Bit of a rant
My first post here I think.
I have been the sole IT person for over 23 years in the same business, my tenure has been mostly because of the people I work amongst, all have been there for similar amounts of time and we are more than just colleagues but great friends too.
My role includes maintaining the infrastructure and everything else you can imagine. I have even created a custom CRM, portal and customer portal that is used every day and has become the center of the whole business saving him tens of thousands in licencing.
I am running the infrastructure on a very limited budget, I won't bore you with the details but we have a hybrid cloud phone system that used to be on it's own internet line that is now shared with the main network internet connection as the boss wanted to save £30 a month on what he's sees as a waste (don't go there).
Currently earning £36k but just asked for a salary of £45k with 2 days from home (75 mile daily commute for me). Since then he has not dismissed it but has said he will think about it and we will revisit in a few weeks. He has also got me consulting an external company to "assist if I am ill or unavailable" under the guise that his insurance is asking for it.
Here's the kicker, I do basic finance related duties daily as well as he didn't want to pay for another member of staff that won't be full time.
If you were in my position what would your next move be?
https://redd.it/1ndamiz
@r_systemadmin
My first post here I think.
I have been the sole IT person for over 23 years in the same business, my tenure has been mostly because of the people I work amongst, all have been there for similar amounts of time and we are more than just colleagues but great friends too.
My role includes maintaining the infrastructure and everything else you can imagine. I have even created a custom CRM, portal and customer portal that is used every day and has become the center of the whole business saving him tens of thousands in licencing.
I am running the infrastructure on a very limited budget, I won't bore you with the details but we have a hybrid cloud phone system that used to be on it's own internet line that is now shared with the main network internet connection as the boss wanted to save £30 a month on what he's sees as a waste (don't go there).
Currently earning £36k but just asked for a salary of £45k with 2 days from home (75 mile daily commute for me). Since then he has not dismissed it but has said he will think about it and we will revisit in a few weeks. He has also got me consulting an external company to "assist if I am ill or unavailable" under the guise that his insurance is asking for it.
Here's the kicker, I do basic finance related duties daily as well as he didn't want to pay for another member of staff that won't be full time.
If you were in my position what would your next move be?
https://redd.it/1ndamiz
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Windows BitLocker Vulnerability Let Attackers Elevate Privileges
Windows BitLocker allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
Windows BitLocker Vulnerability Let Attackers Elevate Privileges
CVE page: CVE-2025-54911 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - Windows BitLocker Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
https://redd.it/1ndbqfj
@r_systemadmin
Windows BitLocker allows an authorized attacker to elevate privileges locally.
Windows BitLocker Vulnerability Let Attackers Elevate Privileges
CVE page: CVE-2025-54911 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - Windows BitLocker Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability
https://redd.it/1ndbqfj
@r_systemadmin
Cyber Security News
Windows BitLocker Vulnerability Let Attackers Elevate Privileges
Microsoft has addressed two significant elevation of privilege vulnerabilities affecting its Windows BitLocker encryption feature.
Is it weird for my employer to ask me to make a direct line to our IT team for guests?
Good morning all,
I currently work in hospitality, and I’m looking for some outside perspective on a change at work.
Traditionally, when a guest has an issue, they contact Guest Services, who create a ticket explaining the problem. We then go to the room and resolve it.
Our boss now wants to change this process: if a guest has a “Do Not Disturb” sign, instead when we go up to fix the issue, we’re supposed to leave a note with an email address so they can contact our IT team directly. Initially, they asked if we could provide guests with the email address for our internal ticketing system (we said no), but now they’re pushing for a separate shared mailbox for guest issues.
From my perspective, it feels strange to give guests a direct line to the company’s internal IT department, even if it’s a separate mailbox.
I’d love to hear how other companies handle similar situations. Do you allow guests to directly email IT, or do you have a different process in place?
https://redd.it/1nddhqg
@r_systemadmin
Good morning all,
I currently work in hospitality, and I’m looking for some outside perspective on a change at work.
Traditionally, when a guest has an issue, they contact Guest Services, who create a ticket explaining the problem. We then go to the room and resolve it.
