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I got my first I.T. job in 1995, doing tech support for a dial-up service. I'd always been interested in computers, and call centers are always hungry for new people even if they have no experience. I became a supervisor not long after, during the transition from DOS to Windows 95. Being on the front lines for the Internet explosion felt sort of like the Wild West. I got my first "pure I.T." job in 1997 by migrating to the contractor handling I.T. for one of the call centers I was working in, and have been a manager since 2001, most of the time working alone. Never had any training, nor any mentoring, and that has made everything much harder, but working in environments with fewer than 300 people I've been able to keep up with things, albeit never at the cutting edge.
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Aug 27, 2021 12:40
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I was doing helpdesk and then part-time UNIX admin stuff as an undergrad in the early 90s. Originally I did it just to fill time and make some petty cash, because I thought I was going to go to law school. By my junior year I was much more interested in the computer stuff than in being a lawyer, and it was also clear that it was a more lucrative career path than almost anything else I could do with my double major in poli sci and philosophy, so I started angling for a full-time job when I graduated. I admit that I am slightly weary of always chasing the latest thing in tech and would like to move up the ladder to where I can focus more on people and financials, but I'm not done with technical stuff yet.
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Aug 27, 2021 15:34
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I was born in 1995 got my first IT job in 2016 as an intern for $15/hr because my cousin's husband was a VP and I could have done anything short of piss on the interviewer's desk and gotten the job. like the interview was literally this  anyways then i turned out to be good at it, got hired as a sysadmin a year later once i was finished with another year of uni, consulted for a bit, got into cloud, was headhunted/recruited a few times, beep boop bop here i am. I've still never cold applied to a job and kinda want to see how long I can keep that streak going
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Aug 27, 2021 16:25
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Cat Army 
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what good is running a quick errand in to an empty building at work if you can’t bring an inspector? Our wiring met approval. 
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Aug 27, 2021 16:34
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The Iron Rose posted:< awesome stuff > You’ve done so amazing stuff in your short career. One of my favorite things about this thread has been watching yours ( and many others) progress and growth.
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Aug 27, 2021 16:52
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The Fool posted:You’ve done so amazing stuff in your short career. One of my favorite things about this thread has been watching yours ( and many others) progress and growth. omg ikr Seeing folks like Larches or Dick Trauma, or <insert favourite goon in a well> grow, and find new careers, better jobs where they are treated with the respect they deserve and paid the compensation they deserve is a such a wonderful and joyous thing to see. It's one of my favourite parts of this industry, that there is so much to learn and do, and so many different places you can take that expertise! From IT to data to cloud to programming to ML or crypto BS... I would go so insane doing the same thing day in day out for the rest of my days. Anyways this is why I like doing things like mock interviews or resume feedback. This thread has given so much to me, it makes me want to give back and help others achieve the success I've found through the help of everyone here. The Iron Rose fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Aug 27, 2021 |
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Aug 27, 2021 17:08
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I've been at this off and on for the better part of 20 years and it's all I can do to keep up anymore. Not sure how much of that is just getting old - definitely noticed it became harder for me to pick up new things around the time I hit my mid-30s - and how much of that is just me being bad at computers. Edit: helps to keep things in perspective and remember that the people who post in these threads are not the norm. Sheep fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Aug 27, 2021 |
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Aug 27, 2021 17:40
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devmd01 posted:what good is running a quick errand in to an empty building at work if you can’t bring an inspector? is pep not certified as an inspector?
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Aug 27, 2021 17:40
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Thanks so much experienced pissed-off IT people in these threads that came before me for all the perspective and ideas.
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Aug 27, 2021 17:41
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There's 7 people here today in our 20,000+ sq ft building. I am the only one on my side. The receptionist didn't even come in today.
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Aug 27, 2021 17:46
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I'm trying to break into the industry as a pivot out of logistics. I expect this thread will become a new best friend.
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Aug 27, 2021 17:52
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Sheep posted:I've been at this off and on for the better part of 20 years and it's all I can do to keep up anymore. Not sure how much of that is just getting old - definitely noticed it became harder for me to pick up new things around the time I hit my mid-30s - and how much of that is just me being bad at computers. I’ve been doing this for almost exactly 20 years now and the thing that got me excited again was pivoting to infrastructure automation from IT generalist. It’s still in the same family but my day-to-day has changed so significantly that it doesn’t feel like the same job anymore. quote:Edit: helps to keep things in perspective and remember that the people who post in these threads are not the norm. This is important, literally every poster in the thread is easily in the top 10% when compared to all the coworkers I’ve had over the years. The Fool fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Aug 27, 2021 |
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Aug 27, 2021 17:53
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Getting all the recruiters now. A lot of "oh we provide moving assistance". Yeah I'm not moving.
