When you have a problem and I don’t know the answer I search it. I personally don’t use Google but the term is grandfathered in now and is synonymous with searching. So by using simple logic, if I’m searching for the fix you probably can too. Take the error message if you have one, plug it into your favourite search engine such as Google, Bing (why, just why) or Brave search (the one I use) and hopefully you come up with a solution.

2. Sometimes I just restart machines and they work

You would be amazed at how often a reboot fixes the problem. Actually, a shutdown, give it 30 seconds and then start that bad boy up. You will be off to the races in no time. Why does this work and why should you do this first before bothering someone for help? Well, it’s kinda the same as sleeping. When we sleep all sorts of things downregulate and other things get cleared out. A computer is much the same. Resources like RAM get completely wiped clean, and the system gets a fresh start.

3. I use AI to solve basically everything

This is really the endgame when it comes to getting shit done. Number 1 above was the gold standard but now AI holds that mantle. It can get me 90% of the way there in one or two prompts. You have no idea how much IT teams rely on it to sort issues.

4. We are mortals like you, not IT Gods

When it comes to IT we can come across as being all-knowing beings that can solve IT problems like Gods. What if I told you that your very new problem is something I’ve seen 20+ times. All I am is a pattern recogniser. I’ve seen your problem enough times that it’s ingrained into my muscle memory. We are pattern recognisers.

5. Your “Urgent” is not our urgent

You might think your laptop running slow is a code red. Meanwhile, the email server is down and 200 people can’t work. IT triages like an emergency room — we’re not ignoring you, you’re just in the waiting room with a sore knee while someone else is flatlining.

6. Most IT policies exist because one person ruined it for everyone

Ever wonder why you can’t install apps or plug in a USB stick? That’s because Dave from accounting installed a dodgy toolbar in 2019 and took down half the network. Every annoying policy has an origin story, and it’s always one person.

Side Quest (Rant)

You can skip this part entirely but as I was writing that last one it sent me off on a tangent. The whole reason we can’t have nice things is because some bastard ruined it for everyone else. We have speed bumps on the road because some knob was speeding and nearly took someone out. Now we all have to ruin our suspension. We have speed limits on roads because other people crash and aren’t paying attention. We have all sorts of suppression on various things in our lives because someone ruined it for everyone else.

Everyone should have a blog if for nothing else but to let go of some mental load haha.

7. We break stuff too

We have caused more outages than we’ll ever admit. That “scheduled maintenance” at 2am? Sometimes that’s us quietly fixing something we broke at 5pm. The difference between us and you is we know how to undo it (most of the time).

Another Side Quest

The we break things is too real. In my early days (my 1st full year as a sys admin) I may have accidentally deleted an entire database for a quarter of our users. That quarter could no longer receive any email nor send. It was a very real reminder of how easy it is to get distracted and ruin a lot of peoples day (none more so than myself). All was not lost though, I quickly realised and kicked into gear. Had the database back and running in just over an hour. I learned the importance of taking things slow and if you screw up royally, how to hustle to save face. Biggest learnings.

8. We can see way more than you think

Your browsing history, what’s installed on your machine, how long it’s been since you restarted — we can see all of it. So when you say “I haven’t done anything different”… we know.

9. We have favourite users (and you know who you aren’t)

The person who gives clear details, tries a restart first, and says thanks? Their ticket goes to the top. The person who sends “IT’S BROKEN” with no context for the fifth time this week? Back of the queue, mate.

10. We YouTube and read documentation just like you could

There’s no secret IT knowledge vault. Half the time we’re reading the same vendor documentation or watching the same YouTube tutorial you could find yourself. We’re just better at knowing what to search for and which answer to trust.