Our boss now wants to change this process: if a guest has a “Do Not Disturb” sign, instead when we go up to fix the issue, we’re supposed to leave a note with an email address so they can contact our IT team directly. Initially, they asked if we could provide guests with the email address for our internal ticketing system (we said no), but now they’re pushing for a separate shared mailbox for guest issues.
From my perspective, it feels strange to give guests a direct line to the company’s internal IT department, even if it’s a separate mailbox.
I’d love to hear how other companies handle similar situations. Do you allow guests to directly email IT, or do you have a different process in place?
https://redd.it/1nddhqg
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What would you do?
So Leaving my current role in just over 2 weeks . My total cock-womble of a boss has hired an "amazing" third line engineer...
Today's example of the skills of the man - we, like many, use group memberships to assign permissions to Windows file storage. Today I had to show him how to add a user to an AD group - both my 1st & 2nd liners popped their heads up over the screens with a WTF look.
Yesterday's example, he confidently informed us that we didn't need Server backup software, Hyper-V checkpoints would do it instead....
Last Week gem was "one of my monitors isn't working" - yet asked me to fix it...
They have both separately asked me to speak to our boss about this. But since I'm leaving under a cloud I'm not on doing anything!
So - WWWSAD (What Would a Wise Sys Admin Do?)
Thanks
Pete
https://redd.it/1ndgcnl
@r_systemadmin
So Leaving my current role in just over 2 weeks . My total cock-womble of a boss has hired an "amazing" third line engineer...
Today's example of the skills of the man - we, like many, use group memberships to assign permissions to Windows file storage. Today I had to show him how to add a user to an AD group - both my 1st & 2nd liners popped their heads up over the screens with a WTF look.
Yesterday's example, he confidently informed us that we didn't need Server backup software, Hyper-V checkpoints would do it instead....
Last Week gem was "one of my monitors isn't working" - yet asked me to fix it...
They have both separately asked me to speak to our boss about this. But since I'm leaving under a cloud I'm not on doing anything!
So - WWWSAD (What Would a Wise Sys Admin Do?)
Thanks
Pete
https://redd.it/1ndgcnl
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Saved a user hundreds of woman-hours by introducing them to the radical concept of ZIP files
So user comes to me, sweating bullets.
They have been uploading PDFs into our system. One. At. A. Time.
Hundreds of them. Each file hand-selected and uploaded like some artisanal craft project.
They are about 20 percent of the way through and already ready to quit life.
I ask:
"Wait... you know you can just zip them, right?"
Them: "..."
Me: "Put all the files in a folder, right click -> Send to -> Compressed (zipped) folder. Then upload that. Our app accepts files. A zip is a file. The app will unzip it on the other side. Done."
It was like I had just parted the Red Sea with my badge swipe.
User jaw: unzipped
My hero meter: maxed out
Time saved: conservatively hundreds of woman hours
https://redd.it/1ndkpfh
@r_systemadmin
So user comes to me, sweating bullets.
They have been uploading PDFs into our system. One. At. A. Time.
Hundreds of them. Each file hand-selected and uploaded like some artisanal craft project.
They are about 20 percent of the way through and already ready to quit life.
I ask:
"Wait... you know you can just zip them, right?"
Them: "..."
Me: "Put all the files in a folder, right click -> Send to -> Compressed (zipped) folder. Then upload that. Our app accepts files. A zip is a file. The app will unzip it on the other side. Done."
It was like I had just parted the Red Sea with my badge swipe.
User jaw: unzipped
My hero meter: maxed out
Time saved: conservatively hundreds of woman hours
https://redd.it/1ndkpfh
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Enough rants, let’s talk positives
I see a lot of rants, so I wanted to post one positive thread. What do you like about the job?
I enjoy cloud administration and backup & recovery logic. You?
https://redd.it/1ndkjyx
@r_systemadmin
I see a lot of rants, so I wanted to post one positive thread. What do you like about the job?
