Ask HN: Am I in a dead-end job?

I used to think I was doing a much reputed job. But today I'd my reality coming. I'm just a IT helpdesk. All I do is to view logs, write some sql, write some linux commands, analyze what the logs are telling and find the fix and either fix it myself or send it to respective department(eg DBA, developer etc) to fix it. Also, we test softwares, find the bug be it product fault or application fault and contact developer to fix it by telling them how to fix. Sometimes, we deploy new version updates to Linux servers.

There is no bash scripting, python automation, ansible automation or anything involved at all. I suddenly feel like I'm doing the job that is the "lowest hanging fruit".

But the reality is portrayed differently in our office. We're topmost of hierarchy. Developers come to our office floor to discuss with us instead of us going there. We handle sensitive data and are the most information-vulnerable department overall. The current company technology chief is from our department.

And even the salary, I don't think it's too low. It's standard with developers. For example: Developers with 6 months experience make around say 600 USD in X company, then our helpdesk is earning 550 USD in same X company(location isn't USA obviously but some 3rd world).

I'm not concerned if I'm wasting my time because I started this job knowing nothing(I got lucky as I knew someone who knew someone :D ) and now I've learnt a lot. Be it Linux, SQL, NGINX servers, some bash scripting.

I've bought these courses on udemy as well: - Docker by zeal vora - Kubernetes by zeal vora - Linux performance monitoring commands course by Shikhar Verma - Linux security and hardening by Imran Afzal - Git and Github by Bogdan Staschuk - Bash scripting by ralph jensen

My concern is that we're not using anything of these advanced skills extensively in my job. Not even linux shell scripting that properly. We need everything a bit, but we don't need in that depth. So, I'm scared if this is a dead end job that is leading me nowhere?

This thought come to my mind because internet said that a linuxadmin who doesn't program is a dead-end job and has no future. Programming could help us if we changed the way we worked but the thing is we're not doing it(nobody is going to be convinced at this point as most have already spent 5-6 years in this company as a IT helpdesk). We could change our work from IT helpdesk to something like DevOps , but we've a separate team for DevOps so that's not going to happen. I really don't know what our current DevOps team do as most of the stuffs are handled by Helpdesk.

Do you think what I do is dead-end? Are we the lowest hanging fruit?

Can you guide me towards a proper roadmap of certifications to become a proper career person?

These are the certs in my mind(These seem valuable)

- Red Hat Certified System Administrator - Certified Kubernetes Administrator - Comptia sec+, Net+ (for being vendor neutral, if there is any certifications for TCP IP protocols, do tell me) - OSCP - AWS certified solutions Associate

These are on my hitlist. I've no idea where they'll lead me(that's why I'm here)...Please guide.