Is it realistic to prepare yourself for system administration if you are only fond of it, and do not work professionally?

Question

Freelance

Let's say a person works in the field of IT, but is not directly related to networks: programming, analytics, automation, web design, web layout, web management, testing, testing, etc. and so on, many branches of high technology specializations.
So he also works as a hobby, he wanted to master networks and system administration, installed a NIX-like operating system, and began to study.
Read theory, delve into CISCO policy, technique, equipment, practice on software and hardware simulators, but without working in this area, without earning money (without experience and practice, no one will especially hire a system administrator).
And is it possible to upgrade to a normal system administrator in this way, train and pass the exams CCENT, CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP, CCIP, CCIE, CCDE, CCAr, etc.
How long can it take to get involved in such a hobby before leveling up the skills of a normal sysadmin level in the above case? Well, it’s natural that then, according to success, you can abruptly switch to administration in a professional way and earn serious money with this business already.
PS enikeys are not considered and are not interesting and there is no possibility, although the person who writes the question had experience

Answer 1

Short answer: yes.
Long answer: also yes, but there are nuances.
The system administration consists not only of niks and tsisok. In large enterprises (or at least where there is an IT department) without work experience, you are unlikely to be accepted, even if you have certificates from all vendors of this planet, and in small and medium-sized ones, Windows is most often used.
It is best to gain real work experience in the positions of enikey (assistant system administrator / user support operator - helpdesk, in short). Here you will always be insured by senior comrades, and you will have to learn how to solve (especially quickly solve) the most common problems, and they won’t let you break anything. Plus, the requirements for hiring them are very, very democratic (for example, in the well-known Wargaming, enikei get almost twice as much as I do, although they have to know very much less).
My advice to you: learn how to solve the most common problems with your computer and the computers of your friends (this is what is meant in the line "PC user at the administrator level"), read a couple of books about Windows Server and, especially, Active Directory, get acquainted with * nix 's at the level of their basic configuration and maintenance, learn how to configure and maintain the network in the very, very simple topology, and you can safely look for a job as a "padawan" system administrator.
PS I highly recommend reading the series of articles "Networks for the smallest". If you understand at least the first four articles well, then you are ready to administer simple networks. If more - look for vacancies of lower network engineers from providers :)
PPS I suppose that at the initial stage, out of all *nixes, you will only need to know three typical use cases for them: LAMP (Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP -- web server), file server (ZFS + Samba, probably), Internet router + proxy (SQUID, iptables, pppd and many other not too scary things). Therefore, you can start just with them. Replace your ISP’s Internet router with a Linux machine (the simplest firewall using iptables + pppoe or whatever your provider uses), make it a proxy, a home file cleaner and a torrent downloader, file a cozy blog (just Apache + PHP), some simple mail server (so that it sends notifications to soap about its status, for example). Experience get just the sea.

Answer 2

I'm a sysadmin and have never logged into the cisco console ;)
ciscos are needed by NOCs (well, or by those who are going to work as an admin in a company that does not have money to hire a NOC - but networks there are usually simple).
You can upgrade to a normal system administrator on your own (and there is nowhere else for them to come from). It is problematic to pass the CIS exam without experience. More precisely, basic exams on the same theory and GNS are taken in flight, but what is more difficult (the one about ospf / bgp / rip, for example) is already more difficult without a mentor or experience.

Answer 3

The diploma was - laser modeling on a computer. Fortran, punched cards, printouts...
A few years after graduation, I met a friend. He asks:
"Do you understand computers?"
"Well, yes. More or less"
"Can you type 8 pages of text?"
"And for how long?"
"In a week"
"Yes, of course!!!"
And so he became a layout designer. Then he migrated to the system administrators.
At the same time, in small firms where he worked (up to 100 computers), there were neither Tsisok nor NIKS. No certificates were needed. Self-education to perform the work was more than enough. Took and did. It didn’t work, I didn’t understand - I read, asked - and did it.

Answer 4

habrahabr.ru/post/118475

Answer 5

No, it's not realistic being an amateur sysadmin to come to a complex project and immediately fit in.
But being an amateur, partly with simple real projects - it's real.

Answer 6

Any IT specialists are people who self-educate themselves. Therefore, let this person set tasks for himself and solve them accordingly, look at exam questions and try to solve them (find the answer).
In any case, the desire to learn something new is a very good desire, and I think this person will become an admin very easily;)

Answer 7

Do you think sysadmins are born right away? No, at first they get carried away with something, something becomes interesting, they get a job close to it, gain experience and grow.

Answer 8

And is it possible to upgrade to a normal system administrator in this way, train and pass the CCENT, CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, CCDP exams,

Can.

ccip,

Already irrelevant.

CCIE, CCDE,

I think, with the appropriate obstinacy and financial capabilities, it is possible, but the point of taking the CCIE, and even more so the CCDE, without having practical work experience, eludes me.

CCAr

I think no.

Answer 9

With a minimum set of skills - go straight into battle, learn much faster on the battlefield. Just choose a desk according to your strength, and go ahead. Probably the simplest case is a computer club. Further - a modest desk of computers for 5-10, further - more. Communicate with professionals, know where to find the answer to a question quickly, read specialized literature, outline a development plan.

Answer 10

so all the system administrators pump skills themselves, they don’t teach this anywhere