Sys Admins are kind of like gods, aren't they?

[yeehi]

I hope you won't mind - I posted this elsewhere, but wanted to see here, too, as it is one of my favourite forums. :)

A systems administrator has root access to the entire system. There is nothing they cannot do. They are omnipotent. Their power is absolute. Nothing dan stand before them. Like Sauron, the Dark Lord, they do not share power. There can be but one root. Else contradiction at the most fundamental level is possible, and that can not be tolerated. The sys admin's power is unconditional and non-negotiable. To be a sys admin is like being a god. (And if they are a god, what is the religion?)

There is an old saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I wonder whether being a sys admin has ended up warping an individual. Perhaps a sys admin has become crazed or even gone berserk?

Surely sys admins must need to be very level headed people.

For example, imagine being 'the' sys admin for the NSA. (What an awesome job that would be!) Think about the access to data, the encryption keys, the secrets... Perhaps one day a sys admin might go bonkers, turn up for work and 'uninstall the entire NSA'! :) But you would have the same sorts of responsibilities working at a bank or other organization.

I wonder whether much emphasis is put on ensuring that sys admins are level headed in the first place and kept sweet in the second. Do they get paid well? I am sure they do not receive half of what they are worth, considering all the hard earned knowledge they have had to gain and the massive responsibility they have.

[Grenage]

While pay is dependent on company, there is indeed a high degree of responsibility and trust; a somewhat far cry from a deity.

[Paqman]

For example, imagine being 'the' sys admin for the NSA. (What an awesome job that would be!) Think about the access to data, the encryption keys, the secrets...

I would imagine any security-conscious organisation would take strenuous steps to compartmentalise to a high degree. Individual sysadmins would not have access to any information that wasn't critical to their role.

[wyliecoyoteuk]

You are of course correct.
Sysadmins are omnipotent and omniscient.
You should all worship their lofty magnificence.

(Did I mention that I am a Sysadmin?) :)

[mips]

Position comes with a LOT of responsibility and accountability.

[angryfirelord]

While pay is dependent on company, there is indeed a high degree of responsibility and trust; a somewhat far cry from a deity.
Plus, if something gets screwed up, it all goes on the system administrator's head. They're also the ones that are on-call a lot if the facility needs to be running 24/7.

[Grenage]

Plus, if something gets screwed up, it all goes on the system administrator's head. They're also the ones that are on-call a lot if the facility needs to be running 24/7.

Yes, unfortunately the buck has to stop somewhere. Depending on what your systems are doing, it has the capability of being an immensely stressful job; how well you can deal with it is often a big factor in suitability.

[matt_symes]

I wonder whether being a sys admin has ended up warping an individual. Perhaps a sys admin has become crazed or even gone berserk?

That is not good for a sysadmins continued career prospects :)

[thatguruguy]

Here ya go: Linky (http://www.feedbooks.com/book/335/when-sysadmins-ruled-the-earth).

[CharlesA]

I would imagine any security-conscious organisation would take strenuous steps to compartmentalise to a high degree. Individual sysadmins would not have access to any information that wasn't critical to their role.

This. At least that is how it is supposed to be setup, whether it actually is or not is a different matter.

[Grenage]

I've not encountered any installation where one person did not have supreme authority, regardless of compartmentalisation. I imagine they do exist, I've just never seen one.

[Balthazar54]

George Orwell said it best in Animal Farm:

ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL
BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

;)

[Simian Man]

Sysadmins can't do quite anything, they can't read other people's passwords for example. Though the sheer fact that sysadmins exist makes them more powerful than gods if you ask me :).

[QIII]

Gods seldom find themselves out of work if stuff hits the fan. Priests tell the supplicants that such things happen because they, themselves, brought down wrath with their own evil doing.

I've never seen a god in the unemployment office.

Oh. I take that back. I did put q buck in Wotan's hat once.

[Bachstelze]

No, they're not. They're the people who do the boring work that no one else wants to do, so we give them the impression that they have some kind of power to make them feel better.

[Nixarter]

Nope. I've met admins before. They do tend to be conceited, though...

[QIII]

Nope. I've met admins before. They do tend to be conceited, though...

Not all of them...

Ours understands that he has a job to do and that is in support of the company.

[haqking]

The majority of Sys admins I have come across are nowhere near omnipotent or omniscient.

They are arrogant, ill informed and lack perspective and really just glorified tech support (but who refuse to help anyone because they think they are god).

As for having access to all data and being all powerful, it should not be that way, a root or admin user may have th ability to change a users password but not necessarily know it and not have ultimate read access to data either, especially in Govt sectors such as the NSA, where least privilege and various SC levels are required throughout.

There are users who have the skill to be a good sys admin and there are Sys admins who should go back to being users.

A sweeping statement with a few exceptions ;-)

Peace

[wyliecoyoteuk]

Actually, I am both a sysadmin and IT director for my own company and a field engineer who gets to deal with a lot of other sysadmins in the course of my work.
Sysadmins vary from superbly competent and efficient to direly incompetent and struggling.
The majority are somewhere in-between.
By and large, the really incompetent tend to weed themselves out fairly quickly, either through burnout, severe errors, or just moving on before anybody susses out that they don't know what they're doing.

[lisati]

Although sysdamins might sometimes be perceived as god-like (note the lower-case "g"), they're people just like the rest of us.

[yeehi]

Sysadmins can't do quite anything, they can't read other people's passwords for example. Though the sheer fact that sysadmins exist makes them more powerful than gods if you ask me :).

