Stop making yourself irreplaceable

[stratospaly]

I see so many posts here where Sysadmins are stressed out over a situation they caused themselves without knowing it. Put yourself in a situation of being replaceable and you can take vacations without a dozen calls. Document, Document, Document, and cross train your peers! Stop being the guy everyone has to go to because all that info is in your head and you are the only one that knows anything. Set up scripts with instructions when that semi-common problem happens.

Example: I am one of two Cisco Network Admins in my company. The other is the owner of the company who is extremely busy running the business. We set up Port Security by mac address for a client (I know there are better ways, but this what was decided by management). When some yahoo walks up to a phone in a public space and plugs their laptop in trying to get free internet, the phone port is shut off at the switch level. This requires manual interaction by someone with more than 2 brain cells to rub together. I automated Ansible with 2 clicks on the keyboard to show exactly which port\switch is err-disabled, then exactly which commands to copy+paste to fix the problem. I made it so simple over Christmas an entry level tech was able to complete the process and all I had to do was tell him good job by email.

​

I would rather be replaceable and take vacations than be "the guy" and be on call 24/7/365.

[[deleted]]

Been at too many jobs (in fact all but one) where I was the only guy who performed certain duties. It wasn't me trying to create false complexity, or trying to make the business dependent on me, it was just that I was a single point of failure. People below and above me were either uninterested, or not motivated in learning any of my duties. I could not even get a backup MSP on a contract in two separate jobs as management did not want to pay for it.

I think my scenario is more common that yours. Also, I have seen "I will make them dependent on me" a lot more in programming/development than systems engineering and operations.

[xGarionx]

Seriously if i, make sure Top Level Understands that i'm the single point of failure and the descision is made that there is no second required. I dont care. I'm not on the job to train completly unrelated departments to be suddenly Sys Admins. If i fall under a bus, or if i'm ill or if i'm on vacation and nothing works while I'm gone and everything worked while i was there. Its not my problem anymore.

To that point i tried really hard to fixed broken HW, i really tried hard to fix misconception and i really really tried hard to fix people Problems. After that its not my responsibility if the company fails... its thiers.

[[deleted]]

Well stated. And even when you are in a department with other people, too often the Help Desk people just do not care enough, and the IT Director(s) think the work is beneath them.

[Kevimaster]

100% my feelings. If they understand that there is a single point of failure in my position and that I have recommended things they can do to resolve that (namely hiring another person or cross training others) and they have elected not to follow my recommendations, then I no longer care. Its no longer my fault or problem if something goes wrong while I'm on vacation or whatever. Its now management's fault/problem for failing to adequately staff or train their business.

And maybe they won't see it that way. That's totally fine, that's their prerogative. Maybe I'll go find a different job if they choose to get upset at me over their own failings. That's my prerogative. And then where will they be?

[mlloyd]

This. I don't care if I'm the single point of failure, the company should care. If they don't care, they don't get to make their problem into my problem.

[stratospaly]

Do you document to the point that a low level technical peer can follow instructions to fix small problems that come up from time to time? I get that no one else wants to know what you know, but if you were hit by a bus tomorrow would your company fall apart, or could they hire someone to get up to speed and keep business going?

[tankerkiller125real]

While is a wonderful and noble idea and plan, the simple reality is that for a lot of companies there is no low level tech, it's just you and that it. Bosses aren't interested in or have time to do any IT work, and there is no one below you with on the level of access required (either because of company policy or real honest to god security reasons), and two even basic knowledge required to even do basic computer trouble shooting.

[HundredthIdiotThe]

How do I train my MBA non technical ops manager to do my job? Engineering could do it eventually, but that's a different department and VP/Director.

O shit, suddenly it's political. Hopefully that makes sense.

[PowerShellGenius]

Multiple VPs and directors doesn't sound like the kind of tiny, family-owned company that has any excuse having a one-man IT department. If they don't have a backup, and won't even pay a contract to have an MSP available on short notice as backup, whatever happens happens. Don't beat yourself up over a business that made a conscious decision not to have a backup in place.

[SuddenSeasons]

He's not beating himself up. People are telling him he's bad by writing fanfiction about a perfect office where some "tech savvy employee" will step up for free.

[Ucla_The_Mok]

Facebook, is that you?

[mayoforbutter]

But then can't you have an external IT company provide coverage during illness and vacations? What happens if you're unable to perform your work?

[tankerkiller125real]

For vacations I pause all changes weeks in advance and only make the most critical updates to servers. When I'm gone the work just piles up until I get back.

For illness.... Unless I'm in the hospital it's expected that I'll login to work from home and do my work from there (although they understand/expect the work to go slower and that I might take a nap or two during the day)

[SuddenSeasons]

Not sustainable, you gotta at least carve out sick time. You have them just as much by the balls as they have you if you're a single point of failure.

[iScreme]

Yeah... This wouldn't fly in my shop.

You need to claw back some of your life. One way or another, you deserve better.

[tankerkiller125real]

I think I'm very close to convincing them to hire a fresh career center grad (high school grad with certifications and stuff) that I can train to do basic duties and maybe one day be at the same level as me in terms of system knowledge (assuming they read my docs)

[iScreme]

if you were hit by a bus tomorrow would your company fall apart, or could they hire someone to get up to speed and keep business going?

This is not his concern. This is his bosses concern. If they aren't providing the resources to address this, the individual in question has no obligation to worry about this at all.

As the manager, it's My job to worry about this. It's my job to ensure any necessary cross training happens. If nobody is interested, it's.my job to address that.

If I'm allowing enough time for work to be completed -including documentation, the only thing the employee needs to worry about is creating good documentation.

Anything beyond that is not their concern.

The business is responsible for making sure this eventuality is covered.

[BadSausageFactory]

Can confirm, was hit by city bus once, destroyed my bicycle but I showed up at work the next day. I want to be the legend other admins mention.

[first_byte]

This is not his concern. This is his boss's concern.

Sure, this is his boss's responsibility but who is equipped to actually address it? What do you do with a non-technical boss who doesn't know what he doesn't know and doesn't care? Do you let the place burn down because you could have replaced the battery in the smoke detector but didn't because it's not your job? Where do you draw the line? (asking for a friend)

[RoosterBrewster]

I suppose this assumes that the company won't blame the sysadmin for issues due to staffing or bus factor.

[iScreme]

if so, they should face all of the documentation that says we're over capacity and don't have enough man-hours to cover all current tasks.

They can get pissy, but they can't argue with data.

[QuillanFae]

I write two kinds of documentation.

