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!
Log from channel irc://irc.lopsa.org/#lopsa-live starting 2018-05-16 16:33:16 -0400
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.
Our candidates for the 2018 board are:
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.
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.
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:
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.
My name is Branson Matheson and am putting my name in the hat as a Board Member for LOPSA. I am a 30 year veteran of system administration and the many disciplines that make up our doctrine. I believe I am a strong candidate given my experience, vision and support for a stronger community. I am asking for your support that together we may continue to improve LOPSA.
My experience provides strong capabilities to support many goals. I am an active participant in our sysadmin community and have worked in a wide variety of environments including large corporation, government contracting, startup and small and large-scale internet services provisioning. I plan, manage, teach and speak around the world at a diverse set of security and system admin focused conferences such as LISA, LOPSA-East, Cisco SecCon and Shmoocon. I have a history of developing concepts and ideas into successful tools. I have a strong desire to see system administration develop to meet the evolution of our Art, while also providing support to individuals and organizations that must continue to maintain existing systems and environments.
I envision LOPSA continuing growth as a haven for system administrators of all stripe; and becoming a larger part of the core of our community. As sysadmins we are finding that the power of the internet has developed and changed how we practice our art. This evolution should lead to stronger bonds among peers and collaborative groups such as engineering, networking and security. I will work to find creative ways for LOPSA to provide or produce services that can enable our community and the groups we support to communicate effectively and improve the ability to provide high levels of service.
As a board member I intend to work with the league and community to promote ideas and develop new resources used to support our day-to-day job functions, improve the security of our existing offerings and help enhance our chosen profession. Through these enhancements I hope to continue expanding LOPSA as the leading community for system administration. I am asking for your support.
I am running for reelection as LOPSA Treasurer. During the past two years, my major accomplishments in this role have been:
I have been working in the IT industry for the past 23 years, and have been a system/network administrator for thirteen of those years. I hold graduate degrees in Geology/Geophysics. Current areas of specialization include Windows and Linux server administration, LAN/WAN and wireless networks, cloud (Microsoft Azure and Office 365) administration, and network/host security. Due to working in a medium-size (~260 person) company where I hold a number of roles, I consider myself an IT generalist. This requires ongoing training both to ensure my skills remain current, and to learn new topics as job responsibilities evolve. LOPSA has played a significant role in my career development through professional conferences, trainings, meetings, and networking opportunities with peers. As a LOPSA board member, my commitment would be to expand these opportunities, and ensure that other system administrators recognize LOPSA’s considerable career benefits and become involved with the organization.
The League of Professional System Administrators 1200 Route 22 East, Suite 200 Bridgewater, NJ, 08807 USA Email: info@lopsa.org
