Re:Eventual regulation of system administration? I think so.
by zdw on Saturday November 12, 2011 @07:28PM
(#3229379)
The path of a lot of system administrators from amateur to professional resembles that of a child who is exceptionally gifted at building erector sets being hired to construct a pedestrian bridge. Then, if the bridge doesn’t fall, the kid gets to build bridges designed to handle interstate traffic.
This is the key point. It's SO HARD to grow as a sysadmin, because there are very few people who can pass on information. We have pretty much one textbook (TPoSNA: http://everythingsysadmin.com/ ), and a few organizations like LOPSA and USENIX, but there are almost no Windows or Mac specific sysadmins who join.
There are also places where regulation is already happening, albeit in a top down manner, like HIPPA. I doubt top down "you must do this" regulation would help, but accreditation where people have to know and ought to follow best practices would likely do more good.
Re:Eventual regulation of system administration? I think so.
by mwhooker on Saturday November 12, 2011 @04:01PM
(#3228896)
Did I really just read this? No discussion of what possible regulations might be required, just "sysadmins are untrained. We may need rules". HN bait at its worst.
This is the key point. It's SO HARD to grow as a sysadmin, because there are very few people who can pass on information. We have pretty much one textbook (TPoSNA: http://everythingsysadmin.com/ ), and a few organizations like LOPSA and USENIX, but there are almost no Windows or Mac specific sysadmins who join.
There are also places where regulation is already happening, albeit in a top down manner, like HIPPA. I doubt top down "you must do this" regulation would help, but accreditation where people have to know and ought to follow best practices would likely do more good.