Hiding_behind_the_desk

title: Hiding behind the desk date: Mon Nov 5 20:12:49 PST 2007

Every now and then it occurs to me that the great part of being a sysadmin, for me, is being able to hide behind the desk. I'm what you might call retiring (read: introverted) and for the most part I'm happy being by myself. I don't want to talk to people, most of the time; I want to stare at something and understand it, make it do neat things.

The last few weeks I haven't been doing that very much. The boss has taken an interest in the long-delayed upgrade to our website, and so that has become my priority. That means talking to people: soliciting proposals from contractors, talking with the communications person, talking to staff to figure out what's needed, what works, and what we'd like if money were no object.

I sometimes think that last part is exactly the wrong thing for me to be doing. I'm pretty comfortable with technology, I like the command line, and I don't do the work that other people do (filling out forms, dealing with money, writing theses, etc.). My needs are obvious to me but difficult to explain to someone not familiar with my job; that's no less true for an accountant, or an administrator, or a student.

It's hard for me to understand sometimes why Exchange really might be the best scheduling software for someone who doesn't have to take care of it. (The snide tone of that comment is made w/o any experience of administering an Exchange server, so please discount it.) Since I don't add records to the database all day, it can be hard for me to really be motivated to add that extra feature, rather than do the odd SQL insert every now and then. And since it's obvious to me that word processors cause chromosome damage, keeping up with the latest versions just doesn't appeal when (say) it's obvious that the firewall rules are in serious need of revision. (Actually I just took a look at them today and they're not as bad as I thought. Either my standards are slipping or my memory is.)

No great insight at the end of all this...