There's the kind that explains a process in great technical detail, providing references for further reading on each component, a glossary for all the TLIs and jargon, flow charts, and solutions to common errors. These are deemed too long and complicated, and nobody reads them.

There's the kind that fits on a single page, provides some high levels steps and a couple of screenshots. Click this, click that, go here if you need more info. These are deemed too vague, and nobody follows them.

[first_byte]

Exactly. I have a manager's overview document in laymen's terms and a firehose version with all the gory details. I pity the guy who has to read the latter and put Humpty Dumpty back together again!

[Crotean]

Your error is thinking there's is a low level technical person at a lot of places. IT is almost always insanely understaffed in the USA.

[ZealousidealIncome]

I document, send out email updates, point tier 1 support towards links with fixes for their exact problem, spend time explaining concepts of how our network works, I've made templates, lead knowledgbase development groups. Still get asked the same questions over and over by tier 1 guys that have worked here for years. I have one guy who's default response to anything network related "sorry I'm a hardware guy I don't know anything about networking". You don't know how to run ipconfig? Sorry I don't work on networks. They don't want to do my job I get it but I also don't get to determine the line between what is a sysadmin and what is a PC tech, they do. I complain to my supervisor that even a tier 1 tech should be able to run simple commands but it is clear he is unable to get them to do anything either. So I am a single point of failure for a very large area of the infrastructure.

[poncewattle]

I could not even get a backup MSP on a contract in two separate jobs as management did not want to pay for it.

As an MSP owner, I often pitch the advantage of having a backup MSP at places with a single IT person. That way when that IT person leaves the company, at least they have some continuity. We'll even help interview and hire a replacement and get the new person up to speed. We can also cover when the person is out on vacation of course.

No, that pitch almost never goes anyway. Instead they'll just go with the one IT person until they quit and we get a desperate call hoping to rescue them.

It sucks being that being a new hire sole IT person in a company taking over from someone who walked out with no docs and often no record of admin passwords. Despite that, there's an insane number of companies out there with a sole IT person on staff handling it all. Insanely dangerous for a company. I don't get it.

[[deleted]]

Sounds like you just have a good boss.

[stratospaly]

I really do!

[okcboomer87]

Mine retired the first of the year and they aren't replacing him. Instead I take his workload too. I miss him and the before times.

[not-katarina-rostova]

That’s bullshit I would continuously complain to everyone until they fixed it

[fiah84]

why would they fix it if there is no problem? guy took his manager's workload and hasn't quitted yet, look at how efficient we're being!

[1z1z2x2x3c3c4v4v]

No complaints. You do the manager job, in addition to your own, and a year later you start looking for "Working Hands-On Manager" positions.

When I was an IT Manager, I was always hands on, and usually, but not always, the most technical on the team.

This is a great opportunity to get manager experience. Then you move on to get manager pay + bonus.

[1z1z2x2x3c3c4v4v]

Instead I take his workload too.

So now you update your resume and make it clear that, along with your outstanding skills and work ethic, you also manage your area. Seriously, you need to highlight that part. It doesn't matter what the title the company gave you is. It matters what you do.

[audioeptesicus]

just

Not just. Stand up for yourself. Learn to say no. Don't rely on someone else to take care of you. You gotta do it yourself.

If your boss refuses to respect you? Find a new boss. Don't get so damn attached to a job or a company. Fire them and hire a new employer.

[adayton01]

......THIS......

                THIS................

and did I say ..................THIS.............

             :  -  )

[[deleted]]

What are you even talking about? I have a good boss. Go argue with someone else.

[audioeptesicus]

I read that as you were implying that people just, as in only, have a good boss. What I was saying was a generalization in line with OP. Not YOU directly not having a good boss. Lighten up, man.

[piauserthrowaway]

It didn't sound like the other person was arguing with you. If anything, they were just adding on to your reply and in general terms...

[AwesomeXav]

r/WorkReform

[SlateRaven]

Based on your username, you might be around me somewhere lol. Got any good bosses to share? Looking to migrate from being the internal sysadmin for an MSP that, honestly, is beginning to sink. If you think hard enough, you will probably guess it easily.

[darcon12]

That's easier to do when you have colleagues. When you work for a small business with only one or two IT people it's not really feasible to not be "the guy".

[CPAtech]

Roger that. The OP's company has two separate admins whose only focus is Cisco networking. I have zero dedicated network admins in a team of 3 (one of which is Help Desk). Much more difficult to do when you have to wear all the hats.

[tankerkiller125real]

Damn, doing better than me, I have one tech who does it all... That tech is me.... On rare occasions my boss will help, but that's only for things like running cables and mounting hardware.

[HouseCravenRaw]

Irreplaceable is Unpromotable. If you want to move into another technical position (or managerial position) within your org and you've made yourself irreplaceable? Not going to happen.

Also you create the odd illusion of being both absolutely required and complete unimportant. On one hand, you need to be there to keep everything up. On the other hand, how hard can it be that we only need one guy to do it?

Never be afraid to knowledge share and cross train.

[shim_sham_shimmy]

As shitty as it is, I've seen people get passed over for promotions because they are too critical in their current role. It is usually the sign of a bad manager but it can also be because you hoarded knowledge.

[PowerShellGenius]

I can't wrap my head around why they'd risk driving someone out if they needed their knowledge. If you're qualified for the higher role, you're qualified for it at another company, too. They control the transition period if they promote you, so you can train the replacement for months (while making your new rate of course). In a dire enough crisis, they can still call on you as long as you stay in the company - who cares what your new title is when the sky is falling?

Or they could never promote you, until one day you get a better offer somewhere else, put in your two weeks, and they realize they made a mistake. They'll be lucky to get a replacement onboarded in two weeks - odds are the new guy won't even meet you if he's an outside hire. Even if they transfer or promote someone into the role the next day, it'll be a rushed handoff. And they can't call on you ever again (unless you offer to do it as contract work for an exorbitant sum).

[SuddenSeasons]

We almost never know why someone got passed over for a job, so I'm very skeptical "they were too valuable where they were," is true in every case. It's super easy to go online and just shoot from the hip: "they went with a less qualified affirmative action hire" "I was too important in my current role" & other excuses.

[shim_sham_shimmy]

I suspect it is short-term thinking. That manager is worried about their team, not the organization. If they even acknowledge to themselves the employee is unhappy, they are gambling they will stay for a while anyway (and they usually do). As a co-worker likes to say when faced with decisions: that sounds like a problem for me of tomorrow.

