What is a sysadmin in one to two sentences?

[-]

sccmskin@reddit

I usually just tell people I click buttons for a living. When they push me I start explaining enterprise systems management and I will literally watch their eyes glaze over. Clicking buttons is much simpler.

Reply

[-]

commandsupernova@reddit

I once told a hairdresser I was a sysadmin and they said "Nice, so you try to keep everything online". Honestly, this isn't the worst explanation I've heard!

Reply

[-]

GoodTofuFriday@reddit

Try is the optimal word here.

Reply

[-]

No_Nature_3133@reddit

Do or do not, there is no try

Reply

[-]

Ssakaa@reddit

That... is a disturbingly astute level of understanding for an off the cuff person in passing. That person has IT in their family (either blood or chosen).

Reply

[-]

marklein@reddit

To be fair to hairdressers, plenty of them are smart as hell. It's just the folks at supercuts that make the profession look bad. In many states hairdressers are required to get more training than police officers.

Reply

[-]

IntentionalTexan@reddit

My barber used to be a SysAdmin at a hosting company.

Reply

[-]

ciphermenial@reddit

Police officers get training?

Reply

[-]

OmenVi@reddit

The cousin of one of the guitarists in the band I used to play in, worked with my wife at a salon for a while. She went back to college, got a degree for programming/development, got a job as a developer, and 5 yrs later was a supervisor for a team of devs. It’s as if it was possible for people to do what they like for a living rather than what makes them the most money, they would. And just because they don’t do something as a career doesn’t mean they can’t.

Reply

[-]

Lonelybiscuit07@reddit

I used to work as a chef before becoming a sysadmin, proof is on my profile lol, i'm glad you respect us late bloomers. That said. We should really value our blue collar workers, because soon they'll all be gone because they (we) got told to "get a better job then" when complaining how unfair the wages were.

Reply

[-]

Lonelybiscuit07@reddit

To be fair, that speaks more to how low the bar is to become an (armed) police officer

Reply

[-]

Ssakaa@reddit

Also accurate. I've even known a few at supercuts type shops that're amazing... they just typically end up \*not\* as supercuts terribly long.

Reply

[-]

anotherkeebler@reddit

I’m impressed to know this about hair dressers and disappointed to know it about police officers

Reply

[-]

the123king-reddit@reddit

Hairdresser see a lot of folks from every avenue of life. When your job involves a large quantity of smalltalk, you’ll pick things up

Reply

[-]

sleeper1320@reddit

This isn't far from the explanation I give: "I make computers do what they're supposed to do". This one might be better though.

Reply

[-]

CyrielTrasdal@reddit

This is a good one line to describe sysadmins. When techs are usually setup break/fix. Sysadmins are meant to think ahead what's needed in a specific context for things to work a planned amount of time. So keeping/making things stay online is a good wording for it at the most simple level. The reality is often being a IT janitor I'll admit, and be savior of the day sometimes.

Reply

[-]

Unable-Entrance3110@reddit

This is how I describe sysadmin to my hairdresser so perhaps we use the same one...

Reply

[-]

madmaverickmatt@reddit

The mug on my desk about sums it up. IT guy, because bad ass miracle worker isn't a job title.

Reply

[-]

lurkeroutthere@reddit

Techno Shaman: In normal life I'm consulted first by fools, last by wise men. If a situation is truely fucked i"m the only hope of solving it. My failures are obvious, my victories unseen, and my absence keenly felt.

Reply

[-]

SUEX4@reddit

This is possibly one of the most corniest things that I have ever read in my entire life.

Reply

[-]

lurkeroutthere@reddit

Aww you are going to make me blush. I’m happy to broaden folks horizons. Personally I thought it was cynical and and a tad melodramatic. But between folks actually liking my hurried little wordplay between conference calls and getting to send a “no seriously we’re not doing business with you anymore “ email to a kind of infuriating vendor today even folks that don’t care for it put a smile on my face right now. My wife is going to start rummaging for the narcam when I walk through the door I’ve got such a big shit eating grin.

Reply

[-]

SUEX4@reddit

I don't think it is quite that serious, but I'm glad you're happy.

Reply

[-]

juciydriver@reddit

Now I'm sad.

Reply

[-]

lurkeroutthere@reddit

I'm sorry to hear that sir or ma'am. I'm not, while I'm certainly cynical at times I don't have to go very far from where I sit in my air conditioned office to find people doing physically demanding and in some cases just as mentally taxing work for less money. I have no college education, objectively terrible scholarship on any topic that doesn't interest me, and no poker face, or taste for deception or selling myself to speak of. Yet I have a career that will let me learn as much as I care to for as long as I care to. I have a job that doesn't just tolerate my spot welded moral compass and ADHD focus and multitasking cycles it practically requires it. The most dangerous thing I have to face on any given day is high blood pressure and a sedentary lifestyle. I have it good. If I could delete printers and require everything to produce a log file somewhere on command I'd be grand but in the meantime this beats working for a living.

Reply

[-]

Jroc_knowm_sayn@reddit

Well said

Reply

[-]

sysadmin189@reddit

"I share my dreams with ghosts."

Reply

[-]

litescript@reddit

i’ve made my mind a sunless place

Reply

[-]

Aim_Fire_Ready@reddit

r/UnexpectedlyPoetic

Reply

[-]

lurkeroutthere@reddit

I wish I could say it was original art but the failures obvious and victories unseen I'm reasonably sure I repurposed from something about spies or scouts but it certainly applies to our profession as well. The bit about fools and wise men and the order and frequency they bring stuff to me is just something I'm keenly feeling these last few weeks.

