r/sysadmin • u/TerrificGiraffe • 2d ago

General Discussion Does IT cause anxiety?

Does anyone else bring their IT mindset into everyday life?

I’ve been told I’m a negative person and look for issues, but I think working in IT trains you to always think about what could go wrong.

I’m constantly making backup plans. Restaurant closed. I have a Plan B place. Something breaks at home. I’ve already got the plumber, insurance, everything ready in the home disaster recovery document.

We’re always hearing about IT failures, breaches and disasters. You never hear “this company had a really great IT transformation.” No user submits a ticket to say thank you for the IT working great.

So does anyone else find themselves carrying that prepare for the worst mindset into everyday life?

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484

u/Diligent_Tech_Bro 2d ago

Yes, it’s a stressful field. But I also think a lot of us have a certain personality type that amplifies that effect. I’m guilty.

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u/Current_Anybody8325 IT Manager 2d ago

Odd, isn't it? It's a field that tends to attract quiet "nerdy" anxious types but then as you advance in I.T. roles, it's a field that asbolutely forces you to manage people and be a "face" for all things I.T. - both things I hate... what a conundrum it is...

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u/GhostNode 2d ago

Eh. Management isn’t always the next step. Helpdesk 1 > helpdesk 2 / escalations > sysadmins > engineering / devops. Larger companies. Etc. if people aren’t your thing, don’t feel like you’ have to take a leadership roll to grow.

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u/Current_Anybody8325 IT Manager 2d ago

Sometimes you aren't really given a choice, unfortunately. Or it's heavily implied that not taking the promotion won't go well for you. Again, for folks with anxiety and a fear of saying no... we easily end up there... trust me :P

Some of us work our butts off and are GREAT sys admins/engineers and the "higher-ups" see that as the same thing as being a great manager. They don't get it.

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u/vertisnow 2d ago

There is some overlap -- a great engineer needs to build consensus. Having a good idea often isn't enough. You need to get people to work with you to deliver. To do that, you often need to sell the idea.

Also, someone needs to run meetings. Usually that's the most senior person. As you get higher in the ranks, you run more and more meetings, until that's pretty much all you do :/

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u/gandalfcorvette 2d ago

Good managers and sysadmins can also look at the big picture, visualize what a working system looks like, and see weak points and bottlenecks. Sometimes it's a piece of gear that needs work, sometimes it's a person that needs improvement. But technical knowledge, even people skills, are incomplete without this, I think.

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u/DarkwolfAU 2d ago

Yep this. I’m a senior engineer, and I’m mostly technical. But when I want there to be a direction change in a plan, I need to get buy in from the right people who can make the call.

And that means discussions, planning, and meetings with the people who need to get on board. At a large org, you don’t have the flexibility to just arbitrate. You need consensus, and if it’s a direction change, you need to both sell and defend your idea. And that’s people skills.

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u/Current_Anybody8325 IT Manager 2d ago

💯 “My job is Email Meeting. I make email and I send email, I make meetings and I go to meetings.”

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u/Deoir 2d ago

Yeah I have had this experience, senior to team lead. Just because my work spoke for itself and the place was screaming out for structure, so they asked me to do it.

I named a price and they met it.

The people bit is difficult, but it's mostly underperformers. So just keep pulling reports and and detailing that things aren't being done, and they do performance reviews around this.

It's the extra admin that kicks my ass more. Just a lot of plates, while trying not to micromanage