1.1 Linux is Everywhere
Hello and welcome to NDG Linux Essentials!
Linux is everywhere; Linux jobs are everywhere. There is a demand for Linux skills in just about every industry and job category on the planet, and not enough Linux talent to meet this growing demand. It’s also fun and rewarding to work with something that’s so much a part of our modern lives yet which so few people understand.
If someone says they have Linux experience, it might refer to configuring systems, running web servers, or any number of other services and programs that operate on top of Linux. Over time, Linux administration has evolved to encompass just about every task that a modern business, educational institution or government organization might use in their daily operations.
The journey of learning you are beginning today has no ending point. It can take you in a myriad of different directions, from cybersecurity to application and game development, system administration, networking, big data, and artificial intelligence; all of these fields are rooted in Linux.
Every time you execute a search on the internet, watch a video on your phone or order something online, that’s likely Linux at work. It epitomizes a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, a vast undertaking, done voluntarily, by some of the smartest people on the planet.
While your journey will be ongoing, be comforted that you are learning a set of technologies, commands, and methods that have stood the test of time. Linux utilizes and expands upon many of the commands and ways of accomplishing computing that UNIX began, with a rate of change per year that’s very manageable. Now, some 30+ years on, many of those learned commands are still active and used every day by sysadmins, devops, and architects. Linux is a revolution of evolution, allowing you to learn the majority once and keep up with the small percentage of changes in a continual learning process.