
Ask HN: How do I get a Linux admin job with no degrees? - BenjiWiebe
<p><pre><code>  I live in central Kansas. I am 20+ years old. I&#x27;ve been playing around with Linux, networking, and virtualization at home for roughly 5 years.

  Today I had an opportunity to work along side some Linux admins from a company that provides dealerships with hardware, software, and support solutions.
  I was able to help with numerous parts of their script that they were not sure how to work with, as this system was an older unsupported system.
  I would love to get a job doing something like this, i.e. Linux server&#x2F;networking admin, but I have no degrees, and no experience doing this as a job, only for a hobby.
</code></pre>
So the question is: When I find a job listing that I would like to apply for, how do I get an interview to prove my knowledge, even if I have no degrees or experience working with this as a job?<p>Thank you for your insights!
======
hacalox
Maybe I'm wrong but I would suggest you looking for a job and show them what
you can do.

I've been working as a developer for a few years now and although I don't have
any CS degree and I'm pretty young (low 20s) employers trust me after a couple
of weeks.

Look for startups or entities that don't have too much burocracy and show them
what you have done before. What usually happens is that you will get a
freelance job for a couple weeks and they will hire you.

Real companies need real people doing real things, they don't care about
bullshit. If you ship you are in.

~~~
BenjiWiebe
First of all, most startups (and there aren't many in central KS!) probably
don't want a dedicated Linux admin. Also, the jobs I've found all would be
companies with bureaucracy. :)

Edit: Does it ever do any good to show up in person and ask for an interview?

~~~
Wilduck
It's probably not a great idea to show up in person and ask for an interview.
That doesn't mean that you need to go through their bureaucracy to get a job
though!

For any company that you're interested in, I would recommend trying to find a
person who would be your direct supervisor if you were to get the job you
wanted there and sending them a nice, personal email asking what sorts of
opportunities are available at their company. Finding this persons contact
information can sometimes be a bit of a challenge, but for most companies,
some clever googling can get you close.

The great thing about emailing a human (rather than trying to go through the
corporate bureaucracy), is that you're likely to get a human response. Even if
they don't have a position open right now, they might be able to refer you to
someone else in the industry. And, if they do have a position open, you'll
have a contact to help you navigate HR, which can be especially helpful if
you're missing some of their "required" qualifications.

I've used this approach in the past, and it totally works. It does require
quite a bit of research and talking to quite a few people, but it feels a lot
better than sending resumes to HR departments and never hearing back from
them.

~~~
BenjiWiebe
Thanks! I'll see what happens with the email route!

~~~
Wilduck
Another important piece of advice. I see elsewhere in this thread that you've
"applied for a couple jobs." Given that you don't have any professional
connections right now, you're probably going to need to apply for 50+ jobs
before you get your first offer.

With that in mind, you absolutely cannot apply for one job at a time. If it
takes two weeks to hear back from someone, and you're only applying for one
job at a time, you'll be spending two _years_ looking for a job. Once you get
out of the one job at a time mindset, it's totally possible to reach out to
5-10 people a day. You should be getting in touch with so many people that you
need to keep a spreadsheet (or notes file, or something) to remember who's who
in your job search.

Also, Don't let any individual rejection get you down, just treat is as
another possible future connection and move on. Fortunately, when you're
talking to 5 new people every day during a job search, it's a lot easier to
not take rejection personally.

Good luck! I'm sure there's a position out there for you.

------
DKnoll
You need to crawl before you can walk.

Get a support job. With no degree and no prior relevant work experience nobody
will trust you in an admin role. Not all the skills you need to be successful
as an admin are hard tech skills either.

\- an ops guy without a high school diploma or greater

------
phakding
Why don't you get one? You are still young and your brain is still developing.
Get a degree in comp sci and be on your merry way.

~~~
BenjiWiebe
Partially religious reasons. Also, getting a degree takes a lot of money/time,
and I don't feel (from what I've heard from academia, both students and
teachers) that it would benefit me much, besides being able to say I have a
degree.