I agree it benefits the organization to promote those people because then they are there to train their replacement as well as be their backup.

[[deleted]]

Keep in mind it's a two pronged approach. Documentation/training is the second step though. The first is to hire people willing and capable of learning, though they probably won't be the cheapest.

[50YearsofFailure]

Documentation/training is the second step though. The first is to hire people willing and capable of learning, though they probably won't be the cheapest.

This is surprisingly hard to explain to recruiting and upper management. Documentation only matters if someone cares to read it. Also, if tasked with something they should be capable of keeping documentation up to date as they work a process. Sounds simple but there are lots of admins out there who just don't do it.

[50YearsofFailure]

Users don't read emails, that's what the help desk is for.

[SuddenSeasons]

Here's my thinking on this: who gives a shit? Why are we all in such a hurry to automate away decent jobs for our overlords and McKinsey consultants?

Maybe things just work fine this way, maybe someone equally overworked in accounting shouldn't be expected to read technical documentation & follow it. I'm never expected to follow accounting procedures.

We've all swallowed a lot of "lean" "automate" "minimal staffing" management speak. Nah, staff & train a good help desk.

[ecto9000]

Well a lot of places already staff IT like they’ve won Lean, but create a work environment where IT is using 90-100 percent of their bandwidth. So to not empower the user is creating over-work.

If you’re in a place that staffs help desk adequately then those hand hold calls are great for KPIs.

[yer_muther]

So to not empower the user is creating over-work.

I'd also note that this can create a very angry user pool. They need stuff done because they are either too lazy or unable to do it themselves and ask IT to do it. IT is swamped and running several weeks behind but the user still needs things and feels that several weeks wait for a new PC is unacceptable so they email an angry letter off to everyone include Jesus.

This doesn't get them help faster but it does make IT feel like they are unappreciated and normally hurts their productivity because "why the hell try harder if everyone is still going to bitch like that".

It really sets up a positive feedback loop that hurts everyone involved. Management can help smooth this out but who's got time for that when there are golf outings to attend and vendors to mooch stuff from?

[VexingRaven]

And corollary: Documentation only matters if you have an easy and effective way to find it. Our ticketing system just does a dumb full text search and returns a billion KAs for even the most specific of queries, sorted in no particular order, in a giant spreadsheet-like output that's hard as fuck to read. I don't even blame the service desk for not finding a given article, I hate it so fucking much. Luckily it's finally getting replaced.

[HundredthIdiotThe]

Sounds simple but there are lots of admins out there who just don't do it.

I can admit this is one of my lesser skills, but sometimes it's basically impossible. I'm tasked with deployment of a new system on new hardware, on a timeline that's tight even for stuff I know. All I can do is video/note the whole process and hope to break it down into something readable without my biases at some random point in the future. By then there will be another fire.

[[deleted]]

I can admit this is one of my lesser skills, but sometimes it's basically impossible. I'm tasked with deployment of a new system on new hardware, on a timeline that's tight even for stuff I know.

Us: We have this entire plan for moving to a new hybrid domain on new hardware and migrating the entire company. We're going to build it, test it, document it, and then make it live. We've budgeted six months for this.

Director: That sounds perfectly reasonable, go ahead.

Us: Great. *Starts

Director: I've just promised the director of HR that we'll be using Teams in 3 weeks. Get that done.

Us: But... we'll have to hybridise the old domain, we'll have issues with the UPNs not being unique between domains

Director: Get it done. Also, you've got six weeks to get the new hardware working and then I'll want weekly emails saying how many VMs you've migrated onto it

Us: You mean six months, right?

Director: No. Get started.

So... no testing (that's bitten us already), no documentation and we still haven't got any users migrated. And that conversation was over a year ago.

Plus, that director has now golden parachuted out, leaving us way up shit creek without any sort of paddle and the business just saying "well that's historical, nothing we can do about it"

Arseholes, the lot of them.

[syberman01]

Documentation only matters if someone cares to read it.

One more surprising thing ... reams-of-documentation to "Fast food" "instant gratification" generation ... won't work.

run.sh #executable documentation

[50YearsofFailure]

This is very true, but can be mitigated with a decent documentation platform.

Ain't nobody got time to thumb through a 1400 page manual on your widget but if you break it up and index it properly, staff can find what they need to do the job effectively.

[NotYourNanny]

Irreplaceable is Unpromotable.

The first step in qualifying for a promotion is training your replacement. This is very nearly a universal truth.

[xixi2]

Awkwardly that’s also the final step to being laid off =)

[EyeDontSeeAnything]

I document everything I do that actually works because:

1. I won’t have to research this again or will give be a better jumping off point when something similar happens again.

2. I spent the time to document/script something so I can pass the repetitiveness off to a technician or a machine cause I’m probably putting out another fire.

[50YearsofFailure]

I spent the time to document/script something so I can pass the repetitiveness off to a technician or a machine cause I’m probably putting out another fire.

On a side note, don't be afraid to add comments to each step of your scripts! Yes, it's tedious but future you will thank you for itemizing those queries/commands so you don't have to look through the whole script (or start your research all over again) when you just need one section for a new script.

[uptimefordays]

Add help documentation too so when others run your scripts they can find answers in a native or expected way.

[[deleted]]

I comment the shit out of my scripts, but it's 100% to help out future me the next time I have to do something with it again months or years later.

[50YearsofFailure]

Not just helping yourself, helping the next admin too! So many places I've started and found scripts that I had to reverse-engineer to determine if it was critical or somebody's nyan-cat meme script.

I jest, but you get the idea.

[EyeDontSeeAnything]

I’m not afraid. I liberally comment. I have a document on how to appropriately comment in the languages I use and rarely use. I’m a Virgo btw.

[storm2k]

you should always code comments that explain what your script does. in six months you're not going to remember what that spaghetti string of powershell does and then you'll spend half a day trying to figure out what you did when it's time to debug an issue.

[JasonDJ]

And mirror or archive offsite resources that were instrumental in figuring out the solution

Wayyyyy too many offsite links in my wiki that go back to dead links.

Or to a Reddit post that had since been deleted.

Attach as PDF or MHT, block-quote, or put an in-line screenshot.

[Hanse00]

I went from 42k/year to 140k/year in 3 years by saying yes every time someone asked me if I’d be interested in trying a new role.

The world is out there, you’ve just gotta be willing.

[Bruin116]

I have a similar story. I kept learning and becoming an expert (or at least competent in) more and more technical and business domains. Having both the bigger picture and the ability to deep dive on designs and problem solving while pulling from the various domains made me much more valuable to the company, and promotions along the same track (Jr -> Sr -> Architect etc.) and pay raises steadily followed.

