Getting to Senior: Sysadmin Level IV and Beyond

The USENIX Short Topics in System Administration book Job Descriptions for System Administrators is a fine work, and one might think that it could be used as a roadmap by sysadmins looking to advance their careers. However, the book limits itself to the words that might appear in a job posting, and is necessarily concise. Furthermore, the book emphasizes specific technical skills without much emphasis on the myriad "soft" skills a senior admin needs. A good senior system administrator needs to know more than just what's in the job description, and needs to know why these additional skills are required.

So what's a junior or mid-level sysadmin to do? Why, take this tutorial, of course!

Adam will go far beyond just reading the requirements listed in the book by providing an analysis of what is meant by the requirements and why a broad range of skills is often necessary to meet a single requirement. "Hard" skills will be balanced with "soft" skills such as professional ethics, job performance, and conduct in the workplace. To some attendees' dismay, Adam will also explain why a senior system administrator needs to be good at talking to both the least skilled users and the highest executives, and why being able to talk to these people is even more important for the most senior administrators than for the most junior.