5 ms·
Ask HN: Rent a SysAdmin?
My startup's team is 2 developers and a designer and we usually can get anything figured out that we haven't done before.
But we don't have anybody that is a real systems administrator and that is starting to cause some issues.
Is there any service that lets you rent a system administrator for a couple hours?
We could use some advice on a few issues as well as some actual system setup work but don't know where to look.
Any advice?
- cpt1138 15y agoWearing the sysadmin hat has been the hardest part of my startup. I just don't have the smarts or bandwidth to do some of the stuff I know I need. But on the other side I'm super paranoid about security and insider threats. So rent-a-sysadmin would be intriguing but there'd have to be some chicken and egg rating system in place to vet them.
- jpluscplusm 15y agoI suggest you stay away from any of the elance/rentAcoder type sites, even if some of their customers seem to offer the skills you want at a price you find acceptable. I gave them a try a couple of years ago to earn some beer money (I'm a sysadmin), and the rates that people went for were /so/ damn low that I literally couldn't see the point and just negotiated a raise instead :-) I somehow doubt the genuine expertise and experience you'll derive most value from during a couple of hours session /won't/ be found at those low, low rates. Sysadmin are expensive ;-)
- byoung2 15y agoI see that you are based in London. I'm guessing that's why your rates are much higher than the Elance crowd. There you'll find lots of sysadmins in India/Russia with rates from $5-10/hour. There's no way you or I could (or would want to) compete with that (I'm based in Los Angeles, US). I wouldn't doubt their expertise just because of the low rate...it's just that the cost of living is much lower there. That said, wherever you find someone, you would want to do a certain amount of vetting before you give them access to your server and network, and once you invest the time finding someone, you want to keep them around more than a few hours.
- zoowar 15y agoYou are wasting money on a designer. Contract the design work and hire a system admin with broader skills.
- jfricker 15y agoWithout any context about the nature of the start up, the product line and business, this advice is simply nonsense.
- jfricker 15y agoI don't think you want to "rent a sysadmin" (that sounds real low brow to me). Instead look for a contact sysadmin but first make a list of the tasks you want to hand off. If it's a logical grouping you may find that a managed host can take care of you (like SliceHost or DreamHost). If not, then use that as a job posting a la 'Seeking Linux Contractor' and screen carefully. Your best candidate will likely have a couple long term clients they take care of a little room for a new one.
- jfricker 15y agoAlso, plan on a long term relationship. "Rent" sounds like you'll toss the sysadmin away and when new work pops up you'll just fetch another one. Don't do that. Establish a relationship as you may grow into needing a lot of work done.
- lionheart 15y agoAny tips on where to post that kind of a position?
- ewams 15y agoPut contact information in your profile.
- joshkaufman 15y agoMario Danic is a freelance sysadmin, and is quite good: http://vpsbuddy.com/ http://vpsbuddy.com/