The sysadmin that built everything

I started working at a well-known advertising agency in Mexico City back in 2008. If you haven't read that article yet, I can strongly recommend it here.

My initial tasks were really basic: managing barely existing networks, keeping computers running, and providing support and maintenance once a month... the basics. I was just the IT kid, but that would change really soon..

The first opportunity to prove myself came after one or two weeks on the job. I was talking with my manager at the time, David, who had a meeting about how the network was practically nonexistent.

A couple of Wi-Fi access points, a router here and there—you get the point.

The agency had been stalling change for a while. It was time to break that.

The network.
We had two buildings: the main one, a big colonial-era house in Anzures, Mexico City, and a smaller group of three or four buildings five blocks away.
So we had to come up with a robust infrastructure that could withstand the test of time and scale with the agency. We started putting the plan together.

After six months of intense manual work, configuration, testing, and all the fun stuff that comes with creating a big network from scratch... The first part of the plan was in place!

We had a stable network, and we even managed to throw in a fiber-optic end-to-end connection to our remote building, enabling private communication between the two networks.
It was beautiful.

The next step was the most interesting one—and the biggest challenge in my career at the time. They were working with email for absolutely everything! So...
Let’s build the whole workflow for them from scratch... using PHP!

The Intranet was born.
I can’t express enough how hard this project was. I had almost no experience coding, but I tend to get excited by challenges, and I felt like I was flying after the successful planning and execution of the network design and implementation.

Back in the day, we had an enemy... You might be too young to know this. Maybe you're not even aware of its existence.
But it was real.
It was a nightmare.
It was the infamous Internet Explorer 6.
It might sound like I'm overreacting, but trust me...
I'm not.

I recommend reading next: Blocking the Checkout, the real take.
Hooked? Keep digging: https://oscar-azpeitia.com/tag/career/