What to do at work

PPLdude

PPLdude

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Hello fellow admins,

I am a jr sysadmin. I handle most of the staff issues, and do some server-side things.

When all the staff are happy and there are no server/network issues, I find myself struggling on what can be done.

I'm not sure if it's like this for everyone?

Any ideas on what I could try implement?

I feel bad when I'm not being productive even though I want to be/try to be. I'll usually read up on the latest security issues, latest updates, etc.
 
Streamline processes, make sure your DR documentation is up to date, check backups, neaten cables, learn about new features, ideas, things and ways of going about your day.

Create mini-projects for yourself like a Raspberry Pi-powered adblocker or fiddle around with PfSense on an old PC tower. As Kosmik said, an IT person should never be idle ;)
 
Nevar said:
Test the backups!
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I just completely rebuilt our Confluence/JIRA/Bitbucket and restored the DB so the backups are working!

Kosmik said:
Research , learn, no ways an IT person should EVER be idle.
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I am constantly reading & researching. However I feel like this is wasting company time, as I am not DOING

PhireSide said:
Streamline processes, make sure your DR documentation is up to date, check backups, neaten cables, learn about new features, ideas, things and ways of going about your day.

Create mini-projects for yourself like a Raspberry Pi-powered adblocker or fiddle around with PfSense on an old PC tower. As Kosmik said, an IT person should never be idle ;)
Click to expand...

I'm always trying to create mini-projects for myself. I think my next one will be to cluster some Oracle Databases

backstreetboy said:
Trade bitcoin.
Click to expand...

I always have bittrex/coinmarketcap open :D
 
Improve your skills. But do it with your boss's blessing, which he shouldn't refuse if it's relevant to your career.
 
Play some games. Get your FPS reaction times back up to standard.
 
Review the log files to find potential small issues you can fix to improve the performance and reliability of your network/systems.
Do a patch audit to ensure every machine is properly updated.
Do a password audit to ensure staff have been changing their password regularly if you don't enforce it automatically.
If you want to score bonus points, find out if there isn't a specific business need or problem you can solve with technology
Automate all the stuff.
 
1. Backups are never working 100% constant verification is always good.
2. Automate stuff
3. Research how to do vulnerability testing - and action (make sure company policy allows for this to be done)
 
Automate manual tasks as far as you can. Learn C# or Java to do the automation.
 
Everyone has been saying automation and they are right, so sit down, take a pen and paper and write down all the things you currently have to do manually.. Now automate those tasks..

My other suggestion, implement an ELK stack to centralize logging of any logs you have to review.. Then create nice fancy graphs to show trends of various things on the servers.. next time you ask your boss for money for some project, show him your fancy graphs.. data never lies...
 
In a perfect world you shouldn't be paid for actively "working" 8 hours a day but rather for the availability of your skills as knowledge for when they are required.

Not that I mean to say you should be sitting on your ass doing nothing all day, I'm just saying that you need not feel pressured to pretend to be working either.
 
WAslayer said:
Everyone has been saying automation and they are right, so sit down, take a pen and paper and write down all the things you currently have to do manually.. Now automate those tasks..

My other suggestion, implement an ELK stack to centralize logging of any logs you have to review.. Then create nice fancy graphs to show trends of various things on the servers.. next time you ask your boss for money for some project, show him your fancy graphs.. data never lies...
Click to expand...

The irony is that OP is complaining about having too much free time, but after automating everything he'll have even more of it.

But it's what I spend most of my idle time on as well.
 
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