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Ask Slashdot: What Are The Lesser-Known Roles Of The IT Department?
chadenright writes:
On the same day that I was hired into a new IT position, my new employer also bought a pair of $1,500 conference phones from a third-party vendor, which turned out to be defective; I've spent a chunk of the last two weeks arguing with the vendor. During the process I've learned that, as the IT guy, I'm also the antibody of the corporation and my job is to prevent not just malware and viruses but also junk hardware from entering my business's system. As a software engineer who is new to the IT side of things, I have to ask, what else have you learned about IT?
What fresh hell has this software engineer gotten themselves into? Leave your best answers in the comments. What are the lesser-known roles of the IT department?
What fresh hell has this software engineer gotten themselves into? Leave your best answers in the comments. What are the lesser-known roles of the IT department?
You may have been living in some sort of fantasy world of siloed functions.
In a large enough organization, there might be specialists in telecom, desktop hardware and server hardware, but usually IT, in general, is charged with all facets of the IT plant... Workstations, servers, networking hardware and telecom (including switching, carrier interconnect and endpoints like conference phones).
If what you want is to JUST develop software, you need to be in a different role.
What you did was not a "lesser-known role" of IT department, it was doing something completely outside of your job role.
Your employer should have asked legal department to do the legal work for dealing with defective purchase. If your employer bought an office chair that broke, would you get involved also? How about defective air conditioner? Or a defective TV? Would you get involved because the TV was "internet enabled"?
If conference phone should be supported by IT, *you* should be the one sourcing and buying it. The IT dept has no input in the purchase, then it has no role when the purchase went bad.
People believe peple in IT, alt hey di is browse the web and play video games... so they think we're disosable and can beused for any job...
.... pritner doesnt work... open it up and fix it ... .. oh whats that no backups of PC's, they lost their data, now they complain tot heir boss you cant recover their data
Main things are;
- Laptops, PC, Phones (every brand)
- Printers
- Internet issues (yes with phones too)
- Moving anything electrical; PC's, desks, pritners, microwaves, fridges....
- fix anything hardware related; phones dead... fix it
- Security; prevent users from doing dumb shit like open bad emails... oh wait they did, now you have to recover their encrypted data
- cars; their car wont start.. oh your technical, you should know how to fix it...
oh so much more....
It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!
As a web developer, i had to take care of the electricy in the building as well. So basically, whenever there was a power outage, it was my fault. I had to upgrade the fuses in the building, because i figured they weren't strong enough.
I've learned that, as the IT guy, I'm also the antibody of the corporation and my job is to prevent not just malware and viruses but also junk hardware from entering my business's system.
You know how some people have their immune system turn on themselves.
Some IT-departments becomes like that.
Instead of stopping malware and junk hardware they stop everything. It makes their job easier.
A good IT department tries to figure out what the person they stopped was trying to accomplish and tries to find a secure way of doing that.
Blocking everything would be like a janitor keeping everyone else out since maintenance gets easier that way.
While the method works for their immediate task the company cannot survive such measures.
IT is a black hole where money goes but never returns a wise friend once told me. Development/Engineering makes a product. Sales sells it. CEO's,CFO's, COO's all know how to quantify that kind of stuff, but an in-house service like IT? Makes their heads spin. We're also the department that helps inept employees look not so inept.
IT has to cleanup the mess from all of the fucked-up porn surfing sales people downloading viruses all of the time.
My role in IT was to stop people buying hardware and software without thinking through how it would be used, how all the bits would integrate together and who would support it. I work in hospitals, and they are the worst so far. Clinical departments think it is a good idea to spend a pile of money on some piece of hardware or software, only to find they either can't use it, it is too complex for their staff to learn, it doesn't fit with anything else, it has a huge dependency on something they didn't buy and so on. Most of it ends up not ever being used - hence shelfware.
I once got into trouble, for saying something like, I suppose a kettle has a wire on it, that must be our responsibility as well.
ok it may have been fucking kettle.
That the outsourced IT were supposed to do (effectively hiding their incompetence), also known as diversity
cease fire stand down.. accurate inf. useful interface,, sing along.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jORFcH5uAjM
If it beeps, blinks or have a button, it is the responsibility of IT to handle it.
In my experience, Software Engineers are in IT. Many businesses write their infrastructure as code or at the very least have to write a lot of custom utilities, automations and often have a handle on online offering's code bases, not to mention providing a high level of aptitude in working with the given ERP system and related data services. Another critical consideration is if you are developing any code and you don't consider yourself the 'antibody' of the enterprise then you aren't doing Software Engineering right.
But, I digress, in situations where you do have pure Devs and dedicated Infrastructure/Facility teams, Infrastructure will be expected to manage security (patching, security software, border gateways, firmware management, CCTV) as well as software and hardware lifecycles, procurement (including warranties and licensing), comms (phone, mail etc), user management and policies, access (door locks and swipe cards, VPNs, Internet access, root passwords), server performance, database administration, managing the desktop systems images and BYOD, offerings, DR and backup (this includes testing the UPS), storage, as well as general enterprise planning. Fundamentally, if it exists and plugs into a wall now or in the future, it is your responsibility. In addition to that, you will also need to hold the hands of any pure Devs as they typically can't be expected to lock down their environment beyond their APIs (you get to lock down the remainder of their stack)
Just kidding, IT isn't morons.
I once saw all our IT staff busy transferring 3 huge boxes with business cards which was collected by company CEO in a conference. Transferring all the data from business cards to an MS excel file.
