being a sys admin

It really depends on the type of network your dealing with. what/what you're administering makes a huge difference in the employment prerequisites.

First and foremost would be some on the job experience, and at the very least some sort of administration certificate from a recognized institution.

If you're interested in administering small-medium sized business networks running on a microsoft solution, you'll end up needing (in most cases) MSCA. (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator), but theres also a lot of Cisco Programs that a lot of large companies are going to demand you have.

A large portion of large businesses run entirely of UNIX based solutions as well, in which case you'd need to look into UNIX based training programs.


Most Post Secondary schools offer a BA in information systems technology, or something simillar (like a systems administrator certificate program). Programs like these would cover all the major business oriented platforms like Solaris, BSD and other UNIX variants, and of course, the allmighty windows. IF you're interested in a serious career, at the very least you want a BA unless you want to work at some average joe blow company as thier night-shit admin. Don't get caught up in your education though, opportunities for part-time employment while in school should be taken advantage of, because in the field of systems administration, work experience is equally, if not more so, valuable than educational background.


There are a lot of paths you can take with regards to system administration. You can be a global systems administrator, a localized systems administrator, or another common example would be a NOC Administator, which although stressful, is one of the more exciting sys-admin jobs out there. Salaries can also be pretty varied from place to place. you can earn anywhere between 49K a year, to 190K a year depending on demand.

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It really depends on the type of network your dealing with. what/what you're administering makes a huge difference in the employment prerequisites.

I'd prefer administrating medium to large network running some sort of unix variant; although, a small network wouldn't be too horrible, either.

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Most Post Secondary schools offer a BA in information systems technology, or something simillar (like a systems administrator certificate program). Programs like these would cover all the major business oriented platforms like Solaris, BSD and other UNIX variants, and of course, the allmighty windows. IF you're interested in a serious career, at the very least you want a BA unless you want to work at some average joe blow company as thier night-shit admin. Don't get caught up in your education though, opportunities for part-time employment while in school should be taken advantage of, because in the field of systems administration, work experience is equally, if not more so, valuable than educational background.

Sounds a lot like what you have to do to get into the game industry. I'm not sure what a post secondary school is, though. I'm planning on going to the University of Illinois when I graduate high school.

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There are a lot of paths you can take with regards to system administration. You can be a global systems administrator, a localized systems administrator, or another common example would be a NOC Administator, which although stressful, is one of the more exciting sys-admin jobs out there. Salaries can also be pretty varied from place to place. you can earn anywhere between 49K a year, to 190K a year depending on demand.

How large is a global network? It sounds like a network spanning all of the locations of a company office. Also, do you do any actuall hands-on work being a global network administrator, or do you just manage the entire network? One more question: What kind of work does being a NOC Administrator involve compared to the other kinds of administrators?
Thanks for the quick response,
bytecoder

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Original post by bytecoder Quote: It really depends on the type of network your dealing with. what/what you're administering makes a huge difference in the employment prerequisites. I'd prefer administrating medium to large network running some sort of unix variant; although, a small network wouldn't be too horrible, either. Quote: Most Post Secondary schools offer a BA in information systems technology, or something simillar (like a systems administrator certificate program). Programs like these would cover all the major business oriented platforms like Solaris, BSD and other UNIX variants, and of course, the allmighty windows. IF you're interested in a serious career, at the very least you want a BA unless you want to work at some average joe blow company as thier night-shit admin. Don't get caught up in your education though, opportunities for part-time employment while in school should be taken advantage of, because in the field of systems administration, work experience is equally, if not more so, valuable than educational background. Sounds a lot like what you have to do to get into the game industry. I'm not sure what a post secondary school is, though. I'm planning on going to the University of Illinois when I graduate high school. Quote: There are a lot of paths you can take with regards to system administration. You can be a global systems administrator, a localized systems administrator, or another common example would be a NOC Administator, which although stressful, is one of the more exciting sys-admin jobs out there. Salaries can also be pretty varied from place to place. you can earn anywhere between 49K a year, to 190K a year depending on demand. How large is a global network? It sounds like a network spanning all of the locations of a company office. Also, do you do any actuall hands-on work being a global network administrator, or do you just manage the entire network? One more question: What kind of work does being a NOC Administrator involve compared to the other kinds of administrators? Thanks for the quick response, bytecoder

Getting a menial job as an administrator isn't particularily difficult if you start out small, it's finding a position that pays the bills a secures a future for you and that of your children that requires a little more work. Generally speaking, the education pays off, and like any other profession, an attitude of "thats far too much work" will not get you anywhere. There are a lot of parralels between the game development industry and the IT industry in terms of the amount of work you have to put in to get where you want to be, and in terms of the sheer number of ours you work on a daily basis. (although administrators generally get it a lot easier than developers nowadays)
A post secondary instituion is actually pretty broad. It spans public colleges, universities, technical instituions, and private colleges. Of course, in the context of our discussion, I was reffering to either a public college or technical institution, although you might find a university that offers a good program.

A global network administator has a primary focus on network operations over an entire company. The oversee the smooth interconnection and operation of more than one network, over large areas of land. They focus a lot on WAN management.

A local administrators focus is just that, local matters. They work at ground level and oversee one or more LANs, usually within the same building. This is where all administrators start out, and progress from. You start with one LAN or office department, and slowly work your way up.A NOC administrator (network operations center) is ahighly specialised job. They work in a high-stress high demand evironment. Being MSCE, MCSA isn't enough for this job. You need to be a quick thinker, and respond to situations as they come. They deal mostly with security and network monitoring related issues, and are often backed up by a host of other system administrators which can number in the hundreds.

Keep in mind though that the terms "global", and "local" administrators refer to the area with which they deal with, those are not the names of the actual positions which they hold on the job. You'll have to google for actual names of the positions.

I don't nearly enough about any of the fields to offer any more information than that. I'm sure if you google you'll be able to find some good information on becoming a systems administrator.