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What is a normal day for you?

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by zlitocook

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I know that for most of us there is no normal any thing. But list what happens from the time you walk in the door to the time you run home. :)
I was talking to a few friends at lunch and we compared jobs and how our day goes.
On guy from Oracle won because he got three help messages on his crack berry in five minutes.
I get into work early just to read emails, review what went on the day before and to get ready for the new day. That is around 7:30 AM, I am not supposed to be in until 8:30. I am a salaried person I am supposed to be in a certain time and leave at a certain time but you know that never works. So I check the servers, switches and the Websence log. By then it is 8:30 or so, people have been coming in and I get up a move around the office. We have a half floor for now with 75 people/nurses, I am the only in person contact for IT. They do have a help desk to call but why do that when I am there! We have help desk software to keep track of problems and for a first contact. But like I said why should they do that when the IT guru is a few desks away?
By lunch I have fixed two things, a printer that stopped printing because it ran out of paper and a person who could not access her network drives, she logged into the local computer because she forgot her password.
I get lunch and eat three bites and the director calls she can not find any of her folders in Outlook. I check and they are gone but still on the server, she only thought she only deleted a folder she did not need. I repaired her out look.
Pitch lunch it got cold, went to vending machine and got goodies.
Afternoon was slow only had to unlock two nurses because they forgot their passwords.
By 3:30 I am thinking nothing is happing and the door is so near, I make one more round and bolt for the door!

But a manager catches me at mid bolt; he wants to send an email to all. So I show him how to make a distribution list with who he wants on it.
Thirty minutes later I am in my car with the pager and cell phone on mute.
I try not to think of the next day but hey patch Tuesday is coming up and I need to check the servers fast.

4 replies

by mjd420nova

Beginning at 6:30AM I rise to the local DJ on the radio alarm clock, start the coffee and jump in the shower. After drying myself and filling the large cup with coffee, I settle in front of the computer to reveiw my e-mails for any alerts and then check in with the local dispatching system. I first reveiw the previous days calls to see what I didn't finish for lack of parts or software and open the new calls cue. After reveiwing the new calls, I have to assemble a plan of attack, starting with a trip to my local office to pick up parts I may need for the new calls and drop off unused, defective parts. Next I have to be at the local FEDEX by 8AM to pick up any parts arriving for future calls or calls from the previous day that I ordered parts for. At that point I have to call the users for whom parts didn't arrive and delay their next call. Next is to lay out a travel plan, hitting the closest calls first and the farthest later. Sometime around noon, and anywhere from 30 to 50 miles away and 3 to 6 calls later, I get to relax with a slider(navy slang for a burger, called such for what they do on the grill when at sea) and a quick reveiw of new calls and a dozen pages in the techno-thriller I happen to be reading. After maybe 3 to 6 calls later, I reveiw new calls again and plan an attack for the next day. My local office has a large inventory of most used items and a shipping point for outgoing used parts. Most of the time it is 5PM before I can't knock off and head home. The entire day can be interupted by calls that may require me to play fireman(go to a customer who called with a dire emergency) or assist another tech with a call. This is a daily routine, but on thurdays I have to split at noon to the local airport and do a meet and greet with the contacts we service and reveiw with them any troubles they may have or equipment that may need service. Most of the time it's just a meet-greet, replace a printer ribbon or set up a service call for later in the week. WHEW, it can get exhausting and the end of the day never comes soon enough. At the end, I get to deal with the traffic to return home. Now here in this area we have a very large micro-climate that can have as much as thirty degrees difference from one area to another so shedding layers of clothing as the day progresses, and then putting them back on when transitting to other areas. And did I mention traffic??

by mourad.b

Ohh chaps,
This is a night mare,
I?m doing Builds, Builds and Builds,
Same computers, same configuration and same routine,
I feel like I?m a Robot.
I wont last long here?

by jck

Hmmm...

Start of day: between 2am and 7am.
Activities: shower, shave, brush teeth, insert contacts, dress, drive to work.
Work day: anything that needs to be done
End of day: sometime between 4:45pm and 10pm

And, I'm just a senior programmer.

Oh...and I answer my cell phone if it's my boss or a co-worker. Anyone else from work calls (that isn't up the foodchain from my boss), they can leave a voicemail.

by w2ktechman

Since I do deskside support for a worldwide legal department nothing is normal. I also need to keep track of systems and do upgrades (currently behind by around 10 setups). I also am in charge of a set of both ER loaner systems (regualr updates) and long term loaner systems (desktops and notebooks)
But, that is still not all. I need to keep track of specific licenses as well. And the Legal department has special applications, so I need to work with the developers when something comes up (issues). Right now the company will not purchase anymore licenses for 1 software, Adobe Acrobat. But all of the systems have been upgraded to only use (properly) Acrobat 7. So, I need to constantly juggle SW licenses around while not violating any restrictions. This means that, yes, I need to also monitor employee new hires/terminations and look for who has/needs licenses for worldwide employees.
My schedule changes on the day of the week, and for which site I need to go to.
But, a totally average day means I watch for calls, expected to know everything, answer dozens of questions, monitor several status's, run departmental metrics, setup systems, and much more.
I dont have a clue how they are going to do all of this witout me (especially licensing) when my time is up (Oct. 1st, just got notice). I bet some SW vendors will sue, as if SW licensing is left to the admins/or some managers, they will blatantly install on everyones system that needs it.
Oh Well....

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