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I'd be down for more recruiter talk here or another thread. I'd also like to know how to find a good recruiter, although not immediately for me. I get a few calls/emails from recruiters (both with and without local phone numbers) but I never answer them in calls or emails. Most of them that mention the actual position are for help desk...which I already have. So of course I'm not interested in that. Is it bad to ignore them? It would seem pretty logical that the answer would be "no" to that one, but I don't know if I should be at least responding. I haven't contacted any of them first, they're "seeing my resume on Monster". Also (for the thread in general), is it actually bad to leave a job in under a year? Or is this "conventional wisdom"? Because I haven't been at my current (first IT) job for a year yet, but it seems like I need to look for another one. They're finally firing the dead weight on the help desk. I don't think she actually worked a full week since she started in...April, I guess it was. She either took vacation days off (and/)or just called off/left early. And when she did show up, she was terrible. Giving out wrong information, shipping things wrong (screwing up something as simple as FedEx? Repeatedly?) and generally just being terrible. I don't usually revel in people losing their job, but it's pretty exciting. I mean, she was making the same amount of money as me, which was pretty insulting. Supposedly they're definitely doing it now. Hopefully they don't pull some last minute poo poo and not fire her yet again. The last straw was her not showing up yesterday, causing the alarm to go off (when people arrived later who don't have codes to disarm, which we do) which the police responded to, which is a fair bit of money I guess.
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Aug 5, 2014 02:43
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So the guy who just got promoted to sysadmin just got the actual offer today. $34k. The other sysadmins make $40k. He couldn't negotiate because it was "negotiated for him" by the CIO and the corporate IT manager, and supposedly they even "bumped it up" from where it was. gently caress that. He had to take it because he needs to have a job now, but I'm guessing he updates his resume sooner rather than later and moves on. It also doesn't have me optimistic of whatever they offer me, if they ever get to it. Maybe time to spend $15 more for R2I to update mine again (I updated it soon after I started on the helpdesk, but I've done some stuff on the road and my helpdesk role has somewhat expanded--if I can just figure out how to say it) and start applying in earnest. If they "promote" me, it will obviously be at a salary lower than what external candidates get, just loving because.
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Aug 6, 2014 03:05
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adorai posted:drat. I live in a pretty average cost of living area and we are thinking starting our next level 1 helpdesk guy at $35k/year. I (we, since he's help desk too) make $25k on the help desk. This is basically (I had two earlier phone interviews/technical screenings and never heard back) the only place that responded to my initial resume. It's pretty obvious why now!
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Aug 6, 2014 03:21
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I dunno, my grandma still says pocketbook. So to her it's still a word.
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Aug 30, 2014 14:35
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What does ComboFix do? I am a bad (and/or dumb?) person for not knowing, but one of the sysadmins here was saying he knows a guy that all he did was run ComboFix and that is apparently a bad idea because it...does things? I didn't want to sound dumb at work by asking why so I'll just sound dumb on the internet instead.
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Sep 4, 2014 16:51
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Super Slash posted:I live on a cramped bank of desks against a glass wall, so a whiteboard is out of the question. I sorta used Outlook tasks but it's way quicker to jot stuff down using windows sticky notes. I've been using Stickies (http://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/) instead of windows sticky notes. I don't know if it's any better. I just hate the windows sticky note fonts. Certainly a lot of options in stickies. I just use it to write down some of the stuff I've done, since I don't always make tickets as they happen (although I should, it's way easier).
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Sep 8, 2014 03:04
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Is there a difference between "CIO" and "CTO" or are they basically the same thing?
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Sep 10, 2014 00:06
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There is maybe an opening where I work for a night sysadmin position (which will probably suck but still be better than helpdesk) that I found out about through rumor and hearsay (the way everything works at my job). I took the "sysadmin test" and left an entire section blank (about Exchange) and probably messed up the other two sections pretty good. There were a few questions I felt I got 100% right, but not many. I don't really have "sysadmin" training, and I don't think the test actually matters--if they want you for the position, the test is basically a formality. So I guess I'll see soon if they want me or not. I'm supposed to talk to the sysadmin manager next week about how I did on the test. I asked if there actually was an opening (and said I just wanted to take the test to see where I was at, which is pretty true anyway) and part of his answer was they're trying "to see whats out there and who might be interested". If they are hiring from within then I feel like my chances are actually pretty good. If it includes outside candidates then maybe not so much--but they'll pay me less than an outside candidate. They've done it before.
