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Businesses Operating Systems Software Unix Windows

Cross Skilling Across Multi-OS Platforms? 347

Posted by Cliff
drtheman asks: "I have been working in the IT industry for the last 10 years, 7 of those as a UNIX system administrator. I have been noticing over the last year or two that companies are becoming very pedantic about specific skills that a UNIX sysadmin should have. Most troubling for myself is the so called multi-skilled UNIX/NT administrator. It's a given that any seasoned UNIX admin should have *some* Windows knowledge, and cross skilling is something that shouldn't be balked at. However, after coming from large enterprise environments, where the UNIX boys do the UNIX stuff and the NT guys do the Windows stuff, I just find it a little troubling that if I don't adapt with certifications in these platforms I may become unemployable. Do other enterprise admins think that this is too much for us to take on, and companies are just expecting more bang for their buck these days? I can understand that these multi-skilled people are needed in the smaller shops, but I would like to know how it would work effectively in larger ones."
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Cross Skilling Across Multi-OS Platforms? More

Cross Skilling Across Multi-OS Platforms?

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  • Cross-skilling is a must (Score:5, Interesting)

    by TripMaster Monkey ( 862126 ) * on Friday June 24, 2005 @06:45PM (#12905399)

    I myself am coming from the opposite direction (Microsoft guru, *nix acolyte), and from what I've seen, a decently cross-skilled admin can pretty much write their own ticket. I wouldn't go so far as to say that if you aren't cross-skilled, you will eventually be unemployable...there will always be work for an admin that's competent enough, especilly a Unix admin like yourself. But a cros-skilled admin brings much more to the table...not just for the obvious reason of being able to work on either platform, but because they can work on both platforms. The point I'm trying to get across here is that Unix/Microsoft interoperability is a big matzah ball in today's tech world, and an admin that can understand how Windows and Unix play together (and why they occasionally don't) will be valued much more...in essence, the cross-skilled tech is worth more than the sum of his parts.
    • I think the market is just plain, weird. I interview at some places -- they want an *all* windows guy and won't consider me because I have unix experience. Other places have insane demands that you know very specific Unix packages, as if its impossible or even difficult to learn something. Other places see that I've been a programmer and don't want to hire me as an admin, other places see that ive been an admin and dont want to hire me as a programmer ... so basically what im saying is , the whole thing
      • My ultimate advice to people who are currently employed and in the driver seat to make purchasing decisions... buy as much heterogeneous equipment for your environment as possible.

        It gives you more responsibility, making it harder for companies to let you go. And more experience into your future resume.

        • Re:Cross-skilling is a must (Score:5, Informative)

          by bonehead ( 6382 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @10:04PM (#12906603)
          I do exactly that. In fact, I think I may have stumbled across a whole new career path as a result.

          I can't even go into much detail about it, but my dabbling in some (relatively) new tech, combined with attending a convention related to the industry that my company is in (not IT related), resulted in me being able to sit in meetings and say "why not just do such and such" and watch peoples jaws hit the floor. My ideas weren't brilliant, in fact they were painfully obvious. It's just that the IT guys didn't understand the industry well enough to see it, and the industry guys didn't understand IT well enough to see it. I've only been home from that convention for a week and there are already contracts being drawn up for my company to partner with some pretty heavy hitters to implement my ideas.

          I don't say that to brag, believe me. I'm the type that will probably get so focused on the tech aspect that I get screwed on the business aspect. Nothing to brag about at all. I simply bring it up to point out the value of developing at least a working familiarity in as many different areas as possible.

          You don't have to master everything you dabble in, but there is real value in being reasonably well versed in as many areas as possible. Never lose sight of the bigger picture.

    • Re:Cross-skilling is a must (Score:5, Insightful)

      by joe_bruin ( 266648 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @07:04PM (#12905542) Homepage Journal
      Everyone here is going to tell you the same thing, diversify. But here's the reality: if you limit yourself to one domain (like only UNIX) you're really closing some doors for yourself. If you know enough of NT administration (I assume you'll have to be interfacing with Windows at some point), you're far more useful. !!HOWEVER!!, don't confuse that with becoming a master of Windows admining, unless you want to face the very real possibility that this is what you'll be doing exclusively in the future. When some PHB in your company decides to put in some Windows servers, who's going to be admining them, you, or your coworker who only knows UNIX systems? Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Know enough to fix problems when they affect your work. Don't know enough (or at least pretend not to) so that the bulk of the work of NT administration is Somebody Else's Problem.
    • I would have to agree. Where I work I needed to have the cross platform skills since I worked on Windows95, Windows98se, WindowsNT, Windows2000, and now WindowsXP. I also had to port programs from HP machines to Macintoshes and then to SGIs running Unix. Or try the Perkin-Elmer to Vax 11/780 via Intergraph's 68K Dual projection Micro Workstation. We had to be able to both program as well as run these systems and integrate communications between them.