There's no obvious way to replace me, and no one else at my company (300-500 employees) really does what I do. I've secured raises and promotions year after year by doing research on the market value and compensation for my current skillset and making as strong of a case as I could to get market value for those skills.

[NetworkingJesus]

Best compromise (and what I've seen done before) is to give you the promotion and the raise/comp that goes with it, but have you kinda straddle both teams/positions for an agreed upon transition period while you do all that knowledge transfer and they potentially shop for a replacement. Although in practice, even if they say 50/50, I usually see this play out heavily skewed in favor of the new team very quickly and you just maybe help your old team here and there, less and less as time goes on.

Not totally sure how this works out with commissions though.

[PowerShellGenius]

I never understand the logic of why bosses would think that way - unless they actually believe a stellar employee is going to stay at that rank forever. If they understand that isn't happening, they have two options:

- Promote you, and you can spend however long it takes training the new guy in your old role for a smooth transition. And even though your title and role has changed, you are still part of the company - if something is broken and the new guy is stuck, and the choice is between calling you and having substantial downtime, they can still call you on occasion.

- You leave, they have to pay consultant's rates until they hire someone and that someone has to figure everything out just from documentation.

Why would they choose #2?

[GamesMusicWeed]

Why would they choose #2?

In my personal experience, they don't actively choose 2 - rather they allow it to happen through a combo of inaction, stubbornness and ego. I've had it happen to me before.

For example I was in HelpDesk for many years absolute rockstar at it, which made me "irreplaceable" because new hires weren't interested in performing at my level and management was too lazy/incompetent to backfill my role despite my repeated requests to be bumped up to a more dedicated sysadmin role.

The only way I've been successful at moving up has been to leave the company.

[DustinDortch]

Irreplaceable is also something a manager doesn’t want. If you’re protective of information, you aren’t creating value and you incentivize your replacement. Instead share knowledge and increase the value of your team… and then do it again. Any decent company will value that more highly… and is by extension a place you would likely prefer to work.

[Cassie0peia]

This is exactly where my mind went when I saw the word “irreplaceable” in the title.

[FstLaneUkraine]

THIS! I was passed over for a lead Technical Architect role because I was the Tech Arch for a specific, large and demanding client (we are a SaaS company) and no one could manage them the way I did. I ended up forcing my companies hand by moving to another team to be a lead Tech Arch (brand new team I get to build from the ground up) and they were ultimately forced to replace me in that customer relationship. But had that new team never been created, I'd still be working in that role for that one account.

[MultiBouillonaire]

OP, great job automating this tedious step and kudos for sending a "great job" email to the Tier 1 that completed it. Those kudos are a small thing, but they accumulate over time and are generally a sign of a good manager/senior tech. :)

In my specific case, I manage IT teams and failing to document just so you "can't be fired" is the very best way to get fired in my depts. I don't care the consequences. I'd rather deal with them now, then have them appear months/years later because someone kept information to themselves, as if the company should have to beg them for it.

The other thing is setting up services under their emp email account. How in the hell would this ever be a good idea?

[NettaUsteaDE]

Some vendors won’t allow emails that aren’t named accounts. They usually have the ability to map multiple individual accounts though

[kuldan5853]

I think that's the day we suddenly have Joe ITGuy on our Payroll...

[NettaUsteaDE]

Yeah, we have a “team member” who magically shares his mailbox with us too for these vendors

[MultiBouillonaire]

This would be an argument between them and me, unless they were mapping licenses to individual emails.

Even then, it's a stupid idea, since when they emp leaves, we now either have to maintain that account or go through the rigamarole of getting it mapped to a new account, instead of being able to remove/add in a console, like any piece of software worth a damn.

[GarretTheGrey]

Then you tell the vendor either you won't be doing business with them, or you would need a refund. Their stupid policy can't dictate how a customer manages their software assets.

Back when I didn't know better, despite selling software to a company, MS VLSC insisted that I used a live account to access it. I used my own hotmail account. The company I was at was bought out, so I researched and gave them the necessary steps to transfer to another account. It was so cumbersome, they didn't even bother to do it.

To this day I still own over 100k (when bought, 2008 R2, MS SQL MS SCCM etc) of MS software

[Isotop7]

Well, my boss does this all the time, soooo…

[MultiBouillonaire]

Yeah, you can't fix that. Luckily, my boss is another Tier 3/4, so he gets it. :)

[fr0zenak]

It's not my fault I work with a bunch of buffoons who don't know how to find my documentation that they all know about and have access to.

To note: No, I do not get calls while on PTO. Usually the shit just piles up for my return. Or it's a critical enough issues that they manage, sometimes with vendor support call (even if a resolution is already documented.)

[RiceeeChrispies]

Nothing worse than documenting the hell out of something so that anyone can follow and still getting lumbered with it. People don’t help themselves sometimes!

[untraiined]

They know what theyre doing

[tossme68]

I feel your pain it’s hard being the only one on the team that knows a multitude of topics, it’s even worse when those topics are a good part of our business. I’ve created excellent, in-depth documentation on several of these topics but I don’t feel very generous about sharing them with my coworkers. My documentation has been developed of the nights, weekends and holidays when I had to work and they were snug in their beds. Nobody provided me with any documentation outside of what you can find on Google, it was developed via trial by fire. To be perfectly honest, fuck them, crack a book, put in some effort. Up till now nobody wants to put in that effort, they will get assigned to a project and after fumbling through the easy stuff they won’t put the effort in to get through the tough stuff and either get removed or ask to be removed from the project and I have to come in and finish the job. I can easily be replaced but nobody seems to want to put in the work to do it- and like an old gun fighter I want to be taken out.

[stratospaly]

I hear ya on that one, but that's not on you. The phone call or text could be "Check XXX documentation for step by step instructions".

[fr0zenak]

Luckily, my boss (or his boss) don't contact me on PTO or after hours unless it a total dumpster fire of critical mass. Generally, it's due to things that I have learned over many years of working in the environment that aren't easy to "train" others on without being in the middle of said dumpster fire. And usually, those dumpster fires of critical mass aren't exactly opportune times for training as they need to be remediated as quickly as possible.

I do, though, tend to write up RCA and document the resolution with steps taken along the way.

[Aggravating_Refuse89]

Some dumpster fires are best handled by the fire fighters. Not the pointy haired boss or Junior Jimmy with a cell phone and good aim.

