How to change the field of activity and become a linux admin?

Question

linux

Questions will be at the end.
They relate specifically to my life situation, which is described below.
I am 29 years old, I have a beard :) and have been fond of IT all my life. I started with a pocket Soviet microcomputer with BASIC and 1224 bytes of ROM. Then he installed / rearranged / treated Windows to friends and acquaintances, set up networks and routers. From my native Tolyatti, I entered St.Petersburg ITMO on a contract with a faculty that I didn’t need, in order to later transfer to an IT direction (so there are more chances to pass the competition). While living in a hostel - wrote sites on ASP + MSSQL (because "complete" with the OS). I got carried away with Linux - Ubuntu, then Gentoo, then settled on Arch. I understand technical English well, although I can speak fluently only if I practice well in a work environment.
My cunning plan with the university did not work - I failed to transfer to IT, I abandoned my studies, expelled and left for Togliatti, and then went into the army. Since my return, I have been working "with my hands" - in the workshop in production. At the moment, I decided that I want to do what I love and start getting paid for it. And I love to sit in the console for hours, learning new things, sorting out problems and plunging into the world of Linux technologies. Simultaneously with the current work, it was not possible to engage in self-education more closely - on weekdays it eats up a lot of time and effort, and on weekends I often roam the mountains with a backpack and a tent)) Therefore
, I determined the plan for myself as follows:
months I live on savings, without a permanent job (there is housing).
2) During this time, I feverishly fill gaps in fundamental knowledge, self-learning full-time by solving a pre-compiled list of practical tasks: mastering hypervisors, setting up a network of virtual machines under them, setting up a control / monitoring system, mastering SELINUX / APPARMOR, etc. d.
3) At the same time, I am preparing and passing the exams for LPIC1 and LPIC2 certificates - more for myself, but at the same time I hope for their help in finding a job.
4) I'm trying to find a job "in the direction" - perhaps starting with "junior rj45 plug-in".
Add. information: with the above inputs, I have minimal salary expectations and readiness for a long period of downshifting - all in order to learn and master the desired profession and knowledge.
Thank you if you have read this far - I could not write shorter, honestly! :)
So far, the list of topics for study is approximately the following (without priority order):
- bash scripting
- networks, address-masks, basic protocols of different levels, setting up a router from scratch
- studying the specifics of distros: Debian, CentOS I think a must -have
- virtualization: KVM, OpenVZ, LXC, others - I don’t know yet what to focus on
- at least one control system like Zabbix - understand the general principles by setting up monitoring
- the ability to monitor the situation in the system - at any time be able to find out what kind of processes are running, what what they do, where they climb, who owns this or that activity on the network, what causes disk activity
- Completely deal with both ACLs and all sorts of Hardened options, SeLinux / Apparmor in all fields
- Raid via mdadm, create / break / rebuild / disassemble arrays
- LVM (I saw on Habré about proprietary LxVM - I don’t know if it’s worth climbing ?)
- Partition encryption (LUKS)
And now - questions:
1. How high are my chances of becoming in demand and getting a job if I follow such a plan?
2. What is the probability that LPIC1/2 certificates will help me with this?
3. Maybe there are ways to speed up the learning process that I don't know about - some linux admin courses, or on Coursera, or books?
4. The list "to study" is constantly growing - all new articles on Habré are added to bookmarks, another follows from one, etc. - as a result, the head is already spinning and the eyes run wide.
Help to prioritize the list, or write those areas with knowledge of which my demand for employers will increase especially strongly.
Maybe there are technologies, the knowledge of which is almost mandatory? Any "be friends * nix and Active Directory"?

PS Eyes are burning, I intend to go to my dream. Otherwise, why live?

Answer 1

Incomplete higher education may impose restrictions in terms of employment, especially in state and large offices. So, it's probably better to get the coveted diploma first.
As for Linux, certificates are by no means as important as knowledge and a Russian diploma are important. They mostly warm their own souls. It is best to start learning with some book on UNIX / Linux and a virtual machine. You can get a job for a start and as an enikey worker in some small office with several computers on the network, but without servers. There, you can usually turn around and organize a simple server for basic tasks from scratch, even from some personal computer. On it, for a start, hone the skills of real server operation on the network. Typical tasks on such a scale are the organization of a file washer with antivirus, remote connection and backup, Internet wiring with access control. You can start the first task on your own initiative, and as users and management evaluate it, add the rest. Not a fact, but
Having mastered the basic level, you can still do one-time orders for performance analysis and fine-tuning, for example, medium-load VPS, selecting them on freelance sites, and then start some kind of your own big project or get an admin job there.

Answer 2

A very good book by Nameth and Schneider "Linux System Administrator's Guide", large and pink. Much more, how and what works, can be understood by installing gentoo. You can also join .

Answer 3

You wrote an almost complete and fairly complete resume here)
If you looked at vacancies on hh.ru, you saw that there are interesting vacancies without particularly serious requirements. I advise you to start sending out your resume before moving and talking, if possible, with future potential colleagues. It seems to me that it is worth choosing an employer who simply needs to develop you as a specialist. Or one that will provide you with the opportunity and time for self-development. The former often (but not always) include the same system integrators and hosters. To the second - small Internet providers (and usually large ones too).
About certificates: They can help, but it's unlikely. Your willingness to receive other certifications while working in the company and your willingness to develop as a specialist will help more.
Now there are a lot of different "subspecialties" of system/network administrators. And it’s not a fact that in your work some knowledge will be in demand at all. Here you already need to focus on the "market".
PS An example of vacancies on hh.ru:
spb.hh.ru/applicant/searchvacancyresult.xml?areaId...
For example, here is a specific example where you can start:
spb.hh.ru/vacancy/8791717
PPS It can help a lot installation experience. Including SCS and other cable systems.

Answer 4

I will add a little on the list of topics
bash scripting will be studied over time. The main thing here is that there are tasks for automating actions.
You can get good experience with centos/RHEL while preparing for their courses (there are books for preparation on torrents).
The ability to configure DNS/DHCP/TFTP/ldap is very useful. In the role of managing this zoo, RHEL and centos have FreeIPA. There is very little documentation in Russian on FreeIPA, but anything can be done on it. And integration with other services + transparent authorization and access policies and DNS settings.
To automate the configuration of many servers, I recommend learning ansible, then you can chief/puppet
. Python or another language is also desirable. The scope is wide,

Answer 5

Do you also roam the mountains in winter? If not, then you can practice on the weekends in the winter (by the way, the New Year holidays will add days off). Maybe it's better to shift the move to the spring? Over the winter, it may turn out to pull up knowledge immediately for a job in an administration office

Answer 6

You have a great goal. Well done, develop! Put your knowledge into practice. This is not taught in training. He himself learned adminstvu in practice. Winserver, AD, DHCP, DNS, Exchange, Sharepoint. He studied everything himself in combat conditions. Everything happened in 7 years. Falling PDC, BDC on old hardware. Exchange 2 times fell-raised. Moreover, all familiar admins either did not have knowledge of active directory, or there was no specifics of sharepoint and exchange. The only thing left to do was to dig hard. In 2009, at a gathering of system administrators, we met a Debian developer. He said: former administrator, now a programmer. We also thought with the local administrator: how so? Left administration. After 4 years, having resigned 2 months ago from the post of system administrator, I remember him. Now I am learning to program. While C#, ASP.NET MVC, Entity Framework. Plans to master mobile development. A startup is maturing. Tired of working for my uncle. Something like this.

Answer 7

In Togliatti, I live with friends without the ability to install a computer. In St. Petersburg, I have a much more comfortable housing option for classes for 6.5k / month