I’ve seen this before, but it’s great that all but one of the images of the SysAdmins is giving someone the finger.

That’s by design, and necessary.

Many times absurd requests come into the infrastructure department, such as needing 30 servers for testing “tomorrow,” or to turn off all security on the production firewall so “we can test something.”

Etc.

Due to such requests (and I’ve actually gotten much, much worse), many times what a sysadmin does and is charged with doing by legality, company policy and common sense is to say “no.”

Things are going to get better and already are getting better for users who want to do more themselves. With tools like VCloud Automation center and wider use of other similar tools (local and not), more users can provision what they think they need in a safe test environment.

Still, resources are not unlimited. Power, CPU time, and bandwidth cost money and always will. And no matter what any time you come to a sysadmin with some ridiculous request that will violate the law and all sanity, they will probably still say no.

So, for as long as there are still system administrators, a large and necessary part of their jobs will be telling people “no.”

This is pretty ridiculous.

The GED is now fifty-five percent algebra? Why?

Yes, some people use algebra in their jobs. Great for them, that 0.1 percent.

But I’ve been doing cognitively demanding jobs for 15+ years. Know how many times I’ve used algebra in my daily work?

Zero.

I have never once used algebra or anything related to it – ever – in any job.

My partner is a programmer and has a computer science degree.

Guess how many times she’s used algebra or anything higher than basic math in her daily work?

Zero, again. She has a minor in math and has not once used any of those (poorly-taught, according to her) skills in the course of any job, and probably never will.

When I told my teachers that all the math I was learning in school would be completely irrelevant to my life, they scoffed.

Turns out I was right.

So why is the GED fifty-five percent algebra again?