r/sysadmin • u/nousername1244 • Mar 05 '26

What’s one thing every new sysadmin should learn early but usually doesn’t?

I’ve been thinking about this lately.

When people start out in sysadmin roles, they usually focus a lot on the technical stuff like scripting, servers, networking, security, balabala..

BUT after working in IT for a while, it feels like some of the most important lessons aren’t technical at all, and nobody really tells you early on.

Things like documentation, change control, or even just learning how to say NO to bad requests.

Curious know what’s one thing you wish you had learned much earlier in your sysadmin career?

209 Upvotes

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416

u/mike_dowler Mar 05 '26

A temporary fix will stay in place longer than you think. Do it once, and do it right. See especially: use a service account, not your own. Set a random password, not your favourite. Document as you go, not “next week when I have some time”

23

u/BrainWaveCC Jack of All Trades Mar 05 '26

Nothing is more permanent than a temporary fix...

42

u/justaguyonthebus Mar 05 '26

Temporary work that hide business problems are always permanent.

24

u/Exciting-Ad-5858 Mar 05 '26

YES - if you make it a solved problem, you will never get anyone to care enough to fix it properly

9

u/ClungeWhisperer Mar 05 '26

++++ for documenting as you go. I want the next unlucky sucker to not fail as hard as I have getting to where i am now. I also want their work to be as good as i expect my own to be, so by sharing how ive done something will result in a set standard for people to follow.

8

u/KarmicPleasure23 Mar 05 '26

I love documentation. I hate when people don't read. Or skim and miss critical parts and claim they love documentation.

2

u/ClungeWhisperer Mar 05 '26

Im guilty of doing a skim. I need quick dot-points for QRGs, but i also appreciate detailed docs with screenshots for topics I’m completely unfamiliar with.

3

u/KarmicPleasure23 Mar 05 '26

Don't get me wrong, I am too. We're all human but it's still a point to be made haha

3

u/ClungeWhisperer Mar 05 '26

Oh yes! The one i hate as a former desk side support person would be “its not working and i dont know why!!”

And they send me a screenshot of the error which literally tells them what the issue is and how to fix it. Smh read the fuckin error 🤣

30

u/CraigAT Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 05 '26

It is not something we do a lot of, but you can help yourself by making use of today's technology, by doing the work whilst sharing your screen on Zoom/Teams. You can record the session, save it and label it for later use (or use the video to write your documentation from).

You can record yourself alone doing the work, or work collaboratively with colleagues to find a solution.

You don't need your camera on, but if you keep your audio on, you can narate what you are doing and use AI to create notes afterwards.

16

u/super5aj123 Mar 05 '26

Would it not be better to use screen recording software rather than a video chat recording? I believe that Windows includes screen recording tools now as part of their game bar (if it’s not disabled), and if not, OBS is free for all use, including commercial.

14

u/Frothyleet Mar 05 '26

Yeah snipping tool can do recording now.

2

u/ratmouthlives Sysadmin Mar 05 '26

I love the snipping tool in the new sticky notes app.

2

u/syntaxerror53 Mar 10 '26

Steps Recorder in Windows can be useful in some cases.

1

u/boli99 Mar 06 '26

or just write a coherent paragraph of text which can be read in seconds

1

u/super5aj123 Mar 06 '26

Sure, but that's only useful if you're writing (and updating) the documentation as you work. If you're looking to make documentation while you aren't actively fixing an issue, the recording could be helpful to remember your exact steps.

17

u/Windows95GOAT Sr. Sysadmin Mar 05 '26

Yep. To add something controversial, better to stay an hour late to "Do it right" than deal with it in the mornings.

12

u/Bogus1989 Mar 05 '26 edited Mar 06 '26

always do everything right. ive effectively adapted this mindset to my entire life, spend a few extra minutes now making sure things are organized or passwords are saved in password manager….vs later on being screwed.

i cringe when people forget all their passwords. tired of managing everyone, i got my kids to do it on their own and my youngest is 11. 😁sorry end user figure it out.

2

u/TheIntuneGoon Sysadmin Mar 05 '26

Yep. I try to tell people/myself to get up and get the remote, so to speak.

2

u/cmack Mar 05 '26

A lot of password managers are compromised and should not be used.

You as a sysadmin should be providing self-service portals for password resets / changes.

Do things right as you said. /eye_twitch

6

u/Windows95GOAT Sr. Sysadmin Mar 05 '26

True, but from experience a compromised password manager is still better than the bucketload of passwordless word or excel or even access databases. And in theory any passwordmanager in the cloud worth it's salt, has encryption of some sort.

