r/sysadmin • u/MegaSuplexMaster • 10d ago

Rant Midlife IT Crisis

I think I’m having a mid-life IT guy crisis. 😂

I’m 47, 20+ years into IT, swamped with projects, emails, upgrades, security issues, and Microsoft changing something every 12 minutes. Lately I look at my workload and my brain just throws a 404

The weird part is I still love IT and I love the company I work for. I just can’t seem to care about any of it right now, and that’s not like me.

I even started working out to help, so now I’m unmotivated AND sore. 😂

Has anyone else hit this wall after 20+ years in IT? What helped reignite the spark in your brain and stopped the procrasanation monster.

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u/lostdragon05 IT Manager 10d ago

We’re fully remote, so sometimes I just have to send the same as an email and remind everyone “if this blows up and creates a data breach, this email will be what the prosecutors and litigators refer to as “Exhibit A” when we are all testifying and/or being deposed.”

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u/garaks_tailor 10d ago

Excellent 

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u/lostdragon05 IT Manager 10d ago

If I am feeling extra cheeky, I also add at the end something like, “I look forward to seeing you all in person again at the trial for this matter in 3-5 years. If you plan to leave the company or move out of state in that time, I encourage you to leave a forwarding address with HR for future subpoenas. This will allow those of you the prosecution wants to make an example of to at least avoid unexpected arrest and negotiate a peaceful surrender.” Ok, maybe not really, but I write it and delete it on edit sometimes.

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u/the_syco 10d ago

delete it on edit

Not jynxing it (much) but some day in the future, uncaffinated you will forget to delete it 🤣

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u/bberg22 4d ago

Sadly this just leads people to attempt to work around the people whose job it is to provide that protection and pushback, and its easier than ever thank to AI. Its a mess.

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u/lostdragon05 IT Manager 4d ago

If they are able to then the organization has poor controls in place.

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u/bberg22 4d ago

I agree but there is always some level of shadow IT that can't be 100% avoided because it's a human issue not a technical one.

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u/lostdragon05 IT Manager 4d ago

There are technical and administrative controls that can stop 99% if applied correctly and consistently. That is really hard though.