4 ms·

Happy Sysadmin Day

107 points by kia 15y ago

pseudonym 15y ago
To all of the sysadmins that look at server access logs, see requests to "news.ycombinator.com", and, instead of adding a block rule, just smile and nod knowingly: This one's for you.
- cmurdock 15y ago
  If they blocked Hacker News or Reddit at work, I would be one unhappy employee.
  - mseebach 15y ago
    If they blocked Hacker News (or anything else, pretty much) I wouldn't be an employee.
  - pavel_lishin 15y ago
    If they blocked Hacker News or Reddit at work, I would be an employee who sets up an SSH tunnel.
    - cmurdock 15y ago
      SSH tunnels are a quick way to get fired here.
      - pseudonym 15y ago
        That's why I always had my SSH running on port 443.
    - knieveltech 15y ago
      @cmurdock Then I'm glad I don't work there, your company sucks.
      - cmurdock 15y ago
        Wouldn't say it sucks, but it comes with the territory when working for a big multi-national organization.
        knieveltech 15y ago
        Indeed it does. I salute your ability to endure in that kind of environment. I did that bit for several years before finally saying enough is enough. Working for a small shop is a much better fit for me.
__mark 15y ago
Hey sysadmins, stay awesome.
Zakuzaa 15y ago
Raising a toast to the sleepless nights when I tried becoming a Sysadmin and failed beautifully.
ez77 15y ago
'Official' website: http://www.sysadminday.com/ http://www.sysadminday.com/ It may have had something to do with the creation of Sysadmin Day, as it predates the first (2000) edition. From whois: Creation Date: 09-may-2000
lightweb 15y ago
Here's to working 4 days in a row, sleeping behind server racks, bathing in bathroom sinks, and all those bags of potato chips and caffeinated soft drinks!
ez77 15y ago
Hey sysadmins, how did you get there? Are there books, articles, blogs, etc. that helped you significantly? (Frisch's classic comes to mind.) Or is the skill 90% about getting your hands dirty? But then again, how did you go from sandboxed sysadmin to your first real, critical job? Today is your day. Please write away!
- jrussbowman 15y ago
  Learn to hack on the OS of your choice. Make sure it's fun to you first. Next, get a job as helpdesk. Go through the pain of being the first person people talk to when stuff it broke. Try to fix it. Always try to fix it before you escalate. Preferably you get this job a mid-size company where you can have the opportunity to get to know the staff in general. Single office, walk around it once a day just saying hi to everyone. Eventually they'll start to wait for you to make your rounds to get help. You're building relationships. Get to know the maintenance and security guys in your building. These people need to be your friend. Your systems don't run without power, and you need to be able to get to consoles. Watch for and take opportunities to get into a sysadmin position. Now, working on the trade skill of being lazy. Every task you do, think about how you can automate it. That's one of the real arts to being a sysadmin, if you have a lot of work that keeps you busy, how are you going to have time to respond to problems. By taking this route though, you've built up one of the 4 skills I think you need to be a good sysadmin. People skills. Remember, by the time someone has to talk to you they've already had to deal with at least one other person who could not fix their problem. The rest of the skills you get from experience as a sysadmin. Scripting, documenting, creating DR scenarios and such... it's a never ending learning opportunity. If you've learned all there is to learn where you're at, then it's time to move on, unless you just really like it there. As often as not the latter is the case and that's not a bad thing as long as it pays the bills. The one thing I always tell people who ask me to explain being a sysadmin to them is this. It's a service oriented position. The employees are your customers. The business is your customer. Your boss is your customer. You will hit a point where you think there is a technical answer to everything and you know better than them. You don't. It's not your job to make technology changes to change everything and make it easier. It's your job to implement and maintain what the business users feel they need to use to get their job done. Their positions make money for the organization you work for, your department is nothing but cost. Remember that and you can save yourself a lot of frustration. Oh... and go home and build yourself a nice home network. This is a job where you take mental tasks home with you, having a place to play is helpful. Also helpful for job interviews.
doron 15y ago
For the sense of duty that keeps all of it,ON. http://xkcd.com/705/ http://xkcd.com/705/
zwieback 15y ago
Sadly all of our sysadmins have been moved off site and across the country (actually, most of them decided not to move to Texas and quit instead). I'm thinking of them today but don't ever meet them or know what they look like.
xradionut 15y ago
I thanked the sysadmin crew at the office yesterday and took today off. :) Did the full-bore admin for 10 years before I got burned out and shifted to development. Still am part of the informal team that assist with various scripting, monitoring, etc... Work wants another DBA, so I may have to buy some more caffeine and lube to gain the bigger check.
zemanel 15y ago
Happy Sysadmin Day. p.s.: stop reading our mail :)

