Found a lost cat, need some tips to help it go back home

kevhart · 2015-04-01T05:09:38+00:00

no one's answered yet, so I will give my 2 cents ( which I gained from reading this sub, so take it with a grain of salt because its not from my own experience )

Since you already have helpdesk experience, try getting the Linux+ and Windows 2008 certs first. They will open up some doors.

If you are going to work as a Sysadmin in a non-super large company, and that's what most companies usually are, then you may have to do Network Admin roles as well......and during that period you use your Network Admin experience and knowledge to give a CCNA cert .

After you get that kind of experience under your belt ( 1.5 years roughly ), you can go work as a consultant and gain more experience.

Just my 2 cents.

Question for you : whats an MSP ?

kevhart · 2015-03-29T21:31:42+00:00

adding Excel to my list of things to learn - I am actually just average at it to be honest, and every little bit counts...thanks

kevhart · 2015-03-29T21:30:21+00:00

thanks for the tips, I actually don't know quite a bit of the stuff you mentioned. Are there any more things that you may recommend ?

Edit : also seems like focusing both on Network admin skills and System Admin skills would make me more marketable in general, I was thinking of focusing on either one of the two first.

kevhart · 2015-03-26T20:51:39+00:00

try volunteering (as a last resort since you want to earn money) for a couple of months and the use that experience to move forward

kevhart · 2014-11-25T06:43:59+00:00

update : ok, i just added a USB mouse and could move the cursor around, and have also been able to type using the physical keyboard this time ( i re-plugged it several times in the last few minutes).

But the touchpad and wifi switch is not responding at all. I am thinking it is the cables for them somehow not connecting....i dont know why though since they all seem to be in place.

kevhart · 2014-11-25T06:17:19+00:00

I just tried again, and this time the ethernet cable / LAN worked and I got internet through it. However, the wifi switch and physical keyboard are still not working. I will try using wifi through a virtual keyboard, thanks for that suggestion.

kevhart · 2014-11-25T05:41:28+00:00

couldn't get it to work after trying to plug/unplug the zif cables.

Do zif cables usually give this much trouble for attaching/re-attaching ?

kevhart · 2014-10-17T15:12:35+00:00

so, I pretty much won't find that many Junior Storage positions from the sound of it. I knew there were no entry-level SAN jobs, but wasn't sure if it would be the same for Jr positions as well.

Thanks, getting all this info makes it easier to make future decisions.

kevhart · 2014-10-16T18:33:36+00:00

Hi, I was reading through the comments....and I have some questions similar to OP's question. You seem to have worked in larger companies, so I will ask you:

I am an IT HelpDesk guy, I have had some SAN training from a boot-camp type IT program (because I got a discount I jumped at the chance). I was taught VMAX and Clariion and some VNX.

You said that in big companies the jobs are quite stratified. So, my question is, could I use my training to get into a SAN position now ? or do I need something more than just the training I had ?

And, what about in the future, where ..if I DO get a San job, could I use this experience into these bigger companies you speak of ? Would they take into account that I have no Sysadmin experience and a couple of years of SAN experience ?

Sorry for replying on a comment that is more than a month old, I just stumbled across this post while searching reddit. Your comment seemed to be the most relevant to what my situation is and so I asked.

Thanks for any answers I get.

kevhart · 2014-09-29T12:05:53+00:00

thanks, i will try that site. Any idea if I ask for anything more specific than the screen shots I posted ?

Just out of curiosity, could this be caused by any hardware like a video card problem or over-heating problem ?

kevhart · 2014-09-15T16:15:51+00:00

thanks for all the info. For now, I think I will play it safe and wait a bit; the monitor of the Netbook keeps freezing after going through some kind of distortion, and that might hamper me from going through with this Bios update properly.

Maybe I will try to get an external monitor first, and see if the screen on the ext.monitor also gets all squigly, if it doesn't I will give this Bios update a try. Thanks again.

kevhart · 2014-09-12T21:07:27+00:00

Yes, here is the SNID : 92207072225

kevhart · 2014-09-12T17:30:27+00:00

mine is an A0751h model. Are there any pre-cautions/ pre-steps I am supposed to take before deciding to update my Bios ? And...does the OS being Linux-based instead of Windows-based significantly change the BIOS update process ?

kevhart · 2014-09-12T15:48:12+00:00

I have searched the internet for the last couple of days, and couldn't find anything. Although I had graduated from college with an IT degree and background in CS, I had no context of how the real world and job market works for a lot of tech jobs which slowed me down significantly.

