job descriptions

[s1.gov">tmd]

Organizations that depend on computing resources to carry out their mission
have always depended on systems administration.  The dramatic increase in
the number and size of distributed networks of workstations in recent years
has created a tremendous demand for more, and better trained, systems
administrators.  Understanding of the profession of systems administration
on the part of employers, however, has not kept pace with the growth in
the number of systems administrators.  Both at sites with a long history
of using computing resources, and at sites into which computers have only
recently been introduced, systems administrators face perception problems
that present serious obstacles to their successfully carrying out their duties.

Employers frequently fail to understand the background that systems 
administrators bring to their task. Because systems administration draws
on information from many fields, and because it has only recently begun to
be taught in institutions of higher learning, systems administrators
typically come from a wide range of academic backgrounds.  Most get their
skills by on-the-job training, apprenticing themselves to a more experienced
mentor.  Although this system of informal education by apprenticeship has been
extremely effective in producing skilled systems administrators, it is
poorly understood by employers and hiring managers, who tend to focus
on credentials to the exclusion of other factors, when making personnel
decisions.

Understanding neither the background and training a systems administrator
requires nor the kind of job performance that should be expected of the
systems administrator, employers fall back into (mis)using the job
classifications with which they are familiar.  A frequently used 
misclassification is that of programmer or software engineer.  Although
the primary responsibility of the systems administrator is not to produce
code, that is the metric by which programmers are evaluated, and systems
administrators thus classified often receive poor evaluations for not being
"productive" enough.  Another common misclassification is to confuse
systems administrators with operators.  Especially at smaller sites, 
where systems administrators have to perform many of the functions
normally assigned to operators themselves, systems administrators are
forced to contend with the false assumption they are non-professional
technicians.  This, in turn, makes it very difficult for systems 
administrators to be compensated commensurate with their skill and 
experience.

SAGE, as the professional organization for systems administrators,
formed the sage-jobs working group to address these problems.  One
of its goals is to create a set of appropriate job descriptions for systems 
administrators, and to promote their adoption by organizations that 
employ systems administrators.

Below are the current job description templates that the working group
has produced.  Additionally we have created a list of check-off
items.  The templates are intended to describe the core attributes of 
systems administrators at various levels of job performance, while the 
check-off list is intended to augment the core descriptions.  In
particular, the check-off list is intended to address site-specific needs, 
or special areas of expertise that a systems administrator may have.  Job 
descriptions for more experienced systems administrators or more senior 
positions will typically include more items from the check-off list.  

As a SAGE member, we'd like to encourage your comments on the work
to date.  Please send your input to the sage-jobs working group,
sage-jobsusenix.org, or to the Chair, Tina Darmohray, tmds1.gov.
Feel free to join the working group as well by sending email to
majordomousenix.org, with the body of the message "subscribe sage-jobs".

	
	Tina Darmohray
	SAGE Jobs Working Group Chair
	tmds1.gov


                *******************************************

Core Templates:

	Novice:
		Has used UNIX. 
		Follows instruction well.  
		May have a related degree.  
		May have previous experience in a related area.

	Junior:
		Less than three years of sys admin experience.  
		Is familiar with most basic systems administration tools.  
		Has a fundamental understanding of the UNIX operating system.
		May be familiar with distributed computing environment concepts.
		Can manage a small system alone or assist in the management of a 
			large system.

	Intermediate:
		Three to five years systems administration experience.  
		Is comfortable with most aspects of UNIX systems administration.  
		Has a solid understanding of the UNIX operating system.
		Is familiar with the fundamental networking/distributed computing
			environment concepts.  
		Will receive general instructions for new responsibilities from 
			supervisor.  
		Will manage a mid-sized system alone or assist in the management of a 
			large network.
		Can problem solve independently.
		Can work independently when required to.  
		Can initiate some new responsibilities and help to plan for the future 
			of the system/network.

	Senior:
		Greater than five years previous systems administration experience.
		Will design/implement complex networks of machines.  
		May provide technical lead/supervision of others.

Check Offs:

	Flavors of UNIX
		BSD, SVR4, SunOS, Ultrix, AIX, HPUX
	Platform Experience
		Sun, SGI, DEC, HP, IBM
	User Training
		Documentation and publications
		individual training
	Security
		system
		network
	Networking - Hardware
		cabling specs, installation, site planning
	Networking - Software
		internal postmaster/email admin
		external  email/dns/news/internet gatekeeper
	Programming
		languages
		scripts
		utilities
	Management
		supervise other employees
		trains more junior administrators
		personnel reviews/promotions
		interviewing/hiring
	Administrative
		budget responsibility
		requests for proposals
		grant writing/review:
	Procurement 
		test and evaluation
		prepurchase consulting
	Site Planning
		Facilities (i.e. physical building), 
		capacity planning
		software needs 
		hardware restraint
	Computer Hardware
		installation 
		troubleshooting
		repair
	Site Size
	Database Experience