Last week, a small business owner posed this question on a Reddit thread. She wanted to know how she can evaluate the system administrator’s work to make sure that she is getting her “money’s worth”.
She hired the system administrator about a year ago. The arrangement that they agreed on was that he would be in the office three times a week, to carry out the following tasks:
- Make sure that the company’s computers are working and secure
- Make sure that the file server is running and secure
- Carry out maintenance on company websites
- Take care of the backups
- Find new software that the users need for specific tasks, and teach them how to use it
- IT support for users when needed
According to the business owner, things were running smoothly and implementations were carried out smoothly up until a couple of months ago. The complaints that she has about the system administrator includes:
Taking two weeks to set up a small website that didn’t look nice
Not being quick enough at resolving an email issue
Now as an IT system administration firm, this is a good chance for us to weigh in. So thank you, whoever you are, and we’re so sorry that your system administrator saw your post on Reddit and quit thereafter. So here’s our two cents’ worth.
Firstly, 95% of a system administrator’s work will not be noticeable to the user. And that is okay, because people hardly question it when things are fine. What most people don’t realise is that behind every smooth-running system is a hardworking system administrator who is putting out fires in the back end. So if everything is running smoothly, rest assured that your system administrator is doing something, and he is doing it right.
But of course, there will be cases where the system administrator is not doing his or her job properly. Here are some red flags that you should watch out for.
Signs that your system administrator is not doing his/her job right
Things are not running smoothly
System administrators are there to make sure that everything works. Granted, there might be unforeseen IT issues popping up every now and then but if you have to call up IT support all the time, then there is a problem. To be fair, it might be because of a lack of manpower, so take some time to talk to your system administrator about this issue first.
He/she talks down to the users
A big part of a system administrator’s job is to provide IT support to the users. If they can’t do it with a certain level of customer service or professionalism, then maybe they are not that suitable for the job.
You are not getting regular project updates
This shows that the system administrator is either bad at communication or really behind time on that new implementation. Receiving regular status updates is also one way of keeping track of your system administrator’s work, so if you’re not receiving any, something might be amiss.
Implementations are not up-to-date
This can be hard for non-IT people to spot. However, if you hear your system administrator saying something along the lines of “I’ve always done it this way” or “It has always been like that”, its a clear sign that he or she does not have a good learning attitude. This spells disaster because the IT industry is in constant development. What was relevant just 5 years ago may not be as applicable now. If your system administrator is not keeping up with new developments, then you will get outdated technology for your business.
Some other common misconceptions
That said, there are times when misunderstandings occur because the users or the boss are genuinely clueless about the nature of a system administrator’s work. Here are some things that your system administrator wants you to know.
Just because it has something to do with computers doesn’t mean that they can handle it
The IT industry is split into different disciplines. Yes, they all have something to do with computers but what they can do with computers is a whole other story. Asking your system administrator to design and set up a website is akin to going to a chiropractor for a stomachache.
Just because nothing is going wrong doesn’t mean that the system administrator has nothing to do
As mentioned earlier, most of a system administrator’s job involves him sorting things out in the back end, so you may not even know it when he’s working. In fact, the better a system administrator is, the less work he has to do. If the proactive maintenance is done well, then there will be lesser day-to-day issues. So it may not be such a bad thing if you catch your system administrator doing nothing every once in awhile.
Trust that your system administrators are there to help, not sabotage your business
The main reason why the small business owner posed this question in the first place is because she has no trust in her system administrator. In the email issue that she highlighted, she said that she suspects her system administrator is shifting the blame over to the hosting company so that he doesn’t have to deal with the issue immediately. If only she had communicated more openly with her system administrator, this would not have happened.
We understand that it can be hard for normal users to measure a system administrator’s effectiveness as most of the results are intangible. As a rule of thumb, as long as your systems are working fine, your system administrator is doing things right. And if you ever find yourself questioning what your system administrator is doing, just ask!
