Ask HN: How do I learn how to become a good sysadmin?

The opposite approach might also teach you a lot: try to hack your own server (even better with the help of someone who knows a decent amount of hacking). This won't ensure you'll fully secure your server, since you can't easily reach the level of "real" hackers, but will give you a decent understanding of a hacker might approach attacking your system.

I myself are also a "pretend to be" sysadmin. Not hardcore in any way. However I use Docker for encapsulating almost all the software components, basic security (no-password ssh logins etc.), and most importantly: logging.

I'm a sysadmin for 16 years, I have worked in big and small companies and I don't agree with a great part of this post.

I'm not a developer, I have never needed to disassemble or fix programs built by others, never needed to understand kernel subsystems or anything else kernel related (except may be how to replace a broken driver/module). I know nothing of C, I know just the basics of system calls and I've never heard of skb or select() and epoll().

I don't even like developing software, which is the reason I once joined the sysadmin team at the company I worked for and fell in love with this job.

I see how these skills are a nice extra, but I understand that knowing too much also creates the problem of having to work harder and stay more often after hours. And saying no isn't an option because nobody else knows how to handle the problems that may arise.

To me, a good sysadmin knows when to say no and spends the least effort in fixing errors in code. The developers should provide good programs or it doesn't get installed in production. Keep strict boundaries in what you do and don't to prevent being abused by your employer. If you are often the last one to leave because you're doing work that someone else should be doing, or asked to be stand by after hours while being the only sysadmin, step on the brakes before this will eventually burn you out or makes you hate your job (or even hobby).

Also, knowing all of what parent describes + all the 'normal' sysadmin knowledge is (eventually) impossible to keep up and will also take too much of your free time. You will regret this later in life.

I'd suggest to crash servers while trying. :)

I was once asked at an interview to give my three most important rules of sysadmin. This is what I said:

1. Never enter a command if you don't understand what it does.

2. Never make a change on a production system if you don't know how to undo it.

3. Get everything else wrong if you have to, but get the backups right.

I realize this paints with a broad brush but it's a good baseline.

Learning from blogposts is a widespread issue it seems. I see content marketers and growth hackers who have never done a linear regression in their life. How they are "marketing" and what they do day-to-day is beyond me.

If you want to learn something, go read (text)books. Not blog posts. You need core understanding. Nobody can give you that in a blog post. Even if the author actually knows what he is talking about, he is translating his knowledge into practical tips for a particular situation. He is applying his knowledge. You get applied knowledge, not real knowledge. When it comes time for you to do your job, the only things you know how to do are bits and pieces from situations which might or might not be applicable to your situation.

Think of it like raw vs. aggregate data. You can easily memorize by heart what the aggregations of the data are. You can learn mean, quartiles, max, min, sum. But what do you do when it comes time to filter? The job of knowledge workers is to filter data, not to memorize aggregations.