I thought that the sys admin would know the folder where the password is stored and the method used to obfusticate the password if it is not held in plain text. With this knowledge he would therefor be able to read the password.


Gods seldom find themselves out of work if stuff hits the fan. Priests tell the supplicants that such things happen because they, themselves, brought down wrath with their own evil doing.

I've never seen a god in the unemployment office.


I was amazed when I heard about sys admins being out of work, especially when the dot com bubble burst. But even today I am quite amazed. You require such high competence to do the job that very few people would ever be able to do it. There would always be a massive demand for such people, as they are required in every organization. Surely, demand must vastly outstrip supply!

To put a figure on it, bearing in mind the shortage of people I think there should be and the qualifications and study required, I would expect starting salaries to be about $200,000 a year.

[CharlesA]

I thought that the sys admin would know the folder where the password is stored and the method used to obfusticate the password if it is not held in plain text. With this knowledge he would therefor be able to read the password.


Nope. They can reset passwords, however.


I was amazed when I heard about sys admins being out of work, especially when the dot com bubble burst. But even today I am quite amazed. You require such high competence to do the job that very few people would ever be able to do it. There would always be a massive demand for such people, as they are required in every organization. Surely, demand must vastly outstrip supply!

Nope. It is a thankless job and not many want to deal with the stress that comes with it.


To put a figure on it, bearing in mind the shortage of people I think there should be and the qualifications and study required, I would expect starting salaries to be about $200,000 a year.

Good luck finding a good job that pays that much. Think DoD or Government/Fortune 500 companies. Even the (small) company I work for isn't paying their "IT manager" anywhere close to that. I don't know the exactly figure, but I would doubt it is even close to 50K/year and he works his butt off.

[Grenage]

$200,000 a year

I think you might be confusing sysadmins with another occupation...

[yeehi]

I don't know the exactly figure, but I would doubt it is even close to 50K/year and he works his butt off.

I am amazed that sys admins could be paid so little. They had to work very hard to get the knowledge to do their job, and, surely, few people want to spend their time gaining such detailed, technical know-how.

Have a look at this (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/02/29/the-most-surprisingly-low-paying-jobs/) article on Surprisingly Low Paid Jobs.

Sys Admins aren't mentioned, per se but Computer Support Specialists are:


Mean annual income: $49,930
Bottom 10% make $28,300
Total employed: 579,270

Surely a sys admin would earn more than a computer support specialist.

[angryfirelord]

I am amazed that sys admins could be paid so little. They had to work very hard to get the knowledge to do their job, and, surely, few people want to spend their time gaining such detailed, technical know-how.

Have a look at this (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/02/29/the-most-surprisingly-low-paying-jobs/) article on Surprisingly Low Paid Jobs.

Sys Admins aren't mentioned, per se but Computer Support Specialists are:



Surely a sys admin would earn more than a computer support specialist.
Well, you also have to remember that a lot of businesses view IT as a "cost center" rather than a necessity to compete in the 21st Century.

[CharlesA]

I am amazed that sys admins could be paid so little. They had to work very hard to get the knowledge to do their job, and, surely, few people want to spend their time gaining such detailed, technical know-how.

Have a look at this (http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/02/29/the-most-surprisingly-low-paying-jobs/) article on Surprisingly Low Paid Jobs.

I believe it. Companies can also get away with "undercutting" how much they pay you by giving you a different job title. Someone working as a level 1 help desk tech makes less than a tech support specialist, even if they have the same responsibilities. Go figure.


Well, you also have to remember that a lot of businesses view IT as a "cost center" rather than a necessity to compete in the 21st Century.

Indeed. I've seen it happen at the place I work - only recently have they started upgrading their infrastructure, most of the stuff they used previously has been 10-15 years old with the best machine being a Pentium 4 running Win 2K3.

[haqking]

I think someone has a crush on System Administrators ;-)

$200,000 per annum is an IT Director salary (only for a large, wealthy and prestigious company however) or company Directory even.

A sys admin is typically a bumbling nutjob with a neckbeard and little social skills with a deportment which needs a serious makeover, or if they are not then they lied on their CV and bluff their way through their job with the aid of Google.

Peace

[mips]

$200,000 per annum is an IT Director salary (only for a large, wealthy and prestigious company however) or company Directory even.


I reckon you could get that salary as a high level technical network support individual (Cisco, Juniper, Alcatel, Siemens etc) but your job would not entail day to day slog, more design and the end of the line when it comes to trouble shooting. So you don't have to be in a management position to earn that salary. It would be at the top end of the salary scale for that job though.

[haqking]

I reckon you could get that salary as a high level technical network support individual (Cisco, Juniper, Alcatel, Siemens etc) but your job would not entail day to day slog, more design and the end of the line when it comes to trouble shooting. So you don't have to be in a management position to earn that salary. It would be at the top end of the salary scale for that job though.

Of course, In 2006 I earnt £163K from contracting.

I was just giving an idea, i seriously doubt there are any sys admins anwyhere earning 200k

[CharlesA]

On another, completely unrelated topic, SysAdmin Day is July 27th.

[t0p]

Ever heard of the BOFH (http://www.theregister.co.uk/odds/bofh/)? I'd hate to have to rely on him. And I'm pretty sure he's real.

Of course, sysadmins deserve sympathy too. All those ridiculous requests from headless chickens. If I were a sysadmin, I think I'd do something like the guys in The IT Crowd, answering all phone calls with "Hello, have you tried turning it off and back on again?" I reckon those guys are real too...