Do/did you guys take classes? How do you fill in knowledge gaps?
Posted by prolongedexistence@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 20 comments
I'm not sure how common my story is, but I kind of bumbled my way into a sysadmin/IT role by being the only person at a small organization who is comfortable using computers and troubleshooting tech problems. I've never marketed myself as an IT professional (my degree is in history), but that's sort of the role I fell into.
I've recently realized my only real qualification is knowing how to use Google and having worked a little bit on websites in the past. We're currently overhauling an ill-planned tech stack, and as my responsibilities grow, I become more aware that I don't have any actual expertise.
I get questions like this, and I answer with a combination of Google + common sense, but I lack the knowledge to actually back up my advice:
- "Do I need Malware Bytes on my Mac?" - I don't know, I've never used a Mac. If you're not pirating anything or getting phished, probably not.
- "Do we need to worry about storage in our CRM?" - We've used 2MB out of 10GB, so probably not.
- "Can we override permissions on this document an AWOL user shared with the wrong person?" - Sure, Claude can tell me how to use the Drive API to do that. I didn't know that was possible. Neat.
And so on. I solve problems as they come up and do my best to plan for the future, but I'm increasingly aware that I don't have any real expertise. I don't want to create problems I or someone else has to solve 3 years from now.
I really want to be good at this, but I'm 26 and have a history degree. My responsibilities are everything from maintaining AWS to implementing research software to fixing the website when it breaks, so I don't even know where I would start.
I guess IT in general feels like the lowest hanging fruit, in that I understand the terminology but probably have to Google more than the average IT professional. (ex: There was a post the other day about a user who accidentally pressed Win + and used a magnified screen for 4 days - I could have solved that, but I would have had to Google it after Ctrl + didn't fix it.)
Any advice? Do I ask my company to put me in actual classes at the local community college? Do I take free online courses? Learning by doing has gotten me pretty far, but I want to be able to feel competent and good about my work. I know I can't be an expert at AWS *and* website development *and* sysadmin any time soon, but I would really like to start somewhere. It would be cool if 5-10 years from now I'm able to back up my advice and planning with actual knowledge and experience and not just Google + reassurance from AI.
JustAGirlAtHeart@reddit
I definitely get the, as I would say, “going in blind” feeling that comes with starting a position like that. I also was hired as a system administrator for my first IT job after going through a vocational program, and still had a lot to learn. And I still do!
You could consider Western Governors University. It’s fully online, self paced, and competency-based. You pay per 6-month term rather than by class. For the Bachelors IT program, it is usually a bit under $4k per term. If you have an employer that would pay for the degree, it could definitely help. They provide a lot of great material and external resources to learn the content with, and you’ll have a singular program mentor with you the whole time.
To pass the class, you only need to prove competency. So this is very helpful for people trying to finish their degree a bit quicker than a normal university. You prove competency with either performance assessments (usually written papers), objective assessments (proctored exams), or 3rd party certifications (also proctored)
You can knock out a bunch of general education and some core classes using Sophia Learning and/or Study.com beforehand. You pay $79-$99 usually per month, try to get all of them done in one month if possible, then transfer it over. I managed to finish 6 to transfer over within a couple weeks.
Keep in mind that you’d also be taking IT Industry certifications (they give you up to two free attempt vouchers), so expect to do a lot of studying. Some will take some time, but it should get a bit easier as you build your way up.
If you’re interested in trying to see where you can get with IT, those certifications tend to be helpful when job hunting, and most places that are hiring seem to be looking for a bachelors. If you’re not super interested in this path (also completely fine), there are some great resources online to help learn the material.
Udemy is a paid learning course platform that offers in depth courses, especially for certifications. There is a lot of great content posted on YouTube, so definitely check out that first before paying for something.
Randomhandz@reddit
I use CBT nuggets, pricey subscription but worth it so base learning.
amang_admin@reddit
Use youtube and chatgpt. Please.
ConfettiVirus@reddit
There's only two ways to become a good sysadmin: “Knowledge is learned; skill is earned.”
