Another’s Shoes

I have been a systems admin for years, whether my business card said it or not. I have dealt with hundreds of users and systems.

Growing up I mostly had Windows machines. I had come to digital maturity using 95 and 98, and really came into being a sysadmin on 2000 and XP. I had learned to deal with, expect, and train others in the daily headaches of dealing with windows systems.

Then I started dealing with Macs. For the first years I was dealing with far fewer Macs than PCs, so I chalked up the lack of incodents to the smaller market share. Then I started dealing almost exclusively with them. And it wasn’t until then that I figured out that they really are that much better. And I grew accustomed to it. No longer was being an admin a daily headache, no longer was I apologizing to users because their systems crawled to a stop while it scanned for a virus, removing and reinstalling hardware so that the drivers might work, or re-installing the entire OS because I couldn’t explain why some problem couldn’t be fixed.

And now I am working in a place that is almost all Windows Vista on ThinkPads and ThinkStations. And Windows is so much worse now.

Vista is a nightmare. Vista is such a nightmare that IBM, who built the Thinkpads, will not install it on their company systems. It is what happens when committees of sheltered, brain-washed people make decisions. It is the result of “good enough”, of settling, of people accepting gruel because that is all they’ve ever had.

But people are learning. Learning that they get what they buy. Learning that their computers should be helping them get work done and enjoy their time with them.

Now, if only businesses woud stop “drinking the Microsoft Kool-Aid” I think we could make some real progress.

The only way that this is going to happen, I think, is if they try it out. See what they’re missing. See why so many people love their Macs. See why it takes half as many admins to run a network of Macs.

When your computer is a constant obstacle to getting work done, it’s time to look at new options.

Goals vs. Problems

I have come to understand that I am “problem oriented” rather than “goal oriented”.

This is not a question of pessimist or optimist. This is a question of how you look at what needs to be accomplished.

A “goal” is the end product that you wish to bring to fruition. A “problem” is what keeps that goal from becoming a reality. So, a goal might be to increase revenue by 20%; while the problem might be that your revenue isn’t as high as you want it to be. They are obviously very closely related. And I am not saying that my way is the correct way to see things, just a different way.

In my estimation, a goal cannot be achieved without overcoming a number of problems that keep it from happening. Once that goal is achieved, progress on the issue ceases. You made your quota, now you can move on. But problems may remain. Problems are what keep perfection at bay. Problems are the difference between 20% better and 100% perfect. Problems never cease.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not one who can’t see the big picture. I don’t think you can see the problems without grasping the big picture first. I just think that goals are short sighted. Goals are settling for “good enough”, or, at least, “better”.

Now, I can see it from the other side: problems are only a small piece of the bigger goal. A problem can be overcome, but the goal is what motivates the problem solving. I get that. But, for me, the problem itself is the driving force. The goal is one by product of problem solving.

We shall see how this mentality works out. I know that perfectionism is not always the most desirable trait in a person and can cause conflict, but I think it is also what drives me to constantly improve rather than settling for good enough.

Nerds for Obama

http://www.techforobama.com/

Please, please, please.

Day One

So, today, finally, I started working.

I think this is going to work out. It seems like this job is, literally, a fusion of every job I’ve had since 1999 – everything I did at college, plus graphic design, plus system support, plus systems admin.

The place is really nice and in some ways reminds me of my college, but, you know, way freakin’ bigger. Though I know that I will soon be knee deep in blowing snow, the campus is actually really gorgeous right now, because it’s covered in trees and they’re all turning fall colors.

The part of the school that I work for, by the way, has money I could only dream about. For example, when you walk into one of the buildings there’s this foyer. In this foyer is a coffee table with four chairs around it guarded by a bunch of security personnel, with tons of people rushing to and fro. This is not a hospitable place to take a seat and relax. Despite the fact that this is a very inconvenient place to sit, they have god’s own louge chairs. Four of them. This is not the kind of place that would have cheap knock-offs, either. Reproductions? Probably. Originals? Maybe. Assuming that they’re reproductions, these are $3,500 each. I know at least one of you is doing the math and concluding that, yes, they have fourteen thousand dollars in lounge chairs in their lobby.

