Windows or UNIX

[otheracco]

Does the Windows world have too much competition?
Is it easier to have job security with UNIX/LINUX?

Microsoft has some server side programs that are extremely powerful and scalable (like Exchange). This makes it
possible to earn six figures in specialising in one of those Enterprise Class packages.

Does UNIX really have anything like that?
Is there a cap with UNIX/LINUX in how far you can really go?

 

[MasterRacker]

kmcferrin,

I would agree that if you're staffed adequately, and managed properly, you shouldn't long weeks shouldn't be the norm. The problem is that it's now part of the ecosystem in the US. Overtime exemption for certain classes of "computer workers" is built right into federal law:

http://www.flsa.com/computer.html.

Market contraction and wage drop for non-management types are trends that worry me. (Yes, some of the wage drop is a correction from the dotcom days, but in the midwest at least, there is real wage drop also.)

_____
Jeff
[small][purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day
"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me[/small]

 

[kmcferrin]

Oh, I understand that there are overtime exemptions for most IT professionals (heck, most salaried professionals), but just because it's possible doesn't mean it should be standard procedure. I'm not opposed to working more than 40 hours a week on an as-needed basis. I'm opposed to being expected to work 60 hours a week without extra compensation on a regular basis. Sure, it might be legal. But if you press your luck too much and use technicalities to justify it, you'll find yourself alienating your employees and having to replace them. That's not cheap to do, and it's certainly not easy to do once word gets out about what is expected.

I'm very clear that when I negotiate a salary that the salary is based on 40 hours a week with occasional overtime as needed. I'm also very clear that if the expectation is to regularly put in lots of "unpaid OT" then my base salary is going to have to be higher. If they want 50% more hours out of me then they would need to bump my salary another 50%. After all, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Besides, when it comes right down to it, most companies have absolutely zero loyalty to their workers. No matter how much free work you give them, when push comes to shove you are expendable. So I prefer to make sure that everyone is on the same page, i.e., they pay for my services and I provide those services. They get what they pay for and I get paid for what I do. Most hiring managers that I've had to explain that to respect that. The others I wouldn't work for. But then I'm a consultant, so I get paid overtime as long as it is billable too.

Where are you working in the midwest? In central Ohio there isn't a wage drop or a contraction for IT. In fact there's an IT staffing shortage. My company is having a hell of a time finding qualified candidates, and our customers are bombarding us with position reqs because they can't find qualified candidates either, and then trying to hire them away left and right. Even when we're trying to recruit people right out of college, the graduating classes for people getting degrees in IT-related areas are only 10-12 people. I think that all of the talk about a contraction and outsourcing/off-shoring has scared people into not going into IT, which in turn created a shortage.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCSE:Security 2003
MCTS:Active Directory
MCTS:Network Infrastructure
MCTS:Applications Infrastructure

 

[Opieo]

@kmc
Out of curiousity, what sort of skills do they search for?
A lot of jobs I looked at when I was searching for a job last time (almost 2 years ago now) wanted a huge list of qualifications, and about 3 to 5 years doing each of them. Now, I do not doubt that there are people out there who would already have that many years of experience in all 5+ categories of skills they are looking for. I do somehow doubt though, that there would be a any significant number with always that set of skills, not to mention that they are probably not looking for a job at that specific moment.

Having graduated just out of college I easily failed the three to five years of experience test for any given tree of speciality, except maybe the basic computer repair and network set up that I had been doing since high school.

It also feels like there is a shortage of jobs, and not of people. However, in this case I believe this has to do with geography. I live in Michigan where there has been many cutbacks over the last few years, and not just in the IT field either.

I agree with your view that even though I am salaried, I am willing to put in a few hours over as needed. Yet at the same time, not so willing to work 50+ hours every week without the extra compensation. It was the negotiation upon the time of hiring. Even though I must say that I have only acquired the A+ certification so far since finishing college. I am working on the Net+ currently and plan on having it by the end of June.

Sorry to be slightly off topic with my post but I view you guys as my superiors and I enjoy reading your debates as it helps me get a better feel for the way the market is.

More on topic, most of my server administration type knowledge is related to Windows, but I would love to expand my knowledge of Unix. I learn incredibly fast but tend to not devote much time to it at home, which is where I fail.

~
Chuck Norris is the reason Waldo is hiding.

 

[kmcferrin]

Opieo,

They're looking for all sorts of skillsets, network engineering, server administration and engineering, development, project management, etc. Though I'm in central Ohio I've done technical interviews for candidates from Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, etc for people who were looking to relocate. Someone that I work with now just relocated here form Kansas City.

If you're in Michigan, I can see why you're having problems. The economy up there is in bad shape.

________________________________________
CompTIA A+, Network+, Server+, Security+
MCSE:Security 2003
MCTS:Active Directory
MCTS:Network Infrastructure
MCTS:Applications Infrastructure

 

[linsysadmin]

@ Opieo

One great and succint (i.e.: you already know what a computer is..) guide I found to basic Linux (and a lot applies to Unix as well) is

http://www.linuxtraining.co.uk/download/new_linux_course_modules.pdf

Happy Hunting.

 

[Opieo]

You guys exemplify what I love about tek-tips.
Thank you for the understanding and guidance.
I think I am going to kick the studying for my Net+ up a notch and try to get it sooner. And I am also going to be looking at the linux guides now. My uncle was telling me about a set of podcasts that talked about Linux that he listened to in the car. I will have to get that link from him as well.

~
Chuck Norris is the reason Waldo is hiding.

 

[damber]

Opieo,

One of the best things you can do to learn linux is to install it and use it. If you dont have a spare machine or want to dual boot / replace your windows machine, then you can always download either Sun's VirtualBox or VMware server (both free) and host a virtual machine to test out different things (also pretty safe for testing out different installs, configurations and kernel hacking etc).

You'll learn about "what you need to learn about" if you get stuck in with the OS itself. there's so much free software out there, that you can try many different setups without costing a penny. e.g. setting up a LAMP stack, a mailserver, an LDAP server, setup a variety of different database servers (e.g. DB2, Oracle, etc). And also try setting it up as a router, firewall, proxy, reverse proxy, clustered render farms, load balancing active/active and active/passive failovers, etc, etc - tackle each one as a small project and work through the many tutorials out there to get a feel for what's going on.

Some easy to follow tutorials:

http://www.howtoforge.com/howtos/linux

(some are really basic, others more interesting)


=======================================
LessThanDot - The IT Community of the 21st Century

A smile is worth a thousand kind words. So smile, it's easy!

 

[xwb]

I agree with damber - nothing like trying it out and finding out whether you love it or hate it. If you go for a live CD, you don't even have to install it.

I went from Solaris to Windows and found the drag and drop very difficult initially. The command line stuff was equally bad. Things you take for granted like right clicking on the desktop to pop up a terminal are no longer there. You have to do Windows/R cmd to get a console.

It took me a long while to get used to the windows command line interface. Something like "su" on *nix to switch users without logging out was now "runas /user:administrator cmd" on windows. After over 15 years of using both systems, I'm still typing in the wrong commands.

Whenever someone shows you something, get them to show you twice. First time, to see what happens on the screen, second time to see what their left and right hands are doing. With 3 buttons, ctrl, shift, alt, ctrl-alt, ctrl-shift, alt-shift, ctrl-alt-shift, you have 24 combinations. Some even differentiate between alt and alt-gr and left and right shifts.

Note that some *nix GUIs are now Windows-like. i.e. they accept ctrl-c, ctrl-x, ctrl-v.