lisah writes "Ten winners of this year's 'Sysadmin of the Year' contest have been announced and, while Robin 'Roblimo' Miller says it's not quite like winning the Miss America contest, being selected from approximately 2,500 entrants is nothing to sneeze at. This year's first place winner battled an office fire to save a RAID backup server, while another IT manager won an honorable mention for his dedicated work at a yarn store. From the article, '[The nominating entry said:] Any man who would take on a position at a yarn store, much less a technological position while surrounded by a dozen women, ages 55+ deserves some kind of reward...'" Linux.com and Slashdot are both owned by OSTG.
He is expected to perform greater miracles in the future! afterall the sysadmin of the year should be able to fix anything!
"The computer doesn't work, fix it asshole, its your fault, you're the computer guy!"
"My password was 'iloveu' and now all my stuffs are gone, put them back you asshole!"
"I cant login to my account, I don't remember the password, fix it asshole!"
"The computer deleted my emails, put them back you asshole, now!!!"
You should be able to handle all four of these user requests at the same time, and resolve them all yesterday. If you don't people will wonder why they are paying extra to have the sys admin of the year, and will fire you and replace you with some one else at a lower payscale.
Any man who would take on a position at a yarn store, much less a technological position while surrounded by a dozen women, ages 55+ deserves some kind of reward
Oh, c'mon. I think we all know what his "Cocoon-like" reward was.
Hey, don't mock - I own a yarn store ; where family members work - I started computers as a VMS System Manager (REAL Computing bigot) and later 15 years as a consultant (VMS (while it lasted)/Unix/ NT) - I don't knit, But I do the web site.
by Anonymous Coward
on Monday December 04 2006, @02:11PM (#17102680)
" From the article, '[The nominating entry said:] Any man who would take on a position at a yarn store, much less a technological position while surrounded by a dozen women, ages 55+ deserves some kind of reward...'""
It could have been worse. The yarn store could have burst into flames.
The only reason I can think of for risking one's life to save a RAID array is if you hadn't taken proper backups and stored them offsite. If that is the case, then the guy hardly deserves a "Sysadmin of the Year" award. Basically, he'd be getting an award for doing a brave yet foolish thing in order to cover for his lack of planning.
Well, it could also be that the backups are done monthly, they put a significant amount of data on the server between cycles, and thus they would not be able to restore this latest data with the backup. But IMHO, except defending your country, there is no job really worth dying for.
Depends on how many hours of work would be lost as well. I take tapes offsite every Monday, which means that I stand to lose at most 5 business days of work. But if I had a few minutes and could grab the RAID out of the rack and take it out with me, (very possible, since it's a 2U box and not particularly heavy), I can save the time to reconstruct that week's worth of financial transactions, received emails and other work where the originals may have been lost (in the case of the entire building burning.)
And my employer's perspective also. I have a $50,000 life insurance policy they would have to pay off. That money could buy a quite impressive RAID setup. Plus, last time I checked online, I was pretty much "out of stock" everywhere.
I think he made the rational decision that he would rather burn to death than wait for the new server hardware to arrive, and then wait for file restores to finish, all while people dropped in every 2 minutes to ask when the server would be back up.
Some companies aren't fortunate enough to have large hardware budgets. In fact, smaller companies operating on a shoestring are lucky to even afford the minimal hardware for day-to-day operations, much less setup a RAID server.
As mentioned in the SAOTY submission, everyone else walked out of the burning building with their desktops - the sacrifice is that Sean took out the backup server to safety and let his own personal computer burn up in the fire. Yes, by personal I do mean that the company did not even provide a computer for the job. So, it was either take the RAID out or face telling 20 people that that was their last day of employment. The personal computer was where all our digital music (all legal I might add) was actually kept.;-)
And just to give a scope of how devastating this fire actually was, noone in that building was allowed back in to salvage anything due to structural instability. Everything whether it might have been salvageable or not was bulldozed over. Without that backup machine, there would have been no hope picking the company up out of the ashes.
Some sysadmins have to work with what they are given. When you are given very little - in terms of hardware, budgets, and even a competitive salary - you have to make the best of things and just make it work.
Why is everyone still picking on this guy? I don't know who he worked for but.. if it was his father's home-office or the ONLY office in which the computer contained ALL client files, information, suppliers, and on-going contracts, that backup may have been worth thousands to them.
Also, why does everyone assume that this guy has thousands of dollars to build his/their own off-site backup solution? What if the person running this office was your father, and you were his "IT guy". The backup may have been i
They could have hired a real photographer to shoot the winners, the winner's picture looks like it's been taken at a party a saturday night around 3:30am with a point-and-shoot digital camera.
For one thing, there was no swimsuit competition -- although if there had been, winner Michael Beck says he would have worn "orange and black surf shorts."
