What are job opportunities as a Linux System Administrator

Question

What are the opportunity that a person seeking for Linux system Administrator?

What are the things one should know in order to pursue a career in Linux Admin?

What are the things that needs to be taken care of regarding the skill set as a Linux system Administrator?

Answer 1

I just started working professionally as a Linux Admin at Red Hat. Even when i was job hunting, i was not sitting ideal. I went for almost 5 different places. So one thing is sorted that you won't be sitting ideal as there are many opportunities.
Talking about the other questions:-
I had a decent working knowledge of Linux from goofing around with it for the last couple of years.
I strongly recommend that you throw up a few VMs of CentOS and do everything from the command line.
As the best teacher you can find is the curious you!

Its been over 7 months and I'm currently now responsible for 13 physical servers and expanding that number to about 20 before year's end. I've got to implement complete virtualization of all our Linux servers (yes on 20 physical boxes), integrate it all with AD, and a few other things as they come up.

Answer 2

@bug_seeker I will tell you a cool fact!
When there is a tech in which few people have expertise its always cool. Same is the case with Linux, few people know it, so they are always in demand. So you seeking for an opportunity in this domain is sorted.

Again, Just Linux won't do the work until unless you are directly dealing with the OS. You will have to know an array of software and ecosystems around it. A brief list could be as follows

1. monitoring

2. scaling

3. infrastructure maintenance

4. testing

5. security etc.

All the best for your journey. Its going to be a beautiful one.

Answer 3

The Linux job market is very hot right now, particularly for those with system administration skills. There is an ever-growing demand for Linux professionals, and becoming a sysadmin can be a challenging, interesting and rewarding career path. The demand of this professional is increasing day by day. With the development in technology, Linux is the best operating system to explore and ease the work load.

Let me give you a small view as what is the result you get when you search for Linux System Administrator.

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=jobs+for+linux+administrator&rlz=1C1SQJL_enIN803IN803&oq=jobs+for+linux+admin&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.6708j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ibp=htl;jobs&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2q6Oj5KjcAhUDP48KHVPuCTUQiYsCCFYoAQ#fpstate=tldetail&htidocid=0tAEPX0V7XMBttW6AAAAAA%3D%3D&htivrt=jobs

Answer 4

Career is good but you need to be an expert to achieve good levels. Linux has very good future as this is the most preferred back-end systems OS in all size of set-ups. Explore things by making mistakes because mistakes are the best teacher. Work hard and do certifications and further enhance your knowledge. Make the good career as best career for yourself. So overall by choosing Linux System Administrator as your career wont be a bad decision. 

Answer 5

I've been a Linux Admin for a couple years now. I find Linux easier than Windows now. Not sure what type of advice you are looking for but -- always try things in test so you aren't afraid to break it. Then make sure you break it and figure out how to fix it since that's how you'll learn the most.
If you get to learn more you will eventually get the command in the domain, this will make you ready to get a job!
Hope this helps you buddy.
All the best.

Answer 6

Linux Admin has a huge growth. Linux is being used literally everywhere.
-Almost all top web companies in the world including Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Amazon, and how could we forget Google,  use linux based infrastructures on the server side.
-A lot of devices including home routers, DTH, Smart TVs, Car Computers use embedded or a customized version of linux.
-These days whatever we do is through a mobile app. the data used by the app is stored on backend servers that work on linux.
Linux admins are needed in every single company and this profile is not going out of demand for atleast the next decade.

Answer 7

Choosing linux as a career option will never be a bad choice!

All you need to do to be prepared is

1. Download Linux

2. Take any course on linux

3. Practice

4. Do a certification

5. Get involved (Join groups)

You are set for pursuing a career on Linux
It may sound very easy but trust me its a very big task and once its done you can see the outcomes!

All the best

Answer 8

@bug_seeker 

Telling you about the job descriptiom.

