In a former career track, I was a effectively the (completely self-taught*) SysAdmin for a small publishing company. As well as doing a lot of layout, some illustration, proofreading, print-buying, free-lancer-running and management of small in-house teams, I commissioned, installed and maintained the mostly Mac-based systems and printers.

When the company was taken over by a larger one, I also ‘maintained’ the server and PCs used by the admin/finance team, despite knowing almost nothing about Windows. (One of my on-going battles was against an admindroid who insisted on installing custom cursors, despite them being potential attack vectors and definite processor-hogs. I should have pushed for training on how to lock down the machines.

Despite having moved on to other things, I still vaguely miss those days, and so am happy to see that there is a day to celebrate SysAdmins everywhere. Shame I’ve missed it this year.

*and yes, the student was only as good as his teacher!