|
skipdogg posted:This isn't worth the hassle, in addition to the paperwork that needs to be filled out, the cost of the shipping, and going through customs and paying VAT, they could buy cheap laptops in the UK there and throw them in the trash when they're done. Hmm, I don't doubt it's easier, it's just that I've already got dozens of surplus laptops here when the same specs cost $1500 each in the UK. HP looked up my serials and say they'll still warranty all of them if they go to the UK, and I have like 50 laptops to send so it'll add up. Full disclosure, I was going to take a vacation in Europe anyways so if I ship the laptops there and fly over to set them up, my trip and lodging are paid for and I can explore before my return leg. The company we use to ship says they can get the Temporary Admission paperwork together for me if I want to go that route, but I'm also seeing that if we just pony up and pay VAT tax and leave the laptops there permanently, we might be able to recover all of the VAT tax as "input tax"? Sorry if I sound like a noob, totally new to the European tax system obviously. It does sound like a pain but if I can save a year's worth of FTE salary then the CFO is all for it.
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 04:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 07:14 |
|
|
Tenacious J posted:I appreciate the replies. I wouldn't call myself a great designer so perhaps UX is out then. I agree about the money. Agree with evol and I'd add that in the years it will take you to become an expert that can command a seriously impressive salary, the landscape might totally change. Just a few years ago, Docker and OpenStack didn't even exist, for example. Now they're a huge resume boost. 5 years from now both might be totally obsoleted by something else; who can say? Network engineering is being disrupted by SDN and NFV to a similar degree. Pick an area that you enjoy and can see being a career vs just a job to pay the bills. Dive deep into it, become an expert, and the pay will follow. You don't need a post secondary--or even secondary--degree to be successful in IT. Like any industry, your professional network is the best foot in the door. Failing that, certifications are the next avenue to pursue. Thankfully these cost a couple hundred bucks instead of 6 figures. My throwaway comment if you really do want to see giant paychecks  is to get into software engineering, "big data", or both. Those are the fields the big tech companies are paying ungodly salaries for--and those jobs aren't going away--with the massive caveat that you have to be in the top 0.1% of the talent pool to draw said salaries. But it's something to aspire to.
Docjowles fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Jul 7, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 04:47
|
|
|
Docjowles posted:with the massive caveat that you have to be in the top 0.1% of the talent pool to draw said salaries. But it's something to aspire to. You can be a merely competent programmer and still draw a pretty drat good salary if you're also someone people can stand to be around and talk to for more than 30 seconds, though.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 06:06
|
|
|
Does anyone have any advice on convincing your boss to let you WFH/find a coworking space full time rather than doing the 180mile round trip to the office 3 times a week.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 07:31
|
|
|
fluppet posted:Does anyone have any advice on convincing your boss to let you WFH/find a coworking space full time rather than doing the 180mile round trip to the office 3 times a week. Has your company taken steps to enable remote workers to meaningfully contribute to the company? Does your boss have any specific objections? It is a complex process to make remote work beneficial for both the employees and the company. How did you end up with such a long commute?
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 08:58
|
|
|
lampey posted:How did you end up with such a long commute? I know plenty of people who have commutes like that here in the DFW area. One co-worker does 140 miles each way. e: Can someone explain the difference between a sysadmin and a system architect? As far as I have ever been able to tell architect is just the final form for a sysadmin. RFC2324 fucked around with this message at 14:02 on Jul 7, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 13:41
|
|
|
fluppet posted:Does anyone have any advice on convincing your boss to let you WFH/find a coworking space full time rather than doing the 180mile round trip to the office 3 times a week. Offer to make it probationary, and draw up some metrics that if you meet would satisfy your boss enough to make it a permanent situation. You also may not want to do it totally full-time, coming into the office once a week or so can be good - some things are better done with face to face time. You may find that out of sight is out of mind, which may result in not being considered for projects, etc. RFC2324 posted:e: Can someone explain the difference between a sysadmin and a system architect? As far as I have ever been able to tell architect is just the final form for a sysadmin. Systems administrator -> systems engineer -> systems architect. There's no formal definition or anything and it varies from company to company (and even within companies), but the basic gist is that the architects design systems on a high level, the engineers turn put together, test, and document those systems, and the admins handle ongoing support and maintenance. As with everything IT it's all very fluid and there's plenty of overlap of responsibilities. AreWeDrunkYet fucked around with this message at 14:12 on Jul 7, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 14:05
