The Admin ditches his always connected status to revert back to a Motorola Bravo… For how long?
This week has not been going so well for me technology wise, let’s just say I’m typing this on my trusty old hp 6515 pocket pc on my way to New Jersey. I am sure glad it didn’t wind up on eBay with the rest of my outdated equipment. I guess I loved it too much to get rid of it. Saying this Pocket Pc is a huge monster is an understatement but I needed to stay productive.
My little Tmobile dash has decided it doesn’t want to read memory cards anymore. The cards work elsewhere but not where I need them to work. I had seen this before and a soft reset usually solved my problem. Not this time. Hard reset? Nope not that either. SHIT! The reader in the Dash must be damaged! I wanted to go online and see if I could find some more information.
My Internet was down AGAIN with cablevision for a few hours. All these issues are pushing me towards a better more reliable connection to the net via me little laptop. This would be a much better solution than using the phone as a modem. To me laptops aren’t as quirky as phones. There isn’t any mystery left inside since I started building laptops out of spare parts. I went to grab my Tmobile Wing to take with me for the day. That should do it…
Shit it’s not charged I used it as a modem yesterday. Double shit I still didn’t unlock it because it had the t-mobile demo SIM and was still working.
I realize how much I miss the size and form factor of my dash already…
So yeah a WWAN card is in my near future for my dell x1 ultra portable. Always have a connection plenty of storage and my phone can go back to being a communication device and not a mobile office.
Convergence isn’t here just yet. Keep the equipment separated if you can. The same way I don’t recommend tv-vcr combos. If one breaks then what?
I couldn’t take it anymore and left home with the 6515 and my non functional dash. Well it was in tmobiles factory default state so all it did was make phone calls. No data text messaging or any of that.
Imagine that! The Admin not connected? I was very nervous and fidgety without being able to check my servers or at least get a little RSS going on my way to work.
But you know what? After getting into the office and seeing my servers didn’t die on me I wasn’t as nervous. I started to relax. All my boxes are redundant after all. Most issues that can be resolved will be by the safe guards in place. Raid Mirroring with duplexing for hard drives or the SCSI controller cards. Two redundant power sources feeding UPS’s, ac through chilled water with a portable ac wired in on a thermostat to kick on at 79 degrees. The internet backbone and the VPN pipe run BGP and we have an isdn line if all else fails.
I mean short of a lengthy backout or multiple downed lines what am I going to do other then put on a show? You know be an animated admin with smoke coming out of my head – yeah for show.
No, no, no I’m not worried about being so good I put myself out of a job because this stuff needs to be maintained. Stuff does break and then you need to go on site. And quickly!
Time to go back to my bravo plus beeper. HA!
If you need me punch in your number followed by your code then you can push the pound sign, and I will call you back.
So in all actuality my wing is charging and I’m about to unlock it.
How long did you think it was going to last? People don’t like to wait in this industry and I have become addicted to being connected.
TheConnectedAdmiN
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about 4 years ago
I disconnect myself as best as I can every night when I leave. Of course that is within reason.
I stopped using IM at home. I respond to personal emails at home, not work. When my crackberry goes off, I will look at who the email is from. If it is an exec, I answer it. When the cell phone rings(my desk IP phone rings w/blackberry), if it is work, I wait for the voicemail to hit the work VM and email me the copy so I can see who it was from. Again, exec, I call in and get it…and reply, or it waits until the AM.
All this ‘connected’ stuff is great when it is an emergency and you can do your job from just about anywhere in the world, i.e. logmein.com I posted! But you also need to have a freaking life!
I’ve toyed with the idea of ditching the crackberry…but I can’t! People don’t understand what the life of an admin is all about…but in a nutshell it is a 34/7/365 job.
I told my wife when I got my first admin job in 1999, and they gave me a pager. I said, ‘you realize that if this goes off, I don’t care where we are…I have to answer it and go.’ I tell that to other people too and they are confused.
We hold the keys to the kingdom and we need to keep that kingdom running. We are the proverbial men behind the curtain.
