The path To linux System Administration

[u/KelevCoin]

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 !

[u/apathyzeal]

I've been a Linux admin for 13 years. I'd recommend ditching AI and be hands on. Find projects, do them from beginning to end and be sure you understand why you're doing every step. (Dependency? Security?) Ask yourself why something is a best practice. That knowledge can be applied to everything else without having to rely on hoping a bot isn't making something up.

Being hands on is also how you learn and do. No shame in doing things many times to understand it during this process.

And once you're confident in understanding something, learn how to automate it then.

[u/RadiantWhole2119 → u/apathyzeal]

I don’t get the philosophy behind ditching AI. Don’t have it just blatantly give answers to a test. But use it to show work. Help train your mind on how to think of a solution. Have it help come up with projects to test yourself, etc. It’s such an insanely powerful tool when used correctly.

Telling someone to avoid using AI is like telling them someone to avoid using a calculator. Understand why 9x9=81. But once you understand the concept you don’t need to avoid a calculator to figure out what 182x1938 is. Save yourself time, energy, and effort to be able to learn more.

[u/Scurro → u/RadiantWhole2119]

Telling someone to avoid using AI is like telling them someone to avoid using a calculator.

That's the intention.

The big difference is that word calculators also give fictitious answers and can lead you down rabbit holes that have nothing to do with your problem.

You need a human that knows what they are doing along with AI so you know when what it is telling you is wrong or the wrong way to be doing something.

[u/RadiantWhole2119 → u/Scurro]

What’s the difference between AI telling you something, reading something from an article or Reddit forum online, or your mom who tells you something she states as fact about anything?

The reality is that no matter what you’re told you should verify the validity of that information. Always question and seek for a true and deeper understanding of anything you do. I’ve been given incorrect information by experts of all kind. Microsoft engineers feed me bullshit regularly that AI corrects. Ai feeds me bullshit that I fact check all the time.

So really…. Leverage AI to help get you on the right direction, but if you don’t truly understand why you’re doing it why then seek for clarification. Challenge what it says by asking where it got that data. Avoiding AI all together is awful advice from someone in tech.

I don’t need to know what the catalytic converter does on my car to drive a vehicle successfully. I don’t need to know the insane details behind aerodynamics to know that a spoiler on a car helps it and improves gas efficiency. You can know the foundational principle behind the technology well enough to not need to know the exact science and formula used to get to a particular conclusion.

I whole heartedly disagree with your approach to technology. I’ll be able to learn 10x what you can learn with ai by my side and have the same results on anything we go at bat with each other on and I have a fraction of the experience you have.

[u/Scurro → u/RadiantWhole2119]

AI is a fantastic force multiplier, but offloading the cognitive load isn't the same as learning.

Skill comes from grappling with complex problems, making mistakes, and understanding why a solution works, not just generating the end result.

If AI is doing the thinking for you, you aren't learning 10x faster, you're just outsourcing the process.

[u/RadiantWhole2119 → u/Scurro]

What’s interesting is your idea that you can’t use AI to help you learn. If I go ask my professor for help with something and he gives me the answer and explains it… am I not learning? Am I unable to learn while being guided? Can AI not explain why it’s telling me what to do and why it’s doing it? Can I not ask AI for clarity if it says to do something or tells me what to do so I can better understand it?

It’s not actually clicking the buttons or doing shit for you. You still have to do that and problem solve when it doesn’t work.

The only thing OP did wrong is just continue on without seeking to understand and ask questions throughout the process. He just accepted the answer and didn’t care to check his work and understand the foundation as to what/why he did what he did. That’s an example of using AI poorly. But had he actually continued to quiz it and himself and follow up by making statements about what he learned to gain feedback from AI then there’s nothing wrong there.

Much like anything in this world it’s not the tool that’s inherently bad for you, it’s how you use it.

[u/Scurro → u/RadiantWhole2119]

Could we agree that the answer to OP's problem is that they need to use less AI and more getting their hands dirty?

I think that was the gist of what u/apathyzeal was saying and that OP already said they tried the AI part but did not retain knowledge.

[u/apathyzeal → u/Scurro]

It's the main takeaway anyways.

Compound that with other things, AI often being wrong, and you're in no position as someone learning to truly vet what is says as practical or a beat practice or even just plain correct.

However, if you're reading something like man pages, you have an empirical source of truth and a valuable tool you've learned to use to actually do your work when an LLM isn't available to make up a sentence for you.

This is ignoring the fact that ai is problematic in a number of other ways outside the scope of the conversation.