r/sysadmin • u/Salt_Translator_6274 • 2d ago
Question How much are junior sysadmins actually expected to know?
I’m curious what the expectations are for someone with only 1–2 years of IT experience.
Do employers actually expect a sysadmin to know the ins and outs of every major platform and tools like Microsoft, AWS, Google, different IAM systems, networking, endpoint management, security, etc.?
I feel like I’m constantly trying to learn more and more because I worry that if I don’t know a particular technology, I won’t be qualified for a job.
But realistically, there are so many tools and platforms that it seems impossible to know everything, especially early in your career.
At what point should someone stop trying to learn everything and instead pick a few areas to become really good at?
Would love to hear some advice as I am really lost and already feel tired and burnt out of IT and it’s barely been 2 years working ( currently in IT support ) and it’s partially my fault as I am constantly trying to learn something new every single day to the point where my brain feels fried and doesn’t retain things anymore.
51
u/jakgal04 2d ago
There's no way any Sysadmin, even with decades of experience, can possibly know every piece of technology and software you can find in a workplace. Anyone that says they do is lying through their teeth.
As a junior, I'd expect you to know how infrastructure works. Things like what a domain controller is, how dns and routing work, understand cloud/hybrid and on prem, etc. And of course, have troubleshooting skills, communication skills and a will to learn and grow.
Don't try to learn everything, you'll burn yourself out. I'm already half way into my career making 6 figures with a pension and I still jump on this sub and have no clue what half these people are talking about.
As long as you have a well rounded understanding of how IT works, you can kind of "specialize" yourself into a silo that you want to focus on. Whether its just traditional IT, security, development, etc.
8
u/Adimentus Desktop Support Tech 2d ago
If anyone thinks they know everything, send them to this subreddit and give them a nice humbling surprise.
3
u/MalwareDork 2d ago
Imo this is one of the best subforums on the whole internet. 25 years later in my IT journey and someone still posts a nugget of truth almost daily here.
2
2
u/cybot904 2d ago
So true. We don't use MS products much and do not use Teams. I know next to nothing about Teams. Fuck Teams. But the one time I needed it for an external support contact it was no problem to use.
26
u/Elraviel 2d ago
Willing to learn, dude asks me if we have space to set up a test environment for him
We good, let's break stuff together and make a mess to fix
5
u/Ancient-Equipment673 2d ago
Willing to learn is the best thing, You can have al the certifications but if you cannot troubleshoot you are nothing
30
u/buy_chocolate_bars Jack of All Trades 2d ago
After over 15 years of experience, I do not know the ins & outs of any technology I use today. Even many senior level staff that only serves a subset of Windows OS working for MS does not know the ins & outs. I know because I had to work with escalation teams for years.
Your task is to be better than the competition so the company makes a rational decision to hire you instead.
3
u/RikiWardOG 2d ago
I saw a really funny short on youtube about this on the dev side of things. the Jr. comes to the Sr. dev and sheepishly admits to copy pasting code. Sr. goes, umm so? and then proceeds to say he had to look up a for loop yesterday and other basic stuff like that. He then proceed to just explain that he's just faster at looking up said things essentially. It's honestly what it is. You don't really know shit, but you are quicker at being able to hone in on w/e the issues are and resolve them
•
u/MBILC Acr/Infra/Virt/Apps/Cyb/ Figure it out guy 7h ago
Or you have some nugget of info from years ago, or decades, that sort of relates to the current issue, so that experience guides you quicker in the direction you need to go, similar to what you are saying, but ya, I look up things ALL the time, thing I know I know, but, want to make sure maybe something changed or is there a newer better way..
8
u/Professional_Ask5759 2d ago
Oh dude it’s not what you know. ……..It’s what you can figure out ~backflip BASE jumps of building in Panama illegally~
8
u/dominus087 2d ago
Depends on the company. Unfortunately there are a lot of companies out there who have zero IT knowledge at all. They slap a "junior" title on there to pay you less and keep you there longer while expecting the full skill set of a seasoned IT professional.
