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Title says it all.

How do you sysadmins/other IT related job employees pass time when you’re not busy? At this time of the year, things are very quiet within our business as people are taking holidays here there and everywhere…So I have a lot of downtime at my desk :frowning:

EDIT:

Alot of you guys are making jokes about “spare time” “not busy” im an apprentice here, new into the job industry so I don’t really have full hands on access to EVERYTHING, some stuff is limited such as admin rights on the servers etc…

I love the response I have got, it is all similar so im guessing thats what I should be doing! You guys are great, thanks :)

97 Spice ups
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It’s good to have time left over =). First of all, give yourself time to breath. Often in IT (for me anyway), it’s a hundred miles an hour all day but if it can broken up a bit, have your lunch, get a coffee.

Your learning needs to continue and when there is time left over, make use of it. Even consider starting studying towards some certs or at least researching tech that you are thinking would help your system or fill in gaps of your knowledge.

Enjoy Spiceworks, I find it can be a little distracting but rewarding.

Documentation. It can be put off for a while and there’s often more to be done. (always seems to be). Get your system covered.

18 Spice ups
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There are always things that need to be done.

  • Log checking; fix any minor issues (hopeful, no major ones as they’ve been dealt with).
  • Go through DHCP / DNS, check for older stuff that should have been removed.
  • Maybe do some packet analysis so that you have a bench mark for when things get busy.
  • Any old / damaged patch leads - remake the ends
  • Sort out any spare parts
  • Tidy up - there’s always something that needs cleaning
  • Any outstanding jobs; try and get those cleared off.
  • Documentation

When it’s quiet, it’s time to catch up or even get ahead. Minutes spent now might save you hours later.

58 Spice ups
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Just browse Spiceworks community :).

32 Spice ups
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This is actually going to be my first year end/as a sysadmin. So I’m also interested in a good way to end the year and produce the best set up for the next year.

But, some of the things my partner and I are doing are; end of year checks on our documentation, tidy up our server room and it depo, take out the trash, check on and create a quick resolve for our IT share on the network(this is where there is a friendly quick guide before users contact IT directly), Creating a few extra spare machine for the just in case moments, and preparing for our resource management system’s upgrade due in Jan 2016.

2 Spice ups
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Halo

28 Spice ups
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We are upgrading our systems in Jan, guess I could finish off the preparation for that.

8 Spice ups
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That might be a good idea, yeah.

19 Spice ups
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A few more suggestions:

  • Finish setting up that test lab you’ve been wanting.
  • Begin researching new technologies that might be applicable to your organization.
  • Work on upgrading your skills via online training. MSVA is amazing for this!
  • Begin testing new Windows/Windows Server versions.
25 Spice ups
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Spare time? you are lucky. We always have a stack of projects waiting, if nothing new came in for three or four months, we still wouldn’t have to worry about spare time.

those moments when I need a sanity break, I cruse by spiceworks.

13 Spice ups
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If it’s slow and my phone isn’t blowing up (Help desk/System Admin work) then I’ll probably be working on one of the ten side projects I’ve got going at any point in time. Generally, I get tasked with something, or start it on my own, when 2 or 3 “Priority” projects jump in front of it.

So, the stuff I personally want to work on generally takes backseat to the rest, which means at any given time I’ve got a handful of those waiting around to work on. I’m still needing to finish up my User Manual to get shared to the users to hopefully help them with solving their own smaller issues without needing to wait on me.

In a fantasy world where those things don’t exist and I’m legitimately out of stuff to do…I’ll probably be cruising Spiceworks to see what random yet all-to-relateable post there is to read, or doing a bit of studying at my desk for my MCSA. I still feel kind of bad studying for my MCSA. Technically, it would benefit the company when I get it, but if it gets me an offer that causes me to leave, then I feel bad about doing it on company time.

5 Spice ups
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We don’t get a lot of “down” time here… we actually incorporate a little here and there to prevent burnout. Documentation, for me, is part of normal work. I like to keep it up to date (at least my documentation). When I worked nights, by myself before, I’d organize crap, run updates on machines we keep laying around for check outs, or watch training videos (MVA, VMware, stuff like that). Now I have some hosts at work that I get to play with so my free time is setting up VMs and testing out different ideas and see how feasible they would be to incorporate into our environment. But instead of calling it “free time”, I call it R&D.

3 Spice ups
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Take something you did at least twice in the last month and figure out how to Powershell it.

34 Spice ups
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That’s something I don’t get a lot of, but when I do, I study, work on documentation, or just try to figure out new ways to solve old problems.

1 Spice up
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Training, MSVA, pluralsight, powershell. Not that I ever get a chance to look at these before 10pm. I spend all day on help calls, new projects and endless problems with data links and the telcos. Have a new office going live today and the telco still has the order screwed up. Had a firm install date 6 weeks ago and as usual a complete screw up since then …

2 Spice ups
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Go get a cup of coffee/tea, walk around the building/floor and then get back to work by downloading Server 2016.

9 Spice ups
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I’m studying to become a web developer as a possible side gig, so besides SysAdmin activities already listed (which truthfully, are indeed always there) I like to study the free materials on www.codeacademy.com and www.udacity.com . I also admin over our web servers, so learning webdev on company time is acceptable.

5 Spice ups
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A systems admin that’s not busy? Really? I don’t even know where to start.

Are all the system event logs perfect? Have you tested backups? Have you audited user permissions? Have you audited share permissions? Are you reviewing network trace logs? Are you performance testing systems? Are all the server closets wired perfectly? Is everything labeled? Do you have complete inventories of devices? Are all network maps and diagrams up to date?

Those are just starters. That’s just the mechanical part. Do you understand all of the operating systems in use? FULLY (not the “just enough to get to Google” bit)? If so, you can breeze through any certification exam, right?

I don’t know that I’ve ever known an admin of any kind to have spare time.

5 Spice ups
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Because I love programming I often make up projects that require me to program.

For instance I am currently developing a troubleshooting app for the software my company develops. It’s challenging and a perfect learning opportunity. If you want to get into PowerShell or something I’d say look into what you can automate with a script or program. :slight_smile:

3 Spice ups
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Documentation.

Try to fix old nagging problems.

Study

Walk around the offices and flirt with the ladies (probably my favorite, but least successful time filler).

16 Spice ups