Large enterprise organisations are traditionallysiloed from an IT perspective. You have the Server Team, the Network Team, the Storage Team, the Security Team, the Application Team; you get the idea.  There are usually politics involved, where theIT Division resembles a kindergartenwith playground argumentsanddisagreements.

THE GAME IS CHANGING!  With the Software Defined Data Center(SDDC), Hyper-Convergence, the"Goldilocks Zone"and Network Virtualisation, you are seeing therise of the "Super Administrator"-the one person who has theskills that span every silo.  That individual can lay cables, install hardware, configure a router or switch, install a hypervisor, configure directory services, build a VM, configure Windows Server, carve a LUN, zone fiber-channel, configure application firewall rules, manage a hybrid cloud, troubleshoot VDI and present a NAS share.

The SMB version of this person is normally present in small organisations, since they have only one or two people who run the whole shop and out of necessity become the"jack of all trades, master of none".  The trick is to evolve these skills to the Enterprise and Service Provider level by"T-Skilling".  This means developing your knowledge until you are minimally competent in all areas of the SDDC (Cloud, Data Center, Network, Storage and VDI).

So you have to ask yourself:"Do I want to be a one trick pony?" and "How do I break out of my silo?"

There are a number of ways todevelop "T-Skilling":

• Request a transferto another silo within your organisation or change companies to get the technology role you want
• Training-Cisco, VMware, EMC, Hitachi, HP, Microsoft, Red Hat, Nutanix, etc.
• Certification-Cisco (CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, CCDE, CCAr), VMware (VCP, VCAP, VCIX, VCDX), Microsoft, Red Hat, Nutanix, etc.
• Home Lab-you can download and run most of the SDDC at home, withnested hypervisors and evaluation versionsof software.
• Blogging-document your discoveries, placing it in the public domain forces you to beextra vigilant with developing accurate content.

As long as you are prepared tolearn new skills, there is no reason why you cannot be a"Super Administrator".  If youdo not enjoy changeand learning then Information Technology may be thewrong career pathfor you.

Other related blog posts

• Rise of the Super Architect
• Evolution of Storage -What is your Strategy?
• 20 Part VCDX Preparation Series
• Home Lab