      Presently, we are just doing Windows 2000/XP with SGI

    • Also (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Sycraft-fu ( 314770 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @07:21PM (#12905662)
      Even if your gorinization is big enough to have seperate techs, never say that you'll never have to work on the other side. I mean say you are the UNIX guy for a company, all you do is mind the UNIX servers and write programs for them and so on. Windows is handled by a team of Windows guys. Then, one day, all but one of your Windows guys isn't there. They are sick, or on vaction, whatever, it's just one guy and something major happens. A virus starts making the rounds as the CEO has a big presentation to give.

      Well, if you say "I don't do Windoze that's not my job, go away," you won't be very popular. Sure you aren't a Windows guy, however users don't really understand that. You are a computer guy, why won't you come fix their computer? If, however, you know enough about Windows to do basic systems tasks, you can help the Windows guy, go get the CEO setup with Powerpoint and such, and come out looking like a hero because you were able to fix things not directly your responsiblity.

      I know if I were in a technical management position, I'd much prefer those with some skill, and more importantly willingness to work with all our various platforms. I'd rather not have a Linux guy that will only do Linux because if time comes I need 110% out of the crew I have for a problem on a different platform, he's not going to be any help.
    • Divsify? Yes. Diversify in OS's/languages/etc. Sure. But try cross-skilling in computers/finance, or computers/law, or computers/management. Then you will be in great demand.

      You be writing your own ticket if you are COMPETENT in each area. If you excel in two or more areas, and are willing to accept risk, you can become an entrepreneur.

      • You be writing your own ticket

        Please note: I was showing off my multi-lingual skills (ebonics) for any future employer out there. Thanks for noticing.
        • We iz looking fo' somebody just like ya! We iz seeking uh Unix Systems Administrator/NT Administrator ta provide 3rd level support an' project assistance. You will gots uh strong SUN Solaris background, an' ideally experience wiff Tru64 an' AIX. Other desirable skills include computers/finance, or computers/law, or computers/management, Storage Area Networks, Veritas, Oracle 9i an' Avocent (KVM). Great opportunity wiff uh global organisation. Ebonics uh BIG PLUS. Please send CV as soon as possible ta secure

  • Keep in mind (Score:5, Insightful)

    by agent dero ( 680753 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @06:45PM (#12905400) Homepage
    These are usually recommendations on job sites for resumes that companies most likely will toss out because the guy hiring "knows some guy."

    I honestly can say I don't have a certification in any regards, I have experience, and "I know people."

    IMHO, 9 times out of 10, knowing somebody will get you farther than another bullet point on a resume
    • IMHO, 9 times out of 10, knowing somebody will get you farther than another bullet point on a resume

      Yeah. If you're any good, don't spend time in class, spend time getting to know people! Put in some volunteer time at the local school. Hit the streets - get in touch with businesspeople through your local Chamber of Commerce.

      Getting the good stuff, where they like you, appreciate you, and thank you as they hand you your check comes down to who you know.

      The good stuff comes over dinner between two executi
    • That's good until you come across "equal opportunity" bureaucracy. If it's a smallish firm then fine, you can employ someone you know who gets the job done. In a larger firm you have to open the job formally, keep it open, give everyone an equal hearing to the position. No matter whether you know someone in charge or not, you'll be stuck behind red tape.
      • Funny, but I've never had this happen, and I'm a non-minority male who should be last in the equal-opportunity line. My experience (through over 25 years) has been:

        1. Applying through HR gets nowhere.
        2. Knowing someone on the inside gets me an interview, which usually results in my getting hired.
    • Keep in mind that a lot of job listings are B.S. anyways. They list incredibly specific skillsets so very few people are actually qualified. Why? So they can continue to employ the guy on the H1B visa that already has that job. Why else would you see a job listing for a mainframe CICS C++ programmer that knows web design?
  • The shoe is on the other foot for me. I am a Windows administrator, and I am working on my Linux/Unix chops to better my job. At the level I am currently at (network admin at a medium-large sized church), however, I barely have an opportunity to work on Unix (on a few Unix/Linux boxes to work with v. 90+ Windows). So it is a struggle to properly balance my workload while still getting educated and working on ways to use other OS to improve our system.
  • If you require your unix admins to maintain an NT skill set, you can migrate to an an entirely windows based environment, and since you're a large enterprize, you can make microsoft provide you a site license for less for dropping unix in favor of windows, because they can then issue press releases about the successful adoption of windows as a unix replacment....

    well, it's only a theory, but I've had crazier ones.