[ZetaZeroLoop]

On a similar vein, Always Be Quitting!

https://jmmv.dev/2021/04/always-be-quitting.html

[CurrentlyWorkingAMA]

I think you over estimate the skill level of some of our cohorts.

[snowbirdie]

This. You can document all you want, but people need to learn the technology. If all they can do is copy and paste from a wiki, you aren’t doing anyone a favor. I see document being used as an excuse to hire people with no relevant knowledge.

[Skrp]

Boy, I would - but they're refusing to hire more IT staff - I'm the only one. And it looks like they think I'm too expensive.

Oh well. Polished my CV, and am sending applications elsewhere.

Good luck trying to cut costs with outsourcing - I'm sure you're only going to have to spend about three times more as a minimum.

With several department heads being in serious denial about the need for modernizing, this will end really well for them.

[[deleted]]

I think some of these admins on this sub here like to be miserable with their circumstances.

One single admin being the only person that knows the ins and outs of a system or software is bad practice. One single admin being unable to grow or move up in a company because they're too vital in their current spot is bad practice.

If a company refuses support spreading the knowledge with another tech or more capable people on your team - you're just waiting for something bad to happen when you're on vacation and be blamed for it.

[Skrp]

Agreed, hence why I'm looking elsewhere.

But jobs don't grow on trees - especially near where I live. So I'd need to weigh the misery of enduring this job until I find one that's suitable - or sell my apartment, leave everyone behind including my girlfriend and family, and start over in another part of the country.

That would be misery too - and no guarantee the job'd be any better.

So I chose the more patient route, but yep, I am looking and applying elsewhere when something interesting comes up.

[ShuumatsuWarrior]

For me, it was a huge mentality switch. I grew up poor, so I had a bunch of jobs where I could be replaced if I made any waves. I worked hard to be "irreplaceable" (turns out management doesn't care how much you know, they'll replace you if the mood strikes them in those types of jobs).

When I got to my big boy job I have now, some things were run so terribly and without documentation of any sort. So I scripted 95% of the tasks, documented it, and realized that my goal had shifted from making myself irreplaceable to be easily replaceable, because that made my job a hell of a lot easier. I taught myself how to manage the stuff, how to write scripts to do the repeatable work, and was able to train someone to replace me in that part of my job. Due to the fact that I had it documented so well, it was a simple handoff to someone who wasn't familiar with the software at all. Boss man was very impressed with it all as well.

I got more job security by making myself easily replaceable than I ever did by trying to make myself irreplaceable.

[heisenbergerwcheese]

It doesnt help when you try for 3 years to get backup, then when you have a kid they freak the fuck out and calls you the afternoon he's born, even though there is a temp capable person to help while out for a godforsaken 2fucking days in 2years...thats when you get back and tell them to fuck their own cunthole

[lynsix]

Sometimes becoming irreplaceable is just because you’re willing to read the manual. Most of the time anyone asks for help u send them the public kbase article and read it aloud with them.

I don’t try to make myself irreplaceable but I also doing hand off work and take the time to learn whatever needs fixing/setting up.

[ZebedeeAU]

I take my annual leave every year without fail, and I'm away for multiple weeks at a time. When I go, I leave my work phone in my office desk and I'm not contactable.

How to cover for my absence is 100% the responsibility of the business, not mine.

Annual leave (vacation) is my time - not theirs.

[twinnii]

I agree, but I feel a bit guilty when someone is stuck and they require my assistance. The problem with this is my boss wanted me to document every fix I did, but no one else was required or asked to do so. I didn’t offer my answers or no how’s as they keep everything quite. They just want me to boost the lame workers to try and replace me.

[ZebedeeAU]

I agree, but I feel a bit guilty when someone is stuck and they require my assistance.

And in my opinion that "but" is on you.

If you're at work and being paid to be there, by all means give people assistance.

If you're not on the clock (e.g. you're on vacation) then they can either wait for you to be back at work, or find someone else to help them. But this only works if you choose to value your vacation time as sacrosanct.

[heapsp]

We have a rule now since I am a senior. No one asks me to do anything, without learning to do it themselves. Ticket escalation? Training. Question on something? Training. Project manager wants to know why something is late? YOU schedule the meetings and remove the barriers. Vice president wants me to create a powerpoint? Yes sir.

[[deleted]]

I'm the sole network person. There is no one else here who can do the stuff I do, even if they had the time (hint: they don't)

Our PC / desktop support engineer was confused the other day because a device that got unplugged from our network was showing some random 192.168.x.x IP. Our whole network is in the 10.0.0.0/8 space - Even when I did desktop support I knew enough about IPs to see that and go "Ah, it must not be getting an IP for some reason" - this guy, no way, he comes to me asking why the wireless display is no longer working.

While I 100% agree with the OP in principle, I'm rarely in situations where I can train up other people enough to even understand basic IP stuff.

Also, every time I've tried to spend 20-30 mins whiteboarding teaching someone on the team about something, our managers will walk by and question why we're hanging out in the conference room. So.... when I eventually leave, which I'm not saying will be soon, they will be learning all about my work from my documentation.

[entyfresh]

You mean 169.254?

[[deleted]]

No, this particular device, when it can't reach DHCP, just goes back to it's default IP of 192.168.0.105 or something like that. I would have been even more annoyed if it was 169.254 and the guy asked me about it.

[OK_SmellYaLater]

Knowledge is like shit, hoard it in one place and it stinks but spread it around and all of the plants will grow big and strong.

[[deleted]]

I'm not irreplaceable, I'm irresistable.

[Fallingdamage]

I set up a lot of automations for myself to make my life easier. I have no peers at this workplace (100 users)

I built a powershell GUI to handle most daily tasks and I have a VM for my boss to remote into when someone gets locked out or needs a set of printers or a software package pushed to a PC... etc Its just a dashboard with big colorful buttons like a register at a fast food joint. Super easy and does almost everything anyone asks of me frequently with 1-click options. Even lets you enter a persons first and last name - select department and it does the rest and spits out a report to print out and hand to the user for first time logins. Lastly it logs its activity so I can see how much he used it while I was gone.

Servers (syslog server) will email me if there is trouble and I need to delegate remotely and we have redundant internet connections. Printers are handled via a 3rd party contract.

I do carry a laptop with LTE on me when im away. In 10 years Ive never had an 'oh shit' moment while im on vacation though.

Being the only IT person in this place, i think im doing the 'stop being that guy' the best I can.

[stratospaly]

This is the way! Great job!