I am going to sit like crazy in those chairs. If I can’t have my own, I’m going to put my ass groove in someone else’s.

Also, great food. For lunch I had this awesome white bean and shiitake mushroom salad, some grilled asparagus, and another kind of salad. I had so much salad ’cause I didn’t notice ’til I filled my plate that they also had a taco bar. This was, as far as I could tell, also free. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be, but no one I was with paid for anything, and there didn’t seem to be any method for paying, either. I’m going to have to look into this further.

I also found out that prior to my arrival, the guy who hired me announced that I would be there and told people about me and what I’ve done and my experience and so forth. I am, apparently, “the alternative operating systems guy”. We’ll see how that plays out.

I’ll let you all know more about my job when I know more about my job, but as you know, the first few days are pretty useless.

An End to Joblessness

After what seems like ages, I have finally accepted employment in the Chicago area.

I will be working at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

It was definitely a close race between Kellogg and the University of Chicago, and I think I could’ve been happy had the chips fallen either way.

Thank you to everyone who participated, and expect more frequent posts once I have a job. Especially a job where I work with Windows again. And especially because I’ll be working with Vista. Eww.

Ending Joblessness (Update 2)

So, when last we spoke about my future work situation, I was regaling you with tales of interviews gone awry. Maybe not “awry”, but certainly not “well”.

Here’s another one.

One of the places I applied with decided that they were interested enough in me after an initial phone call that they wanted to fly me out to Chicago for the weekend to conduct an interview. On landing in Chicago, I received an email from another company also wanting to set up an interview. The company that was flying me out wanted me on Friday morning, so I had Friday afternoon free to try to fit in another interview, so I said I was interested and set up an interview for that afternoon.

This was a breakthrough for me, because this was a video game developer. Not a large one, mind you, but a video game developer. There used to be two big game developers in Chicago: Midway (obviously), and an EA office. Quick, name the last Midway game you played. Chances are pretty good that the last Midway game you played required quarters, so Midway is not doing well these days. EA, on the other hand, is HUGE, yet, for some reason, decided to close their Chicago office. So refugees from those two offices have branched out to start their own companies.

My interview was not with one of those companies. My interview was with a developer of mobile phone games. Not quite as prestigious, but still.

My morning interview ran later than I expected, so I basically had to run from my interview to the train, then run from the train to the next interview. In a balmy Chicago August. In slacks and a long sleeve shirt. Carrying my MacBook Pro (why?). Obviously, by the time I got to that interview I was A) out of breath, and B) sweating like crazy, but C) on time. I don’t know what the interviewer must’ve thought, but he offered me a drink several times. I wasn’t thirsty, just sweaty.

We started talking and I found out a bit about them and they a bit about me. The bits about them were not encouraging – never had I.T. support, no infrastructure, no phone system, no experience, no benefits, antiquated systems, etc. Some of it was cool though – everyone seemed nice, their office looked like an abandoned factory turned into a studio apartment, turned into an office. And there were pretty cool projects that they needed done. But I could see that the money wouldn’t be there and there were no benefits. “Options?” you’re saying, “It is a software company after all.” I didn’t even ask.  And the job would’ve been challenging for about 3 months, then there would’ve been nothing for me to do but sit around and wait for someone to have problems. So it would’ve been, basically, a couple of years off from working to play around with this small mobile phone game company. And all this would’ve been fine, and understandable for a company of less than 30, but when the economy is collapsing around us (maybe), mobile phone games are not something people are going to be spending a bunch of money on. Certainly not enough for me to stake two years on.

I hope they do well, I really do, but I’m not at a place in my career where it would make sense for me. Maybe someday, but likely they’re going to need to find some fresh out of college kid who wants to take on a few projects and can afford to get canned when the company needs to shed employees.