It so happened that I spent this spring searching/interviewing people for as many as four vacancies related to system administration. I talked to several dozen people and noticed common mistakes and problems they encounter. I present what I noticed, as well as my thoughts on how to solve these problems.

Scope: aspiring system administrators, assistant system administrators, etc. Experienced administrators, as well as those who have a very specific specialization, will find it interesting, but useless.

The approximate structure of a series of articles - I will describe how I see the profession of a system administrator, analyze the current attitude towards the profession on the part of the employer, then try to give general information about where to start and where to move next.

What types of system administrators are there?

To put it very crudely, sysdamins come with specialization and without specialization. Usually they start a career without specialization, then have several “bent” development branches and one or two or three in which their further life takes place (classic “builds” of characters in RPGs correspond very well to this). A system administrator without specialization is an overgrown Enikeyist (I will discuss this thesis a little lower). However, the demand for system administrators with a narrow specialization is lower (if we count vacancies in units) than for generalist system administrators (I will also expand on this thesis below). However, with fewer vacancies, the real need for qualified specialists is much higher than the number of specialists themselves, that is, the higher the qualifications, the less competition. At some point, you will have several offers from different companies, although you do not plan to leave the current one.

(Looking ahead a little - the higher the qualifications, the longer it takes to find new job, for a top specialist, looking for a job for half a year is quite normal. This is typical not only for administrators, but also for other professions with high responsibility and narrow specialization).

Who needs system administrators?

Since a system administrator is a profession, they pay money for it. The money is usually paid by the company to the employees. This means that companies need system administrators.

So, in accordance with the above classification, there are two important types of employers - core and non-core.

Let's start with the non-core ones. A non-core employer is a company that is NOT involved in IT, or is involved in it in an area far from the system administrator. Bright “antipodes” of IT-things: travel agencies, real estate companies, car dealers, etc. For them, an administrator is a kind of “electrician/computer caretaker.” They don’t need a complex infrastructure; they don’t know what system administrators do, what’s complicated and what’s simple. They cannot control the quality of the system administrator’s work, and the only sign of his success is “it works” or “it doesn’t.” The exact level of development of the company varies greatly and can be reduced to “setting up printers and ICQ” to maintaining rather exotic programs (medical institutions especially suffer from this). In any case, the IT complexity of their configuration is most often minimal, and there is no need to talk about the real “management” of the system administrator.

Special mention should be made of companies with high degree ITization of non-IT business. (A striking example is retail chains and banks). Most often, in such a company there is a person who is able to evaluate the quality of work and the complexity of the solution, he is usually able to speak with the system administrator in normal language, and not express himself in bird words about “the Internet is not working,” “the processor under the table is beeping,” etc. d. However, despite possible complexity configuration, it is quite limited by the budget and needs of the company, and usually does not require going beyond the minimum to work. The needs of the IT department are perceived as a pure burden that needs to be defended in this very bird language.

The second type of employers are specialized companies. Most large Internet sites are like this, this also includes hosters, data centers (if they do something other than renting units/dedicated), companies whose business is tied to Computer techologies(cellular companies, processing centers). Note that specialized companies also have non-core administrators (who are involved in servicing workstations in the back-office); when applying for a job, you need to find out for yourself exactly what you will be doing.

Such companies usually look for employees “for tasks”, that is, they need a person who can work in some area of ​​their activity.

An important feature of specialized companies is the constructiveness of what you do. You are no longer a “computer electrician”; you are the person who determines how well the company’s core business tool will perform. There is usually no concept of a “technological ceiling” or bird language.

Who it System Administrator-station wagon?

In fact, such a profession does not exist. It so happens that many companies want to have a person on staff who will be responsible for “everything computer-related.” Usually these are non-core companies. Moreover, they want one or two, not three dozen certified specialists. (For those who want to talk about their brilliant present in the person of an Oracle administrator, etc. - I repeat, we are talking about the situation on the market). Hence the simple rule: they will want everything from you right away. Moreover, in the future you will find that superficial knowledge about everything is not particularly valued. However, these types of jobs are a great place to start - you can try everything and see what you like best.

Thus, there is a clear contradiction between the work of a novice system administrator (more precisely, the requirements that are placed on him) and further career growth. This contradiction does not appear immediately, but after some time, when a person gets used to the job.

However, let's return to the work of a system administrator. Here is a list of areas that are most commonly encountered by a system administrator. Please note - these areas are far beyond the bounds of reason, but - see above, they want everything from you, right away, and preferably for little money:

What do you mean by system administration?

