UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello. I am a comp sci major and am forced to take a intro to Unix class. So far i am loving it. I was wondering is it useful to learn more off on my own? Will it have any use to me when i get a job after school is done? Same applies to Perl Sed and Awk?

Yes. Learn all you can about all of the above. If you go into system administration you'll need all of them. If you go into programming it will be useful and give you an advantage even if it isn't quite as important. And finally if you stick with academics those are fundamental tools that you outta know even if you don't use them all the time.

As far as getting a job goes, since I became a Unix admin I've been laid off 3 times. The longest I was ever out of work - eight days. Unix is still a much more sought after skill than programming or Windows as far as I can tell, since friends and co-workers in those fields have a much worse time finding a job.

I'm sure I've had my share of luck too as I know some Unix people have it a lot worse than that. But the point it, as far as computer jobs go Unix seems to be relatively the best for getting and keeping jobs.

By the way - far more important than *any* computer skill when it comes to getting jobs is your people skills. I've been involved with interviewing and hiring several times, and while technical skills matter the people skills outweigh them. The reason is, for any position you apply for there will be several people technically qualified enough to do the job. So put yourselves in the interviewers shoes - out of these several candidates who are all good enough technically which will you want to hire? Obviously the one that will fit in with your team best and you think will be most pleasant to work with has a huge advantage over the guy that knows a bit more technical stuff but is lacking in people skills.

it can never hurt to learn as much as your interest is peaked, since you are still a student.

remember its best to have a taste of everything.

(the same goes for the good ol love life)

Well, it is worth it in many ways. First, if you know Unix, you can understand many other operating systems since Unix seems to be comming back as the base of most operating syatems (OSX for example) and secondly, many jobs use Unix on their servers. Also, it is fun knowing stuff most people never heard of

This is SO true. I just wanted to acknowledge this very important advice. Technical skills are very important, but you have to be able to work with other people and be a good communicator.

I have learnt so much over the last 23 weeks and I am a self taught unix user no school or such, just books and pure usage. I am trying to create a virtual datbse from the basics of unix and that is my project for the next 23weeks and after.. i have picked up on so much logic and how to use my mind to create and use scripts and programs as simple as they are right now. but for a newbie after only 6months I know that I can get a good job dataprocessing.. also I am after a certificate which is a highly looked at matter in the IS and IT world and I have heard is a good career and a money maker.. and lastly I know that the basics of most languages go back to the time when C was created to create unix which is a basic advantage to nearly all the languages out there.. if i had not learnt some of the principles of unix i would not understand anytyhing in the c programming book that I am reading or the basic PHP tutorials that I am looking through in my spare time... for ex,. printf, int, scanf, double etc etc.. hope this answers your question.!