Development branches. Where would you go from helpdesk?

Question

MySQL

Good day everyone. I would not want to do such stuffing again, but I really need advice.
Essence. I have been working as a helpdesk for several years and I would like to move further. Recently, there have been rumors that the admin development branch is a dead end, supposedly there are no big salaries there, and in general this is all for students. I have several options:
1. go further into system administration, pick one area. (server or network for example)
2. python - you have to start programming from scratch
3. SQL - the same, from scratch.
Variants arose after communication with comrades who are somehow connected with these areas. What do you advise to do?

Answer 1

All branches of development, where a person has been sitting for many years and doing the same thing, are dead ends.
You need to develop, look for an opportunity to become a good specialist.
Good admins - you need to look for
Good network admins - you need to look for
Good devops - you need to look.
This is good and at least mid, and sensible, with experience.
For example, it is very strange that a potential admin does not know either sql or python at all - he does not have to be a senior, but you say that you need to learn this from scratch ..

Answer 2

>>Recently, there have been rumors that the development branch of the admin is a dead end, supposedly there are no big salaries there, and in general it's all for students
. With such reasoning, you won't be able to earn good money anywhere.
They pay not for the popularity of the profession, but for solving problems! But of course, you need to ask directly at the interview: "Do you pay for the result or for ass-hours?"
There are two main types of employers: Employer
Type #1:
They say in the interview that they care about results. In fact, as soon as a specialist copes with his tasks and begins to deal with his own, for example, freelance orders, then insults begin. Allegedly, he could come up and ask what else to do. This is the approach to ANYWHERE.
Employer Type #2:
They also say that the result is important to them. In fact, everything is so. If you didn’t master it in a day and didn’t make the daily norm, then at least stay at night or take work home.
In my opinion, you need to strive for the second type of employers. These are more fair market relations.
When communicating with this type of employers, you need to agree IN ADVANCE on the amount of work for the day/week and clearly understand what a person can and cannot do. With such an agreement, a person wins in that if he has learned to cope faster, then he can go about his business knowing that no one will eat the brain. And if they start, then you can raise the agreements to the top and ask a question in the LOB. Which is exactly what I use. There is a possibility that some will drop out, but is it really your task to please everyone? But for me it's better to immediately filter out morons and work with sane people.
There is only one conclusion from all this: Whatever you do, as long as you are a virtuoso and always develop. In one place you can do a lot and at the same time do your job honestly. You can always automate something, refactor, improve, or something else, so that the load on the current work is less and less stressful.

Answer 3

What you like best - then choose.
For example, I chose the second option. Before that, having worked for a decade and a half in the field of administration.

Answer 4

I advise you to think and decide for yourself

Answer 5

1. The branch is not just a dead end, just at one fine moment you will come to the conclusion that there is nowhere to grow vertically (in terms of knowledge) and all projects will be of the same type and horizontally in position and also reach your maximum salary. And here it does not matter on which platform you will grow Windows / Linux.
2. Well, it doesn't have to be Python.
3. The option is also good, but in conjunction with the programming language, otherwise you will run into the same rake as in paragraph 1.
A little more than 10 years in administration, I retrain myself in my free time on the web.
UPD: I also wanted to write that the administrator automates his tasks using the built-in OS features, including queries (we write in PowerShell), i.e. base for programming is.

Answer 6

And what about an admin who knows how to do everything? DevOps Engineer, SRE, Build/Release Engineer, Conf...
Inappropriate? Try coding. And yes, not necessarily in Python. I am 30 years old, what can I become in IT in a month (not trolling, please take it seriously)?
At 6 extreme interviews in an IT company, I answered questions asked on all 3 points.
Good article on a similar topic. Think about it.
The scary leap from SysOps to DevOps. Rebuilding a...

Answer 7

Recently, there have been rumors that the admin development branch is a dead end.

I give 100% that this is said by those whose business has never suffered from a technical hardware base: data loss when equipment fails and "hacks" of servers with data theft are becoming more frequent.
The point, I think, is clear.

Answer 8

Furiously plus Saboteur . He expressed my thoughts exactly. Good admins are lured from each other. Moreover, a good admin definitely has both whining knowledge and knowledge of any scripting language - this is not necessarily a python, it can be anything from powershell to bash, but it should be present, because a good admin is a lazy admin and he tends to automate his activity.
And about "they say" - they say in Moscow chickens are milked :)
I left the support myself :) First to the admins, then to the "senior admins" :) Then I went to where I am now :)

Answer 9

Dig towards DevOps

Answer 10

At one time, I went from enikeev to admins, and from there to networkers. With an increase in the level of competence, profits also grow and there is no end to customers. I'm sure this is the case in other areas as well. If you "know how to set up a router" - this is one thing and they pay only money there, but if you can make sure that the client always has the Internet, regardless of the weather and revolutions, then this is completely different and different money.
But in any field, the level of competence grows along with the level of competence in related fields. A networker will not become "good" without knowledge of Linux and bash. And the MS SQL admin in Russian realities will not become a guru without knowledge of 1C.
So I propose to choose one direction and develop in it. And over time, projects will force you to study related areas.

Answer 11

Take two directions. They pay for the first, they like the second. For example, I like server administration, they pay for the scripting language. So develop in two at once. In any case, they are related. One more piece of advice. When choosing a language, look for good, exemplary code. If you don't like it visually, then it's better not to waste your time.

Answer 12

System administration will always be valuable. Most importantly, stay on topic. Yes, it's difficult.
Try to prioritize. We take a niche where they pay and the second direction that we like.
Support is the face of the company. This is a very important direction. Nobody calls the operator to say thank you. Everyone calls with problems.

Answer 13

You can always raise the salary ceiling of a SysAdmin in say - 150,000 ₽ub / month by Emigration ,
for example, up to - 600,000 ₽ub / month with the same level of knowledge / workload, and this is not an exaggeration =)

Answer 14

I will answer simply and without demagoguery: Data Science.