System Administrator Appreciation Day

[Phantasm66]

Its the 5th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day today.

This is a special event in homage of the many hundreds of thousands of men and women (but mostly geeky men) who do this very difficult and thankless job.

What can you do for your SA today? Well, try to remember that they probably don't support hotmail, your home computer, post-it notes or office chairs.

 

[EvilKernel]

Yep, our job is tough. Happy day to all colleagues out there. I am planning on sending the following list to the whole company on Monday. This list sums up my workday pretty well so I figure why not? I will of course substitute 'Ted' with my real name. I think it will give them an idea of what they put me through:


http://sysadminday.safeweb.be/Time.htm

I'd have to say these are my favorite ones:

-When Ted's eating lunch at his desk or in the lunchroom, walk right in, grab a few of his fries, then spill your guts and expect him to respond immediately. Ted lives to serve, and he's always ready to think about fixing computers, especially yours.

-When the photocopier doesn't work, call Ted. There's electronics in it, so it should be right up his alley.

-Play with all the wires you can find. If you can't find enough, open something up to expose them. After you have finished, and nothing works anymore, put it all back together and call Ted. Deny that you touched anything and that it was working perfectly only five minutes ago. Ted just loves a good mystery. For added effect you can keep looking over his shoulder and ask what each wire is for.

 

[Phantasm66]

Heheh yeah. I've read that one before. I also did that job for a number of years. I don't think its something you should (or even can) do forever, but anyone who wants a lifelong career in computing should do that job for at least 5 years.

In the end, I just kind of got sick of it. Its a job that brings out the best out in some people, and the worst out in others. For every guy that will use that job to learn to be a computer consultant, another guy will spend his days using the fast internet connection to download porn. (Sometimes you get mutants who are both...)

Its a thankless job as well, but I think a lot of important jobs are. But its also a very rewarding job too at times for other reasons, particularly as there is a very broad spectrum of duties in it. The pay is not great, though.