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Life in the Trenches: a Sysadmin Speaks

Posted by michael on from the they-can-speak? dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "A senior systems administrator at a big ISP in Australia offers a no-nonsense view about his line of work, the pros and the cons, ths ups and the downs."

4 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Crap... by portwojc · · Score: 5, Funny

    > Any sysadmin that has to log into a system while on holiday in *India* is a bad one

    I wouldn't say that. He probably missed the machines...

  2. Re:problem solving skills? by bitflip · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't see "hands" as a requirement for being a sys admin, mentioned anywhere in the article.

    I think hands are a must for the sys admin job, especially if you don't want to be a Jr. Sys Admin and perform backups (with your teeth!) all your life.

    I worked for a relatively large institution, in the capacity of a Sys Admin, and I know for a fact that you need some serious hands.

  3. Profound.... by kien · · Score: 5, Funny
    My favorite bit from the interview:
    "I have noticed that until the Internet became popular in the mid-90s it was social death to admit to any interest in computers, and it was certainly not acceptable to talk about them at parties. That's changed now. It's still considered "geeky" but it's not the unforgivable social crime that it once was. You still have to pretend not to know much about computers, but these days it's so you don't waste the entire party solving someone's computer problems for them."

    Ye gods, how true! :)

    --K.
    --
    Sig: Bad people happen. Try to avoid being one of them.
  4. Re:Crap... by odaiwai · · Score: 5, Funny

    He could just have been indulging in a little office politics:

    From: Sysadmin
    To: Management
    Subject: Everything's OK!
    Hi,

    I just logged in from sunny Goa here to check up on things. Everything's going ok! My well trained junior admins are keeping everything ship-shape.

    Must go back to the beach now.

    See you in two weeks!
    regards,
    BOFH