Hi all,

I wonder if you guys could give me some advice on this. I have messed around with Linux for the last few years, and I'm at the point where I would like to become a system administrator - as a career.

I already have a bachelor's degree, but it is in the humanities (art history) so it's not really relevant. What I'm wondering is how would I go about getting the experience such that someone would hire me as a sys admin? I have two routes I'm considering:

1. Go back to school and get a master's degree in Computer Science. This way I would have the breadth of that education to work in a different field as well (information security). The problem is that it's going to take four years to do that, which is fine, but I have read that CS in not directly related to systems administration. Thus thus route would give me more career options in the end, but if I still end up in sys admin, I wonder if there is a quicker way to it.

2. The other option I can think of is to get certifications (network+, linux+, etc.) and try to get experience from the help desk level, and go from there.

I'm getting older (31) so I want the route I plan for myself to be as secure as possible. So I guess I'm wondering if the opportunity is there for me to go the second route (certifications, working from the ground up) and eventually, after a few years, work my way into a sys admin job. I would hate to go this route and then find the market clogged with people doing the same thing as me.

I also wonder what I can do, in the meantime, to get some experience and some things I can put on a resume that will get me hired when I get out into the job market.

I would hate to have not having the CS degree going against me as I progress along in my career.

Thanks in advance for your input.