I enjoy cloud administration and backup & recovery logic. You?
https://redd.it/1ndkjyx
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got fired for screwing up incident response lol
Well that was fun... got walked out friday after completely botching a p0 incident 2am alert comes in, payment processing down. im oncall so my problem. spent 20 minutes trying to wake people up instead of just following escalation. nobody answered obviously database connection pool was maxed but we had zero visibility into why.
Spent an hour randomly restarting stuff while our biggest client lost thousands per minute. ceo found out from customer email not us which was awkward turns out it was a memory leak from a deploy 3 days ago. couldve caught it with proper monitoring but "thats not in the budget"
according to management 4 hours to fix something that shouldve taken 20 minutes. now im job hunting and every company has the same broken incident response shouldve pushed for better tooling instead of accepting that chaos was normal i guess
https://redd.it/1ndk9do
@r_systemadmin
Well that was fun... got walked out friday after completely botching a p0 incident 2am alert comes in, payment processing down. im oncall so my problem. spent 20 minutes trying to wake people up instead of just following escalation. nobody answered obviously database connection pool was maxed but we had zero visibility into why.
Spent an hour randomly restarting stuff while our biggest client lost thousands per minute. ceo found out from customer email not us which was awkward turns out it was a memory leak from a deploy 3 days ago. couldve caught it with proper monitoring but "thats not in the budget"
according to management 4 hours to fix something that shouldve taken 20 minutes. now im job hunting and every company has the same broken incident response shouldve pushed for better tooling instead of accepting that chaos was normal i guess
https://redd.it/1ndk9do
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RingCentral's Poor Customer Service
Just so others don't repeat my mistake, my recommendation is to avoid using RingCentral.
Pros:
\- Getting signed up was easy and the rep was very responsive during that process. And, for the most part, phone service was OK. But...
Cons:
\- Once you've signed, you'll never reach your rep again.
\- When you have a problem, getting help is almost impossible (especially billing concerns).
\- You're stuck with the number of lines you started with (you can increase, but never decrease).
\- And, when times are tight and you need to cancel service, they make it very difficult. You'll probably miss your window of time to cancel... then you're locked in for a couple more years (over-paying for average VOIP service).
IMPORTANT: If you do choose them, read and understand all the fine print of the contract, because you're locked in for a long time.
https://redd.it/1ndr1fw
@r_systemadmin
Just so others don't repeat my mistake, my recommendation is to avoid using RingCentral.
Pros:
\- Getting signed up was easy and the rep was very responsive during that process. And, for the most part, phone service was OK. But...
Cons:
\- Once you've signed, you'll never reach your rep again.
\- When you have a problem, getting help is almost impossible (especially billing concerns).
\- You're stuck with the number of lines you started with (you can increase, but never decrease).
\- And, when times are tight and you need to cancel service, they make it very difficult. You'll probably miss your window of time to cancel... then you're locked in for a couple more years (over-paying for average VOIP service).
IMPORTANT: If you do choose them, read and understand all the fine print of the contract, because you're locked in for a long time.
https://redd.it/1ndr1fw
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Tell One of Your Oops Stories
A couple of jobs ago, I built a SQL query for finance that would fix sales discrepancies at the end of each month. These discrepancies were mistakes and typos done by the closing manager in our retail stores.
Finance would tell me what they were expecting based on the deposits. I was methodical about the process. I summarized all the individual transactions and dumped everything into a temp table for review before writing it to the production table.
I was comparing the production table to my temp to make sure what was already correct, was still correct, and what wrong, is now fixed. I discovered an issue, which happened, so I wanted to make a change and run the query again. Anyway, for some ungodly reason, I decided to manually type "DELETE * FROM TABLE", when I had the DELETE statement already build into my query and all I had to do was rerun it. Anyway, the table name I typed was the production table. I already had the left mouse button pressed to execute the command. The signal from my brain to my right pointer finger to release the button was already sent. I knew I screwed up as my finger was releasing the mouse button. I just deleted the entire production table.
Instant meat-sweats. I panicked for about 10 minutes until I was able to gather my thoughts. In that time, someone from finance called me letting me know that something was now really wrong with the sales data, which I already knew. I'm dreading telling my boss that we have to pull a backup. I then realized I could rebuild the summary table by using a few other tables. It took me about four hours to write a new SQL query to rebuild the table and test the output. The finance employee validated and all was good.
