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  • Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂elena@aseachange.com
    Oct 22, 2026, 5:00 PM

    Total honest question to my dear Fedi friends, I need a genuine answer, please do not sugarcoat things. I need Dutch bluntness here!

    So you have been following #MySoCalledSudoLife adventures for almost two years now.

    I'm not sure how to define myself anymore because I'm not an expert at this stuff, but I am no longer a newbie either. Yesterday I updated all my systems using CLI (in tmux)!

    Now, my main point after my long preamble:

    I want to create custom apparel for the next #FOSDEM, as an act of rebellion against the rejection for our proposal of a DEIB room.

    I used to make sweatshirts and t-shirts to promote the visibility of women in film, like: "this is what a film director looks like" or just t-shirts that read "film director". I gifted them to prominent women in film, who LOVED them and wore them on set!

    I'd like to do something similar but for FOSDEM / tech.

    Is it too much to say: "this is what a sysadmin looks like"? Can I call myself a sysadmin, or would you find it sacrilegious?

    Anything else? Like, other suggestions along the lines of "this is what a ----- looks like" or "sysadmin"?

    Thanks! 🙏​

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Replies

  • Shannon Quinn :verified_root:magsol@quinnwitz.house
    Oct 22, 2026, 5:04 PM

    @elena A sysadmin is someone who has done admin on a system. That’s you! 😎

    (I have similar conversations in the running community: a runner is someone who runs. The unspoken part: they’re a runner, regardless of the apparel they wear, the shoes they run in, and most importantly, the pace they run)

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  • Andy Carolanandycarolan@social.lol
    Oct 22, 2026, 5:39 PM

    @elena Have to agree with @magsol This is you "this is what a sysadmin looks like"

    Also with running... I've recently started running, mostly on treadmill at the gym... only 1 or 2km at a time, but it's a lot more than I was doing! While I am doing it, I'm a runner! haha.

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  • Andy Carolanandycarolan@social.lol
    Oct 22, 2026, 6:33 PM

    @elena Can I ask what you did when you reached 5k? I mean, did you keep training to build on that and reach 10k for example? @magsol

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  • lieventhisislieven@c.im
    Oct 22, 2026, 5:20 PM

    @elena Talk about gender stereotypes...

    There are plenty of dudes who'd barely qualify and happily slap it on a t-shirt. Here you are, a woman, very clearly qualified and yet you aren't sure...

    You earned the t-shirt. 😀

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  • lieventhisislieven@c.im
    Oct 22, 2026, 6:37 PM

    @elena I'd be happy to take a stab at a design again for you if you want, which to be clear is not saying I question your own skill just that I'm happy to help.

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  • Agnieszka R. Turczyńskaagturcz@circumstances.run
    Oct 22, 2026, 5:22 PM

    @elena Go on. If you need an official blessing by a (former) sysadmin, here it is.

    In recognition of merit, hereby I anoint you as a sysadmin.

    Congratulations, shaking hands, hugs. Good luck 💜

    PS. Squeee 🥰

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  • AdiConadicon@mastodon.uno
    Oct 22, 2026, 7:03 PM

    @elena Hi Elena, sometimes, somewhere, I read this definition of sysadmin and I made a t-shirt just for me, I like to wear.

    I'm a sysadmin. I solve problems you don't know to have in ways you can't understand.
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  • Tweak7749tweak7749@hachyderm.io
    Oct 22, 2026, 7:47 PM

    @elena I know XKCD is considered a reliable source of information nowadays. Especially after the whole private key fiasco earlier this week. But I can assure you XKCD 705 puts the bar way too high.

    A bit more serious: I've formally studied software development. And I have never used tmux. So think you're a more capable sysadmin than I.

    XKCD 221
    XKCD 705
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  • Stanley Jonesstanley@heretic.social
    Oct 22, 2026, 7:49 PM

    @elena Something about this thread is making me tear up... The juxtaposition of you wanting to do something so women and other folks can see themselves in this community but then your hesitance around using "sysadmin" for yourself, suggesting maybe you don't 100% see *yourself* as having a place here? And then the comments all saying that absolutely you are a sysadmin. Its fucking beautiful.

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  • Elena Rossini on GoToSocial ⁂elena@aseachange.com
    Oct 23, 2026, 2:24 PM

    @stanley awww I know, right? 😭​🥰​

    Yesterday I remembered that last year, when I was trying to install Ghost via CLI, I had spotted a bug in the official documentation and reported it to John, the CEO, who thanked me for it... so yes, even if I know very little, maybe I should not doubt calling myself a sysadmin 😅​

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  • Franz Grafhikingdude@mastodon.social
    Oct 22, 2026, 8:06 PM

    @elena hm. is there a deeper message you want to send? To me, you're not JUST a Sysadmin. This hides the whole selfhosting-topic somehow. Not meaning that better than the other.
    But .. hm not sure how I'd call it. but do you know what I mean?