And I love in interviews when hiring people ask: “you will have to carry a cellphone/pager, do you have a problem with that?” My reply is always the same: “In this field if you have a problem with that, you’re in the wrong profession because it is part of the arrangement.”
Going low tech and disconnecting is not that bad you know…let us know how long you’re able to stem the tide of your technology addiction.
about 4 years ago
What a quote:
And I love in interviews when hiring people ask: “you will have to carry a cellphone/pager, do you have a problem with that?” My reply is always the same: “In this field if you have a problem with that, you’re in the wrong profession because it is part of the arrangement.”
If only some of the kids i have recently interviewed would respond this way! I always get ummm well i uhh.
Mr. SlothMan you are truly an Admin! I wish I didnt jump when the berry vibrates. I wish I didnt have my lifebook wth me at all times.
But that is the life of an admin.
about 4 years ago
when i took my admin job i was told i would be “on call” 2 days out of the week. and the other admins take the other days. i never got called in my first year. but this year it seems like it is every other night. we get comp time which is good but my fiance wants to cut off my you know what
how do you deal with it? i know once the big bucks start rolling in its different. but any advice to someone just starting out in this industry?
about 4 years ago
admin2008: Never thought I’d be giving marital advice here, but here it goes….
She needs to understand that this is your profession and what pays the bills. It is part of the deal as I said. And she needs to understand that.
C’est la vie man, she needs to get used to it.
about 4 years ago
Either they can deal with it or they can’t. As Sloth said this is what pays your bills right?
If you feel that you are working too many hours and want a different job thats one thing but dont be pressured out of what you do for someone else. That is if that something is your passion!
I personally love what I do and wouldn’t trade it for much of anything (hmmmm….) but you do have to seperate you work and personal life which can be hard at times.
…But your wifey needs to realize where that food is coming from – ya heard that?…
Sloth is that what that French term meant? :)
about 4 years ago
C’est la vie = That’s life.
about 4 years ago
I was being facetious :)
I was saying C’est la vie is just like Your wifey needs to realize where that food is coming from – ya heard that?
Just a lil’ more ebonic like
about 4 years ago
Amen! It took until my 125k promotion till the little lady politely shut her fucking mouth!!!!!!!
I say keep at it admin2008 next year is your year
about 4 years ago
Gipster: 125K?! What is your specialty and what is your locale?
Hang in there 2008…your time does come if you keep learning and growing. My time just came a few weeks ago. Life is much better now.
about 4 years ago
NYC Chief Security Officer. It was a big jump from mid 70′s. I have been with the same company for 6 years. I started as an intern in customer service.
Just make sure there is room to grow and that your company normally promotes from within the ranks.
If not don’t waste your time move on. Don’t fall into that “IT RUT”
@SM What is your specialty and what was your promotion?
about 4 years ago
I am an IT Manager at a relatively smallish(75 end users) firm on Long Island.
Wasn’t so much a promo as it was a negotiation to be compensated where I feel I needed to be in order to remain here(was going to relocate to NC) and feed my family properly.
My salary doesn’t live in your neighborhood, but you’re a CSO and if you’re good at your job you deserve it, but I’m getting there!
I don’t really have a specialty as I am a one man show. Rather a jack of all trades and master of a few. For a smallish environment we run some complicated stuff over here and I am in charge of it all…so in essence I am a CIO/CSO/CTO/IT MGR/ETC….
about 4 years ago
Back@SM – Manhattan is the place to be for 6 figures. But NC has a much lower cost of living. Can you even get jobs around 6 figures out there?
about 4 years ago
Gip: Let’s just say I have my key in the door to the six figure club. Not quite in yet, but all I need to do is twist at the right time and give it a little push.
Let’s just hope they didn’t deadbolt the sucker!!!! ;-)
As far as 6 figures on the Island…those jobs exist. They are tough to come by, but they do exist. I’ve been here for 6 years next month so I’ve paid my dues and earned my stripes. The IT job market here is tough that is for sure. Definitely not the wild, wild west of 1999-2000 that is for sure.
about 4 years ago
I can’t fathom the memory of how it felt to be stuck to something as cold and rudimentary as a Motorola Bravo. I applaud you , Admin