Reply

[-]

101001101zero@reddit

Absence keenly felt. We’ve got a cmdb discovery issue going on ATM between CM and our ticketing/software request system that is 100% because of a poor decision made by the asset team. They won’t own it and says it was a finance team decision that made him do it, but will not elaborate on what that was. He used to manage MEMCM and when he applied to come back the whole engineering team was all F NO, so now he is a PM procuring equipment. Hands me 10 machines to reimage and tells me to keep them “on the wire” for an hour and then shut them down to test the discovery process. So I did that with two, two others on the internal wireless, two on prelogin vpn, two on each of the post login vpn, and two on just public WiFi (none were populated in CM. Gave him the CM and CMDB results for each test case and he threw a fit because I didn’t test exactly how he wanted. Luckily my leadership rocks so when he complained he was shot down because I just literally redundantly tested each network connection scenario for our environment and reported the results. He cornered my coworker and made him run the one hour test being my back with the same results I got from the two machines I tested his way. Man claims his team isn’t technical and then tries to tell me how to do my job because seven years ago he was an engineer that wasn’t worth his salt, so now is in procurement and shipping. Also his whole team gets paid more than I with 20 years experience and they just do paperwork and packaging/shipping. One of his analysts actually knows her shit and we vent weekly, my new work wife is awesome.

Reply

[-]

Aim_Fire_Ready@reddit

I felt every bit of your description! Hang in there, man.

Reply

[-]

JwunsKe@reddit

This perfection!

Reply

[-]

just_some_onlooker@reddit

Jeez I'm taking that one for my job description

Reply

[-]

dasdzoni@reddit

Shit i gotta write this down

Reply

[-]

vaxcruor@reddit

Perfection

Reply

[-]

piorekf@reddit

Beautiful :D

Reply

[-]

Sengfeng@reddit

Corporate garbage collector.

Reply

[-]

DrAculaAlucardMD@reddit

"We fix things you never knew were broken and improve systems you never knew we had. The reason why things run smoothly is because of all the work you never see. Between break/fix and designing all new infrastructure we do everything."

Reply

[-]

EducationalIron@reddit

Short for system administrator

Reply

[-]

sysadminbj@reddit

A systems administrator is generally responsible for the maintenance of the networks and systems that we use every day to do business. This includes hardware replacement schedules, software patching, cyber security compliance, and a thousand other tasks that are absolutely required for day to day operations. In short, you could probably survive a week or two without a good sysadmin in place. After that, something will break and operations will grind to a halt. That's kind of a broad answer. JDs for sysadmin roles will vary greatly between orgs.

Reply

[-]

sh-z@reddit

***"Jack of All Trades, Master of None"***

Reply

[-]

dreniarb@reddit

A while back when I was solo I left the country for about 6 weeks. Everything worked fine the entire time without any kind of outage. That's a bit of a mixture of complementary and scary.

Reply

[-]

DoctorOctagonapus@reddit

"We solve problems you didn't know you had in ways you don't understand.

Reply

[-]

pertymoose@reddit

The calm eye in the center of the shit-storm.

Reply

[-]

I_T_Gamer@reddit

Professional guesser, and button pusher.

Reply

[-]

Reverend_Russo@reddit

We make the beeps go boop.

Reply

[-]

Schrankwand83@reddit

And the blex go blibblediblob blinkenlights

Reply

[-]

1nf1n1t3l00p@reddit

I am the order in chaos and the chaos in order, I am the beginning and the end, I drink coffee.

Reply

[-]

1nf1n1t3l00p@reddit

I hope run on sentences count

Reply

[-]

sorderon@reddit

I'm the dude who turns the fan off after the shit got thrown

Reply

[-]

IainND@reddit

Basically it's when you administrate the systems

Reply

[-]

No-One-8888@reddit

If you need to fix a computer, you need your tech savvy causing. If you need to fix a thousand computers, you need a sysadmin

Reply

[-]

fangoutbang@reddit

A wanna Be Security Professional that things they know how things work.

Reply

[-]

yorickdowne@reddit

Someone who automates all the things and would love nothing better than to automate themselves out of a job.

Reply

[-]

fungusfromamongus@reddit

You sound like a devops engineer

Reply

[-]

SuperQue@reddit

If you're not automating, you're not a sysadmin. Without automation it's just tech support.

Reply

[-]

fungusfromamongus@reddit

Preach brother!

Reply

[-]

yorickdowne@reddit

Yep. More SRE, but same difference. I think of it as “lazy sysadmin” - the goal is to have as few unique tasks as possible and automate the rest.

Reply

[-]

commandsupernova@reddit

![gif](giphy|l3fZFvp94ljepXoPe)

Reply

[-]

eplejuz@reddit

I'll juz say 1word... "engineer"... In fact, I would juz introduce myself as engineer. Been working in this line for 22yrs, have been given all sorts of names... Lead, consultant, blah blah blah... But all in all, I'm doing "all the engineer shit"... I dun even bother to put my role in my email replies anymore.

Reply

[-]

KiloEko@reddit

What don't I do?

Reply

[-]

nobody_cares4u@reddit

A senior help desk

Reply

[-]

hihcadore@reddit

Overworked, underpaid, madder than a beaver with a tooth ache, and real good at guessing.

Reply

[-]

joeyl5@reddit

since this post comes up every other week, I will post this again. SAY IT LIKE GILFOYLE  [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-OQhot\_ml0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-OQhot_ml0)

Reply

[-]

Dry_Inspection_4583@reddit

Fix big computer, make it do the thing.

