What direction for development to choose?

Question

linux

Here I have already read a lot on the topic of self-education for programmers, and found almost nothing about self-education for system administrators.
Now I have a level of Linux knowledge somewhere at a level just below RHCE and networks like CISCO CCNA. No certifications yet. I myself am more interested in Linux, now 10 servers are being maintained, and on networks I am more like an assistant to a senior administrator.

Is it worth moving along the line of courses / certificates from RedHat, which direction is better to choose: security, virtualization?

Should I take CISCO courses/certificates at the same time?

Are there any well-received alternative courses and certifications?

PS Naturally, the goal is not just to get a piece of paper, but to gain knowledge.

Answer 1

What are you personally more interested in? Linux or networks? Network specialists are needed and will be needed for a long time to come. Good Linux admins - depends on many factors, but judging by the number of offers, they are also needed. Especially if, in addition to Linux, there is knowledge of all kinds of niks, starting from FreeBSD and further, in the direction of weighting, to HP-UX, AIX and other heavy stuff. If virtualization is interesting, then there is also an unplowed field for activity: a very popular and increasingly popular topic.
As for the courses, my opinion is this: professional courses are not superfluous, the main thing is not to be scattered. It is impossible to know everything. But, at this stage, if you already have knowledge of CCNA and RHCE, pass the exams and get certificates. This is the first thing to do, in my opinion.

Answer 2

habrahabr.ru/post/118475/
habrahabr.ru/post/118966/
habrahabr.ru/post/119407/
habrahabr.ru/post/120009/

Answer 3

choose virtualization. Security prospects in our area are very vague, and cloud computing and virtualization are very fashionable in the world, which means we will have them in a while.
An alternative option is to understand the hardware of some company, well, at least Cisco.

Answer 4

Better than Cisco + Linux.