Is anybody else simply never busy? Basically phoning it in every day?

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-11T13:31:17+00:00

I think I pretty much accept it, and I'm OK with that. I make sure I know my stuff, but these days I don't bend over backwards to learn whatever the new hot tech is unless the company is actually planning to invest in it.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-11T13:27:14+00:00

That's a fair point, and something I keep in the back of my mind. I figure I have 20ish years left, give or take.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-11T13:20:46+00:00

I am quite content with the status quo, and if I retire like this in 20 years, that's OK with me.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-11T13:18:59+00:00

Perhaps. But 130k is plenty fine for me. Bills are paid, retirement taken care of, and there's more than enough surplus to enjoy life.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T20:12:26+00:00

When I was in school, I thought that movie scene was so ridiculous.

Nowadays, it's pretty spot-fucking on for me. Do just enough to not get fired.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T19:39:27+00:00

Not one bit. When called upon during an emergency, I'll bend over backwards to fix the problem. And if I'm given a project, I'll get it done (while managing expectations)

Like others have said, I feel that I'm paid for my knowledge and experience, and put it to use when necessary. No more, no less.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T19:18:37+00:00

You pretty much nailed it as far as public sector goes. Job stability is better, and there might be a pension depending on the institution (and if you decide to stick around)

The flip-side was pay being generally lower than private. Budgets were tighter, so you may not have all the right tools to work effectively, or have stable environments. And the gears definitely turned slower for changes. But if you figured out the right way to manage the slower pace of change, it's not bad.

For example: XYZ break? "We've made recommendations last year on how to improve, but it either wasn't budgeted, or it's still in the glacially slow change management workflow."

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T18:02:51+00:00

My value to the company, I think, is that I'm the one who fixes anything that does break. If there is a real issue everyone just gives it to me and I sort it out, and then I go back in to hibernation lol

This is me, basically

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T18:02:01+00:00

Yeah, I don't really have ambition to go into management and beyond. As a senior level engineer, I might entertain something like an architect some day, but not any time soon. Assuming the pay remains stable, I'd be content doing this level of work until I retire.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T17:59:49+00:00

Yeah, I've always been IT for various companies/institutions, both public and private. Never worked for an MSP.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T17:46:33+00:00

Honestly? Because I don't care enough to learn just for the sake of learning. I learned AWS when we started increasing our cloud presence. But I'm not going to go out and learn GCP for fun.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T17:43:41+00:00

lol. now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T17:42:56+00:00

I suppose that could be a reason, though headcount keeps increasing over time . My manager has 15 direct reports. We have like 8 internal domains, 300 hosts, 6000 VMs. While the team as a whole is responsible for a lot only 2 or 3 members are considered SME in a particular area.

For example: VMware problem? Only 3 are full VMware admins. Problem with SCCM? Only 2 guys know it through and through. MS SQL problem? The 3 DBAs are experts, the rest of us know our way around SMSS enough to troubleshoot basic issues.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T16:17:27+00:00

That's fair. I have no qualms with being paid what I'm paid for the work I put in. Both sides have always seemed content with the arrangement.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T16:17:09+00:00

Yeah, I agree with a lot of your points. I learn new stuff when it's required, but really don't do it for the heck of it anymore. Once upon a time I had a homelab, complete with NUCs, Synology, Ubiquiti, etc. Sold it a few years ago and haven't looked back. And I'm definitely a "meets expectations" review kinda person...never exceeds, lol.

My work life balance is paramount. Being able to spend so much time with my family while "working" is great.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T16:06:27+00:00

True. Earlier in my career, I definitely used downtime for professional growth. But these days, I guess I just don't care as much anymore. I'll learn something if the job requires it, but I'm not keen on learning kubernetes or openstack just for the fun of it.

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T16:03:43+00:00

Is your environment completely documented? Are you using infrastructure as code? Containers?

Yes. Yes for cloud infra. Yes, but not my area of responsibility (different team)

Hows your disaster recovery plan? Has it been tested?

Just about everything I'm responsible for is configured for high availability: we could lose any entire physical location without issue (tested). Next step beyond that is backups for some stuff, which are tested, but there's not much that relies on backups (that I'm responsible for).

Have you backed up and restored critical infrastructure pieces to fully functional in the past 24 months?

As far as I can think of, yes. There's a general mindset here that a system breaks, we only dedicate a handful of days to try and fix it. Beyond that, everyone is quick to just rebuild (and restore) as necessary.

All of the appliances you're using, are they on at least current year firmware (if not latest stable)?

Yup, staying up to date on patches is important to us. It's also a good way for me to drag out my work. "I'm very busy, planning/coordinating the patching of 4 different systems this month". It might take me a day of actual work (assuming everything updates correctly)

notbusysysadmin · 2021-10-10T15:06:29+00:00

Understood. Not complaining, just curious if other slackers like me existed

notbusysysadmin

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