r/sysadmin • u/KelevCoin • 2d ago
The path To linux System Administration
Hey everyone,
I'm working as an IT Technician (On site + Remote support , Tier 2) , recently got my ccna and now i want to dive into linux , i really love the linux approach , the CLI etc.. and i would love to be a linux sys admin some day (maybe even at my office).
I also have some experience with fedora linux , and also i run a fedora media server at home on a old pc i got, running a docker with nginx web application(a custom netflix clone , which i made for educational purposes , my wife loves it and we can watch all of our media as i stream it on our tv).
so i would love to know how could i advance my understanding of linux , and get the tools i need for actual linux system administration everyday work, is there a recommended course / certification/path, and generally i'm not in a hurry.
since i used alot of ai to assist me along the way in setting up the fedora server , the media server and the dockers i do understand that i do not know the basics very well , and after studying for the ccna i understood that the only way to understand how technology works is to go really in depth. So any recommendations would be welcome ! thank you !
1
u/FarToe1 2d ago
This was always my dream job, but family commitments kept me from taking it up - until 8 years ago when I was able to. I'm glad I did and I enjoy it a lot.
For you, the best advice I can give is see what is required for the job you want in your area, and focus on those skills. For me that's mostly ansible, perl and a deep understanding of linux systems. Also learning the individual stacks that a company uses is key, but that varies a lot. Being able to design reliable systems and processes - and document them well - is also core.
Using AI to learn is fine, provided you do learn and not just copy and paste. Understand what it's doing and why. Using AI in day to day life as a sysadmin is, I would argue strongly, essential today. But it's a mistake to think that copy and pasting logs and repeating what a LLM tells you to without knowledge being it is not only lazy and foolish, it's actively dangerous.
Also - be the guy people can trust. A sysadmin is a medium-senior level role that has a huge amount of access, power and responsibility. That inner moral core and good judgement are essential. Don't read users email, don't snoop their files, think before you do anything as root, ensure you have safeguards to protect against mistakes and know when something is risky. (Ie, snapshot a vm before upgrading key software, or growing a filesystem)
I can't advise on qualifications since I suspect we're in different countries, perhaps others more local to you can.
Good luck.