No one in my department ever found out. As far as the finance employee knew, there was already an issue that I was working on.
https://redd.it/1ndx3a8
@r_systemadmin
A couple of jobs ago, I built a SQL query for finance that would fix sales discrepancies at the end of each month. These discrepancies were mistakes and typos done by the closing manager in our retail stores.
Finance would tell me what they were expecting based on the deposits. I was methodical about the process. I summarized all the individual transactions and dumped everything into a temp table for review before writing it to the production table.
I was comparing the production table to my temp to make sure what was already correct, was still correct, and what wrong, is now fixed. I discovered an issue, which happened, so I wanted to make a change and run the query again. Anyway, for some ungodly reason, I decided to manually type "DELETE * FROM TABLE", when I had the DELETE statement already build into my query and all I had to do was rerun it. Anyway, the table name I typed was the production table. I already had the left mouse button pressed to execute the command. The signal from my brain to my right pointer finger to release the button was already sent. I knew I screwed up as my finger was releasing the mouse button. I just deleted the entire production table.
Instant meat-sweats. I panicked for about 10 minutes until I was able to gather my thoughts. In that time, someone from finance called me letting me know that something was now really wrong with the sales data, which I already knew. I'm dreading telling my boss that we have to pull a backup. I then realized I could rebuild the summary table by using a few other tables. It took me about four hours to write a new SQL query to rebuild the table and test the output. The finance employee validated and all was good.
No one in my department ever found out. As far as the finance employee knew, there was already an issue that I was working on.
https://redd.it/1ndx3a8
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RIFd after 14 years 355 days.
It happened.
Three hours into my shift in the middle of the workweek my boss is let go, within 5 minutes I get a ping and a meeting invite. I ask when I join if it’s about the boss, or me. It was for me.
10 days short of 15 years. Very different company now, different name a few times over, acquisitions, etc. Very few of the people I initially trained with are left, so it was bittersweet. The mental stress lifted immediately. I can’t feel like a failure when it’s part of a RIF action… but I definitely feel angry, or maybe just annoyed. And a little sad.
I met my (now) wife in the service desk when I was green, found out my son was ready to enter the world during an overnight shift. Grilling with the guys during clean ticket queues overnight. I was 19 and still in college. Now I’m 33, going on 34 in a month.
Haven’t interviewed since 2010, but I’ve been on so many bridge calls, P1 calls, technical discussions and troubleshooting sessions with vendors, carriers, end users, c suite… doesn’t make me feel nervous thinking about the interviews…. But making a resume again? That scares me.
Sorry to post this, it’s not particularly on topic. I just don’t really know how to feel. I know what to do, brushed up linked in, made phone calls to social network and put my feelers out, already have a call with a recruiter tomorrow to discuss some opportunities. Chatted with my wife, agreed we will get through this and she’s been primarily concerned with whether or not I’m okay. Bless her.
I dunno guys. I’m not a technologist, and I don’t eat live and breathe IT. I just like solving problems. I guess I just didn’t foresee having to solve this one.
https://redd.it/1ndzitt
@r_systemadmin
It happened.
Three hours into my shift in the middle of the workweek my boss is let go, within 5 minutes I get a ping and a meeting invite. I ask when I join if it’s about the boss, or me. It was for me.
10 days short of 15 years. Very different company now, different name a few times over, acquisitions, etc. Very few of the people I initially trained with are left, so it was bittersweet. The mental stress lifted immediately. I can’t feel like a failure when it’s part of a RIF action… but I definitely feel angry, or maybe just annoyed. And a little sad.
I met my (now) wife in the service desk when I was green, found out my son was ready to enter the world during an overnight shift. Grilling with the guys during clean ticket queues overnight. I was 19 and still in college. Now I’m 33, going on 34 in a month.
