IT’s Adult All-Nighters

What is it about us, in the IT industry, that makes us keep late hours and routinely burn the midnight oil?

Are we just determined… engrossed in the technology… mesmerized by the project… or under the gun from the boss? I guess we all have our reasons.

I’ve spent the past several weeks now on various little projects here and there- both personal and for customers. Several nights I spent with a firewall… still more on a network access solution… another few reading a book (on wireless). I even stayed up one night just watching Family Guy while I searched through a CLI command reference guide. (I know, it’s a wild life…).  (Sidenote: This is part of the reason I’ve been MIA and been just generally a really bad blogger for a few weeks.)

But a couple of nights were spent on site at a customer- one for a full wired cutover, and another for the wireless cutover.

Yes, at around 4:00am one night… er- morning… I was climbing on ladders and taking down some *i**o access points (consonants eliminated to preserve anonymity). And on one occasion, fatigue definitely got the best of me and I found myself having to re-type commands and fix IP addresses a few times.

But overall, I have to say it was a great experience, mostly because the customer we were dealing with has a great CIO, a wonderful network admin and an amazing team of guys and gals that hung right in there with us. They were an absolute pleasure to work with, and it sure made pulling an all-nighter tolerable. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it was FUN.

Unfortunately, we don’t usually get to dictate the circumstances of our IT all-nighters, and too often they’re the result of someone’s misfortune.

So, here’s to all of us in the security field and our all-to-common night owl habits. I hope your next one (and mine) will be as pleasant as my most recent encounters. And remember- misery loves company… drag a few folks with you and have your own crazy IT All-Nighter Pajama Party.

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