Fortunately, both of these are much easier for you now than when I started.
30+ years ago, knowledge was gained through books (i.e. Frisch and Nemeth), netnews, and (maybe) the nascent web.
Nowadays, the books are okay if a bit dated (but definitely read those two), but blogs/online sources are where all the good information is at. The articles and comments on Hacker News and reddit (choose subreddits carefully though) should be daily reading.
The second step is by doing. You have to practice what you learned from reading. Again, much easier today than decades ago. Back then you needed access to Unix systems, not easy to come by. Today with cheap VPSs and self-hosting, you can work on these systems for free or very close to it.
Do not be afraid of anything: Setup your own DNS server, mail server, web server. Learn how they work inside and out. Setup FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and at least 4 different Linux distros. Learn all the differences and commonalities between.
Pick a modern shell and get very comfortable with it.
Learn how to program in (pure Bourne) shell script, Python, and one other language of your choosing (but don't stop there, by all means learn more if you can).
Dive as much into the mature well-respected open-source tools as much as you can, self-host as much as you possibly can. Whether that be a homelab or with cheap online hosting (boxes at Vultr with public IPs are $5/month).
The learning never really stops, and there is no clear line you will pass where you finally say, "I'm done", but things will get easier with time.
Just yesterday, I was listening to a recent Floss Weekly episode (btw, podcasts are another good source of information) about the tunneling program Pangolin.
It took me a while to grok what it was, but once I got it, I thought to myself, hmm, I already run Wireguard, and since Pangolin runs on top of Wireguard, I wonder if I can implement its functionality with Wireguard + nginx myself. So that'll be my next mini-project.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that after a while, you will build these "conceptual Lego blocks" of systems and tricks in your head, and then when you encounter a problem, you'll be able to solve it using those pieces.
thebigshoe247@reddit
Sir, I will stop you there. I know vi (not even vim) inside and out. Everything else is irrelevant.
/S
(But seriously, I was forced to learn vi since it is on everything)
Limeasaurus@reddit
I would start with a homelab. Check out Lawrence Systems and Techno Tim and build out some projects that interest you.
Also, if you want to be in the field long term you might consider looking for a roll in a larger company so that you have some mentorship.
Both of these have helped me tremendously.
prolongedexistence@reddit (OP)
Thanks for this recommendation. A homelab sounds like a really fun place to start.
Complete-Cricket-351@reddit
To be honest I haven't checked out these guys but I would seriously look at cloud options you might be better off getting your own little play Azure instance or something. Unless you're going to make a hard dividend to data centres nobody runs hardware anymore
Balkghar@reddit
Honestly, I am doing a bachelor and working as a sysadmin for a SMB on the side, but like 70% of my knowledge come either from my homelab and from my current or previous jobs. There is some things that you can't learn by yourself because there is just no need situation where you need to learn it, but it is nice to know it, such as the separation between the kernel and user spaces. But just to tell you this, the best sysadmin I have ever encounter was a construction worker before going into IT and honestly on the knowledge and experience, he easily beats a few of my currents teachers.
vogelke@reddit
Whenever possible, make a quick note when you answer a question (unless you're already doing that with a ticket system).
You never know when that'll come up again, and future you will appreciate NOT having to find the same information twice. You don't need a full MediaWiki setup for this; a script to store a two-line note someplace you can find it is worth its weight in platinum.
40513786934@reddit
learn how to make full backups of everything - including your cloud hosted email/files/etc, learn how to test those backups, learn how to restore those backups. doesn't need to be a proper class, you can learn all of it online for free
once the backups are in place and working you're pretty safe to just try things and learn by doing. but only when you know the backups are current and tested
chillzatl@reddit
you live in a time when learning just about anything is easier than at any point in human history. If you want to learn something, all you need is some motivation. While I would encourage you to push your employer for any training assistance they are willing to provide, it's ultimately all on you. It is your career after all. In additional the knowledge, the number of free and trial services that you can leverage to put what you're learning into practice is significant. Just figure out what you want to do, what puts some wind in your sails, and go for it.