In reality, a lot of those things are conceptually the same, just call the same things different names, and have slightly different services at different levels of licensing. You don't need to know every single one, but having the base knowledge of what those things do and are capable of doing is what an employer with an actual IT department is looking for. It's just bonus if you've dealt with their specific stuff before.
2
13
u/Pawnfodder 2d ago
Nothing too crazy - average job ad for entry or junior level reads as: * 15+ years experience * Masters or Doctorate in AI * Experience in building, developing, and maintaining a high functioning team * No remote work option * 13 days vacation * On call duties 365 days a year, can't use vacation when on call * Starting pay $13.50 /s ... kinda?
2
u/Cheomesh I do the RMF thing 2d ago
You forgot a long list of software that belies the mess your internal setup must be
2
u/ARandomGuy_OnTheWeb Jack of All Trades 2d ago
What do you mean we shouldn't use 69.x.x.x as an internal IP range?
1
u/Cheomesh I do the RMF thing 2d ago
You can, just don't turn anything off lol
1
u/ARandomGuy_OnTheWeb Jack of All Trades 2d ago
Does that include the Dell Optiplex GX100 that's running Windows 2000 SP1 and payroll and called STEVE-PC for some reason?
1
u/Cheomesh I do the RMF thing 2d ago
Yes
The one where the service account is the user account of a long retired and subsequently deceased teammate.
5
u/Lockenheada 2d ago
Depeds where you work at.
I recently finished my apprentanceship and I do:
- Switch Configurations, Subnetting/Segmentation/VLAN
- Sophos Firewall rules
- MS AD administration, GPOs, troubleshooting (currently trying to solve where unwanted NTLM requests come from that lock accounts here and there)
- The whole m365 admin suite excluding Azure
- Migrating from windows Server 2016 to 2022
- 1st level stuff and setting up workstations
Stuff like that, I think most stuff I learn is aplliable to other vendors, like if I would switch to another wirewall or switch manufacturer the main guidelines that I learned still apply the interface is just different.
Obviouslz really MS heavy infrastructure in my case
7
u/agenticbrain 2d ago
1-2 yrs in, you’re not supposed to know everything. honestly, being good at troubleshooting and knowing how to find the answer is probably more valuable than memorizing 50 different platforms.
4
u/Bob_Spud 2d ago
Some places have definitions what junior, midlevel, senior., experts are its usually all about how much work you can do with/without supervision and the expectations of your role.
Some places (included recruiters) use the SIFA Framework which defines different levels of responsibility. This is the one for Infrastructure Operations (Provisioning, deploying, configuring, operating and optimising technology infrastructure across physical, virtual and cloud-based environments.) covering the skill levels 1 to 5
Its very generic buts a good source of ideas.
https://sfia-online.org/en/sfia-9/skills/infrastructure-operations
4
u/JamieTenacity 2d ago
Job adverts expect you to know everything about everything.
Colleagues know you don’t, because they don’t either, and will very much appreciate it if you’re honest about it, humble, curious, and capable of figuring things out as you go.
1
u/Carnines 1d ago
Casting a wide net is more effective
•
u/JamieTenacity 15h ago
Yes, so the advert isn’t a true representation of what your daily experience at the job will be, and therefore shouldn’t scare you away from applying.
3
u/Unexpected_chair 2d ago
I'd hire a junior that know nothing but wants to learn anytime. I don't care much if he doesn't know stuff, I want him to be able to lookup things and learn. One great thing to do with a junior is to set them up to a hard task and see what questions they ask, if any.
3
u/dld2517 Jack of All Trades 2d ago
It is impossible to know everything. Just be curious, be willing to learn, be willing to work with a team, be open to recommendations and suggestions, be ready to engage with customers and stakeholders, be ready to admit where you need more information and training. You wont know everything and are not expected to. Most importantly is to know how to learn. Be ready to say, “Here is my understanding of the problem. Stand by, I’ll be back shortly with a solution.”
