How to progress when things are standing still?

Posted by RiceeeChrispies@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 2 comments

I’m a typical Windows Systems Administrator, been in the game since I left school seven years ago. Jobs: Apprentice —> Helpdesk —> Sysadmin Only ever worked at one place, so I don’t know any different. A lot of what I’ve learnt over the years is what I’d consider fundamentals, and now I feel I have them nailed down - my skills are stagnating. I have standard skills: Endpoint Management, Networking, O365, Storage and Virtualisation - all Windows/VMware with a sprinkling of Linux. There is so much out there I could learn, but I have no idea what my next step should be. There are cool things, I’d like to look at like: - Azure (Cloud) Services - Containers (Docker/Kubernetes) But these feel like tech stacks associated with much larger companies, developer services and teams. And I don’t know how they’d benefit the business. I feel like an engineer in search of a problem, changing for change sake. Also honestly quite vulnerable as a Windows Sysadmin in a fast moving world - where I’m at the start of my journey with a few years under my belt. I see all these job postings asking for such extensive knowledge (mainly DevOps with loads of buzzwords), and it makes me realise how little I actually know. How do I get out of this rut and push forward?