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<title>Let's be serious about System Administration  </title>
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<![CDATA[
Employment,Linux,MacOSX,Microsoft 

2013/08/22<p><br /></p>
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<p>Two days ago I wrote a bit of satire that pretended to be a <a href="http://aplawrence.com/Lighter/sysadm_wanted.html">job posting for a System Administrator job</a>.  It got mentioned on Reddit and that sent us a lot of traffic and a few comments, though <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1kt167/system_administrator_wanted_humor/">most of the comments were at Reddit</a>.</p>
<p>One comment noted "This is so close to reality that it is almost not funny anymore."  I agree, and as I explained in my own comment, the basis of everything I said was taken from real life: things that have happened to me or from conversations I've had with other people.</p>
<p>For example, I have had someone insist that I had to be in two places at the same time.  Of course she didn't put it quite like that, but she did insist that I must go see two widely geographically separated customers, both of which had thorny sounding issues that might tie me up for many hours.  When I pointed out that I might not be able to do both, she simply kept insisting that I had to.  Of course I "had to" because she had promised both customers that they would see me that day.</p>
<p>That the satire hit the mark is seen in that some people thought it was real.  The exaggerations do echo what seems to be a lack of respect for this kind of work.  Given the amount of responsibility the job carries, why is that true?</p><h3>No degree needed</h3>
<p>According to Wikipedia,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_administrator">only five schools offer graduate programs in system administration.</a>. Although many more offer Information Technology or Computer Science degrees, those are often overkill for a sysadmin position: you don't need to know how to write N-way caching code to do this job!</p>
<p>Indeed, ubiquitous computers have been here only a few decades, so many of the older folks doing this kind of work fell into it.  They knew a little about computers and as their company increased its complement, they became the "guy", which eventually formalized into some sort of title.  Those people sometimes get the least respect of all; <a href="http://aplawrence.com/Opinion/missyouwhen.html">the company doesn't see them as a "professional"</a>.</p>
<h3>It doesn't look hard</h3>
<p>It is sometimes said that if the system administrator is doing their job well, they have nothing to do.  That's not entirely true: there will always be 
problems to deal with, but a good sysadmin is a bit like Smokey the Bear: they stamp out small fires that nobody notices so that they do not have to deal with major conflagrations.</p>
<p>But there's more to it.  Much of the more visible (and time consuming) may involve user problems. To some eyes, this looks much like bringing your car to the mechanic: some mysterious thing under the hood isn't working, the grease stained guy in the blue shirt pulls a wrench out of his pocket and fixes it.  It's "blue collar" work, and while the reality is much different, that's what it may look like to upper management.</p>
<h3>It doesn't look hard <span style="font-family: Times, serif">II</span></h3>
<p>People "fix" their own computer problems.  Everyone who uses a computer 
has probably fixed something, even if it was just adjusting a setting.  The 
sysadmin job may look like more of the same - it's something "anybody could do" - if they weren't tied up doing more important things!</p>
<p>It probably doesn't help that sysadmins sometimes have to ask Google 
for help.  That knowing what to search for and knowing how to discard chaff in the results is a skill is irrelevant:  you didn't know how to fix it, so you looked it up.  Anyone could do that!</p>

<h3>No tie needed</h3>
<p>If the sysadmin is also charged with diving under desks or opening machines with a screwdriver, you are more likely to find them in jeans than a suit.</p>
<p>Suit work gets respect.  Screwdriver work, even when what follows the unscrewing might require far more accumulated knowledge than many so-called "professional" jobs, does not get respect.</p>
<h3>It doesn't seem critical</h3>
<p>That may seem impossible to believe, but there is a certain amount of complacent disregard for the systems that really are the heart of most businesses today.  I think part of it is that computers are, after, just a tool.  In the minds of some, the real work takes place in their minds and the computer systems are nothing more than glorified screwdrivers.  Because they don't understand the technology that makes that screwdriver work, they tend to diminish its value.  Sure, there will be panic if the systems are not working, but the panic has its roots in the interference with THEIR work.  The sysadmin sees a downed server as a downed server, but the people who use that server see the down time as an impediment to their more important work.</p>
<p>If the system gets no respect, either does the administrator.</p>
<p>By the way, that Wikipedia article would make a good reference if you are a sysadmin and need to defend your value to a somewhat clueless boss.  You might iterate the duties you have and compare them to those listed there, but you might also point out this sentence from the "Skills" section:</p>
<pre>
Perhaps the most important skill for a system administrator is
problem solving-frequently under various sorts of constraints
and stress.
</pre>
<p>That's "knowledge work", not "screwdriver work". The stress is real and the constraints are real.  The skills are important, and worthy of good compensation.</p>


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<title>Is your job safe from robotics and computers? Are you sure? </title>
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Employment 

2013/07/25<p><br /></p>
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<p>I suspect that almost everyone is aware that many factory jobs are being replaced by robotic machines. That happened in industrialized nations and it is already starting to happen in places where human labor is still inexpensive - the robotics has become so inexpensive and so talented that it is becoming very difficult for human labor to compete.</p>

<p>The threat of robotics is also held over existing workers as a warning not to make demands: some say that Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group (they build for Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Nokia) is making just such a threat when they recently announced plans for more automation. This may be just a heavy handed bargaining ploy rather than a real intent to buy more robotics, but even if that is true, the fact that the threat can be made at all is disturbing.</p>

