By: Rick Vanover, Senior Director of Product Strategy at Veeam
SysAdmin Day is Friday, July 29, and celebrations recognising this ‘holiday’ are becoming more popular. A tweet from nine years ago confirms the importance and celebration when a user restored a file and an end-user brought them a cake — true story! René Bos on Twitter: “Received a pie for restoring files in no-time for a colleague using #Veeam B&R! Get your piece now!
In all seriousness, SysAdmin Day has evolved alongside our technology journeys. Users will be users, and they need various levels of help to get things done. In recent years, the SysAdmin role has incorporated new offerings like the cloud, software-as-a-service and new application types such as Kubernetes. But at the same time, there are emerging threats, such as ransomware. The SysAdmin is a critical part of all of this, from application architects and developers to cybersecurity teams to manage critical response. SysAdmins are crucial players in the upkeep, configuration and operation of these systems, aligning user needs with company performance, budget, resources, and security. Amid rapid and continuous change, proliferating cyberattacks and rampant innovation, what will the future of the SysAdmin role look like? Some believe modern technology, like the cloud, means SysAdmins are a part of the legacy system – irrelevant, obsolete, and a potential liability to system performance.
I personally think the future is bright. Many SysAdmins are evolving to pivot from hardware to services delivery and software, increasing opportunities for collaboration and merging with advanced tech tools for a different, elevated way of getting things done (think a shift from on-premises to cloud for service delivery). SysAdmins have an opportunity to lead the way of digital transformation by helping organisations save time and money, be more efficient, and most of all, be resilient against the many threats against technology today.
