"Sysadmin of the Year" Winners Announced

lisah writes "Ten winners of this year's 'Sysadmin of the Year' contest have been announced and, while Robin 'Roblimo' Miller says it's not quite like winning the Miss America contest, being selected from approximately 2,500 entrants is nothing to sneeze at. This year's first place winner battled an office fire to save a RAID backup server, while another IT manager won an honorable mention for his dedicated work at a yarn store. From the article, '[The nominating entry said:] Any man who would take on a position at a yarn store, much less a technological position while surrounded by a dozen women, ages 55+ deserves some kind of reward...'" Linux.com and Slashdot are both owned by OSTG.

Rewards?

So does the winner recieve all of the Xena and Star Trek: Voyager season DVDs, as well as a lifetime supply of Hot Pockets and Pop Tarts?

Re:

pocket protectors. dozens of 'em.

Re:Rewards?

He is expected to perform greater miracles in the future! afterall the sysadmin of the year should be able to fix anything!

"The computer doesn't work, fix it asshole, its your fault, you're the computer guy!"

"My password was 'iloveu' and now all my stuffs are gone, put them back you asshole!"

"I cant login to my account, I don't remember the password, fix it asshole!"

"The computer deleted my emails, put them back you asshole, now!!!"

You should be able to handle all four of these user requests at the same time, and resolve them all yesterday. If you don't people will wonder why they are paying extra to have the sys admin of the year, and will fire you and replace you with some one else at a lower payscale.

Re:

No, but the Honorable Mentions get a case of Bawls Soda.

Re:

Actually, the Grand Prize was apparently "Washington D.C."

Re:Rewards?

So does the winner recieve all of the Xena and Star Trek: Voyager season DVDs...

Why would the winner want to receive something he already has?

Re:Rewards?

a lifetime supply of all-you-can-eat Krispy Kreme Doughnuts - about two month's worth!

OSTG?

Linux.com and Slashdot are both owned by OSTG.

I dunno who OSTG is, but they must be pretty awesome. They pwned Slashdot and Linux.com!

Cocoon-like reward?

Any man who would take on a position at a yarn store, much less a technological position while surrounded by a dozen women, ages 55+ deserves some kind of reward

Oh, c'mon. I think we all know what his "Cocoon-like" reward was.

Re:

Hey, don't mock - I own a yarn store ; where family members work - I started computers as a VMS System Manager (REAL Computing bigot) and later 15 years as a consultant (VMS (while it lasted) /Unix/ NT) - I don't knit, But I do the web site.

Proving once and for all...

... that there's a place in the universe for dorky looking white guys.

It just so happens...

It just so happens that that place for them is in a back room, away from all customers.

Those Darn flames.

" From the article, '[The nominating entry said:] Any man who would take on a position at a yarn store, much less a technological position while surrounded by a dozen women, ages 55+ deserves some kind of reward...'""

It could have been worse. The yarn store could have burst into flames.

sysadmins

The medieval equivalent of a stable boy

Re:sysadmins

The only reason I can think of for risking one's life to save a RAID array is if you hadn't taken proper backups and stored them offsite. If that is the case, then the guy hardly deserves a "Sysadmin of the Year" award. Basically, he'd be getting an award for doing a brave yet foolish thing in order to cover for his lack of planning.

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Well, it could also be that the backups are done monthly, they put a significant amount of data on the server between cycles, and thus they would not be able to restore this latest data with the backup. But IMHO, except defending your country, there is no

Re:

Depends on how many hours of work would be lost as well. I take tapes offsite every Monday, which means that I stand to lose at most 5 business days of work. But if I had a few minutes and could grab the RAID out of the rack and take it out with me, (ver

Re:

Backups or not, I'm never risking my life for computer hardware, period. I'm not as easily replaceable.

Re:sysadmins

And my employer's perspective also. I have a $50,000 life insurance policy they would have to pay off. That money could buy a quite impressive RAID setup. Plus, last time I checked online, I was pretty much "out of stock" everywhere.

Re:sysadmins

I think he made the rational decision that he would rather burn to death than wait for the new server hardware to arrive, and then wait for file restores to finish, all while people dropped in every 2 minutes to ask when the server would be back up.

