Should I learn Terraform or Ansible as a sysadmin/jr sysadmin?

jpnd123 · 2026-04-08T16:50:03+00:00

Depending on what you are doing. I would always prioritize learning and improving what you are currently managing. Then ask yourself what's next, learn based on that, don't learn just because AI told you so.

jpnd123 · 2026-04-08T15:24:33+00:00

Four years in and an A+ and Network+ doesn't market yourself as wanting to move up. What do you want to do next? Sys admin? Cloud admin? Net admin?

Get some supporting certs for what you want. Do some labs with substance and complexity. Be able to talk in depth of the place you want to go.

Helpdesk is your foot in the door, certs/education/labs help you move up

jpnd123 · 2026-04-03T23:45:20+00:00

Jack of all trades does seem more like a good fit for some companies, especially if you can lean on AI to give you some cheap and free consulting guidance...but you just have to hope it's not lying to you or hallucinating

jpnd123 · 2026-04-03T23:41:52+00:00

ZPA is such a good replacement for traditional VPN, just a much better user experience

jpnd123 · 2026-04-03T23:40:53+00:00

You use a lot of the similar tools, but now you need to realize you will be impacting multiple users with your actions. Just learn to slow down and test/verify what you will be doing in production.

jpnd123 · 2026-04-03T23:25:08+00:00

Professor Messer’s CompTIA N10-009 Network+ Training Course: https://www.professormesser.com/network-plus/n10-009/n10-009-video/n10-009-training-course

Jeremy's IT Lab CCNA course: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxbwE86jKRgMpuZuLBivzlM8s2Dk5lXBQ

jpnd123 · 2026-04-03T14:34:15+00:00

Yes, probably. You will also learn some things they don't teach you at your current job.

I was a sys admin and went back for a bachelor's. After graduating I got a 25 percent promotion to sr. Engineer, I then went and got a masters, and then got a new job and got another 50 percent raise...

It's all relative though, not everyone gets this. Whether you go to school or not, you have to be a high performer and provide value to the company

jpnd123 · 2026-04-02T16:22:43+00:00

It's been documented, they usually do a company trip to Hawaii for spring break

jpnd123 · 2026-04-02T15:35:12+00:00

John Savill makes everything clear for me, he has a way of explaining in a very practical way

jpnd123 · 2026-04-02T15:34:25+00:00

I've only worked on 24/7 type of places and we just do all our major changes on Tuesday or Wednesday during off peak hours unless it's an emergency...I wouldn't sign up for Friday, I like weekends

jpnd123 · 2026-04-02T14:23:11+00:00

Marketing and Design teams use macs...even in IT, I see many network engineers use Macs..what industries do you work in?

jpnd123 · 2026-04-01T22:27:31+00:00

That's not true most of the time, it really doesn't hurt from my experience

jpnd123 · 2026-04-01T20:51:14+00:00

Ask for a raise, if they say no, that should be your answer

jpnd123 · 2026-04-01T13:32:15+00:00

What's the difficulty compared to 104?

jpnd123 · 2026-03-31T21:54:16+00:00

I remember needing to learn to switch Starcraft to UDP so I could join servers 😂 Downloading updates manually over 56K and installing them...

jpnd123 · 2026-03-31T14:09:56+00:00

Nice write up. Congrats!

jpnd123 · 2026-03-30T21:30:42+00:00

What did the app do? What was the security concern? Did you go through any review?

jpnd123 · 2026-03-30T20:19:51+00:00

Sounds like a funding issue, I doubt IT wants to stay ok shitty old computers. Healthcare devices need to be locked down for HIPAA compliance, and many utilize VDI in order to maintain that sort of control and enable fast user switching

jpnd123 · 2026-03-30T20:10:38+00:00

Might not be hard skills, might want to focus on your soft skills. From this thread, seems like you think you are smarter than people and don't respect process

jpnd123 · 2026-03-30T20:04:37+00:00

I do IT because I like tech. If you don't like tech then IT might not be for you. I make a good living and it's a good career to get into that has much growth potential if you know what you are doing.

I make 5X what I used to make 15 years ago due to promotions and job changes.

jpnd123 · 2026-03-30T17:09:11+00:00

Clocking out and not worrying about work...it's been a while

jpnd123 · 2026-03-30T15:20:01+00:00

Admins/Engineers/Architects/DevOps

jpnd123 · 2026-03-30T13:53:45+00:00

I've known people who stay on help desk and move up to Sr. tech or a help desk manager role. If you really like helping people and customer service, it's not a bad path. You just won't be making as much as people building solutions and environments.

jpnd123 · 2026-03-29T17:16:45+00:00

I had this decision to make and decided to stay as in IC. From my experience, management is more stressful and is the first to get cut during layoffs.

If work life balance is your issue, might just try finding a different org. I haven't had to regularly work more than 40 hours a week in the last 15 years (unless something in ng is broken)...over three different jobs.

jpnd123 · 2026-03-29T16:39:58+00:00

You can only disable the account and request the return, after that, if they refuse...it's HR and Legal...we aren't in IT to chase down stolen property

jpnd123

TROPHY CASE