(we’re talking about generalist system administrators, of course)

• Network administration. In its minimum form, this is a “guru of desktop wi-fi router configuration”; in its maximum form, it is a person who will plan a network for 1000 people with branches in five cities. This includes: network topology (which piece of hardware to plug into which and why), SCS planning (where and how many outlets), nat and vpn configuration, etc. All sorts of Internet access control services go into the same pile - squid, IIS, smart and stupid firewalls, IDS, etc.
• Administration of workstations. Burnt-out power supplies, reinstalling Windows, solving a problem with another bank client, fixing a broken seal, solving the problem “how should I open this file,” fighting viruses for Windows, etc. Minimum level- install office, maximum - develop a group policy for automatically downloading a new version of software that does not have an msi (you will have to do it yourself). At the same time, problems with automatic deployment of workstations, backups, safe removal etc.
• Centralized authorization. Typically, Active Directory serves in this capacity. One of the “cleanest” disciplines, it is also one of the most difficult. Minimum level - add/remove users, add workstation to the domain. The maximum is to implement automatic assignment of policies to users of a given OU in case of access to a computer in one of the nodes of a neighboring tree in the forest (we all love this terminology, yes).
• Mail. Conventionally divided into three worlds: small Windows mail servers (Kerio class), the mighty and terrible Exchange, a normal linux/freebsd server with any sane mail server(postfix, exim, sendmail, etc.). Minimum level: add a mailbox, add another domain and add an additional email to the user. Maximum level: set up a mail ticket system, mailing list, spam filtering, automatic mailbox creation, etc.
• Databases are most often part of another infrastructure. Specialized database administrators are in a league of their own. Minimum level: install, restart, connect in application, add/remove database. Usually the same is the ability to make a backup and restore it (which is more difficult). There is no maximum level, because... if you know any DBMS well, SQL, and are able to deploy a server with an active asynchronous subscription to another database, then this is no longer quite a “universal system administrator”. The conditional ceiling can be considered the ability to repair a broken MyISAM database.
• 1C. Despite the fact that 1C is a company that produces toys and educational disks, “1C” usually means 1C: Enterprise, 1C: Accounting and other nightmarish products of the perverted intercourse of accounting and programming. A person who knows a lot about “this” is called a “1C programmer” (not to be confused with normal programmers). Minimum level: create new base, create/delete a user. Maximum level: correct the configuration, add a field to the report, understand how 1C deals with SQL.
• Websites. This can mean almost anything - from “order shared hosting” to “solve a performance problem in django-orm when working with postregsql.” This area could easily include copywriting, search engine spam (SEO), web design, web programming, etc. Minimum level: be able to do a little layout in html; there is no maximum level, because different professions are listed. By the way, among them there is also a real system manager: web server administrator - load ballancing, failover, high availability, clusters, etc., which again goes beyond the category of “versatility”.
• Access control systems and video surveillance. Most often they are done by specialized organizations, however, it happens that the system administrator also has to tinker. Minimum level: pick up another camera, register an access card. Maximum level: auto-export of video to archive, synchronization of all types of control. The future is most likely not admin; as far as I know, administrators usually don’t like this area.
• ATS. Another area that falls into system administration by accident. Minimum level: add forwarding, connect an additional incoming line. Maximum level: raise your asterisk from voice menu 300 points, sip-skype gate, routing capable of transferring between IP, copper and E1 depending on conditions. This is also where legacy telephone services often come in, “tapping the crowns”, understanding all sorts of plesiosynchronous incoming lines, E1, etc. I repeat, this is not an administrator’s specialization - in general, telephone operators do this.
• Print/scan. Most often, a trivial task until you have to make printers networked and solve the problems of all kinds of industrial printers. Minimum level: pick up the printer; Maximum level - solve the problem color profiles, connect the label printer as a network printer, automatically assign printers when the user logs on to the computer.

In addition, there are many specific areas: terminal servers, various ERP/CMS, utility software for network maintenance, etc.

To summarize: it is impossible not only to be a professional, but to at least know all this more or less well. But you need to know. It is on this contradiction that the career of a novice administrator is built.

Separately, it is necessary to say about those with whom you will encounter during the interview. Unlike other cases, with a 99% probability you will be interviewed by people who are far from computers. And they will not test your knowledge, but your adequacy and “glibness of answers.” If you bombard them with smart words, you will not be perceived adequately.

What is an Assistant System Administrator?

... aka enikeyschik.
This is the person on whom all the poorly formalized and tedious work, communication with users and fiddling with hardware is blamed.

The main things that an Enikey person usually does:

• helpdesk - help desk. Answer to phone calls employees, show how to press any key, help find the column sort button and pick out a disk stuck in the drive.
• Preparation of workstations - installation, connection, laying of wires, installation of OS and software, etc.
• The solution to any non-wordable bullshit with custom applications- This is especially true for software from tax and bank clients.
• Correction of SCS (new sockets, transfer of existing ones), diagnostics of problems, switching, if there are cross-connections, then their embroidery.

If the company does not have an operator, then his duties are performed by the system administrator.

Note that the “assistant system administrator” is most often practically a consumable item with a high turnover. In one company, it got to the point that the head of the department did not know the names of all the assistant administrators (3 pieces), because at least one left once every month or a month and a half.

From the point of view of an employee, such work is a springboard into system administration, but not the main profession.

We will talk about the profiles of specialized system administrators a little later, but for now about careers within these two professions.

Who is joining Enikey?