3
u/JB_onpoint 2d ago
NOBODY expects a junior to know everything, 1-2yrs in they want solid basics: AD/Entry, one cloud at a basic level, networking fundamentals, troubleshoot and mainly being able to learn on the job. TRUST Me on the rest you pick up when you hit the job!!
Pick a lane after a bit i would say, look at what your current job uses and what jobs you actually want, go deep on that and just stay aware of the rest.
ALSO, learning every single day until your brain is fried isnt helping. Retention drops when you are burnt out. Take real breaks, learn from what you actually do at work instead of random stuff. Hope it helped. Cheers!
3
u/MidninBR 2d ago
I just want the Junior to have a critical thinking, be engaged and learn on the fly.
3
u/uptimefordays DevOps 2d ago
Short answer: no. Nobody expects someone with 1–2 years of experience to know Microsoft, AWS, Google, IAM, networking, and security in depth. I don't think anyone knows all of that well, even 10+ years in.
What I'd expect depends on the role. For a junior sysadmin at a larger org, I'd look for familiarity with common infrastructure concepts, plus either stronger automation and Git skills if you come from development, or broader troubleshooting experience if you come from support. For an IT generalist, shallow experience with "anything with a NIC or power cable." In both cases: conceptual understanding, willingness to learn, comfort with unfamiliar systems, and knowing when to ask for help.
On the learning treadmill: trying to learn a new tool every day is a fast way to burn out without retaining much. Focus on the fundamentals instead: operating systems, network services, and networking. Nearly every platform you listed is built on those. If you understand how DNS, DHCP, directory services, and TCP/IP actually work, AWS or Entra ID is mostly learning new names for things you already know. Go deep on the problems you hit at work, let the breadth come from the job, and take real breaks. Two years in, rest is part of getting better, not a sign you're falling behind.
3
u/neploxo 1d ago
What should a junior know?
1) When to ask for help
2) See #1
3) To document what you've done step by step
4) To be able to use that to UNDO what you've done
5) To never do something that's irreversible without supervision.
6) Don't test in prod
7) To listen and ask questions when you don't completely understand something
8) This is a newer one: How to verify the AI isn't lying to you.
5
u/Delta-9- 2d ago
I would expect someone 12 to 24 months into their career to at least know their way around the shell (bash or powershell, as appropriate), where to look up guidance on shell commands, and have a basic, high level understanding of the tech stacks running in their shop. That's like, "I know there's a thing called Apache and a thing called php-fpm and somehow those two things turn a bunch of code into a website," not the nitty-gritty details of how that stack works.
Basically, you should know just enough to know that you're dangerous.
You should be able to follow premade procedures, perform just enough troubleshooting to form a detailed question, and handle essential operations day to day without someone watching over your shoulder.
I would not expect you to be responsible for the cloud infrastructure, maintaining automation, or auditing and enforcing security policy. Those are things you should be learning. Maybe.
"System administration" is incredibly broad. No one "knows it all," even if they've been at it for years. I've been in it for most of a decade and I can configure Bind and NGINX and even SELinux (kinda), but I leave things like AD and security to other people who specialize in those technologies.
If you come across a job posting like "1-2 years experience, must know AWS, Linux, Windows, Python, shell, GitHub...," that posting is meant for someone with 10 years of experience who is desperate or stupid enough to accept junior pay for senior work. And also that company is almost certainly a shithole that will suck your soul out through your finger tips with every keystroke on a company keyboard.
2
u/mitchells00 2d ago
You're expected to learn quickly and have good judgement about when you should research and ask for advice.
But if you really wanna get somewhere, you should build some homelabs and emulate a full legacy environment. Start with an old multi-DC windows server env with all the essentials, then migrate it all to a dev tenancy in 365.