|
|
|
RFC2324 posted:I know plenty of people who have commutes like that here in the DFW area. One co-worker does 140 miles each way. Yeah but uh, why? I know people who have a 180 mile roundtrip commute into New York City, but they're living in another real city (Philadelphia) and they ain't driving, they're kicking back in Acela business class for the trip.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 15:55
|
|
|
Nintendo Kid posted:Yeah but uh, why? I know people who have a 180 mile roundtrip commute into New York City, but they're living in another real city (Philadelphia) and they ain't driving, they're kicking back in Acela business class for the trip. The reasons definitely aren't logical ones especially considering how much easier it is to find good work here compared to a lot of the country. I commuted for a hour each way for a year and gently caress that.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 15:57
|
|
|
AreWeDrunkYet posted:Offer to make it probationary, and draw up some metrics that if you meet would satisfy your boss enough to make it a permanent situation. I agree; I telework 3 days a week, am 100% in the office on Tuesdays, and most Thursdays. It's a nice compromise and keeps an office presence while still maintaining sanity because my home office is way nicer than my government office. I dont even mind the commute, personally (I bike). The touted benefits to my boss is employee retention because that telework schedule will keep me working here as long as the position exists. edit: But for convincing, I also agree a probationary period is the way to go. I started with one day per week and moved up from there. I also have a webcam and dedicated office space where I can participate in video conferences and calls without disruption, which helps the sell a bit. It also helps that I have a 100mbps connection at home, and the government office is sitting at a cool 15mbps. Yay government. Walked fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Jul 7, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 16:33
|
|
|
Walked posted:I agree; I telework 3 days a week, am 100% in the office on Tuesdays, and most Thursdays. It's a nice compromise and keeps an office presence while still maintaining sanity because my home office is way nicer than my government office. I dont even mind the commute, personally (I bike). My company is leery about telecommuting because the guy I was hired to replace would do it all the time. He'd email the bosses "hey I'm working from home" and then an hour later email the team leader "hey, my home internet is down, so I'm not going to be able to do anything." He did it all the time, and after numerous chances they let him go. So now when I ask, they give me the stink eye, but I only do it once every couple weeks when I have 8 solid hours of work so I'm busy. I'm working on them slowly to let me do it regularly.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 16:59
|
|
|
Zero VGS posted:Hmm, I don't doubt it's easier, it's just that I've already got dozens of surplus laptops here when the same specs cost $1500 each in the UK. HP looked up my serials and say they'll still warranty all of them if they go to the UK, and I have like 50 laptops to send so it'll add up. While I don't have any advice on shipping large quantities of laptops, I will say that if you have a UK based helpdesk, they will probably end up wanting to murder you fairly quickly, due to all the calls that will be generated by the differences in keyboard layouts. 
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 17:17
|
|
|
RFC2324 posted:I know plenty of people who have commutes like that here in the DFW area. One co-worker does 140 miles each way. The admin maintains and operates where the architect plans and builds to hand over to the sysadmin. Also I've known plenty of folks take a painful commute because it's pretty much the only option for a job or they just have to have the benefits.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 18:21
|
|
|
lampey posted:
Basically the wife wanted to move nearer her parent I had a new job lined up but when I tried to hand my notice in they beat the salary increase and let me work from home 2 days a week but that was 2 years ago and the train ride is beginning to grate
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 18:55
|
|
|
SIR FAT JONY IVES posted:My company is leery about telecommuting because the guy I was hired to replace would do it all the time. He'd email the bosses "hey I'm working from home" and then an hour later email the team leader "hey, my home internet is down, so I'm not going to be able to do anything." I've never understand why people think about that as a problem with working from home rather than a basic case of an employee not getting their job done.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 20:39
|
|
|
Zorak of Michigan posted:I've never understand why people think about that as a problem with working from home rather than a basic case of an employee not getting their job done. It's the same people who think blocking Facebook will make staff that dick around on the internet all day turn into productive employees.
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 22:47
|
|
|
you guys are thinking of a workplace as a job where people come together as a unit to do a job thats not what a workplace is a workplace is basically adult kindergarden
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 22:53
|
|
|
Naptime 
|
|
#
?