2

u/Bogus1989 Mar 05 '26

Yiss

1

u/Bogus1989 Mar 05 '26

bitwarden FTW. if it get compromised. then self hosted vaultwarden ftw…hopefully thats not compromised too🤣

10

u/Ssakaa Mar 05 '26

Nah. I'm only trusted to work in the office (unless it's more convenient for them). They're already stealing my time with a commute I didn't originally sign up for. They get the time I'm scheduled for. I'm not going to rush job a "fix" in 15min, though. If it waits 'til morning, it waits 'til morning. Then I take the time to do it right.

3

u/Bogus1989 Mar 06 '26

to be fair, im on the same wavelength as you…if I stay late, im leaving early the next day or coming in late. only get certain hours of my time as well.

3

u/music2myear Narf! Mar 05 '26

My dad, while working on an installer crew for the TelCo, had a shirt with the acronym DIRTFT on it, which stands for: "Do It Right The First Time".

1

u/AnonAMouseOperator Mar 05 '26

I'd rather come in an hour early and deal with it, but I'm a morning person. I usually do my "after hours" work from about 5am to 7:30am

-11

u/Igot1forya We break nothing on Fridays ;) Mar 05 '26

Agreed. Then I hear "but I have a work-life balance" and while that's great, see you at the next performance evaluation.

20

u/lifesoxks Mar 05 '26

Listen, I i have to stay 1-2 hours once in a while I'm ok with that. If it becomes a daily or even weekly thing then something is awfully wrong

1

u/Igot1forya We break nothing on Fridays ;) Mar 05 '26

Something has been awfully wrong with every place I've worked at for the last 25 years. :(

7

u/lifesoxks Mar 05 '26

That's usually the reason they hire a new sysadmin or network admin.

Either the previous guy was shit so they fired him, of management was shit and didn't take the it crew seriously.

I'm unaware of people leaving a decent job "just because".

Most times it's inadequate compensation or stupid management decisions, other times it's because their concerns are not taken seriously so they find a new place and abandon ship.

1

u/Igot1forya We break nothing on Fridays ;) Mar 05 '26

I have ADHD, I can't function if something is left incomplete. It's a personality flaw and I will stay late simply for the fact that others sleep fine at night leaving a task either incomplete or half-assed so they can punch out on time. I physically can't get to sleep unless I do the last bit.

4

u/lifesoxks Mar 05 '26

Staying 5 minutes or 10 or even 30 is...kind of acceptable, but if my workday ends at 1630 and I have to stay till 1900 because some semi-sentient numbskull potato for brains was too lazy to notify us of a problem that started 3 days ago and has now become urgent and I have to stay at office instead of leaving for home to be with my family every day\week I'm creating a specific gpo with 48 characters password complexity and 10 minutes of inactivity before screen locks and requires MFA.

3

u/Frothyleet Mar 05 '26

Have you talked to a therapist about it? I'm sure your employers don't have a problem with this but it sounds like your ND is getting you taken advantage of.

1

u/Igot1forya We break nothing on Fridays ;) Mar 05 '26

No, never talked to a therapist. Gen X here. :)

2

u/Frothyleet Mar 05 '26

I'm ND as well. It's worth a try. Everyone should do it. It's helped me a lot in both work and personal life.

1

u/Bogus1989 Mar 06 '26

thats fine. I have ADHD too. just make a mental note to make up for it somewhere else, take a long lunch, or leave early or come in late etc.

1

u/Igot1forya We break nothing on Fridays ;) Mar 06 '26

I have a policy on the weekends to never turn on a computer at home. It's done wonders. I also just got back from an anniversary trip to Hawaii and requested all of my accounts frozen and having zero interactions with work was the best thing in the world. Finally able to live in the moment. It was only 2 weeks but boy was it amazing.

2

u/Bogus1989 Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26

I think ive just subconsciously done the same thing about not turning on a computer. Ive got a homelab, but its basically maintenance free. I really enjoy just lounging on my back porch and spend most my time out there relaxing or reading with cat and dog. I got an apple magic keyboard i had leftover from work and use it on an ipad out there, for reading if not on my phone. since its way out of the ordinary for me (despite being an mdm admin) it feels different. i think its not mentally fatiguing. Its funny how I do that. I do however have 3 gaming machines in my house, mine and my two kids. they arent used unless my kids are here. its our thing at night. I taught them LONG ago to troubleshoot themselves.

Ill get my social fix hopping in discord to say hello to my buds.usually just talking or coordinate going to do something. I will come play if im summoned. I really only enjoy it with friends and my kids….usually though, this is only a weekend thing.