  • Reduncancy (Score:2, Insightful)

    by michelcultivo ( 524114 )
    I'm a Linux administrator, and when one new job appear my IT Director ask me of my windows skills. I said to him that I known something about Active Directory and installing web servers, not so much like a MCSE or MCSA. He told me that's enough and hired me, this lesson tell me that the business is looking for one specialist that known a little about other OS. That's all folks.

    • No freakin kidding! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by argoff ( 142580 )
      I would stay "away" from windows "skills" at great effort, it will only devalue your skill set and force you to spend time with technology that will become obsolete along with your skills.

      One time I worked for a large enterprise, and they had these windows servers running transactions for all their customers. And (supprise) the servers would lock up under high load nearly every other day, which was extremely expensive because it could cause lines to back up in over 1000 stores and the company would be loo
      • Oh, and I know it's bad form to reply to my own post, but there is one more thing I wanted to add. At my current job, my Linux skills were so valuable to the company that my boss got tired of me wasting my time when I got dragged into supporting user windows desktop issues, so he hired another employee to work under me so I could work on the more valuable stuff. But soon after he was hired, I went all out teaching him everything about Linux I could think of, and now one of the biggest problems with him i
  • ...and I read the microsoft newsgroups, visit online forums, irc channels, read ms articles, run windows, etc. These days there're lots of windows/unix/linux machines, and the days of "one big box doing everything" are gone, it's no suprising that companies are searching experts who has good skills of *all* plaftorms.

  • Abstract your knowledge (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MacFury ( 659201 ) <me.johnkramlich@com> on Friday June 24, 2005 @06:49PM (#12905429) Homepage
    The key to being extremely valuable is to know why tools and programs work. Once you know generally why something works, say, TCP, you can apply that knowledge to specific cases regardless of their platform.

    Almost everything boils down to a matter of syntax

    I realize this is the simplistic view, but it has helped me in my daily jump between Windows, MacOS X and various Unix platforms.

    • It is indeed a very simplistic view (Score:4, Insightful)

      by apankrat ( 314147 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @07:19PM (#12905644) Homepage
      Almost everything boils down to a matter of syntax

      In case of Windows it actually boils down to being ready for most bizzare sh*t you cant even imagine.

      Like installing buggy USB driver f*cking up DHCP client's ability to renew IP address. Or installing desktop skinning software causing Windows to start failing installation of virtual network adapters. Or that disabling (certain) personal firewall software actually not having a full effect on a traffic until the next reboot.

      Truly entertaining stuff. Far more lively than just mastering command syntax :)
  • the more you know the better. it is great to have an area of expertise but even better to couple that with broad knowledge. once word gets out that you know a lot, you are more apt to be kept on the job. it will keep you sharp and adaptable.

    what happens if you only know unix and they switch completely to nt? what happens if you know unix and more nt than many of the nt specialists?

  • Put it in terms you can understand (Score:5, Funny)

    by Hadlock ( 143607 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @06:52PM (#12905453) Homepage Journal
    What they're trying to tell you is, if you're a 12th level Unix Mage, it wouldn't hurt to pick up a 2nd level XP Paladin. If your party's level 15 XP Paladin dies, the party still needs the Paladin's basic skills, like light network healing and saving patch all infected computers roll abilities. You can keep working on getting your level 18 Unix Mage, with the Write kernel from scratch Feat, but you're gonna have to make some sacrifices for the party to keep it moving forward.
  • This is a common problem for anyone in the IT industry. As you become more and more specialized, you run the risk of limiting where you are useful.

    For example, I'm a network engineer, working on my CCIE. There aren't many places that need someone of a CCIE-level skillset to exclusively do networks.

    Now, I also have considerable security, Windows, and Unix experience, which helps, a lot, but almost all of my experience in the last 4 years has been limited to routing and switching.

    It really all depends on
    • I presume you are going after the routing and switching? Have you passed the written yet?

