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Date:      Wed, 30 Jul 1997 15:04:26 -0400 (EDT)
From:      Branson Matheson <branson@ferginc.com>
To:        Bill Pechter <pechter@lakewood.com>
Cc:        freebsd-chat@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Sysadmin levels today?
Message-ID:  <Pine.NEB.3.96.970730144948.4190B-100000@toth.hq.ferg.com>
In-Reply-To: <199707301751.NAA16509@i4got.lakewood.com>

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On Wed, 30 Jul 1997, Bill Pechter wrote:
> I see a problem in the current state of the the art in Sysadmin-hood.
> I just went on a job interview this morning (headhunter) where I was 
> asked if I know how to tune a kernel. 

 heh ... there are two ways that I evaluate prospective Sysadmins
 here. One is to use the designations and qualities stipulated in the
 SAGE Job Descriptions.

 ( http://www.usenix.org/sage/jobs/jobs-descriptions.html ) 

 This is a good baseline to use although definately not all inclusive. 

 The other way is my phone questions list that I use to screen
 prospective SA's.

 ( http://www.ferginc.com/~branson/phone.questions.html )

 These questions are not in any particular order...  and many are
 designed to promote the applicant to reply with a question. 

 	ME: 	"What scsi ID is the controller on a scsi chain"
 	THEM:	"What architecture.. Sun is at 7 on single ended, SGI is
			at 0 single ended ... PC's can be reassigned at the card
			etc.."

 I have compiled these from those given by Michelle Crab and from the
 System Administration Handbook by nemeth et al. If you have others
 that you can suggest ... they are always welcome. 

 My favorite question to date, that is most frequently hmmm'd on is:

 "Name the fields in order in a standard password file"

 It is a good quickie to get somone who is clueless out of the loop.

 I also HIGHLY recommend the book mentioned above and the USENIX and
 SAGE orginazations. 

 - branson

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Branson Matheson       	        " If you are falling off of a mountain,
System Administrator              You may as well try to fly." 
Ferguson Enterprises               - Delenn, Mimbari Ambassador 
           ( $statements = <BRANSON> ) !~ /Corporate Opinion/;




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