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Oct 25, 2014 04:47
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How close to the "1 year at helpdesk" thing should I stick? The middle of November is one year for me. They've sent me on a couple of new store openings (we're in retail), in fact I'm actually at one now. There's talk of a new traveling position "next year". There is an opening (or possible opening?) for a sys admin that I took a test for--I don't think the test matters that much, I think they find the person they want and then give them the job. If the current help desk supervisor leaves, they've also said I'm basically their first choice there (...since their actual first choice now has a different job). Promises don't pay the bills though. I like this job except the money is really bad ($25k a year). The people are nice, I've learned a lot. I don't want to answer the phone anymore (at least not, you know, primarily)
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Oct 29, 2014 03:46
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Alright I guess it's time to update my resume and start applying then. This is my first IT job, and when I was applying last year I had two phone interviews with no callback and then this place, and basically no one else showing interest, which is why I took it. I do know I'm getting screwed money-wise, I guess I don't have confidence enough yet is why I've just accepted it so far.
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Oct 29, 2014 13:28
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Roargasm posted:Don't be afraid to admit you don't know something inside of your department, but never admit fault for anything outside of it Yeah this is good. Other people I've seen be way to specific on what is wrong and/or who is fixing it. I give "we're looking into it" or "I need to talk to my supervisor about this" answers a lot. Not that I'm a black box and everything from me is a cryptic response, but I try to be careful about who I tell what things. Telling too much to the wrong person can backfire easily. I frequently go with "it's a server issue, it's being worked on right now" and that usually shuts people up.
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Dec 15, 2014 20:16
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Seriously. Just never admit anything is wrong or broken to sales or they will never stop bringing it up and blaming their problems on it
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I have a job interview tomorrow. I wasn't looking (yet) but I was talking to my mom over Thanksgiving and one of her friends is a higher up (not making hiring decisions, but supposedly good friends with who does) at this place and there was a job posting that I was pretty well qualified for (as far as the bullet points go). Pay was supposedly $75k. So of course I immediately applied. She's supposed to put in a good word for me and at least get me an interview, which is about all you can ask from someone. A few weeks pass with no call and finally I hear back: they gave the job to someone internally, but there's another job opening up and the hiring manager really liked my resume and wants me to apply for that one. They call me for an interview like the next day. So it's tomorrow. I make poo poo at my current job, but I think it will be a lateral move (it sounds help desk-y but that's not what the job title was in the post, so maybe like a "desktop support"). Is it crazy to not really be interested unless the compensation is much better than I'm currently getting? I'm "in line" for a promotion here but so far it's 100% talk. Supposedly ill hear something after the new year (I don't doubt that they're waiting to do anything until then, we're in retail, they don't want to do anything at all until after Christmas but sell poo poo) but I understand it's nothing yet until there's an actual offer. Or even discussion. But even still, I like my job ok, like the people I work with, it's fun seeing new stuff. I could go to this new place and hate it. Of course it's also kinda pointless to speculate like this until I actually have the interview. They may think I'm a bad fit. I might do bad in the interview. I don't want to burn bridges/miss an opportunity at my current job.. But I also don't want to miss out on something that could be better. I guess I said a lot of words for advice that's going to amount to "see what they say in the interview and go from there"
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Dec 22, 2014 20:41
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meanieface posted:How exactly is interviewing at another place "burning bridges" at your current job? You have a personal appointment. No the interviewing part isn't (I'm off tomorrow anyway) but leaving may be when I'm supposedly going to be this supervisor at my current job. But then again, I've been hearing this since like October so I won't be too upset if the offer is right. I'm just worried that they'll end up like $10k above where I'm at now, which would make it a tough decision. I'm mostly worried about the HR questions. I hate those type of questions. I don't even really have an answer if they ask why I'm interested in a new job. I think I just overthink the questions.