      I wish you good luck :)
    • There's two sides to every coin. Even though I've been in I.T. for over 12 years myself, I can't ever seem to land a better-paying job as an actual sysadmin. Why? Not because I don't know the material. I've been asked to build departmental servers while working in "support specialist" roles for years, as well as maintaining Citrix Metaframe boxes, configuring and maintaining Exchange servers, setting up user accounts, and directory/file permissions for everyone in companies, and more.

      But they always lo
    • As you become more and more specialized, you run the risk of limiting where you are useful.

      Actually, this isn't the problem at all. No one is really overspecialized - they happen to not understand that you don't get specialist wages for generalist work.

  • A common name for cross-skilled admins... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by toupsie ( 88295 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @06:53PM (#12905461) Homepage
    Your Boss.

    I am always surprised how narrow minded UNIX-only admins are. The way to succeed in the IT Admin game is to be able handle the most hardware, platforms and operating systems. The more you learn, the more you earn. Your UNIX experience will pay off in Windows administration as most UNIX admins are used to "getting their hands dirty" whereas a lot of Windows admins I meet are "Next, OK, Apply, Cancel" kind of guys. Plus Windows is becoming more command line oriented (Thank God!).

    • ...whereas a lot of Windows admins I meet are "Next, OK, Apply, Cancel" kind of guys. Plus Windows is becoming more command line oriented (Thank God!).

      I agree, I went from UNIX/LINUX only to woking with Windows servers as well and I must say I'm rather glad of it. Expanding into Windows has made me more employable and having started out in the UNIX world made me a better professional than I would have been if I had taken the Microsoft certification route and then moved into UNIX. Having worked mostly with

  • Boys? Guys? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cniebla ( 158677 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @06:54PM (#12905466) Homepage
    ...the UNIX boys do the UNIX stuff and the NT guys do...

    Shouldn't we have to be MUCH MORE willing to accept that there are girls in IT? we start by accepting this fact, and being less and less "boy" centric, and many will come ;)

  • Why? Because in companies it's VERY rare that there are only Unix boxes. Well it's more probably that there are only windows boxes. In any case, helping a user to get rid of his windows viruses (WITHOUT reformatting) will get you points.

    See, you'll have to troubleshoot a windows box once in a while. You need to be prepared for it. But don't worry! There are EXCELLENT technical articles at Microsoft at how to rescue data from your computer. Like using the Recovery console to restore a corrupted registry, fo

  • I've gotten jobs that way (Score:3, Informative)

    by Geekboy(Wizard) ( 87906 ) <[spambox] [at] [theapt.org]> on Friday June 24, 2005 @06:55PM (#12905476) Homepage Journal
    I know Windows decently, Mac and Unix quite well. I've been asked to several interviews specificly because I can do two of them (Normaly they want Mac or Unix (so far not both), and a little bit of Windows as well).

    I'm not certified in anything. I choose to actually know the subject than to have a pretty piece of paper. Besides, I have a colour printer for when they do care about pretty papers.
  • I think most companies with separate folks for unix and NT admins find the two teams hate each other, and therefore can't work together, just like the software. Assuming that you love yourself, if you have both skills, then you can make unix and NT interoperate, which is what these businesses are looking for. Or you can always try to install love among the unix and NT admins. Once they love each other, they can work together, and their software will too.

  • Cross skilling: yes, Windows: no (Score:3)

    by hagbard5235 ( 152810 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @06:57PM (#12905496)
    Cross skilling is a definite must. Being able to manage the *nix servers, keep the J2EE containers going, manage the network, address security issues, etc, even if only on a decent enough level to be able to assist the *real* experts in those areas in interfacing into your area of expertise is a real plus.

    However, I've noticed that almost everyone I know in IT who knows jack about Windows has been made unhappy by that knowledge. Maybe I'm just to far out in enterprise land (where NOTHING important is EVER put on a Windows box), but Windows knowledge leads to having to address all of the stupid annoying issues Windows boxes sprout. I'd far rather spend my time architecting useful solutions to hard problems in the enterprise level stuff than have to fight with the Windows virus dejure (at least on the desktop, network level mitigation can be fun).

    If you need to cross skill pick up some background in J2EE containers, or Oracle DBA skills, or go pick up a CCIE and learn somethings about the network. Not only do those add more earning power than Windows skills, but they don't make you want to slit your wrists.

    (Proud to have had almost know Windows expertise since 1993 :) ).

