|
Given those options, I'd also push for UCS. It seems to be the best in the business, currently. We've got a lot of stuff running on that hardware.
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 15:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 10:06 |
|
|
MJP posted:A thousand times this. One semi-interesting position had its faults on Glassdoor, one of which was awful health coverage. This advice is going to absolutely depend on where you live, but if your state has good coverage available through insurance exchanges you might be able to convert a bad opportunity into a good one. This is also important for people who might be considering riskier positions like self-employment etc. Losing health insurance (because you quit your job) is a qualifying event for a Special Enrollment Period. First, you'll be paying the full price for the exchange insurance, no subsidies allowed if your employer offers super lovely but compliant coverage. When you're using the healthcare website to look for plans, put your income as $9,999,999 or something. The plans you want to look for are the Gold and Platinums. Just because they're expensive metals, they're not necessarily going to be expensive plans. In Arizona, there are quite a few Platinum plans for around $300 a month for someone around the age of 30. Even if the plans in your area are much more expensive, this might be useful in salary negotiation. "Wherever we land on salary, we're going to need to add another $300 a month on top of that to cover my insurance."
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 16:17
|
|
|
Che Delilas posted:"Ex-miliatary" in a boss is a huge red flag for me now. It's not enough to completely nix a possible employment opportunity, but if I learn that my potential future boss is ex-military, I'm going to take a much closer, critical look at his mannerisms and personality than I might otherwise. I know this isn't a fair generalization, and I'm sure there are plenty of managers who used to be in the military that actually make the transition to civilian leadership and don't treat their people like fungible, disposable grunts. But I've been down that road, and never again if I can help it. My last boss was in the Navy and got his degree in chemical engineering. Take the worst traits of military expectations and engineering, combine them with PHB tendencies, and you have me doing the same gut check on future possible managers. Dr. Arbitrary posted:This advice is going to absolutely depend on where you live, but if your state has good coverage available through insurance exchanges you might be able to convert a bad opportunity into a good one. This is also important for people who might be considering riskier positions like self-employment etc. The company also had clear red flags for MSP shittiness and big-company awfulness. Also, and this goes back into lol goony goon behavior, no casual Fridays. To me, that's a big sign about company culture. Also given the salary I'd have no subsidy and the increased salary plus NYC commute costs would mean a break-even/net loss if I took the Glassdoor-mentioned health care or Healthcare.gov plan respectively. I'm in NJ and Chris Christie wanted nothing more than to appeal to the Republican base and as such opted out of a state exchange.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 16:27
|
|
|
MJP posted:My last boss was in the Navy and got his degree in chemical engineering. Yeah, if there are other red flags then don't bite, but if it's the only issue holding you back, it's important to know your options. It's okay if they opted out of the state exchange, the Federal exchange works well these days. Assume you won't get subsidies, unless they offer noncompliant plans (or no coverage) you don't get a subsidy regardless of income. In New Jersey, the platinum plans are around $500 a month for platinum individual plans, and you'd have to do some research on what they actually cover. You'd have to decide if that's worth it. If you've got diabetes or something, it might be.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 17:08
|
|
|
I worked with a Marine NCO who dazzled me with secret knowledge of The Corps. Ex: Apparently Marines draw peckers on everything, everywhere. They will turn a latrine (or any other space with walls) into a sort of jarhead Lascaux with endless tallywhackers instead of bulls and stags.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 17:22
|
|
|
I have a interview scheduled tomorrow for help desk job  I feel pretty nervous as it's only my 2nd interview ever other than a brief stint w/retail work. Anything I should expect? I'm the in process of studying for A+ cert but stuff happened. Will there be a technical quiz there? Thanks.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 17:27
|
|
|
Dick Trauma posted:I worked with a Marine NCO who dazzled me with secret knowledge of The Corps. Ex: Apparently Marines draw peckers on everything, everywhere. They will turn a latrine (or any other space with walls) into a sort of jarhead Lascaux with endless tallywhackers instead of bulls and stags. Probably  since it's got a lot of drawn dicks: http://terminallance.com/2010/04/20/terminal-lance-31-shitter-graffiti-is-an-art-of-dicks/That's part 1 of 3 in the series.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 17:27
|
|
|
Alder posted:I have a interview scheduled tomorrow for help desk job Help desk is a customer service job, your people skills are way, way more important than any technical skills. Drum up your ability to interact with people comfortably and a willingness to learn new things. Help desk is almost certainly going to be less technical than you think. Most of the common issues aren't even "technical" in the slightest. They might ask you what you would do if somebody can't access the internet, or can't print, to gauge your thought process and such. If they do ask something technical that you don't know, for the love of god don't give a bullshit answer, just say you don't know but would reference google, the manual, documentation, etc to find out more. J fucked around with this message at 18:05 on May 26, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 18:02
