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View Full Version : Could I administer a computer lab?



hizaguchi
September 8th, 2006, 08:46 PM
Ok, so it's an odd topic, but I'm kinda curious. There's a temporary student job about to open up in my college. They basically just want someone to maintain a computer lab and some servers, all running Suse Linux. It pays very well, so I'm wondering if I can pull it off.

I've been using linux as my only OS (other than at work) since Warty. I don't know anything particularly special about the OS, or administration in general, other than the fact that I've installed dozens of distros on several machines and I'm getting to the point that I can troubleshoot problems and know where to look for solutions.

The lab is used for computational fluid dynamics, so I think it'll be mostly grad students and probably lightly used. It's estimated as a 10 hr/month job (salaried), so it doesn't sound like I'd be loaded with issues... meaning if I looked at it as a 20 hr/week job I'd probably have enough time to sort out whatever issues crop up.

So, do you think I could pull it off?

Wolki
September 8th, 2006, 08:58 PM
Well, it doesn't sound impossible. Creating or migrating such a pool is a lot of work and quite difficult (as i've found out), some administering and maintaining shouldn't be too difficult, at least not if you're prepared to do some learning.

sanderella
September 8th, 2006, 09:02 PM
I'd vote, but someone doesn't know how to spell failure.

hizaguchi
September 8th, 2006, 09:05 PM
I'd vote, but someone doesn't know how to spell failure.
Heh, woops. Been a long day. Fingers are tired.

@Wolki: I very much enjoy learning. I'm a compulsive tinkerer. I've got Arch Linux running in Windows with coLinux, and an ssh server going in the Arch Linux so I can log in with my other computer... all just for the hell of it. What worries me is that I'll get in over my head and have a bunch of disgruntled, headhunting faculty members. The biggest appeal of this job is that it's one last chance to tack some fancy sounding experience onto my resume, and that kinda backfires if I can't do a decent job.

sanderella
September 8th, 2006, 09:11 PM
ok, i'll vote to be a failue :cool:

IYY
September 8th, 2006, 09:26 PM
If the network is already set up (by a compotent guy) and you just need to be the admin... Sure. It will take some learning, but it's not at all impossible. Setting up such a network is another issue, because you might overlook some security issue.

jISh
September 8th, 2006, 11:03 PM
Shouldn't have trouble.
Look at these materials some of which I'm using to study for the LPI exams, if you can safely say you know most/all of that then there shouldn't be a problem!

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/articles/lpi-101-fundamentals-p1.xml
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/articles/

grte
September 9th, 2006, 05:48 AM
I very much enjoy learning. I'm a compulsive tinkerer.

The first is good, the second is a liability. Administration is a completely different mindset than desktop usage. You don't want to tinker unless and until something breaks. Find what works, and leave it alone!

As for whether to try for the job: Shoot for the sky, man. The number of people who have gotten where they are through a BS resume and on-the-job learning is not inconsiderable.

funchords
September 9th, 2006, 07:55 AM
Dude - go for it. You can't sail the ocean until you pull away from the dock.

hizaguchi
September 14th, 2006, 10:41 PM
Thanks for the input everybody. I've got an interview Thursday! We'll see how it goes. :)

OffHand
September 15th, 2006, 01:33 AM
Thanks for the input everybody. I've got an interview Thursday! We'll see how it goes. :)

Cool, I will have a job interview at a company that is developping software that day too. I'm sure we will both get the job :)

hizaguchi
September 22nd, 2006, 02:10 PM
Harhar, I got hired! Now we'll see how it goes, I guess. :)

Wolki
September 22nd, 2006, 03:25 PM
Congratulations. And good luck :)

hizaguchi
September 22nd, 2006, 04:16 PM
Thanks. And may God have mercy on the souls of those who will depend on my work. :)

OffHand
September 25th, 2006, 02:44 PM
Harhar, I got hired! Now we'll see how it goes, I guess. :)Hey man, I got hired too :) My new job will be as a customer support guy and software tester :mrgreen:

xtacocorex
September 25th, 2006, 06:51 PM
Congrats on the job. I want to do Computational Fluid Dynamics in my career (which is supposed to start any day now...), so it's awesome that you're a sysadmin for your school supporting stuff that I like.

Just make sure the servers are up, or there will be a lot of angry grad students coming after you. :)

Do you know what programs they use, CFD wise?

hizaguchi
November 2nd, 2006, 08:40 PM
Well, I'm about a month into the new job now and nothing has blown up yet. Turns out this isn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. Thanks for the confidence everybody. Glad I went for it.

And on a related note, now that I've said this I have surely jinxed myself and all Hell will break loose tomorrow.

KaroSHi
November 2nd, 2006, 10:17 PM
This is the kind of thing i want to do with my career, im just wondering what problems seem to crop up the most?
congrats btw! :)

lazyart
November 2nd, 2006, 10:36 PM
Luck is when preparation meets opporunity. As a contractor at my current job I have a convergence thing coming up... decide if I want to grab it or let it go.

Congrats. This kinda stuff looks good on the resume.

hizaguchi
November 2nd, 2006, 11:29 PM
This is the kind of thing i want to do with my career, im just wondering what problems seem to crop up the most?
congrats btw! :)
Well, so far I've made some warranty calls to Dell over exploding capacitors on some motherboards, replaced a video card, fixed some freaky shared printer problem (I'm not sure what was wrong or what I did, but my button-clicking voodoo solved the problem), and changed a host name and IP address (why does Red Hat have the host name in 2 config files?). But sometime next week I have to try and get a program called Star CD to run in parallel on all the computers in the cluster, which I expect to feel alot more like work and will likely frustrate me to no end. To make it extra fun, I know exactly nothing about distributed computing. :)

@ lazyart: I hope it does look good on the resume. That's a big reason I took the job. I'm kinda scared I'll come off looking too computer-centric for a mechanical engineer though. I have a massive list of technical software I've learned to use in various jobs, and now I'm a system admin for a Linux-based CFD lab. I'm a little worried people who look at my resume will wonder why I didn't do computer science or engineering.