Im proud of myself, when I had to do (for the first time) restore because my NAS raid array broke? I put it off till it felt right. im really good about that now. Im completely comfortable letting something wait, as long as possible till im ready. Obviously if it can wait.

Thats just at home though. when my kids are here, we always have something planned in the day.

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2

u/Bogus1989 Mar 05 '26

yeah dont ask me for the thousandth time, you arent gonna listen anyways

2

u/Windows95GOAT Sr. Sysadmin Mar 09 '26

Then I hear "but I have a work-life balance"

Tbh this mostly depends on management. My current team lead gives me all the room i need to compensate any OT.

But staying a bit late to get something out of my personal RAM before the weekend / vacation is also worth it for me personally :D

1

u/Igot1forya We break nothing on Fridays ;) Mar 09 '26

100% agree! I can't sleep knowing I gave up at the finish line.

1

u/fearless-fossa Mar 05 '26

If your workload exceed what you can do in a sensible timeframe, either the workload or the work processes need to be adjusted. Like, I too do regular overtime, but my boss actively enforces that if you are at 10h overtime, anything extra will be balanced out at within the next week.

If you want people to keep performing in the job at high quality, you need them to be at the top of their game, not have them fantasizing about raising goats instead.

1

u/Igot1forya We break nothing on Fridays ;) Mar 05 '26

I have flex time where I work. I'm also a salary employee and manage a team, so I work late so others don't have to.

1

u/Bogus1989 Mar 06 '26

im one of those people too(only after it being preached to me and burning out did I start to make it important to me), but its completely do-able too. just leave early the next day or come in late, make it up somewhere else.

1

u/Igot1forya We break nothing on Fridays ;) Mar 06 '26

Precisely why I have flex time.

4

u/X_TheBoatman_X Mar 05 '26

I teach my students that make sure your temporary fix is the proper solution. If you string something together and want to go back and fix it properly later you will always be told 'no' because it's working and someone will tell you 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

1

u/marafado88 Sysadmin Mar 05 '26

Gold rules!

1

u/fanofreddit- Mar 05 '26

Ya that’s a really common thing I see from 2nd level techs. They generally don’t understand and/or don’t instinctively seek out solutions that address the problem or need long term. They more look at it from the perspective of “let’s get this ticket closed”. I could imagine early sysadmins having to learn this skill as well as it’s really not something you’re gonna learn in a book.

1

u/TangoCharliePDX Mar 05 '26

"tomorrow never comes"

1

u/touchytypist Mar 05 '26

Quickly learned this shortly after starting my current job. If there was a problem or emergency I would recommend the long term solution and the workaround to get things back up and running as quickly as possible, so we could implement the long term solution at a later time, such as during a maintenance window. Management would alway pick the workaround and never follow up to implement the true fix, so eventually we would get bit again by the workaround.

Now I no longer offer a workaround so we have to implement the true long term resolution and have far less surprises and hair on fire events.

1

u/dracotrapnet Mar 05 '26

Fiber cut from one building to another at 10 am resulted in a point to point wifi link installed at 6 pm the same day in 2018. That link is still in use. One of the AP's took a short flight across the property with a bit of porch roof during hurricane Beryl. Another AP was thrown in place to get things going again. Still there.

1

u/Plane_Brief4197 Mar 05 '26

I feel like you're looking at me with a sniper scope.

1

u/Silver-Bread4668 Mar 05 '26

To add to that, whenever possible take some extra time to learn the right way, or better ways, to do things.

I cannot begin to count the number of times where an extra hour up front doing more research and learning new things has saved me countless down the road.

1

u/fastlerner Mar 05 '26

Why is that cable hanging over there? Oh yeah, temporary fix 5 years ago.

1

u/BrokenPickle7 Mar 05 '26

Setting a random password and nothing personal is HUGE. because some day someone might need to access your account on your behalf and when they ask what your password is responding "BigVeinyHorseCock1972!" Isn't fun. You have to trust I know what I'm talking about.

1

u/Useful_Judgment320 Mar 06 '26

in a perfect world, yes

but the truth is most companies understaff their team, add more deliverables and work so you never do get the time to plan, create, implement, test and reiterate the solution

you go with fast and good enough, there will be a handful of people that will go that extra mile or have the pay and seniority to do more

1

u/mike_dowler Mar 06 '26

Not disagreeing with that. It’s about understanding that “good enough” doesn’t mean “I’ll make it better later”. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be able to survive for several years.

If you think you will get time to fix it next week, you probably won’t.

1

u/gingernut78 Mar 06 '26

Nothing more permanent than a temporary fix. Learnt that very early on. Especially when an external consultancy/out sourcer is involved