|
|
|
Alder posted:I have a interview scheduled tomorrow for help desk job Working on help desk, the customer service interactions where I think I really shined is where someone called with a dumb problem, and then when I explained the problem, they felt dumb and said something to that effect. If this happens, you're not done. If this happens, I like to reassure the user "Hey, don't feel down, I made the same mistake the first time I tried it and it's not hard to fix." or "Mistakes happen, that's my whole job, to keep mistakes from becoming problems." When someone finishes an interaction with the help desk, their problem should be resolved and they should feel good about it. That's what keeps them coming to you with problems.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 18:13
|
|
|
Dick Trauma posted:I worked with a Marine NCO who dazzled me with secret knowledge of The Corps. Ex: Apparently Marines draw peckers on everything, everywhere. They will turn a latrine (or any other space with walls) into a sort of jarhead Lascaux with endless tallywhackers instead of bulls and stags. Hmm, this explains a lot about why the eastern Kandahar AB port-a-potties looked like a Gay man's purgatory
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 18:25
|
|
|
Dr. Arbitrary posted:Yeah, if there are other red flags then don't bite, but if it's the only issue holding you back, it's important to know your options. I just took a moment to estimate. $800ish/mo premium, $400 deductible for a platinum plan. It's not bad but my current premiums are something like $330/mo with my current employer, who only offers higher-deductible plans but we do have the HSA.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 18:26
|
|
|
Alder posted:I have a interview scheduled tomorrow for help desk job Come up with an answer to the question, "Why do you want to work at THIS company specifically?" Something better than, "because you called me back." Do a little research about the company and come up with something that sounds believable even if you don't give a poo poo about who they are or what they do. Showing that you're paying attention even a little will automatically put you above at least half the other applicants in the minds of the decision-makers. Also think about an answer to a question like, "What is your process/are the steps you take to troubleshoot a problem?" Depending on the type of job they may not ask you this (like, if your position will involve reading from a script verbatim). Then go to google and type in "interview soft skills questions" and look over some of the results. Come up with answers to a bunch of them. They'll often start with "Tell me about a time when you..." Write the answers to the questions down so they cement a little bit in your mind. None of the answers have to be mind-blowing, they're mostly just a check to see if you're basically a functional adult that can work with other humans and overcome challenges. There may or may not be a technical component to the interview. It depends on the company and the type of job it is, every single place is different. You can always call them and ask then to tell you a little bit about the format - most places I've interviewed at have given me an overview of what a given interview will be like and you aren't going to put them off just by asking. Lastly, it's normal to be nervous. Just remember that this interview is not the crossroads of your life; getting rejected does not mean you have failed (nor does getting accepted mean you have succeeded) in your life. It's just a job interview, and job hunting is a numbers game. If they don't want to hire you, someone else will, it just takes time and patience and perseverance. Don't pin all your hopes and dreams on this, that just makes the nervousness worse. Just do your best, and if they want to hire you, great! If not, oh well! Good luck.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 18:34
|
|
|
They will inevitably ask you about a tool/technology you've never used, so I'd always have an answer to that in my back pocket. Describe another time when you didn't know everything but your dedication and passion for a job well done (and your google-fu) saved the day. Not only does it show you can figure new stuff out, but you'll have a calm response under fire to an unknown as opposed to the nervous "I'm a fast learner" everyone else gives. Also, turn the tables and fire off some questions of your own like "What do you love about working here?" Again, it shows confidence and that you're doing your homework too. Also, drawing dicks on everything isn't exclusive to the armed forces, is it? When Google chat/hangouts added their sketch feature I spent an entire day sketching Instant message dicks for my coworkers and friends.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 18:42
|
|
|
 'd out to a new cube farm.Despite having all my paperwork in over a week ago, won't have a PC login this week 
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 18:56
|
|
|