  • Yes to cross skilling.... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Chanc_Gorkon ( 94133 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <nokrog>> on Friday June 24, 2005 @06:59PM (#12905515)
    As much as I hate Windows, I have to know it. There are many add on and other related products out there that your companies non technical offices buy and you have to make it work. Knowing Windows in addition to UNIX is essential. Windows is not really all that different then UNIX to make ir difficult. In fact, some of Windows limitations make it easier to learn then Linux. Certifying in Both? Questionable. HR departments need to let the technical areas do the selecing and rely less on using certs to weed out people. I have found that certs DO help you, but only if you also KNOW the info. Wallpaper will only get you some interviews. Having a impressive resume in addition to know people in the industry helps alot.
  • I might be in a slightly more difficult position - I am in a decent size "enterprise" shop and have an unusual programming position.

    Most guys in our shop have one programming language and platform they work on and one or two vendor products.

    My unit writes Java J2EE on Unix and Windows, VB.NET and C# apps, Still have some VB 6 apps to maintain, work on a product that is a derivative of VB. We admin several large server applications and do much of our own sys-adminning on each of the server boxes. And we

  • ... my experience ... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ninjagin ( 631183 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @07:05PM (#12905547)
    I was at a very small startup a year ago, and now I'm at a Fortune 15 company. At the startup, we supported one product on windows, SunOS and Linux. Here, we support dozens of products on windows, linux, AIX, HP and any number of handhelds, but our office is mainly a UNIX shop. My office machine is a winXP laptop, but the real technical work I do is all performed through xterms to the big UNIX servers in the data center. Being able to get around and do what you need to do on all platforms your company uses seems to be a thread I've recognized in my last three jobs.

    Where I've found that I've been able to demonstrate the most value is in those situations where we need to get something done on a platform that nobody on the team has used before. I don't have a whole lot of fear of alternate platforms -- their really just new learning opportunities. Sure, I have assumptions and preferences about what one can do better than another, but these become more educated opinions the more I have to work in alternative platform contexts. For example, I have to drive a continuous integration project for some development teams that use C# and .Net, when most of my experience has been with Sun Java and Web Services. I recognize that I don't know diddly about how to do the job under the new conditions, but I'll have more value (I hope (crosses fingers)) when I get to the end because of what the challenge will force me to learn.

    As a rule, I'd say that being adaptable, and willing to accept the challenge of learning new stuff has been more important to me (and how I think I'm being valued) than being (and staying) the uber-733+ lord of one platform or technology. Then again, I also have a lot more resources to draw upon at the current job. At the last one, I'd have to buy the necessary books and learn it all on my own. Were I still there, I might think differently.

    Hope it helps,

  • It's certainly kept me employed in this market. HR drones & their stupidity aside, having decent knowledge of both Windows & UNIX can be a good thing because 1)it can weed out the zealots and 2)it shows that you have the interest in the subject at hand.

    Besides, a lot of issues that pop up *are* cross platform issues, and instead of saying "Oh, that's because Windows sucks." you can say "Windows sucks at that, and here is why: ""

    I'm working in a heavy OS X environment with a bunch of Solaris boxes,
  • It's a man-eat-man world out there in the free market. If you can't live up to the standards, then you'll get cut down to size. Either that means you'll be unemployed, or you'll work at a very low-paying job. But on the other hand, if you can cut it and muster the balls to make it in life, you'll be forever wealthy and successful. That applies equally well to a UNIX master learning Windows, or a Windows master learning UNIX.

  • I'm pretty much against unions, but maybe sys admins should have one...

    What I've noticed in the past 5 years or so is that the average starting salary for a UNIX admins (and other highly skilled computer jobs) has dropped considerably... its disturbing. It is a HIGHLY skilled job that the wigs in large or small corporations just don't understand. It's not as if the market is flooded with employable sys admins, either.

    I've never had a problem with NT... I think it is a fine server... but... (I don't know

  • that don't happen. Its best that you are not working or getting inerviews from most companies, as companies that do alot interviewing are to treat you just like girls treat guys in bars. Next next , stop, next , next...etc etc. Working for company is like a relationship, which is why contracting is great sometimes, no commitments, beyond technical and financial scope of things.

    You don't really want to be running around swatting Windows viruses for userbase of say 1500 workstations. Hackproofing and in gene

  • Opportunity Cost (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Synn ( 6288 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @07:27PM (#12905711)
    The problem with spending time learning A, is that you miss out on learning B. So while you're cross skilling and learning Windows, you won't be studying perl, python, kernel hacking, C or one of any other of the thousands of things that would make you a better Unix admin.
  • I think the premise of this question is that there is one thing that a person must learn to be marketable in today's environment.
    As a marketing wonk can tell you, (no, I'm not one) you're never looking for "one thing". You don't kill flies with shotguns. You should always be looking 2-3 years out and training for what you believe the job market will look like then. If you're not learning something in today's IT business, you're losing ground. Things change, and even more so than the actual skills you have,
  • ... who read the title as "Cross-Country Skiing Across Multi-OS Platforms"?

