What should I learn now to prepare for a career in systems administration?

Do not expect to move directly into a sysadmin role. Many people start in help desk or desktop support and gradually take on more responsibility. Look for volunteer work, school IT opportunities, internships, or part-time technical jobs. Employers will care about whether you can communicate clearly, stay patient with users, document your work, and learn from mistakes just as much as they care about your technical knowledge.

You have plenty of time, so focus on learning fundamentals well rather than collecting every technology at once. Practice professional communication, improve your writing, keep your grades strong, and maintain a small lab where you can experiment safely. A clear project portfolio showing deployments, diagrams, documentation, and troubleshooting notes will be more useful than simply saying you watched videos about Windows Server.

Networking is one of the most important foundations. Learn TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, routing, switching, VLANs, firewalls, VPNs, and basic network troubleshooting. Studying material for Network+ or CCNA can give you structure, even if you do not take the certification immediately. You could also explore one area more deeply, such as security, cloud platforms, databases, or virtualization.

Try building a homelab and use it to practice instead of only watching tutorials. Set up virtual machines, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, file services, backups, monitoring, and a few Linux services. You can also experiment with VLANs, virtualization, containers, and hosting game or utility servers. Document what you build, what breaks, and how you fix it— that gives you something concrete to discuss in interviews.

Certifications can help organize your learning, but they are not a substitute for hands-on experience. Start with a solid networking and operating-systems foundation, then consider an entry-level certification such as CompTIA Network+ or Security+. Cloud certifications can come later once you understand the underlying systems. Most importantly, be able to explain what you actually built and why you made particular design choices.