Che Delilas posted:Also think about an answer to a question like, "What is your process/are the steps you take to troubleshoot a problem?" Depending on the type of job they may not ask you this (like, if your position will involve reading from a script verbatim). If this problem gives you difficulty, here's the framework I use for troubleshooting the most difficult problems. Navy Six Step Troubleshooting:  It's designed for electronics but I think it applies generally. Step 1 - Symptom Recognition: What Error Message are you getting. How long does the program take to load. Is the Mouse stuttering as you move it, Is the computer making a clicking noise etc. Generally, you don't perform any tests or deep diagnosis at this point. These are the kinds of symptoms the user sees. The depth will depend on how advanced your "users" are. If you're troubleshooting a cash register, you'll be focusing on error messages, long delays after pressing buttons etc. If you're supporting a developer, these symptoms might include error logs or a list of running processes etc. Step 2 - Symptom Elaboration: This is where you start to try to replicate the fault and run tests. This is where you'd include logs, diagnostic tests, wireshark output etc. Step 3 - Listing of Probably Faulty Function: Make a list of all the things that can cause the symptoms. Try to start with the most likely and then work your way down. Be broad: DNS, Firewall, Active Directory, etc. Step 4 - Localizing the Faulty Function: Perform tests to determine which of the functions is actually failing. Step 5 - Localizing trouble to the circuit (or service, or program or account): Figure out exactly what is causing that function to fail Step 6 - Failure Analysis: This one is important. Don't skip it. You just fixed the issue, maybe you changed a configuration file or unlocked an account. Now, explain why that would cause the symptoms in step 1 and 2. If you can't, you need to learn more.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 19:00
|
|
|
Dark Helmut posted:Also, drawing dicks on everything isn't exclusive to the armed forces, is it? When Google chat/hangouts added their sketch feature I spent an entire day sketching Instant message dicks for my coworkers and friends. I don't generally draw dicks, but as a developer my test data sets always contain names like Richard Cockmann and Weedlord BonerHitler.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 19:02
|
|
|
PCjr sidecar posted:Good news! I've found the rogue DHCP server you're going to notice next week. This was too accurate. I immediately remembered this post when I heard the issue was a 192 address. I'm really proud of myself though because I fixed the issue, which crippled payroll's computer at like 8 this morning and soon after a bunch more. The other guy who worked there had no clue what was going on whatsoever. He took it off the domain (???) and then realized he had no local admin privileges. I actually noticed the issue a few days ago when I was going through old computers stashed in the server room. It now occurs to me the first few days I only had the issue with the old computers because they were the only ones without cached dhcp leases. I was told "don't worry about it, weird things happen all the time here" So I turned on wireshark and, holy poo poo, someone's dlink router is giving me an address. First thing I did was go to the default gateway it assigned me to manage the device and I shitcanned DHCP server functionality, changed all the admin passwords and wrote down the MAC address. Then I checked a bunch of ARP tables to see exactly which physical port this thing was going through and ended up finding the exact location of it and the exact time it was plugged in down to the second. I've never been more proud of myself. Also that guy might be fired. Methanar fucked around with this message at 01:28 on May 27, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 19:10
|
|
|
Dr. Arbitrary posted:If this problem gives you difficulty, here's the framework I use for troubleshooting the most difficult problems. Saved for future reference. Thanks for all the encouragement and now time to review the interview thread here jic.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2015 22:51
|
|
|
http://terminallance.com/2010/04/20/terminal-lance-31-shitter-graffiti-is-an-art-of-dicks/ Terminal lance is funny even to a civilian like me. The dick thing is true
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 00:00
|
|
|
No for me yet, but it looks promising. The interview went well, I think when I said I enjoy documenting things it won the guy over (the other guy was already on my side). I will have to have another interview with HR, which I think is a formality at this point. Unless the offer is super insulting, I think I'm going to take it. My current job, even if they promote me (which who knows how long that will take...), won't pay me as much and I won't learn as much either. At the current job I think $40k is about the most I can hope for, at least for a few years. This new job will hopefully start above $40k and I think it's an actual job with raises and whatnot. Pretty much the only advantage to my current job is that it's a super laid back environment, but I think that also holds people back.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 00:12
|
|
|
Ahdinko posted:I've recently bought a fair bit of server, in total its 1TB RAM, 80 cores. I was splitting that across 4 servers and the cheapest for me came out UCS actually. If you're a new UCS customer you can qualify for the SeedIT pricing where you get the UCS Mini chassis and FIs basically for free. It beats even the smartplay pricing.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 02:32
|
|
|
Put in my two weeks notice today. New job is my first real it position; 25 percent pay bump, cert training path, and what looks to be a good place to work. Nice to finally be sought after, had a lot of interviews and had to turn some down.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 15:14
|
|
|
Bigass Moth posted:Put in my two weeks notice today. New job is my first real it position; 25 percent pay bump, cert training path, and what looks to be a good place to work. Congrats!
