I would expect him/her to be able to use the man pages. I would expect them to have computer experience in any other platform so that they have some clue as to how computers work and how to navigate the filesystem. I would expect them to use Google, a lot. I would expect them to be able to grep in every possible way.
If they are entry-level, then I wouldn't expect them to be able to be hardcore script writers.... but knowing that a script is like a DOS batch file in that it's just a bunch of commands that are executed in order is good enough. Obviously, you need to know the bash shell and the basic commands and common options/flags/arguments that relate to them.
This newbie MUST understand file permissions and how to change them, and know where the logs are and how to read them (grep, tail -f, less). NAturally you must know how to use vi. Naturally you are not expected to be able to do EVERYTHING that vi can do from memory... but create, edit and save files at the minimum.
I'd expect an entry-level Linux tech to know how about nsswitch.conf, /etc/hosts, resolv.conf, ifconfig, useradd/userdel, ssh/scp, ifcfg-eth0, /etc/sysconfig/network, ping, traceroute, top, ps, ls, locate and find. They must be able to use RPM. It'd be best if they could compile stuff.... but if it barfs or has conflicts then I woudln't expect them to be able to resolve those. they should know the basic boot process, and know about init scripts.
Pluses are familiarity with netstat, lsof, nmap and tcpdump.
I would not expect them to know anything about the kernel.
They are my minimum requirements. If you don't know this, you are not equipped to handle even the most basic troubleshooting or administrative tasks. If you know this stuff, you can probably figure out weather or not you need someone more experienced to help you or not... before you break something or waste too much time.... which is all you can really ask of a entry-level person.
At 08:20 PM 4/8/2005 -0700, you wrote:
If you were hiring an entry-level Linux technician of some sort, what basics would you expect him or her to know how to do? Scripting language? Hardware skills? Kernel anything? Anything the uninitiated wouldn't expect?
-todd -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
-- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
