This stuff isn't taught per se, you learn it bit by bit as you solve each problem that you face.
Some of it is taught. I learned about HAproxy second-hand, before any problem had to be solved.
I do agree that much of this has to be learned initially through experience, but I also believe much of it can be taught. Teaching it in a classroom wouldn't work, though, as Ops only exists when there's something to operate.
It's my perpetual dilemma: few startups have enough [1] scale to warrant having a senior enough sysadmin to be a mentor, let alone another one or two more junior ones, but large companies are awkward environments for experimentation.
Comments
This stuff isn't taught per se, you learn it bit by bit as you solve each problem that you face.
Some of it is taught. I learned about HAproxy second-hand, before any problem had to be solved.
I do agree that much of this has to be learned initially through experience, but I also believe much of it can be taught. Teaching it in a classroom wouldn't work, though, as Ops only exists when there's something to operate.
It's my perpetual dilemma: few startups have enough [1] scale to warrant having a senior enough sysadmin to be a mentor, let alone another one or two more junior ones, but large companies are awkward environments for experimentation.
I try and dump some bits of wisdom/experience to my blog. Shameless plug: http://blog.maxkalashnikov.com
[1] Even Disqus is borderline in terms of traffic. Moore's law and even its more linear corollary for I/O can take one a long way.