The second day on the job and you realize this isn't your startup organization. I am talking about Scalability. Scalability doesn't just apply to product development, it also has serious implications on the management of remote teams. Sure, it would be great to have one entity handling the translations of the 30 most common languages; but it just doesn't happen that way. At my previous organization, there were at most three languages to deal with (English, French and Spanish). So you'd either end up asking the tech support guy or the developer next door to translate for you.
The power of shell script. I haven't come across poll results about the percentage of IT Ops people who take full advantage of scripting environments to automate their daily tasks. (Not that I been looking this up; I was moreso expecting to come across it Christopher Columbus style)
The rationale is that the time it takes for you to figure out how to write out the automated script/batch file and , you could have already finished the task with manual labour. My two cents is that pro automation. In the development world, take for instance a login screen in your app. If a developer had to provide the username and password everytime he/she ran the app, this adds up. Using a tool pointed out to me by a previous co-worker (http://www.macros.com/), you can circumvent this process and even go beyond this. Alternatively, you could implement code that provides a shortcut to your current workflow of interest (Just remember to take it out afterwards). Although, now, you can debate about whether you should be checking in all of these "time-saving" tricks into the repository for fear of having it go to QA in that state or worse yet, into production. I digress. Taking the time to program the keys on your keyboard. All these little things add up. It is kind of like the relationship with your spouse. Little things things add up and yes, they do matter.
I assume that the rationale for IT Ops would be somewhere along these lines as well?