My experience says that people usually go there without specialized education. Most often they are young, although I interviewed a 42-year-old uncle for the position of “system administrator assistant.” Despite the fact that the responsibilities described above seem almost trivial, for many this is the most difficult step. Becoming an administrator from an administrative assistant is easier than becoming an assistant system administrator.

The main reason: they will want knowledge from you that is comparable to an administrator. Moreover, half of this knowledge is not presented anywhere in books and is a passing experience (for example, fiddling with bank clients). Another important feature is the “sense of computers”; I met many people at interviews, they simply could not appreciate the naturalness of what was happening in the computer, which greatly hindered them in analyzing the situation. This is a non-verbal experience, it appears after long work with computers.

Career

A typical career looks like this: assistant system administrator (or administrator in a small company with 5-8 people), administrator, administrator (maybe 2-3 more times administrator), the beginning of real specialization. Specialization can be of two types: promotion technical level(instead of superficial knowledge of everything, deep knowledge of a little), and an administrative career - head of the IT department, CIO (IT director), etc. These two are perfect different directions- the first is related to computers, the second is related to people, personnel management, planning, budgeting, meetings, etc.

The transition from stage to stage is determined by several factors: 1) Theoretical knowledge 2) Practical skills 3) Knowledge of realities 4) Connections and relationships with other people (both within the company and outside it).

Among this, the third point does not seem very clear. What is “reality”?

Knowledge of realities

It's about knowing what companies usually use, how much it costs and how it works. Relatively speaking, this is a person who knows that modern offices install 5e, and not ThickEthernet (as was described in a 1993 book), that installing category 6 is unjustified (even though the manufacturer’s booklet advises this), that programmers need an eye and an eye, otherwise the company will be tightly tied to a specific person, etc. In other words, knowledge of reality is the ability to say what exactly is needed in terms that will be understandable to both the supplier and others.

Skills

Up to a certain point, almost everything is decided. Without some set of skills, no amount of theoretical knowledge will help. It simply includes “many kilometers behind the wheel” - solving many problems, skills in working with the console and standard software, knowledge of the symptoms of problems, knowledge of standard solutions for typical cases.

Theory

At first, theoretical knowledge is not very important, since you do not have the proper feel for computers to perceive them correctly. However, if you do not invest your time and effort into theoretical knowledge, you will quickly become stuck at your level. Salaries will grow a little, perhaps there will be a career, but the IT world around will stop changing. Same technology, same glitches. The lack of theoretical knowledge does not prevent you from working - it prevents you from understanding how it works and how to fix what doesn’t work. Experience strongly replaces theory in the sense of solving problems, but does not give the strength to see the situation in general, to find the real reason (instead of the reason).

Connections

Yes, they mean a lot, especially in the case of a career as an IT director. The only method to avoid the need to have many acquaintances and play office games “king of the hill” is professionalism (read, experience and theory). If not, then only personal connections, knowledge of people, the ability to sense them, the ability to order them and lead in every other way. According to my observations, approximately 30% of Enikey workers find their first job through an acquaintance.

For highly specialized administrators, communications mean something completely different. The narrower the specialization, the smaller the range of employers, the greater the likelihood of knowing everyone or almost everyone. Having a familiar name greatly reduces your job search time. In this case, we are not talking about “connections” in the everyday sense, but about professional fame.

Personally, I am a little depressed by the current situation with the name of the specialty. It's like at the dawn of development computer equipment everyone who at least somehow knew how to work with computers was strictly divided into two groups: “user” and “programmer”. You only know how to turn it on and poke it with one finger - a user. you understand what is happening inside - a programmer. So now everyone who is “not a programmer” is called a system administrator.

So, I would like to bring a little clarity to what a system administrator is.

I would formulate this specialty only this way - the maximum position for managing all information systems of an enterprise.

A system administrator is a person whose job is to:
First of all, in building a policy and planning the organization of all information systems and networks in the company.
In everyday life - the implementation of this plan, recreating it in hardware, device configuration, software configuration, tuning, monitoring the state of networks, suppressing accidental violations, attacks and other threats.
In the future - planning for development and modernization, studying new opportunities and trends.

This position is only half “technical”, and the other half “political”. A system administrator is a senior IT manager who determines how and where all IT in the company will move, and ultimately how easy and convenient it will be for everyone to use the “benefits of IT” specific user. Below the level there are individual “narrow” administrators, such as database administrators, user support services, and possibly programmers writing some local modules. The only higher level remains “non-technical management” - top management and company executives. For example, management, due to the lack of the necessary technical knowledge, is simply not able to know what equipment is needed to build a network, where the bottlenecks are and how much each of them affects or can affect business processes. As a rule, superiors only need to have information “how much it will cost us money and time” and “how much it will simplify the work/increase reliability.” And how and what technologies will be used, how and what users will receive, what they will be able to do and what not - these are the decisions of the system administrator.