Grand-Delver@reddit
You're not giving yourself enough credit. As long as you can find the answers you need, doesn't matter how you got them. At this point for you, seems like your best teacher is experience, and using things in your environment to experiment. This post mostly comes off as an imposter syndrome concerns. That'll be common and no one knows everything. I would pick what interests you most to study outside of work (or downtime), and if that's something your employer can pay for all the better.
cleansheet25@reddit
Absolutely true. A master LEGO builder is the one who knows all the names of the pieces, and when to use them. Not the precise specifications the pieces were built to.
cleansheet25@reddit
Ha - I was in your shoes back in the early 2000s. History degree, practical applied knowledge, and a ton of options and no clear direction to take.
My recommendation - go set up a small cloud presence of your own you can play in, maybe in a space you’re uncomfortable with. If you’re used to aws and azure, do something familiar in GCP. Do things for yourself, and bring projects through to completion. Keep your stuff to an SLA. Hold yourself accountable as a highly demanding customer or stakeholder would. As these things progress, put them in your portfolio.
This allows you to discover what you enjoy, and document your journey along the way.
Good luck to you!
ErrorID10T@reddit
It's a mindset you start with now and stick with forever. And frankly, given the nature of IT, learning weird shit because something came up is how we know half of what we do.
Whenever you're doing a new task, take the extra time to research what you're doing, why you're doing it, alternative ways to do it, and get a thorough understanding from low and high levels of how it works.
Most people in IT seem to take the approach of "here's the process for doing this thing" and move on, never learning the low level why and how for what's happening.
Sometimes that's a 2 minute search to get a definition, sometimes it's an hour or more of reading various forums, articles, and documentation, but if you are diligent with keeping up your knowledge, learning alternate solutions, and not just going "I did this thing once so I'll just always do it the same way again," eventually you'll end up with a whole bunch of knowledge that allows you to look at a project or problem, know that there are a number of possible solutions, know what those solutions are likely to be, and evaluate them quickly and efficiently.
One the other hand, if you're going to be doing a lot of work in a specific area, classes can be excellent just because they give you some direct structure and guidance, though I'd suggest self-paced online courses like Udemy rather than a college course.
Basically, commit yourself to learning, both on the job while you're solving problems, and add extra time outside work (or during work if your employer will allow it) to progress your career with classes or other research as needed.
bonksnp@reddit
With AI there's really not much need to take classes or get certifications other than to build your resume or if you are constantly working with the same platform/technology you took the classes/got the certification for. It does help to have a deeper understanding of some technologies, but being a jack of all trades for a smaller org, it's often overkill.
My recommendation, assuming you want to continue down the IT career path, is to pick a certification and start studying for it at your own leisure so you can have something to add on your resume. In 5-10 years, the cert will most likely be irrelevant, but it shows employers you care enough that you took the time to get it. The worst thing that can happen is you have no certs or classes, and then get laid off or downsized/paycut/etc.
The experience will be helpful, but most other companies aren't looking for experience with your current company.
glitch841@reddit
Most classes are fairly high level, books vary but can be similar. Even worse if they are largely teaching you to pass an exam.
The above is great for awareness and an overall view. The depth comes from experience and zooming in topics in depth as needed.
As time goes on your knowledge will grow.
JohnPaulDavyJones@reddit
Community college classes tend to be great for this familiarity, but they’re primarily good for building core skills over the longer term.
Most of us learned by doing; you have to face a problem, so you research and figure it out, and that informs how you tackle similar problems in the future. The difference is that many of us had more experienced folks to learn from; you don’t really have a mentor available, it sounds like.
I think community college would be good because it would expose you to more experienced sysadmin folks.
AntFirm4593@reddit
I did the same at 25, 30 now and still at the same role. havent had any major issues, dealt with 2 "catastrophes" i just keep learning as I go and AI is def a huge help nudging me in the right direction alot of times.