Information about Unix System Administration


 
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# 8  
Old 04-01-2009
Quote:
Aw man... I didn't even think about the hours too much. I just assumed it would be regular working hours. I definitely want steady working hours though. I really would like to do something IT related though and Unix System Administration was like the closest I could find to what I want to do. Does anyone know any jobs similar I might be interested in with steady regular working hours? I was looking into web development too and that's the next closest thing to what I'm looking to do.
Thanks for the info!
All the Database Admins I've worked with always went home at 17:30 (except for Gil, but he was special) so maybe Database administration is more what you want, or straight user support. Otherwise, yes, programmers all seem to work regular hours, and none of them seem to understand the concept of the support chap being first in and last to go home, they just think we are sad, snif! until they really need to roll out their application now, then we become the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I've often wondered why I do this job, and then I remember the utter satisfaction of bringing a completely borked system back to life at 3am, complete with all its data, ahh, heaven, and the answer to every question that starts "could you just do ...." is always yes, I've already done it.
# 9  
Old 04-01-2009
You CAN have steady hours as an Unix Sysadmin:
  1. While you're still being trained on the job (no one expects you to fix anything since you're not fully trained)
  2. As soon as your PFY/apprentice is trained well enough to handle 95% of your job
The next best thing that I can think of would be Operating, eg. doing the day-to-day maintenance chores.

And I have to agree with wempy: we're pretty much underestimated and sometimes even seen as targets for "smartsizing", up until the point where Murphy strikes. But getting a system back up from the (almost) dead is a great feeling.
# 10  
Old 04-01-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by wempy
All the Database Admins I've worked with always went home at 17:30 (except for Gil, but he was special) so maybe Database administration is more what you want, or straight user support. Otherwise, yes, programmers all seem to work regular hours, and none of them seem to understand the concept of the support chap being first in and last to go home, they just think we are sad, snif! until they really need to roll out their application now, then we become the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I've often wondered why I do this job, and then I remember the utter satisfaction of bringing a completely borked system back to life at 3am, complete with all its data, ahh, heaven, and the answer to every question that starts "could you just do ...." is always yes, I've already done it.
Thanks for the info
hmm... people don't recognize the importance of the system administrators? oh well, it doesn't sound too surprising. I hate it when people are like that though.
I tried to post an answer back at you before but I guess it didn't get approved yet. Anyways, I wouldn't mind working in the UK... but I've heard the cost of living is really highSmilie
I'm googling some info about database administrator right now.
I swear, this job(unix system administrator) is like perfect for me except for the hours. I mean, everything else fits what I want to do perfectly.Smilie I love working with computers, figuring out problems, and fixing them. I'm just really not to crazy about working a night shift. I mean, if I had to, I could probably put up with it for a few years... but I'd like to be able to have regular working hours at some point. Do system administrators work night shifts as long as they're in the system administration field? I'm just guessing they do being what the other guy on this forum said about not being able to work on a production server during business hours.
# 11  
Old 04-01-2009
How many night shifts you're going to have depends IMO on your own ability and your company. Example: at our company we don't do any real night shifts, but only on-call (always three people), since we don't have a single point of failure. If an application has to be updated, only one of three servers for that job is (planned) down at the same time, so upgrades can be done during business hours.

As for the ability part: if you're really really good you can set up your systems in a way that they can handle anything but the most severe cases by themselves, even if it just means limping until normal office hours.

But in the end the decision is pretty simple: the deviation of your work hours from the usual is directly proportional to the deviation of complexity of your problems from the usual (read: the more complex the problems the higher the probability that they happen when you're not in the office)
# 12  
Old 04-01-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by pludi
How many night shifts you're going to have depends IMO on your own ability and your company. Example: at our company we don't do any real night shifts, but only on-call (always three people), since we don't have a single point of failure. If an application has to be updated, only one of three servers for that job is (planned) down at the same time, so upgrades can be done during business hours.

As for the ability part: if you're really really good you can set up your systems in a way that they can handle anything but the most severe cases by themselves, even if it just means limping until normal office hours.

But in the end the decision is pretty simple: the deviation of your work hours from the usual is directly proportional to the deviation of complexity of your problems from the usual (read: the more complex the problems the higher the probability that they happen when you're not in the office)
Well, that makes me feel a bit better. I really want to do this job because it's exactly what I like doing; and the only thing bugging me is the thought of working a night shift. If I can get away with only working a night shift for a little while or every once in a while, I can deal with that. I just want the majority of my work to be regular working hours.
# 13  
Old 04-02-2009
It isn't really a "night shift". It is that when stuff breaks you have to fix it whether it is at night or during the day. I've had jobs where I worked almost all normal daytime hours, others where you had night or weekend work several times per month, and others where it depended on the project you worked on. If you had to do a big project on production servers you may work every weekend and a few weeknights per week for a few months, then back to more normal hours for a while. It all depends on how the company has set up their environment (how much redundancy and high-availability they use) and also their change control rules and customer service agreements.

One other thing I didn't mention last post. I've never in over 10 years of Unix work had a job where I didn't have to be on-call at least part of the time. So if you can't stand the idea of having to carry a pager/cellphone/blackberry and drop everything to respond if it goes off that would be a big roadblock too. I've had to leave church, cut short dates, or come home early from sporting events due to pages before. That's part of the job unfortunately. Either that or just sit at home at all times when you are the on-call person.

Usually that responsibility rotates among the team of admins, so you may end up with a day a week or a week each month or something like that. If it is a tiny shop with only 1 or 2 admins you may be always on-call, but for small shops like that typically there aren't that many servers so pages are pretty rare. The other extreme is giant shops with dozens of admins where you don't have to be on-call because some people are always at work to handle things.

Last edited by DukeNuke2; 04-02-2009 at 01:34 PM..
# 14  
Old 04-02-2009
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhfrommn
One other thing I didn't mention last post. I've never in over 10 years of Unix work had a job where I didn't have to be on-call at least part of the time. So if you can't stand the idea of having to carry a pager/cellphone/blackberry and drop everything to respond if it goes off that would be a big roadblock too. I've had to leave church, cut short dates, or come home early from sporting events due to pages before. That's part of the job unfortunately. Either that or just sit at home at all times when you are the on-call person.

Usually that responsibility rotates among the team of admins, so you may end up with a day a week or a week each month or something like that. If it is a tiny shop with only 1 or 2 admins you may be always on-call, but for small shops like that typically there aren't that many servers so pages are pretty rare. The other extreme is giant shops with dozens of admins where you don't have to be on-call because some people are always at work to handle things.
Thanks for the info. Yeah, I wouldn't mind being on call. I mean, as long as long as I'm not on call all the time I'm fine with it. A few days a week would be fine.
As far as working at night, the way you described things is more what I wouldn't mind doing. The thing I was worried about was working night shifts everyday for the rest of your life. If I can get away with only having night shifts a couple times a week / month I'm absolutely fine with that.
 
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