System Administration

[Absnt]

I've been considering system administration as a possible career choice. I'm looking for a career path that I won't loose interest in after the first few years... Most INTP's like me end up having dozens of jobs, and multiple careers because they just jump from job to job when they get bored... It's not very lucrative, not stable and it sucks ass because I won't like my jobs.

The way I see it, the only way I'm going to like my future job is if I am extremely interested in the subject matter, and the job isn't repetitive at all. Shit changes, new and interesting challenges arise, and I'm needed. System Administration seems like it fills all of those.

Ideally, I could just turn into House M.D, or Sherlock Holmes and do non-existant jobs, but that's not going to happen, so I'll take the next best thing. Hopefully eventually I'll land myself a job in a medium-sized company or government job where I'll be the go-to guy when the techies can't figure something out. I'll also manage the servers, and I'll be a consult for the security guys to help everything move along. I'll probably end up doing basic scripts to get daily jobs out of the way, too. I can't even think of a better job... I'm probably dreaming though, the likelihood of me landing a job with those specifications is slim.

I'll probably end up in a small business turning off capslock for people who can't log in for some odd reason, and fixing printers. I'm fine with that, of course, but if that's all I'll be doing, I'll get bored very quickly, and inevitably quit.

Suggestions?

[Efs]

(12-10-2011 11:20 AM)Absentinsomniac Wrote:  I've been considering system administration as a possible career choice. I'm looking for a career path that I won't loose interest in after the first few years... Most INTP's like me end up having dozens of jobs, and multiple careers because they just jump from job to job when they get bored... It's not very lucrative, not stable and it sucks ass because I won't like my jobs.

The way I see it, the only way I'm going to like my future job is if I am extremely interested in the subject matter, and the job isn't repetitive at all. Shit changes, new and interesting challenges arise, and I'm needed. System Administration seems like it fills all of those.

Ideally, I could just turn into House M.D, or Sherlock Holmes and do non-existant jobs, but that's not going to happen, so I'll take the next best thing. Hopefully eventually I'll land myself a job in a medium-sized company or government job where I'll be the go-to guy when the techies can't figure something out. I'll also manage the servers, and I'll be a consult for the security guys to help everything move along. I'll probably end up doing basic scripts to get daily jobs out of the way, too. I can't even think of a better job... I'm probably dreaming though, the likelihood of me landing a job with those specifications is slim.

I'll probably end up in a small business turning off capslock for people who can't log in for some odd reason, and fixing printers. I'm fine with that, of course, but if that's all I'll be doing, I'll get bored very quickly, and inevitably quit.

Suggestions?

I was thinking of being something like a Systems admin too. But I want to get a double bachelors degree in I.T. and Business. And possibly one of Comp Science, Comp Engineering or Biomed Engineering. So then I can rise in a multinational corporation and become CEEEOOOOO!
Sounds alright though, what about becoming something like a Systems Analyst? And a degree in Business would be good too.

[Absnt]

System analyst looks pretty cool. Looks like more deadlines and more bosses, though. Who's going to tell the system admin he's doing his job wrong when nobody even knows wtf he's doing... As long as they keep everything running and secure, they're happy.

[aCol]

Uh, System Administration does sound nice, but you will have to put up with some idiots. "Why isn't that and that working?" "It's being maintaned atm. There was a email around because of that" "But I need this to work? How am I going to work now?" "JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME DO MY WORK SO YOU CAN DO YOURS"....

Well, its not always like that, but when it is, it annoys you.

[Efs]

Well I've worked with the I.T. Support Levels 1-3 for a big I.T. solutions company and seriously they deal with a lot of dumb shits. The Asian guy I was with kept saying how some of the people he works with are just so fucking stupid and he wants to just rage it but he can't. One time when I was working with him, he put his hand over the microphone and yelled "FUUUUUUUCKKKK" and then put a smile on his face and in a happy voice helped the client out lol

[aCol]

Yes, its hard venting while your stuck at your job

[Absnt]

Yeah, I know lol. I have to deal with that now, anyways. My family, my families family, my families friends, my friends, and some random ass people all happen to know I'm good at fixing computers for some reason. Some of the shit people do... It's mind boggling. But every once in a while, you'll come across a problem that's actually difficult, and shit gets interesting. Plus, if I work at a big enough place, they'll have tech guys, and they'll only consult the sysadmin when they're stumped. -- Wishful thinking though.

