"I would estimate that at least half of my time as a systems engineer is spent resolving technical issues. Over the years, I've developed a specific methodology to accomplish this. I start by gathering information about the issue to understand it and the impact it is having. Next, I turn my attention to discovering the root cause. I develop a primary strategy to resolve the issue and at least two alternatives. I then go about putting my plan into action until the problem is solved. I document everything I do so that it can easily be addressed by either one of my fellow systems engineers or me if the issue recurs.

An example of this was when my current company lost access to the internet. I knew that the problem was either hardware, network, or software-related. It was critical that I got the system up and running as quickly as possible. I first verified that the network was running properly and that the web servers were all functioning. I then turned my attention to the DNS server. It became apparent that this is where the problem originated. I immediately switched the operations over to the backup DNS server, and internet connectivity was restored. I documented this so the next time the problem occurred, we would look at the DNS server first."