6. A Salute to Ops People

Whether in security operations, infrastructure-, network- operations, SRE, etc., there is a certain attitude. We take the weight of the world on our shoulders keeping things running, and may even with some justification feel we care more about the systems we care for than the solution teams. We feel it in our bones.

It takes a particular personality. We work during vacation periods. We check our mail and chat channels out of regular hours. Not (just) because our boss asks us to, but because it is an integral part of what we do and who we are. You may say, that's not healthy. But we worry regardless, and feel more comfortable after checking that everything is good.

I was reminded of this when I saw this LinkedIn Post by laid-off Google SRE who despite being laid off, made sure that he handed over his oncall duties properly, in the process going over and above what could be expected. I could completely relate and left a comment of praise.

Only then did I see the comments. There were others like mine that recognized what he did. But also a lot of comments why do that for a company that has just laid you off? Let it burn...

I get the sentiment. I understand. I have been restructured before and it is not a pleasant experience.

But I am also quite sure in his position I would have done the same. We deal with bad stuff on a regular basis and work through it, and ensure proper hand-off. It's what we do.

A salute, therefore, to my brothers and sisters in ops – currently employed or not. o7

cloud security posts without corporate approval @jaythvv@infosec.exchange