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Show HN: Linux sysadmin course, eight years on

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Show HN: Linux sysadmin course, eight years on

#1

Post by snori74 »

Almost eight years ago I launched an online “Linux sysadmin course for newbies” here at HN.

It was a side-project that went well, but never generated enough money to allow me to fully commit to leaving the Day Job. After surviving the Big C, and getting made redundant I thought I might improve and relaunch it commercially – but my doctors are a pessimistic bunch, so it looked like I didn’t have the time.

Instead, I rejigged/relaunched it via a Reddit forum this February as free and open - and have now gathered a team of helpers to ensure that it keeps going each month even after I can’t be involved any longer.

It’s a month-long course which restarts each month, so “Day 1” of September is this coming Monday.

It would be great if you could pass the word on to anyone you know who may be the target market of those who: “...aspire to get Linux-related jobs in industry - junior Linux sysadmin, devops-related work and similar”.

[0] http://www.linuxupskillchallenge.org/

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxupskillchallenge/

[2] http://snori74.blogspot.com/2020/04/health-status.html

Re: Show HN: Linux sysadmin course, eight years on

#4

Post by accidentalrebel »

Seems very interesting. I checked out the site and I want to find out why lessons need to be dished out weekly via Reddit. I'm curious. What is the rationale/history behind this? And why Reddit?

When I learn a new subject I prefer having everything available so I could go through it at my own pace. I understand people learn differently so I wonder if this kind of approach works well for other people who learn differently from me.

Wish this project the best.

Re: Show HN: Linux sysadmin course, eight years on

#6

Post by shrthnd »

accidentalrebel wrote: post #4

Seems very interesting. I checked out the site and I want to find out why lessons need to be dished out weekly via Reddit. I'm curious. What is the rationale/history behind this? And why Reddit? When I learn a new subject I prefer having everything available so I could go through it at my own pace. I understand people learn differently so I wonder if this kind of approach works well for other people who learn differe…

If you visit the main domain there's a link to view the material: https://github.com/snori74/linuxupskillchallenge

Re: Show HN: Linux sysadmin course, eight years on

#7

Post by edoceo »

accidentalrebel wrote: post #4

Seems very interesting. I checked out the site and I want to find out why lessons need to be dished out weekly via Reddit. I'm curious. What is the rationale/history behind this? And why Reddit? When I learn a new subject I prefer having everything available so I could go through it at my own pace. I understand people learn differently so I wonder if this kind of approach works well for other people who learn differe…

I used to teach. Some students can be left alone and learn at good pace, on their own. Others need the regular cadence and guidance. EG: we meet every Monday, next we talks about X.

There are many different learning styles. Your style (mine too) (perhaps autodidact) does terrible in rigid structure, others need it - even for subjects they are enthusiastic about.

Re: Show HN: Linux sysadmin course, eight years on

#8

Post by snori74 »

accidentalrebel wrote: post #4

Seems very interesting. I checked out the site and I want to find out why lessons need to be dished out weekly via Reddit. I'm curious. What is the rationale/history behind this? And why Reddit? When I learn a new subject I prefer having everything available so I could go through it at my own pace. I understand people learn differently so I wonder if this kind of approach works well for other people who learn differe…

Although I say repeatedly that each 'lesson' has about two hours work in it I worry that were lessons available, students will just skim though the whole lot "in one go".

I also believe that 'forcing' students to ssh in daily for a month gets a bit of muscle-memory working, and proves that they have the required stickability. (The initial paid version reported such things back to their employer!)

In fact, all lessons are available via Github, but I try to avoid pointing this out :-)

I really wanted a good discussion forum, and I'm not a great fan of much of the classic forum software. While Reddit gets a good bit of stick for some of it's subreddits, if you pick those you visit well the content can be very good - and the upvoting etc works pretty well imho.

[Edit: added comment on stickability]

Re: Show HN: Linux sysadmin course, eight years on

#9

Post by justusthane »

accidentalrebel wrote: post #4

Seems very interesting. I checked out the site and I want to find out why lessons need to be dished out weekly via Reddit. I'm curious. What is the rationale/history behind this? And why Reddit? When I learn a new subject I prefer having everything available so I could go through it at my own pace. I understand people learn differently so I wonder if this kind of approach works well for other people who learn differe…

He has a blog post[0] where he mentions some of the reasoning for doing it this way. Seems like in part it’s to be able to foster discussion around each lesson.

[0]: http://snori74.blogspot.com/2020/04/linux-upskill-challenge....

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