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Dec 22, 2014 23:05
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That's literally all you have to, or should, say. 
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Misogynist posted:IP reservations by MAC are common, but it's also common to leave a small free-range space in the DHCP scope to do initial configuration, assuming that the techs will use the web UI from the computer they're setting up. Really, it depends what works best for your org's workflow, though. Where I work we're about to install packetfence on basically every switch in the company. So far the tests have not gone great, with the one guy who is administering all of it frequently yelling things like "it's not supposed to do that!" or "I already told that what to do why isn't it listening" or having servers or registers randomly fall off of the network. I'm looking forward to the full deployment which I'm guessing will happen within the next month, because if it hasn't worked at 4 stores, what could a hundred more possibly hurt?
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Jan 14, 2015 06:18
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So my job just announced a hiring freeze until "at least" next quarter. Which means no new hires or promotions. What a loving joke. They're still opening new stores and probably will continue to hire whoever they want, just use this as an excuse to not spend money they don't want to spend
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Jan 15, 2015 18:12
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Ok thread, some advice please. I've told my story here a few times, but I'll recap. I started as help desk in nov 2013. Even during the interview they mentioned a traveling position and asked if I'd be interested (I said yes). I've been training for it (more or less), doing on-site set up for two stores and two grand openings. Which basically is being on-site help desk, in case any IT poo poo breaks someone is there and able to respond quickly. Both grand openings went pretty goddamn flawlessly. The problem is, I haven't gotten a promotion (it was basically supposed to be going to current stores and doing stuff on site when not doing new openings) or even a raise. I like the job, it's better than answering the goddamn phone at the very least. So, now it's 2015. New stores are opening in March. They are opening two on the same day, so the plan is to have me do one (this is two separate trips to north Carolina, I work in West Virginia). They also recently announced a "hiring freeze". How do I go about talking to my manager about getting at the very least a raise, if not a promotion? It's not a job that only I can do, so I could probably be replaced fairly easily. I don't know that anyone that actually works there actually wants it, though. It's just setting up hardware, the training was mostly "this is how we like to have it done". I also had a talk with the same manager around June of last year, he said basically "keep working, you're next to get promoted, we don't have the traveling position in the budget until next year" I went on an interview just before the new year but didn't get the job. Is "get a new job" the only answer?
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Jan 22, 2015 04:59
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Is there stuff to do overnight? Or is it like monitoring or something
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Jan 28, 2015 03:28
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I emailed my manager today asking if he had some time to talk. He emailed back that he'd be happy to, but he wanted to include his boss, who is the corporate IT manager. I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad sign. I was considering just talking to the next boss up anyway since my direct manager has basically dodged every question and just promised stuff for the future. The corporate manager is at least not a bullshitter, so we'll see what comes of it.
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Jan 29, 2015 03:19
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I wish all of our printers were handled by someone else. They're not even so bad to fix but we (and by we I mean Not Me) buy lovely printers that break all the time. The problem is not helped by buying lovely refurb toner. But there are 4 printers that we have a contract for and they're loving fantastic and the only time they've needed service (that in aware of at least) was about a month after I started. One of the four, one time in over a year. Instead we're adding even more personal printers so people don't have to get up and go twelve feet to the nearest large printer. And of course they're even shittier than the large ones. We've started moving away from dell printers to hp (and dell pcs to Lenovo, for that matter, although we don't have nearly as many problems with the pcs).
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Feb 6, 2015 17:00
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I don't understand why Lenovo swaps the Fn and Ctrl keys. I know there is a BIOS setting to swap them back but why even do it in the first place Did IBM do this and Lenovo hasn't changed it?
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Feb 12, 2015 15:46
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I don't know what's involved in transitioning to office 365 but it's so far been pretty painful for us. About 10 or so mailboxes move a (week)night and then they spend the entire next day getting the peoples phones and computers actually working again. It's totally in sysadmin hands though, I have nothing to do with it. A lot of times when a person is switched they don't get certain emails because a lot of reports and whatnot are hardcoded go to an @exchange.company address and need to go to @company and it takes a while to even find them all. I've been on 365 for a while now and it's cool. They just got Lync working a little bit ago and it's neat but mine hangs a bunch. Checking event viewer shows sidebyside errors so I don't know what's happening. It's pretty cool though, as far as messaging goes.
