LOPSA News

  • User Settings: Communications Opt-In

    05 Oct 2021 6:54 PM | Deleted user

    Below are the communication options available in your user profile, after logging in. We invite you to opt-in to these email subscriptions. Going forward, we will begin to utilize the Event Announcement subscriptions.

    If you do not wish to receive these announcements, you do not need to take any action. If you do not wish to receive any communications (with the exception of membership status notifications), please send an email to board@lopsa.org with the subject of "DO NOT CALL" and we will place you on a permanent opt-out list (For future reference)

    This will allow us to better communicate with our members. 



  • Welcome to our new Board members!

    07 Sep 2021 7:39 PM | Drew Adams (Administrator)

    Tonight we appointed three new members to fill vacancies on the Board. On behalf of the entire LOPSA community we want to welcome Anthony King, Chris Catlett, and Jackson Smith to the Board.

     - Your LOPSA Board

  • Ask us anything for the January 'Core Dump' LOPSAgram

    23 Jan 2019 8:02 PM | Deleted user

    For our January "Core Dump" LOPSAgram, the Board will be taking questions from our Members and community of LOPSA friends. Ask us anything! Answers will be brought together and published in the January LOPSAgram.


    Please feel free to ask us anything! Just ask your questions in the comments section of this LOPSA News blog article below.

    P.S. Don't forget that any donations to LOPSA are tax deductible, and it is tax season!

  • lopsa-live transcript May 16, 2018 (part 2)

    21 May 2018 6:47 PM | Deleted user

    Log from channel irc://irc.lopsa.org/#lopsa-live starting 2018-05-16 16:33:16 -0400

