Today we will discuss the routine topic- What is the future of Linux Admins. Based upon my personal work experience, this is a very common question which is asked by people.
Many freshers looking for jobs in the Linux domain as well as seasoned administrators are confused. The reason is into modern technology trends currently happening across the globe. DevOps is the new Linux Admin’s KRA (Key Responsibility Area). But what about the Tech support or IT admins who were not able to upgrade their skills? Do they still have some long-term career scopes?? We try to go through all such aspects.
What does Linux Admin mean?
Anyone who is a leader in Linux stuff can be considered as Linux Admin. Their key role is to take care of services like, but not limited to:
- File Servers.
- Authentication services.
- Integration of Services e.g., some hosted API for a dedicated application.
- Email Services.
- Storage Services.
- Firewalls, sometimes.
- Web Servers.
- IoT Services.
- Database Administrations.
- Cloud Services.
- End user day to day support.
- Process automation using various tools.
- Network scanning.
Many more…
Usually, Linux admins are “Jack of all! Master of None types of people”. They can not be limited to just one aspect of the environment. They must have a basic understating of the surrounding IT Infra or other services running. Yes! For some specific cases, they have to be precise e.g. Linux security admins are not supposed to be for day-to-day end-user support. Same with the Linux Database admins as well. So, these were some small glimpses into what the meaning of Linux Admin is.
Any specific skill set required to be a Linux Admin?
100 % required. Any certification like RHCSA (Red Hat Certified System Administrator) or CompTIA Linux+ will help to get a kick-start. Basic understating of shell scripts, iptables, networking, and Linux boot sequences will be live-saving in the mid of a crisis. How to deal with booting issues, password crack, process monitoring. File permissions etc. etc. are the must-haves.
What about future aspects?
Admins who are not taking skills up-gradation seriously, for sure will face troubles in the future. But good things are due to so many automation utilities available, they are not supposed to memorize as of older days. Now someone can define his or her area of specialization as Linux Admin (DevOps Engineer). But you cannot survive in the coming future if you do not understand the modern tools and techniques being used presently.
What are key skill upgrades required for Linux Admins?
Cloud is the future for sure. Therefore, all of the aspects related to Cloud services are a must-have as a skill upgrade. Some of the required skills can be listed as
- Administration level understanding of Cloud Administration for AWS, MS Azure, Google Cloud Services etc.
- Basic under staging of python scripting.
- Understating and management of deployment tools like- Ansible, Chef and Puppet etc.
- Must have understating of Hadoop/Containers.
- In depth knowledge of version control systems like Git.
- Understanding of virtualization for Citrix, VMWare or other popular environments.
- Must know the basics of Big Data as concept.
These can be some key skills that are the least requirement for any Linux Admins who is looking for a long-term career perspective.