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Feb 23, 2015 06:30
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Tab8715 posted:What are you using to transfer the mailboxes? I'm not sure. We get a list of about 10 or so people who are being switched, and we hear from about 7 of them the next day. But then again a lot of our users are idiots, so there's that.
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Feb 23, 2015 07:12
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Why doesn't your boss buy it? It sounds pretty reasonable to me. Especially with the "cloud-based security cam feed" part
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Feb 26, 2015 02:31
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Yesterday I had a meeting with the CIO, where I was given a bonus check for the traveling work I have done over the past year. It's for over a month's salary, which sounds good but also I get paid a terrible salary. Still nice to have (especially when I was in no way expecting it) and the meeting was basically them (CIO and two IT managers under him) telling me how I do great work and to keep it up. Basically the same meeting I had a few weeks ago, but this time with a check.
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Feb 28, 2015 03:59
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I'm looking for a "Personal Analog Assistant", like what it described in Time Management for System Administrators. Anybody have any favorites? Or a good app for Android? I'd prefer something non-phone, I think.
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Mar 3, 2015 00:51
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Docjowles posted:This would happen multiple times a year at my first IT job. Drove me up the loving wall. "Hey Docjowles! We have a new hire coming on board!" "Sweet, when do they start so I can get a laptop and set up accounts?" "Oh they've been at their desk for 3 hours already, you mean it's not done yet?" Doesn't that just make them expect it, though? I'm not saying it's a bad idea it just sounds like you're asking for "well, it was ok last time..."
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Mar 3, 2015 04:23
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Like you, I learned to keep a few loaners hidden away for these times.
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Drunk Orc posted:A guy I work with showed me this Dell tool for updating drivers and its super nice actually (for me at least). Not sure if it's well known or not but I had never heard of anything except DSD before this! I use that but it seems like... Half of the updates fail.
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Mar 6, 2015 15:01
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I had my performance review. I had the highest review in the IT Department  That got me a 3% cost-of-living increase, which is the maximum they give out (turns out with my lovely salary it's not even $1000  ). My manager made it clear that this wasn't a merit increase, and they'll be doing those later. So I'm still cautiously optimistic that I'll get an actual raise (he didn't know when they will actually be doing those, so...we'll see), but with the bonus I got a few weeks ago and with this...at least they're starting to acknowledge my work.
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Mar 20, 2015 01:25
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Dr. Arbitrary posted:You've been doing this about 2 years now, right? About a year and a half, yeah. The explanation I got was that merit raises are done through HR and this was just with my supervisor/manager, so I'm going to at least give him the benefit of the doubt and see what happens. Although this was sort of merit based because it depended on the review scores.
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Mar 20, 2015 02:12
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Another help desk guy is leaving for another job. If the salary was...20% higher (it's super low, so it's not as much as it sounds) , I'm guessing we'd get better help desk people and keep them longer. I know this isn't unique to my company by a long shot. I'm just not sure I understand the thought process. In other news, my supervisor continues to not do his job. He didn't show up today, as happens about once a week. It's a joke.
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Mar 24, 2015 02:14
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psydude posted:Helpdesk isn't a position that's supposed to keep good people. Yeah I know, and that wasn't even my main point. The last help desk guy that left did so after two months (or possibly 3). He left for another help desk job.
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Mar 24, 2015 02:46
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My thought is to do whatever you want, but not wanting a smartphone because you don't want to be contactable 24/7 is insane. Just don't install Facebook, ignore calls/texts/emails when you want to ignore them, whatever. People giving you poo poo for not answering their message immediately is a people problem, not a smartphone/technology problem
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Mar 26, 2015 02:12
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My manager texted me today: "I have some good news for you. Talk to you monday" (I was off today) Two (of 5 counting me) help desk people put in letters to leave in the last week. I wonder if the two are related?
