Ask an IT guy
 

We have the Gamingforce Computing forums for in-depth tech topics, but maybe you want to find out why demo systems at stores always seem broken, or why the IT guy at your office always seems so pissy.

Here we are.

Why do you always seem so pissy at the office?

Because 99% of users are morons who lie to us and say "I didn't do anything to the system" even when we can see the P2P apps and Spyware right on the desktop while complaining that our filters don't let them mail their porn around (without actually saying that).

Oh, and because we're sick of all of you asking us to spend our out-of-work time repairing your computer for free. We have lives too.

How often do you get some? Is the stereotype true or do you guys really have lives and girlfriends?

Are you fat and ugly like my IT guy?

Um, Counselor Troi.

Duh.

Seriously, though, many of us are either involved or married. All depends on personality, I guess. Some of the IT crowd are as socially inept as the stereotypes dictate, and others are more socially averse than incapable. I was among the latter avoidant types for a while, until I realized that girls don't bite (well, not unless you want them to, and that's all behind-closed-doors stuff).

I'm kinda-sorta involved myself, though admittedly we met online and we still need to arrange an in-person meeting. The best times are when you can find a woman/man who's as much into technology as you are. There's NOTHING better than being able to talk about shell scripting with your significant other and, instead of getting eyerolls, get "uh, yeah, but you can do that in 5 fewer lines if you put that statement up there."

As for out-of-work time, I fix people's computers, but sure as hell not for free.

There was a time when that stereotype was true. It's certainly still true of some in IT, but I'd no longer say a majority.Just for that, I'm cutting off your net access. :P Actually, in my particular case the answer is no.

HEY! I take offense to that! My fragile ego is reeling, and I must now go drown my sorrows in ice...cream...and doritos.

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Oh.

In my case, I weigh more than I probably should, more than I'd like to, but part of it is just build. As our webmaster once said to me, "See, though, if you lifted weights a few times a week you'd be scary."

So I'm not like Richard Stallman. More...recent pictures of Torvalds. Not beanpole, but not Hindenburg either.

Salary?

Variable. WIDELY variable.

It depends on where you work and what you do. Major companies can afford to pay a lot, and small businesses or nonprofits (such as the library where I work) can't. Helpdesk generally makes less than sysadmins, then there are the specialty guys like DBadmins or security gurus (yo). Best money to be made is in consulting contracts, since you can pretty much charge whatever you want. Of course, the tradeoff is in stability.

I'll go ahead and be the village idiot.
What does a systems adminstrator actually do?
I must admit, my knowledge of this profession is quite shallow once I sort past the steretypes and prejudices.
What does your usual day look like? Does it challenge you intellectually? Or does it merely piss you off that you need to deal with idiotic end users?
What pleases you the most about being an IT guy? Is it the feeling 'hey, check it out - it's supposed to work, and it does!"?
Do you actively learn while working or is the same old every day? If yes, what's the last thing you've learned due to your own initiative and actually found usefull in your everyday tasks?

What's the best way to introduce someone to Perl? Is there a specific API you'd recommend to a complete newbie? (A newbie with two first year university level courses in programming. Both in Java.) What can Perl do and what is it the most suitable for? Yes, I can do my own research, but a language's strengths and weknesses aren't usually laid out in layman's terms.

What makes you smile and think 'man, there's no other job in the world where I can do this!'?

This is a bit offtopic, but for some reason or another, I remember both of your avatars - CelticWhisper and Arainach, and they were both far more awesome than the ones you currently hold.
Is the change of your own volition, or has the crash forced this cruel fate up you?
I tend to associate people to their avatars, you see.

OH my God. Of COURSE the girl's not going to bite you if you haven't MET her. How could she?

Frickin' idiot.

In my sleep, through careful application of chemically-altered martinis. Introduced by way of conspiring with my family members. Not even home is safe.

Neus:

Sysadmins are usually in charge of managing servers and networks. They manage user accounts, monitor network activity, set up servers, generally perform administrative duties on computer system infrastructures.

As for Perl, it's a scripting language primarily for UNIX systems and derivatives. Commonly used for scripting internet sites as well.

A typical day for me is really difficult to classify, since I work in a smaller environment and have to deal with a more generalized range of problems, whereas others can address concerns specific to their area of expertise (i.e. Motorola can hire a dedicated DBadmin, and all he has to worry about are database issues).

