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A webcomic that started back when mid-sized US/Canadian towns really did have one-stop ISPs that employed both experienced sysadmins, the new web designers doin

A webcomic that started back when mid-sized US/Canadian towns really did have one-stop ISPs that employed both experienced sysadmins, the new web designers doing sites for local businesses, and students just getting started in IT - and were places where all of the above could actually advance or at least enjoy their careers, not just languish as call center drones. I was lucky enough to spend a couple of summers in high school then after my freshman year of college working at a similar outfit in my hometown. It had about 1500 subscribers paying about $20-30/mo for dialup around 1997-99. Anyway, that’s where I was introduced to User Friendly, and we’d laugh together over the funnier ones. Go to “Storylines” to find the ones you remember: https://web.archive.org/web/20220225091648/http://www.userfriendly.org/archivist/gallery/index.html https://web.archive.org/web/20220225091648/http://www.userfr...

kstrauser 5y ago
I could've written every word of this. That launched a pretty fun career for me.
xattt 5y ago
In the mid-90s, Toronto used to have two(!) free computer-centric newspapers. One of those papers used to reprint these comics, but can’t remember which one. I still remember reading one of the news blurbs in one issue that Linux 2.4.8 was out of beta. This was such a bizarre way to get updates about Linux.
dmd 5y ago
I started my career, kinda, as an unpaid admin (I was 14) for Panix.com, one of the oldest ISPs anywhere. Coincidentally, my wife started hers at Software Tool & Die / The World - the actual first ISP!
FireBeyond 5y ago
Yup. I remember having issues as a teenager getting ISP service in Australia in the 90s. I hopped on a train and a bus to their office, handed over an envelope with a few months payments in cash, and they walked me back to a rack, jumped on a Linux console and 'adduser'ed me.
bloqs 5y ago
Are there any businesses that are like this now? I'm based in europe and this sounds like the ideal environment for me
- kuschku 5y ago
  TNG/ennit in Kiel seems to be the closest example I know of, but even they're quite a bit larger (with all the bureaucracy that comes with that).
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  Hosting providers such as OVH, Hetzner, etc still have old-school sysadmin work. ISPs are hit & miss. If you can get into an early-stage (W?)ISP you will get interesting work, but avoid the big established ones like the plague - there it's all about outsourcing to the lowest bidder and providing the lowest level of service they can legally get away with.

kstrauser 5y ago

I could've written every word of this. That launched a pretty fun career for me.

xattt 5y ago

In the mid-90s, Toronto used to have two(!) free computer-centric newspapers. One of those papers used to reprint these comics, but can’t remember which one. I still remember reading one of the news blurbs in one issue that Linux 2.4.8 was out of beta. This was such a bizarre way to get updates about Linux.

dmd 5y ago

I started my career, kinda, as an unpaid admin (I was 14) for Panix.com, one of the oldest ISPs anywhere. Coincidentally, my wife started hers at Software Tool & Die / The World - the actual first ISP!

FireBeyond 5y ago

Yup. I remember having issues as a teenager getting ISP service in Australia in the 90s. I hopped on a train and a bus to their office, handed over an envelope with a few months payments in cash, and they walked me back to a rack, jumped on a Linux console and 'adduser'ed me.

bloqs 5y ago

Are there any businesses that are like this now? I'm based in europe and this sounds like the ideal environment for me

kuschku 5y ago
TNG/ennit in Kiel seems to be the closest example I know of, but even they're quite a bit larger (with all the bureaucracy that comes with that).
Nextgrid 5y ago
Hosting providers such as OVH, Hetzner, etc still have old-school sysadmin work. ISPs are hit & miss. If you can get into an early-stage (W?)ISP you will get interesting work, but avoid the big established ones like the plague - there it's all about outsourcing to the lowest bidder and providing the lowest level of service they can legally get away with.