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Senior Member
Hey Guys,
So we're looking for a person to join a company with an international footprint. The job entails a lot of travelling, mostly African countries, and also IT support for the SA head office in Centurion. We're a software and solutions development house.
I won't bore you with the exact job spec here, but here are the core competencies required:
Linux skills - administration of Debian flavours (mostly Ubuntu) and Redhat derivatives such as Alma and Rocky. This one is really important. Provisioning of machines, clusters, laptops, and the works. GUI heroes need not apply. Most of the LOB applications are installed manually via SSH, so you need to be very comfortable with Linux in general. In the interview, you will be tested on troubleshooting skills relating to processes and how to look for issues (i.e in log output)
Windows - Besides user desktop support, there are Windows servers in the environment either as file servers, AD/LDAP, DHCP, DNS, NPS, Certificate Services, IIS, Hyper-V, etc.. all the basics.
Networking - Unifi and Mikrotik environment with some Forti's thrown in. You will need to know more than the basics here. Bonding, Firewalling, advanced VPN, etc. UniFi switches, including those lekker high-throughput aggregation switches and Cloud Core Routers for VLAN management, it's all here.
Databases - Postgres and Oracle administration advantageous, there are some MariaDBs also, but you will be supporting the DBAs only, so for example to copy data and do basic backups/restores, maybe a SQL command here and there - great opportunity to learn if you're interested.
Storage - SAN's, NAS's, DAS's, LVM's and LUNs -and any other three-letter abbreviation, it's in here, everything from bringing up a beefy HPE SAN, right back down again to bonding HBA and getting SCSI to work with the clusters, and the little guys, Synology and Seagate NAS's are there too and need some love.
Speaking of Clusters... XEN! Most of the VM clusters run XenN Hypervisors, mostly XCP, and like I said Hyper-V too.
There are a lot of other little things, like deciding on which 100-inch TV to buy for the boardrooms, and then driving to Makro to swipe the company credit card, or deciding on the decor and placement choices around the buildings - you'll be operations, so involved in a lot of decision making for the companies' benefit, perhaps even asked to jiggle the sliding doors because they get stuck, sometimes.
All of the above are not once-offs, you'll be doing this over and over again with customers (governments) and other big clients, it's always exciting, but also challenging. You won't be bored.
Travel: SNT allowance is provided in USD for every day you are on site - this is money for your lunch/dinner (or pocket, it's yours to keep). You'll be staying in 3/4 star hotels and BnB where possible (But TIA), but it may be expected of you to be away from your home for up to two weeks continuously every other month, while on-site, it's long hours, especially to get the infrastructure up so that the dev teams and pipeline guys can begin their part.
So that's what I have to say in a nutshell, I can't say it's all great, there will be fun days and there will be not-so-great days, weekdays you can chill from home, but also weekends you'll be working all day.
Every site, every client, and every deployment is different, and you won't be alone either, it's usually a team of people that travel to the site (mix of DevOps, analysts, testers, PMs, etc) - and of course, a team of passionate guys doing exactly what you're doing to also support you.
Let's talk money, so there is no fixed cap, it does depend on experience, but I'll tell you now that we are looking for a mid to senior guy (so that means 8+ years of hands-on, daily working-with-it experience) - not your Ubuntu you spun up yourself on a Raspberry Pi at home once.
The ideal range here is between R40 000 to R60 000 per month, more senior, more money. There are 13th Cheques and project bonuses also. You will get a new gaming laptop, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending if you're a gamer or value lightweight travels) when you join the company.
You will have a lot of freedom to do your own thing, there are no strict business hours, and you come and go as you, please. The onsite (at the Centurion office) bit will be rotational to give everyone else also a chance (someone needs to be there if the admin Tannie needs help with her mouse that's jumping).
OH... then there's f-ing paperwork... know how ITSM systems work, how to do inventory and asset tracking, deal with suppliers and compare quotes when making purchasing decisions - it's in your hands. These are soft skills, and if you don't know Jira, you will be taught. Expect to go on an ITIL v4 course in your first week.
[Disclaimer, this post was not sponsored by my employer, I just want to get my R5k finders fee, and I'm tired of interviewing people who are not qualified for the job]
Information Technology is a passion not just a job.
UPDATE: We found someone. Thanks for submissions.
