I’m trying to get a job in IT that will (hopefully) pay more than a usual 9 to 5. I’m been daily driving Linux exclusively for about 2 1/2 years now and I’m trying to improve my skills to the point that I could be considered a so-called “power user.” My question is this: will this increase my hiring chances significantly or marginally?
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Depends on the job, a lot of places don’t use Linux
However Linux jobs tend to pay more than the non-Linux equivalent if you can find one
Most places deploy to Linux, and for those knowing Linux helps a lot. Also a lot of places will give MacBook pro, expect you to know the CLI so a lot of Linux knowledge will be useful there.
In my area being a linux admin actually pays less than I expected. I kinda always hoped to get into a linux admin role. Now I have a sort of cloud ops role and it makes more than a typical linux admin would. It would just be silly for me to pursue this any further. That doesn’t mean I don’t touch Linux on a daily basis at work. But it’s more alround.
Yes. Yes it does.
Look for job listings that require command line Linux skill.
The candidate pool who can get around on a Linux command prompt is growing, but it’s still pretty small. It gives you some advantage toward networking, Cybersecurity, systems administration, and cloud deployment.
I’m in data engineering and that market is dominated by Microsoft. Understanding an os is essential if you’re, say, a sysadmin.
I’d recommend looking into some certifications. Some businesses are very sensitive to those.
the point that I could be considered a so-called “power user.”
There is no certain point. Power user is a rather vague description. It still includes “user” as opposed to admin or developer or guru etc.
If vague is good enough in your area, go for it. Otherwise look for a more formal qualification.
Good luck.
It will. Keep in mind that, depending on the type of job, you’ll have to keep learning new tech just to keep up: virtualization, containers, orchestrators, automation, backups, logging, auditing, scripting and God knows what else. It’s a good starting point to get you the jobs that the Windows crowd won’t touch because of the command line.
When I got into IT, I had years of experience with Mac OS, UNIX, a bit of IRIX and VMS, BSD and even a bit of Linux.
And then I spent 10 years mostly managing a Windows shop. I still ran OpenBSD on the internal support servers, but had to support a full Microsoft stack for anything customer-facing.
What will increase your hiring chances is being adaptable and having a portfolio of success stories to reference during interviews.
What is a usual 9 to 5?
It depends on the role. My first job was doing manual QE on Windows, and knowing Linux wasn’t much help at the time, but it did help me transition to a coding role in the same company a year later. I’m now doing platform engineering at a major tech company, but that has a high barrier to entry, which I suspect is the case for most roles that are Linux-focused. If you’re trying to get your foot in the door, I think you should look at job profiles for low barrier to entry roles (e.g. tech support) and try to work your way up.
Depends what you mean with a job in tech. If you want to work as technical problem solver or programmer, then it’s very useful, almost required.
absolutely… you know servers are mostly linux right?
Power User is a term invented by Microsoft but we get the idea
I did not know this. Thank you for the history lesson.
were takin it back
Depends. It/tech is a massive space so not certain if you’re applying to tech support or like server architecture. So some specifics would be nice.
One thing to point out:
I thought I was a freaking wiz kid at Windows because I knew about the registry and how to modify settings. But then I learned a lot of the “hacks” on the internet are bad for the enterprise.
On Linux, it’s even worse, with so many blog posts recommending sudo this, and install this app that. And if you don’t have a background of WHY, you can do a lot of damage. And with AI, it’s even worse. So many bash script kiddies asking AI to write the ugliest code I ever seen.
Now that Im a senior engineer, I realize I know nothing and leave much of the IT space to trained professionals.
God help me if I ever end up with someone who just copies and pastes commands from chatgpt into a server
Hopefully God AND some with a lot of subject matter knowledge. It’ll only get worse.
This is very good insight and something that no one else touched on. OP if you see this, while being a power user on your personal linux machine does help with skills and getting you jobs, it’s still very different from administering an enterprise linux machine in a corporate environment. One thing you can do is set your own homelab and mini environment at home. This will get you more experience with actual administration and will be a great asset to disclose in interviews.
Probably not. I guess it depends what you want to do in IT. And the org. Some orgs use a lot of Linux, and Linux is a whole different ball game at the enterprise level. It’s not just knowing about Linux, but how to properly manage, secure, and patch it at scale.
It might also depend on if you have previous IT experience. If you’ve got a ton of previous experience it could help.
