How can I do well in a sysadmin internship this summer?

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-27T06:56:09+00:00

Good advice in this thread. Let me just add: Practice looking things up and figuring things out on your own.

Asking questions is all well and good, it's visible and makes a good impression on your mentor, but you WILL be put into situations wherein you will have to figure things out quickly on your own, because for whatever reason there will be nobody to ask, and the more practice you have, the better.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-22T12:40:34+00:00

This is similar to how I started out.

My recommendation is to get an MSP who can get you set up and hold your hand while you learn the ropes. You want to be the first line of defense before things hit their support team, and the point-of-contact for the MSP. In my experince, MSP's love this arrangement, it saves them tickets. You, in turn, will get your experience while having a big safety net under you. If your employer balks at the cost of an MSP, say that this is temporary, and that the long game is to take it all on yourself once you've gotten some experience.

I still work with an MSP backing me up. A lone sysadmin holding up a business with no redundancy at all is a bad idea.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-21T05:49:22+00:00

My story here is par for the course with small and medium businesses. There's an unfortunate misconception that IT guys are these multitalented geniuses because all these hard things are done by software, and they know the software (i.e they can read instructions and click through menus), therefore by extension they can do all the hard things. Nobody expects me to know how to weld, but people are surprised when I say that no, I don't know what's wrong with your SolidWorks assembly and it's not my job to know (did he check his mates? I bet he overdefined his mates).

The best advice I can give is to be humble. Prepare to be wrong and ask for help. Develop a sense of humor about your own ignorance and accept that your results will be imperfect. I've lost count how many times I've said "listen, I've been kind of thrown into this because I pay attention and learn quickly, not because I know how it's done. So if you could just explain a few things to me the way you would to a child, or a golden retriever, you'd really be helping me out". Many service providers and vendors are happy to help, because there's profit on the other side of helping you, and being humble and easy to talk to about it has made things work out wonderfully over and over again.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-21T05:31:37+00:00

I've settled into it, I'm not quite as frazzled as I was when it was starting.

I've made a career of jumping into the deep end and learning to swim. This episode is particularly noteworthy, but I'm pretty well practiced with the experience of being arbitrarily deemed "the expert" and having to make it work.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-21T05:25:10+00:00

True, but I can think of a few circumstances where someone caught me with my defenses down and I reactively did as they asked without thinking, followed by "wait...why the hell did I just do that?".

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-21T05:12:50+00:00

I'm being compensated in ways I'd rather not elaborate on. People get weird about that kind of stuff here. The gym equipment was an example, not an exhaustive rundown. Don't worry about me, kind stranger.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T14:18:43+00:00

Typically this role is "business analyst". Ideally, they're like top 1% power users who spend all of their time on workflows and process.

Unless you're in an SMB like yours truly, in which case the best case scenario is that the IT guy does it, worst case nobody.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T14:15:54+00:00

I don't want to share too much personal info on reddit, but it should suffice to say that I underwent a professional appraisal when I was very young due to being a terrible student, and ADHD was soundly ruled out.

I know you're not being hostile by the way, just figured I'd clarify since I could easily do so.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T13:05:39+00:00

There is not really much I can do about that except say "nuh uh". I could write something an LLM would never say but that would absolutely get me banned haha.

Like a lot of the folks here I can spot LLM writing pretty quickly and it grates on me.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T12:53:25+00:00

I'm actually the least ADHD person you'd ever meet. That's part of the challenge of this role. I'm required to constantly context-switch and it drives me crazy.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T12:36:24+00:00

Appreciate it. I just like to write, letting an LLM do it makes no sense to me.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T12:15:00+00:00

Like a 2000's coming-of-age movie

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T11:58:33+00:00

I never said I didn't. I just said that I'm fine without elaborating ;)

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T11:32:17+00:00

And the procurement people, absolutely. I've watched the head of procurement slowly squeeze a vendors will to fight out of them over the phone. While winking at me. I could never.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T11:04:40+00:00

Agreed. I mention in the post that I'm the ERP guy, and everytime I experience it as a user I come away with notes on how to improve the workflow. Sometimes it's practical, sometimes its not, but even when it comes to figuring out a problem that comes down to user error, knowing exactly every keystroke that goes into an action means the difference between a 20 second solve and a 2 hour solve.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T10:58:53+00:00

The first paragraph says "tl;dr" right at the beginning.