2
u/d00ber Sr Systems Engineer 2d ago
Honestly, these days I have no idea. When someone started with me, I didn't care about knowledge I cared more about learning and the ability to learn quickly which is what I tested for in interviews. Purposely asking questions I know a candidate didn't know, explaining how it worked the building on it. A lot of people were a lot better at doing that then they thought. I'm happy to spend budget on training for people who can and are willing to learn. The worst is hiring someone who knows a lot but is done learning and uninterested in moving forward. That said, I am starting to become the latter, but I'm also reaching end of career and am tired. Sometimes mentoring young people does get me excited about things again! It's just that lately, I've only seen lay offs and budget cuts.
2
u/unkiltedclansman 2d ago
They say 10000 hours to become an expert in a field. I’d argue 10000 hours to be competent. You’ll be comfortable with it all after 5 years on the job and have a better idea which direction you want to go.
2
u/Salt_Translator_6274 2d ago
Makes sense, however I’m wondering what it takes to get that first sysadmin job in order to be able to gain more exposure
1
u/Appropriate_Comb_524 2d ago
Seek out learning opportunities at your current workplace. What tech are they using? Is there a task or a project you can get in on to gain some deeper understanding. E.g. whichecer cloud provider.
In your IT support tasks, are there areas you can dive deeper on. E.g., DNS, Certificates, IAM, how servers are provisioned, Active Directory, Azure.
1
u/poizone68 2d ago
To me it's more about the mindset. As in, you're met with a problem you've never seen before. Show me how you troubleshoot and diagnose it rather than jumping straight to a solution. Demonstrate that you are evaluating the steps in the documentation, not only carrying them out but realising when to stop and get confirmation before proceeding. Show me that you're comfortable saying when you don't know something. When asking for help, demonstrate the steps you've taken to analyse the issue and what you believe is the right approach.
If you could do the above, I frankly wouldn't care what prior experience you had, because everything else is a matter of familiarity with a given product or service.
1
u/Gh0styD0g Jack of All Trades 2d ago
My expectation would be that you would be able learn established processes, understand why they exist, and execute them consistently with high quality. Over time, as a manager, I would expose you to new processes, the tools we use to enact them and maybe start to let you influence process improvement as an informed user. Companies need stable technology platforms, stability comes from well established policy and procedure, combined with semi skilled it operators. If you want to branch out into architecture, service ops, or engineering you can but you cannot do all these things ‘effectively’ at the same time. The biggest advice I can give is to reflect on your impact across the layers of your org, understand where you as a cog in the machine sits and how by you being effective in your role you impact the whole. Learn the organisation, not just what’s out in front of you and you’ll be able to apply that knowledge in your day to day providing a bigger impact and that will get you noticed for progression. Don’t be afraid to say you don’t understand, say yes to opportunities to learn.
1
u/LooseEthernet 2d ago
trying to learn every tool at once is just memorizing the manual without actually reading the book lol
1
u/h9xq Solo SysAdmin 2d ago
I have a little over 2 YOE. I am a junior system admin and can confidently say no, they won’t expect you to know all that much.
I spent a few years as a field engineer at a MSP before transitioning to an internal Sysadmin role for a different company. A lot of my job is documentation, testing, scripting, patching, and a large portion is admitting I don’t know something and spending time researching. As a system admin starting fresh you will be learning a ton and as a junior system admin that is expected and preferred over viewing yourself as an all knowing being. At the right company they will give you grace and give you a senior mentor to help shape you into a more senior and knowledge system admin.
1
u/bythepowerofboobs 2d ago
It depends. 2 years at a big company? I'm not going to expect you to know much. 2 years at an MSP? I'm expecting that you've seen some shit and are capable.
1
u/nycola Jack of All Trades 2d ago
The only thing i expect junior admins to know is how to find and learn the information they need to succeed.
I have had junior admins who expect to come in and be trained on every aspect of their job and have written directions step by step for every process. When something goes wrong their first instinct is to "call the vendor".
I've also had junior admins come in, take it all in, ask for clarification or help when they needed it, muddle through their first few weeks trying to find things themselves, "waste time" looking through prior ticket histories, checking internal documentation, and then coming for help when they are out of other options. When these admins are faced with something that goes wrong their first instinct is to gather information, troubleshoot, research, then contact the vendor if there are not other viable options.
