3 ms·

As a sysadmin, the major problem is if two clients happen to have emergencies at the same time (DDoS, phishing hack, hardware failure, or something else that's

• lsc 13y ago
  >As a sysadmin, the major problem is if two clients happen to have emergencies at the same time (DDoS, phishing hack, hardware failure, or something else that's hard to mitigate in advance without more money than such a client is prepared to spend). You resolve this with your 'retainer' agreements. Client agrees to pay a monthly fee, I agree to a certain level of availability, and to prioritize said client over my other clients and/or my personal stuff. I've also tried to set a schedule when I was available, then if you wanted me outside of that schedule, you had to agree to pay a incident fee to wake me up. But, I haven't had anyone bite on that idea. I think the retainer thing is more traditional. Even with a retainer, of course, you can't get real 24x7x365 coverage with one person. that's just not how the physics of the situation work. And in that case, I only had one client that had a retainer. Without a retainer? Sure, when shit breaks, the client is going to call and whine and cajole and threaten, and sure, I'm going to try to help him or her out, but... any pre-existing agreements I have come first. The bare truth, though, is "I'll get to you after I clear up this other mess" is "good enough" for most things. Especially for employers who are picking sysadmins up off craigslist for $50/hr.