Drowning in repeat work
Learn to automate the jobs you do over and over — scripting that holds up, config management that won't bite back, and runbooks a tired colleague can follow.
8–10
people per group
A small Edinburgh team, teaching since 2014
Give your sysadmins skills that stick
We run warm, small-group training for system administrators — automation, incident response, access reviews. No lecture halls. No jargon for its own sake. Just the stuff that makes Monday easier.
Calls are a friendly 20 minutes. We'll be honest if we're not the right fit.
2014
running courses since
380+
admins we've taught
4.9/5
average course rating
9 in 10
would book us again
What we help with
Courses grouped by the situation you're actually in — not by abstract modules. Mix and match, or let us suggest an order.
Access is a bit of a mess
The quiet risk nobody has time for.
- ● Running a calm access review
- ● Finding the accounts nobody closed
- ● A habit your team will actually keep
On-call is wearing people out
Tabletop drills from real outages (names removed). Your team practises running the call, escalating without panic, and writing a retro people actually read. We can't make 3am fun — we can make it calmer.
Flying a bit blind
Monitoring that earns its keep — dashboards that mean something and alerts that don't cry wolf.
One honest note: we don't do single-vendor exam cramming. If a product certificate is the whole goal, a specialist provider will suit you better — and we'll happily point you to one.
The people teaching you
Small team, all of us still hands-on in ops somewhere. You'll learn from someone who's had the bad night you're trying to avoid.
AM
Aileen Munro
Founder & lead trainer
Ran ops for a Scottish fintech for nine years. Started Thistle & Birch because the training she sat through was dire. Still carries a pager one week a month.
DK
Dev Kapoor
Automation & tooling
Loves a tidy script. Teaches the automation track and is unreasonably cheerful about config management.
RF
Rhona Fraser
Incident & on-call
Spent a decade on-call for a hosting provider. Runs the incident drills. Blunt, kind, very good in a crisis.
What folks said after
Sent two of my team up to Edinburgh for the automation course. They came back and halved our patch window. Dev's a great teacher — patient, no showing off.
IT Manager, Clyde Valley Housing
Honestly thought it'd be another box-ticking course. The incident drill in week two completely changed how we handle call-outs. Rhona doesn't let you off easy, in the best way.
Systems Administrator, Tay Analytics
Small groups make all the difference. You can actually ask the daft question. The access-review session alone was worth the trip — we closed six dormant accounts the next week.
Infrastructure Lead, Brecon Mutual
Not sure which course fits?
That's exactly what the free call is for. Twenty minutes, a proper chat, an honest recommendation — even if it isn't us.
Book a free advisor callGood questions
Where do the courses run?+
In person at our Edinburgh space, and remotely for teams across the UK. Plenty of clients mix the two — a day on-site to kick off, the rest online.
How big are the groups?+
Eight to ten, usually. We keep them small on purpose — it's the whole point. Bigger than twelve and the hands-on bits get thin, so we'd suggest splitting.
How does pricing and VAT work?+
We quote per course after the advisor call, so it fits your group and goals — no surprise extras. Prices exclude VAT, which we add at the prevailing UK rate. Invoices are itemised for L&D budgets.
Is this right for a complete beginner?+
Mostly it assumes you already administer systems day to day. A newer admin can join and will get a lot from it, but some sessions move at a fair clip.
Do you do certification prep?+
No. We teach durable operations skills rather than coaching to one vendor's exam. If that's your only aim, we'll recommend a specialist who does.
Prefer to browse first?
Get our free learning-path guide — the courses, what order they make sense in, and what your team will walk away able to do. Straight to your inbox.
Book a free advisor call
Tell us a little about your team and we'll find a time for a friendly 20-minute call. We'll suggest a course order — or point you elsewhere if that's the honest answer.
- 0131 510 6382
- hello@thistlebirch.co.uk
- 14 Dublin Street
Edinburgh EH1 3PG
Office hours: Mon–Fri, 09:00–17:30 GMT