    I was all geared up to see how someone had stuffed Linux into a snowboard. :P
  • I have been job hunting recently as I am leaving my current job. The requirements for IT positions are just outrageous, they do want everything and the kitchen sink on a resume because they really do not know what they need you to do. For example, for a web developer they will ask for HTML, UML, XML, Javascript, VBScript, VB, Java, C#, ASP, .NET, Websphere, Weblogic, Apache, IIS. With 3 to 4 years of experience in all the environments. Companies are not willing to train their staff, hell they are lucky
    • I wonder if you have the right kind of persective on this stuff. To use an analogy which another poster used in this thread, it seems as though you're looking at the job with the eyes of a carpenter, rather than with the eyes of an architect. Take a look of that list of skills you listed for the 'web developer' position. Now, consider if you were to look at a similar job posting for a 'carpenter'. The skillset of a 'carpenter' might be "NAILS, PowerSaw, Router, HAMMER, LEVEL, TableSaw, JigSaw, MeasurTAP
  • Not to be blunt, but is it really that hard to learn how to administer more than one OS? I mean, I'm a developer and I'm expected to know either C++, Java or C# and their devlopment tools, or all of the above depending on the job, and usually some scripting language (Perl, Python, or C-shell variant). In addition, I'm required to know my way around any operating system I develop on, including scripting and basic administration. If I develop against a database, I need to know SQL and basic DB administration

  • Dale Carnegie & Open Standards Interface Model (Score:3, Insightful)

    by VoidEngineer ( 633446 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @07:36PM (#12905791)
    So, I'm a systems admin taking care of a high-performance Windows/Linux/Solaris/VVMS/Cisco imaging network at a major hospital in New York City. Magnetic resonance imagers, ultrasound scanners, digital flouroscope rooms, fiber obtic backbone, terrabyte array storage archives, etc. etc. We interface with GE, Philips, Cerner, Dell, Microsoft, Cisco, etc. etc.

    That being said, there are a couple of key cross-platform skill sets that are invaluable in these types of heterogenous environments. The first and foremost skill set is people skills, of course. Being able to manage vendor call centers, sales personel, field service engineers, and so forth. Also, you gotta be able to deal with people, especially end users who you support. Unless you're in the IT industry and are writing code or maintaining trunk lines for a telcom, you're probably supporting the IT needs of some other industry, and therefore have end users. Those people are the ones who are going to make or break your career. If your end users love you, word will spread and you won't have any problems with your career. If not, look for another job. So, people skills are the number one skillset that can be taken from one operating system to another. I'd also recomend Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" as a good introductory book on how to handle people. Even if you think you're good with people, you might be surprised at some of the nuggets of wisdom that are hidden in there. (And for those of you with the typical knee-jerk response, the book is about overcoming manipulation, false pretences, and shallowness. It advocates sincere interest in other people, which you can't get from reading a book one time. So, do yourself a favor, and ignore the title. It's a somewhat unfortunate title for a fantastic book.)

    From a tech perspective, you want to look at internetworking concepts. Specifically, the Open Standards Interface (OSI) Internetworking Model. Learn it and love it. It's the single most useful tool I've come across in understanding, implementing, and maintaining enterprise wide network-enabled applications (e.g. teleradiology, radiographic archiving & retrieval, electronic medical records, etc). It's good for everything from hospital systems, to grocery stores, to small offices, to factories, to anything else I can think of. If you learn the OSI Internetworking model, you can go just about anywhere. And yes, I'm talking about the 7 layer OSI model: Physical, Data, Network, Transportation, Session, Presentation, Application. Also, I would note that the OSI model can be used for much more than just ethernet and configuring network cards. The OSI model can also be used on sneakernet and be used to model physical sneakernet devices, such as video monitors, printers, scanners, speakers, and any other device that is connected to a bus and has some type of physical interface that is used to communicate information (e.g. audio waves, printed paper, video images, motion sensors, etc)... A true grasp of the OSI model can allow you to be troubleshooting Cisco switches in the morning, nuclear MRI scanners in the afternoon, and HDTV/THX home entertainment systems in the evening.