What many (and even in their article are guilty of this:) call an admin is often an “enike guy” (system engineer, shift engineer, technical support engineer), his tasks are really to deal with buggy Windows, printers and other small junk of the user. I understand that in a company with a couple of hundred jobs there is practically no point in hiring a separate system administrator (as a rule, such tasks do not arise there), so it turns out that an Enikey person sits and, to the extent of his free time and experience, does the same thing tasks for setting up servers and hardware. There is nothing scary about this; after all, almost all system administrators started working as Enikey specialists, but they are not real system administrators.

I worked several times as a system administrator in companies where more than a thousand jobs are distributed over a large territory. For example, in one of them, in two years of work, I never saw the end user, and only spoke to them on the phone a couple of times. But responsibility for the correctness of the chosen policy for building a network, planning purchases for further development, the performance of all information systems, software, servers, and data safety lies with the administrator. No one will be held accountable to an Enikey employee for lost data or a broken line - but for a system administrator this will immediately be disqualification if he did not provide backup paths in the structure that would ensure uninterrupted operation in the event of failure of individual nodes and quick options for restoring the functionality of any structure. And the decisions that a system administrator makes usually affect all employees who work with computers in one way or another. It is the system administrator who sets the tasks for programmers to write the necessary modules, and introduces the rules for working with software for the entire company.

I would like to give an analogy with city sewers - the system administrator is the chief engineer of the city, who plans how and where pipes should be laid, where to build and how to connect substations. But the bearded man in a sweater is most likely a local plumber who changes the pipes in the house and does the wiring around the apartment. Without in any way detracting from the need for all professions, but these are very different things in terms of level of knowledge, education and tasks to be solved.

I also do not agree with the division into “core” and “non-core” employers. Here it is rather worth talking about whether there is a demand for serious IT for each specific business. For example, if you look at trade in general, they essentially don’t need computers; they set up a cash register and collect the money. But nevertheless, I observed one of the most interesting and developed IT infrastructures in a large retail chain. And they didn’t skimp on development, because they understood that this was the “lifeblood” of the business and when the network went down, there would be no sales, and these were huge losses, both direct due to standing equipment and indirect from loss of trust.

P.S. And another interesting thing that I have noticed over many years, which is the highlight of all the things I have seen excellent System administrators have an almost manic passion for organizing everything that is under their control, from the configuration of equipment, documenting infrastructures and arranging patch cords in wiring closets, to perfect order on their own desktop. And by the way, there were no bearded people with a sweater among them; a good system administrator really looks like a manager.

P.P.S. I leave outside the scope of this article all “narrow” administrators, such as administrators of web servers, databases, email, domain, storage systems, network and so on. Although even the average system administrator should have a clear understanding of the essence of these specialties and in their work regularly consult and take into account the opinions of specialists or dive into the area themselves (if they have the strength and capabilities).

UPD: Well formulated my thoughts

", and today programmer, system administrator Sergey Egortsev shares his experience with us

How does a system administrator's working day work?

As a rule, the system administrator constantly has some tasks. The day begins with setting priorities and gradually solving these problems. As they are solved, new tasks appear, including pressing and urgent ones. Typically, 90% of problems are solved right at the desktop, i.e. I have to sit at the computer almost all day.

What are his responsibilities? What about a technical support specialist?

The main responsibilities of a system administrator are to ensure the continuity of the employer's business processes. I think it’s important to understand what an employer needs to do the job. There are several categories of tasks:

1. Telephony. This could be a call center, or it could be regular office telephony. The following tasks are solved here: setting up a PBX, setting up telephones. The PBX can be digital or analog. Now, of course, digital is used more. You may also need to configure IP telephony.
2. Computer network. It is necessary to ensure the interaction of computers on the network, configure access and connection. Configure network equipment.
3. Internet. It is necessary to configure access to the Internet, possibly limited (limit access to social networks, prohibit some protocols, etc.).
4. Setting up peripheral equipment and accessing it - various printers, plotters, etc.
5. Installation and configuration of corporate software packages for accounting, internal document management systems, EDI systems ( electronic systems document flow). EDI is usually used to send documents to tax authorities and to work with banks.

These problems are solved using various combinations of equipment/ software. Basically, it all depends on the budget, requirements and needs of the employer. As a rule, most companies already have a system that solves the above problems. If you don’t need to do everything from scratch, then the main task of the system administrator is to maintain existing system in working order, as well as its updating/modernization as necessary. Perhaps the system will need to be expanded and supplemented to solve new problems for the employer.

Duties of a specialist technical support also includes ensuring the continuity of the employer’s business processes, but not at the system level, but at the level of end nodes and specific devices. The main tasks of a technical support specialist:

1. Setting up the user's computer - connecting to corporate network, setting up mail, installing a software package.
2. Setting up printers.
3. Replacement Supplies in peripheral devices (printers, faxes, etc.).
4. Setting up telephones ( regular phones, IP phones).
5. Repair and restoration of failed equipment. Replacement of PC components, printers, telephones.

