Thanks to the fine folks at LinuxAcademy for having a Black Friday sale, I bought a year's subscription and have started a path towards the Certified Systems Engineer tests. I can probably take the systems administrator test cold and pass, but prepping for the certification will help me fill in the holes on the tasks and skills I rarely use, but validate the stuff I have to do all the time. I feel like I am giving all my spare cash to testing and prep companies, but I think it will be worth it, if for no other reason than to continue to be a life long learner, rather than just binge watching video content all day.

My goal is to take either the AWS DevOps Engineer Professional or the LPIC-101 / 102 by the end of December. I am also working on the following courses

• AWS Specialty Networking (LinuxAcademy)
• LPIC-101/102 & 201/202 (LinuxAcademy)
• Node.js (Udemy)
• Python (Udemy)

I'm not yet certain if getting all seven AWS certifications is necessary. The Big Data cert is an area where I haven't spent any time, so it may be the most challenging to get some practical experience. Not sure where it might fit in education at my current level.

I'm still trying to decide if it will be worthwhile to invest in a master's degree. I didn't finish my master's in instructional technology, and it doesn't make sense to go back to finish it as I will not be doing any classroom teaching. There is an online program at Georgia Tech that looks interesting. Let's see if the certifications get me anywhere before I start sinking serious money into an advanced degree. Onward and upwards!