JamieMagee :: Perfect day in the life of a Developer vs an Admin

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Perfect day in the life of a Developer vs an Admin

Tags: Team dynamics

This video...

...is a great illustration of the difference between what makes a "perfect day" in the life of a Developer vs. that of an Administrator.

At the end of the day...

Developers want: new processes, changes to existing processes, integration between systems, access to systems from any device anywhere, systems emailing/feeding/serving other organizations' systems. In short, they want ACTION.
Administrators want: no changes to business, no incidents or system events, and no-one talking about or remembering anything that happened that day. In short, they want NOTHING TO HAPPEN. If they could achieve this by unplugging the servers without anyone noticing, they would.

Ok, I'm being facetious, and of course I'm a developer. But I think this is partly true.

Here's another great thread on Domino developers and adminstrators from a few months ago from Duffbert's blog. Duffbert and Warren together presented this excellent session at Lotusphere 2008.

Posted by Jamie Magee On 02/01/2008 | Permalink

Comments

1 - I'm a developer AND an admin. The tough part about being an admin, is that if you do your job right, the only time people even know you EXIST is when something breaks or the servers are down. They have no idea how hard an admin works to keep everything running smoothly all the time. Emoticon

Posted by Jess Stratton At 12:09:43 PM On 02/01/2008 | - Website - |

2 - Jess has a point. I'm constantly going to the admin's desk for help but they never walk over to mine. (It could be that I'm dull)

For every good admin out there in the world there are probably 19 bad ones. Good admins (proactive, pro-business, good change control) should be cherished by the developers. Give them candy, pizza... whatever it takes to keep them happy. Without them... we are nothing.

Are you stuck with bad admins? Just stand outside their cube and stare at them if they don't start helping you out. (it helps if you have a full beard for this trick)

Posted by tom At 02:27:22 PM On 02/01/2008 | - Website - |

3 - Jamie, don't look now but there is an Irishman with an ESPN bat on a plane to your home town ;^ )

Posted by Sean Harris At 06:51:32 PM On 02/04/2008 | - Website - |

4 - Jamie,
After all the work I did for you and the guys in Miami?
Shame, shame, but Paul will hunt you down next year Emoticon

Admins jobs are too stop the fire before it happens, then put it out if it happens.
I push the boundaries on my servers to always use the latest code so there is never a "why don't we upgrade" complaint from the developers.
On the flip side, I pay the price by having anomalies happen which thank God for DOmino I can ocver and rectify before users find out.
Still waiting for an Exchange admin to say that.....ever!

Posted by Keith Brooks At 06:56:57 PM On 02/04/2008 | - Website - |