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Mar 27, 2015 23:39
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So the good news teased last week: 20% raise I was making poo poo so it's not quite as exciting as it sounds, but still, I'm fairly excited Also, still talk of a promotion but no firm date (or even what position it would be to). It sounded more concrete than before, but still waiting on this nebulous "hiring freeze" to end. It's ending soon I'd imagine, on account of two new hires in other departments starting today.
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Mar 31, 2015 02:32
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I watched our sysadmins spin up a server vm today. The guy said to use 2012 r2 datacenter. This is not in a datacenter. I asked what the difference is between that and a different version and one of them told me that it can use 4 terabytes of RAM. I guess that's a reason to use it? I don't know anything about the versions but it seems like you'd want to use Datacenter if you were in a Datacenter and otherwise Standard would do what you need? I don't know. Seemed like a weak reason to pick a version. This cheap-rear end company isn't putting 4 terabytes of RAM in anything
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Apr 11, 2015 01:01
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To be fair I'm not saying it was the wrong choice (since I don't know anything about them) just that his reasoning was suspect. "Datacenter can theoretically use more RAM." Which, according to the chart I saw, isn't even true and Standard can use the same 4 terabytes E: on the other hand he said they're the same price so I guess "why not" applies myron cope fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Apr 11, 2015 |
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Apr 11, 2015 10:33
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Dr. Arbitrary posted:Right to work means she can't be forced to join a union as a condition of employment. It does reflect the general balance of worker to employer power but is irrelevant to your wife's situation. So RTW means you can't be forced to pay even the representation fee. You've been allowed to object to your dues going to political things for a while. RTW is union busting, that's it.
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Apr 27, 2015 19:57
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metavisual posted:Seems like sort of an odd grey area... Right, what they're talking about is what I described. They're (obviously) pro-RTW so they frame it differently. The union is stealing your hard earned money! In non-RTW states, you can get disciplined for something and the union has to represent you for it. You pay dues related to this representation (but they aren't like lawyer fees where you pay as you use it, you still pay monthly/per check/whatever) and because there are collective bargaining agreements that the union negotiated on your behalf. They are generally a reduced amount from "regular" dues. The last job (non-IT) I had, the union dues were equal to 1.5 hours of straight-time pay per month. In RTW states, you get all that representation and CBA benefit, but can't be made to pay for it. The union has a legal responsibility (duty of fair representation) to represent everyone in the bargaining unit.
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Apr 27, 2015 22:13
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GreenNight posted:The company I work for won't pay their cut of your health insurance unless you get a physical every year. Married? Your wife has to get one too. Conditional on the results of the physical, or only on you taking it?
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May 1, 2015 02:22
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| # ¿ May 4, 2024 13:45 |
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A buddy of mine is setting me up with an interview (most likely) where he works (it's a gas company). I would have been eager to take it even a few months ago, but I got a raise at my current job and am possibly/probably going to get a promotion. I still have to interview, it's not a guarantee or anything, but they've seen my resume and I've presumably been talked up enough by my friend that it's pretty likely I'd get it. It's for $40k+ (I don't know exactly what the salary would be). I'm currently making $31k, and it will take me at least another year to get to $40k, if not longer, at my current job. In the new position, I'd be coming in as a contractor, which does have me worried a bit. He says it's how they hire who they want without having to open the job to internal candidates first, and that it's almost guaranteed I'd be hired as a "regular" employee, and the last guy got hired as a contractor and is now a regular employee. So I don't have a real reason to think it wouldn't happen, but it still does make me nervous. Current job is helpdesk, new job would be Jr Sysadmin (I don't know that's the official title, but it would be that area of work at least). From money alone it sounds like a no-brainer, and I don't know what kind of benefits there are (if any). The downsides are being a contractor, and I'd have to drive into Pittsburgh. I don't currently work in Pittsburgh, so my current drive is long but stress free. Driving into Pittsburgh is loving terrible and I hate it. Plus resigning from my current job. I'm not looking forward to that part, if it comes to it.
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May 1, 2015 18:20
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