Re:sysadmins

Some companies aren't fortunate enough to have large hardware budgets. In fact, smaller companies operating on a shoestring are lucky to even afford the minimal hardware for day-to-day operations, much less setup a RAID server. As mentioned in the SAOTY submission, everyone else walked out of the burning building with their desktops - the sacrifice is that Sean took out the backup server to safety and let his own personal computer burn up in the fire. Yes, by personal I do mean that the company did not even provide a computer for the job. So, it was either take the RAID out or face telling 20 people that that was their last day of employment. The personal computer was where all our digital music (all legal I might add) was actually kept. ;-) And just to give a scope of how devastating this fire actually was, noone in that building was allowed back in to salvage anything due to structural instability. Everything whether it might have been salvageable or not was bulldozed over. Without that backup machine, there would have been no hope picking the company up out of the ashes. Some sysadmins have to work with what they are given. When you are given very little - in terms of hardware, budgets, and even a competitive salary - you have to make the best of things and just make it work.

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Why is everyone still picking on this guy? I don't know who he worked for but.. if it was his father's home-office or the ONLY office in which the computer contained ALL client files, information, suppliers, and on-going contracts, that backup may have bee

for the love of all that is holy...

no bathing suit contest segment, PLEASE!

Hire a real photographer

They could have hired a real photographer to shoot the winners, the winner's picture looks like it's been taken at a party a saturday night around 3:30am with a point-and-shoot digital camera.

Swimwear reduces support calls

For one thing, there was no swimsuit competition -- although if there had been, winner Michael Beck says he would have worn "orange and black surf shorts."

1. Wear swimwear for all support calls
2. Effort expended/income ratio adjusts favourably
3. PROFIT

From a sysadmin

What do you want me to do, clap? I'd say ALL sysadmins are heros because they need to put up with a stupid userbase and inept managers that see their bottom line only.

Re:

I'd say ALL sysadmins are heros because they need to put up with a stupid userbase and inept managers

And with that kind of thinking, that's why most of the users think the system admin is a jackass.

Re:From a sysadmin

Uh, everybody has parts of their job that they don't like. That doesn't make you a hero. It makes you an employee. Get over yourself.

Something smells crispy...

... battled an office fire to save a RAID backup server ...

Of course, the sysadmin did have a complete backup set of tapes stored offsite? I would think that company could afford to let the hardware go up in smoke instead of facing a possible lawsuit if the sysadmin died on the job.

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I would think that company could afford to let the hardware go up in smoke instead of facing a possible lawsuit if the sysadmin died on the job.

You obviously don't read enough Dilbert.

Number one cause of IT worker injury/death...

...is people going into rooms with fires to rescue equipment or backups. People just don't realize how poisonous/noxious the fumes are from burning electronics; they think they can hold their breath, except they get a small whiff of the fumes up their nose, or need to take another breath because of exertion (that box of tapes wasn't as easy to find as they thought)- cough, suck in a nice big breath of poisonous smoke, and collapse a few seconds later. Poisonous fumes stick around even after a fire is out. Wait for the fire department to come and declare the room and building SAFE. If you need something specific, ask the dude with the SCBA pack to go and get it for you; if there's no serious danger to them, they'll probably oblige.

The infamous Blue Book warns clearly and repeatedly that backups should NEVER be stored in the same room because of these dangers. Employees/managers feel too tempted to do shit exactly like what "Sean Thomas" did.

If there is a fire, GET THE FUCK OUT. Period. Companies have insurance and should have off-site backups for this kind of stuff, and it's not your fault if they don't. It's also much better to be alive and living off unemployment or looking for a new job, than in the ER with no job...or dead.

Side note: is it just me, or was this "competition" just a stupid submitting of resumes with "nominations", and "be a good little worker bee" crap? "Michael Beck is a young go getter. The word "no" and phrase "I can't" are not in his vocabulary." Gimme a break...

Knit picking

Any man who would take on a position at a yarn store, much less a technological position while surrounded by a dozen women, ages 55+ deserves some kind of reward...

Hah! As a somewhat avid knitter, I wish more men would work in yarn stores, as there are only so many sweet old ladies I can handle in a single shopping expedition. I say "somewhat avid," as the one thing that stops me from knitting a lot more is the fact that I can't type or play video games while doing it.

