Slashdot Mirror
The Oft Frustrating Job of a Sysadmin
I_Love_Pocky! writes "Sysadmin Co. is a hilarious site built by some sysadmins at an ISP to help them vent their frustrations with dealing with non-tech types. This site is gives a hilarious picture of the daily frustrations of dealing with the inept. I am interested to see if these stories strike a chord with other admins out there."
I really love the one about the sysadmin whose server got slammed by Slashdot and absolutely could NOT figure out how to farm the load, so instead they just put up a page with basically nothing on it. That one's my favorite.
System Administrators are basically doing nothing now. New software packages are rarely installed, usually only upgraded when a new exploit comes out. New rollouts are very rare.If the system is good, then it rarely breaks. The job of a SA is basically go over log files and 'monitor' systems. Trivial things like fighting spam, monitoring and adjusting spam filter rules is now a top concern. All I never hear is SA's whining about spam: IT IS TRIVIAL CRAP. Once the SA starts whining about spam, he's basically saying that he knows he doesn't do shit all day, and makes a big deal out of the one thing that is saving is job. If he spends 5 hours of a day watching a mailog, the boss has to think he's doing something right?
As an IT worker (I hesitate to call you a pro), you produce nothing valuable.
OK, fair enough. Anyone who is full of himself to the point of getting in the way of others doesn't deserve his job. Treating your customers like crap (in IT support, the rest of the company is your customer) should be worth an immediate pink slip.
But I think you are undervaluing your IT staff. Your company would not be able turn a profit without its IT infrastructure any more than it can turn a profit without an engineers, marketing, or accountants.
A company can exist for a couple weeks without R&D, launching new marketing initiatives, or probably even doing their books. But try giving your IT staff a week's vacation and then tell us how your company is doing. Have fun fixing your borked Exchange server and your worm-infested network.
Fuckhead. You want to use the car analogy?
If you put the wrong oil in your car and something happens, then it's my fault? If you want your oil changed, let me do it.
Drive how you like, but if I have to keep it running 24/7, you aren't going to lift the hood.
Better to stay silent, and let people think you're an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubt