Known affectionately throughout Heart Internet as ‘SysAdmin’, ‘Sys’, and some slightly more NSFW names (they’re a vital part of our close family and all the highs and lows that come with that!), our SysAdmins are our behind-the-scenes heroes. Between them they work around the clock doing a huge variety of essential tasks, including…
- Monitoring our systems and fixing any issues on a minute-by-minute basis.
- Devising ingenious ways to make everything better and more efficient all the time.
- Keeping your websites and email up – and speedy.
- Collaborating on, implementing and scaling everything from Microsoft Exchange to cloud hosting platforms.
- Long-term projects, including upgrading hardware and software to be the latest and greatest it can be, and other secret tasks that help us stay ahead of the game.
- Investigating and removing illegal content and generally reducing the amount of junk on the internet.
If there’s a DDoS attack at 2am on a Saturday, it’s a SysAdmin who investigates, blocks it, and collaborates with our Support team to fix the issue before you’re even aware it’s happened.
If there’s a status page update, it’s a SysAdmin who’s added the info they’ve uncovered so far whilst simultaneously working on the issue along with other designated members of the team (they see it as a personal challenge to fix a problem before anyone’s had time to report an issue).
If you’ve noticed your email seems to be running a bit slower than usual, you can guarantee that a SysAdmin is already working on it (their favourite phrase is ‘We KNOW’).
If there’s a power cut and the office internet dies simultaneously (because an unnamed large company has accidentally cut through a wire outside and it’s affected the whole neighbourhood), you can guarantee it’s a SysAdmin working in the pitch black to ensure emergency backups are in place so our Support team can carry on as normal (there was a lot of thanking of chosen deities for phones that are also torches that night).
SysAdmin also includes our abuse team, which means they’re exposed to a depressing amount of copyrighted, horrific and downright illegal content on a regular basis. It’s the abuse team’s job to ensure that all our servers remain clean and legal, and every day they free the web of content that no one should ever be exposed to.
It takes a special sort of person to be a SysAdmin. Not only is there a crazy amount of technical skill and knowledge involved, you also have to be an epic problem-solver and incredibly patient (our favourite XKCD cartoon isn’t actually too far from the truth).
Happily, today’s the national day where SysAdmins everywhere are celebrated for their services to the internet. And instead of giving them a day off, they’re having pizza instead…when we can drag them away from their desks for five minutes…
Let's get started!
Not even celebration pizza can break their concentration!
That's more like it!
We’re incredibly lucky to have the brainpower of our SysAdmin team; they include some of the industry’s best talent and quirkiest characters.
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