If you are a tinkerer at heart and see yourself as a problem-solver, a career in Linux systems administration may be worth considering.
Do you often find yourself messing with your computer at home—fixing or upgrading it constantly? Can you imagine spending hours on a busy set of servers and giving your geeky side a chance to evolve? If so, a career in systems administration can be one of your options. Professional Linux systems administrators are required to know a broad range of tasks that include installing, maintaining and upgrading the servers of an organisation. A sysadmin should ensure that the servers are properly backed up, and that the server data is safe from any unauthorised access. And if you thought systems administrators have nothing to do with programming, then you are off the mark. Good sysadmins often perform some light programming (usually scripting, which involves writing programs to carry out important tasks).
Various studies indicate that the number of jobs available for systems administrators is expected to rise by 27 per cent in the next 10 years, a pace that is much faster than the average job growth for all other sectors during the same period. We got in touch with a few sysadmins, and asked them to share their experiences and insights on the career prospects of a Linux sysadmin.
Sachin Sharma, senior systems administrator at Jabong. com, a leading e-commerce portal, says that being in this terrain makes him feel good as he had never imagined working as a sysadmin. “When I completed my college, I was in a dilemma about which course to go for. It was my brotherin-law who egged me on to enrol in the RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) training programme. I learnt the subject and to everyone’s surprise scored 100 out of 100 in the exam. Soon I got a break with a Noida-based organisation as a Linux systems administrator. And I discovered where my passion lies,” shares Sharma with a smile.
Prashant Phatak, director, Valency Networks, an IT consultancy firm based in Pune, describes himself as a true blue Linux systems administrator. “I was always fond