| location: |
| Austin, TX
|
| site: |
| AMD |
| site overview: |
|
Our group manages the processor design and verification environment for
the AMD64 generation of processors. Basically, large scale electronic
design automation (EDA).
|
| job title: |
| Senior Systems Programmer |
| time at this job: |
| 8 years |
| | |
| years as a sysadmin: |
| 10-ish |
| first computer: |
|
My first computer was a Macintosh Classic running Mac OS 6.0.5 (as I recall)
and a 20MB hard drive.
|
| first OS: |
| Mac OS |
| favorite OS: |
| FreeBSD |
| first computer with root/administrator access: |
|
It was a 486 running FreeBSD 2.0. I remember downloading everything to
floppies using DOS and some crap telecom package. Installing OS's from
floppies is evil. This box ended up becoming my replacement system when
my Mac was on the edge of death.
|
| first programming language: |
|
Hypercard! It's the closest thing I had to a programming language when I
first got the Mac.
|
| favorite programming language: |
|
perl, of course.
|
| most often used programming language: |
| perl |
| first sysadmin job, computer and os: |
|
My first admin job was working for a small consulting firm in San Antonio.
Alot of what I did was to build IP masquerading routers using Linux and
PPP accounts.
|
| ideal sysadmin job: |
|
I'd like to see what it's like to work on the scale of Google or Yahoo.
There's just such a massive amount of hardware to deal with, I want to see
what innovative ideas have been developed to keep track of it all and make it
run smoothly.
|
| favorite sysadmin tool: |
| My brain. Don't leave home without it. |
| most interesting sysadmin tool: |
|
Something we call "The HR Wrench". Attitude adjustments while you wait. ;-)
It's a 10-15 pound open ended wrench that was bought to put casters on racks
that were being really stubborn. No, we really haven't used it to adjust
anyone's attitude. Haven't had a need to. Yet.
|
| sysadmin tool I couldn't work without: |
| perl. |
| education: |
|
I dropped out of college because I spent too much time working on Unix
systems in the computer labs for the ECE department.
|
| when I was growing up, I wanted to be: |
|
A physicist. Richard Feynman was, and still is, a role model for me.
|
| If I wasn't a sysadmin, I'd be: |
|
A pastry chef or a woodworker.
|
| when friends and family ask me to
“fix” the computer or
“fix the internet”, I say: |
|
I probably can't help, but I'll give it a try.
|
| when I first meet someone,
and they ask what I do, I say: |
| I'm a cat herder. |
| system administration is ...: |
|
about making it easier for my customers to be successful
at their jobs.
|
| advice to a junior admin: |
Don't be afraid to admit that you don't know something.
Don't be afraid to admit your mistakes and take responsibility.
|
| advice to a senior admin: |
|
Don't be afraid to admit that you don't know something. There will always
be something new to learn and someone newer and less senior who has already
done it. You can learn as much from your junior folks as they can learn
from you.
|
| | |
| favorite food/cuisine: |
| Barbecue. |
| pizza topping: |
| Ew, circles of death. |
| work music: |
|
Anything with bagpipes, such as Wicked Tinkers. When that gets too
overbearing, I just let the mp3 player go on random.
|
| crisis music: |
|
Hopefully, not hold music.
Normally, we don't end up with music on during a crisis because it just
distracts as from fixing the issue.
|
| ___ gets me through the work day: |
|
Caffiene. Slow, calm breathing. And, an occasional walk out in the big
blue room.
|
| hobby/other job: |
| I enjoy baking and wood working. |
| | |
| my office is: |
| A mess. |
| co-workers say my desk is: |
|
Oddly enough, I don't get comments about it. When I start losing things
like computers in it, it's time to clean up.
|
| learned the most from: |
| Feynman. He's always kept me thinking out of the box. |
| wish list: |
|
I want ubiquitous, free wifi access to whatever I need, whenever I need it.
|
| daily web sites: |
|
bloglines (because I like having easy access to my RSS feeds),
livejournal, and
digg.
|
| hot standby/failover or redundancy: |
|
For file services, hot standby/failover. There's nothing more annoying than
having your home directory go away when you're trying to do something.
For everything else, redundancy is good enough.
|
| editor: |
| vim. |
| mail user agent: |
| mutt |
| web browser: |
| firefox |
| gui or cli: |
|
a fluxbox screen full of xterms. Hundreds of xterms.
|
| computers at home: |
| Five |
| (primary) home computer and OS: |
| FreeBSD |
| oldest hardware in your garage or basement: |
|
K6-2 550Mhz. I tend not to keep alot of old gear around because it just
clutters up the garage. Why waste space with old junk when I can waste it
with wood working tools?
|
| anything else? |
|
In everything you do, visualize wild success. After awhile, you'll
start picking out the parts of your plans that just plain suck and need
improvement.
Oh, if someone comes up to you with a quizzical look and says, "Hey ...
you're smart" ... you should turn around and run really quickly because
you're about to get pegged with something you probably don't want to
answer.
|
delicious
digg
technorati