Awards from Work

I have a couple of traits that work well in a Unix management job. I’m pretty organized. I like to have and create documentation. I don’t like surprises so I’m very proactive in identifying and resolving problems before they become work stoppages. Because of this, at the departmental 1st Quarter meeting, I received the Technical Stewardship award for the Quarter. I have received a few monthly awards that provide a night on the town or a certificate for a few bucks in the cafeteria but this award is quite a bit higher than that.

One issue I find with awards is that they focus on Heroes in the company. Folks who expend extra effort to fix bad problems or be available for grueling work because of short project timelines. You don’t seem to see many awards for the folks that keep things flowing smoothly. In my case, for being proactive. Working on ways to monitor systems effectively in order to identify potential problems before they cause larger problems including server outages.

I was able to get the text for the nomination. I’ve edited out company information as they search for it on the Internet 🙂

I’d like to nominate Carl Schelin for the Q1 2011 Technical Stewardship award. As a senior systems administrator at [Company], Carl has consistently strived to improve the operational efficiency of the systems he administers. He finds ways to streamline processes and create tools that benefit all of [Department]. He has implemented numerous scripts that have automated cumbersome and time consuming manual processes. This has enabled his team to be more efficient and effective while maintaining an emphasis on quality. Every morning, he diligently combs system logs from over 300 hundred systems for anomalies that could flag potential problems. Carl implemented and continually maintains a Wiki that supports a growing user base. He implemented and maintains a status management tool that has benefited many [Department] teams manage their workload. The end users have embraced this tool and continually request enhancements, which Carl readily accepts and implements. Many of Carl’s hours supporting this tool have been done on his own time. Additionally, Carl has implemented a inventory database that has proven invaluable to his team. These are highlighted examples are just a small sampling of the quality work Carl continually produces. Carl is very deserving of the Q1 2011 Technical Stewardship award and his contributions have been a tremendous contribution to [Department].

Pretty nice birthday present, eh? (Yea, it’s my birthday today too 🙂 )

It also came with a surprise inside… a monetary reward. Rita’s first comment was “you’re going to buy a guitar.” Actually, I’m interested in upgrading my small Fender Bullet Amp (practice) with something a bit more beefier. The Fender is pretty old and the treble/mid-range/bass pots don’t seem to have any effect on the output.