Haven’t interviewed since 2010, but I’ve been on so many bridge calls, P1 calls, technical discussions and troubleshooting sessions with vendors, carriers, end users, c suite… doesn’t make me feel nervous thinking about the interviews…. But making a resume again? That scares me.
Sorry to post this, it’s not particularly on topic. I just don’t really know how to feel. I know what to do, brushed up linked in, made phone calls to social network and put my feelers out, already have a call with a recruiter tomorrow to discuss some opportunities. Chatted with my wife, agreed we will get through this and she’s been primarily concerned with whether or not I’m okay. Bless her.
I dunno guys. I’m not a technologist, and I don’t eat live and breathe IT. I just like solving problems. I guess I just didn’t foresee having to solve this one.
https://redd.it/1ndzitt
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Manager yells at me in front of everyone and makes me do office-boy type work. Is this normal in desktop support?
I work in IT desktop support in a startup (just me and my manager). He’s nice most of the time, but he doesn’t explain things clearly, no documentation, and if I make a small mistake, he yells at me in front of everyone sometimes.
A lot of my work feels like grunt work like carrying laptops, swapping monitors, setting up meeting rooms, etc.
I’m also introverted, so being put in the spotlight is uncomfortable for me.
Is this actually normal for entry-level desktop support, or is my manager just dumping everything on me? And how do I deal with the public yelling part?
https://redd.it/1ne10u2
@r_systemadmin
I work in IT desktop support in a startup (just me and my manager). He’s nice most of the time, but he doesn’t explain things clearly, no documentation, and if I make a small mistake, he yells at me in front of everyone sometimes.
A lot of my work feels like grunt work like carrying laptops, swapping monitors, setting up meeting rooms, etc.
I’m also introverted, so being put in the spotlight is uncomfortable for me.
Is this actually normal for entry-level desktop support, or is my manager just dumping everything on me? And how do I deal with the public yelling part?
https://redd.it/1ne10u2
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Im gonna lose my job
I work for a developer of hotel property management. I see the end is near im 56. Sysadmin. Attrition is real both hotels and staff. We are legacy what do i do? We host in aws many properties but im a weird way
https://redd.it/1ndzva5
@r_systemadmin
I work for a developer of hotel property management. I see the end is near im 56. Sysadmin. Attrition is real both hotels and staff. We are legacy what do i do? We host in aws many properties but im a weird way
https://redd.it/1ndzva5
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wish i knew sooner
I was today years old when I learned how to actually use a tool I thought I already knew: SSH.
I stopped doing sysadmin work about two years ago to focus on my own projects. Now that I’m connecting my homelab to my business lab, I’ve started using SSH more and it blew my mind.
Back in my sysadmin days, I saved the day more than once with the CLI because not everyone was comfortable there. I used SSH constantly to configure servers and make changes without touching the web UI (i never read into SSH so never did my homework).
But yesterday I discovered SSH tunnels. Forwarding a remote web UI (like Jellyfin) straight to the machine I’m sitting at… insane!
And today… i not only forwarded a couple of webUIs, shared file systems and being able to browse (I2P) without having to install it machine im using! Got too exited and had to share my thoughts and i will start reading more docs on the tools i use.
https://redd.it/1ndzfh9
@r_systemadmin
I was today years old when I learned how to actually use a tool I thought I already knew: SSH.
I stopped doing sysadmin work about two years ago to focus on my own projects. Now that I’m connecting my homelab to my business lab, I’ve started using SSH more and it blew my mind.
Back in my sysadmin days, I saved the day more than once with the CLI because not everyone was comfortable there. I used SSH constantly to configure servers and make changes without touching the web UI (i never read into SSH so never did my homework).
But yesterday I discovered SSH tunnels. Forwarding a remote web UI (like Jellyfin) straight to the machine I’m sitting at… insane!
And today… i not only forwarded a couple of webUIs, shared file systems and being able to browse (I2P) without having to install it machine im using! Got too exited and had to share my thoughts and i will start reading more docs on the tools i use.
https://redd.it/1ndzfh9
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Sysadmins: how are you handling M365 retention and backup for small orgs?
Got a couple of 20–80 seat orgs leaning completely on M365 and most of them honestly think Microsoft is just backing up everything for them. Spoiler: nope.