    Continued from previous post
    sandinak but also .. as sysadmins we have a bit of a culture that's not construed as "friendly" some times .. the guy in the hoodie in the closet .. and the aforemention BOFH 21:35
    sandinak I think teaching soft skills is almost as important so we *can* have relevant and useful conversations with business leaders that help them make informed decisions and build 21:36
    sandinak trust between those gorups 21:36
    sandinak outside of beneficiaries .. I would like us to be seen as a resource for those aspiring to be sysadmins .. and those that are to improve 21:36
    sandinak so providing those resources in some manner .. via training.. or mentor .. or meeting .. is where I think it's at .. but I dont' think any one of those tools will answer 21:37
    sandinak it will take a balance combination and dedication. 21:37
    sandinak End of Line 21:37
    JNRII Thank you 21:37
    JNRII Again, from Bruce: Current members and potential recruits may not ask it, but it's in the back of their minds when they are asked to lay down money for the privilege of joining LOPSA. "What's in it for me?" - How would answer them? 21:37
    JNRII Mark, your turn to start us off 21:38
    markllama Again, this is a constant question. It maintains the minimum binding for the community. Right now it' doesn't offer much more than that. But I think that's the biggest value we have right now. While I agree training and outreach and education are good ideas, I'm unsure how LOPSA can be better at any of the specifics than the people currently training on any given tech item. 21:39
    markllama How we sell "the community" I don't know, 21:40
    markllama but I know I'd have more difficulty doing and learning my job over time without LOPSA 21:40
    markllama not beecause of training or eductation formally, but because of access and contact with the people. 21:40
    markllama is ready to try more though 21:41
    markllama fin 21:41
    JNRII Branson, your thoughts please. 21:41
    sandinak So .. 21:41
    sandinak IANA business man .. I can tell the stories of how that blows up 21:42
    sandinak however .. I have to keep thinking that what they're asking is also value proposition. 21:42
    sandinak while I agree with Mark .. there's LOTS of "free(ish)" resources on the net for "how do I foo a bar" … between freenode.net #{project} .. and most importantly #lopsa ;) 21:43
    sandinak so I think for now we'd advocate on the community aspect of supporting a group trying to improve the "Art" .. but I think we need to be able to demonstrate on that 21:43
    sandinak pointing out the groups an camaraderie we have .. and foster at conferences is a good start 21:44
    sandinak noting how there is a concerted effort to move things forward is also a good discussion point. 21:44
    sandinak however .. most of us are here because we *Want* to be here and *want* things to improve.... 21:45
    sandinak so I'd also tell the prospective candidate this is their opportunity to be part of that effort… and encourage them to not just check a box .. but jump in with both feet 21:45
    sandinak on the passion of their choice and find a gorup witih #LOPSA ( or advocate for one!) where they can impact. 21:46
    sandinak \r\d 21:46
    JNRII Over to Andree 21:46
    AndreeJacobson Gosh, thise unnecessary carriage returns... Sigh... Unlimited access to some of the kindest and most qualified people in the industry, for almost any matter not just sysadmin. We all live the life, and it's great to be able to bounce ideas. I agree 100% with Branson, what is it they want out of it. Lets ask and see if we can provide! 21:46
    AndreeJacobson It's really a matter of soliciting ideas. Build it and they will come doesnt work. Build what they ask for, thats a diffrent story. 21:47
    AndreeJacobson Eot 21:47
    JNRII From scott5: LOPSA has been pretty off the radar until recently. I was wondering what you are considering to be important to keeping LOPSA revitalized during your term? 21:48
    markllama TERMINATOR_COUNT=7 21:48
    JNRII Branson, your turn to start us off 21:48
    sandinak heh 21:48
    sandinak should I set $IFS 21:48
    sandinak So i think a revitalization is key to the future of the org. I really want to see LOPSA move from a checkbox 21:49
    sandinak to a benefit people go look for. I consider specifically having offerings and tools that are useful to members to be important. 21:50
    sandinak I am also VP of a local ISSA .. and we have training for the CISSP that we developed in house and offer to members ( for free! ) as a benefit of being part 21:50
    sandinak of the org. That's been hugely successful and has generated both membership because of it .. and renewals because they saw the benefit. 21:51
    sandinak with that large a pool .. speakers are easier to find for meetings and events.. and we even have enough to keep the training up to date 21:51
    sandinak I think taht type of model can be succesful here as well. 21:51
    atsaloli cheers 21:51
    markllama nods 21:52
    sandinak  ; 21:52
    JNRII Andree? 21:52
    AndreeJacobson What he said... 21:52
    AndreeJacobson Im not a huge fan of trainings and certifications. But what i think would be useful 21:53
    AndreeJacobson Is to help employers set up questions that actually help determine if people know waht they say they know. 21:54
    AndreeJacobson Kind of like our code, but for employers... Before i hire a sysadmin, i swear to ask these questions. 21:54
    AndreeJacobson Or something along those lines, you can have a the certs in the world, but that deosnt matter of the employers dont know how to evaluate you. 21:55
    AndreeJacobson Professional orgs are there to support youbin your profession, i think we shiuld cover a broader spectrum. To include employers. This also relates back the the question about reaching outside the IT zone. 21:56
    AndreeJacobson We need one of those "so you want to hire a sysadmin" viral video 21:57
    AndreeJacobson Eot 21:57
    JNRII And lastly (This Time), Mark 21:57
    markllama LOPSA's been off the radar? 21:59
    markllama I mean I think it's been as on the radar as it's ever been. 21:59
    markllama We've always struggled to get people of all kinds to recognize "sysadmin" as more than "computer janitor" 22:00
    markllama that's why I personally tend to focus on getting academia to take us seriously. if they do, others might listen, that sysadmin is a job and a class of people. That said, i would say we probably have to work on all fronts, gettiing even the people doing the job, ad hoc until they learn more, to treat the work they do and themselves as more than computer handy-persons. 22:01
    markllama I don't think we can neglect any chance to raise awareness and thoughtfulness... Picking which one to put resources into... I can be swayed 22:02
    markllama end 22:02
    JNRII Thank you 22:02
    JNRII Last question in the queue, Give Bruce something else to read: 22:02
    JNRII From scott5: (on behalf of another member) There's been quite a bit of up-and-out with lopsa over time -- makes it hard to find those people who are in more senior positions. Are there any plans to keep those folks/their interest? 22:02
    JNRII Andree, you are up first 22:02
    AndreeJacobson So, im starting to consider myself a bit more senior (in experience)... I plan to stay around for a while. 22:04
    AndreeJacobson Personally, i find it more rewarding now than i maybe did in the past. We, the members that are involved, need to preach to our peers. 22:04
    AndreeJacobson Explain why this important, and why we should all care. 22:05
    AndreeJacobson It's on us. I get that people get more busy and have less time, i include myself in that, but this is important. 22:05
    AndreeJacobson Ask our orgs if we can participate on work time as an official post, well be asked to explain how otd be good to the company, and theres our chance. 22:06
    AndreeJacobson Eot 22:06
    JNRII Mark? 22:07
    markllama Kinda the same. I can't speak for others, I can only support people I know, locally as it is. I personally like the idea of maybe being able to encourage more people to learn and participate as part of the board. I don't know if that will work, but I'll give it a shot. I think people move up and out for a number of reasons, but at least one is a sense that there's not much they can do as part of the group to be effective.. 22:10
    markllama en know what "effective" would mean. Perhaps that's where some of the initiative others here have spoken of would come in: To help find a clear definition of what 'effective growth and participation" would mean. 22:10
    markllama I'll keep trying to encourage people to learn to make machines go well, and to make other people's work.... work... with the machines we have. I can hope that that example would extend to the senior people I work with 22:11
    markllama Most I know will make themselves available when asked. How to make that a comfortable thing... We'll have to talk some about that. 22:11
    markllama done 22:11
    sandinak me again 22:11
    JNRII Branson? 22:11
    JNRII Yup 22:11
    markllama PASTEBIN! 22:11
    sandinak soooo tempting 22:12
    markllama smirk 22:12
    sandinak (sa means more than sysadmin apparently ) 22:12
    sandinak anyway .. I think keeping interest of senior people means giving them reason 22:12
    sandinak so that can be in the form of satisfaction of seeing peers improve ( wether senior or not ) from their experience 22:13
    sandinak eg .. senior people are *experienced* .. wise .. they can look at a problem outside of context and see the solution based on prior art 22:13
    sandinak that kind of thing is hard to pass off .. eg experience can't be taught per se .. but what they CAN do 22:13
    sandinak ( it's like teaching troubleshooting ) 22:14
    sandinak is be given a vehicle to promote their experience and ideas that come from it 22:14
    sandinak the mentoring program is a fantastic opporunity .. but as I mentioned .. limited in scope. 22:14
    sandinak I would continue to advocate .. and find ways to make mentoring more than a linked in mention 22:15
    sandinak but perhaps celebrated at conferences in denoted in various ways ( branson matheson, LOPSA Mentor ) .. has a nice ring 22:15
    sandinak Beyond that .. many ( but not all!) senior people like to impart their knowledge but are unable or perhaps unsure 22:16
    sandinak because there aren't any clear ways to do it other than proposing a class for $conf 22:16
    sandinak and seeing if it is accepted ( this is what I did ) 22:16
    sandinak finding ways for us to facillitate turning experienced individuals into mentors .. and ultilmately instructors .. should be a strong goal 22:17
    sandinak building frameworks and providing tools and support! ( that is people willing to listen, help and nudge ) for budding mentors and instructors is a key 22:17
    sandinak goal that i think needs to be integrated into the LOPSA mindset. 22:17
    sandinak by that .. we can return that effort on those senior people with both recognition and satisfaction of seeing their mentees ( did I make a word ) 22:18
    sandinak and students succeed and come full circle to rise to the 'wisdom' level where they are now the coveted speakers, teachers and mentors. 22:19
    sandinak \r\n :-P 22:19
    JNRII It seems we have no more questions, so unless we have anything else, we are good to wrap up. 22:19
    JNRII I want to thank the candidates for not only participating with giving us their thoughts tonight, but stepping up and committing to being on the board and helping lead LOPSA. 22:19
    JNRII Thank you everyone, and goodnight 22:19
    AndreeJacobson Thank you! 22:20
    atsaloli thanks all! thanks for running the session, and to all for participating 22:20
    cat-xeger Thank you! 22:20
    sandinak thank you very much 22:20
    sandinak hope I wasn't too ranty ;) 22:20
    AndreeJacobson No comment 22:20
    sandinak I really enjoyed this and would happily do it again 22:21
    AndreeJacobson It was great 22:21
    atsaloli anyway, I think it was a very successful session 22:21
    JNRII ranty can be good, in the right forum, which, to me, this was. 22:21
    AndreeJacobson Agreed. 22:21
    atsaloli waves 22:21
    atsaloli  :) 22:21
    sandinak looks at AndreeJacobson .. :-P 22:21
    AndreeJacobson Later 22:21
    sandinak laters 22:21
    BruceDavis being ranty show a degree of passion, which is needed 22:21
    sandinak I can has passion 22:21
    scott5 The transcript will be posted to the LOPSA site in a day or two for anyone who is interested and for those who couldn’t be here tonight. 22:22

