What do you do first thing in the morning?
My work day currently starts at 6AM:
What's your Morning Ritual?
while [ 1 ]
do
answer(BlackberryDailyAlarm)
if [ $kidAwake -eq 1 ]
then
eatBreakfastWithKid()
wakeUpWife()
shower()
makeLunch()
else
shower()
eatBreakfast()
makeLunch()
fi
walkToWork(4blocks) # See also: man exercise
login ernied
while evolution
do
case $message in
VeryImportant )
convertToTask() ;;
Important )
markAsUnread() ;;
*****SPAM***** )
fixSpamFilter() ;;
Customer )
replyOrFixNow() ;;
esac
done
opera munin.mywork.com
if [ $notEnoughSleep -eq 1 ]
then
getCoffee()
else
avoidCoffee() # See also: man internals
fi
if [ $dayOfWeek -eq 1 ] # Monday system maintenance - see wiki
then
for i in $DebianServers
do
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
done
checkBackups() # make sure they're actually getting done/are valid
checkSpamUpdates()
checkVirusUpdates()
doDomainRenwals()
fi
doUnreadMail()
doWork($evolutionTaskList)
while [ $eatLunch -eq 1 ]
do
readServerFault()
done
doWork($evolutionTaskList)
goHome(haveFunWithkid(), eat(), sleep())
done
I embellished a bit about the crazy smile, but otherwise, the trip is true - all of it, including the convicts. It makes for an interesting morning when your co-workers and boss arrive in a sing-song mood from their hermetically sealed vehicles and smooth commute.
Once every 3 weeks, this ritual is repeated at 4am instead of 7am, and I arrive at 5am in the morning. All users are kicked out of the ERP system and the database reindexed, balances recalculated, etc. This has to be done in 60 minutes, no excuses.
People wonder why I get pissed at techies that seem to think that money grows on trees, that life is easy because they are in tech, and why haven't I had the same wonderful experiences. The implication is there is something obviously wrong, and I am beneath them, as I don't have lots of money, I don't have a car, but I have a family that I love.
I generally suppress the urge to punch them; I smile, and say "you wouldn't believe me". I also suppress the urge to tell the person to ${censor} themselves.
An update: It's been a few years since this post. Time has past and things change. I no longer take the train, although I don't mind doing so when needed. I have improved my sleep, toned down the coffee, eat right now, and have overall a better life balance. Being an admin is hard enough work. It's extra hard for no reason when you have to live at an "existence" level for so long. Doing so for about a year and a half was a difficult, dark time, and having a parent pass away made it even darker. I'm glad it's over, but I wanted to say that I appreciate what I have now more than ever, because of going through it.
From that perspective, I've gained a bit more insight into my end-users. I now appreciate their requests, even the silly ones, because in their minds, they think their issues to be "of the greatest importance"; it matters little if it really is or isn't. Most of the time, it's little stuff that is easily addressed; sometimes, it's bigger than thought. But in the end, making their day better is what makes the job - and the challenges that come with it - part of why we do what we do.
Lastly, if anything, the insight I gave about techies "that seem to think that money grows on trees, that life is easy because they are in tech, and why haven't I had the same wonderful experiences" - that little bit has proven accurate over time. To those that still do not or even choose not to understand how the interaction of demands on you and the demands of the work can drain you and others around you, herein lies a little nugget of wisdom: You'll never grasp your profession until you really listen to what is being said.
tl;dr: don't make dumb assumptions that everyone is just like you, don't be defensive because someone disagrees, be polite and sparse with criticism, and listen with your ears, not your mouth.
Day starts at 04:00-04-15 am
START:
GOTO START
Mostly of days
I wake up before sun goes up an do a morning pray after that drinking tea while checking online weather to make decide what device should I use to came at work (motorbike or car).
Usually when came earlier then 7 o'clock I need explain myself to boys at security why I came first and how I can maintenance servers only while nobody is online (re index tables on SQL and do some custom DATAMINING tasks). After that I drink coffee staring at my paper notebook marking with pen impormatn tasks. and said to my self "Where Do You Wont Go Today".
I really miss that sentence since in today IE.
Don't do coffee until i'm at work (10 mins walk!) because the boss is a kindly soul and provides excellent caffiene from Coffee Compass, so this morning I got in at 7.45 and already had sales folk moaning they couldn't log in.. didn't get my first hit of the good stuff til nearly 9!
Out of interest... we're currently hiring a new sysadmin - would you take someone on who didn't start their day with coffee? I mean, that's just odd, no?