Jul 7, 2015 23:26
|
|
|
Just got the word today - we've got a contract extension for a minimum of 8 more months. Extension is funded and we just need a signature on the contract to make it official. Looks like Tampa is going to wait for a few more months. With over a year as a Virtualization Admin in an Enterprise environment I think I'll have a lot better shot at landing a better gig when this contract finally ends (assuming I don't get yet another extension or new contract). The raise is going to be useful these next few months.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 01:02
|
|
|
Venusy posted:While I don't have any advice on shipping large quantities of laptops, I will say that if you have a UK based helpdesk, they will probably end up wanting to murder you fairly quickly, due to all the calls that will be generated by the differences in keyboard layouts. I already got the UK keyboards on their own, two screws and a ribbon cable and they'll pop right in this model  Thanks Ants posted:It's the same people who think blocking Facebook will make staff that dick around on the internet all day turn into productive employees. Someone at my work "knows someone who works at Facebook" so they want me to sign up to evaluate the beta of "Facebook for Work" and I'm like yeah that looks like it's going to be the Google+ of LinkedIns.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 01:21
|
|
|
Docjowles posted:Now they're a huge resume boost. 5 years from now both might be totally obsoleted by something else; who can say? Network engineering is being disrupted by SDN and NFV to a similar degree. P As opposed to discussing what's hot have any technical positions/products been obsoleted with-in the last decade? It's TYOOL 2015 and even today we still have AS/400 techs and COBOL/RPG Programmers. Granted, the demand is less but it exists and pays.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 02:12
|
|
|
Zero VGS posted:"Facebook for Work" Yammer?
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 02:57
|
|
|
myron cope posted:Yammer? No like, it's literally called Facebook for Work. Meanwhile, I've got our O365 tenant on the new Skype for Business Preview of PTSN Conference Calling and Cloud PBX. So when we make Skype for Business meetings we can auto generate a conference phone number to dial into, and the Cloud PBX lets us dial phone numbers in Skype for Business or with a Polycom SIP phone. Of course, both features are completely busted, I haven't gotten either to work in either Windows 8.1 or 10... sounds like a Microsoft preview alright. Edit: figured them both out, these are both pretty great now that they work. If the Cloud PBX is cheap enough I'll totally tear my phone system out for this. Zero VGS fucked around with this message at 03:39 on Jul 8, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 03:15
|
|
|
Zero VGS posted:No like, it's literally called Facebook for Work. Yeah I looked it up when I saw your post. Seems "awesome". I'm sure everyone wants to use a separate work Facebook account for... Reasons? Also Yammer makes no sense
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 04:02
|
|
|
Zero VGS posted:No like, it's literally called Facebook for Work. I thought this was just called Facebook.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 04:04
|
|
|
Zero VGS posted:No like, it's literally called Facebook for Work. I can't loving wait for them to implement this in Europe. Of course I'd need to convince the boss to upgrade our internet line from 10Mbps to something decent, but that's just an added bonus.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 07:35
|
|
|
I work for a company that sells phone systems into the SMB space with the traditional approach to on-prem hardware and tieing people into maintenance contracts and they aren't running scared that Office 365 getting voice calling is going to poo poo all over their market. I think I might need to  soon.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 07:47
|
|
|
Daylen Drazzi posted:Just got the word today - we've got a contract extension for a minimum of 8 more months. Extension is funded and we just need a signature on the contract to make it official. Looks like Tampa is going to wait for a few more months. With over a year as a Virtualization Admin in an Enterprise environment I think I'll have a lot better shot at landing a better gig when this contract finally ends (assuming I don't get yet another extension or new contract). The raise is going to be useful these next few months. It seems like they've been jerking you around for like the last year with this. One day you're two weeks out from being jobless the next there is some cool job for you but office politics come up or something and again you're back at square one. Just get out of the military IT industry, it sounds pretty awful. Didnt you get your VCP? I bet you could find something in like 2 weeks that pays similar.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 13:32
|
|
|
Anyone familiar with Vision Training Systems? My mom's asking me if they're worthwhile. http://local.amazon.com/columbus/B00U7XZAHI I don't have much experience with online courses, and the fact that they're claiming such a high "discount" is a red flag.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 14:41
|
|
|
What do you mean I can't sync all of the company's network drives to offline folders on my laptop and carry it around with me?!
