This afternoon, our Sys Admin (IT guy) suddenly asked me, "Kamal, do you have a spare SATA hard disk case?"
"Huh?"
"A SATA hard disk case?"
It was almost as if he asked me if I had some spare radioactive plutonium on me! Why on earth would I have a spare SATA hard disk case!
Good Sys Admins are really hard to find. And they are so critical to the functioning of any organization that uses computers for more than just word processing. They are like the oil that is needed to make machines function smoothly.
Everything is fine till everything is fine. The moment something weird happens, all hell breaks loose. Servers go down. Mail is not accessible. The intranet is down.
Most Sys Admins have a one-size-fits-all solution to ALL problems - "Try restarting your computer". Mail is not accessible - try restarting your computer. Unable to connect to the internet - try restarting your computer. A bad headache - try restarting your computer. You get the drift.
I can understand doing that on a Windows computer where you are anyway restarting your computer like every half an hour just to be able to send and receive email! But on a Mac? Gawd, the last time I restarted a Mac was even before the last time I pee'd which was like really, really long back!
Its not that the breed is extinct. But you really have to be lucky to find a good person. Which sets me thinking - why have I never, ever seen a female sys admin?
"Huh?"
"A SATA hard disk case?"
It was almost as if he asked me if I had some spare radioactive plutonium on me! Why on earth would I have a spare SATA hard disk case!
Good Sys Admins are really hard to find. And they are so critical to the functioning of any organization that uses computers for more than just word processing. They are like the oil that is needed to make machines function smoothly.
Everything is fine till everything is fine. The moment something weird happens, all hell breaks loose. Servers go down. Mail is not accessible. The intranet is down.
Most Sys Admins have a one-size-fits-all solution to ALL problems - "Try restarting your computer". Mail is not accessible - try restarting your computer. Unable to connect to the internet - try restarting your computer. A bad headache - try restarting your computer. You get the drift.
I can understand doing that on a Windows computer where you are anyway restarting your computer like every half an hour just to be able to send and receive email! But on a Mac? Gawd, the last time I restarted a Mac was even before the last time I pee'd which was like really, really long back!
Its not that the breed is extinct. But you really have to be lucky to find a good person. Which sets me thinking - why have I never, ever seen a female sys admin?
Comments
I am sure the best of motor bike riders know how to dismantle their bike and put it together again. Schumi is able to work on the Ferrari F1 machine, as well as any mechanic on his team.
So the appropriate answer to the question "Kamal, do you have a spare SATA hard disk case?" is
either "2.5" or 3.5?"
or "No, but why don't we buy one. It costs Rs 250 to Rs 400"
or "I have one at home, and can get it tomorrow".
You love food enough to know what goes in to an "idli" or a "pesarattu". The computer is more than just the Mac OS X, and you will enjoy getting to know how to build one.
I think everybody who works with computers has a basic understanding of Sys Admin. This is the world of specialization...and nobody is good at everything (including Sys Admin) and often you turn to a specialist for detailed answers.
Ask a dermtologist ...s/he has a decent understanding of pathology but does not have the answer to detailed questions in that field. That does not mean s/he does not love medicine enough...s/he just loves the skin more than s/he loves the pathology of the human body!
Please check whether your favortie motor bike rider understands the Thermodynamc principles on how his bike's engine works...apart from dismantling his bike!
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