107 points by kia 15y ago

To all of the sysadmins that look at server access logs, see requests to "news.ycombinator.com", and, instead of adding a block rule, just smile and nod knowingly: This one's for you.

cmurdock 15y ago
If they blocked Hacker News or Reddit at work, I would be one unhappy employee.
- mseebach 15y ago
  If they blocked Hacker News (or anything else, pretty much) I wouldn't be an employee.
- pavel_lishin 15y ago
  If they blocked Hacker News or Reddit at work, I would be an employee who sets up an SSH tunnel.
  - cmurdock 15y ago
    SSH tunnels are a quick way to get fired here.
    - pseudonym 15y ago
      That's why I always had my SSH running on port 443.
  - knieveltech 15y ago
    @cmurdock Then I'm glad I don't work there, your company sucks.
    - cmurdock 15y ago
      Wouldn't say it sucks, but it comes with the territory when working for a big multi-national organization.
      - knieveltech 15y ago
        Indeed it does. I salute your ability to endure in that kind of environment. I did that bit for several years before finally saying enough is enough. Working for a small shop is a much better fit for me.

__mark 15y ago

Hey sysadmins, stay awesome.

Zakuzaa 15y ago

Raising a toast to the sleepless nights when I tried becoming a Sysadmin and failed beautifully.

ez77 15y ago

'Official' website: http://www.sysadminday.com/ http://www.sysadminday.com/ It may have had something to do with the creation of Sysadmin Day, as it predates the first (2000) edition. From whois: Creation Date: 09-may-2000

lightweb 15y ago

Here's to working 4 days in a row, sleeping behind server racks, bathing in bathroom sinks, and all those bags of potato chips and caffeinated soft drinks!

ez77 15y ago

Hey sysadmins, how did you get there? Are there books, articles, blogs, etc. that helped you significantly? (Frisch's classic comes to mind.) Or is the skill 90% about getting your hands dirty? But then again, how did you go from sandboxed sysadmin to your first real, critical job? Today is your day. Please write away!

jrussbowman 15y ago
Learn to hack on the OS of your choice. Make sure it's fun to you first. Next, get a job as helpdesk. Go through the pain of being the first person people talk to when stuff it broke. Try to fix it. Always try to fix it before you escalate. Preferably you get this job a mid-size company where you can have the opportunity to get to know the staff in general. Single office, walk around it once a day just saying hi to everyone. Eventually they'll start to wait for you to make your rounds to get help. You're building relationships. Get to know the maintenance and security guys in your building. These people need to be your friend. Your systems don't run without power, and you need to be able to get to consoles. Watch for and take opportunities to get into a sysadmin position. Now, working on the trade skill of being lazy. Every task you do, think about how you can automate it. That's one of the real arts to being a sysadmin, if you have a lot of work that keeps you busy, how are you going to have time to respond to problems. By taking this route though, you've built up one of the 4 skills I think you need to be a good sysadmin. People skills. Remember, by the time someone has to talk to you they've already had to deal with at least one other person who could not fix their problem. The rest of the skills you get from experience as a sysadmin. Scripting, documenting, creating DR scenarios and such... it's a never ending learning opportunity. If you've learned all there is to learn where you're at, then it's time to move on, unless you just really like it there. As often as not the latter is the case and that's not a bad thing as long as it pays the bills. The one thing I always tell people who ask me to explain being a sysadmin to them is this. It's a service oriented position. The employees are your customers. The business is your customer. Your boss is your customer. You will hit a point where you think there is a technical answer to everything and you know better than them. You don't. It's not your job to make technology changes to change everything and make it easier. It's your job to implement and maintain what the business users feel they need to use to get their job done. Their positions make money for the organization you work for, your department is nothing but cost. Remember that and you can save yourself a lot of frustration. Oh... and go home and build yourself a nice home network. This is a job where you take mental tasks home with you, having a place to play is helpful. Also helpful for job interviews.

doron 15y ago

For the sense of duty that keeps all of it,ON. http://xkcd.com/705/ http://xkcd.com/705/

zwieback 15y ago

Sadly all of our sysadmins have been moved off site and across the country (actually, most of them decided not to move to Texas and quit instead). I'm thinking of them today but don't ever meet them or know what they look like.

xradionut 15y ago

I thanked the sysadmin crew at the office yesterday and took today off. :) Did the full-bore admin for 10 years before I got burned out and shifted to development. Still am part of the informal team that assist with various scripting, monitoring, etc... Work wants another DBA, so I may have to buy some more caffeine and lube to gain the bigger check.

zemanel 15y ago

Happy Sysadmin Day. p.s.: stop reading our mail :)