  • lopsa-live transcript May 16, 2018 (part 1)

    21 May 2018 6:42 PM | Deleted user

    Log from channel irc://irc.lopsa.org/#lopsa-live starting 2018-05-16 16:33:16 -0400

     » Topic changed to "2018 Candidate Session May 16 @18:00Pacific/21:00Eastern" by ChanServ. 16:38
    JNRII 5 Minutes until the LOPSA Live Candidate Session 2018 20:56
    JNRII k, my other clock is slow (how does that happen these days?) 20:56
    JNRII 3 Minutes until the LOPSA Live Candidate Session 2018, are we still missing Brian? 20:57
    scott5 yes. 20:57
    AndreeJacobson I'm here... 21:00
    scott5 Hi everybody. I’m Scott and I’m currently chairing the leadership committee. 21:01
    scott5 Welcome to the 2018 #lopsa-live candidate session. 21:01
    scott5 All of our candidates except Brian are present and our moderators are as well. Brian sends his regrets, as he is busy with something else. 21:01
    scott5 In order to keep it all under control, there will be rules to follow. To explain the procedure, I'll turn it over to Jim who will be the public face moderating the session tonight. 21:01
    scott5 Take it away Jim. 21:01
    JNRII Hi, I'm Jim (JNRII)and I'll be one of your moderators tonight. My co-moderator is Bruce (BruceDavis) and the format will be as follows: 21:02
    JNRII 1) Brief intro from the candidates 21:02
    JNRII 2) The moderated Q&A 21:02
    JNRII We will handle the questions by having anyone with a question direct message Bruce with your question and he will feed me the questions in the order they came in. I'll post your question to the candidates and give them time to answer. 21:02
    JNRII The candidates will take turns answering. We will go in alphabetical order, but who starts will be rotated to allow for everyone to have a turn being first. 21:02
    JNRII Time to get started with the introductions. I'll prompt the candidates to introduce themselves. 21:02
    JNRII First up: Andree Jacobson 21:02
    JNRII Andree? 21:03
    AndreeJacobson Hey, I'm Andree. Recently moved toCalifornia, got stuck in traffic 21:03
    AndreeJacobson So on my phone, please pardon typos :) 21:04
    AndreeJacobson Have been at a nonprofit in new Mexico for the last 8 years as a cio working with Los alamos national lab and the local universities. Recently took a job with Tesla, and went from management to engineering. I'm more a sysadmin now than I was before 21:05
    AndreeJacobson Plenty of experience in HPC and that's my focus area. Large scale is where it's at with me mostly, a little bit of a jack of all trades in networking, storage, etc... 21:06
    AndreeJacobson That's it. Over and out. 21:06
    JNRII Thank you Andress 21:06
    JNRII Andree (and I'm not on a phone) 21:06
    JNRII Next: Mark Lamourine 21:06
    markllama Hrrm (I start with that alot) 21:06
    markllama I'm currently working at Red Hat on various automation things to do with Jenkins and containers and integration, being a thorn in the side of management and pure developers over installation and administration stuff they create. 21:07
    markllama I've been doing stuff like this since the late 80s in various capacities from lab manager, (power ac, space) and DC work and internet infrastructure. Though other people are better experts than me in all of those areas. 21:08
    markllama I've benefited from the LOPSA community in all of it's evolutions since that time and I'm free now to try to contribute back to some of the hard work. 21:09
    markllama I guess that will suffice to prompt questions. 21:09
    markllama Neeeext! 21:09
    JNRII and our final candidate, Branson Matheson 21:10
    sandinak Hi, I am Branson Matheson (sandinak)... I've been a sysadmin for 30ish years and worked on everything 21:10
    sandinak from VAX VMS to FreeBSD, NASA Shuttle projects to networking TSA security checkpints, 21:10
    sandinak Internet search engines to cryptographically secure Cell phones. 21:10
    sandinak I have more recently spent alot of my time in operations for Cloud engineering using CMS tools. 21:10
    sandinak I have a strong general background in most areas of systems engineering, networking, security, unix 21:10
    sandinak and hardare. 21:10
