How do you define IT and Operations?
Through various conversations over the years in this sub I have seen a lot of opinions about what exactly IT and Operations is, and specifically what a Sys Admin is. To me there are no hard definitions of any job in tech. For example a Sys Admin at one job could be level 2 help desk type work, plus some minor server admin duties. Another job might give the job title Sys Admin to someone who is doing full DevOps type work. So, here is some interesting data around tech and the tech industry.
Stack Overflow does a yearly survey of all tech workers around the world, the survey of course is optional and requires participation, but it has consistently over the past 5+ years had very similar trends. System Administrators in the US make up around [11.6%](https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#developer-profile-developer-type-united-states-unweighted) of people that submitted data to the survey (note this is US based data, not global). The [average salary](https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#salary) of those that participated in the survey with the job title of System Administrator is $110k annually in the USA.
Python, bash, PowerShell, and SQL [made it in the top 10](https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#most-popular-technologies) of most popular technologies that tech workers use. Python and Go both made [top 5](https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2020#technology-most-loved-dreaded-and-wanted-languages-loved) for most loved and most wanted languages by tech professionals and employers. A lot of Ops teams use these languages to build tools and integration, not just developers. In my opinion these are things you should learn.
According to a CompTIA report, tech is nearly a [$2 Trillion](https://www.cyberstates.org/) industry in the USA. Now, not every Org that has IT is a tech company, but most IT/Ops shops will use tech built by the $2 trillion dollar tech industry, so at some level most tech workers are connected to this ecosystem/economy.
So, now my personal opinion. To reiterate, this is my opinion and is anecdotal based off my personal experience, so disagree if you like you are entitled to do so.
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* Learning CS 101 will highly benefit you as an IT/Ops professional * These skills lead into more opportunity - dev, security, data jobs, DevOps, etc * Diversifying your skillset is important, you should try to always learn new things * No one is born with any of this knowledge and all knowledge is gained over time. Meaning you will get out of it what you put into it. It is really a choice, and you can choose to expand or not. * Technology changes fast, and it changes slow. There will always be jobs managing legacy tech for Orgs who cannot adapt or modernize. Other Orgs do change fast and modernize every chance they get. * Just because you do something a certain way, doesn't mean the rest of the planet does it that way. Keep an open mind and be willing to accept you can and will be wrong. * The new currency Orgs want is based around skills and experience. Orgs also have different wants on job reqs, so not every Sys Admin job will be AD, WSUS, GPO and Windows Imaging. Don't assume what you are doing is anywhere near a standard, because most likely it is not. * Automation through code is a must, you need to invest in this. * The Cloud is not the future, the cloud is the present, and is a multi billion dollar industry * IT/Ops can consist of developers, data engineers, support IT, engineering IT, DevOps, app owners and integrators, sys admins, help desk, management, architects, and basically any combination of tech workers your Org wants. There are no rules of what IT/Ops is or how it is defined - my opinion.
In the end, it is a personal choice. Orgs will not wait for you or make exceptions for you. This is not meant to sound harsh, but more of if you want to move up and get into better jobs you won't be handed that opportunity typically. Professional Networking helps a ton in this regard and sometimes helps you get those opportunities more easily. So, there are always exceptions to all the rules.
If an Org wants to use developer, DevOps, automation, and so forth in place of the classic Sys Admin roles, they will. In fact, some are already doing this, and they are doing it at scale. Of course with [Diffusion of Innovation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations) it is a process and it takes time for all Orgs to catch up.
So, what do you all think IT/Ops and Sys Admin jobs mean?