktops actually run Windows XP, and
that is used by one of the developers and our sales/marketing
department, but the other developers / support / documentation people
use Ubuntu in various sorts of virtual machines for most of our work,
with dozens of CentOS VMs going for testing.

My previous IT job (at Saint Paul College) was probably 40/40/20
Linux/Solaris/Windows, with Windows on workstations in half the
computer labs, Solaris on some of our "big" servers and serving the
thin clients for the other half of the computer labs, and Linux
(originally Fedora, switched to Ubuntu) for all of the various smaller
servers.

>  What is the best way to break into some of these roles? Do you pick a disto
> like Red Hat or SUSE and get certified in them, or do you start to
> implementing open source solutions like request tracker, sugar crm..etc
> running on a Linux system and build your experience that way? Can you get a
> Linux Admin role by just passing the LPI exam?

You don't get a Linux admin role "just" by doing anything - people
hire based on a combination of factors.  For me, the Saint Paul
College job came by a combination of being noticed as a bright student
with an interest in Linux and absurdly serendipitous timing.  The
Nagios job already had that on the resume, plus customer service and
writing experience, and at that point the LPIC-1, and again, timing.

My suggestion is this:
Do what you love, and eventually you'll have enough experience to get
paid for it.  If you want to be "the Red Hat guru", by all means go
work on RHCE.  If you want to be a database administrator, learn
MySQL, PostgreSQL, and maybe some Oracle, DB2, and/or MSSQL if you can
get your hands on them.  I actually have one Microsoft certification
(XP admin), but don't intend to go for a full MCSE, and don't always
even list it on my resume, because that's not what I want to get hired
to do.

And in case it wasn't obvious yet, never, EVER underestimate the
values of a) TIMING, and b) WHO YOU KNOW (and the impressions you
make).  The Nagios job was because I happened to look at job listings
as part of my semi-routine "what are people looking for in the
market?" check and seeing one that actually interested me.  The Saint
Paul College job I didn't even apply for - they approached me.

And for reference, Nagios usually posts positions in two places, this
list and Craigslist.  They aren't admin jobs (we're not that big), but
Linux-related anyhow.

 - Tony