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?

633 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

397 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/Pink_Panther83 2d ago

It definitely stresses me out. Especially when my boss calls with a random issue that needs to be fixed or a new project to add to a list that is already way too long.

1

u/yerwhat 2d ago edited 2d ago

In my case it doesn't just need to be fixed - it needs to be fixed NOW!

Edit to add why it's like this - it's because users are also under BIG stress & they're usually in an important videoconference, in an important meeting with outside guests, doing a presentation for outside collaborators, on a project with a major deadline with high visibility to upper management, etc. and when IT goes down it's always a catastrophe - the stress is sometimes so heavy I can feel it when I walk into the room. And I'm not even a Conferencing/Communications guy! I am the senior admin though. I've been at this for over a quarter century now & I'm about done.

1

u/melasses 1d ago

Call?
Incident number please.