Yeah, way cool useful skills, like making computers out of pizza boxes.

@scottalanmiller said:

And, we can defend businesses doing that all that we want, but at the end of the day we have only a single job: to do this better than a business could do without us (hopefully by a margin large enough to justify our cost.)

It's not about defending the poor decisions that businesses make. I'm very much not in their defense. Most people who start a small business (I would assume 90% of QB's market) are good at what they do... or at least the 10% of anything/anyone that are actually good at what they do. Those who are good at whatever it is that they do, and venture off on their own enterprise, probably have a hard time delegating the responsibility for something as critical/foundational as the tool to be used to handle their business finances. if they have an "IT dept.", that person(s) probably doesn't have much say in the decision. In most cases, they may be able to have an opinion, and in that case, they would be wise to advise against QB in favor of one of the other mentioned options. If, God-forbid, the owner elects to use QB, it's a bad decision. They probably aren't informed enough to make a good decision, and QB is a well-marketed name. I'm not saying that it excuses them, but most people aren't that diligent in every detail. It doesn't make them bad people or inept business owners. It makes them normal human beings. If their business eventually fails, it is highly likely that the single decision to use QB was not the stake through the heart of the venture.

Weirdo.

As much as I often don't see eye-to-eye with Scott on many issues (but certainly not all of the time!), I think this discussion was quite useful. It may not have been very flattering to the original post, but it did beg some questions to be asked. And I think the real issue is the lack of, well, honesty and consideration that goes into many job titles, when the actual job is described. Not a personal issue, but an industry-wide deficiency.

@scottalanmiller said:

@art_of_shred said:

Are they sealed? SCORE!

Seriously! Hopefully it isn't Sanka.

I forgot that crap still exists in parts of the world. Ever have Nescafe overseas? Gives new meaning to "bad coffee".

I think most well-read ML-goers are aware that NTG is sitting on a nice, shiny, new Scale 3-node HC3 cluster. We're trying to get it rolled out, so that we can play and post and do all sorts of fun stuff, but we've hit a bit of a snag that's thrown a wrench into our progress. Our cluster arrived equipped with a pair of Dell X-4012 switches. They're 12-port, all 10Gig-E, managed switches. Their purpose is to function as redundant backplane switches. Our LAN switch in the lab is a Ubiquiti EdgeMax Lite 48-port managed switch. It has only 2- 10Gig-E (SFP+) ports on it, so we're in a bind with having 3 nodes to connect. The simple solution was to give up the redundant backplane switch in favor of having 1 Dell for the backplane network and 1 Dell for the LAN-side connections, and then uplink the LAN Dell switch to a 10Gig-E port on the Ubiquiti. Well, that yields no link lights on the connection. I've Googled with basically no success, and no matter how I configure things, I just can't get the Dells to talk with the Ubiquiti. I saw something about connecting the 10Gig to a 1Gig port, and that didn't make any sense (and also did nothing when I tried it,out of desperation). Anyone with any more experience than myself with fiber, and especially some more insight with regards to switch compatibility over fiber connections,... fire away!

I hope the post/thread stays put, but I respect @IRJ 's prerogative to pull it if he sees fit to do so. Even if everyone here seems to have pointed out its perceived weaknesses, I think the discussion is valid and constructive.

@coliver moisture from the air condenses in the tank, under pressure, and over time it pools in the bottom. That's the reason air tanks have drains. You should occasionally turn it off, blow off as much pressure as possible, and then open the valve to drain out the nasty, rusty water. If you leave any pressure in the tank, you'll get an unpleasant surprise upon opening the drain valve.

Site-to-site = 2 locations connected to create a single network
Types of "site-to-site" networks:

• MPLS: the ISP provides a priority route between the 2 sites
• VPN: tunneling protocol over the standard internet connection to give a private link between the 2 sites
• Physical direct connection: an isolated cable/fiber connection actually runs from site 1 to site 2, linking the 2 sites as one local network

@thwr said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:

@Dashrender said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:

@david.wiese said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:

The question that should be asked is does the dedication to the IT industry mean you should sacrifice your hobbies?

A better question, if IT isn't your hobby, should you have a different job? One that more closely matches you true likes and desires.

Would you ask a car mechanic the same who doesn't want to fix cars in his free time?

Most mechanics I know also have their own fun cars they work on as a hobby.

Nice thought, but it didn't help.

"In my job role I am very often called upon to determine how many “processors” a machine has or how many we will need for a specific task."

That was a great, very detailed, explanation of the what, but I'm actually rather interested in the method of determining how many are needed for specific tasks. Another article, possibly?

Hey, look at that...

• Demonstrate attempts at independent continuing education (certifications, home network, etc.)

"Art's Encyclopaedia to Putting Up with Morons"

That's a great explanation. As one who has become familiar with Linux out of experience rather than education, I knew more of the "what's" than "why's". This was helpful in filling in some knowledge gaps.

I've been told to expect about 10x last year's bonus. What's 10x nuthin' again?

I better keep my replies short. There's no room on this thread for comments. You used all the space already.

For some reason, I really like games like "Railroad Tycoon" where you feel like there is some deep strategy because of all the variables that you're trying to figure out to do it best. Of course, in the end, after you've wasted numerous hours playing the scenarios and whatnot, you realize that the AI is obviously not that detailed and it's all just fluff that fooled you into wasting your entire day on it.

Instead of ping, try a traceroute to the server. See what it hits, where it stops, etc.

Going to a Toys for Tots benefit tonight where I will raise money for kids by playing very loud renditions of Rage Against The Machine, Godsmack, and Metallica tunes, among others, to a crowd of drunken adults. And it's a benefit, so I don't get paid... but we might make it in the news. Yee ha.