Stuff I keep running into:
Deleted items vanish way sooner than they expect.
SharePoint/OneDrive restores are… painful at best.
Nobody’s thinking about compliance or long-term archive.
And of course, users swear the recycle bin = backup 🤦.
For bigger orgs it’s usually sorted, they’ll pay for a proper tool. But for the small ones with tight budgets, I’m kinda stuck in the middle here.
So what are you all doing? Just cranking up retention policies? Rolling your own noscripts? Paying for something lightweight? Or just praying nothing gets nuked?
https://redd.it/1ndzzet
@r_systemadmin
Got a couple of 20–80 seat orgs leaning completely on M365 and most of them honestly think Microsoft is just backing up everything for them. Spoiler: nope.
Stuff I keep running into:
Deleted items vanish way sooner than they expect.
SharePoint/OneDrive restores are… painful at best.
Nobody’s thinking about compliance or long-term archive.
And of course, users swear the recycle bin = backup 🤦.
For bigger orgs it’s usually sorted, they’ll pay for a proper tool. But for the small ones with tight budgets, I’m kinda stuck in the middle here.
So what are you all doing? Just cranking up retention policies? Rolling your own noscripts? Paying for something lightweight? Or just praying nothing gets nuked?
https://redd.it/1ndzzet
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Thickheaded Thursday - September 11, 2025
Howdy, /r/sysadmin!
It's that time of the week, Thickheaded Thursday! This is a safe (mostly) judgement-free environment for all of your questions and stories, no matter how silly you think they are. Anybody can answer questions! My name is AutoModerator and I've taken over responsibility for posting these weekly threads so you don't have to worry about anything except your comments!
https://redd.it/1ne4qv4
@r_systemadmin
Howdy, /r/sysadmin!
It's that time of the week, Thickheaded Thursday! This is a safe (mostly) judgement-free environment for all of your questions and stories, no matter how silly you think they are. Anybody can answer questions! My name is AutoModerator and I've taken over responsibility for posting these weekly threads so you don't have to worry about anything except your comments!
https://redd.it/1ne4qv4
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How to stop execs screenshotting dashboards?
i caught a senior manager this morning screenshotting sensitive dashboards and sending them via whatsapp.
https://redd.it/1ne2qjs
@r_systemadmin
i caught a senior manager this morning screenshotting sensitive dashboards and sending them via whatsapp.
https://redd.it/1ne2qjs
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Security Operations with AI-Powered SASE
Our company has been juggling hybrid cloud apps, a few on-prem systems, and a remote-heavy workforce. Started looking into SASE vendors earlier this year and noticed every single one now talks about AI as a differentiator.
Some highlight AI-driven threat detection, others say it helps with policy automation or incident response. Hard to tell how much of it is real versus marketing fluff.
Has anyone here actually seen measurable benefits from AI inside their SASE deployments?
https://redd.it/1ne4txn
@r_systemadmin
Our company has been juggling hybrid cloud apps, a few on-prem systems, and a remote-heavy workforce. Started looking into SASE vendors earlier this year and noticed every single one now talks about AI as a differentiator.
Some highlight AI-driven threat detection, others say it helps with policy automation or incident response. Hard to tell how much of it is real versus marketing fluff.
Has anyone here actually seen measurable benefits from AI inside their SASE deployments?
https://redd.it/1ne4txn
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What’s the biggest pain point of using a bunch of local, ad-hoc IT contractors?