Linux system administration has a place of its own in the hierarchy of information technology specializations. Some people excel in special areas of free software technology but haven't needed to learn system administration. For example, you may specialize in configuring e-mail or writing applications using Apache and MySQL. You may focus only on Domain Names Services. But if I asked you to babysit a busy server or servers, you might not have the temperament or have learned the skills required to do so. In between, you need to prepare your system to recover from the many ways a server can fail.

Just a brief and i am sure you might have got some chills

Trust me on this if you once get even close to being a master on this you will start appreciating you decision.

The opportunities are never going to decrease and the entire IT industry needs Linux to give them the back-bone to their Architecture. So @bug_seeker all the best hope this answer helps you to get out there and build a career!

Answer 9

These are the key skills you need to become a good linux system administrator

Problem-solving, communication, multi-tasking and analytical skills, familiarity with relevant software, configuration management, network monitoring, and security, ability to use tools like network analyzers, cable accessories, and server load balancers

Answer 10

Hey @bug_seeker first of all must say that you are on a great path.
If you love playing with servers, maintenance and security.

One this at the very begining you wont directly get the designation of Linux System Admin. Its a responsible post and require knowledge and experience.

First of all you will get into Infrastructure and then like in 2 years down the line you might get promoted to System Admin.

Then you will have responsibilities like

Managing servers

Allowing access

Taking care of the architecture of your Organization.

So, my suggestion would be get ready, pull up the socks and get a good certification.
All the best.

Answer 11

Hello @bug_seeker glad to know that you are doing something different from the normal student starting his/her career. 

Let me tell you what is exactly the work of a Linux Admin.

A Linux administrator is charged with a lot of responsibility, as they must provide support for both the Linux servers and the applications and services that run on these servers. As such, there are a plethora of tasks that you will encounter throughout a typical day. One of the most common problems that Linux administrators must deal with is troubleshooting server issues. Not only will it be up to you to ascertain the problem as quickly as possible, you will then need to implement fixes in a timely and efficient manner. Unlike other tech or IT jobs, there are many times that a Linux administrator will have to do this task independently and without much, if any, supervision.
 

But trust me when you finally get your hands comfortable with all these task then you will be good to go! 
I guess you must give it a try by building a test case, try breaking it and try building it again. This would give you a brief on how will your life will be once you start your career.

Answer 12

Yes, I agree that choosing Linux System Administrator as your career will be a good choice for various reasons. Linux has always been the best due to its features, flexibility and very active community. But if you are looking for a Linux based career, I suggest you have a look on Ethical Hacking and Forensics. Security will always be the major priority of all the organizations and with so many hackers hacking for fun (or to misuse), the demand for Security has increased too much. So i think, compared to Linux System Admin, Linux Security expert would be a better career choice.

Answer 13

Linux is the most powerful OS distributions. There's always demand for Linux professionals because most of the technologies and organizations work on Linux platforms. So having good skills and choosing Linux as a career will never be a bad choice.

Answer 14

Like every technology, Careers in Linux Administration has a well-defined career path. It starts with Beginner level and goes on to the Senior/Chief System Admin level.

Beginner (Trainee Engineer) –
a. The engineer is aware of installing Linux
b. Can also install applications on the OS
c. Major interaction is GUI based

Enthusiast (Engineer) –
a. Can set up a home server
b. Works on Command line or terminal
c. Aware of LAMP stack
d. Knows basic networking
e. Is aware of virtualization

Beginner System Admin –
a. Knows Navigation of filesystem
b. Can Edit File system with precision
c. Is aware of basic utils and commands
d. Can install system-wide software
e. Can create a user and set permission

Answer 15

I dont think that as a fresher you would be given a part of Linux System Admin. You basically will be doing Internship and they may be with experience you end up having the part of Linux System Admin.

Answer 16

Most hiring managers require you to have basic knowledge of linux ofcourse.

knowledge og atleast one of the upper tier scripting language like python, perl, etc. is a must

Experience is always welcome

Answer 17

Linux System Admin is a good career choice but you have to be good enough to become successful in it. You should know the basics of Linux architecture, how it works etc. You should have very good troubleshooting skills too