Category Archives: Systems Administration

Tech.Ed 2013 – Day 2, Wednesday 4th September

So now we move onto the start of Day 2 (which is technically Day 1…I think >.>) Also, I forgot to mention one of the most memorable events from Day 1 at the welcome reception – the “head licking” incident. There’ll be shout-outs later for that one. Wednesday, 4th Sept: I was exceptionally proud of myself – I got up… Read more »

Tech.Ed 2013 – Day 1, Tuesday 3rd September

Okay, first of all, I am not a figment of someone’s imagination, I really do exist. a number of you met me at Tech.Ed so you know this is true. I’M A REAL GIRL! (I swear I heard Pinocchio in my head when I said that…) The next few blog posts are pretty much going to be a blow-by-blow of… Read more »

Admitting your mistakes…quickly.

I’ll openly admit it. I’m not infallible. I do not know everything. And I can (and do!) make mistakes. One of the most important aspects of an IT professional, from my point of view as an operations cog, is to admit your mistakes as quickly as you possibly can. Don’t be shy. Don’t hide behind ego, don’t hide behind bravado,… Read more »

Public Service vs. Academia – my current observations

So I’ve been working for a government organisation for just over 18 months now. After working for a university, it’s been an interesting transition. I realise that, having never been exposed to ‘Corporate land’, I may have some bias but this post will take a look at a few of the things I’ve noticed that are extremely different…and a few… Read more »

Niggling irritations of a Windows admin…

Realised I hadn’t posted in a while, have a few drafts on the go, but decided that rather than continue on one of them and do a half-assed job of it, I’d do a little post on my current irritations and frustrations in the lovely world of IT. Because, to be honest, there’s quite a few at the moment for… Read more »

Apparently, I’m an IT Professional ^_^

(Honestly thought I’d posted this earlier! Appears I just saved it as a draft and then promptly forgot about it!) Certainly not going to complain about the label “IT Professional”. Was quite nice to receive it, to be honest! And the reason behind it? While at Tech.Ed 2012 last year, I was filmed discussing what parts of Server 2012 I… Read more »

Taking leave…and why it’s so important to just *stop*

I’ve hit that point in the year where I’m cranky with everyone, I’m fed up with dealing with people, the tasks that I wanted to get done this year haven’t all been done, things are behind, everything’s irritating me and I’m just fed up with life in general. It’s been 8 months since I took a “holiday”. Most of the… Read more »

“But it’s how we’ve always done it!”

If you are *anything* at all like me, the saying “But it’s how we’ve always done it!” will make you want to tear your hair out in frustration, throw something through your monitor and find something sharp and pointy to hurt the person who could have said such a stupid thing. I absolutely loathe the saying. I can’t understand how… Read more »

No, good sir, sending me an email isn’t good enough!

I get really annoyed when someone says to me “Oh, it’s okay, I’ll just email that to you so you won’t forget”. I will forget. Because along with your emails, I get hundreds of others – from multiple monitoring systems, certificate renewals, server notifications, updates that are available, from systems available for testing, people telling me they’re away sick, people… Read more »

Religious bias in the tech world…

And no, I’m not talking about actual religions here (insert mandatory reference to Flying Spahetti Monster ^_^), this is about technology religions, technology evangelism to the point where you’re blinded to all other options. Admit it, you’ve done it at least once in your life – we all have. I’m a Windows Systems Administrator. There. I said it. I’m *proud*… Read more »