Reply

[-]

Man-e-questions@reddit

[The sysadmin is the hero the company deserves but not the one it needs right now. so they will hunt him, because he can take it](https://youtu.be/oL7PSlUuWPs?si=PMCN0dyHkKH_a8Ik)

Reply

[-]

FiskalRaskal@reddit

Finding ways to automate myself out of a job. Jokes on them, because I plan to be retired by the time our AI overlords take over the world.

Reply

[-]

Hebrewhammer8d8@reddit

Drinking Clear during the daytime and drinking Dark during night time. Take Uppers during the day and downers at nig...whoops. I managed the layers of processes for certain situations.

Reply

[-]

rdldr1@reddit

Technology conductor.

Reply

[-]

sillyboy_@reddit

Janitor of IT

Reply

[-]

lcurole@reddit

Yep, always go with computer janitor.

Reply

[-]

steverikli@reddit

Yup. "I've made a career out of cleaning up other peoples' messes."

Reply

[-]

marklein@reddit

I even had business cards that said that until I was promoted to head computer janitor and the fancy pants office people wouldn't let me continue the joke.

Reply

[-]

picklednull@reddit

Digital Custodian sounds fancier

Reply

[-]

Opsdude@reddit

“Do whatever it takes to make sure no one knows you exist. If they remember you exist it’s usually because shits broke, yo”

Reply

[-]

Nri_Eze@reddit

Break it, google it, fix it. Repeat

Reply

[-]

incidentallypossible@reddit

I’m borrowing this from u/zapador from a similar thread a few months ago. I thought his answer was so perfect that I bookmarked it for when people ask what I do … “Sysadmin usually describes someone with a broad, not deep, knowledge of IT. An IT generalist. You install and update software, do some networking, make the servers run, create scripts (small programs), take backups, set up workstations for new employees and so on. A bit of everything. In larger companies with multiple people in IT it will usually be less broad, with each person being more specialized.”

Reply

[-]

JordanLoveQB1@reddit

lol this is no longer a sysadmin definition. This is just basic tech support jobs these days

Reply

[-]

Zizonga@reddit

Idk - I see it kinda diff. Sysadmin at smb involves desktop support but the tier 3 stuff being an escalation to you given you are the only It staff is what makes it not desktop support. Desktop support is just that - desktop support. It revolves entirely around the end users. Not every company would give them local admin even and leave them with some RMM to use. If someone trusts you to be *the* IT guy at a small business doing tier 1-3 just because in your industry you find yourself doing more tier1-2 often doesn’t mean you suddenly aren’t a sysadmin but one working in a less technology intensive vertical. At my job yes I do T1-T2 but I am in the loop and often get tasked with implementation (beside in voip). I don’t think though T2 HDs can probably be responsible enough or even committed enough to handling T3 tickets let alone aware of anything like basic network topology or non super basic bitch AD things like changing passwords. I am by far no expert but I am js.

Reply

[-]

JordanLoveQB1@reddit

I don’t know man, every place I’ve worked I’ve never been called Sysadmin despite doing most of what is described in both yours and OPs comment. Not trying to be rude or anything just saying that’s been my experience I guess I should brush the Resume off and start calling myself a sysadmin lol

Reply

[-]

Zizonga@reddit

So - here is the thing. A role can be called anything it want and sysadmin is more like a hat you put on that can be its own role or partly shared between desktop/systems. Depends on the complexity of the admin task. The reason a sysadmin (especially solo) is the sysadmin is because they taking charge of implementation as well as operations. This involves often extensive consulting, reading ms best practices, etc and then doing the politics to make that shit actually happen. There is no magic technical bar though that makes you a sysadmin. You can call yourself whatever you like but ultimately the basic check from HR at the companies you apply to will ask your title and how long you worked. Honestly the biggest thing I see from other people that are L2s is not like a total lack of exposure or some massive skill gap but a particular lack of awareness in the business space (why certain design decisions are taken, what priorities should actually be). Those that do have this usually land at least a jr sys admin role.

Reply

[-]

adonaa30@reddit

Can I point out your first part (a sysadmin (especially solo) is the sysadmin is because they taking charge of implementation as well as operations. This involves often extensive consulting, reading ms best practices, etc and then doing the politics to make that shit actually happen.) That's actually fairly accurate. I'm a sysadmin in government, and I am pretty much responsible for what you said there

Reply

[-]

Zizonga@reddit

I do this at a law firm at a more junior level below a senior sys admin. Not in a regulatory fashion but even things like basic security measures often times have 0 support politically.

Reply

[-]

adonaa30@reddit

Add red tape and bureaucracy into the mix

Reply

[-]

Zizonga@reddit

yep basically - except in a law firm even the tape that is kinda there like cybersec insurance policy is something they blast through and question.

Reply

[-]

adonaa30@reddit

It's a scam that cyber insurance. If a company gets breached and my data gets stolen (optus hack) the insurance doesn't pay me out for financial implications it causes me. It's feels like it's there so companies can say "yeah we take it data seriously " It should be protect your clients data or face a fine and possible jail time depending on severity and negligence involved.

Reply

[-]

Zizonga@reddit

It is but it’s our only leverage to convince anyone of anything. Want no mfa? Look at the cyber insurance policy

Reply

[-]

adonaa30@reddit

True. Gotta consider the extras, which I admit I didn't consider that part

Reply

[-]

JordanLoveQB1@reddit

Welp, I’m sold. Definitely going to start applying to Sysadmin roles lol

Reply

[-]

Zizonga@reddit

No problem but why weren’t you in the first place? Dude I jumped from mainframes into this and never even touched an exclusively desktop support role since college. Please know one thing though: you may be subject to on call, you should have a decent homelab (proxmox plus pfsense plus like a full blown windows domain behind it would be good - look at dual Xeon enterprise servers with like 200gb or more in ram they are cheap for 1st gen). I also keep a blog. If you honestly just documented all your labbing activities you could get a jr sys admin role easily.