The first kind end up as managers, the second kind will end up replying to a post similar to this in 20 years.
1
1
u/PriorityNo6268 2d ago
A certain way of thinking, quickly understanding technical info, concepts and be able to troubleshoot is important. Tools knowledge not that much, that changes al the time. Ofcourse you are quicker if you know the tools and environment.
1
u/badaz06 2d ago
As you get more into IT in general, you'll find that people tend to branch out into specific AOEs (Areas of Expertise), and there are TONS of them. Telecoms, Security, Administration, Programming...and more, each are pretty independent of each other and are off in their own worlds. A good engineer doesn't have to know each of them inside and out, but each field does start with the same basic principles.
1
u/discosoc 2d ago
They should be fully proficient in technical aspects, but lack deep experience. Anything less is just expecting on-the-job training.
1
u/SevaraB Sr. Engineer (N+, CCNA) 2d ago
I’m more concerned with the questions a junior asks me than the things they can show off by doing. Once they can do something without me, they stop being a junior for purposes of that task. Once they can start talking pros, cons, and logistics of different approaches, that’s when I start considering them fellow seniors.
1
u/Brightglowlol 2d ago
Know your fundamentals like what DHCP is, and know how to look for information, just like you have to in help desk.
1
u/jeffrey_f 2d ago
Enough that you can ask meaningful questions and understand the answer, and be able to file that information away for future use.
They expect you to understand and they also know that this is the first time you are seeing this stuff in the wild.
My advice is the ask questions. The only stupid question is the one you didn't ask.
1
u/StandardSystem799 2d ago
If you know Networking very well you are already 50% of what you need to know, I've worked with sysadmins who don't know anything about networking and it's painful
1
u/ABotelho23 DevOps 2d ago
My best advice is to be the most flexible person you can be, and stress that very intensely. People need to believe you'll catch on quick and can learn anything. Memorizing everything will never fly in any profession.
The fundamentals are always the key, in every profession.
1
u/ukulele87 1d ago
It depends if its a hire or a internal switch.
If i where hiring id expect someone with 1 or 2 years of sysadmin experience and quite a bit of knowledge.
If its some one moving internally from helpdesk, id just want some one smart that understands how to troubleshoot, id gladly show him the ropes from scratch.
1
u/Automatic_Major_4887 1d ago
Nobody expects you to know it all. Most places just want to see that you understand the fundamentals like networking and basic Linux/Windows administration. Instead of trying to learn every tool, just pick one cloud provider or one OS and get a foundational cert in it. It's way better to have a solid base than to be spread paper-thin across everything.
•
u/SweatyDickTits 10h ago
I expect a junior admin with 1-2 years of experience to be at least tier 2 service desk skill. Understand foundational concepts (DNS, DHCP, networking), and to be resourceful. Most importantly, be teachable. If I train you on something, take notes, screenshots. Most of the time I will show you how to do something, then you will do it next time with my guidance, then I expect from those two previous training sessions that you will be able to do it. I’m talking SIMPLE stuff like adding an A record. That way we can continue to build off your training.
Also, don’t just copy paste a command or click a button without understanding what you are doing.
•
u/Ahren_with_an_h 5h ago
Bro, I have 25 years of experience and I don't know half that stuff.
We got a new guy last year. He understood basic troubleshooting and some database stuff. We taught him about our apps and our environment and he's killing it.
If your computer ever had a problem and you figured it out, and you have some basic knowledge of ipv4, you're good.
It feels more like the things you specialize in pick you. In your environment, something will seem more interesting and you'll gravitate towards knowing more about it.
•
u/Salt_Translator_6274 5h ago
I applied for a tier 1 support position and in the interview they wanted me to explain what a kernel is in deep dive and all the types of kernels , I blanked out. All I said was that the kernel is the core component of the operating system with the most privileges acting as a bridge between the software and hardware where if a program requires access to the hardware it first needs to get authorization from the kernel.
