What is on Your Mind?

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.

If you have the possibility to study and there is no direct financial need and age is not much of a factor, I would be inclined to take that opportunity. That will increase your agility to switch to something else should the employment opportunities in your particular field of expertise dry up, for example development or business analysis.

Perhaps you could study and get a part time help desk job on the side to gain experience, put you study into perspective and help keep your study debt low. You could perhaps get a certificate or two to move on to part time system administration, if there are jobs like that in your country. Just set a limit on how many hours you can work so these activities will not jeopardize your study. Just my 2c..


--
Moved thread to the lounge..

Ask yourself a question, why should i do it?