Reply

[-]

JordanLoveQB1@reddit

I don’t know, I guess I thought Sysadmins were experts in the specific systems they supported. But from what I’m gathering from you and other people, it’s not system expertise, it’s broad knowledge of IT. To me, broad knowledge always meant support. System specific knowledge would lead to more sysadmin/system engineering. I’m getting more specific system administration under my belt now, such as SCCM, Windows Server, MDT. Learning Azure as well. It’s probably time. As for how you jumped so quickly, well it sounds like you DID work support and you probably have a college degree. I don’t have a college degree.

Reply

[-]

Zizonga@reddit

also side note: The technologies you listed(Lets say windows server suite since basically almost everything you described falls under that) can be as shallow as click click to as crafting very specific images for proprietary workloads or configuring LDAP functionality for multiple other applications. All of this stuff though is like anything else - gradually learned. What your seeing is basically the "suck" of sysadmin - which is something you will have to endure at many places if you do want to be more like a system engineer.

Reply

[-]

Zizonga@reddit

Absolutely I worked support but my point is to jump into Junior System Admin its not REQUIRED. My point is that even the sysadmins who are experts are often also doing support. This is just a heavy component of SMB sysadmin and sometimes certain enterprise roles. Every field has juniors, intermediate, and expert - system expertise is learned from experience and self study. The deep expertise is not meant for all day use but that 1% of the time you need it and your escalation can not help. "SCCM, Windows Server, AD, MDT, Firewall and VPN admin (all in a home lab)" Its great that you are getting exposure. Here - I am going to do something that may help in an interview (small bit of Q/A) 1. Why SCCM and MDT? Was this just for exposure or are they both serving some active component in the lab. 2. Is this behind CGNAT given that its a homelab? If so, what kind of VPN is it, is it using AD CS PKI for example?(Like SSTP VPNs can be set up for in win server) 3. What sort of firewall rules do you have on your VLANs and why(assuming its like pfsense for example that you are using)? 4. Do your Domain Controllers use a DNS Forwarder or a DNS Resolver? You would be surprised how often the interview becomes one sysadmin trying to figure out what and why you did what you did once the homelab is brought up. .

Reply

[-]

awe_pro_it@reddit

> To me, broad knowledge always meant support. Support uses documentation. SysAdmins create that documentation (sometimes) as they build out the system(s).

Reply

[-]

Zapador@reddit

The distinction I would make is, relatively simplified, that if you manage servers, applications, network, infrastructure and so on and don't just provide support to end users then you're a sysadmin. So definitely add that to your resume and demand a pay to match that.

Reply

[-]

incidentallypossible@reddit

Great distinction!

Reply

[-]

Zapador@reddit

Thank you

Reply

[-]

Zapador@reddit

It really depends on the size of the company. If you're just 1-3 people in IT you'll be doing all the support and easy stuff as well but it accounts for maybe 15% of your time. At least that's my experience. You'll of course also be doing all of the more complicated tasks which take up the remaining 85% of your time and that is what makes you a sysadmin and not just supporter.

Reply

[-]

anywho45678@reddit

No, it really doesn't depend on the size -- that is definitely NOT the definition of a sysadmin, thats Tier 1-2 support. Just because small companies are giving the title to people doesn't change the work, and what you described is 90% Tier 1-2 work.

Reply

[-]

FrostyWalrus2@reddit

In your terms, what is a Systems Administrator?

Reply

[-]

Zapador@reddit

It does depend on company size. If you're in a large company with many people in IT everything will be split into departments or across several people. In a small IT department with just a few people you simply have to handle 1st line support as a sysadmin because there's no dedicated support role. What I described has, in my view, nothing to do with support. Support is support. Managing something is not support. If you set up servers, manage the firewall, do networking in general and so on that's sysadmin tasks. Patching a server or could be for second level support because sure it isn't black and white, and setting up a workstation for a new employee could be first level support. But as I've said in a small IT department all of those things will be handled by someone overqualified for the job because it doesn't make sense to hire a dedicated support role for 5 hours a week.

Reply

[-]

harley247@reddit

I don't know a single company that would allow Level II to handle backups and creating scripts.

Reply

[-]

incidentallypossible@reddit

Depends on the organization, but you’re not wrong. I’m in a larger org where I have a more enterprise focus, but I know a lot of people at other orgs who are called “sysadmin” and it seems this is all they do. In my specific job, having a broad background is a huge benefit, as it gives me a more holistic view. And it’s something I look for in job candidates, aside from the specific specialty that we may be hiring them for.

Reply

[-]

sobrique@reddit

I think that holistic view is also reflective of an underappreciated aspect of sysadmin. That of business analysis. There's plenty of solutions to any given problem, but appreciating the cost/benefit of the various options is also invaluable. Recognising the _actual_ problem - and the relevant overheads in terms of technical debt, training etc. so you can evaluate solutions on their merits and costs. You can always throw more money at a problem, especially in IT, but recognising when you don't have to is very important. Or at least, when it's a tradeoff - if something else in the environment is inefficient, it may still be worth paying the premium instead of the cost/benefit of re-engineering the inefficient bit.