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Aug 27, 2021 17:54
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This thread has been so helpful for me in my career. If for nothing else then listing out new tech that I should read up on and learn about, and helping me to learn what was possible career wise.
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Aug 27, 2021 17:54
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Anyone want to be a Systems Admin for Farm and Fleet? In loving Janesville, Wisconsin?
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Aug 27, 2021 17:56
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GreenNight posted:Anyone want to be a Systems Admin for Farm and Fleet? In loving Janesville, Wisconsin? Sorry, too close to Rockford. But I guess it's closer to the Wisconsin forests than Chicago, so maybe that means it balances out.
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Aug 27, 2021 18:02
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I think their owner was a crazy Q anon Trump guy if I remember right. Probably doesnt pay that much.
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Aug 27, 2021 18:03
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https://careers.farmandfleet.com/careers-home/jobs/6705?lang=en-us Hybrid WFH, but we want you to move.
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Aug 27, 2021 18:04
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for some reason the barely-comprehensible recruiter spam i get keeps using the phrase "remote til covid" or "remote till covid" even though it makes zero sense (in addition to the concept being dumb as well)
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Aug 27, 2021 18:05
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The "remote til covid" stuff would actually be a smart side job pickup because you can easily just deuce out when they start pressuring you to come in "whenever that is".
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Aug 27, 2021 18:09
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Biowarfare posted:for some reason the barely-comprehensible recruiter spam i get keeps using the phrase "remote til covid" or "remote till covid" even though it makes zero sense (in addition to the concept being dumb as well) like wouldn't logically anyone who signed up for that who lived far away be like "nah, i don't feel like moving"
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Aug 27, 2021 18:09
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GreenNight posted:https://careers.farmandfleet.com/careers-home/jobs/6705?lang=en-us You get a range out of them? That job posting screams 55 to 65K DOE ASAPRockySituation posted:I'm trying to break into the industry as a pivot out of logistics. I expect this thread will become a new best friend. Your logistics background will be very useful to some companies. People that can do IT, and understand the underlying business operations are very very valuable in the right environment. I don't know what sort of IT you're looking for, but some sort of Business Analyst, Supply Chain IT System Management, or even project management role would probably work well. There's a ton of "IT" out there that has nothing to do with writing code or spinning up servers. That's just what a lot of us here do.
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Aug 27, 2021 18:10
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Counting the consulting gigs I picked up while I was working at Software Etc. in 1991 I've been at this for thirty years. I'm still okay with picking up new stuff; I went from zero to running code on the lab infrastructure with PowerShell less than 2 years ago. What's really changed with age and experience for me is my appreciation for brute force solutions. Younger me would try and be clever and end up down a rabbit hole. Older me will re-characterize the issue to make it simple. KACE willl let you run a command line on remote agents and store the results as a field you can report and alert on. So I put SMART drive status in. That Returns: Status OK OK Fail Detect OK That's obviously a regex looking to see if any line after status is not OK, because I'm looking for drives that are not okay. I spent two hours on the regex, and then had another think on it. Now I'm alerting on "Fail" anywhere in that string. Boom, simple. This also extends to an absolute disinterest in exactly why or how Windows broke. Work it an hour and then reimage or restore. The RCA is just going to be "You're running Windows".
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Aug 27, 2021 18:14
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ASAPRockySituation posted:I'm trying to break into the industry as a pivot out of logistics. I expect this thread will become a new best friend. Welcome! This thread is indeed really great. Good luck with your pivot! The Fool posted:I’ve been doing this for almost exactly 20 years now and the thing that got me excited again was pivoting to infrastructure automation from IT generalist. It’s still in the same family but my day-to-day has changed so significantly that it doesn’t feel like the same job anymore. Your story is a constant inspiration to me. I've gotta do something, all these years of IT generalist poo poo is killing my will to live.
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Aug 27, 2021 18:21
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The Fool posted:
This is because this thread exists to complain about the bottom % of terrible coworkers
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Aug 27, 2021 18:39
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mllaneza posted:Counting the consulting gigs I picked up while I was working at Software Etc. in 1991... Another Software Etc survivor!  If we're going to count that as the beginning of my I.T. career then I've been doing this for over thirty years, but I'm not sure my elite shrink-wrapping skills are still relevant.
