Ask HN: First job in IT, what best practices should I get in to? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: First job in IT, what best practices should I get in to?

#11

Post by Serow225 » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 12:32 PM UTC

jdsfighter wrote: post #4

Serow225 wrote: post #2

Sounds like you're off to a good start! :) Getting everything backed up soon is important; if things were implemented marginally, you don't know how long it will run before something crashes or hardware dies. Without a backup, you could then be in a rough spot... Also make sure that you test out the recovery from backup. I think documenting as you go is a great step, and is an easy way to generate a regular status re…

Luckily I've used the backups to setup my testing environment so I know they're good! Can you recommend anything else I should start doing? Development journals? Version control system?

Are the servers on any sort of UPS to enable graceful shutdown if power goes out?

Re: Ask HN: First job in IT, what best practices should I get in to?

#12

Post by jdsfighter » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 1:35 PM UTC

Serow225 wrote: post #10

jdsfighter wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily I've used the backups to setup my testing environment so I know they're good! Can you recommend anything else I should start doing? Development journals? Version control system?

Another thing I just thought of is a health monitoring suite for your servers/network. Also starting to move towards virtualized servers makes dealing with both failed hardware and testing/rollout/rollback easier.

They are very set in their ways when it comes to their severs, they wont even implement Active Domain services... So virtualization may be out of the question for now.

Re: Ask HN: First job in IT, what best practices should I get in to?

#13

Post by jdsfighter » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 1:36 PM UTC

Serow225 wrote: post #11

jdsfighter wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily I've used the backups to setup my testing environment so I know they're good! Can you recommend anything else I should start doing? Development journals? Version control system?

Are the servers on any sort of UPS to enable graceful shutdown if power goes out?

Yes, the company I work for is an electrical contracting company, and specifically the branch that I'm working for is based inside a massive data center. So power wise, everything is golden.

Re: Ask HN: First job in IT, what best practices should I get in to?

#14

Post by jdsfighter » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 1:37 PM UTC

Serow225 wrote: post #9

jdsfighter wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Luckily I've used the backups to setup my testing environment so I know they're good! Can you recommend anything else I should start doing? Development journals? Version control system?

Definitely set up revision control ASAP.

Any recommendations on the best, I have minor experience with SVN, and I've only used GIT for github related stuff. Everything here is windows based, everything. So I was even considering going with TFS, but I also have been thinking about using git out of its simplicity and robustness. Especially since I may be working from multiple computers.

Re: Ask HN: First job in IT, what best practices should I get in to?

#15

Post by strick » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 1:43 PM UTC

One best practice is to RESPECT the people who built the systems that are already in place. Think about it, they were able to achieve so much financial success that they were able to hire the best and brightest: YOU

So, respectfully implement the obvious stuff like version control, backups, etc and leave all of the 'can you believe how crappy this is' attitude at home. I'm extrapolating a bit from your 'horrendously designed' and 'zero knowledge' comments. Those people probably still work there, or are thought of fondly by the people who remain!

Re: Ask HN: First job in IT, what best practices should I get in to?

#16

Post by Serow225 » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 3:49 PM UTC

jdsfighter wrote: post #14

Serow225 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely set up revision control ASAP.

Any recommendations on the best, I have minor experience with SVN, and I've only used GIT for github related stuff. Everything here is windows based, everything. So I was even considering going with TFS, but I also have been thinking about using git out of its simplicity and robustness. Especially since I may be working from multiple computers.

Well the term 'best' is touchy, but for your use case I'd suggest trying SVN using something like VisualSVN Server and TortoiseSVN for the client(s). Simple to set up, understand and use.

Re: Ask HN: First job in IT, what best practices should I get in to?

#17

Post by jdsfighter » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 4:54 PM UTC

strick wrote: post #15

One best practice is to RESPECT the people who built the systems that are already in place. Think about it, they were able to achieve so much financial success that they were able to hire the best and brightest: YOU So, respectfully implement the obvious stuff like version control, backups, etc and leave all of the 'can you believe how crappy this is' attitude at home. I'm extrapolating a bit from your 'horrendously…

Actually, the developer that designed the system was laid off over two years ago, and the database has since been maintained by one of the other managers at the location. Everyone at the company has stated how he was a hard worker, but didn't know the first thing about database design, and while he worked as best as he could with the knowledge he had, he still left them with a rather terrible setup.

I don't really blame him, it's as if I asked a chef to design me a rocket ship, it was simply something he didn't know, and instead relied on information gathered through quick google searches and tinkering.

Re: Ask HN: First job in IT, what best practices should I get in to?

#18

Post by strick » Thu, Apr 03, 2014, 5:42 PM UTC

jdsfighter wrote: post #17

strick wrote: post #15

One best practice is to RESPECT the people who built the systems that are already in place. Think about it, they were able to achieve so much financial success that they were able to hire the best and brightest: YOU So, respectfully implement the obvious stuff like version control, backups, etc and leave all of the 'can you believe how crappy this is' attitude at home. I'm extrapolating a bit from your 'horrendously…

Actually, the developer that designed the system was laid off over two years ago, and the database has since been maintained by one of the other managers at the location. Everyone at the company has stated how he was a hard worker, but didn't know the first thing about database design, and while he worked as best as he could with the knowledge he had, he still left them with a rather terrible setup. I don't really bl…

OK. But still don't throw that former employee under the bus. Your attitude should always remain 'there is room for improvement' and not 'this sucks'.

One thing to keep in mind is that technology at almost every company you will ever work for will be held together with some combination of duct tape and bailing wire. I have seen tables with no normalization whatsoever that support tens of millions of dollars of revenue. They key factor with IT is that it needs to work. And since these things tend to grow organically, almost none of them are optimized.