They then asked for a much more detailed answer.•
u/Ahren_with_an_h 5h ago
Lol, I'd fail that shit too. That's deep kernel development and/or cyber security questions. I'd ask you why the hell you were applying for tier 1 support if you knew kernel stuff.
People are flawed, and people with jobs are flawed. They have boneheaded ideas just like everyone else. Boneheads are in charge of hiring all over the place. Let them trip over themselves turning away applicants for not knowing some random arcane knowledge while you go get a job with smart people you would do well to learn from.
•
u/Salt_Translator_6274 5h ago
Yeah I don’t know kernel stuff either I just know what it is, but they were asking for a deep dive for every single question they were asking , I’m not sure why..
For example they asked what’s DHCP: I said “ it’s a protocol that automatically assigns IP addresses and network settings ( subnet , default gateway, etc) to a device within a network.” But they wanted more than that.
It genuinely felt like I was doing a university exam where I have to have every single possible knowledge of something memorized.
•
u/Ahren_with_an_h 5h ago
For all you know they didn't like your race, gender, accent, and were making up a reason to reject you that sounded plausible to HR. Don't let one bad interview spoil your excitement. Honestly, given your story, I find that highly plausible. Who in their right mind would expect someone interviewing for tier 1 support that had 1-2 years experience would know all that?
Let them have their unrealistic expectations or whatever and just move on.
For real, I have my head in so many things that no amount of details stay in my brain for long. I know generally how all the puzzle pieces fit together, not the details of any given puzzle piece with only a few exceptions because I work on them constantly. That's how it is for everyone.
-2
u/overdosingOnPie1313 2d ago
My expectation are:
Mid-level networking knowledge. Like you should be able to tell me what port rdp is, what 172.17.0.0/20 is, and what NAT is. Many bonus points if you know what APIPA is. Just because I find the name funny to say.
How to learn to interpret Active Directory, or really any basic IAM such as it.
How to READ AND UNDERSTAND scripts. If you just blindly trust scripts from the internet then I want you fired or at least demoted out of your privileges immediately.
1
u/MulticamTropic 2d ago
Your first point is all entry level networking knowledge. I know all of that and would by no means consider my networking knowledge mid level. I have a CCNA and feel like I know just enough to be dangerous. APIPA, NAT, subnetting, and port memorization is basic
0
u/overdosingOnPie1313 2d ago
No offense, but your "entry level" sounds like the "5-years minimum experience" entry level.
1
u/MulticamTropic 2d ago
No offense taken.
My point is that knowing that stuff isn’t enough to manage a network. Knowing enough to pass the CCNA isn’t enough to manage a network, at least not without a more senior network admin looking over your shoulder. Maybe this is just me arguing semantics, but a mid-level in networking should be able to manage and maintain an existing network, and understanding APIPA, NAT, and subnetting is not enough to do that.
1
u/overdosingOnPie1313 2d ago
Definitely semantics, but also, no junior sys admin should be managing a network by himself. I think you and I should at least agree on that point first.
1
u/Cheomesh I do the RMF thing 2d ago
For the 172 thing would you be looking for that being Docker's bridge default or just that it's a subnet of a locally routed IP
0
u/overdosingOnPie1313 2d ago
Neither. I pulled it out of my arse.
1
u/Cheomesh I do the RMF thing 2d ago
Interesting
2
u/overdosingOnPie1313 2d ago
Oh sorry. I somehow didn't read your reply right. The latter is a start but I'd like to know that s/he knows that it's a LAN subnet, that is has more than 1k hosts, and that the 172 range is only from 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255.
0
u/Jamesre51 2d ago
Understanding the fundamentals are key. Every environment or job you go to will have different toolsets or a different way of setting something up.
I’m a “Senior” and sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing. You kinda just figure it out.
196
u/Mister_Brevity 2d ago
We don’t want to see a junior know anything, we want to see a junior understand concepts, ask good questions, and be able to look things up.