Lots of little sysadmin aiding tools start up as little MySQL databases on a test server. When these tools become too important to fail, they eventually migrate to conventional production servers with backup and all the stuff. When you're not that handy with the sql*plus Oracle client, this Mysql/sqlplus conversion page might come in handy.
Question : how do you know the company you work in scores way too high on the Dilbert scale ?
Answer : when you change from working team, you loose every privilege you had access-like, and then it takes *two* weeks until everything is normal again. My new PC even didn't contain SSH, for gods sake.
Bah !
Pharao's Gold, English Mist, Mystic Mauve : who invents these paint color names actually ? For the last two weeks, I've been busy painting M's house. We used about 40 liters of paint to decorate the whole first floor, and boy, we're *very* glad it's all finished.
I'm convinced that business success in the future starts with the question, What should I do with my life? Yes, that's right. The most obvious and universal question on our plates as human beings is the most urgent and pragmatic approach to sustainable success in our organizations. People don't succeed by migrating to a "hot" industry ( one word: dotcom ) or by adopting a particular career-guiding mantra ( remember "horizontal careers"? ). They thrive by focusing on the question of who they really are -- and connecting that to work that they truly love.
Those who are lit by that passion are the object of envy among their peers and the subject of intense curiosity. They are the source of good ideas. They make the extra effort. They demonstrate the commitment. They are the ones who, day by day, will rescue this drifting ship.
Po Bronson is the author of this rather lengthy article about how to deal with your job. Read it, it should be your bible, certainly if you're dealing with HRM; Jeremy has an interesting round-up of the article too.
Most people know that the name for the Apache webserver found its origin in the "a patchy server" naming. Fact-index.com has some more background about the ethymology of company and product names.
Next Friday is Sysadmin day. Support your local sysadmin, and maybe buy him some geekwear. Though many would be happy with a cup of coffee (I would ;)
I guess the official countdown has started : still 4 days to go before the end of my 2 and a half month sick leave. I'll be glad to go to work again, but boy, I now already know that the first few days are going to hurt. My back is fully recovered; the last two weeks have been filled with playing sports, and my back is keeping up nicely. All this excercise has one disadvantage though : I'm so tanned that it looks as if I have spent the last month on a Mediterrean holiday instead of sick leave...
It's so sad that after 5 years, I'm still having the same discussions with PHB's about the use of Linux in the enterprise. It's so sad that the only thing these people want is, if thing go awry, to be able to point to a company and say : it''s their fault...
It just doesn't make any sense, goddamnit...
If you're an IT guy, I guess this should be your mantra :
As software craftsmen, we have rules. Sometimes we feel bad when the rules must be broken. They're just rules though. What's important is that we have a moral center, a professional core, that refuses to compromise the quality of our work :
I am a professional -- a craftsman! -- No matter what pressures are on me. -- I will not ship shit.
Dave took matters into his own hands, and started to treat employers like they have been treating us for several years. Here's a little snip of what his site is all about "I decided to begin all email job inquiries by asking how much they were paying, and how many vacation days I would get. I also adopted a terse, blunt writing style that made it sound like I was doing employers a favor just by inquiring about the job. Basically, I decided to act like a complete asshole, because, in my opinion, that's how many employers were (and still are) acting.