My wife just asked me if I'm "done working" because her sister wants to FaceTime.
I said, "Yeah, the upgrade finished. Everything's stable now."
I haven't looked at a single work system all day. I've been playing Elden Ring for 4 hours.
But I made sure to leave my laptop open on my desk with a terminal window visible. Just black screen with green text scrolling. Looks very official.
It's actually just running ping google on repeat. But to anyone who glances in, it looks like I'm monitoring something critical.
We got on FaceTime with her sister. She asked what I was working on today.
I said, "Just some backend infrastructure maintenance. Nothing exciting."
She said, "You work too hard."
I nodded solemnly. "Someone's gotta keep the lights on."
My wife squeezed my hand. She thinks I'm dedicated.
The truth? I haven't done a single work-related thing since Thursday afternoon.
But the appearance of work is more important than the work itself. And the best part about IT? Nobody actually knows what you're doing, so they just assume you're doing something important.
Legacy building isn't about what you accomplish. It's about what people think you accomplish.