My talk at this year’s MacSysAdmin was released this morning, and it concludes a three-talk series on viewing IT through the lens of popular culture. What began with Chidi, Ted and Jules at PSU in 2021, and continued with User Trust & IT Codes of Ethics concludes today with All At Once.

Mac Admins have been through a lot the last few years: whether it’s the removal of their favored scripting language from the operating system, to the meat grinder of an annual cycle for testing new versions, to an increased cadence of zero-day vulnerabilities, all while “doing more with less” to meet budgetary requirements. Some level of frustration and irritation with the situation is absolutely warranted.

This talk is about the choices that we have around these moments of stress, and how to balance them against the needs of our colleagues and friends.

Normally, I’d post the slides, but for this talk they make less sense than usual, if only due to the absurdist nature of the metaphor. There is no question that things have become absurd out there, and embracing what you’re capable of as a Mac Admin, and using those skills for empathy and understanding, indeed, for community, is what makes what we do more palatable and more possible.

I hope to see many of you in person at next year’s MacSysAdmin in Gothenburg, or at Penn State, recently announced to be in July of 2023, or at any of the other incredible Mac Admin conferences. Truly, in seeing each other, in the communion of the fellowship of Mac Admins, do we recognize what we all do for each other.

Thank you Patrik, for the opportunity, to talk about this important, albeit non-technical, subject.