Slashdot Mirror
The Future of SysAdmins' Positions
prostoalex writes "With automated upgrade tools and self-updating software, will sysadmins be in such high demand that they enjoy today? Lisa Valentine from NewsFactor provides the answer - and it's a definitive yes. Wireless systems and GPS devices are the new area where sysadmins are expected to have some expertise, although lately companies have been upping their demands for more hands-on experience. This opinion seems to corroborate US Department of Labor forecast on system administrator and computer support specialist employment."
Where sysadmins will always thrive is in the ability to connect people who simply don't have time for all the details involved. It's not The Oldest Profession, but it's going to be the longest running profession someday, methinks.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
ala... this paragraph...:
"Many large organizations silo the systems-administration skill set, explains Phillips, and systems administrators at these companies tend to remain focused on very specific systems-administration skills and job responsibilities."
On a serious note though, I do have a question. The article mentioned that after a few years most college graduates have already achieved sysadmin status, but after that, where do you go from there? The article mentions that the salary tops out at the "mid- to upper-$60,000 range.", and that doesn't sound like a whole lot to me (especially this day in age). Of course there is always becoming a section head, manager, or director... but that often times requires a more downplayed "hand-on" experience as others below you would be doing most of the work. For someone that wants to remain on the technical side of things rather than the business side, where do you go?
Hmmm.
Even with the sysadmin being in India. A grunt will still be required to walk up to the box and reboot it (rarely of course, if it's one of the favored OSes). The Indian admin still can't email himself.
You get an MBA, you move into management and become the CIO/CTO. Happens all the time.
I wish there were a day I didn't have to be the sysadmin at my jobs. Unfortunately I am the default admin because I have the most experience and it's also why I got hired (as a systems developer).
I admin my own machines as well and the primary reason I like OS X over Linux and Windows is the Software Update. I am evaluating migrating my Linux servers running qmail/oracle/tomcat-apache to OS X Server with postfix/sybase/tomcat-apache.
Sysadmins will always be needed because technology doesn't stand still. Ten years ago, a sysadmin was responsible for different systems, different technologies, and different processes. Add in wireless, PDAs, GPS, etc. and you see the point - new tech means new things to learn, new responsibilities, and that much more job security.
Unless unforeseen technologies appear over the horizon that are overly complex, this is only a short term thing. ( notice how most new technologies today are simplistic to the end user )
In time, things become either 'user managed' or 'self managing' ( and cheap enough to throw away when it breaks ) and most of the need of a real admin ( or service tech, programmer, etc ) goes out the window
Sure there will be a few left, but most techies will be in the soup line. Especially the older ones with experience that costs a lot.
Face it, the IT industry is going to pot, if you work in it. If you are user, its booming.. Cheaper stuff, and less expensive support needed..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Somebody's got to be to blame. There seem to be folks in every organization who only exist in case something goes wrong in order to take the beating. If you didn't have a sysadmin, who do you scream at if the e-mail server goes down? Who do you accuse of being inefficient when backups hang up a system for an hour or so? Technology continues to get easier to use, but corporations still need someone with responsibility for that technology.
Once you hit 60 G's taxes start to kill you. After taxes, the difference between 60K and say 90K is not as great as you'd think, especially if you're not great at managing money. Point is if you like being a SysAdmin...DO IT! You won't starve.
The mean US household income which is what your average Joe 6 pack makes is about $42,000 a year. If you make $60,000 a year you are about the mean and median US household incomes. There are a lot of educated people making less.
Evolution or ID?
This topic comes up every so often. I can honestly say my workload hasn't decreased one bit even with easier to manage systems. Expectations continue to increase and new technologies are implemented. Over the last year or two we've seen a huge surge in wireless deployments, as one example.
She must have dealt with the consulting company I just replaced. One consultant told my client that the reason they were having space issues was because of "all those damn Windows updates".
Nevermind that 500MB proxy log on C:. E: only had 15GB free.
So, yes. Natural stupidity will continue to provide opportunities for some of us.
Or even X10. The ISP I worked at for years had a box attached to a phone line that controlled the power going to several machines running unstable software.
You dialed the phone number, then the passcode, then the X10 address of the box you wanted to power-cycle.
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
When was the last time you saw a "labor saving" technology really save labor? It's not that there aren't such things, but, rather, that when true efficiency-boosting technologies come along, no one sits back and says, "Great - - more time to rest." Or, "Great, we can let some people go." Instead, expectations for greater productivity arise. One is expected to accomplish more with the resources at hand. Good companies don't let knowledgable people go. They push them for the greatest productivity they can achieve. I, for one, am not worried.
It's only funny until someone gets hurt. Then, it's hilarious.
is gradual deskilling of system administration with a commensurate fall in pay and status. Which is about right really; today's admin is usually little more than a glorified caretaker or mechanic. Both caretaker and mechanic are respectable and reasonably renumerated jobs, but they aren't on the same tier as the professions and frankly, neither should systems administration be either.
What about offshoring? It's a big concern for others in the tech fields, but doesn't seem to get mentioned that much in sysadmin discussions. Yet, I worked for five months as a sysadmin for a ~10-machine development environment in Toronto, Canada, and never left Austin, Texas. I just had a physical resource I could call there and say, "Go reset this box," or "On Saturday morning, we're going to replace so-and-so ethernet controller." So, I'm not India or Russia, but I did a pretty good job maintaining an environment from a thousand miles away...
Well, there you have it. The sysadmin can indeed work from home (India in this case), the vendor will happily replace non-functioning hardware on-site as needed (as per another post), and power management is a phone call away.
I don't see anything left to debate, really. Unless I've left something out? Maybe language?
Recently, I had a conversation with my boss about my job and the jobs of my peers. He admitted something--technically, even though our systems are so complex, all of our jobs could be outsourced to India. He said this unabashedly, without blinking an eye. "But," he said, "the value and knowledge you have about our industry and knowing how to leverage our systems to generate revenue is worth more to us than shipping your jobs overseas to cut costs."
Yes, many sysadmin positions could be sent to Banaglore at the drop of a hat, but the truth is that in many environments the additional day-to-day knowledge of how a business works will keep jobs around. Like a fellow poster also mentioned, there is a certain degree of laying on hands that some companies will never lose, which will also keep sysadmins around.
--Chag
... if the current state of affairs will keep on.
For the last years anyone at the front line of techsupport, network and system administration has seen how the user "community" gets dumbier and dumbier. Recently we had a very good laugh after one guy bought an Internet account, not having a computer anywhere...
Soom we will see Internet reaching consumer electronics and mobile phones... When this comes up, things will be even worser...
However, if sysadmins will think this is a good prospect for a "new" boom and good salaries... Well, sorry people. Most of the sysadmin mass will be also dumb lusers with shiny suits and mostly empty pockets. Frankly, the wholescale tendency is to turn us into a Paleontogical exhibit. No one will succeed on this, but the "market" environment created by Microsoft will still prevail for years. No matter the policy "sysadmins wouldn't be needed", they will be in place, mostly as janitors, mechanics and tubing rats...
This will keep on until something wakes up everyone... And people die or highly suffer with it...
Then... Well... It is hard to predict what may happen on a "day after"... But maybe we will see better times... Or maybe we will see something much worser...
Until then, there will be a few pockets of Digital Life where some hardskin sysadmins, developers and hackers will keep going on serious stuff...
As a working SyaAdmin, I'm not worried about my job disappearing until the lusers figure out to: 1. Make sure it's plugged up 2. Make sure it's turned on 3. Reboot their Windows computer 4. Quit downloading Spyware/viruses 5. login to the network without locking their account.