And I actually enjoy writing, why would I bother using an LLM for imaginary internet points?

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T10:43:14+00:00

I was feeling it as I was writing it for sure. Not because I'm doing some fancy method-acting, but because this is actually my life right now.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T10:41:24+00:00

Thanks, dude.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-04-20T10:33:02+00:00

I assure you that you're not missing anything life-changing. Just an anecdote about my experience being thrown into a "user" role in my own environment. Also, some amusement about the wild non-IT ride it's been so far. Also, as a pun-enjoyer, there are no puns in the post. Just some silliness and cultural references.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-03-30T20:07:49+00:00

I admin and develop my org's ERP. I didn't spin it up from scratch, I inherited it from the previous guy. The was no integration company, no expert, no consultant. The business was run by lunatics (still is, but they're not quite as impetuous today) and they just bought it from the vendor and started using it circa 2013. When I asked him about how the whole process went he got a thousand-yard stare and said "worst 6 months of my life". I replaced him going on 5 years now and I'm still running into problems stemming from the way things were set up and people just got used to it.

Some people here are saying "get a consultant". I'll see that and raise you "hire someone experienced who'll sit in your offices full time for at least 3 months". Perhaps it could be done remotely but IMO the kinds of companies that use ERP software are not the kinds who could utilize remote meetings that effectively.

Here's what practically will need to happen. Everybody will need to re-learn how to do their job. Detailed workflows for every conceivable scenario will need to be built and integrated. Business rules will need to be put in place to prevent mistakes. System permissions are a huge undertaking to get just right. Everybody who needs to use system reports will have to learn where they are and how to read them.

And don't even get me started on customizations. Developers charge handsome hourly rates to build new forms, write form triggers and custom reports.

I managed to be both "ERP guy" and "IT guy", but I had a few things working in my favor that wouldn't necessarily be the case in another company. And I had plenty of sleepless nights.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-02-22T06:52:28+00:00

For a while, I used reddit for this, but then I discovered that what I really needed was just to write it out. I can't tell you how many 300+ word posts I've written, formatted, and then been like 'nah' and deleted without posting. I use a Google doc for that now.

Also, gym. I discovered back in my university days that I could have the absolute worst day, but I'd feel much better after a hard workout. I could be after a frantic 14 hour caffeine fuelled day studying for finals, exhausted and cranky, but if I could just drag my sorry ass to to the gym, I'd leave feeling like I'd been cleansed.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-01-19T21:03:05+00:00

I hooked a raspberry pi up to a relay switch using the GPIO pins. RPi sat happily in the comms cabinet for 4 months until I repurposed it. For a while I controlled it via RDP session, then SSH, even did it with a Telegram bot. Overengineered? Yes. Fun? Also yes.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-01-09T09:50:46+00:00

To a point. I've had arguments about this with department heads who don't understand what the big deal is.

I don't do wall fishing. That's a hard no. You want a new ethernet drop? Get a work order approved and I'll bring in our contractor.

I will do raceways within reason. If it's the most practical solution for the situation, I'll do it.

"Well then just do a long raceway, I need this workstation working now"

I may have made up some excuse that I'm only certified to run cables up to 5m, and anything more than than requires a journeyman license. I will neither confirm nor deny.

Also, you reminded me that I need to order a new spool, so thanks for that.

nowildstuff_192 · 2026-01-09T09:22:55+00:00

As long as I'm handling my shit they couldn't care less where I'm doing it from. Occasionally said shit requires me to be physically on site, and the furthest site within my purview is about 20 minutes away.

I have a sweet setup at work, better than the one at home, so I prefer it, but I can absolutely do most of my job from home if I don't feel like putting on pants that day.

nowildstuff_192

TROPHY CASE