As a rule, a technical support specialist begins his work based on requests from users. Almost every day, various incidents happen: the Internet does not work, mail does not send, the phone does not ring, the accounting program does not work, etc. The main responsibility is prompt elimination malfunctions. The faster the problem is resolved, the less financial losses at the employer, because Typically, a malfunction results in the user being unable to perform his job duties for which he is paid.

What operating systems should he know today?

Operating systems are selected for each company separately, depending on financial capabilities and tasks to be solved. Server operating systems from Microsoft are suitable for solving most problems related to the interaction of computers on a network: Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012. You can still find Windows Server 2003, but this system is already outdated. To ensure communication between a computer network and external networks(Internet, remote office, remote branch) are used Unix-like systems, the most popular of them is FreeBSD; you can also organize telephony, mail, and web servers on Unix systems. You can also find the use of OS Linux in work, which can be used as a server or installed on users’ computers. For example, in Moscow clinics in doctors’ offices there are computers running Linux, this system fully suitable for working with EMIAS in a browser. To ensure interaction computer networks used special devices- various network routers and routers. Large companies use Cisco routers to ensure network operation - they allow you to solve almost any problem related to network data transmission. Cisco routers are so complex in their design that they use their own operating system - Cisco Internetwork Operating System or Cisco IOS for short. Knowledge and ability to work with this system are necessary to build any relatively large network. There are also routers from Juniper Networks with their own operating system - Junos OS. Juniper Networks routers are not often used in ordinary companies; as a rule, they are used by large corporations, Internet providers and banks.

Does he have to deal with people and for what reason?

If we talk about technical support specialists, they have to deal with people every day and every time something breaks/doesn’t work for someone. In large corporations and banks, as a rule, you need to follow a dress code and look neat. It should be taken into account that the technical support specialist communicates with any person who uses the equipment - from the warehouse manager to the president of the corporation. Therefore, the ability to communicate and find mutual understanding with people is a must. Job vacancies often state that a technical support specialist must be stress-resistant. This is due to the fact that the equipment usually fails at the most inopportune moment. For example, the development director urgently needs to send a letter to partners, but his mail does not work - in given the situation the director is nervous, afraid that everything may fall apart, the deal will not go through, etc. IN in this case you need to be prepared for the fact that as soon as you enter the office, they will yell at you, accuse you of incompetence, etc., depending on the significance of the letter and the mood of the director, as well as his mental state. You need to be prepared for this. There are almost always 10% of constantly dissatisfied users with whom you will have to establish relationships one way or another.

A system administrator, unlike a technical support specialist, may not communicate with users at all. Or do it in rare cases. His main communication takes place with his boss/IT director on professional topics - the operation of servers, systems, mail, implementation of corporate software, features of the interaction of system nodes, etc.

This is relevant for large companies, but if you work in a company consisting of 30-60 employees, then you won’t be able to avoid communicating with users and avoid getting caught up with people who are dissatisfied with your work; you will have to “join the team” one way or another.

Does he have to improve his skills every day?

It is necessary to improve qualifications in parallel with the development of the industry. For operating systems this is not so relevant, because they come out once every 5-6 years. Updated more often software products- 1C, EDI systems, bank clients. Difficulties in improving your qualifications should not arise if you keep your finger on the pulse and follow IT news. Basic functions and the operating principles of the systems were laid down a very long time ago and rarely change. For example, PCs were assembled 20 years ago and are still being assembled to this day. In the IT industry, the characteristics and capabilities of computers and software are changing, the range of tasks being solved is changing, but basic principles remain.

In this profession, you can qualitatively improve your level of qualifications by making some qualification leap. A technical support specialist can become a system administrator if he improves his skills in the field of server operating systems or in the field of network technologies. This will be a transition to another level and will provide an opportunity for career growth.

What is their salary range? What does this depend on?

Salary most often depends on the tasks being solved and the employer. For example, in a large corporation/bank the salary of a technical support specialist is from 40 to 80 tr. In small companies this amount is less, usually from 25 to 50. Usually 80 thousand rubles. - this is a salary in foreign representative offices of companies; to receive such a salary you need to speak a foreign language, as well as be able to write correctly.

The salary of a system administrator is higher and the range is greater. This is from 35 to 180 tr. It all depends on the scale of the company and the range of tasks being solved, again for 180 tr. Knowledge of a foreign language may be required.

Who do they report to?

If the company is small, 30-100 people, then subordination either directly to the director or to the person appointed responsible for IT technology - the positions may be different. If we talk about the corporate segment, then something like this is built up:

IT director - heads of departments (communications department, telephony, network, etc.) - chief system administrator - leading system administrator - senior system administrator - system administrator - technical support specialist. As you can see, in a small company there is practically no prospect for career growth; one can only hope for salary indexation and bonuses/bonuses. In the corporate segment, you can improve your skills and career growth over the course of 10-20 years with a corresponding increase in wages.

Who can they grow into in the company and what does this depend on?