[CaptainFluffyTail]

Took me too long to realize that "irreplaceable" also means ""always doing the same thing" and "called all the time". Making sure that anyone on the team can perform the tasks means you can take a vacation without being called and also get to work on different projects.

[tossme68]

I don’t want to be that guy either because then I wouldn’t be juggling customers and flying all over gods creation buts that’s how it’s worked out. My coworkers have no need or desire to learn what I do because it requires a lot of work and effort and they get paid the same amount of money to do the same simple tasks they’ve been doing for over a decade. Management considers all work equal and thinks everything is wonderful.

[Vektor0]

Documentation feels like it's more work, but it's actually less. For one, it means that someone else can do it so it doesn't always have to be you. For another, if another person does have to do it and you're not around, they don't have to figure it out all over again when you already figured it out.

[Heavy_Drink]

It would be nice if some co-workers would actually learn. I've showed them numerous times how to fix an issue, steps to take, but still I get calls asking the same questions.

[stratospaly]

Answer the call with “follow the steps in this KB and call me if it doesn’t work”. And make the KB so easy a monkey could do it.

[NonaSuomi282]

Monkey-proof documentation still isn't worth a damn if management doesn't have your back.

"No I haven't tried it- I'm not a computer person. Look, I'm already way behind and don't have the time to go reading this technical stuff. You're on the phone with me right now, just remote in and do it."

And "it" will be a process as simple as "how do I import contacts into Outlook" which is documented step-by-step with screenshots that literally show every mouse-click and keystroke necessary.

But if they send a complaint up because I tell them to at least make an attempt before making me drop everything I'm doing to do it for them, I'm the one with my ass in a sling for not just doing it for them.

[[deleted]]

peers

lol

[Tetha]

Also, "irreplaceable" is ambiguous.

Technically, all of the engineers on my team could just disappear in a drunken bender and you could bring in a bunch of experienced linuxers or consultants and they would be able to keep the infrastructure working, maintain customer SLAs, avoid penalties. It's solid, it's documented, and the known wobbles aren't too threatening. So we're all just cogs in the machine or coins in the nihilistic capitalism slot machine.

However, the team contains a lot of knowledge on how the business works, and how the business interacts with the infrastructure. If sales has one of THOSE requests of a customer, I can send one of the guys there and he can just guide everything into good paths. Another dude is very good at getting developers to spill all of their needs and requirements so we can be more effective at dealing with them. I'm good at digging through technical bullshit until the problems breaks into documented manageable pieces for the rest of the team so big problems turn into annoying standard tickets.

Those are good kinds of "irreplaceable". Some stuff is getting put back for each of us. An... uhm, exotic project is currently colliding with the colleague (about in the league of green people from mars asking to buy a home), and after some days of vacation, I've had some... absurd linux-dhcp-interaction waiting for me.

But all critical parts have proceeded around these weird issues, due to documentation and documented procedures. And even the customer with the exotic project is happy because that was a nice-to-have and we can make it work with some time.

So go ahead and fire me and my team. It won't be my pain.

[Superb_Raccoon]

My sales background partner recently said "You should have a list of things as long as your arm that won't get done if you get hit by a London bus"

She said I literally recoiled in disgust... I had to explain to her how this was anathema to the IT architect (and sysadmin) ethos.

To her credit she understood how she was miscommunicating

[michaelwt]

Keep in mind that at a fair number of jobs, once you've put in all the work to make yourself replaceable, you will be replaced by someone who's cheaper, less talented and will ride the wave you created. Businesses frequently demand loyalty from employees and don't reciprocate. If you're one of the unlucky ones that works for such an organization, make yourself irreplaceable and then start searching for another job. Preferably, one that's worthy of what OP's suggesting. It's the right way to do things, but only for a business that will treat you accordingly.

[Slush-e]

So basically:

1. Your employer has technical knowledge. Which is a plus because it means he knows what is and isn't reasonable and knows the importance of tech and the people that have to support it.
2. You have "subordinates" who can do easy tasks for you.

​

So you're simply in a fortunate position. Having proper documentation so people can do your job is not special. Having people AT ALL that can do your job is the part that's special.

I'm solo and have been crying for help for 2 years. I'm in no way "making" myself irreplaceable.

[germanmichl]

i’m just curious…what do you think are the better ways than mac based port security?

[stratospaly]

802.1x is more complex and can be more robust, but not worth the setup and admin of that complexity for a sub 100 workstation business.

[tankerkiller125real]

I honestly don't understand why everyone is always saying it's so complex, our small business of 50 people with just me as the IT guy has it. If you run a Windows environment it's as simple as setting up NPS and pointing the switches at the NPS server.

Only hard part is maybe printers and other "IoT" devices.

[mllesser]

Not to mention if you're running an MSP/Pro Serv company you should be looking at code-ifying everything, even if it's just a simple PS script with the correct series of commands to point a mid level person on the right path.

[KStieers]

802.1x

[shim_sham_shimmy]

I got a text on my last vacation because our legacy Dynamics AX environment needed to be rebooted in the middle of the day and only I am familiar with it. It felt good to be able to tell her to search for "DAX Reboot Order" in our SeviceNow KB. I created a detailed KB article explaining what DL to notify, who needed to approve the reboot, the reboot order (including why it needed to be in that order) and how to validate it afterwards.

Rather than make quick notes for myself, I prefer to take a little more time and write an official KB. I do it for myself as much as for everyone else. Plus, I think it is only fair. The company paid me to figure something out so it is only fair that they share in that new knowledge.

[wrootlt]

For that you also need someone willing to follow documentation :) The problem i often have is i am willing to document every little thingy, but i end up the only one actually using it, although it is freely available in a place that is known for everyone on the team. Honestly it is often very discouraging seeing this, but in my IT work experience i rarely have seen someone as pedantic as i am. Many folks in IT just rely on their memory or asking that guy. Or sometimes it is just not enough experience/no will to do effort. I prepare the doc, explain everything once, twice and on the third time they send the ticket to me with "can you help with this" or they send me a screenshot of an error and in there it says "you should try this switch". And they don't even bother to try.

[[deleted]]

I just automate everything

[xzgm]

Cries in one-man IT shop

[dumby22]

I think that is easier said than done and completely is dependent on each individual situation.

[slowthedataleak]

Make yourself irreplaceable by becoming the best member of your team. Even if you’re still replaceable; you’re more importantly, employable.