Reply

[-]

incidentallypossible@reddit

Presentations to my boss are usually “here’s the pros and cons of the flashy solution” (which definitely CAN be the better solution) “but in case you don’t want to throw money at it, here’s the pros and cons of my duct tape solution. You choose.”

Reply

[-]

sobrique@reddit

I have done the opposite a few times. I have told them that the flashy solution covers up a load of technical debt and so is a waste of resources in an objective sense. Of course getting rid of technical debt is often still the less attractive option.

Reply

[-]

incidentallypossible@reddit

Very true! After I posted that statement, I thought “that’s not really what I was going for” - more trying to mention that I’m not outright against the flashy solutions… if they’re appropriately flashy and do what they say without creating new problems (so maybe I really am against them?).

Reply

[-]

Zizonga@reddit

100% depends on the company even. Every company is different and industries especially have different compute needs

Reply

[-]

incidentallypossible@reddit

Absolutely

Reply

[-]

incidentallypossible@reddit

Absolutely

Reply

[-]

Clivna@reddit

basic tech support can also we answer phones and reset logins.. its such a broad titel.

Reply

[-]

WorkFoundMyOldAcct@reddit

I’ve noticed that it really all depends on the size and IT budget of a company. I’ve held the title “systems administrator” (500,000 people) and only performed basic IT tasks with a splash of deeper systems tasks. Conversely, I’ve had the title “IT Support Specialist” (400 people) and have done way more in depth sys admin work that the other job. The difference between the two was budget and size. The much bigger company called me a sys admin because we had level 1 and 2 helpdesk to field basic calls for troubleshooting and use support, while also employing site reliability engineers, software engineers, and solutions architects who executed much larger projects for the broader company. Something as simple as self-service password resets for a 500,000 person company requires extensive planning and swift execution to work correctly the first time. In the other job where my title was “IT Support Specialist”, we had 5 people on the team, and only two of us were dedicated network engineers. Everyone else just did everything from helpdesk to systems configurations. It was a major learning experience, both technically and interpersonally.

Reply

[-]

I8itall4tehmoney@reddit

How shallow.

Reply

[-]

mandelmanden@reddit

Seems reasonable. Someone who does pretty much everything. In large businesses or SMBs we hardly exist, because everyone is specialized in a particular field and doesn't do much overlap. Of course most will have knowledge of other things, but there's usually a far more specialized setup there. Which is why they're the people I call on for help with special stuff, where it'll take me longer to learn about what's going on than it would cost to just call up our external partner for this type of deal.

Reply

[-]

cuteprints@reddit

I work at a large company but in charge of server stuffs in a small department, except the physical server stuff (which they have a dedicated department only for managing servers), I take care of large production cluster and even the software design stuff also, I also handling security response with software and servers. We have a dedicated IT department but they're incompetent with our department's workflows so I have to lend a hand with diagnosing various stuff at the staff's workstation too. Maybe I should ask for a much bigger salary.

Reply

[-]

polycro@reddit

My wife calls me a supercomputer janitor. It is true.

Reply

[-]

Markington13@reddit

Someone to blame if the network is down. Its always DNS.

Reply

[-]

polycro@reddit

It's always the firewall. Or MTU.

Reply

[-]

oaomcg@reddit

IT Jedi

Reply

[-]

unsinkablearthurdent@reddit

I was going to say one tech to rule them all, but IT Jedi works too.

Reply

[-]

QuantumRiff@reddit

All these answers are kind of correct, but the show Silicon Valley said it best…. https://youtu.be/2-OQhot_ml0?si=xthljSqkiD6bCuQN

Reply

[-]

IntentionalTexan@reddit

I fix problems you didn't know exist in ways you can't comprehend.

Reply

[-]

davidgrayPhotography@reddit

"We had nothing to do with it!" "It's still your fault"

Reply

[-]

Herr--Doktor@reddit

Either "It's working. And I don't know why." or "Oh well yea it is broken isn't it. It's not supposed to do that." Really depends on the day.

Reply

[-]

ImCaffeinated_Chris@reddit

Digital janitor

Reply

[-]

mikolajekj@reddit

Cat juggler.

Reply

[-]

Baselet@reddit

I do whatever needs to get done that day.

Reply

[-]

DarkwolfAU@reddit

Computer firefighter and janitor.

Reply

[-]

mancer187@reddit

Combination engineer, project manager, detective, mind reader, firefighter... What else?

Reply

[-]

mancer187@reddit

Combination engineer, project manager, detective, mind reader, firefighter... What else?

Reply

[-]

CmdrDTauro@reddit

I make it go

Reply

[-]

denverpilot@reddit

I do the needful. Lol

Reply

[-]

WithAnAitchDammit@reddit

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Reply

[-]

billiarddaddy@reddit

Wizard. Sometimes I show up and stuff starts working.

Reply

[-]

FruitGuy998@reddit

We do the needful

Reply

[-]

tucniak@reddit

and revert the same.

Reply

[-]

Jumppr@reddit

I'm the guy you call when you just can't figure out who the problem belongs to.

Reply

[-]

cvsysadmin@reddit

There are three types of death: heart death, brain death, and being off the network. Sysadmins do what they can to prevent the third.

Reply

[-]

g3l33m@reddit

Glorified Janitor most days..

Reply

[-]

Vagelen_Von@reddit

A doctor or an architect must have study to certain schools and appropriately certified to allowed to perform at their area of expertise. An IT guy is an advanced janitor who could come from any background and do anything. I don't know the exact terminology, it is something like : "experienced craftsman".

