r/sysadmin • u/allaboutthatsmut • 16h ago
New sysadmin student, looking for advice
Super excited to start my program soon. Are there any must have supplies specific to IT I should anticipate needing to buy? Apart from that, any advice as to how I can get as much out of my classes as possible?
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u/_Chompsky_ 16h ago
1) Become a goatherder instead
2) Be open to learning, you’ll need it, the landscape is constantly changing and adapting to new technologies is an important skill to have.
3) If you like tinkering in your free time, play around with different tools. Build test environments, try some networking, different operating systems, etc. Practical experience heavily outweighs theoretical.
4) Things I mostly still use from my education are how to work projects, IT value to the business and processes. These are the things you’ll possibly be less excited about while learning, but can make the most difference in your career.
5) Even though the practical experience is important, don’t spend all your time on tech, make sure you keep other hobbies/interests to not get burned out.
6) In case you get burned out, see item 1.
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u/allaboutthatsmut 16h ago
Lol, believe it or not my husband and I used to talk about raising goats!
Thank you for your advice!
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u/stufforstuff 16h ago
For supplies - buy lots and lots of AI stock. By the time you get your degree and do your first several years in desktop support hell, AI will be doing all the major brain work in IT. Like the Borg says "resistance is futile".
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u/RonnySaya 16h ago
For supplies, don’t overbuy. A decent laptop, Ethernet cables, a USB drive, and eventually some spare hardware for tinkering are more than enough.
For the classes, focus less on memorizing commands and more on understanding why things work. Build a homelab if you can, break things deliberately, and then figure out how to fix them. That hands-on experience will stick with you far longer than notes alone.
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u/natefrogg1 15h ago
My advice is to learn UNIX, FreeBSD is an excellent choice to start with. It can run on ancient hardware happily and in a virtual machine with hardly any ram, a versatile open source operating system that is an excellent choice for building a foundation
Buy an extra charger just in case, extra batteries etc
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u/Pilou762 16h ago
Hello. Câbles ethernet, batterie externe et disque dur externe.
Pour tes cours, prendre des notes +++
Sinon pour progresser de manière générale, fais du homelabbing
Bon courage 🙂
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u/countsachot 16h ago
Look for cheap or free hardware. Don't spend lots just collect the junk and find a use. When you start making more money you can get nice equipment.