a profession deck

The IT Arcana

A 22-card tarot for the people who keep the lights on. It punches up at the job, the systems, and management — never the user. Flip a card for its upright and reversed reading.

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cinematic edition · deco-noir key art, rendered card by card
The Intern — illustrated tarot card, arcanum 0
· 0 ·The Intern
✦
· 0 ·
The Intern
in the place of the fool
upright
Fearless, curious, and one keystroke from greatness.
reversed
Greatness was DROP TABLE on prod.
The Sysadmin — illustrated tarot card, arcanum I
· I ·The Sysadmin
✦
· I ·
The Sysadmin
in the place of the magician
upright
Root access, total control, master of every system.
reversed
Until the one server nobody's allowed to reboot.
The Documentation — illustrated tarot card, arcanum II
· II ·The Documentation
✦
· II ·
The Documentation
in the place of the high priestess
upright
All the answers live inside her, ancient and complete.
reversed
Last updated 2014, by someone who quit.
The Vendor Demo — illustrated tarot card, arcanum III
· III ·The Vendor Demo
✦
· III ·
The Vendor Demo
in the place of the empress
upright
Abundant, beautiful, every feature blooms on cue.
reversed
None of it ships until Q4. Of next year.
The Change Board — illustrated tarot card, arcanum IV
· IV ·The Change Board
✦
· IV ·
The Change Board
in the place of the emperor
upright
The throne that approves all who would touch prod.
reversed
Your one-line fix is now a six-week ticket.
The Help Desk — illustrated tarot card, arcanum V
· V ·The Help Desk
✦
· V ·
The Help Desk
in the place of the hierophant
upright
Keeper of sacred wisdom: turn it off and on again.
reversed
Closed your ticket as resolved. It is not.
The Merge — illustrated tarot card, arcanum VI
· VI ·The Merge
✦
· VI ·
The Merge
in the place of the lovers
upright
Two branches become one in perfect harmony.
reversed
Conflict in 47 files. Choose a side.
The Deploy — illustrated tarot card, arcanum VII
· VII ·The Deploy
✦
· VII ·
The Deploy
in the place of the chariot
upright
Charging into prod, unstoppable, glory ahead.
reversed
It's Friday at 4:55. Turn the chariot around.
The On-Call — illustrated tarot card, arcanum VIII
· VIII ·The On-Call
✦
· VIII ·
The On-Call
in the place of strength
upright
Calm hands tame the beast at three in the morning.
reversed
The beast is a disk that hit one hundred percent.
The Senior Dev — illustrated tarot card, arcanum IX
· IX ·The Senior Dev
✦
· IX ·
The Senior Dev
in the place of the hermit
upright
Wisdom earned in solitude, away from the standup.
reversed
Knows exactly why it works. Won't be writing it down.
The Deploy Pipeline — illustrated tarot card, arcanum X
· X ·The Deploy Pipeline
✦
· X ·
The Deploy Pipeline
in the place of wheel of fortune
upright
Push the button and let the wheel decide your fate.
reversed
Same code, same machine, red on the seventh spin.
The SLA — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XI
· XI ·The SLA
✦
· XI ·
The SLA
in the place of justice
upright
The scales weigh every minute of promised uptime.
reversed
You signed for five nines. You shipped two.
The Pull Request — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XII
· XII ·The Pull Request
✦
· XII ·
The Pull Request
in the place of the hanged man
upright
Suspended in review, gaining a new perspective.
reversed
Eleven days. One comment: nit.
The Migration — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XIII
· XIII ·The Migration
✦
· XIII ·
The Migration
in the place of death
upright
The old system dies so a better one may rise.
reversed
Both run in parallel now. Forever.
The Staging Environment — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XIV
· XIV ·The Staging Environment
✦
· XIV ·
The Staging Environment
in the place of temperance
upright
Perfectly balanced, a faithful mirror of prod.
reversed
Mirrors nothing. It works on staging.
Technical Debt — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XV
· XV ·Technical Debt
✦
· XV ·
Technical Debt
in the place of the devil
upright
A tempting shortcut, just this once, ship it tonight.
reversed
Three years of interest, compounding, in one file.
The Outage — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XVI
· XVI ·The Outage
✦
· XVI ·
The Outage
in the place of the tower
upright
The whole stack falls in fire and you finally feel alive.
reversed
Root cause: an expired cert nobody owned.
The Backup — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XVII
· XVII ·The Backup
✦
· XVII ·
The Backup
in the place of the star
upright
Hope in the dark — somewhere, a copy survives.
reversed
Untested for years. The restore is empty.
The VPN — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XVIII
· XVIII ·The VPN
✦
· XVIII ·
The VPN
in the place of the moon
upright
A shimmering tunnel to the realm beyond the firewall.
reversed
Connected. To nothing. Reconnecting forever.
It Works On My Machine — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XIX
· XIX ·It Works On My Machine
✦
· XIX ·
It Works On My Machine
in the place of the sun
upright
Radiant proof: green checks, all tests pass, joy.
reversed
Then we are shipping your machine.
The All-Hands — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XX
· XX ·The All-Hands
✦
· XX ·
The All-Hands
in the place of judgement
upright
The trumpet sounds; leadership reveals the grand vision.
reversed
Synergy, alignment, and a hiring freeze.
The Cloud — illustrated tarot card, arcanum XXI
· XXI ·The Cloud
✦
· XXI ·
The Cloud
in the place of the world
upright
Infinite, boundless, every resource at your command.
reversed
It's just someone else's computer, and the bill is due.
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