1. (nothing to see here)

3. First thing you need to learn is that sysadmin is about people, not technology If youre a sysadmin so you dont have to deal with people, youre in the wrong business

4. People need computers to do their jobs If there were no people, the company wouldnt need computers If the company didnt have any computers, they wouldnt need a sysadmin!

5. Everything a SysAdmin does must have a business reason behind it Like meet an SLA, conform to a regulation, etc. The gear isnt there for you to do cool stuff with If theres no business case for doing something, dont do it

6. Given that, lets talk – briefly! – about hard skills You know, commands and technology and stuff

7. Well, OK, you need these skills But which ones you need are specific to your domain of expertise And you can probably guess which ones you should learn And Im betting you can teach yourself the ones you dont already know

8. Unlike hard skills, this is something you need to learn And something you may not already know

9. Ability to look at the big picture Figure out requirements Make a plan Evaluate the results Big Picture Applies to existing systems as well as new stuff

10. Speaking about designing stuff …

11. From Agile / Extreme Programming Met the requirements and no more Yes, economy of scale and growth But those should be in the requirements Again, anything more and youre wasting time / money

12. Also, unless youre very good at predicting the future, the product (service, business, whatever) will change in the not-to-distant future and not only wont that feature you wanted to put in now be needed, some of the stuff thats actually in the current spec will need to be thrown out

13. So again, just whats in the spec and no more

14. Getting back to people …

15. If people dont want to ask for help – either because you scare them or youre unpleasant to deal with – you have failed Yes, you have to stay within policy But the goal is yes, not just say no Dont be pedantic

16. Part of this is giving the answer that is most helpful to the user, in terms the user will understand Dont be pedantic Dont answer with dont do that

17. Show respect for users Its not their job to know about computers If they knew about computers, the company wouldnt need you So stop saying rude things about them because they dont know as much about computers as you do

18. Your users are not stupid Really, theyre not Heres something that happened to me that illustrates that …

19. My wife uses a Mac I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Theyre different in ways not obvious to us On vacation, she asked to use my ThinkPad

20. How do I open it?

21. How do I turn it on?

22. Which button clicks the mouse?

23. Boy, is she dumb!

24. Um, no MS in biomedical engineering At least one patent Got bored with engineering, became a doctor Probably smarter than I am

25. She has ~7,500 hours experience using a computer

26. I have ~120,000 hours experience

27. Thats a factor of 16

28. 16! Thats a lot! Most sysadmins forget how big a gap that is

29. Stop whining about Windows Its pretty much the standard in the business world Get over it Better yet, accept it Whining just annoys your boss Reinforces his/her belief that you have a bad attitude

30. (And if youre whining about Windows, you do have a bad attitude!) Learn to use Windows desktop Learn common Office apps Learn Outlook If thats what your boss uses for meetings, you use it, too!

31. The point isnt security The point isnt about making sense Its about complying with legal requirements Which means staying in business You dont have to like it You do have to help implement it Ideally help improve it

32. Process – if done correctly – helps things Learn how to assess process and effectiveness Learn how to change process to improve effectiveness

33. Change management – again, if done well – prevents mistakes Mistakes cost money Again, learn how to improve the process so stops hindering and starts helping And do it without whining

34. Specifically...

35. His/her job is to manage people / projects, not be a sysadmin Learn to accept this Learn to get help from other people Conferences, IRC, mailing lists, etc.

36. If theres a problem, dont bash them, go help them fix it! Probably not their fault And theyre not dumb! Ops stuff doesnt usually make it into the spec Devs can only code whats in the spec

37. Summary: Stop whining!

38. Thats All, Folks Any questions?

39. After Today … More questions? Thank you!