<p>The loss of skilled manufacturing jobs is real. Those who may have once held a good paying job in that area may have seen either robots or "outsourcing" replace them. Their jobs may have moved overseas or simply have been usurped by machines in the same factory they once reported to every workday morning. Some of those people found other jobs, perhaps at lower pay or perhaps not. Unfortunately, some older and less skilled workers never found work again.</p>

<h3>Only 10%</h3>

<p>Yet, some rosy optimists will point out that while an unemployment rate of 10% or so in the U.S.A. is historically high, this is a "glass half full or half empty" proposition and the glass is still 90% full - the vast majority are not part of that 10% figure. The pessimists will carp that those who gave up finding work entirely are not part of the 10% either and that the 90% or so who are employed includes those who are under-employed: they had to take jobs that pay far less than their former wages and may not be paying them enough to survive very long.</p>

<p>How rosy or dangerous things really are is something to be argued elsewhere. My purpose here is to say that things are only going to get worse.</p>

<h3>Creativity?</h3>

<p>Human creativity has long been held up as the shining beacon that separates us from machines. Sure, the robots may replace the assembly line worker, but that was mindless work anyway. We'll retrain those people for better jobs. They'll become "knowledge workers" and will have happier, more productive lives.</p>

<p>That rosy picture has a great falsehood in it. A factory that formerly employed a thousand assembly line workers may only need a small handful of "knowledge workers". What happens to the rest of the people? What happens to those too old or simply not smart enough to be retrained? Oh, well, that's the unlucky 10% - the rest of us will do fine, right?</p>

<p>We're "creative", you know. We have "skills". We're smart, flexible, clever. No machine will ever replace us!

<p>No? A recent article in The New York Times titled "Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Cheaper Software" shows how the legal profession is under assault by computers.</p>

<p>That's disturbing, especially if you are currently pursuing an education in Law. But that's just research, after all. Surely the creative capability of the human mind will still be needed and valued? Indeed, it's not hard to find lawyers talking about "symbiosis" - recognizing the value of computers, but still seeing a need for humans.</p>

<p>Yes, there will be symbiosis. But how many law clerks will have to find other work? Someone is quoted in that "Armies" article as saying that one lawyer could replace five hundred. That doesn't paint a rosy picture for prospective lawyers, does it?</p>

<h3>Politicians</h3>

<p>The only profession I can think of that is safe from computers and robotics is politics. I don't think human beings will ever be ready to give up their leadership to computers. Behind the scenes, computer software may in fact be providing more and more of the guidance the politicians depend upon, but we'll probably never trust machines enough to make that an actuality rather than a de facto reality.</p>

<p>Everything else is in danger, from the world's oldest profession to skilled brain surgeons. Both of those professions are already seeing the beginnings of the robotics that will replace them and there are very few job areas left that have not seen at least some influx.</p>

<p>That will only increase.</p>

<p>Not even crime will remain as a human endeavor. When android robots become cheap enough, they will be used for petty street crimes. The image of the ghetto dealer purveying illegal substances could someday be replaced by an intelligent, autonomous robot that would self destruct if threatened by police!</p>

<p>That's fantasy today, of course, but you can probably understand how real that could become. It's even easier to see all the other "skilled" labor that will soon be replaced: auto mechanics, barbers, short order cooks.. that 10% figure is going to swell, isn't it?</p>

<h3>Creativity again</h3>

<p>Surely some things are safe? Novelists? Poets? At the highest end, yes, at least for now. But the daily grind is very vulnerable. Even today, it is likely possible for a computer to churn out a formulaic detective novel or a bit of advertising fluff for a web page. The computer might not yet be able to produce what a master of the craft would create, but that's today. What about tomorrow?</p>

<p>Don't think that there will always be a need for humans to design those computers. Chip design has already exceeded human abilities - computers will be designing software soon enough.</p>

<p>The reality is that in a very short span of time, there will not be much need for human labor. The promise of "knowledge workers" will not be enough - only a very few highly skilled or highly creative jobs will be available and the competition for those jobs will be at an intensity we can only imagine now.</p>

<p>This is not centuries away. It is decades at best and it could be less. It's reality. It's our future.</p>

<p>No amount of education or retraining will be enough. The outlook for human employment is beyond dim, it's effectively pitch black.</p>



<h3>What are we going to do about this?</h3>

<p>We can't very well have billions of unemployed people living at the poverty level. What social construct can fix this? Will it be forced symbiosis? That is, will we force companies to employ workers they do not need to stand or sit alongside the machines that are actually doing the work?</p>

<p>Will we have a Luddite revolution? Will our society be torn apart by violence and war? That's a serious possibility, isn't it?</p>

<h3>Socialism or misery?</h3>

<p>The choice seems to be socialism or misery. Made up work, or revolution.</p>

<p>Will people be happy with "false" work? Will the masses revolt? Will we have to create a new welfare class because there will be no other choice?</p>

<p>This is real, and these are choices we will need to make sooner rather than later.</p>

<p>Those who will see this as too socialistic need to open their eyes to reality: nobody's work is safe, which means that the only people with wealth will be those who already have it. No more land of opportunity, no more plucky stories of the poverty stricken person who made good - that's all gone. No amount of education is going to be enough as the available jobs dwindle away.</p>

<p>So what then? These are problems YOU will have to face, even if you are among the most talented who will keep their jobs the longest. The barbarians will be gathering at the gates even while you are still safe inside the walls. Don't stare at their unhappiness with smugness: you could be joining them next year or even next month. If you think 10% unemployment is bad, imagine 99% and imagine it worldwide!</p>

<p>This is not centuries away. It is starting to happen now and the pace will only accelerate. What are you going to do and what do you think society needs to do?</p>




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