    sandinak I am a frequent teacher at Security and Sysadmin conferences on topics including Ansible for Operations, 21:10
    sandinak Social Engineering and Security Tools for sysadmins. 21:10
    sandinak In my spare time I enjoy working on several open source tools and initiatives .. especially 21:10
    sandinak around Show Lighting and DMX. I also play several instruments and love Rush. 21:10
    sandinak I have high hops of contributing to LOPSA in the areas of information sharing and community buildin 21:10
    sandinak ( yes.. i cheated ;) 21:10
    markllama snorks 21:10
    sandinak You can see more about me at linkedin.com/in/sandinak .. but I love the work I do and I love sharing my knowledge 21:10
    sandinak EOF 21:11
    JNRII NO questions so far? Please, message Bruce 21:11
    BruceDavis I am anxiously awaiting to hear your questions 21:11
    JNRII Noone asks, you get mine :}, guess I can ask one. How do we grow LOPSA as the role of SYSAdmin evolves? 21:12
    markllama Should we ask each other contrived questions or concede defeat? This was my idea so I feel a bit responsible. 21:12
    JNRII Andree, You first please. 21:12
    AndreeJacobson Ok. So outreach is thr way to go. 21:13
    cat-xeger I think it's a great idea to at least do some sort of intros, and I'm sorry to be too fried to think of questions. 21:13
    AndreeJacobson I really like the mentoring program and would likebto see it grow strong 21:14
    markllama I'm really not sure. We've tried lots of things over the years. We probably need to keep doing those things. 21:14
    markllama get people identifying as "sysadmin" and get them talking to each other and pointing back to LOPSA as a place. 21:14
    markllama keep doing it. 21:14
    JNRII Branson? 21:15
    sandinak I think that sysadmin as an art has like everything else evolved already and continues to change as 21:15
    sandinak new capabilities, softare and tooling come online. I think the mentor program works .. but has a 21:15
    sandinak limited scope ( only so many mentors for .. ahem so many mentees ). I like the idea of LOPSA perhaps 21:15
    sandinak starting to build a stronger body of knowledge that can evolve directly into instruction either 21:15
    sandinak via screen casts/vidoes or in person. 21:15
    sandinak cheated again 21:15
    JNRII k, we have questions starting 21:16
    sandinak but I mean that sincerely.. LOPSA has struggled with membership I think more because the value proposition 21:16
    JNRII This one, from sandinak: Why do the candidates want to be part of LOPSA 21:16
    JNRII Mark, you first please. 21:16
    sandinak to be effective we must be lucrative to the potential members .. and I think that means bringing up to date and current training to the front. 21:16
    markllama Hehe. Umm. LOPSA are my people. they're the community that has supported me and been there when I had questions or needed to bounce ideas, learn things, lean on support. 21:17
    JNRII Andree? 21:17
    markllama I'd like to think there are a half dozen or more people who are now members who feel welcome because I personally invited them. 21:17
    markllama and I want to make sure that there's a place for them when they find us 21:18
    AndreeJacobson When i was first introduced to LOPSA at a LISA conference, I immediately identifed with the crowd. Great folks. Lots of talent. 21:18
    AndreeJacobson A place where its ok to be us, but also have a group of people whonunderstand *exactly* what you are going through on a day to day basis. 21:18
    AndreeJacobson Other folks don't really get this, sysadmining is easy... And fast, takes no time, and is free... :) 21:19
    sandinak looks at AndreeJacobson 21:19
    AndreeJacobson We know we do it for the fun of it, and being around people who know that, is worth a lot to me 21:20
    markllama kinda wonders too. 21:20
    markllama listens 21:20
    JNRII k, we have a question From: <atsaloli> Any ideas for engaging with academia? What can you do to help LOPSA engage with academia? (As a board member.) 21:20
    AndreeJacobson I could go on and on, but it would be repetitive. 21:20
    JNRII Branson, would you start this question please. 21:20
