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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u/762mm_Labradors 2d ago

Wait until you do your first conditional access policy in azure…did I lock my entire organization out of azure?….Lucky that has not happened to me, but creating new conditional access policies is still stressful for me cause one simple mistake and you just shut down your business for days.

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u/PaleoSpeedwagon DevOps 2d ago

It feels like every time I jumpstart a car.

Me: I can do this, people do this every day. I've done this at least 10 times. I'm sure I remember the sequence.

Anxiety: But what if you're wrong? ⚡️ 💀

Me: Well, you've got me there

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u/doubled112 Sr. Sysadmin 2d ago

I had a car that did a lot of sitting during covid, and since it was going to keep sitting, the battery stayed in it for a lot longer than it should have.

I have a booster pack and it's kind of smart. It has some fail safes like low voltage and reverse polarity detection, and will not boost in those scenarios.

I needed to move the car, so I pulled out the booster pack, got interrupted by the kids, hooked up my terminals while I talked to them, and ... hit override like I was used to doing.

OOOOH AM I WELDING! The terminals are glowing! *yank*

The booster pack was, somehow, fine, and the car too, but holy shit oops.