Seven Habits of Highly Effective Unix Admins

jfruh writes: "Being a Unix or Linux admin tends to be an odd kind of job: you often spend much of your workday on your own, with lots of time when you don't have a specific pressing task, punctuated by moments of panic where you need to do something very important right away. Sandra Henry-Stocker, a veteran sysadmin, offers suggestions on how to structure your professional life if you're in this job. Her advice includes setting priorities, knowing your tools, and providing explanations to the co-workers whom you help." What habits have you found effective for system administration?

One habit is ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Have a mini-fridge under your cubicle desk for constant snacking. The constant snaking would be the habit. Really though, there are too many fat bastards in IT. (and everywhere else, but especially IT). And no, on a plane, I do not prefer sitting next to a fat person that needs to seats, that is sweaty and smelly versus a person of normal weight.

i was so wrong

[zlives]

i thought they were
sloth, gluttony, pride,...

Re:i was so wrong

[kimvette]

That's "How to be a BOFH"

Knowing your tools

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I know them all. They all work in Marketing.

Re:Tmux

[oodaloop]

Sudo try it out!

Re:One habit is ...

[Fallen Kell]

The reason there are more fat people in IT isn't because we want to be. It is because the GOOD IT people get fat because they know that the best IT people never need to leave their seats. If you have to leave your seat to do something as an admin, you are doing something wrong and not using the technology that is available to you to be able to fix everything but physical hardware failure or installation from your seat.

Re:Knowing your tools

[rcamans]

Apparently you have not interacted with management much, or you would not have restricted your answer to marketing...

Only three habits are necessary

[Anonymous Coward]

Only three things are necessary for a highly effective unix admin:

To crush your userbase
To see their accounts deleted before you
To hear the lamentations of the salesmen

Re:Bait

[inasity_rules]

You really need to have a beard to get it. Do you have a beard? You don't sound like you have a proper beard.

Re:#8 Be Appriopriately Lazy

[tiberus]

First time for this task ;-)

Re:The columnist must be FORTRAN programmer.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

>And I'm not even a fucking programmer by trade.

Yup. I can tell.