So we're looking for a person to join a company with an international footprint. The job entails a lot of travelling, mostly African countries, and also IT support for the SA head office in Centurion. We're a software and solutions development house.
I won't bore you with the exact job spec here, but here are the core competencies required:
Linux skills - administration of Debian flavours (mostly Ubuntu) and Redhat derivatives such as Alma and Rocky. This one is really important. Provisioning of machines, clusters, laptops, and the works. GUI heroes need not apply. Most of the LOB applications are installed manually via SSH, so you need to be very comfortable with Linux in general. In the interview, you will be tested on troubleshooting skills relating to processes and how to look for issues (i.e in log output)
Windows - Besides user desktop support, there are Windows servers in the environment either as file servers, AD/LDAP, DHCP, DNS, NPS, Certificate Services, IIS, Hyper-V, etc.. all the basics.
Networking - Unifi and Mikrotik environment with some Forti's thrown in. You will need to know more than the basics here. Bonding, Firewalling, advanced VPN, etc. UniFi switches, including those lekker high-throughput aggregation switches and Cloud Core Routers for VLAN management, it's all here.
Databases - Postgres and Oracle administration advantageous, there are some MariaDBs also, but you will be supporting the DBAs only, so for example to copy data and do basic backups/restores, maybe a SQL command here and there - great opportunity to learn if you're interested.
Storage - SAN's, NAS's, DAS's, LVM's and LUNs -and any other three-letter abbreviation, it's in here, everything from bringing up a beefy HPE SAN, right back down again to bonding HBA and getting SCSI to work with the clusters, and the little guys, Synology and Seagate NAS's are there too and need some love.
Speaking of Clusters... XEN! Most of the VM clusters run XenN Hypervisors, mostly XCP, and like I said Hyper-V too.
There are a lot of other little things, like deciding on which 100-inch TV to buy for the boardrooms, and then driving to Makro to swipe the company credit card, or deciding on the decor and placement choices around the buildings - you'll be operations, so involved in a lot of decision making for the companies' benefit, perhaps even asked to jiggle the sliding doors because they get stuck, sometimes.
All of the above are not once-offs, you'll be doing this over and over again with customers (governments) and other big clients, it's always exciting, but also challenging. You won't be bored.
Travel: SNT allowance is provided in USD for every day you are on site - this is money for your lunch/dinner (or pocket, it's yours to keep). You'll be staying in 3/4 star hotels and BnB where possible (But TIA), but it may be expected of you to be away from your home for up to two weeks continuously every other month, while on-site, it's long hours, especially to get the infrastructure up so that the dev teams and pipeline guys can begin their part.
So that's what I have to say in a nutshell, I can't say it's all great, there will be fun days and there will be not-so-great days, weekdays you can chill from home, but also weekends you'll be working all day.
Every site, every client, and every deployment is different, and you won't be alone either, it's usually a team of people that travel to the site (mix of DevOps, analysts, testers, PMs, etc) - and of course, a team of passionate guys doing exactly what you're doing to also support you.
Let's talk money, so there is no fixed cap, it does depend on experience, but I'll tell you now that we are looking for a mid to senior guy (so that means 8+ years of hands-on, daily working-with-it experience) - not your Ubuntu you spun up yourself on a Raspberry Pi at home once.
The ideal range here is between R40 000 to R60 000 per month, more senior, more money. There are 13th Cheques and project bonuses also. You will get a new gaming laptop, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending if you're a gamer or value lightweight travels) when you join the company.
You will have a lot of freedom to do your own thing, there are no strict business hours, and you come and go as you, please. The onsite (at the Centurion office) bit will be rotational to give everyone else also a chance (someone needs to be there if the admin Tannie needs help with her mouse that's jumping).
OH... then there's f-ing paperwork... know how ITSM systems work, how to do inventory and asset tracking, deal with suppliers and compare quotes when making purchasing decisions - it's in your hands. These are soft skills, and if you don't know Jira, you will be taught. Expect to go on an ITIL v4 course in your first week.
[Disclaimer, this post was not sponsored by my employer, I just want to get my R5k finders fee, and I'm tired of interviewing people who are not qualified for the job]
Information Technology is a passion not just a job.
UPDATE: We found someone. Thanks for submissions.
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