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 15:53
|
|
|
CompareX has come sniffing around due to my upcoming Office 365 project. I know they're huge but don't know anyone that has worked with them before on a migration.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 17:27
|
|
|
Any suggestions for how to approach asking for your job to hire a junior admin type role? I'm technically a title of "IT Operations Manager" but really that just means "one man IT shop with good pay and working environment". It's been totally cool up to now; and realistically I could probably continue to roll onward without additional help - most broad strokes stuff on our network is pretty well integrated and automated. But there's zero redundancy for IT infrastructure/network support, I've gone from supporting a team of 6 developers to 15 (and growing) + PMO staff, from one office location to two colocated cages on opposite sides of the country + the office location, and from one internally developed custom application to three, and an application user-base of about 2000 to 5500. Fortunately the developers are mostly low-key to support and 95% of my day is infrastructure and DevOps stuff. But nonetheless, the ability to give the developers better (and more) support, have someone else to send on our annual cross-country trip, and have some staff redundancy and backup would be worth a junior role, I think. I can make a compelling case on paper, but anyone gone down this road before? Walked fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Jul 8, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 20:52
|
|
|
Daylen Drazzi posted:Just got the word today - we've got a contract extension for a minimum of 8 more months. Extension is funded and we just need a signature on the contract to make it official. Looks like Tampa is going to wait for a few more months. With over a year as a Virtualization Admin in an Enterprise environment I think I'll have a lot better shot at landing a better gig when this contract finally ends (assuming I don't get yet another extension or new contract). The raise is going to be useful these next few months. That may be to your health benefit because moving in Tampa weather in the middle of summer is horrid. A quick check has it at 91 degrees right now.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 21:16
|
|
|
Anyone have a go-to source for used/refurb enterprise SAS drives? Looking for a good source for building cheap-rear end storage servers for job sites and/or FreeNAS storage servers for secondary backup repositories and/or DFS replication targets. E: I have a local store that sells 450gb 15k sas drives for like 60-80 bucks I iirc. It would be nice to have a more reliable/consistent source for larger quantities. goobernoodles fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Jul 8, 2015 |
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 21:56
|
|
|
goobernoodles posted:Anyone have a go-to source for used/refurb enterprise SAS drives? Looking for a good source for building cheap-rear end storage servers for job sites and/or FreeNAS storage servers for secondary backup repositories and/or DFS replication targets. I am pretty sure SA has its own painfully cheap bastard around here somewhere. I have forgotten his name however.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 21:57
|
|
|
You assholes nearly got me in trouble two days ago. Our SharePoint guy was showing us how to administer user accounts, and he told us how inactive accounts showed in O365 as "In the cloud." Thankfully, I held in my laughter well enough it just sounded like I cleared my throat a couple times.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 22:08
|
|
|
Walked posted:Any suggestions for how to approach asking for your job to hire a junior admin type role? I think that numbers are going to be your best bet here. Look at how long it takes you to do these things and what you may have accomplished if you had a jr member of staff that would have done those things instead. Try and focus on things that the business would have seen growth in, revenue wise, or another metric that matters to them. I started doing this for my team and my boss had a much easier time selling that we needed more people to upper management as we could work back over the last 6 or so months and in each sprint we spent X amount of time on these projects and then Y amount of time on unplanned or drive by work. This was all presented and it made the req open much quicker.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 22:08
|
|
|
  I finally got permission to call IBM for help today which confirmed all my guesses about this in the last 2 weeks. I've come up with a 'functioning' test server that will work if I change the live DNS settings (Lotus Notes hardcodes itself to resolving by name apparently even if I give it an IP. Since I'm taking an exact copy of the live server I can't actually change the name either.) I'll need to reinsert the new server into the exact same spaghetti network with the same meatball settings and the same tomato sauce physical ports. But it will work! 
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 22:31
|
|
|
Koskun posted:That may be to your health benefit because moving in Tampa weather in the middle of summer is horrid. A quick check has it at 91 degrees right now. Honestly it wouldn't be much different from what it's been like for me the last few days. I was posting in the bitching thread that my apartment AC was busted and got up to 83 degrees at night. Fortunately that is all fixed now. As for the work situation, I knew going in that it would be frustrating at times, but I'm now in a good position and after I have 6 months of Enterprise Virtualization Administrator experience under my belt I will have a lot better time of finding a permanent position (although considering that even FTE positions can be ended just as quickly as a contract and with even less notice than I had this time around). There was only a question of how things were going to play out that were causing me stress - I'm a strategic planner when it comes down to it, and unless I know all the variables it makes it frustrating to try and plan my finances and miscellaneous expenditures. What made things bad was that we'd had word from the commander of our parent unit that we were going to be extended under our current contract for at least another year or two, and that made moving into the virtualization position a no-brainer, but then he comes back all "Whoops! My bad! You're all toast in August, but please don't leave just yet". Suddenly I was looking at 8 weeks of experience instead of 12 months. Now I know I have at least 8 months I can squeeze out of here, however that hasn't stopped me from talking to recruiters anyways. It just means I can be more selective about my next position. So now my finances are planned out through the end of the year and I've calculated that I'll be able to pay off all my debts and sock away $5k in savings. With that settled everything else isn't so bad.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 22:48
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 24, 2024 07:14 |
|
|
Walked posted:Any suggestions for how to approach asking for your job to hire a junior admin type role? Now I need to work on creating, consolidating, support/config info, processes and documentation in confluence and get this dude to the point where he can act on his own without too much hand holding and still get some things done. The CFO only wants to keep this guy around for 1-3 months, but I'm hoping it prove the need for another hand, if for nothing else just to deflect sales calls.
|
|
#
?
Jul 8, 2015 22:53
|
|