Reply

[-]

sobrique@reddit

But genuinely I feel doctor is the best comparison - the 'appropriate certification' is because of how much a problem it is if you get it wrong, not because the core skills are fundamentally much different. I can be a 'computer doctor' because no one really kills if I 'kill' a few whilst I learn to 'git gud'.

Reply

[-]

Vagelen_Von@reddit

Our founders like Von Neumann, Alan Turing really never cared to establish a "science". Instead as mathematicians it was the side job, a war job and their tactics was "get the job done and get the fuck out". Where jobs were -break the German codes -finish the Manhattan project -calculate the trajectory for ICMB missiles etc This rush is everywhere and embedded to our field "get the job done and get the fuck out". Earn more money for people like Bill Gates, break the trash innovation in ten parts and sell trash for ten years. When ten years end, you have ready another innovation to sell for the next decade and make them richer etc

Reply

[-]

dcnjbwiebe@reddit

I attempt to keep everyone happy with their computers. Some days this is easy. Other days, not so much.

Reply

[-]

bugboi@reddit

The Global. Operations .Director....

Reply

[-]

jkeegan123@reddit

If I'm asked by a layperson, I always say, "Basically, I'm a data and wiring janitor."

Reply

[-]

cuwbiii@reddit

Adult's techbabysitters.

Reply

[-]

Yellowjaw@reddit

If anyone asks, I just say I do IT infrastructure management.

Reply

[-]

Xelopheris@reddit

Keep business critical software running with minimal loss of revenue from downtime through both preventative maintenance and reacting to new and changing events.

Reply

[-]

scottocs@reddit

Tech Firefighter. I spread awareness on computer safety and try to prevent fires, and I'm there to put them out when needed, and until then, I sit around a lot.

Reply

[-]

ExpressDevelopment41@reddit

The best Google'r in the company.

Reply

[-]

techtimee@reddit

" For once, I had no idea what to say to him. I only had flashbacks on the horrible disasters I faced, but I couldn’t come up with a one to two sentences to briefly describe my role. " beautiful

Reply

[-]

marshmallowcthulhu@reddit

I am a system administrator leading a team of three other system administrators in two primarily-Linux, high availability environments. I am constantly busy and stressed. I am critical to the work. I don't know what I do.

Reply

[-]

Professional-Fee2235@reddit

Battle janitor. Cat herder

Reply

[-]

E__Rock@reddit

Infrastructure wizard. Tamer of the workflows.

Reply

[-]

Yuugian@reddit

"Just like any IT position, but my customers are servers"

Reply

[-]

Practical-Alarm1763@reddit

A Systems Janitor, that's also a Mechanic and works the Security Desk.

Reply

[-]

the123king-reddit@reddit

Break shit. Fix shit.

Reply

[-]

SwitchOnEaton@reddit

We broke it down into a children’s book: https://www.eaton.com/explore/honeybadger

Reply

[-]

planehazza@reddit

Whatever the day/task requires, usually. I'm a senior technician, supporting primaries, but I bounce from "turn it off and on again", to programming VLANs in switches, to reseting Vera's password for the 37th time this year cos "oh you know me, me and these computers..." (well fucking read emails and listen to me advice and maybe you wouldn't be such a luddite), to setting up Google SSO/GCDS, or SCCM/imagine building. 15 years and my scales still weight towards user support way too heavily. It's naive to think we ever truly excspe users, but lord (I'm atheist, this is how frustrated I am) give me fucking strength...

Reply

[-]

Hopefound@reddit

A systems administrator designs and implements complex computer systems, networks, and infrastructure to meet organizational needs, ensuring scalability, security, and reliability. They troubleshoot and optimize systems, and collaborate with stakeholders to assess requirements and implement solutions that align with business objectives. According to my (likely ChatGPT generated) job description.

Reply

[-]

vrtigo1@reddit

Plan, implement, operate, manage, troubleshoot and upgrade IT systems.

Reply

[-]

Mantly@reddit

Site Reliability Engineer

Reply

[-]

VisineOfSauron@reddit

A system administrator builds and maintains computing environments to provide solutions to their enterprise's challenges.

Reply

[-]

ironhamer@reddit

You can always use the Gilfoyle rant from ep 2 of silicon valley [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-OQhot\_ml0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-OQhot_ml0)

Reply

[-]

Eviscerated_Banana@reddit

Highly qualified and intelligent digital janitor.

Reply

[-]

Teguri@reddit

> Highly qualified and intelligent You're giving the gui jockeys too much credit

Reply

[-]

Neoptolemus-Giltbert@reddit

The simplest I would summarize it as is something like: Setup and maintenance of computers and networks.

Reply

[-]

jordanl171@reddit

Fixer of everything that runs on electricity.

Reply

[-]

TwilightKeystroker@reddit

I fix computers and networks. Not like the one you use at home. The ones that control everything behind the scenes, for an entire company

Reply

[-]

Bob_12_Pack@reddit

"Hey but can you come fix my 10-yo PC and also my printer is on the fritz" - My neighbors and friends

Reply

[-]

TwilightKeystroker@reddit

That's why I say "Not like the ones you use at home". This way you can say "I don't know a lot about that. I work on the stuff you don't see at home". I say that whether I know how to fix their shit or not, regardless of how easy it is.

Reply

[-]

Teguri@reddit

"Sorry I don't know windows or mac, I could upgrade you to a real OS and we can work from there"

Reply

[-]

PedroAsani@reddit

A day drinker with a computer habit.

Reply

[-]

zeezero@reddit

I turn it off and turn it back on again. I answer the questions our helpdesk coordinator can not.

