I get this question a lot! Where should I focus my learning when I am just starting out?

Should I just focus on a hot topic or technology?

Many people think that they should pick a hot topic or hot technology and focus on that. Then look for jobs centered around that technology. Well, there are a few things about that line of thinking that I am not a fan of which is why I don’t recommend it.

1) You don’t get a grasp of the basics

Learning a new hot technology is exponentially more difficult when you don’t understand the basics of Systems Administration. Not having the basics also makes troubleshooting any problems that much more difficult.

2) What is hot today may not be tomorrow

We all know how fast technology moves these days. I remember when I first started IT I couldn’t believe how fast new processors and computers were changing and getting faster and faster. Well, now it is easily 10 times as fast with not only hardware but software. So spending time learning a new hot technology which will take you longer to learn if you don’t have the basics (see above paragraph) may no longer be the hot technology when you are done or when you are ready to start looking for a job.

3) You limit yourself

By learning only the new hot technology you are extremely limiting yourself to what jobs you could apply for or what positions you can hold. Many companies IT employees wear many hats. So limiting yourself to a single technology may actually disqualify you from a job because it requires more.

Master the basics

I know it is a cliche but a house does really need a good foundation to build upon and so does your IT knowledge. By mastering the basics you build a tremendous foundation that all of your other learning will build upon.

I find that since I a have a great foundation of IT knowledge I can learn a new technology quicker and I can more easily make the connection between different technologies.

True Story – Working as the Network Team and Server Team

I was working years ago on a project to upgrade the server equipment for an on-site hosted website. We replaced old Dell servers with new Cisco UCS servers and a Cisco UCS Chassis. If you are not familiar with Cisco UCS it is really combining server hardware and networking. It is a great platform but typically you would want a network administrator available to do the networking side and a Server Administrator to do that server side of things. Since I had a great foundation of both Networking and Server Administration I was able to build out and troubleshoot this technology that was new to me. This type of skill is extremely valuable to many organizations.

Now I am certainly not saying you should be the only person that knows how to do stuff in a company. That doesn’t serve anyone very well and I am a HUGE advocate for cross-training within a company. But in this particular case, I became an incredibly valuable employee because I was able to do the job of the Network Team and Server Team. This allowed me to build out and implement this equipment much faster.

So what do I recommend?

As I mentioned above master the basics because you can never go wrong by knowing the basics and it will serve you extremely well moving forward in your career. You will be able to pick up new technologies much quicker and be able to make connections that many times other people will not make. So what are the basics?

  • Microsoft Windows Operating Systems
  • Basic Networking
    • By this, I mean vendor agnostic networking. So what you would find on the CompTIA Network+ exam.
  • Microsoft Active Directory
  • Server Hardware
  • Linux Operating Systems
    • I would only spend a minimal amount of time here. Most larger companies are primary Mircosoft shops. But there are many use cases and appliance type servers that require Linux to run. So understanding Linux can certainly give you a leg up

Now that is not a huge list but it is a great foundation for any Systems Administrator to have and I believe all Systems Administrators should have these basics under their belt.

One Last Story…

Years ago I ran rescue squad in my home town and was captain of my crew. Part of being a captain was managing your crew, managing incidents and training your crew.

You can imagine how far technology has come in the medical field. There are machines now in ambulances that can take a blood pressure, get a heart rate, breathing rate, etc. All of the things that I learned to do manually.

I would never let a new crew member touch any of that equipment. I required all of my crew to master the basics before they could do anything advanced. A totally different topic I know but the meaning works for many things. Once a crew member mastered taking blood pressure, getting a heart rate and respiratory then I would allow them to use the machines if they wanted.

Conclusion

If you have made it this far in the post congratulations because this was a much longer post that I typically do. But long story short you can never go wrong with focusing on the basics and mastering them. They serve you well throughout your entire career and give you a great foundation to build upon.

If you like this post or it helped you please let me know. I am also happy to hear from my reader. Also, think about joining my mailing list and I will send you more information on becoming a Systems Administrator.

Lastly, check out The SysAdmin School Courses page and sign up for any of the self-paced courses I have available.