1. Wear swimwear for all support calls
2. Effort expended/income ratio adjusts favourably
3. PROFIT!
What do you want me to do, clap? I'd say ALL sysadmins are heros because they need to put up with a stupid userbase and inept managers that see their bottom line only.
... battled an office fire to save a RAID backup server...
Of course, the sysadmin did have a complete backup set of tapes stored offsite? I would think that company could afford to let the hardware go up in smoke instead of facing a possible lawsuit if the sysadmin died on the job.
...is people going into rooms with fires to rescue equipment or backups. People just don't realize how poisonous/noxious the fumes are from burning electronics; they think they can hold their breath, except they get a small whiff of the fumes up their nose, or need to take another breath because of exertion (that box of tapes wasn't as easy to find as they thought)- cough, suck in a nice big breath of poisonous smoke, and collapse a few seconds later. Poisonous fumes stick around even after a fire is out. Wait for the fire department to come and declare the room and building SAFE. If you need something specific, ask the dude with the SCBA pack to go and get it for you; if there's no serious danger to them, they'll probably oblige.
The infamous Blue Book warns clearly and repeatedly that backups should NEVER be stored in the same room because of these dangers. Employees/managers feel too tempted to do shit exactly like what "Sean Thomas" did.
If there is a fire, GET THE FUCK OUT. Period. Companies have insurance and should have off-site backups for this kind of stuff, and it's not your fault if they don't. It's also much better to be alive and living off unemployment or looking for a new job, than in the ER with no job...or dead.
Side note: is it just me, or was this "competition" just a stupid submitting of resumes with "nominations", and "be a good little worker bee" crap? "Michael Beck is a young go getter. The word "no" and phrase "I can't" are not in his vocabulary." Gimme a break...
Any man who would take on a position at a yarn store, much less a technological position while surrounded by a dozen women, ages 55+ deserves some kind of reward...
Hah! As a somewhat avid knitter, I wish more men would work in yarn stores, as there are only so many sweet old ladies I can handle in a single shopping expedition. I say "somewhat avid," as the one thing that stops me from knitting a lot more is the fact that I can't type or play video games while doing it.
Speaking of video games, anyone who thinks knitting is all girly flowers and things hasn't seen the cool retro-gaming knits at Bits 2 Die 4. [b2d4.com]
The winner got "Washington DC"? The whole thing? Man, I knew OSTG had major league pull, but that's amazing!;-)
Note to Michael Beck - Now that you own Washington DC, please replace Congress, the Supreme Court and the President with a few Beowulf clusters. We should see a marked improvement in performance.
It's a thin line between winner and (ultimate) loser:
Scenario 1:
Man risks life to save RAID server, and lives.
Reward: System admin of year, free t-shirt, maybe a free watch from company at holiday party.
Scenario 2:
Man risks life to save RAID server, dies in process.
Reward: Gets mentioned in every system admin journal of something you should not do.
Scenario 3:
Man backs up RAID server to remote location and evacuates building before it collapses.
Reward: Lives fruitful life with wife and kids.
I know that Hindsight is 20/20, but it had to be said.
Man has several minutes to evacuate the building as the fire is in another unit. Man casually grabs RAID server because off-site backups are a week old. (We really have no idea if there were off-site backups or not).
It's easy to imagine the panic scenario where the guy is risking his life for some dumb data, but the article doesn't really make it sound like that at all.
I read through the entire blurb and half the comments until I realize the guy works at a "yarn" store and not a "yam" store. I was trying to wrap my mind around the business logic of selling nothing but yams.
ny man who would take on a position at a yarn store, much less a technological position while surrounded by a dozen women, ages 55+ deserves some kind of reward...'"
That's not so hard. Try being doing the same at a modeling agency or such, and actually be able to concentrate on your work while surrounded by a dozen hot babes.
Sysadmins are famous for coming in all sorts of packages, but Dawn stands out in that you'd never guess she spent all her working hours tippy-tapping as a senior system administrator and technical lead. She's model gorgeous--tall-ish and slim with strawberry blonde hair and, of course, the requisite sysadmin pale skin.
But they have a picture of the idiot that risked his life for a damn server!
Why, I take very good care of my users. In fact, I wouldn't have a job without them, right? I mean, I support the computers they use, and without them the computers wouldn't NEED any support. In fact, I just had a brand new backup system installed in our halon-protected server room. It's there to ensure that any data they find valuable will always be available. Go ahead, step in and take a look for yourself. It's right there in the back row, about halfway down.
Rewards? (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Rewards? (Score:4, Funny)
"The computer doesn't work, fix it asshole, its your fault, you're the computer guy!"
"My password was 'iloveu' and now all my stuffs are gone, put them back you asshole!"
"I cant login to my account, I don't remember the password, fix it asshole!"
"The computer deleted my emails, put them back you asshole, now!!!"