Reply

[-]

Disasstah@reddit

I like to compare our field to the medical field since it's relatable to a lot of people. If I were to define our job along those lines, we'd be a family practice or general practicioner. Knowledgable about many things, but not a specialist in any one field, however also capable of having a deeper understanding of issues if the situation arises, although its better to just pawn that off to a specialist.

Reply

[-]

Opening_Career_9869@reddit

digital janitor that more and more outsources the mopping, wiping and trash collecting hoping he will become obsolete so he can live off the grid and write his manifesto.

Reply

[-]

Humble-Plankton2217@reddit

Jack of All Trades, Master of Quite a Few

Reply

[-]

spam_lite@reddit

Whipping boy.

Reply

[-]

izvr@reddit

Break computers and then fix them

Reply

[-]

Pelatov@reddit

![gif](giphy|853jNve3ljqrYrcSOK)

Reply

[-]

Art_Vand_Throw001@reddit

God of IT

Reply

[-]

michoriso@reddit

We are digital janitors, we clean other people's fuck ups.

Reply

[-]

Far-Collection3976@reddit

I have been a systems admin for most of my career. (25+ years, geez I feel old), I generally look at sysadmin work as “doesn’t touch end user stuff” - if the servers/vms/switches are on fire you call the sysadmin. If your laptop is on fire, you call IT. In reality I’m a jack of all trades - no matter what it is, I can almost always fix it given enough time.

Reply

[-]

RestartRebootRetire@reddit

We're snipers, not grunts.

Reply

[-]

fixit_jr@reddit

Catch All

Reply

[-]

Break2FixIT@reddit

We are the jack of all trades that need to be masters of them all.

Reply

[-]

safalafal@reddit

Meddler-in-Chief

Reply

[-]

Unable-Entrance3110@reddit

If it ain't broke, "fix it 'till it is" That's my motto...

Reply

[-]

safalafal@reddit

"You'll all fall into line", he shouts at some tin in a data centre

Reply

[-]

durkzilla@reddit

Digital plumbers and internet janitors.

Reply

[-]

cajag@reddit

BOFH, but I can also fix all your stuff, configure anything, fix your code, fix the coffee maker, change your car battery, and pick up a new system or technology quickly and get it implemented. Also, I'm just the humblest.

Reply

[-]

mitspieler99@reddit

For every technical quality of life feature there is a sysadmin making sure it keeps running. And there is helpdesk.

Reply

[-]

GeneMoody-Action1@reddit

Phenomenal cosmic power, itty bitty living space... At the very least an alternative to having a night life or hobbies, possibly even normal healthy relationships, and a precursor to early heart failure, possibly alcoholism. Well at least until you have done it for 20-30+ years, then it tends to get much better.

Reply

[-]

SARSUnicorn@reddit

i had this talk with my company board director in cafeteria yesterday... the easiest and best anwser: i m payed to make sure that nothing breaks, and eventualy when something breaks regaldless i fix it quicker than any outside help

Reply

[-]

geekg@reddit

Trying my best to prevent and clean up the mistakes users and machines make.

Reply

[-]

hauntedyew@reddit

Do you know what Active Directory is?

Reply

[-]

BlitzChriz@reddit

Jack of all trades, master of none.

Reply

[-]

MightyZugZug@reddit

Did you turn it off and on again? - sysadmin

Reply

[-]

largos7289@reddit

There are two types of people in the world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data

Reply

[-]

barleykiv@reddit

Underpaid problem solver

Reply

[-]

Sinister_Nibs@reddit

Keep the bits and bytes flowing, and the blinkenlighten properly random.

Reply

[-]

FeralSquirrels@reddit

>Hey what are your day to day tasks as a system admin? Observe thusly as I unwind the bogroll-long list of things I'm expected to support, maintain, keep running....oh and also the voodoo and precognition I'm expected to use when something goes wrong so I can fix it before it breaks! That's not including the helpdesk, 1st/2nd/3rd line support, emotional support and pack animal I'm otherwise expected to be at any and all other times of day, nothing is beyond my remit! That box you "don't want there"? My responsibility. Water cooler isn't working? Mine. Ceiling light on the fritz? Me! /s Seriously though it's like saying "what do *you* think your politicians *actually* do?" - it's a lot of things, to a lot of people. For some, it's like the God-Emperor/Empress themselves has appeared, smiling gently and nary touching the edge of a screen as their lightning-silica beneficence alone sets things working.....while others are convinced they are *actual Troglodytes* and only emerge from the IT-cave to grunt like Boar, mutter to each other unintelligibly and snuffle at any unclaimed office snacks before they go break something they're meant to fix. Some firms treat Sysadmins as everything from Helpdesk to CTO, others are focused specifically on one or two disciplines, others yet consider them to be solely responsible for all things electrical, spiritual and edible - honestly it's a mess out there. I like to cut it narrow by just saying "it's either on my job spec (and even then, reluctantly at times) or I don't do it" and leave it at that, unless I like where I am in which case I'll edge out the "reluctantly" part unless enticed by the promise of ritual snack sacrifices and/or other service exchanges - like the time a guy leant me an impact drill and we had a BBQ in exchange for recovering a load of deleted files off an old HDD. Best deal ever.

Reply

[-]

lizzieismydog@reddit

My manager used to say if it had a cord attached \[people thought\] it was our responsibility.

Reply

[-]

RedDidItAndYouKnowIt@reddit

I manage the servers and keep their headaches from everyone else. I also show up when shit hits the fan calm and ready to tackle the issue.

Reply

[-]

personae_non_gratae_@reddit

on-call ticket nanny... :(

Reply

[-]

LeTrolleur@reddit

A type of magician.