We've had to rely on a handful of local contractors and freelancers to help with our on-site IT needs in different cities. While it's better than nothhing, it's a huge headache to manage. For those of you who go this route, what's your biggest frustration? For us, it's teh inconsistent pricing, the varying skill levels, and the time it takes to find and vet a new person every time we have an issue. It feels like we spend more time managing the people than getting the work done. I'm interested to hear if this is a common experience or if there’s a better way to handle
https://redd.it/1ne84uu
@r_systemadmin
We've had to rely on a handful of local contractors and freelancers to help with our on-site IT needs in different cities. While it's better than nothhing, it's a huge headache to manage. For those of you who go this route, what's your biggest frustration? For us, it's teh inconsistent pricing, the varying skill levels, and the time it takes to find and vet a new person every time we have an issue. It feels like we spend more time managing the people than getting the work done. I'm interested to hear if this is a common experience or if there’s a better way to handle
https://redd.it/1ne84uu
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Saved a user from spreadsheet-induced despair by introducing them to the mystical art of "Ctrl+F"
So the user walks in, eyes glazed, soul half-evaporated. They've been manually scanning a 12,000-row Excel sheet to find entries with a specific client name. One. Row. At A. Time. Like some kind of medieval monk transcribing sacred scrolls.
They say, “I’ve been at this for two hours and I’ve only found 8 matches.”
I blink. “Wait… you know you can just press Ctrl+F, right?”
Them: “Ctrl what?”
Me: “Ctrl+F. It opens a search box. Type the name. Boom. It jumps to every match. You can even highlight them all.”
It was like I had just summoned a productivity demon from the depths of the IT underworld.
User reaction: stunned silence
My internal soundtrack: Eye of the Tiger
Time saved: conservatively 3 hours, 1 existential crisis, and a potential keyboard smash
https://redd.it/1ne9c5a
@r_systemadmin
So the user walks in, eyes glazed, soul half-evaporated. They've been manually scanning a 12,000-row Excel sheet to find entries with a specific client name. One. Row. At A. Time. Like some kind of medieval monk transcribing sacred scrolls.
They say, “I’ve been at this for two hours and I’ve only found 8 matches.”
I blink. “Wait… you know you can just press Ctrl+F, right?”
Them: “Ctrl what?”
Me: “Ctrl+F. It opens a search box. Type the name. Boom. It jumps to every match. You can even highlight them all.”
It was like I had just summoned a productivity demon from the depths of the IT underworld.
User reaction: stunned silence
My internal soundtrack: Eye of the Tiger
Time saved: conservatively 3 hours, 1 existential crisis, and a potential keyboard smash
https://redd.it/1ne9c5a
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Whats this massive feeling about being inadequate all of a sudden.
Hey all,
I’ve posted here a few times before. I’m currently the sole IT person at a small tech company that focuses heavily on software development and managing databases for clients. It’s been about a year and a few months, and while I’ve learned a lot, I’m starting to feel like I’m hitting a brick wall.
\*\*I think this feeling really sank in after I saw a new DBA we hired speak so confidently and effortlessly with an external client. He was calm, direct, and probably secured a new deal for the company within minutes. Meanwhile, I just sat there thinking, “I could never do that.” I’m not a strong speaker, and I don’t have that kind of presence or self assurance. It made me question whether I’m really cut out for this path, or if I’m just pretending to keep up.\*\*
I’ve been trying to level up into a Junior DBA role (even going through Oracle learning materials/Udemy videos and labs), at the moment ive only built an internal Oracle 19c test environments from scratch (installing on Oracle Linux and install the database on Docker thanks to Network Chuck awsome video on this, configuring pluggable databases, automating backups via RMAN, etc.) but honestly… it’s starting to feel a bit anticlimactic with all the SQL queries i have to remember. I don't know if it's burnout or just the reality setting in, but the idea of grinding out that certification feels less exciting by the day.
That said, I’ve done a ton on my own here:
* Migrated our on-prem infrastructure from VMware to Proxmox VE, including critical production VMs.
* Replaced our legacy OpenVPN setup with modern alternatives (currently testing NetBird).
* Implemented/Coordinate firewall upgrades (FortiGate)
* Contributed to our successful ISO 27001 certification thus handled internal backup policy drafting, logging requirements, and infrastructure documentation.
* Managed AWS cost optimization by cleaning up snapshots, right-sizing instances, and coordinating with dev teams on resource usage.
I’ve been wearing every IT hat you can think of: sysadmin, network guy, backup guy, Oracle DBA-in-training, compliance tech, etc. But i have the feeling that im being seen as just the IT guy sitting and doing nothing and being billable for the company.
