UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello all,


I really hope that this is the right Forum to post this kind of a question...

I have been working in the IT support industry for nearly 3 years now. I started of providing end-user support. So enough to say that I provided my fair share of "have you tried turning it off and on" solutions and did more password resets then is medically healthy for one... Anyway, to make a long story short I am now supporting HP-UX and Linux (SUSE and Red Hat) in mostly business critical environments for a living.

Although I am very happy with my current job I do of course sometimes wonder what my next position might be... And this is exactly where I need some help with. The logical next step (in my opinion at least) is to become a (Junior) System Administrator (which has been pretty much my goal when I started 3 years ago). However, providing support for Unix/Linux issues is obviously quite different from actually managing a couple of these servers. I must say that over the years I have become quite good at researching issues and documenting solutions... But at the same time I do not feel overly confident about mu administration skills.

So what I really like to know (hopefully from some experienced Unix/Linux system administrators) is how to proceed to the next level. How do I move from a support job into a administrator job? Or maybe even better, how did you manage to get there?

What I am especially interested in is:
- what certificate/course would you recommend me taking?
- what topics should I focus on?
- what else do you recommend me doing to make the transition as smooth as possible?

I was thinking to do the following:
- try to get the RHCSA (or possibly RHCE) certification under my belt
- focus on shell scripting (maybe Perl)

What are your thoughts? Keep in mind that I am currently living and working in Europe (not sure if that makes a difference?).


Thanks in advance for your time and suggestions!

Obtaining a RHCSA is a worthy goal. However, if you can achieve a RHCE that would be much better.