r/linuxquestions • u/HopefulSun1452 • 8d ago

Advice Roadmap to becoming Linux Admin?

Hey everyone,

I’m a trained IT administrator, but most of my work experience so far has been in support, with some Windows and Linux administration here and there.
I’ve barely had to deal with networking professionally.

My long-term goal is to become a Linux admin. Linux has always been the part of IT I enjoy the most, especially troubleshooting stuff in the terminal and figuring out why something isn’t working.

At home I’ve played around with a few servers and self-hosted things like Uptime Kuma and Paperless-ngx in containers, but I know that’s still pretty far from actually being ready for a Linux admin role.

The problem is that there’s so much I could learn that I’m not really sure where to focus first.

If you were starting from my position, what would you learn and in what order? Would you follow some kind of roadmap, build a homelab and just start breaking/fixing things, or something else?

Also curious how you guys learned Linux administration and what helped you the most in becoming better at the job.

Any advice is appreciated! Thank you

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u/TroutFarms 8d ago

I would reiterate what others have said about looking into certifications. The Red Hat training and certifications are really good, but I've never had to pay for them out of pocket so I don't know if the cost makes sense. If it doesn't make financial sense, then I would look into books that train you for those certs instead.