We block the ad networks at the firewall level at work. Out Internet traffic dropped about 1/3. And I do the shortcut trick. Gotta protect the user community from itself, right?
Unfortunately the infrastructure I had to work with was a mess made by an incompetent guy, I had to fix things because I was not able to properly prevent them. I could quit that job a few months ago.
The thing about inheriting a mess like that? You will learn more in a very short time than you will in any classroom. At the end of the cleanup there is a very real sense of "I fucking did that!" that cannot be beat. I've cleaned up my share of disasters.
I have definitely learned a lot from that job, it was a horrible and good experience at the same time but I felt like I was not progressing anymore, I was not getting any benefit or experience anymore on that job, for that and other personal reasons I decided to quit.