What pleases me most is figuring out better/faster/more efficient ways to do things, or tracing an intrusion on our network and patching the hole, usually along with others I see on the way (InfoSec being my area of expertise).

You always learn, but I think that's true for a lot of professions. Yeah, I get slow days, but those are the perfect days for cracking open the books or browsing Wikipedia's tech articles.

Perhaps it's indicative of a limited worldview, but I can't think of anything that's an "only in this job" sort of bonus. I think it's harder to see from the inside than it is from a third-party perspective, as I don't know anything else-only what I've been doing all this time.

Finally, as for my avatar, I still have the Magna Carta one, along with the sig. I'm banking on ChocoSig coming back up, but if it isn't, I have a backup plan. In the meantime, I've been on a Twin Peaks kick, and find director Lynch's in-show cameo character particularly amusing, so I figured I'd pay him tribute while sig hosting gets worked out.

In my case, I'm only pissy towards people who have consistently shown themselves to be either illiterate {"hay man this says press ctrl+alt+del to log on, what do I do?"} or actively ignorant {"hay I changed my network password this morning and now I can't sign onto <insert application running on seperate system, which has always required a seperate sign-on>" "Look woman, we went through this exact same thing three days ago, are you meaning to tell me that you've forgotten already?"}.

I'm nice to the people who display intelligence, and I'm really nice to the cute girls who display intelligence.

Wouldn't those two cancel each other out? :cow:



That said, I guess I have a life of some sorts. Only without the girlfriend part.

Mostly because of the reasons russ gave. And that 9 out of 10 times people panic over something trivial and blame IT because it "has something to do with those computer things!". People usually expect IT guys to drop whatever they're doing because they can't fix a table in MS Word, and once again expect us to do so because we're the computer dudes.

Fixed.

Yet another fine answer toPeople who constantly consider themselves superior to us. Not that we're infallable, it's just that 99% of those people can't even do their own jobs right, much less ours.

Yeah maybe they do, but I don't think it's just that; I think it's that nobody considers you superior to them, which bothers you deep down inside.

So you wouldn't (don't?) use P2P apps and e-mail porn to your friends while at work? You always play by the rules, huh.

Hence why I crossed out lives and put in "lies".

For one, I wouldn't. That's just fucking stupid on all accounts. You save that shit for home. Moreover, I wouldn't care/want to know what porn my friend's looking at...if they're sick like that. I'm going to be an IT 'specialist' myself within the next year through CompTIA certs and MCPs.

Work Machines are not Home Machines. As an IT guy my job is to keep the business network (A) Constantly Up (B) Secure (C) Clean. P2P and e-mailing Porn destroys all of that. News flash: People are insensitive, egocentric, and stupid. Notice all the morons who drive without their headlights because "they can see fine", ignoring the fact that you have to be able to see them as well? Same concept here. People don't realize that what they do on their computers can spread to other computers or create security vulnerabilities that can expose the rest of the network.

So much truth spoken on the last few pages.

When I was working in IT, nothing could piss me off more than a stupid IT user or someone playing petty office politics to get a new PC, I just felt like going over to their desk and slaping in a new sense of reality :p

Needless to say I don't work in IT anymore, I'm a student bum now :p

Ohh and in regards to porn and P2P and stuff like that. You would be an idiot to do that sort of stuff on a company network, regardless of your level in the company. Although the IT department could get away with it easier, no-one I know that works in IT does it, purely because it is unprofessional and causes unneccessery risks.

I found people at partner level in the firm with P2P programs on their PCs and moaning that the PC is slow and blaming us for it. Guess who didn't moan to IT after a long time after that little incident :p?

Wow, you guys totally bummed me out. Okay.

Does that mean that you're too sad to continue posting {living}?

On the contrary; the only way to cure my sadness is to bother some more people. I also now have a list of the most uptight GFF members, so my work is just now beginning.

I got a question for the IT people, if no one ever fucked up your networks and thus waaaaaah made you guys have to do work that involves fixing them, would you have jobs?

Yes of course. Someone has to build networks, and I'm sorry but there is always work to be done. People screwing stuff up just takes us away from other work that is to be done. Whether it is by reorganizing file and folder structures on network file servers based on needs of departments, divisions, or individuals, or creating new user accounts, or configuring and deploying new equipment, such as workstations, application servers, or physical network equipment. There is so much to do than clean up so-and-so's latest booboo.