Growth is possible mainly in large companies. It all depends on skills and knowledge of systems, as well as practical experience. We need theory and practice. Knowledge confirmed by certificates from system manufacturers is often welcome. Most Right way growth - studying server Microsoft systems and passing an exam on them. The exam consists of a large number of questions and is conducted in the form of a test. These exams cost money, i.e. To try to pass the exam you need to pay about 60 euros per attempt, regardless of whether you pass or not. For this you need to prepare carefully. In some companies, possession of these certificates confirming your knowledge is not just welcomed, but is a requirement for a candidate for a vacancy. For the most part, on the way to a salary of 180 thousand rubles. These certificates are simply necessary. You can also achieve career growth in network technologies based on knowledge of network interaction and skills in working with Cisco routers. Again, to work with Cisco, technology knowledge certificates from Cisco are welcome, which are issued after an exam, which also costs money.

Where exactly is this taught and is it possible to come from the street like that and become a sysadmin? They write in vacancies: “Education not lower than secondary specialized education.” Is it really possible to be able to do all this after college? What then does the institute provide?

System administrators are taught in advanced training courses, as well as in paid courses conducted by software and equipment manufacturers. Technical universities and colleges have various departments on various IT technologies. After graduation educational institution or courses, you can try to get a job with a small salary of 25-35 tr. In the first couples, experience decides everything. You can become a system administrator by getting your hands on the solution various tasks, which are set by the company's management. I think that in 1 year of work you can gain enough experience to understand in which direction to move and what to do. There is an option to learn the minimum skills to work as a technical support specialist and work in such a position for many years. But it is worth remembering that a technical support specialist is the first step in a career and requires an age of up to 35 years. I know that technical support specialists over 35 years of age face problems in finding employment, so if you are a young specialist, it is advisable to somehow advance your career ladder before 35.

As for studying at a university and college, I can’t say for sure, but I see the difference something like this: at a university they teach the basics of technology and basic theoretical knowledge for building computer systems, which may be useful for future system administrators. In colleges there is less theory, more practice, which contributes to more quick start in practical skills, without delving too deeply into the basics.

Is being a system administrator boring or fun? Where is the joy?

I can’t say about boredom or fun. The word interesting would be more appropriate here. Being a system administrator is interesting because... Every day we have to solve new and new problems, sometimes, however, old ones. In my opinion, all administrators experience a feeling of joy and emotional uplift after solving a problem. The more difficult and more interesting task- the more pleasure there is in solving it. But this is for professionals, and for those who do not like to solve problems or do not want to solve them, there is no pleasure from work, work for them turns into boredom and everyday torment, and every new task causes a reaction like this - “well, what else is there? well, again? Well, how much can you?” Sometimes there really are funny or funny incidents involving users. For example, one day a HR employee accidentally poured network filter with coffee outlets. Due to a short circuit, the circuit breaker tripped and the electricity in the office went out. The women approached the system administrator with a complaint - the computers had stopped working and needed to be repaired. How much fun it is - everyone can evaluate in their own way. If you think this case is fun, then yes - being a system administrator is fun.

Which people are better at it - working as a system administrator or a technical support specialist? Are they necessarily introverts? Techies at heart?

Introverts are unlikely, but techies at heart, perhaps yes. If you have the ability and interest to learn about the structure of a computer, how wi-fi works, how the Internet works, then it is quite possible that the profession of a system administrator will satisfy this interest, and the abilities will help you enjoy your work. During my work, I knew a large number of system administrators and technical support specialists, all of them were completely different people. The only thing they had in common was an interest in technology. It is true that there were people without interest in this area, but they worked poorly and the work was a burden to them.

Is it possible to open your own small company and make money from it? Is it realistic to practice?outsourcing in this area alone?

Regarding opening a company, you can open one. But in order to earn money, you need to have managerial skills to organize work and have experience in selling system administration services. From this I can conclude that, after all, opening a company is not the job of a system administrator, but rather an entrepreneur. But if you have a rare combination of these skills, then you can open a company and start earning money. To open a company, in my opinion, you need to look and study the market. There are a lot of offers for such services; it is quite difficult to become competitive in this area. Due to the number of proposals, prices for services are at a level where the work will generate a minimum income. I am not an economist or a manager, so I cannot tell you how to build this business so that it is successful.

If you work on your own, there is an option to turn to small companies consisting of 5-10 people. As a rule, they do not turn to outsourcing companies, but try to solve their problems with a one-time call from specialists or on their own. There is a possibility that you can enter into a personal service agreement with them - say, 3000 - 5000 per month for the opportunity to call you to solve some problems or repair equipment. There are many such companies in business centers, where they rent small offices. Theoretically, you can recruit about 10 clients from one business center and receive about 40-60 thousand rubles per month. I don’t know how it is now, but I had several friends who worked exactly like this.

What does a system administrator dream about?

As I said above, a system administrator is a person like everyone else, and everyone dreams of their own. And regarding wishes at work - the system administrators have remade one not entirely literary toast and often pronounce it at corporate events and parties, it sounds like this: “so that the server is standing and there are pings!”, translated into Russian this means “so that the server always works and was available online.”