~~~
cweagans
> I don't feel [...] that it would benefit me much, besides being able to say
> I have a degree.

It would get you past the screening processes that you are having a hard time
with for one. That seems like a benefit.

If I were you, I'd seriously reconsider this standpoint. Having a degree
certainly isn't going to _hurt_ you, and there are a lot of ways that it
_could_ help you. If money is the main concern, I'd like to point you at
[https://www.uopeople.edu/](https://www.uopeople.edu/) \-- they're accredited
and tuition free. You only pay for exams - $100 each for a total of < $5000
for a BSc.

~~~
zapperdapper
Nice link. I'd not heard of them.

This shows what can be done:

[https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/myprojects/mit-
challenge-2/](https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/myprojects/mit-challenge-2/)

OK so this is hardcore, but even if a few of the modules were completed that
would prove something.

------
Jtsummers
How wedded are you to _central_ Kansas? I see from your other posts you want
to stay in the area, but how about Kansas City (either side of the border)?

It's a large enough metro area to have quite a few jobs, and I know several
people (non-degreed) working in software development and sysadmin work there.
I'm not connected enough to offer any greater insight than that, unfortunately
(I live very far from the area) but you'd probably have better luck there than
your current area.

But I'll also reiterate jklein11's and others' point: If you impressed these
guys they can help you out. If you're getting rejected immediately by systems
due to lack of a degree, you _need_ a network to help you. Even if they don't
hire you, they can vouch for you to other employers for at least an entry
level or internship/apprenticeship position.

------
jklein11
I would talk to the Linux admins you worked with yesterday. It sounds like you
have already proved to them you know what you are doing. They may be looking
for a greenhorn to take in and mentor. If not, they likely have had other
Linux admin jobs and know other people in the industry.

I would frame it as a way to learn about the industry and make it clear that
you are looking for a new role. I would be cautious about asking them for a
job straight out because if they aren't in a position to help they might just
say no and be done with it.

The key to getting a job, especially if your resume isn't conventional, is to
skip the automated resume submission entirely.

~~~
BenjiWiebe
I actually did speak to them. They are not hiring right now. However, good
idea on using them as an entry to the network.

------
steveburns
Study the job listing. Even if it is written badly, there are usually a lot of
clues about what technologies are important. Spend some time getting your
hands on those technologies if possible. If it is a database, get an aws
account, install it on ec2, set up a schema, and ingest some data. If there is
a scripting requirement, what libraries might they be using? Roughly mimic
what they have and write against it.

Then, on your resume, list that you have experience with those technologies.
You don’t have to lie, but if you used a specific library and know it, then
you know it.

~~~
BenjiWiebe
All the points on the job listing that were recommended or even suggested I do
have experience with, except I don't have experience using the company's own
products (not a requirement anyways).

------
itamarst
Just apply to some entry level jobs. I've worked with many Linux admins who
didn't have a degree, or e.g. had a degree in something unrelated like film.

Given lack of formal experience, maybe start with companies where you know
someone already? Or e.g. you've met these admins, talk to them and see if they
can help you out.

~~~
BenjiWiebe
The admins I've "met" (phone) are for a company that is not hiring, and are in
Dallas TX. I'd love to work for them, and believe I would have no problem
getting a job with them, if 1) they were hiring and 2) I was within commute
distance of an office of theirs.

~~~
itamarst
At a minimum you can use them as references.

------
riffic
volunteer with an open source project's tech/infrastructure teams, this site
may lead you towards projects that have infrastructure demands:

[https://opensourceinfra.org](https://opensourceinfra.org)

------
combatentropy
What about an entry-level job at a web-hosting company?

------
rurban
Nobody with a degree would do a Linux sysadmin job. I never saw anyone with a
degree doing this.

~~~
flukus
I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point getting a CS degree became a
requirement for sysadmin jobs and it's starting to become necessary for tech
support too. Gone are the days where installing a linux distro got your foot
in the door.

~~~
zapperdapper
Agreed - at most of the companies where I've worked the sysadmins / devops
have all had degrees.

------
thdn
Get certificated, RHCSA - RHCE.

