| Sys Admin Extraordinaire |

2015-12-09 Updated

2010-10-26 Initial Post

This post is to gather my notes on job interview preparation and transition. Related to this, check out my post on Job Reference –> Minimum Information Needed.

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2015-05-27 Last Updated

The list below is not in any particular order nor is it exhaustive. I add items as they come to mind.

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2014-06-04 Initial Post

Both terms can mean the same thing if used at different organizations, e.g., a Systems Administrator at Company A might do the same thing as a Systems Engineer at Company B. But when the same company has both titles, there is a difference. The engineer plans and sets up the systems and the admin maintains them.

So usually, the engineer is more knowledgeable and experienced. Novell used to have the Certified Novell Administrator (CNA) and Certified Novell Engineer (CNE) certifications. The CNA, IIRC, required only one exam while the CNE required the CNA and something like three or four additional exams. Microsoft had the same concept with the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). The point was that the CNE/MCSE had additional training/knowledge beyond the CNA/MCSA.

Even when I was a Sr. Systems Engineer, I would just tell people that I was a Systems Administrator. The reason was that I didn’t feel qualified to call myself an “engineer” because I didn’t have a degree in an engineering discipline. This is why the blog that you're reading is named Sys Admin Extraordinaire. I know people who’ve gone to school for engineering and I know that it requires a tremendous amount of math and sciences skills, and not everyone is cut out for it. But the funny thing is that I have met degreed engineers who think that what I do is so difficult. Back when I was in computer school for my CNE, my friend’s uncle, who went to school for electrical engineering, thought that being a CNE was a big thing.

I also feel that the term “systems engineer” is overused and needs to be more specific such as IT Server Systems Engineer or Telephony Systems Engineer. There is actually a college major for “systems engineering” which basically consists of learning about all the major engineering disciplines with the goal of being able to understand how to utilize that knowledge to design a complex system.

2011-03-06 Initial Post

IT outsourcing is one of the biggest blunders in the corporate world and I was unfortunate to have worked for one of the largest IT outsourcing companies in the world. I don’t have any numbers and charts or in-depth research to show why I feel that IT outsourcing is not a good idea. What I do have is experience working on a few IT outsourcing contracts. Here are my observations. I’ll use the fictitious names of MyCorp for the client and ITService for the IT outsourcing company. (more…)

Just some miscellaneous notes on grammar that I started a few years ago while finishing up my bachelor's degree. There are some conflicting rules between different groups and even within the same groups. For example, the English and Engineering departments at the same college might use different format requirements for their research papers. For my major (MIS), I was required to use APA Style.

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