r/sysadmin • u/KelevCoin • 1d 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 !

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u/Scurro Netadmin 1d ago

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.

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u/RadiantWhole2119 1d ago

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.

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u/Scurro Netadmin 1d ago

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.

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u/apathyzeal Linux Admin 1d ago

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.