Don't panic!!

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Tomorrow should be amusing. For certain values of.

I started only last Wednesday in my new job; my first ever sysadmin position. (Well, it says sysadmin on my contract; I'm more of a helldesk/admin/purchasing/dogsbody really). In the tech department there are four of us: the NT admin, the Unix/Mac admin, the boss, and little me - newest one on the team. Most of my work involves buying stationery and hardware, and setting up PCs and email accounts.

It's my first ever IT position.

The Unix/Mac sysadmin is off sick. The boss has a hospital appointment tomorrow morning and will work from home the rest of the day. The NT admin will also be out all morning. The IT department will consist of ...


... me.


Talk about in at the deep end. Someone really didn't think this through; and it's not them that's going to get it in the neck tomorrow if anything goes wrong. I have the administrator passwords for the PCs and the Macs, but if anything goes wrong with the Unix or Solaris boxes then they are going to be so screwed. I might have a vague chance of dealing with any freeBSD issues, but I wouldn't place any bets on it.

Comments

Ahoy, Matey!

[jecook]

D'oh!

Welcome aboard, in any case.

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

Ok I gotta ask, you must have some IT experience previous right?

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Not particularly. At home I run freeBSD, Mac OSX Tiger, and Ubuntu; I ran Windows XP on a laptop for 4 years, one year of which it was running 24/7 as the household server. I've designed and coded HTML and CSS for several websites of my own, and I've had plenty of experience monkeying around with NT in a previous job - plus I've done plenty of admin positions where I built up a good working knowledge of Word, Exel etc. But this is the first techsupport job I've ever had. All previous experience has been as a user, really; being a geek has, until now, been a hobby rather than a career choice.

That said, apparently I'm far more IT-literate than the guy I've replaced, and they were actually worried I might be overqualified for this position! It's supposed to be a "learn on the job" sort of position, but I don't think "in at the deep end" was quite what was intended.

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

Hey deep ends are fun! Jump on in. Ok so you are like way more qualified than I am. I haven't even seen Tiger yet. I was just introduced to Ubuntu. I heard it was pretty user friendly. (is it?)

So yeah you are fine. My training normally consists of, here is the phone, passwords, your rights and whoops look what went down now get to work. So no worries mate you will be fine!

Plus you can always fein "new geek here gimme a min" run back to your desk, lock the door (assuming you have one) and call someone. No problem!

[arkady.livejournal.com]

I love Ubuntu. I got hacked off thoroughly with the WinXP install that had been on my laptop for the past 4 years and tried an Ubuntu Live CD; everything Just Worked. I wiped the hard drive, stuck on Ubuntu and have been happy as a lamb ever since. :-)

Ubuntu is a very user-friendly flavour of Linux, ideal for anyone dipping their toe into Linux for the first time.

Alas, I have no office to run away to - it's all open-plan! Maybe I can go hide in the server room instead. ;-)

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

Locked door is the key for survival! That should be IT support 101. Unfortunately I am in cubevill myself and have no locked doors to run to. Man I miss that. Good luck!

[jecook]

Indeed.

Now if I can get a windowless door to complement the lock, I'll be good to go.

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

No way, blinds or paper does the trick.

[kayfox.livejournal.com]

Alunimum foil.

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

I thought that was to keep the aliens from reading your brain waves. Did I miss the memo?

[greeklady.livejournal.com]

Oh find out where all the software is hidden. That always stumps me when I am left alone.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Oh, the software is easy enough. I know where the software repository is on the servers. It's the servers themselves going down that scares me!

The thing is, although there is some "hit by a bus" documentation on the company wiki, it's all been written by either my boss or myself, so it basically covers stuff I already know (PC build/set up, active user directory and email set up for internal and external email, purchasing contacts) or those few bits he's put in (setting up intranet/extranet client accounts, assigning IP addresses by MAC address). This doesn't cover any of the Unix stuff or the day-to-day stuff the NT admin tackles (he's notoriously secretive and doesn't subscribe to the "hit by a bus" theory of documentation). Mac OSX is easy enough - under the pretty interface it's basically Unix, and I can install software and do basic troubleshooting OK.

Within my own little area, I'm reasonably proficient up to a point, and I do learn stuff incredibly fast. But if there's a problem with a server, I wouldn't be sure how to deal with it. I do have cardkey access to the server rooms, but wouldn't have an earthly what to do once in there!

[kayfox.livejournal.com]

Ive always said that a Wiki would be a wonderful thing for a tech department. Certainly better than Primus Quck REsolve.

Mines ok, its been built up fast because thats what I do when I dont have anything to do (my job involves alot of "hurry up and wait").

[loosechanj.livejournal.com]

Quitcher bitchin', reddragdiva is your bf! :-P