    Anyhow, those two items, Dale's Book and the OSI Model, however, can provide you the cross-platform people skills and technical skills to work in nearly any environment you want.
  • My whole resume revolves around the theme of what you call "cross-skilling", but what I like to call (tongue firmly in cheek) "jack-of-all-trading". My ability to work effectively with Windows, Linux, and Mac OS, and to quickly figure out darn near anything else that might be thrown at me is my calling card. Because that's the kind of job I want, as the go-to-guy (or one of a few) for (just about) everything.

    In a mid-sized shop, I can see value in making sure that any available techie is competent enoug

  • I'm a *system* admin, who uses the best tool for the particular job.

    I don't believe in becoming a specialised "unix" admin or a specialised "Windows" admin, because to be honest, *most* environments will require you to get involved with both.

    However, given that, I'd much rather be a unix admin than a Windows admin - I pretty much started out with Unix services first, and it really does require that you know a lot more about how things actually *work* - a unix admin can usually stumble their way through

  • I guess it depends on what market you're in. If there are enough big businesses around I would just concentrate on being the best UNIX admin you can be. There will always be work for people who are really good in a particular field.

    I am very strong on the other side of the fence and I have to say that I hated finding an opportunity that sounded perfect...and then finding that they wanted someone strong in X (not literally) that was a UNIX thing.

    In the end I think there is a higher payoff in job satisfa

  • From what I've seen on job boards, it's not especially unusually for companies to ask for more than 30 skills. Including some stuff you wouldn't ordinarilly associate with sys admin like: MVS, C++/Java.

    Among many other things, I constantly see: CISCO, Citrix, Tivoli, Remedy, HTML, PHP, Perl, Apache, Samba, Veritas, OpenView, Oracle Financials, PeopleSoft, SAP, SQL-Server, VoIP, Exchange; and so much more - every job is completely different of course.

    But if you can't live on the $35K a year they want to pa

  • Although we tend to take sides, NT or UNIX for example, there is a need for both a specialist and a generalist knowledge of all systems. And no human is smart enough to be both a generalist and a specialist. Many may claim it but in 25 years in this business I have never met nor heard of one person that can claim both. And those that do claim it are generally incompetent fools.

    It also depends on where you want to take your career. Which in fact might be your best decision point. You don't see a gener

  • I got a call on a job and was then sent the "requirements" Note that this was a partime Linux admin position with about 15 Windows desktops. Small office small situation.

    1st requirement.

    Must know how to use and apply differential equations as they apply to system design.

    2nd requirement.

    Proceeded to list about 40 languages that I should bring examples of programs currently in use at other locations (written by me) in each these languages.

    To top it off they were willing to go as high as 12.50 an hour de

  • What do you you want to do? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by demi ( 17616 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @08:34PM (#12906166) Homepage Journal

    I've been working in IT, running big websites and webhosting for 11 years. I have also intereviewed dozens of candidates for various junior-, mid- and senior-level positions.

    I've been a system administrator, programmer/analyst, tools developer, database administrator and senior-level security engineer. Soon I'll switch jobs again to application development (with some web stuff and operations thrown in). The fact is, what I've done has been driven by what I wanted to do--when you like doing something, you acquire deep and useful skills in it; if you acquire skills merely because you think they make you more valuable--well, hell, why do you want that job anyway?

    I've never had an interest in working with Windows--the last time I used Windows was in 3.11 days. If I got myself a bunch of NT skills and some certifications, where's that going to get me? A job where I administer Windows? Write some Visual Basic scripts? No thanks.

    There's a few things I hate when interviewing people for jobs, and people who have "checkbox" skills in subjects that don't interest them are one of them. You can always tell--they have experience or certifications working with a certain technology but no understanding of it--they can't "geek out" about it and learn intricacies if necessary.

    Networking (the social kind, I mean) is huge, especially among people that can grasp your skill. All but one of my jobs have come from people I know (often former bosses) approaching me. When you work with stuff that you really like, that you can really understand deeply and use to deliver excellent work, you will shine like a star; and that star-power is what will get you jobs.

    If you want to learn about and use Windows, then by all means do; and while you're at it, pick up a couple of certifications why not. But if you don't, no power in the world is going to make you good at it, or enjoy it; so the only consequence is possibly finding work that you're not good at and don't enjoy. Blech.