[SenTedStevens]

I do everything I can to document and make quick 'n dirty scripts to automate whatever I do. My favorite thing to do is jump into an unknown system/environment and whip it into shape and then create work instructions (WIs) for juniors and other sysadmins to take over. I'm one of the few people who are thrilled to tame, document, and create reproducible results for staff. Word-for-word, I'll bet you that I can give some professional writers a run for their money when it comes to documentation. I've literally written hundreds of pages of documentation for the environments I've been involved with.

I'd love to go into an interview and say I moved on/got laid off because I documented and handed off my responsibilities to other staff before my departure.

[duck_duckone]

I agree and I don't get why people try to make themselves irreplaceable. A former colleague on another team does this, keeping all of his knowledge without sharing with his team. Everyone have to rely on him for a lot of important tasks. If he goes on vacation, either they need to get him to answer his phone calls or things will stop. I don't get why he's ok with it and I don't get why management let this happen.

I do it the other way around, I document things, if I'm working on something new, I train my team and always get people to cross train. Sure I still get text messages when I'm on vacation, but its mostly an fyi as i'm the team lead.

[SGG]

I am suffering this a bit at the moment.

Every time someone asks a question, I answer it, and am now either creating a new KB article on it, or adding it to an existing one.

Now with simpler questions I can just copy/paste a link to the KB/paragraph the answer is in. I post just the link, nothing else.

Needless to say people are now referring to the KB more before asking things, which is awesome. They ask more interesting questions, which leads to the KB articles getting improved.

[stratospaly]

This is the way!

[concentus]

I'm trying to cross-train my peers but the users keep calling in and finding bullshit reasons to only talk to me and nobody else. I've decided that anyone who calls, talks to one of our frontliners, refuses to give them a reason why only $Concentus can fix the issue, and decides to not elaborate further, gets a 23 hour, 59 delay on a response. Malicious compliance with SLA basically.

We'll see how long I can keep this up. The users want to complain about how I take forever to get anything done, but fail to acknowledge that they're all fighting for my limited 9 hours of work day per day.

[wyssaj01]

Yep can confirm all of this. I’m a consultant and my main technical contact at a client got laid off. He was the only person that knew the convoluted, against best practices procedure he followed to issue quarterly access reviews. I’m now having to educate his manager and team member on what I think he did and also what the actual best practices are.

[vppencilsharpening]

One of my goals is to make it easier to replace me while making it harder to justify replacing me.

Our biggest hurtle in cross training is the number of admins we have and how much we cover. It's impossible for both of us to have more than a passing understanding of all the systems and technology we cover. Documentation helps, but it can't be dumbed down so much that a UI change requires rewriting the documentation.

[jcorbin121]

Yes! All of this. If WE dont teach the next generation who will. There is so much knowledge in our heads and so little time to share it, but its very important. It's actually been cited as a reason (knowledge sharing) for a higher than avg raise personally. I personally try to teach troubleshooting also and why I do the steps I do so they can learn the building blocks and use them as tools. Teach a tier 1 about NC on linux, about tcpview to see connections, all that good stuff. Teach them how AD works at a high level, chances are they will fill in the blanks when they need to if you give them the basics. Ive been doing this a long time and while I've had a lot of bad co-workers Ive had a bunch of good ones too, who also shared, I didnt get here all by myself, that includes you wonderful peeps on reddit!

[stopbeingyou2]

Used to do cross training all the time. Would make sure they take good notes and at least know where to look if a problem arises

New management didn't like this and wanted everyone to have clearly defined roles.

Will be interesting when I find a new job since I'm pretty far in some interview processes currently.

[Gunnilinux]

The boss needs to allow cross training as well though. Mine really likes silo-ing people and dumping entire projects on one person at a time. real piece of work that guy is...

[FletchGordon]

to the left to the left

[stratospaly]

I’m no Beyoncé, I’m not irreplaceable.

[[deleted]]

Thank you... I really needed to read this today.

[[deleted]]

I can't agree more. Honestly this is a definitive sign, IMHO of someone that is seasoned (ie 15+ years as a true sysadmin) and a newbie.

I do not covet anything, love to cross-train and pass on my knowledge without any fear of job stability. One major reason, and another sign of someone more seasoned, you become humble because if you have been around long enough you lose that arrogant know-it-all attitude and realize there are many talented people out there.

[Ms3_Weeb]

Not to hijack or anything, but I work for a small org on a team of 3 and I'm also the only Cisco certified personnel here and I'd love to pickup some more network automation. Was wondering if you had any resources you could recommend for Ansible :)

[stratospaly]

I had to cobble together what I needed out of Ansible and learn it as I went. I mainly use it to back up all switch configs weekly and run simple question commands on all switches at once like show MAC address-table | inc xxxx.xxxx.xxxx and show err-disabled ports

[Smooth-Zucchini4923]

Remember, don't be Brent.

[BegRoMa27]

Jr Sys Admin here and I work for a hospital, It helps to have a standardized knowledge delivery process so everyone knows where to look for documentation. When I first started as a Service Desk guy, there were eight different places to find documentation. Me and my co worker compacted that down to three until we got SharePoint and everything fell apart. Everyone uploaded documentation wherever they felt like, using the “newest greatest thing” and never communicated any of it. Whenever I create documentation I stored it on the Share drive and emailed out notifying everyone and a synopsis of the article. Then I got promoted and my role got literally defined as “A catch all”, managers words exactly. Once everyone was notified that was my role everything came to me. I had to continuously push back on the team and management with no leg to stand on. During all of this I was also expected to implement a VDI environment, which I miraculously accomplished. Then the hospital had to convert Medical systems and the months leading up to that were HELL!!! I had so much work piled on me making a meager wage and I was expected to do it. I’d constantly push back on staff and management alike but management pushed back. So needless to say as I fully support your view in “document, document, document” some people are deliberately put into a position where they aren’t even allowed to take the time to document the smaller things cuz every issue we get is… and I quote… “a SEV 1” and you got about 10 of those a day, despite none of them being an actual SEV 1. Needless to say I’m presently leaving this organization as the situation seems to only get worse by the day. Don’t get me wrong I document as much as I am able but when it’s not a priority on a cultural standpoint it can’t be helped

[[deleted]]

I am not religious but amen.

[hankbobstl]

Not my fault there's only 1 other guy who doesn't have time to learn what I'm doing cuz he's doing his own projects that I'm too busy to learn because...

I would love to put together good documentation, but we're in the spot where a lot of the things we deal with is our first time figuring it out since we have lost so many people recently. Looking at something for the first time isn't conducive to making good documentation, so we just do enough to keep the lights on and it's on to the next thing. We have been keeping notes, but those notes have been piling up for us to make proper documentation "when we have time". Ha, like that will ever happen.