Yeah, I don't mind dealing with retards TOO much. Unless it's ALL retards and no hard stuff, but I can't imagine that happening, since the retards almost always cause something important to fuck up, at least every once in a while.

[Efs]

(12-11-2011 03:59 AM)Absentinsomniac Wrote:  Yeah, I know lol. I have to deal with that now, anyways. My family, my families family, my families friends, my friends, and some random ass people all happen to know I'm good at fixing computers for some reason. Some of the shit people do... It's mind boggling. But every once in a while, you'll come across a problem that's actually difficult, and shit gets interesting. Plus, if I work at a big enough place, they'll have tech guys, and they'll only consult the sysadmin when they're stumped. -- Wishful thinking though.

Yeah, I don't mind dealing with retards TOO much. Unless it's ALL retards and no hard stuff, but I can't imagine that happening, since the retards almost always cause something important to fuck up, at least every once in a while.

I'm actually interested in that work too, I love fixing people computers and stuff, sometimes it gets annoying though, because everyone asks for help and I don't even get paid or anything...and sometimes I even take my time off school and homework to help them...that frustrates me because I have to work harder then -.-
But I'm just worried that sometimes I'll get a problem and I wouldn't know how to fix it...what do I do then? While I'm on the phone.."Uh, dude, I'm sorry I can't help you." ??? Then they think you're a dumbass and ignore everything that you helped them with in the past.

[Absnt]

^ Look it up, find someone who can fix it, that type of thing. I'm probably going to go to college and learn a bunch of shit, though, plus I'm already pretty well versed, so I'm not too worried about it.

[Absnt]

Well fuck, here's what I was told on the subject:

Quote:on call 24-7-365. held responsible when shit breaks out of your control. forced to deal with idiotic users, managers that cut your budget, bosses who don't understand what you do and want to outsource you to india.

Quote:Being a system administrator sucks!

>on call 24/7 (yes, including Xmas and new years. actually i am working on xmas morning from 7am till 5pm! what a great day for me!!!)
>woken up 4am on sunday because <server> is running low of disk space which is a vital exchange server and cannot go down.
>EVERY body comes to you and ask's why such and such is running slow, or why such and such was down for 5mins


Seriously OP i thought it would be cool to, but it burns you out quick, expect to take a few sick days to just relax.

That being said 5 figures kind of covers it but i cant sleep some nights because i know something is going to crash and im going to need to wake up, turn computer on and work, and then go to work later in the day with less sleep.

Quote:The respect and pay level is somewhere around janitorial grade. The responsibility and complexity are utterly huge. People buy these chunks of absolute shit software, base their businesses around them and then keep adding and adding and adding until they've built an unmaintainable monster from hell. Then they call you at any time, day or night to be pissed off because some part of it fell over. They'll also call you any time, day or night if they collapse the nested folder view in Microsoft Outlook and don't know what to do.

No one is willing to pay for redundancy (in terms of people or hardware). So when shit breaks you are the only one they phone and there's no spare. I'd answer a call at 2am on Christmas Eve if the problem were bad enough.

Quote: I was a server admin once. Then I took an arrow to the knee. Actually I just got tired of sleeping in an RV out behind the building. No joke. It was easier than going home only to be called back on many occasions. The job sucks.

Quote: > the knowledge that you "make a difference".


That's a big part of the job, knowing that you don't make any sort of a difference what-so-ever.

So I guess that's out.

[Efs]

I'd still go for it. And if shit get's hard I'll just walk out like a boss and a big loud FUCK YOU ALL

[Absnt]

^ Yeah, we'll see. If I'm going to pay to go to college to learn about computers, I want to make sure I'm really that interested in them and I can make a career out of it. It's not like anyones offering me that job or anything.