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List:       opensolaris-sysadmin-discuss
Subject:    [sysadmin-discuss] Ideas for the future of the Sysadmin Community
From:       Ben Rockwood <benr () cuddletech ! com>
Date:       2007-09-21 8:19:28
Message-ID: 46F37E90.3030806 () cuddletech ! com
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Moved by Peter's call to action I've been thinking about what we, as the 
sysadmin community, can do to better the OpenSolaris ecosystem in 
general.  The following are some ideas that have resulted:


1) Establish a Jobs Board

I'm hearing it from Sun customers at the trade shows I attend, I'm 
hearing it from Sun employees, I'm hearing it from my customers at 
Joyent, I'm hearing it in the ether... we're in a situation that at one 
time would have seemed impossible: Companies can't find Solaris 
administrators!  I'm seeing organizations that _want_ to use Solaris but 
can't find people that know it.  But, clearly there are Solaris admins 
out there, lots of them.  Thus, we need to provide a way, closely 
associated with OpenSolaris, where admins can find employeers and vice 
versa.

2) Working with Sun Ed

Are Solaris Admin Certs useful?  I would argue they aren't.  How many 
certified admins are there?  How many have been certified in 2007 so 
far?  In 2006?  In 2005?  Is Sun Ed meeting the needs of the 
administrators and what can we do to fix what would appear to be a 
broken system.  We have, I think, some obligation as informed 
administrators to assist, if possible, Sun in improving and/or 
over-hauling the existing educational programs for admins.

3) Registered SA's

As an extension of #1... I kind of like the idea of registering 
sysadmins.  I don't know how popular this would be, but there has been a 
large disconnect between Sun and the SA's that are the key to its 
success.  Being a registered SAs, not to replace but suppliment the 
certification ranks, might be a way to bolster the number of admins and 
bring focus back to the platform in a simplistic way.

4) Improved Messaging to the SA Community

BigAdmin is a resource I think we should help with.  Its currently one 
guy holding it together (I'm sorry, I forgot his named, met him at 
JavaOne, great guy!).  Perhaps we should have a hand in it.  Other 
methods exist to bring a community closer together, such as podcasts, 
screencasts, newsletters (less so), etc.

5) Establish an SA's Counsel.  

A sub-set of this community, likely the leaders/core-contribs of this 
group would establish an informal counsel to work with Sun, the OGB, or 
otherwise act as a unified voice of the community.  In general, be more 
organized.  This group could also act as a hub for efforts to work with 
groups like SAGE and LOPSA as well.



These things involve a good amount of work.  For instance, a good jobs 
board would likely require writing the app.  The quick method would be 
to just use a Wiki, but thats a solution frock with problems.  Maybe we 
can do these things, maybe not, but I think these ideas are worth 
discussion and may at least provide the "powers that be" (ie: get paid 
for this shit) interested in new ideas.

benr.

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