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Aug 27, 2021 18:40
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I went to a doctor appointment yesterday and drove past an office building, had a sign on a post with WFH on it crossed out in red. They had a subtitle sign that said "work happy" on it. I was tempted to turn around and snag a picture of it for internet fame points but I was more interested in getting back home and eating dinner. Then I looked up the company later and it's a loving "co-working" office. lol, get hosed. (https://co-optim.com/)
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Aug 27, 2021 18:55
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My manager doesn't like that I write "Goodnight sweet prince" in the vCenter descriptions for servers that I've decommissioned.
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Aug 27, 2021 19:20
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MustardFacial posted:My manager doesn't like that I write "Goodnight sweet prince" in the vCenter descriptions for servers that I've decommissioned. 
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Aug 27, 2021 19:22
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I couldn’t imagine caring about that, your manager must not have a lot going on
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Aug 27, 2021 19:23
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MustardFacial posted:My manager doesn't like that I write "Goodnight sweet prince" in the vCenter descriptions for servers that I've decommissioned. Gotta pay those proper respects. I’ve had tiny moments of silence when decommissioning long time workhorse servers Those DL380’s ran for years and then went to the big recycler in the sky. Man life is so much easier with everything being virtual and cloud now. I hated dealing with physical hardware
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Aug 27, 2021 19:24
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MustardFacial posted:My manager doesn't like that I write "Goodnight sweet prince" in the vCenter descriptions for servers that I've decommissioned. don’t work for sociopaths
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Aug 27, 2021 19:27
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Well we just got the news that my job is down sizing the office space and renting out half of it to another company. All that wire I ran two years ago, wasted. 
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Aug 27, 2021 19:29
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Eh you got paid right? All that matters.
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Aug 27, 2021 19:33
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MustardFacial posted:My manager doesn't like that I write "Goodnight sweet prince" in the vCenter descriptions for servers that I've decommissioned. Time to sever
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Aug 27, 2021 19:38
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I gave a simple "thanks for your service" to a long running SQL server before deleting it forever. Hell, I even made a dumb "My Heart Will Go On" meme video as I did so and sent it around. People got a kick out of it. It does feel good to give a small nod to things
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Aug 27, 2021 19:38
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mllaneza posted:KACE willl let you run a command line on remote agents and store the results as a field you can report and alert on. So I put SMART drive status in. That Returns: I do a lot of simple stuff like that too, but you do have to be careful both for yourself and especially for anyone else using your tooling, double especially if they have no programming experience. I know exactly what my code looks for and am therefore aware of the limitations of my approach; other people just know it as "this program spits out whether x is broken." Which means if circumstances change -- say a later software update changes "Fail Detect" to "Error," for example -- the tool breaks. I know that. My coworkers might not. Me-in-4-years might not either. Absolutely not suggesting you should go for the complex solution -- just that the simple approach is itself still something you need to keep in the back of your mind.
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Aug 27, 2021 19:38
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skipdogg posted:Gotta pay those proper respects. I’ve had tiny moments of silence when decommissioning long time workhorse servers Those DL380’s ran for years and then went to the big recycler in the sky. I picked up a DL380p last week for another node for my k8s farm, from a recycler. Those things are great.
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Aug 27, 2021 19:50
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Thanks Ants posted:I couldn’t imagine caring about that, your manager must not have a lot going on He said it was unprofessional and not a good description of why the VM is off. I asked him if he's ever read Hamlet. At this point I give zero shits what anybody here thinks of me, I mean what are they going to do? Fire me? skipdogg posted:Gotta pay those proper respects. The Iron Rose posted:don’t work for sociopaths I'm looking for a new job!
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Aug 27, 2021 19:57
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BaseballPCHiker posted:This thread has been so helpful for me in my career. If for nothing else then listing out new tech that I should read up on and learn about, and helping me to learn what was possible career wise. N'thing this and the sentiment from the previous pages, watching all the goon successes. I got a job at a college in IT in 2006 and have worked in higher ed ever since, barring a 2 year stint in Banking InfoSec. The pivot from physical to virtual was amazing, and what you guys are talking about now is exciting but I probably won't see it for a few years yet. I'm a CIO now and managing kind of sucks, but I ain't got the skills to get the individual contributer money y'all rake in so I gotta do what I gotta do
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