You should be able to handle all four of these user requests at the same time, and resolve them all yesterday. If you don't people will wonder why they are paying extra to have the sys admin of the year, and will fire you and replace you with some one else at a lower payscale.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Rewards? (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Rewards? (Score:4, Funny)
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OSTG? (Score:5, Funny)
Linux.com and Slashdot are both owned by OSTG.
I dunno who OSTG is, but they must be pretty awesome. They pwned Slashdot and Linux.com!
Cocoon-like reward? (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, c'mon. I think we all know what his "Cocoon-like" reward was.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Proving once and for all... (Score:3, Funny)
It just so happens... (Score:3, Funny)
Those Darn flames. (Score:5, Funny)
It could have been worse. The yarn store could have burst into flames.
sysadmins (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:sysadmins (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:sysadmins (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:sysadmins (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:sysadmins (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, why does everyone assume that this guy has thousands of dollars to build his/their own off-site backup solution? What if the person running this office was your father, and you were his "IT guy". The backup may have been i
for the love of all that is holy... (Score:4, Funny)
Hire a real photographer (Score:2)
Swimwear reduces support calls (Score:2)
2. Effort expended/income ratio adjusts favourably
3. PROFIT!
From a sysadmin (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
And with that kind of thinking, that's why most of the users think the system admin is a jackass.
Re:From a sysadmin (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Something smells crispy... (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course, the sysadmin did have a complete backup set of tapes stored offsite? I would think that company could afford to let the hardware go up in smoke instead of facing a possible lawsuit if the sysadmin died on the job.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Number one cause of IT worker injury/death... (Score:4, Insightful)
...is people going into rooms with fires to rescue equipment or backups. People just don't realize how poisonous/noxious the fumes are from burning electronics; they think they can hold their breath, except they get a small whiff of the fumes up their nose, or need to take another breath because of exertion (that box of tapes wasn't as easy to find as they thought)- cough, suck in a nice big breath of poisonous smoke, and collapse a few seconds later. Poisonous fumes stick around even after a fire is out. Wait for the fire department to come and declare the room and building SAFE. If you need something specific, ask the dude with the SCBA pack to go and get it for you; if there's no serious danger to them, they'll probably oblige.
The infamous Blue Book warns clearly and repeatedly that backups should NEVER be stored in the same room because of these dangers. Employees/managers feel too tempted to do shit exactly like what "Sean Thomas" did.
If there is a fire, GET THE FUCK OUT. Period. Companies have insurance and should have off-site backups for this kind of stuff, and it's not your fault if they don't. It's also much better to be alive and living off unemployment or looking for a new job, than in the ER with no job...or dead.
Side note: is it just me, or was this "competition" just a stupid submitting of resumes with "nominations", and "be a good little worker bee" crap? "Michael Beck is a young go getter. The word "no" and phrase "I can't" are not in his vocabulary." Gimme a break...
Parent
Knit picking (Score:3, Informative)
Speaking of video games, anyone who thinks knitting is all girly flowers and things hasn't seen the cool retro-gaming knits at Bits 2 Die 4. [b2d4.com]
What a Grand Prize (Score:5, Funny)
A game of inches... (Score:5, Insightful)
Scenario 1:
Man risks life to save RAID server, and lives.
Reward: System admin of year, free t-shirt, maybe a free watch from company at holiday party.
Scenario 2:
Man risks life to save RAID server, dies in process.
Reward: Gets mentioned in every system admin journal of something you should not do.
Scenario 3:
Man backs up RAID server to remote location and evacuates building before it collapses.
Reward: Lives fruitful life with wife and kids.
I know that Hindsight is 20/20, but it had to be said.
Scenario 4 (Score:3, Insightful)
It's easy to imagine the panic scenario where the guy is risking his life for some dumb data, but the article doesn't really make it sound like that at all.
Kinda makes me wonder... (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't get the Miss America reference... (Score:2)
Where are all the BOFH? (Score:2, Insightful)
Where's the old BOFH spirit, people?
The profession is doomed.
Yams (Score:4, Funny)
Wow, that prize takes some beating. (Score:3, Funny)
I thought DC was owned by the lobbyists? How did they negotiate that?!?
Even more difficult (Score:4, Funny)
That's not so hard. Try being doing the same at a modeling agency or such, and actually be able to concentrate on your work while surrounded by a dozen hot babes.
OTOH, that would be its own reward.
No picture of the Hot Sysadmin? (Score:5, Funny)
Dangit! (Score:3, Funny)
Hardly! (Score:5, Funny)
No, really, I insist. Have a look.
Parent
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Must I?
Read this: BOFH [wikipedia.org]
Re:Hardly! (Score:5, Funny)
* <--- Joke
O
\|_ <---- You
|
/ \
Parent
Re:No one talks to sysadmins... (Score:4, Funny)
Actually, livestock would be more appropriate. After all, users have some value at contract time.
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Re:Yeah, all men hate being around old women. (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Sexism! (Score:4, Insightful)
Well since it was written by 55+ year old women I'd give them some slack as they grew up in a different age and time.
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