    sandinak I wanted to answer the alst one if I may cause I did ask it 21:21
    JNRII Sorry, thought you did, go ahead. 21:21
    sandinak So I have been a part of LISA and LOPSA on and off over the years and supported it because of my dedication to the craft .. and because of the great things they produced. 21:22
    sandinak I was asked once before to join the board and didnt' because I didnt' have a clear vision .. this time I did .. and mostly that i think because of the fairly large evolution 21:22
    sandinak going on in our craft .. LOPSA can be the leader in how people evolve .. AND still support joe-bag-o-donuts sysadmin that still has a rack of servers in a community bank. 21:23
    sandinak that's one thing I see is us stretching across a larger swath .. so I wanted to help fill new ideas .. and backfill old ones. 21:23
    sandinak As far as engaging with academia .. I think that if we can start to gather the right information about what our members are facing as challenges 21:24
    sandinak both in new associates coming from college .. and as tools and systems evolve.. we can bring that info to academia and partner with them to start addressing those challenges 21:24
    sandinak EOF 21:24
    AndreeJacobson So, academia is a beast. They (traditional cs/ce/ee programs) don't want to teach sysadmin because its not science. They way to engage them is to find colleges that DO teach sysadmin / network admin, and to engage in their outreach efforts. If im elected, I would not mind being part of the team (i.e., just me) that does some of this. EOT 21:24
    JNRII Mark? 21:25
    AndreeJacobson Yeah @sandinak i can cheat too... 21:25
    sandinak HA! 21:25
    markllama We actually have one example of "engage with academia" in Nicole Forsgren's (sp?) work 21:25
    sandinak definately .. and SESA 21:25
    markllama Understanding not the tech which moves too fast, but the human side, how the tech interacts with people, how people learn and work with systems. Those things change slower and and subject to study by people who aren't mathematicians and engineers 21:26
    markllama Study sysadmin. as a task 21:26
    markllama THEN you can try to do things better. 21:27
    markllama now how to get the right people interested and putting in the resources... we have to talk to academics. 21:27
    markllama fin 21:27
    JNRII k, From Bruce: How do you see LOPSA gaining credibility and recognition outside of the IT community? 21:27
    JNRII Andree, please start 21:27
    AndreeJacobson Well, we need communication, and insiders... One problem is often thatbuts hard for the sysadmin (often stuck away in a basement somewhere) to talk to the people in leadership roles... 21:29
    AndreeJacobson How do you explain, that having warranty on a storage areay you are maintaining is important... If it costs moneyz and there are none. 21:29
    AndreeJacobson I'd like to trybto find somefolks that have moved from lowly admins jnto higher positions and get their perspective. 21:30
    AndreeJacobson Eot 21:30
    JNRII Mark? 21:30
    markllama This is the same question we've been asking for a couple of decades. I don't have an answer, except to keep doing what we're doing (which is often trying new things or the same things again) and I don't think trying again is a bad thing 21:31
    markllama people change, times change, you never know, you might find the right person, place, hook. 21:32
    markllama I'm game to try or re-try things on the group's behalf 21:32
    markllama anyone want to re-do "A Day In The Life"? 21:32
    sandinak Only if I get to be Simon. 21:33
    markllama (didn't think so, but the T-shirt was awesome) 21:33
    markllama next? 21:33
    JNRII Branson, the floor is yours. 21:33
    sandinak Guess that's mee 21:33
    sandinak So .. the answer to this question is predicated on scope 21:33
    sandinak if you're talking w/in an organization that benefits from sysadmins ( eg .. a business, school, etc.. ) then LOPSA needs to have a value proposition for the org 21:34
    sandinak that means as mentioned. .. training .. not just on tools and services that an org can benefit directly from 21:35
    Continued in next post

