You're a seasoned System Administrator looking to stay ahead. What key skills should you prioritize learning?

Cloud computing is now a cornerstone of IT infrastructure. I prioritize mastering platforms like AWS and Azure, especially understanding IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. This enables me to migrate and manage services efficiently, especially in hybrid environments. For example, I’ve used AWS extensively to automate infrastructure scaling and security, which helped optimize resource usage and minimize costs in my previous role.

One thing I've agree with you, cloud services are offering all IT flavors and services that could help all entities to test and develope it's strategy before huge on ground investment .. and in some cases hosting all IT services on cloud is a right winning game But the most risk I'm afraid of it, that Google itself and FB have been hacked for many times and in case of critical data or financial data hosted I'll be in high risk. And I don't feel to go full cloud. Also I prefer to be hybrid model based on data classification. I hope I messaged my vision as right

I would prioritize learning Ansible, Terraform, and mastering cloud technologies. Ansible is essential for configuration management and automating repetitive tasks, making your workflows more efficient. Terraform allows you to define infrastructure as code, providing a consistent, repeatable, and scalable way to manage both cloud and on-premises environments. Also, become familiar with cloud technologies such as AWS/Azure since more organizations are moving to or integrating with cloud platforms. This knowledge will help you manage hybrid environments, optimize cloud resources, and ensure security and compliance. Lastly and most importantly, learn how to learn and cultivate a passion for lifelong learning.

From my perspective seeing what is going on is always a key point. If you do not understand the different observability options available then it isn't easy to know where to focus other skills. So, I always tell engineers to understand the observability options available once they have identified the platform they are going to use. If it's Kubernetes then look at Prometheus and Grafana, AWS start with Cloudwatch, Azure, look at Azure Monitor and Sentinel, and GCP its Cloud Monitoring. There are lots of tools and tricks out there. The best advice I can give is to find a senior Engineer or Manager/team lead who understands these areas and ask them to show you the ropes! We all love to help and educate the next senior engineer!

I've found that Crowdstrike, properly configured, is the future of protecting cloud based systems. With it's advanced learning, it is a major counter for hackers and penetration Red teams.

Automating repetitive tasks saves time and reduces human error, so I invest in learning tools like Ansible and Terraform. These tools allow me to deploy infrastructure as code, ensuring consistency across environments. In one instance, automating server patching with Ansible reduced system downtime by 40%.

Automating manual tasks is a game-changer, allowing you to focus on more critical issues while reducing errors. By scripting and using tools like Ansible or Chef, you streamline operations and ensure consistency. Automation not only boosts efficiency but also minimizes human mistakes, making system management smoother and more reliable.

Automation skills are more secured and it is related to machine learning or deep learning techniques to investigate and secure any learning modeling operation and avoid any human mistake and learn on datasets indicator with parameters like accuracy, correlation coefficient, normalized mean square error and rum time

In my world I find that Ansible, Puppet, Terraform, and (emerging) Pulumi are key skills that make an employee more useful to automate important things. Of course good basic understanding and usage of Python is important for purpose built automation. Still I would say that Ansible is probably the most pervasive across the Network, Systems, and Platform stack.

With cyber threats increasing, I constantly stay up-to-date with security practices. I’ve implemented intrusion detection systems and used vulnerability scanners like Nessus to monitor and defend the network. Cybersecurity skills are vital for protecting data and maintaining the integrity of systems.

In today's digital age, cybersecurity is crucial as everything is connected to the internet. With rising threats, it's essential to constantly update your skills, learn the latest security protocols, and implement strong defenses. Staying current with tools for intrusion detection and incident response ensures you're ready to protect your organization's digital assets.

Cyber security, I'm interested and working on applying for a security policy on Linux based platform and applying EDR solution, SIEM solution in addition to improve penetration testing tools red team and improve blue team defense from any attack with integration AI engine on any web hosting application security system

As you build a system, always have security in mind. Ensure your servers are hardened and kept patched up to date. These are basic security skills to focus on as you expand into CyberSecurity. Stay abreast with the most recent vulnerabilities as well, especially those affecting your particular systems/applications. (this happens on Cloud as well).

IT automation, the key to agility, has matured very well over the past decade, going from scrappy hand written scripts to frameworks that come with enterprise level features. the key here is to understand the checks and balances between the systems and what is a best fit for a client. In my industry, Ansible is becoming popular among our clients, because it requires less overhead of managing “agents” on machines, saving on costs and risk. There is a tradeoff with that approach, since no agent is deployed there is less fidelity in what can be automated, monitored, and controlled.

I integrate DevOps practices, such as CI/CD pipelines, to streamline software deployments. By using tools like Docker and Kubernetes for containerization and orchestration, I can ensure fast and scalable application deployment, making our operations more agile.

DevOps integration transforms development and operations by streamlining CI/CD pipelines for faster releases. Mastering containerization with Docker and orchestration with Kubernetes enhances agile, scalable deployments.

Containerization is an excellent way to expand and fully make use of your systems/servers. Kubernetes/Docker are so flexible with scalability and flexibility within your system to build up a very intricate and balanced system.

Efficiently managing SQL and NoSQL databases ensures data availability and security. I’ve implemented robust backup and replication strategies, reducing data loss risk and improving recovery times.

Effective data management is crucial for system administrators, encompassing SQL and NoSQL databases. Mastering backup, replication, and recovery ensures data remains secure and accessible.

One thing I've found helpful with managing databases like oracle and postgresql is to integrate with any web hosting application and apply high availability with integration and cluster active databases.

The tech world evolves rapidly, so I focus on continuous learning. Whether through courses, online communities, or hands-on labs, I’m always sharpening my skills. For example, learning Kubernetes on my own helped me streamline complex application deployments for my team.

Embrace a mindset of continuous learning to keep up with the fast-paced tech world. Engage with online communities, attend webinars, and explore new technologies in lab settings. Your ability to adapt and stay curious is crucial for remaining relevant and effective in an ever-evolving field.

I have seen actually learning more courses and training it is very powerful to improve your careers and learn more experience. I'm a researcher in the AI modeling system and I publish a lot of papers and chapters in AI technology on the intechopen portal

Dans un environnement technologique en constante évolution, l'agilité d'apprentissage est indispensable pour un administrateur système. Il est essentiel de se former en continu, que ce soit via des certifications, des webinaires ou l'expérimentation de nouvelles technologies. Pour ma part, j'ai régulièrement approfondi mes compétences en cloud computing et en conteneurisation (Docker, Kubernetes), ce qui m'a permis de rester à la pointe et d'améliorer la productivité des équipes. Savoir s'adapter rapidement et adopter de nouveaux outils est crucial pour anticiper les changements et assurer la réussite des projets.