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 15:21
|
|
|
Bigass Moth posted:Put in my two weeks notice today. New job is my first real it position; 25 percent pay bump, cert training path, and what looks to be a good place to work. Contrats!
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 15:34
|
|
|
I've just been contacted to accompany and document a feature installation and documentation on one of our clients. Someone else is going to implement the stuff and I'm just gonna watch, write it down and document it. It's got all the ingredients to be a shitstorm. I think I'll just put step recorder on while they work and use it as a reference later (besides being by their side while they're doing their thing). E: I just realized my function might not be all that loved by whoever is implementing it, I'd hate it for some guy to stand by my side writing stuff while I'm working.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 16:44
|
|
|
orange sky posted:I think I'll just put step recorder on while they work and use it as a reference later (besides being by their side while they're doing their thing). Don't forget to increase the number of screenshots it saves if you need them or break it down into multiple recordings.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 17:58
|
|
|
No dice as the job I interviewed me required to have my BBA first. Oh well. I guess back to sending out more apps via college job board and hope for the best. Meantime I should probably keep practicing interviewing as I looked overly stiff there.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 18:29
|
|
|
Alder posted:No dice as the job I interviewed me required to have my BBA first. Oh well. I guess back to sending out more apps via college job board and hope for the best. Meantime I should probably keep practicing interviewing as I looked overly stiff there. 
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 18:35
|
|
|
Alder posted:No dice as the job I interviewed me required to have my BBA first. Oh well. I guess back to sending out more apps via college job board and hope for the best. Meantime I should probably keep practicing interviewing as I looked overly stiff there. Definitely don't be deterred from applying to positions just because you feel under qualified either. It's good to get in over your head a little and learn new things, and if you don't get the job you still put a face with a name for future openings at a company.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 19:21
|
|
|
crunk dork posted:Definitely don't be deterred from applying to positions just because you feel under qualified either. It's good to get in over your head a little and learn new things, and if you don't get the job you still put a face with a name for future openings at a company. The flip side of this is don't apply for everything under the sun or you become that guy/girl who gets known for being desperate and unqualified. Make sure your application is somewhat realistic and inline with your experience, but it's rare that anyone fits every single requirement.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 19:36
|
|
|
Dark Helmut posted:The flip side of this is don't apply for everything under the sun or you become that guy/girl who gets known for being desperate and unqualified. I know of one person who had over thirty interviews and applied for god knows how many positions at a specific vendor. I'm shocked this didn't raise some kind of flag with HR but he eventually did find employment and it's odd to see him in the hallway without a suit. I'm curious how many times have you come across this?