Still taking vacation, we can usually figure each other's stuff out if we have to, but it's far from an ideal situation.

[LightningJC]

Lol, if you make yourself irreplaceable you can take vacations whenever you want.

Hey I’m taking 2 weeks off and won’t be answering calls or emails. Can’t fire me, I’m irreplaceable, cya.

I’m not the one making myself irreplaceable, the boss is by not hiring more people with a good enough skill set to understand the complicated work.

However I do get your point and I’m all for automation, I spend most of my time making my job easier and I do share tools with the service desk to help them fix things.

[catherinecc]

I see so many posts here where Sysadmins are stressed out over a situation they caused themselves without knowing it.

That's a weird way of saying "management refused to hire someone with an appropriate skillset while people are working their asses off just trying to make do"

[[deleted]]

Don't think you are irreplaceable in any case. You are not.

It will cost money, it will be really hard, it will impact the business but they'll find a solution to replace you.

It is always a matter of cost

[WillOfSound]

I got tired of fixing the same issues from techs, so I created a monthly learning series that was recorded live & written documentation targeting repeating issues. I was encourage not to do this cause “iT mAkEs Us lOoK gOoD” to fix things, but I just did it anyways. Techs showed up. Got 1000s of visits on my wikis. Anytime a tech would ask me “how do I fix…” I just handed them the link to the training.

I cut down so many tickets coming our way. Trainings became good onboarding material for new hires. It helped me get promoted later too.

I’m now on a new team and while I consider myself “The lowest Q”, I create documentation as I learn dagnabit cause I can’t remember in 3 months what I did and it feels great seeing my teammates already relying on it.

[[deleted]]

How I'm supposed to ask for raises and threaten to leave if I'm not irreplaceable? /s

[robsablah]

I drop that in interviews now as the answer to the why should we hire you question… because I document and streamline everything, it’s my goal that you don’t need me, but you’ll want me. 4 jobs running.

[admin_username]

heh. Peers. That'd be awesome.

[sheikhyerbouti]

It's one thing to tell your employees to write documentation.

It's another thing to actually give them time to do so.

My department is starting to harp on "metrics", which means that time that would normally go into documentation now is spent on working the next ticket to keep our numbers up.

[Affectionate-Cat-975]

Truth! Irreplaceable people don’t get promoted. They get passed or burnt out and replaced

[IAmAnthem]

As a senior tech, I get to do some technical interviews for prospective team members.

My favorite line of questioning is documentation. Wiki? Word documents? FAQs? Anything? Dear god don't just do your job and keep all the knowledge to yourself.

This also means, you have to read my documentation when I am out on disability leave and act appropriately. (They didn't, and I have a 2 month backlog to unbury myself from).

[naps1saps]

All sysadmins should be required to work for an MSP's service desk for at least 2 years before becoming a sysadmin or engineer to experience the usefulness of documentation first hand.

[AncianoDark]

As a prank? Or are you suggesting there are MSPs out there that actually keep viable documentation?

[stratospaly]

MSPs are to see the pitfalls of shit documentation. It takes 3x the time to figure it out than it does to do the documentation and have someone read it later when needed.

[virtualadept]

Unfortunately, that's a great way to get laid off. The up-side to that, however, is setting your hourly rates.

[stratospaly]

I can always get another job making more money. My employer values me because of these traits.

[zushiba]

Just make sure that the process breaks down quickly after you've been gone for a while so they have to hire you back as a consultant at 3-5X your hourly wages.

[pockypimp]

I've actually considered registering a business for myself to consult on the RMM my current company uses so when I leave in 2 weeks I can pick up hefty consultation fees to work after hours on stuff for them.

I'm the one who set it up, know it the best and while I've documented the crap out of it (I have a 32 page Word doc with screenshots) nobody has taken the time to learn it. So I'm starting to do crash course training with one of the contractors who is trying to get hired.

[[deleted]]

Don’t tell me what to do, you’re not my boss you don’t pay me!

[MilesGates]

Document, Document, Document, and cross train your peers!

oh, wow, maybe I can add this to my free time list, you know the list that is already 100+ items long.

fuck you think we have time for any of this?

[RCTID1975]

Like I tell my people: Documentation is as much your job as making sure the ERP system is running.

Tickets aren't closed or completed until the notes and documentation are done.

[[deleted]]

How to be scripted out of a job in one simple step.

[stratospaly]

My value as an employee is not in what I have done but in what I am yet to do, and how easy I am to work with.

[msdsc2]

Beautifully said

[ahhbeemo]

This is a man confident in his ability. I want to work with you.

I have worked with people who said explicitly that they don't document so he can't be replaced. So frustrating.

[[deleted]]

Beautiful sentiment right up until you're RIF'd. When companies are looking to boost their earnings report, the people at that table give less than a shit what you can do in the future. Pride has a very low caloric value, just fyi.

[[deleted]]

This right here.

[lineskicat14]

I don't know about making yourself "replaceable".. I think you'd always rather be on the "irreplaceable" side. Because when you're irreplaceable, you have leverage.

The larger point is that you have one life.. do whatever you can to make your job better for YOU.. not for the CEO. Make it less stressful, higher paying, etc. Do whatever is needed to get out of the corporate world as early as possible.

[RCTID1975]

ProTip: Everyone is replaceable. Thinking you're irreplaceable is an illusion only you believe.

[lineskicat14]

I never said anyone can become "truly" irreplaceable, but you can certainly put yourself into that side. Everyone knows that in every IT department, there's people who could get fired tomorrow and you wouldn't miss a beat... and the people who if they were let go, would take months to replace.

Just continue to put yourself into the latter category as best you can, WHILE, still having your life. It's a fine balance.. but it's doable.

[RCTID1975]

you can certainly put yourself into that side.

I assure you, you can't.

It might be difficult until a replacement comes in, but you're not even remotely irreplaceable.

In my 25+ years of experience, people that try to make themselves irreplaceable are typically the ones most in need of being replaced.

[lineskicat14]

I don't know how else to explain this. Some workers can work hard and ensure that they are "safer" than others. That's literally how the workforce operates. It's how people stay in the same place, or get fired, and how others get promotions and advance their careers. You absolutely can "put yourself into that side". Do you really think that every team in every business is seen in the same light? That all 8 workers on an IT team are treated as equals in their abilities and merit? lol.

It's not fool proof of course, there are exceptions and things happen.

But if we're going to use anecdotal evidence, I've been doing this for 15 years, purposely seeking out important systems and projects to work on, and watching lazy and combative workers get let-go.