TL; DR TAKE SOFT SKILL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.

I am coming to the realization that the stereotype of system admins/IT being VERY people unfriendly and that they just can’t talk/explain anything = true. Kind of infuriating to see this in the real world. We basically just tell people they can’t do something, something is broke, or we are going to change something, all with no explanation. I just want sysadmins to take my old course of Business Information Services, one of the basics we went over was explaining IT stuff to non-IT people. Also, EMAIL ETIQUETTE.

Seriously, responding to a request for access to a server because they need to do something, you don’t respond with “no” (seen it twice today). Who the heck does that? Why can’t you just say:

Billy Bob,

I understand you need access to SERVER1DONTTOUCH, but that server is reserved for Human Resources. What process did you need to run, and how can I help you out with that? Sorry for the inconvenience.

John Smith

That really doesn’t take more than a few seconds. If you’re really lazy, copy paste a chunk of it. Set a template. It is seriously worth the extra 30 seconds to write a professional email explaining something.

Anyways, just try your best to be professional, answer questions, and just not be a jerk.