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 19:51
|
|
|
Tab8715 posted:I know of one person who had over thirty interviews and applied for god knows how many positions at a specific vendor. I'm shocked this didn't raise some kind of flag with HR but he eventually did find employment and it's odd to see him in the hallway without a suit. We just have people that are known for it in this market, so across my team of 4 recruiters we see the same names a fair amount. You'll always get the forklift operators that apply for data warehouse positions too. Or manufacturing quality control people that apply for automated tester positions. Can't fault people for trying, but the quickest way to get off my list of viable helpdesk/desktop people is to start applying for dev or PM or analyst roles way out of your scope.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 20:04
|
|
|
crunk dork posted:Definitely don't be deterred from applying to positions just because you feel under qualified either. It's good to get in over your head a little and learn new things, and if you don't get the job you still put a face with a name for future openings at a company. I just put this into practice for a vertical move. Prudential is hiring and on paper I kinda sorta fit the qualifications for what looks like a manager/SME in their HRIS group. It looks to be a technical go-between/project manager, and it doesn't hurt that my father-in-law (I lucked out, my in-laws are wonderful) is a VP over there. He described what he knew of the HRIS group as their own IT group that operates under relevant HR compliance requirements with their own internal system, and I'd be working with business continuity/disaster recovery. C'mon, nepotism! Get me a shorter commute and roughly a 40% salary bump with telecommute potential!
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 20:10
|
|
|
Dark Helmut posted:The flip side of this is don't apply for everything under the sun or you become that guy/girl who gets known for being desperate and unqualified. Make sure your application is somewhat realistic and inline with your experience, but it's rare that anyone fits every single requirement. Yeah definitely don't do this. I've never worked HR or anything similar but I imagine it's really fuckin annoying to see the same resume for 10 different positions when the applicant fits absolutely none of the requirements.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 20:17
|
|
|
I finally had a chance to sit down with our PM and the Messaging Lead and work out what the hell is going on with the Virtualization position I was interested in. Apparently the contract prime (my company) is going to take the position away from the sub-contractor that currently has the position and move me into it (rather than letting the sub-contractor hire me). The position incumbent leaves June 12, however the guy who is going to be my replacement on the weekend shift starts on June 8th, however he's going to need 1-2 weeks to get up to speed. In the interest of making this a done deal I agreed to stay in my Exchange position for up to 2 weeks after the new guy is hired. Still going to be rough for me however, since we switch to 3rds on the weekend starting June 6, and I'll have a couple weeks of the graveyard shift before moving back to days. I'm not too annoyed by this because I will finally be off of weekends and work a normal schedule during the week, with my weekends off, for the first time in nearly a year. Of course, the position is likely going away at the end of November, but that was expected and actually works out for me - I was hoping to head down to Florida before the end of the year, and this gives me some time to get enterprise experience with vSphere before I leave. I figure I'll grab the Storage+ and Linux+ certs before then (and if you get the Linux+ cert you can also get the LPIC-1 cert and the Novell Certified Linux Administrator and Novell Data Center Technician Specialist certs). Not quite RHCSA, but not too shabby.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 20:29
|
|
|
I think the Linux+ also counts LPIC-1, Novell Linux and SUSE Linux certifications.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 20:37
|
|
|
Tab8715 posted:I think the Linux+ also counts LPIC-1, Novell Linux and SUSE Linux certifications. Hadn't heard about the SUSE Linux cert, but the Linux+ cert is powered by LPI, so if you pass it you get four certs (or 5 if the SUSE Linux is also fulfilled). So, two tests, 4 (or 5) certs, all for under $500 - definitely sounds like a bargain to me.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 20:47
|
|
|
Daylen Drazzi posted:Hadn't heard about the SUSE Linux cert, but the Linux+ cert is powered by LPI, so if you pass it you get four certs (or 5 if the SUSE Linux is also fulfilled). So, two tests, 4 (or 5) certs, all for under $500 - definitely sounds like a bargain to me. Heh, that's cool but seeing LPIC-1, Linux+, Novell Linux and SUSE Linux just seems :sperg:
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 21:03
|
|
|
Tab8715 posted:Heh, that's cool but seeing better
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 21:07
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 10:06 |
|
|
Dark Helmut posted:The flip side of this is don't apply for everything under the sun or you become that guy/girl who gets known for being desperate and unqualified. Make sure your application is somewhat realistic and inline with your experience, but it's rare that anyone fits every single requirement. Hmm---I feel somewhat conflicted since the majority of my apps were tied to low exp, office, help desk, or entry-level jobs. Obviously, I've refrained from applying to some jobs which I know I won't qualify for yet. Ugh, it's demoralizing to have relatives who keep asking me why I'm unemployed I'm trying my best and I feel like I've hit every major retail/chain store on my list for NY.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 22:01
|
|