Ask Dashdot: How Do I Explain My Job to My Grandmother? Posted by Rotundo on Sunday October 17, @05:40PM EDT from the it's-like-a-typewriter-but dept. sysadmin_steve writes "I'm a Unix system administrator. Every Thanksgiving my grandmother asks what I do, and every year I say 'I keep the computers running' and she asks if I can fix her VCR clock. This year I want to do better. How do you explain sysadmin work, network engineering, or (heaven help you) database administration to someone who still writes checks at the supermarket?" My personal approach: 'I'm a plumber, but the pipes are invisible and the water is made of numbers.' Ask Dashdot: How Do I Explain My Job to My Grandmother? | Login/Create an Account | Top | 22 comments | Search Discussion Threshold: -1: 22 comments 0: 20 comments 1: 18 comments 2: 14 comments 3: 9 comments 4: 5 comments 5: 1 comments NestedFlatThreadedNo Comments Oldest FirstNewest FirstHighest Scores First The fine print: the following comments belong to whoever typed them. Dashdot takes no responsibility for them, and frankly, neither do most of the people who typed them. The janitor analogy by CoffeeCoder on Sunday October 17, @05:49PM EDT (#1) (User Info) Tell her you're the janitor of a very big building that nobody can see. When you do your job right, nobody notices. When something breaks, everybody notices and blames you. She will understand completely. [ Reply to This ] Re:The janitor analogy by kludge_king on Sunday October 17, @06:02PM EDT (#2) (User Info) Whoosh. That was the sound of the joke going over your head. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:The janitor analogy by DayTraderDan on Sunday October 17, @06:07PM EDT (#3) (User Info) Exactly. And the vendors know it, which is why they're scared. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:The janitor analogy by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 17, @06:21PM EDT (#5) Citation needed. Where are you getting these numbers? [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:The janitor analogy by Nervous Ned on Sunday October 17, @06:57PM EDT (#8) (User Info) Mod parent up! [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:The janitor analogy by GeckoGuy on Sunday October 17, @06:43PM EDT (#7) (User Info) Heh. Nice one. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:The janitor analogy by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 17, @07:15PM EDT (#9) Funny, I had the exact opposite experience. Ymmv, I guess. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re:The janitor analogy by WebWeaver on Sunday October 17, @07:56PM EDT (#14) (User Info) I think you're missing the point. Nobody is arguing it's perfect, just that it's better than what we had. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Just fix the VCR clock by PolarPenguin on Sunday October 17, @06:12PM EDT (#4) (User Info) Fix the VCR clock. Then fix the microwave clock. She will tell the entire family you're a genius and the question will never come up again. [ Reply to This ] Re:Just fix the VCR clock by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 17, @06:24PM EDT (#6) So what you're saying is that it's a conspiracy. Got it. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Year 2000 by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 17, @07:29PM EDT (#10) Just wait until January. Then we'll see who's laughing. (Probably everyone. The answer is probably everyone.) [ Reply to This ] Re:Year 2000 by GeckoGuy on Sunday October 17, @07:48PM EDT (#13) (User Info) I tried that and it set my monitor on fire. Thanks a lot. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Re: First post by perl_monger_mo on Sunday October 17, @07:35PM EDT (#11) (User Info) Not even close to first post. You lose. Good day sir. [ Reply to This ] Re: First post by MediaMaven on Sunday October 17, @08:18PM EDT (#16) (User Info) Real men use a magnetized needle and a steady hand. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Profit by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 17, @07:43PM EDT (#12) Step 1: write story. Step 2: get 300 comments. Step 3: ... [ Reply to This ] Re:Profit by RetroRaccoon on Sunday October 17, @08:04PM EDT (#15) (User Info) This is the most sensible thing I've read on Dashdot all week. Somebody mod this up. [ Reply to This | Parent ] Information wants to be free by MarkupMarcy on Sunday October 17, @08:29PM EDT (#17) (User Info) Information wants to be free. Hardware wants to be cheap. I want a nap. [ Reply to This ] Re:Information wants to be free by pitchfork_pete on Sunday October 17, @08:56PM EDT (#20) (User Info) Wait until you see the next version. It's going to be worse. [ Reply to This | Parent ] lol by GeckoGuy on Sunday October 17, @08:42PM EDT (#18) (User Info) lol [ Reply to This ] Re:lol by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 17, @09:21PM EDT (#22) Did you even read the parent post? He said the opposite. [ Reply to This | Parent ] My grandma runs Linix by Gnuisance on Sunday October 17, @08:47PM EDT (#19) (User Info) Actually my grandmother runs Red Fedora 6.0. I set it up, she uses Netsail for e-mail and solitaire. She's had fewer problems than my dad on Portals 98. [ Reply to This ] Librarian by Linixdvd on Sunday October 17, @09:08PM EDT (#21) (User Info) I'm a DBA and I tell people I'm a librarian for a library where the books are all numbers and people want them back in under a second. Works surprisingly well. [ Reply to This ]

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