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sysadmin day

Hey SysAdmin Superstars!

It’s that special time of year again—SysAdmin Day! It’s all about celebrating YOU, the tech wizards who keep the digital gears running smoothly around the clock. From fending off disasters to locking down IT environments, your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. Those long nights and weekends pouring over server maintenance? We see you and your steadfast dedication.

This year, Scale Computing is rolling out the red carpet. Join us for a fun-filled SysAdmin Day with our exclusive Spiceworks sweepstakes (plus some extra goodies just for you!).

PRIZES

To say thanks for your tireless effort, we’re handing out YETI Crossroads 22 L Backpacks to three lucky winners. :school_satchel:

HOW TO ENTER

Here’s how to throw your hat in the ring (easy-peasy):

Just reply below and answer: “What technology crossroad was a total game-changer in your life?”

Could it be the day you switched from flip-phone to smartphone or when emails replaced fax machines? What was the tech game-changer for you?

You’ve earned it, after all. :wink:

Ready to join the fun? This is for US, CA, UK & Germany Spiceworks community members only—ending on August 8, 2024. Terms & Conditions attached

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

But wait, we’ve got even more in store for you:

Just like SysAdmins, the Scale Computing Platform is all about versatility, innovation, and stellar performance. Designed for hassle-free management, it’s here to reduce your workload and downtime.

Dive into the world of intelligent infrastructure with a quick meet-up for a personalized quote. And guess what? You’ll bag a Yeti Crossroads 22L Backpack ($200 value) just for doing so. Yes, you read it right. A guaranteed backpack just for you.

With Scale Computing and this cool backpack, you’re all set for whatever adventures come your way, whether in the office or out in the wild.

Scale Computing SysAdmin Day Sweepstakes - 07_01_2024 - OLI-361994.docx.pdf (81.2 KB)

UPDATE!

Thank you all for participating! We’re happy to announce the three winners: @cneilbrooks @jeremy5515 and @TCamilli1!

A Spiceworks representative will be reaching out shortly to help facilitate prize distributions in a few.

Thanks again!

34 Spice ups
2

What technology crossroad was a total game-changer in your life?”
For me personally, the ability to work from home was a game-changer in my life. I was able to move and not lose my job. I start super early, but day is over early.

9 Spice ups
3

So many have made a big difference. The one that was the most instant significance would have to be a quality SPAM filter. We were a little late in deploying something and I had a significant drop. Something on the order of 100+ down to 20ish getting thru.

4 Spice ups
4

I second that, working from home has been an absolute dream. Wasn’t able to mid pandemic, was a front line worker.

5 Spice ups
5

Server Virtualization. Gone are the days of 10s of physical boxes taking up space, chugging electricity, going from having to be physically at a box to manage it to being able to everything from a single, remote terminal. Huge gamechanger, IMHO.

10 Spice ups
6

Quality of life wise? Work from home. One of the main things that enabled it however was high speed internet. If you didn’t live in the dialup era, and I mean EARLY dialup era, you really have no idea what even having 1Mb internet is like, let alone 100Mb or Gigabit.

7 Spice ups
7

What technology crossroad was a total game-changer in your life?

For me it was my first laptop computer. Some Dell Inspiron E series. The ability to pick up your machine and move to a different room or someone’s desk to ask for help or show off something you made was a huge deal. Also not having to fight over the PC in the basement with my siblings was oh so nice.

4 Spice ups
8

I’d say it was when we switched from a PBX phone system to VOIP.

2 Spice ups
9

What technology crossroad was a total game-changer in your life?

It wasn’t fax machines, as in the medical field they have not gone away. It was carrying around the internet in my pocket - smart phone. The availability of music, games, texting, but is also bad at work too.

2 Spice ups
10

Actually usable digital ink when the Tablet PC came out. As an educator, it enabled things that had simply been impossible before, such as:
–mixing text and ink (sketches, highlights, etc.) in a single document,
–being able to receive AND grade student work electronically as efficiently as I could paper since I could comment directly on the document itself,
–OneNote class notebooks, which allowed for unprecedented interactions with and among my classes,
–and other benefits too numerous to mention.

Personally, it lets me do almost everything I have ever wanted on my computer, which I use not just for work, but for personal planning and documentation.

About the only downside for me was that the Franklin-Covey planner system–a no brainer for such a platform–never got a viable implementation for it.

2 Spice ups
11

I was going to say the day I got my first cell phone in the early 90’s, but then I read this:

I’ve used a 300 baud modem. It was the coolest thing ever. The first modem I owned was a 9600 baud which was quickly replaced with a 14.4. However, me and 7-10 other geeks had a T1 installed in the non-fraternal frat house we lived in in the late 90’s (we weren’t a frat, but it was a 6 bedroom house 1 block from the college. Most people who slept there were enrolled in college and some of them even paid rent. Parties every night. It was essentially Animal House or maybe just a flop house for nerds.) Napster was good to us. Anyway, I can’t tell you how cool it was to have 1.5mbps internet in the late 90’s. Of course, it was more than the rent on the house, but we never had problems collecting money for the internet bill.

2 Spice ups
12

I did note that the rules document says that we are supposed to answer the question, “What is your favorite all-time Halloween candy or treat.” Do you want an answer to that one as well? :laughing:

3 Spice ups
13

“What technology crossroad was a total game-changer in your life?”
Tech wise - Virtualization
Personal Wise - Switching to the Sec Ops team

2 Spice ups
14

Definitely high speed Internet

3 Spice ups
15

Cloud computing to allow remote work. We already had the ability to do this pre-pandemic, but March 2020 forced us to test this and it went off seamlessly.

2 Spice ups
16

Personally - the iPod touch. I used it like a smart phone, only with out the phone part and the cell service. Connect to Wi-Fi and I had the internet in my pocket–in addition to all of my music. I loved that thing!

Work-wise - Microsoft 365. The pandemic forced us to remote work, and we’ve stayed that way. Microsoft 365 made that possible. And increased my work load! It was much simpler having zero data in the cloud! :rofl:

2 Spice ups
17

VOIP changed everything for us. Not having to create & manage a second wired network of phones, dealing with propriety PBX units costing thousands of dollars days are gone! HUGE!

2 Spice ups
18
  • What technology crossroad was a total game-changer in your life?
    I would have to say Wi-Fi. That changed everything not being tethered by an ethernet leash. Smart phones/tablets were and are a huge deal still. It wouldn’t be possible without Wi-Fi though. I guess that logic could track all the way back to resistors or capacitors, but I think you get my point.
3 Spice ups
19

56k to DSL upgrade was huge for a company I worked for in the 90’s. Otherwise, I’d have to go with Video Conferencing software (Teams, Zoom, Etc.) to no longer have to go sit in meeting rooms. Much more convenient.

4 Spice ups
20

Web-based admin consoles. If I ever need to do some quick tasks and I’m away from my laptop, I can just pull out my phone or iPad or jump on any random computer (ok maybe not any random computer, the security team might not like that). Also makes switching to a new machine quicker, with barely anything to install.

4 Spice ups