[MandieD]

A webcomic that started back when mid-sized US/Canadian towns really did have one-stop ISPs that employed both experienced sysadmins, the new web designers doing sites for local businesses, and students just getting started in IT - and were places where all of the above could actually advance or at least enjoy their careers, not just languish as call center drones.

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of summers in high school then after my freshman year of college working at a similar outfit in my hometown. It had about 1500 subscribers paying about $20-30/mo for dialup around 1997-99.

Anyway, that’s where I was introduced to User Friendly, and we’d laugh together over the funnier ones.

Go to “Storylines” to find the ones you remember: https://web.archive.org/web/20220225091648/http://www.userfr...

[dmd]

I started my career, kinda, as an unpaid admin (I was 14) for Panix.com, one of the oldest ISPs anywhere. Coincidentally, my wife started hers at Software Tool & Die / The World - the actual first ISP!

[FireBeyond]

Yup. I remember having issues as a teenager getting ISP service in Australia in the 90s. I hopped on a train and a bus to their office, handed over an envelope with a few months payments in cash, and they walked me back to a rack, jumped on a Linux console and 'adduser'ed me.

[xattt]

In the mid-90s, Toronto used to have two(!) free computer-centric newspapers. One of those papers used to reprint these comics, but can’t remember which one.

I still remember reading one of the news blurbs in one issue that Linux 2.4.8 was out of beta. This was such a bizarre way to get updates about Linux.

[kstrauser]

I could've written every word of this. That launched a pretty fun career for me.

[bloqs]

Are there any businesses that are like this now? I'm based in europe and this sounds like the ideal environment for me

[Nextgrid]

Hosting providers such as OVH, Hetzner, etc still have old-school sysadmin work.

ISPs are hit & miss. If you can get into an early-stage (W?)ISP you will get interesting work, but avoid the big established ones like the plague - there it's all about outsourcing to the lowest bidder and providing the lowest level of service they can legally get away with.

[kuschku]

TNG/ennit in Kiel seems to be the closest example I know of, but even they're quite a bit larger (with all the bureaucracy that comes with that).