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  • Terence EdenEdent@mastodon.social
    Oct 22, 2026, 8:12 PM

    @elena You're administering a system, that sounds like a Sysadmin to me.
    You ever broken something in production? You're *absolutely* a sysadmin!
    I'd happily help you distribute - or set up a rogue room if you'd like.

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  • A Sysadmin for HireNotYourSysadmin@infosec.exchange
    Oct 22, 2026, 8:13 PM

    @elena 100% agreed with the other commenters here. You're a sysadmin because you've administered systems. The Computer Touching world is full enough of gatekeeping as it is. We could all stand to be a bit more welcoming and accepting. Congrats on the new title!

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  • Jellejelle
    Oct 22, 2026, 8:14 PM

    @elena from my Dutch upbringing it was always "if you can't say it sing it". But reading your message multi modality seems to be something you nailed down.

    My blunt Dutch approach would be to preach to as many people willing to listen as possible, and go/learn from there. But to be frank I'm not sure it is a hammer and nail problem.

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  • the esoteric programmeresoteric_programmer@social.stealthy.club
    Oct 23, 2026, 7:16 AM

    @elena what do you mean you can't call yourself a sysadmin? the moment you touched a terminal, remotely over ssh or something else, to update or configure something, the vale of ignorance has been lifted, and now you're a sysadmin! The bad part of this deal is, of course, that you can't put the vale of ignorance back on or shut pandora's box, so yeah, be ware of cursed knowledge and its consequences.

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  • Big Belgian Bopper 🔻🐸bigbelgianbopper@mastodon-belgium.be
    Oct 23, 2026, 9:04 AM

    @elena You are running a system. You are maintaining a system. You administer care to that system. I think you can call you a system administrator. As with everything, you do have levels. The only con would be that you don’t do this as a (paid) job. But that is for me ‘syntactic sugar’ :D
    But what you are most of all to this community is a ‘face’ that knows how to make noise. And shows/fights for what the O is FOSS should really stand for!

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  • Samuelsamuel@social.spejset.org
    Oct 23, 2026, 9:30 AM

    @elena my initial thoughts when I here someone calling themselves a sysadmin is that they do system administration as their day job. One could of course be a sysadmin on one's spare time.

    If one feels like they don't know enough (because they don't have sysadmin as their dayjob), one could maybe say "I'm a self hoster".

    But a self-hoster or "hobby sysadmin" might know more about sysadmin stuff than one who works as a sysadmin.

    Just rambling here. I think you could call yourself a sysadmin.

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  • h3artbl33d :openbsd: :antifa:h3artbl33d@exquisite.social
    Oct 23, 2026, 9:43 AM

    @elena

    You are a sysadmin - whether you like it or not :flan_XD: It is not a sacrilegious title at all. Whereas I am a "professional sysadmin" (in the sense that I get paid for it at $dayjob) - I like cute shirts like this Cosplaying as a Sysadmin one.

    Advice from a Dutchie, if someone looks at your apparel or makes a remark, say "heb ik iets van je aan ofzo?"

    Quite literally translated: "am I wearing something that is yours" - it is often said as a joke and remark that they should mind their own business.

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  • bubble jet colorbjc@tines.spork.org
    Oct 23, 2026, 10:45 AM

    @h3artbl33d @elena back in the mid 90s, not long after trainspotting came out, i was working as a sysadmin of a very large isp, and a bunch of us got "choose sysadmin" shirts as a riff on the "choose life" bit of that movie.

    anyway, i was out at an atm getting some cash, when a middle-aged woman saw the shirt and approached me to offer me a job.

    i was obviously looking pretty taken aback, because she followed that up with a quizzical look and said, "what? haven't you ever been approached before?"

    no, no i hadn't. and not since, for that matter (not for a job anyway), but this has always stuck with me.

    there's no moral here, it was just weird and i wanted to share.

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  • ozonedozoned@btfree.social
    Oct 23, 2026, 3:53 PM

    @elena@aseachange.com You administer your systems. You're a sysadmin. There's never a good answer to this. Do you have the same skills as a sysadmin that's been running for 20 years? Nope. Do you have the same or more skills as a sysadmin that's been doing the job for as long as you? Probably. Someone will always know something you don't. You always have something to learn. But we say wear the clothes for the job you want, not the one you have. Calling yourself a sysadmin, same thing imo.

    sysadmins roll their eyes at the "home" 127.0.01 kind of jokes, but we all love them. So I was thinking something like

    I run my socials from 127.0.0.1

    Open Socials Run From 127.0.0.1

    Own Your Social

    or something like that?

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