Introduction

isaimontes25

Hello everyone,
My name is Isai. I am 31 and have always been interested in Linux, but have never used the OS. Was finally able to download OS and boot into an old laptop. I have a giant learning curve but eager to learn.
I am a GIS Specialist and I'm looking for a new career path. Decided to take this course and see how it goes. I'm looking at either cybersecurity or system administration. If anyone can help guide with roadmaps, I would gladly appreciate it.

KevinCSmallwood

Hi, Isai. With either Systems Administration or Cybersecurity, there are lots of paths to take because there can be a lot of specialization once you have mastered the common foundations. Of course, start with this course and feel comfortable using Linux on an everyday basis. In this course, you will learn things that will help you with either Linux Systems Administration or Cybersecurity. There are courses that The Linux Foundation has to further your studies with Linux Systems Administration. They are both Instructor led or self-paced (like this one). Instructor led courses do cost more, but you get the course concentrated into four days. Some learners do well in that environment. Other learners need to spread out their learning and have the discipline to stick with a self-paced coursed. I don't want to come across as a commercial for The Linux Foundation (I am a contract Instructor for The Linux Foundation), but you can find out about more training at: https://training.linuxfoundation.org/. The course I am referring to for Linux Systems Administration is either LFS307 (Instructor led) or LFS207 (self-paced). I would suggest this course even if your focus was on Cybersecurity since there are things you should know in this course. After this course, you may want to specialize with Cloud Computing, for example using Kubernetes (K8). Again, there are courses for that. You may want to consider one of the IT Professional Programs (https://training.linuxfoundation.org/itprofessionalprogram-catalog/) that are available. This gives you access to several courses (including LFS207) over one year. All those courses are self-paced, but you do have access to Instructor "office hours" to ask technical questions if there are things that are not clear. And, of course, forums like this one to have discussions/questions with other students in the program. For Cybersecurity, you may want to look into specific training for Cybersecurity. I've found that SANS (https://www.sans.org/) has some really good courses, but there are other organizations that offer good Cybersecurity courses; a search-engine search should yield some choices. With either Linux Systems Administration or Cybersecurity, there are lots of opportunities to specialize as your career progresses. You can start out with a general knowledge and after a few years start drilling down into areas that interest you. The good news is that your journey to learning Linux begins; the bad news is that if you want, the journey may never end. I've been involved with UNIX and now Linux since 1980 and still have things to learn! Good luck!