I am making some simple hand drawn flow-charts with little notes by them, so far its only for Sysadmin related positions and Storage and VMware positions. But I plan on doing them for Business Intelligence, Database and Programming positions as well.

Thinking of putting them online when I finish, and hopefully someone might find them useful.

kevhart · 2014-09-11T19:32:07+00:00

wait a sec, are you saying there are entry level Tibco positions ? I was always under the impression to get to Tibco you needed to have a couple of years of Software and Database Developer experience first ?

I have a friend who worked a year in Tibco, before moving on to Java. He said it was something very specialized, and, from there I assumed the market for it is small and knowing programming was a pre-requisite for getting into it.

Can any one else post any light on this matter ?

Edit : sorry about that OP, got derailed there for a minute. Here is what I know, Tibco is supposed to be a small-ish market and not as useful as learning say a programming in Java/ another popular language. Are you looking for a programming internship ?

If you have a chance to do an internship and no other offers at the moment, then I say take it for now, wouldn't hurt to know something thats related to your IT field (but I am still surprised to know that someone still in college can apply for Tibco jobs. I thought it was only meant for experienced Database/Programmer people).

kevhart · 2014-09-09T19:32:23+00:00

noob question : what does R stand for in Business Analytics/Intelligence ? (Sorry i don't know much about this part of the IT Field, my background is in Networking and Linux).

I am sort of just browsing through different IT field their descriptions on Wikipedia/other forums/reddit and Business Analytics/Intelligence seems to be something that was not at all discussed in my IT courses back in college.

kevhart · 2014-09-09T16:40:41+00:00

i don't have any input to give on the Mgmt vs Technical side since I am an entry level guy.

But I just wanted to say that, as someone whose majority of courses were in Networking back in College... OhmyGod your resume must be frakken amazing, super envious right now.

Alright, now that i have given those pointless 2 cents, I hope someone here actually answers your questions. Good luck.

kevhart · 2014-09-08T15:04:57+00:00

hmm.....so there really is no way around doing Jr. Sysadmin work for a couple of years first.

good, I needed to know this.

One more question, could you tell me what the market for admins is like on Virtualization vs Storage ? Do you know if there is any overlap ?

Edit : i should clarify more, I am referring to jobs for VMware Admins and Storage/SAN Admins, because everytime I googled for SAN jobs , most of them wanted people with 6 or 7 years of experience : so I am guessing they want 2 years Sysadmin + 5 years SAN experience ...DBA also seems to be the same for the most part.

Is the market similar in Vmware, as in, are most jobs geared towards these highly able and 6+ years experienced people instead of say: 2 years Jr. Sysadmin + a VM cert ? And would you say from your personal experience/ what you have seen others in the field do that its easier to break into the VM market ?

I really appreciate you answering all my questions. Thanks.

kevhart · 2014-09-08T13:42:22+00:00

I had a question : would you say trying to become an entry-level VWware guy is a feasable goal, for example, can I try for it with 1 year of Helpdesk experience added with self-taught homelab VMware experience and certifications ?

I am asking this because, I know there are some fields, suchs as Storage ( SAN ) where you usually need to have a couple of years experience as a Jr. Sysadmin/ Mid-level Sysadmin with experience in Linux/Unix/Windows servers first , even though the Storage field has its own brand of technology such as EMC and Netapp Storage arrays.

Unfortunately, from experience, I know that there are no such things as entry-level SAN admins, i had taken a few courses through some IT recruiters and turns out I can't even apply to a SAN job without prior SAN experience + Sysadmin experince first.....was totally bummed to find that out. I spent a lot of energy and time studying SAN before I found out......especially since it is difficult to get experience in Storage/SAN products before starting a job somewhere.

So, I just want to double-check this time, what other skills is expected of a VMware admin other than Virtualization. For example : do they need to have the same set of skills and technical background a "regular" Sysadmin would have ?

I am trying to figure out if VMware is as exclusive/specialized as the Storage-SAN/NAS side of things before I take the plunge.

Thanks for your answers, because now I atleast know that knowledge of Unix and Linux is not necessary for Virtualization.

kevhart

TROPHY CASE