  • #LOPSA-Live 2018 - May 16 @ 18:00 Pacific/21:00 Eastern

    09 May 2018 8:39 PM | Deleted user

    Note: We have changed forums. We will be using the #lopsa-live channel on irc.lopsa.org instead of the slack channel. If you are having difficulties with irc.lopsa.org, try webchat.freenode.net, IRC, or Non-SSL IRC

    The Leadership Committee is conducting a moderated LOPSA Live session on the #lopsa-live channel on irc.lopsa.org. This session will be your opportunity to ask questions of the candidates running for the LOPSA board.

    We are only having one session this year, as described in the title, on Wednesday May 16 at 6:00PM Pacific/9:00PM Eastern

    Please join us and come prepared with your questions! Additionally, you're welcome to send questions to the Leadership Committee in advance of the sessions.

  • Final 2018 Slate - Maybe

    01 May 2018 7:56 PM | Deleted user

    Our candidates for the 2018 board are:

    • Brian Globerman 
    • Andree Jacobson 
    • Mark Lamourine
    • Branson Matheson 


    As of today, we have four candidates and five open positions for the board. The team has made a concerted attempt to get additional candidates so that we can have an actual election, but at this point, it appears to not be in the cards.

    As the official voting period is in June, I am going to extend the eligibility period to just prior to the second scheduled LOPSA-Live date of May 15, 2018 in the hopes that we can get at least one more candidate and have an actual election.

    Anyone who may be interested in serving on the board can send an email to the leadership committee <leadership> at <lopsa.org> and we will go from there.

    If there are no additional candidates prior to the first LOPSA-Live, then it will be cancelled, as it serves no practical purpose. The same will apply for the second one.

  • 2018 Candidate Statement: Mark Lamourine

    01 May 2018 7:53 PM | Deleted user

    I've been a sysadmin of some sort since the mid 1980s and a member of the community since I attended my first LISA conference in 1993. My involvement in the community has varied since then.  I worked on the Day in the Life project in the 1990s.Most recently I've been writing book reviews for :login:.

    Currently working at Red Hat, I've been a vocal advocate for sysadmins in the design of OS and service management software, whether on conventional hosts or containers. 

    I no longer have a Grand Vision for the profession of system administration.  We've been struggling for recognition and understanding since before LOPSA was formed and we'll be struggling for a long time to come.  In the mean time I think it's critical to work with people both inside and out of the profession to improve the standards of practice, training and communication.  Efforts exist already in all of those areas and as a member of the board I'd look for ways to strengthen and broaden those efforts. I also think it's critical to engage academia to study system administration goals and processes rigorously to understand and improve the state of the art not just in technology but in human factors.


  • 2018 Election Timeline

    20 Apr 2018 4:43 PM | Deleted user

    The Leadership Committee has been working to get you a strong candidate slate for the 2018 election! Your participation is key to us having a strong organization, so please plan to take part in the election.

    Here's our planned election timeline:

    • May 1 - Final slate and candidate statements
    • May 16 - LOPSA Live
    • June 1 - Open election
    • June 22 - Close election

  • 2018 Candidate Statement: Andree Jacobson

    20 Apr 2018 4:40 PM | Deleted user

    To Whom It May Concern,

    Greetings - I am Andree Jacobson; at the time of writing, the CIO for the New Mexico Consortium (a non-profit in Los Alamos, NM) - but I am transitioning into an Infrastructure Cluster Engineer role for Tesla's autopilot team. I also run a small consulting company that assists local companies with systems design, implementation, and training on computer systems. However, even outside the professional world, I am a long time computer systems and networking administrator. I’ve practically been on any system I could get my hands on since before I started school, started small - but now it’s the very large and complicated systems that motivate me. The point I’m trying to get across here, is that I’m passionate about computers - one of man’s greatest technology creations. I find it fascinating to see how we keep coming up with new uses, how the field of Computer Science is still growing and morphing rapidly, and we’re right here in the middle of it! It shows no sign of slowing down either. I am however also baffled with the lacklustre of education and prestige for the field of Systems Administration, especially at scale. Ever since the early days of computation it seems that people who know how to operate these systems always take a secondary role, yet the world’s whole infrastructures rests in the hands of a handful of very talented individuals who are often ignored. I’m running for the board of LOPSA because I believe in the organization’s mission, and I would be proud the have the opportunity to represent this particular group of people.


The League of Professional System Administrators
1200 Route 22 East, Suite 200
Bridgewater, NJ, 08807
USA
Email: info@lopsa.org

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