In which direction should SysAdmin develop?

Question

System administration

I have a little more than a year of experience, during which time I gained experience in working with a network, kerio, wine server, virtualization and other simple things. I would like to somehow rise in this area both in knowledge and in payment (naturally), can someone tell me in which direction to keep the direction and where it is better to start (can you advise portals or literature). I understand that the question is general and there is no clear answer give, just want to understand what and how.

Answer 1

Develop in the direction that interests you personally. By and large, don't care which one. Knowledgeable specialists are equally expensive in any field.
I would just describe the admin realms a little differently.
Windows in Russia is most often work "in a corporation". That is, according to my observations, we rarely do anything on Windows other than maintaining office infrastructure. There AD, Exch, Skype for Business, SharePoint, file servers and other similar things. That is, screw infrastructures are mainly engaged in servicing the business of various kinds of organizations, but are not a direct source of income for these organizations.
Unix systems -- it's more diverse. Both corporate infrastructures are built on it, and services are provided outside. Options: ISP infrastructure (BRAS, mail, hosting, DNS, monitoring, etc.). Of course, this does not mean that you cannot run a corporate mail or file server on FreeBSD or Linux. So for work "in corporation" knowledge of Unix too will be useful.
Network administration is its own world, largely separate from server operating systems. Yes, they are connected, but still the bulk of complex network configurations are built not on servers, but on specialized hardware - Cisco, Juniper, CheckPoint, at worst - Mikrotik. Hint: a complex network configuration is not when you have a head office and two branches, each of which has two Internet channels from two different providers :-) A complex configuration is when the network devices (switches, routers) count for hundreds and thousands, and all sorts of things like MPLS, Q-in-Q, dynamic routing over various protocols, and all that.
The third option is virtualization. This is also its own world, only partially intersecting with server operating systems. Complex virtual infrastructures also require a lot of knowledge, not only software, but also hardware, and the principles of building data center networks (LAN, SAN).
The fourth sector, relatively narrow, but also allowing you to earn money (again, if you have a decent amount of knowledge) is database administration. Both in general and for some specific products - Oracle, MS SQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL and its clones - for any of them you can find a workplace where deep knowledge is required, which will be paid accordingly.
Well, and, probably, it is possible to single out the fifth sector - this is any highload. Requires deep knowledge of methods and systems for diagnosing both the OS and specific software: databases, web servers, application servers, etc. And often requires knowledge in programming.
Of course, working in small and medium-sized offices, you will have to be "both a Swiss and a reaper and a player on the pipe." That is, one admin can deal with all the listed areas at the same time. The level of such "occupations", which is understandable, will not be high, since the infrastructures are smaller, the tasks are simpler and the salary, respectively, is less :-) As the infrastructure grows (with the growth of the organization, or when changing jobs), specialization will also narrow. That is, you will have to deepen the set of knowledge on a narrower stack of technologies. For example, at my last workplace, I maintained the server infrastructure of an Internet provider, and everything was spinning on the servers - Internet services (mail, DNS, BRAS, hosting, databases, my sites), virtualization, access control systems, telephony, etc. At my current workplace, I only deal with virtualization - that is, this is iron, on which hypervisors run, these are data stores for virtualization, and these are the hypervisors themselves. What's inside virtualok - no longer concerns me. That is, the specialization has narrowed, but you have to get into very specific things, like memory management inside the hypervisor or protocol analysis in the SAN.
In general, I will repeat the original thought - decide what you LIKE more, and dig in this direction. If you become a good, qualified specialist, the salary will be appropriate. And the field of activity here will be secondary.

Answer 2

In the direction of programming)))
I have a lot of friends who left admins for progers, because over time you start to get tired of getting 20-40 thousand (these are regions) and explain to people with two higher educations and a salary of 200+ thousand how to sort mail by date.

Answer 3

Considering that in Russia the concept of "sysadmin" is so vague and versatile that duties can start from "fix the accountants' microwave oven" and ending with "help the loaders move the load" - no one will tell you exactly where to develop. each employer has its own responsibilities at the expense of the system administrator.
Therefore, advice - look in your city for vacancies and organizations. and see what is required. this will be the impetus that you need to know.

Answer 4

1. Decide which way to move. DevOps, niks, Windows, networks.
2. Dig deep into exactly the right direction.
3. Change jobs more often (well, within reasonable limits - more than once a year and a half is not necessary).
A year in "system administration" - alas, nothing at all. These are the first bumps, nothing more.

Answer 5

https://habrahabr.ru/post/119407/
it is generally interesting to read this assembly from the first to the fourth

Answer 6

Unlike a proger, it is difficult for a system administrator to develop at home or by self-study, practice usually requires a large fleet of real hardware, it is difficult to manage with virtual machines.
Decide what is more interesting - wines, Linux, databases, clouds, hardware, etc., find a job according to your profile in the largest possible company and gain experience there. And don't forget about automation.

Answer 7

experience in networking, kerio, wine server, virtualization and other simple things
Neighing.
However, if knowledge has not advanced beyond the free version of Hyper-V, it is not surprising that virtualization was considered a "simple thing." A year in administration is nothing more than nothing.
There are several directions that diverge almost immediately:
- Windows
- UNIX
- Networks
- Database
Judging by the set of keywords - are you guided by Windows? Well, study further. Just don’t blurt out somewhere during an interview that a winserver is a simple thing :)