Reply

[-]

MeanFold5715@reddit

I prefer the term hedge mage.

Reply

[-]

SillyPuttyGizmo@reddit

I babysit petulant adults. (RFC1925 #1) IT has to wiek.

Reply

[-]

lizzieismydog@reddit

Saving the world: [https://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory\_Doctorow\_-\_Overclocked\_-\_When\_Sysadmins\_Ruled\_the\_Earth.html](https://craphound.com/overclocked/Cory_Doctorow_-_Overclocked_-_When_Sysadmins_Ruled_the_Earth.html)

Reply

[-]

tankerkiller125real@reddit

> Five minutes later Felix was behind the wheel. He hadn’t been able to fix it from home. The independent router’s netblock was offline, too. The last time that had happened, some dumbfuck construction worker had driven a ditch-witch through the main conduit into the data-center and Felix had joined a cadre of fifty enraged sysadmins who’d stood atop the resulting pit for a week, screaming abuse at the poor bastards who labored 24-7 to splice ten thousand wires back together. 100% accurate, and 100% relatable.

Reply

[-]

piorekf@reddit

Thank's for the link

Reply

[-]

ohyeahwell@reddit

A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk, have at you!

Reply

[-]

RetroactiveRecursion@reddit

I'm Mgr of a dept of 2 for an 100-user co, so though no one has this title, we both do SysAdmin stuff as part of our day-to-day. I tell people In short, if it has a wire or an antenna, it's likely our problem.

Reply

[-]

mixduptransistor@reddit

Computer janitor

Reply

[-]

Ipconfig_release@reddit

The janitor of IT.

Reply

[-]

BeRad_NZ@reddit

In code's silent hum, Guardian of the data stream, Night's calm troubleshooter.

Reply

[-]

sobrique@reddit

Like a medical Doctor, but for computers\* \* And much like medical doctors, includes General Practitioners and Specialists, and there'll be a bunch of overlap in core skills acquired.

Reply

[-]

jlaine@reddit

A glutton for punishment.

Reply

[-]

Suaveman01@reddit

We monitor, maintain and develop the IT infrastructure of the business, which involves its networks, servers, storage, security, databases, applications and desktops.

Reply

[-]

individual101@reddit

At our company, we are the helpdesks helpdesk. Also the root of all user woes apparently.

Reply

[-]

Grimzkunk@reddit

I'll go with rather two words : "not sysadmin"

Reply

[-]

lugnercity@reddit

in german it's one word: Sündenbock

Reply

[-]

Superb_Raccoon@reddit

"I d9 the needful."

Reply

[-]

Kahless_2K@reddit

I keep the system running smoothly, and fix them when they aren't. When I have free time I use it to do things that make your job easier.

Reply

[-]

davidwitteveen@reddit

My answer is usually: we maintain and improve the IT infrastructure that staff need to do their jobs. If you need a slightly more specific answer, here's one from [TechTarget](https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/system-administrator): >Sysadmins are responsible for ensuring the uptime of their companies' computers, servers and internet -- basically "keeping the lights on" to limit work disruptions. This includes system maintenance and configuration, such as installing and troubleshooting hardware and software and assessing new technologies for their companies. I'd expand this by adding something about sysadmins not just maintaining systems, but improving them as well: making them more efficient, more powerful and more capable.

Reply

[-]

JohnPulse@reddit

Keep calm, learn, fix your mistakes.

Reply

[-]

ToastieCPU@reddit

Someone whose main skill is the ability to learn anything and everything to get the job done.

Reply

[-]

frogmicky@reddit

Punching Bag.

Reply

[-]

Richland7915@reddit

Plumbers of the IT world

Reply

[-]

davidwitteveen@reddit

I have often described it as being the IT equivalent of the Facilities team.

Reply

[-]

Brilliant_Sound_5565@reddit

I was a Sys admin, IT manager, jack of all trades in my last job, but the sys admin part of my role included things like server maintenance, networking, backups and maintenance of backup infrastructure , hardware maintenance, server patches to name but just a few things i did. i was the only person that did that, so depends on the size of the organization etc. I did loads more things then that though, too many to list, i was a very busy person.

Reply

[-]

Black_Death_12@reddit

All the blame None of the credit

Reply

[-]

BuzzedDarkYear@reddit

I'm adding this to my email signature line right now to see who notices it first if at all........ 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Reply

[-]

scottothered@reddit

I troubleshoot and solve problems, some technical most layer 8.

Reply

[-]

Major-Astronomer7529@reddit

We have an IT wiki we created. When someone asks what we do, I direct them to that page, then tell them we do that for X number of applications. If less info is needed, I tell them layer 4-7 of the OSI model.

Reply

[-]

mpaletti@reddit

"I solve problems people have with technology, because technology doesn't solve problems people have"

Reply

[-]

yParticle@reddit

Being the cool head when everything breaks and stressed out of your mind over every possible contingency when everything's working fine.

Reply

[-]

GhoastTypist@reddit

Depends but generally a sysadmin: maintains and implements the networking and servers for an organization. Keeps them up to date and secured. Helps identify needs of the workforce and helps build solutions that assist them in their job functions. Work with the various systems and help the staff understand the technology (training/support). Usually from a hands on perspective and not a decision making/position of authority. At that point you are a manager who does administration duties.

Reply

[-]

ITBurn-out@reddit

One sentemce-> Fixer.of all electronics IT related or not combined with pleasing helpdesk yet pleasing admins.

Reply

Reply to Post

239 Comments