Sergey, thank you very much for such a good interview!

Questions asked by Elmira Davydova

The article turned out to be a little philosophical. And I don’t write very often for this blog at all. Unfortunately.

September 2016 turned out to be a bright month for me. Clenching my will into a fist, I said goodbye to the work to which I had devoted the last 4 years. And I simply realized in horror that this was a road to nowhere.

I don’t know whether it’s a midlife crisis (I turned 31 this year) or the understanding that the family needs much more serious financial support, but the fact remains that I broke up with work and what I’ve been doing all these years. And now I can give you, dear readers, some parting words so that you do not repeat such mistakes.

So, as I already wrote, last years I worked with someone whom I had previously vehemently ridiculed even on my blog. I worked system administrator. Moreover, the position had an “amazing” entry in the work book - systems engineer. And only 4 years later I only found out that, it turns out, this is such a veiled name for enikey in normal offices. Yes, exactly normal ones, because I can’t call my last office that word.

I will remember the beginning of 2013 for a long time. I had the choice to get a job as an Android developer, 1C programmer, or system administrator in an office about which I can’t say anything good except swear words. Greed won. Since the developer offered me 25 thousand everywhere at first (Rostov-on-Don). I understand that a programmer, even before a year of work, is just a junior. Moreover, I gave up Android before, and only worked on 1C for as long as I could. But in a year the prospects would have increased. The skill would grow, and with it the salary level. But I took the path of least resistance, since they offered me 35 tyr! In your arms! White! And this was the beginning of my professional collapse.

The office was incredibly small. Peer-to-peer network, without AD or even a hint of LDAP at least on Samba. With ancient computers running no less ancient XP. One video surveillance server, one file dump and one gateway configured in one place on the 5th Centos...

When I saw all this “economy”, I had a reasonable question - why pay such a sum? I received an answer immediately - for business trips. It was me who was hired for commissioning work on business trips. I was wearing video surveillance systems, servers and switching equipment. In 2014, all this came back to haunt me - I spent almost the entire year in Sochi, starting with the Olympics, where I worked without sleep or days off for two months, and then lived constantly in conditions in which migrant workers would not always agree to be, due to the greed of the director offices.

Yes, I learned a lot. I studied Cisco at the CCNA level and wanted to move up to CCNP, but changed my mind. I learned a lot of related technologies such as setting up radars (yes, exactly radar) and much more. I learned so much about fiber optic lines and all switching equipment that I could safely go to work in telecoms after that. And at the same time I became dumb. From monotony, from routine, etc.

I quit this blog. I quit programming. I got used to the idea that I was just a system administrator. I get paid and that's fine.

But every year the anxiety grew. First, on New Year’s Day 2015, I received the first news from Superjob that it was necessary to retrain as a system administrator at the age of 30. Then everything went from strength to strength.

I watched technology digests and was literally blown away by what happened over these 4 years. Xamarin, in iOS development went to SWIFT, many new frameworks appeared on the web, Rust appeared and immediately made a challenge to C++. And the latter has undergone changes - C++ 14 was released, which began to resemble java more.

There were a lot of changes. And all this passed by. And when two more admins, much older than me, got a job in the office, then I realized what a dead-end branch this was. And he quit.

Moreover, without regretting it at all. And to you, dear readers, I can simply convey from my own experience what I encountered after my dismissal.

So, in my hands I have a work book with such a “disgusting” entry, two resumes - for a programmer and a system administrator. Here are the input details. And then it started.

Out of curiosity, I started sending out sysadmin resumes, while simultaneously reading books on what I had missed over the past time. The result was, to put it mildly, not so hot. No, I was invited to many places. I had frequent interviews. But behind my back I often heard: “God, the man is 31 years old and he came as a system administrator!” But there were still a bunch of places where the resume was thrown into the shredder with the diagnosis - “Grandfather. Too old for this position." Moreover, the network is heterogeneous in such organizations. There are also virtual servers on ESXi, web servers running on Apache and Nginx under Debian and Centos 7, a bunch of PBXs on Asterisk, complex forests AD, MS SQL Server 2014, Exchange, scripts perfectly written in bash and powershell, Cisco, Huawei, Microtik - you can’t take everything into account. And the experience for all this is from 3 to 6 years. But not older than 30 years for the applicant. So, whoever indulges in skills will often go against you with the main document - your passport. At least this is how things stand in Rostov.

It was a total circus with the programmer - they often saw that he had been working as a system administrator for the last 4 years and immediately put his resume into the shredder or began to get hysterical. There are more than 100 1C franchises in the city, but almost all of them had one thing as a standard for recruiting a programmer - to be an intern. And it doesn’t matter how much experience you have - no experience at all or 10 years behind you. And then the question arose about salaries, which traditionally do not exist in the French. As for other programmers, there is nothing here except the web and a tiny share of C# for ASP.Net. And even C#, which I knew version 4.0, was already using 6.0. Even teach him again. Although on the blog I conducted webinars on it (or rather, on 5.0). But it was easier with him, but again, age did not make it into the team. Young guys up to 25 years old are sitting and a 31-year-old uncle walks in on them...