Speaking of video games, anyone who thinks knitting is all girly flowers and things hasn't seen the cool retro-gaming knits at Bits 2 Die 4. [b2d4.com]

What a Grand Prize

The winner got "Washington DC"? The whole thing? Man, I knew OSTG had major league pull, but that's amazing! ;-) Note to Michael Beck - Now that you own Washington DC, please replace Congress, the Supreme Court and the President with a few Beowulf clusters. We should see a marked improvement in performance.

A game of inches...

It's a thin line between winner and (ultimate) loser:

Scenario 1:
Man risks life to save RAID server, and lives.
Reward: System admin of year, free t-shirt, maybe a free watch from company at holiday party.

Scenario 2:
Man risks life to save RAID server, dies in process.
Reward: Gets mentioned in every system admin journal of something you should not do.

Scenario 3:
Man backs up RAID server to remote location and evacuates building before it collapses.
Reward: Lives fruitful life with wife and kids.

I know that Hindsight is 20/20, but it had to be said.

Scenario 4

Man has several minutes to evacuate the building as the fire is in another unit. Man casually grabs RAID server because off-site backups are a week old. (We really have no idea if there were off-site backups or not).

It's easy to imagine the panic scenari

Kinda makes me wonder...

How many of the companies these men work for would backstab them in a second if it meant higher profits?

I don't get the Miss America reference...

Are you trying to say that sysadmins aren't judged by their looks, or that they aren't good looking? Oh... both. OK, well, back to the cave!

Where are all the BOFH?

I read the winners and you have to kiss a lot of asses to get recommendations like that.

Where's the old BOFH spirit, people?

The profession is doomed.

Yams

I read through the entire blurb and half the comments until I realize the guy works at a "yarn" store and not a "yam" store. I was trying to wrap my mind around the business logic of selling nothing but yams.

Wow, that prize takes some beating.

"Grandprize: Washington DC".

I thought DC was owned by the lobbyists? How did they negotiate that?!?

Even more difficult

ny man who would take on a position at a yarn store, much less a technological position while surrounded by a dozen women, ages 55+ deserves some kind of reward...'"

That's not so hard. Try being doing the same at a modeling agency or such, and actually be able to concentrate on your work while surrounded by a dozen hot babes.

OTOH, that would be its own reward.

No picture of the Hot Sysadmin?

Sysadmins are famous for coming in all sorts of packages, but Dawn stands out in that you'd never guess she spent all her working hours tippy-tapping as a senior system administrator and technical lead. She's model gorgeous--tall-ish and slim with strawberry blonde hair and, of course, the requisite sysadmin pale skin.

But they have a picture of the idiot that risked his life for a damn server!

Dangit!

Never even got nominated. Next year I'll demand the users nominate me, or I'll erase their files.

Hardly!

Why, I take very good care of my users. In fact, I wouldn't have a job without them, right? I mean, I support the computers they use, and without them the computers wouldn't NEED any support. In fact, I just had a brand new backup system installed in our halon-protected server room. It's there to ensure that any data they find valuable will always be available. Go ahead, step in and take a look for yourself. It's right there in the back row, about halfway down.

No, really, I insist. Have a look.

Re:

That was the point. Apparently you don't know what a BOFH is. Look it up. :)

Re:

No offense, but everything about that invitation screams "It's a trap!!" /me sighs.

Must I?

Read this: BOFH [wikipedia.org]

Re:Hardly!

I have enclosed the following diagram describing the situation, for your convenience.

    *     <--- Joke

    O
   \|_    <---- You
    |
   / \

Re:No one talks to sysadmins...

Perhaps that's because so many of them are BOHF, power freaks who treat "their" users like crap.

Actually, livestock would be more appropriate. After all, users have some value at contract time.

Re:Yeah, all men hate being around old women.

That's a quote from Janice Yamamoto, The woman who nominated him. ...Just so you know.

Re:Sexism!

I'm disgusted that such opinions are casually treated as acceptable in this day and age.

Well since it was written by 55+ year old women I'd give them some slack as they grew up in a different age and time.