  • Cross Skilling imporves both skills. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by jellomizer ( 103300 ) * on Friday June 24, 2005 @09:14PM (#12906376)
    Lets say you are a Windows Administrator and then you learn the Unix way of doing things. Now that you learn the Unix way you end up being a better windows administrator because some of the things you learned in Unix can transfer to windows side. Like if you were trapped to the Windows GUI after learning unix you may feel a little more comfortable writing windows scripts and depending less on prepackaged programs. Also If you Unix administrator and you learn Windows administration you can improve you Unix stills by making more use of the newer GUI unix admin tools that are available where you were bone dry on the old commands you may find some of the newer graphical admin tools in Unix have considerable ability to improve certon areas.

  • I wish cross-platform was enough! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Deagol ( 323173 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @09:16PM (#12906390) Homepage
    Damn, I'd have it made!

    I grew up with PCs, did 6 years in college which was heavy on UNIX, supporting WfW 3.11 labs, Sun Workstations, and dumb terminals connecting to UNIX mainframes (as a lab support guy). Did a 6-month internship supporting WfWG and NT 3.5 at a *huge* industrial site. Worked 3 years supporting Win95/NT4 workstations and NT Server, SCO Server, and AIX at a shop of 50, where I got certified an MCSE in NT4. Worked five years at a large University, supporting primarily Redhat and Solaris at the senior-admin level, though a fair bit of AIX and IRIX, too.

    You'd think I'd be able to name my price, but it ain't so! In *addition* to all this crap, companinies want all of the above, plus, an experienced DBA and a developer who speaks Java, SQL, and C++. Oh, and they want someone who's an expert in networking hardware.

    I don't mind being a jack of all trades type of admin, but isn't there a point where one can be *too* diluted with skills?

    I'm a "systems guy" through and through -- and a pretty damned good one, if I do say so myself. I *can* bang together the occasional bash/perl/sed/awk script to automate *systems* administration, but I'm no code jockey (and I really don't want to be one). I know enough about TCP/IP and routing to help dedicated network staff trouble-shoot network problems by way of ping, traceroute, and packet dumps, but I'm noenterprise-level network guru (and I don't want to be one).

    I feel this person's pain, as I've been in the job market for a while. It seems comapanies -- of a surprisingly wide range of sizes -- want people that can do it all. AND... they don't seem to want to pay what just the senior-level admin skills in one platform alone are worth, never mind the programming and hardware networking expertise.

    I mean, how many contractors expect people who are experts in plumbing, electrical, *and* HVAC to be the same person for hire? It's getting silly out there.

  • Cross Platform skills are king (Score:3, Informative)

    by KenFury ( 55827 ) <kenfuryNO@SPAMhotmail.com> on Friday June 24, 2005 @09:23PM (#12906423) Journal
    I work in a 11 man IT shop and most people are in a niche. IT is mostly windows with a bit of HP-UX and AIX thrown in. I am one of two people who have cross platform skills. When our HP-UX admin got fired I took over the hardware and OS (not application) duties on that. Nothing much to learn other than HP-UX is not BSD. I got a 6k raise. When we needed an actual cisco guy instead of contractors and freely avalible configs they called on me. I recieved a 5k raise. I also picked up another 4k at my yearly review.

    So now I am Jr. Windows Admin/Network Admin/HP-UX admin making good money and more importantly enjoying what I do. Most importantly for the company I can talk Windows, network and big iron. I get a view of the whole IS infrastructure and have valuable input. I am also very hard to replace as they would need two or three people to do what I do.

  • The enterprise ain't the norm... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Leomania ( 137289 ) on Friday June 24, 2005 @09:34PM (#12906483) Homepage
    However, after coming from large enterprise environments, where the UNIX boys do the UNIX stuff and the NT guys do the Windows stuff [snip]

    After watching friends in the IT industry deal with difficult employment situations in Silicon Vally, I have to say that cross-functionality is a must. One friend in particular has been forced to accept positions at relatively small companies, and the people that run these places just don't understand, well, much of anything about computer infrastructure. One choice quote: "If the CEO isn't having any problems, he thinks that no one else is either." The same guy that thinks a four-hour per week IT consultant can keep their systems, network infrastructure and Windows boxen all running happily. Decisions are made more through egotistical and micromanagerial mechanisms rather than entrusting the computing environment to the ones knowledgeable enough to make those decisions.

    So while the enterprise may have more vertical job functions, the smaller shops have a variety of needs dictated more by the (lack of) knowledge of the management than the real needs of the computing infrastructure. You should probably increase your employability by getting your MCSE, but at the same time be wary of those smaller shops. Without wanting to be a pessimist, I'd assume the worst if you're going to be the sole IT guy/gal, or even part of a team of three or less.

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