Im thinking to search for a position at a bigger company but im having the feeling that it would be the same, or maybe i should directly search for a company that delivers sysadmin like services to other cleints so i can be off site at clients most of the time.
Any one hitting the same wall as me? Man i want to just sit at the beach and watch a nice sunset now....
https://redd.it/1neay9h
@r_systemadmin
Hey all,
I’ve posted here a few times before. I’m currently the sole IT person at a small tech company that focuses heavily on software development and managing databases for clients. It’s been about a year and a few months, and while I’ve learned a lot, I’m starting to feel like I’m hitting a brick wall.
\*\*I think this feeling really sank in after I saw a new DBA we hired speak so confidently and effortlessly with an external client. He was calm, direct, and probably secured a new deal for the company within minutes. Meanwhile, I just sat there thinking, “I could never do that.” I’m not a strong speaker, and I don’t have that kind of presence or self assurance. It made me question whether I’m really cut out for this path, or if I’m just pretending to keep up.\*\*
I’ve been trying to level up into a Junior DBA role (even going through Oracle learning materials/Udemy videos and labs), at the moment ive only built an internal Oracle 19c test environments from scratch (installing on Oracle Linux and install the database on Docker thanks to Network Chuck awsome video on this, configuring pluggable databases, automating backups via RMAN, etc.) but honestly… it’s starting to feel a bit anticlimactic with all the SQL queries i have to remember. I don't know if it's burnout or just the reality setting in, but the idea of grinding out that certification feels less exciting by the day.
That said, I’ve done a ton on my own here:
* Migrated our on-prem infrastructure from VMware to Proxmox VE, including critical production VMs.
* Replaced our legacy OpenVPN setup with modern alternatives (currently testing NetBird).
* Implemented/Coordinate firewall upgrades (FortiGate)
* Contributed to our successful ISO 27001 certification thus handled internal backup policy drafting, logging requirements, and infrastructure documentation.
* Managed AWS cost optimization by cleaning up snapshots, right-sizing instances, and coordinating with dev teams on resource usage.
I’ve been wearing every IT hat you can think of: sysadmin, network guy, backup guy, Oracle DBA-in-training, compliance tech, etc. But i have the feeling that im being seen as just the IT guy sitting and doing nothing and being billable for the company.
Im thinking to search for a position at a bigger company but im having the feeling that it would be the same, or maybe i should directly search for a company that delivers sysadmin like services to other cleints so i can be off site at clients most of the time.
Any one hitting the same wall as me? Man i want to just sit at the beach and watch a nice sunset now....
https://redd.it/1neay9h
@r_systemadmin
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Employee passed away, can't open his Access database
An engineer reached out to me to help open an Access database that was managed by an employee who passed away. Said employee was the only one who maintained it and did not leave any documentation about his process. There is no password on the file itself, but when attempting to open the file as the former employee's user, it prompts for a password. We are assuming this is an old, cached password in the database.
I've tried to recover passwords using both Passware Kit Forensics, which finds no passwords on the file, and using Thegrideon Access Password, which was helpful to display the User and IDs, but didn't retrieve any passwords.
Has anyone ever delt with this issue on old Access Databases? We are kind of stuck and I guess this is a fairly important database (although why is there no documentation if it is so important...)
Any ideas would be helpful as I am stuck trying to find a working solution.
https://redd.it/1necrj9
@r_systemadmin
An engineer reached out to me to help open an Access database that was managed by an employee who passed away. Said employee was the only one who maintained it and did not leave any documentation about his process. There is no password on the file itself, but when attempting to open the file as the former employee's user, it prompts for a password. We are assuming this is an old, cached password in the database.
I've tried to recover passwords using both Passware Kit Forensics, which finds no passwords on the file, and using Thegrideon Access Password, which was helpful to display the User and IDs, but didn't retrieve any passwords.
Has anyone ever delt with this issue on old Access Databases? We are kind of stuck and I guess this is a fairly important database (although why is there no documentation if it is so important...)
Any ideas would be helpful as I am stuck trying to find a working solution.
https://redd.it/1necrj9
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
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