…the more they’re crumbling inside.

That’s my experience.

As I’ve climbed from institution to higher ed institution, I’ve noticed that the functionality of internal systems exists inversely to the fame of the school.

Perhaps it was that the very much not-prestigious little guy was willing to get in bed with Google, and thereby run internal emails and documentation on the Gmail/Google Docs platform.

Maybe it’s the ramshackle engine that could that’s figured out how to shoehorn and jimmy solutions and wrap its systems together with duct tape and bubble gum, because there’s no other way.

It’s the behemoth R1 that truly has no support. I’ve never felt less supported in my job. With systems, with people, even with my job description.

From the outside, it looks like these institutions have all the resources in the world. All the money. All the data. All the brightest minds at work.

It’s all lies.

What you really get is home-grown legacy systems from the 80s, and a bunch of baby boomers who have been camping on their jobs for the last three decades.

Try to move that boulder up the hill, bitch.

Enjoy the view as it rolls back down.