GOOD LUCK

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Common Sense is Free.

Live it, Love it, Use it.

First, it didn't hurt that I had a bachelor's degree and 10 years of retail store management under my belt. Maturity is a plus.

But as far as tech experience was concerned, all I had under my belt was a few years of using database and accounting software to run a business. And I'd built maybe 50 or so PCs for fun and profit over the years.

So . . . .

I bought a Linux book, a four dollar copy of Redhat 2.0 (this was 1995) and a student edition of NT4 Server. I built three very cheap computers (two 486, one Pentium) and networked them with equally cheap coax cable and ISA network cards. All three double-booted between Linux and NT.

I used Linux to learn Unix, then applied that to NT4. Finally, I went to a 5-week NT crash curriculum and buckled down on the MCSE exams. It took me eight months to finish the MCSE, but in the end, I snagged a nice little position as systems engineer for a regional bank. While I was working through the exams, I hung out my shingle as a freelance network engineer and made decent money. If you call $45/hr. decent, that is. One of the companies for which I was installing a Linux box happened to be a technical services placement firm. Once they saw what I could do, they asked if I wanted to put my resume on file. They hooked me up to my current job within a couple of weeks. So it was actually my Linux experience that got me the job, although I use my NT knowledge every day.

Unix skills are highly valued, and, with Linux or FreeBSD, you can get it on your own with a very small monetary investment. A good Unix training checklist can be found at www.cramsession.com. When you can say you know most of the material covered by the RedHat certification, you're worth some money. Especially if you can do NT as well.

Best of Luck,
Laz

PS: The market for these skills is still hot. If you're trying to choose between learning Unix or NT/Win2000, go with Unix. Unix engineers always get top dollar and have a higher pay ceiling. Plus, versions of Windows come and go, but Unix hardly changes year after year.

Bhut, I refuse to be a grunt. I've done it and I can't do it. It goes against every fiber of my being.

I'll figure something out...

Thanks for everyone's input ..

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The girl he had dragged along to the pub with him had grown to loathe him dearly over the last hour, and it would probably have been a great satisfaction to her to know that in a minute and a half or so he would suddenly evaporate into a whiff of hydrogen, ozone, and carbon monoxide. However, when the moment came she would be too busy evaporating herself to notice it.

-Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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Aphex
Co-Webmaster of The Shroomery
Aphex@shroomery.org

An update to the story -- I've applied for a call center job paying $11 - $13 / hr. Hopefully that'll come through, and I'll stick with the shitty work for the money. (c:

Hopefully I can advance and get a better position, but, ya gotta start somewhere.

~loathe~

I've now worked myself up to System administrator, and for 2 years I've been single handedly runing a 3 server, 50 user network. I've got an MSCE in NT4, and am planning to do a win 2000 MCSE, and then become a consultant... That's where the big money lies.

Good luck

Phyl

I don't quite understand .. a staffing agency for technical positions?

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The girl he had dragged along to the pub with him had grown to loathe him dearly over the last hour, and it would probably have been a great satisfaction to her to know that in a minute and a half or so he would suddenly evaporate into a whiff of hydrogen, ozone, and carbon monoxide. However, when the moment came she would be too busy evaporating herself to notice it.

-Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

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You know I heard that
Boogie Rythmn
I had no choice
But to Get
Down
Down
Down
Down
Dance.

By a computer agency, I mean an employment or temping agency that specialises in computing jobs. I found one near me without much problem, just looked in the yellow pages under emplyment agencies, and picked the ad's which specifically mentioned jobs in computing.

Phyl