However, I did not fall into pessimism at all. I was looking for a lot of related things and within a week after my dismissal I found a job java developer. Yes, the salary is gray. But the entry “software engineer” will appear on the employment record again. And one thing I know for sure is that I will never set foot in system administration again. And age won’t allow it).

I hope that this article with such groans was interesting and useful to someone. Most importantly, always improve. The world does not stand still. And IT – even more so. Otherwise, you risk being left behind, like I once was.

Hello friends! Our century is the century of technological progress. The Machine Age. It is impossible to imagine even the most seedy company without a computer! The director of the enterprise, in the accounting department, in the offices of department heads, and even ordinary employees - everyone has computers at their workplaces. Corporate mail, news, market, bank - all these benefits of the modern workforce undoubtedly help to survive in the cruel world of business. But how do you make it all work together? How to make sure that employees are not “in contact” and “classmates” sitting in work time, but were you busy? How to protect secret information from your work computer from hackers? This is why the profession of system administrator exists.

Let us help you learn a new profession - more details

If you ask Google who he is, he will answer something like this:

System administrator - employee, job responsibilities which implies provision regular work fleet of computer equipment, networks and software, as well as provision information security In the organisation.

Popularly, such a specialist is simply called “administrator” or “sysadmin”.

So let's figure it out...

What does a system administrator do?

The responsibilities of a system administrator include ensuring the stable operation of computer equipment.

This stage includes:

1. installation and configuration (and sometimes even purchase) of computers,
2. components and peripheral devices (printers, scanners, etc.)

When doing this, the main thing is to lay out computer communications so that even the most sophisticated worker does not pull out the plug with his foot and spill the coffee. system unit.

The most difficult thing in the work of a system administrator is to explain to the boss’s beautiful blonde secretary that there is no need to pin the mouse wire with buttons to the table, even if it gets in the way)))

• Setting up programs and ensuring their stable, reliable operation will be perhaps the most labor-intensive part of a system administrator's job. The software can be completely different, depending on the specifics of the enterprise. For example, from the usual Microsoft word & excel, to the ORACLE DBMS and accounting programs.

The main problem in the operation of software is, unfortunately, the human factor, since usually employees’ complaints to the system administrator begin with the words: “I pressed the wrong button and everything suddenly disappeared somewhere.” Synchronize the work of programs and set correct protection“from fools” - that’s half the work of a system administrator.

• The system administrator must also know and be able to correctly configure access parameters so that each employee can turn on only his computer, his profile, and launch only those programs to which he has access according to his status in the campaign. If the employees’ work is connected to the Internet, then the system administrator will have to configure access parameters in world wide web so that neither “in contact” nor “oddnoklassniki”, so beloved by office workers, are accessible from work computers.

A system administrator is a very significant figure in a company, like a knight on a chessboard. It seems like he’s not the most important person, but it’s absolutely impossible to live without him. Sometimes it is enough to complete admin courses to become the master of office computers. But computers tend to break down, both for an ordinary employee and for the general director.

Advantages of being a system administrator

The incomparable advantages of the job include almost complete independence, because finding a person at the company who will understand computers at the level of a system administrator and will check your work is almost impossible. It is the system administrator who is the “virtual director” in the campaign, therefore, having correctly configured the equipment and given valuable instructions to the “office plankton”, you can safely spend the drab work days, indulging in social networks or the online games that absorb modern youth. In addition, the solution to problems with equipment of superiors and senior management (top manager, chief accountant, personnel officers, etc.) will provide good connections and will help you move up the career ladder.

Representatives of this profession, again, have an order of magnitude less paperwork than other workers. As practice shows, while at the end of the month or year, department heads and subordinates are intensively writing reports, settling accounts and summing up results, system administrators are spinning twisted-pair soldiers in their offices.

The obvious advantages include the salary of system administrators. According to the website “job.ru”, companies are willing to pay an average of $1,200 to $3,000 for services of this kind.

The disadvantages (cons) of the profession include:

1. Uneven and sometimes high workload. Through the efforts of careless users, computers glitch and break down with enviable regularity in almost any enterprise.
2. Lack of understanding and sometimes absolute unwillingness to understand at all how the system works. The mouse is buggy - the system administrator is to blame. The site does not work - the system administrator is to blame. The power supply has burned out - the system administrator is to blame. And go and prove that the voltage in the electrical network does not depend on you!
3. Limited opportunities for career advancement. If the company’s activities are not related to the provision of services in the field of information technologies, then there is nothing more to count on except for an increase in salary.

Characteristics of a system administrator

What qualities do a good system administrator need?

• Firstly, he must have a good technical education. Knowing what is a system unit, what is a monitor, and how to reinstall the operating system will clearly not be enough.
• Secondly, a good system administrator must be proficient at a level clearly superior to the basic one.

Most programs and especially technical description they are supplied in English and gaps in knowledge of the language can be costly, and reputable company without knowledge