The experience chicken and egg problem

Someone asked on a mail list for system administrators about how they could gain the experience they needed in order to get a job where they could gain more experience.

Given the cost of computer systems these days and the availability of all of the open source software packages, the one thing that anyone can do to expand their skills and gain job-related experience as a system administrator is to build their own network at home, using cheap, off-the-shelf, computers. [My resume always contained a section describing the six or seven computer systems I have at home at any one time.]

Use those home systems to try different things. Experiment with new software packages. Join one of the many open software projects. Put up your own web site about something you are interested and experiment with new web publication technologies.

I try installing the latest/greatest versions of applications we use at work, such as sendmail and bind, on my home systems first. That way breaking things is not a big issue AND when it comes time to upgrade the work systems, I've already learned [been burned] by the problems that came with that upgrade.

Finally, if you want to learn - teach. It is amazing how much knowledge you gain about a subject when you attempt to explain it to someone else.