I have been an IT sysadmin or data center admin or sysadmin+sysadmin manager for almost 30 years. I have worked at small places and huge campuses... I will thro

I have been an IT sysadmin or data center admin or sysadmin+sysadmin manager for almost 30 years. I have worked at small places and huge campuses... I will throw my $0.02 in, which may not be worth 1-bit. You said: > my background is with information security and it's going to be a big challenge for me because it's my first job. I see a lot of good advice for people who kinda-sorta know what they are doing. You did not say if this was a linux-based job or a windows-based job. This makes a small difference. If this was a windows-only shop, my advice would change slightly (e.g. Do you understand windows automated deployment with a system like SCCM or whatever you have in-house? Do you know powershell? From your comment, I think the answer is "no".) If this was a linux-only shop, again my advice would change (Do you know how to write any code in any language? From your comment, again, I think the answer is "no".) You say you are confused about how to manage everything, I am assuming you do not mean "I have a huge pile of IT inventory" and what you mean is "I have 200+ different pieces of software/applications running, how to keep track of all of them, their status, upgrades, needs, etc." Every sysadmin I ever worked with that was worth their weight was at one time a programmer, CS major or CS graduate. I do not know if you have the time to learn programming in this position, so I would ask the following question: Is it your desire to be a sysadmin as a career or do you want to do Info Sec as a career? If you want to be a sysadmin, you need to learn some programming. Pick something that fits in with what kind of shop you are in (win/linux/mixed). If you do not want to be a sysadmin, figure out only how to keep the ship afloat, and start looking for an InfoSec job. You will eventually dislike the sysadmin position. It takes a special kind of person to automate everything they do, and build things only to tear them apart later (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167268108000127 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01672...). Most people in here have given great advice, but IMHO I am not sure if it fits in with your skill level. I do not mean any insult, but I knew InfoSec people who were expert sysadmins, and others who knew nothing about the job.