When they have nothing to do, they back-up all accounting invoice data and server emails in a DVD ROM, without any encryption of course. That would just increase their workload.
Sometimes IT staff are carrying heavy CPU boxes because some hardware fault causes it to make endless loop on reboot.
IT staff are also clearing the network cables below our table, sometimes the cables are compressed by 2 tables which could damage the copper wires.
If they have nothing to do, they peek at everybody's pay-cheque and they love to peek at accounting files so they can also request for an increase in bonus or increase in salary.
You're going to see a lot of negative, bitter posts in here from guys who feel like they've been taken advantage of. I'm definitely one of them, but I won't bore you by parroting.
Are you assertive? If not, that might be the one thing others might not think to advise you one. Find some way of ensuring you are treated fairly for performing beyond your "normal" role. Ask the other employees whether your employer is known for being a tight-ass with money and funds for projects. Ask if they're justly rewarded when they take on extra tasks. What I've learned is don't just "assume" or "hope" that you'll be noticed for being a "team player". If you have more than 2-3 people tell you what you don't want to hear, get out, or at least clear it up with your boss NOW. You're not asking for a raise, you just want to be sure you're not bitter, stressed, and burned out in a year.
I had a sucky sig.
You should have received a copy of the training video on what to expect from users and some of your tasks. http://www.nbc.com/saturday-ni...
Welcome to the rewarding world of IT
She needs a regular shag, and it comes down to the IT department
Throwing out packing boxes and cleaning up the datacenter (of big foam/cardboard pieces) once you install nice multi-million euro hardware ;-)
The most important thing you will learn is not just to say no, but how to say no to idiot requests. You will be viewed as a complete arsehole if you get it wrong consistently.
Communicating things to the business is also an essential skill, meaning being able to explain things so others can understand them, is also a sometimes difficult task especially when matters are anything above moderately complex and you are dealing with, amongst others, bean counters that somehow graduated with some kind of finance related qualification without managing to learn Excel properly in education or in their professional career (which involves using Excel all day every day).
My first job was help-desk in a company hiring 30 office workers and about a hundred of physical workers.
I was responsible for:
- desktops,
- servers,
- ERP system (mainly backups, but also adding new reports and forms),
- network (cables, switches and router),
- contacts with external ISP regarding our website and e-mail service,
- technical specifications for purchases of IT hardware.
But I've also did some stranger things like:
- fixing a computer that managed a CNC machine.
- setting up network for our industrial automation guys at client's site ()
- design and implementation of a program for simulation of technological process.
Fortunately there was (on-call) tele-com guy who serviced phones. We had quiet understanding, never to touch each-other's cables and devices.
In a small shop...
IT = all things that use electricity, except for typically HVAC (although even then you may have to let them in or show them to the right rooms and deal with the fall out.)
- physical security (badge access and electronic locks/door entries, at least dealing with the contractors and requirements)
- wiring of network (i've had to crawl through plenum holding a group of CAT5 on an early help desk job........because i was the only one who weighed under 65kg)
- telephones (I got handy with a 101 punch block at this same job)
In addition
- the CEO's fancy new desk that goes up and down with the push of a button
- the desk fan for the receptionist when it breaks and she can't figure out why its making that weird sound
- the pump on the aquarium slows to a halt and IT to the rescue
- coffee is spilled under a desk (well to be fair it did put a few drops of coffee on an unused network cable)
- a new powerstrip is needed in the breakroom for the extra toaster they bought
- the CFO needs a new light in her full spectrum face light
Yeah,
On paper my job description is “Software Developer”, but due my broad experience with networking, SAN, Oracle DB, Linux administration and performance monitoring; I'm the one to call when specialists start to play blame-shifting games.
On the other hand I love solving system wide puzzles.
Look in the computer section of a bookstore. There are diverse topics including how to write an email, online business etiquette, online marketing, web design, programming, the history of computers, and a biography of Steve Jobs. If they did not have the word "computer" in the title, they would be spread across the store, from history to communications to business... The population at large generally considers computing to be a highest-level domain of knowledge and shoehorn in anything vaguely computer-related. We never had a phase where telephone etiquette was sorted together with wiring a house.
Most consumers and most businesses want tech that "just works" and they don't want to think about it.
I had to start to monitor all web traffic after s suspicious image appeared on our network which turned out to be one of the managers watching kidde porn. I had to liease with the police and compile evidence for them so he could get the boot without any sort of leaving package.
If you work in a small company, most likely you will be asked to do things that are outside your job. What this will be will depend on the company.
This is not limited to the IT department.
The reason can be that due to the growing of the company the task was never pointed towards the correct department. If these are minor things, it will most likely not change, If it takes up too much time, it might be that they will address the issue and appoint it to the correct department.
What you need to do if these things happen is first take a look at the time spend on it, then look who should do it instead, next talk first with cow orkers if they already addressed it and then to your boss with a clear explanation why it should go to department Y.
Because he needs to sell it that department Y needs to do it. There are as many reason why they want it as why they don't. (The lamest I ever saw was that every manager should have the same amount of FTE and divide the jobs according to that)
But yeah, there will always be things that won't be 100% with your job description and the smaller the company, the higher the chance this will happen. Goes up to 100% if you are alone.
It happens in every department in all companies.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Most of today stuff has some "software" in it and "others" will try desperately to assign the "maintenance" of it to you.
Do not fall for it easily: For every bad equipment you have to "handle" state clearly who bought/authorized it and that you cannot support a defective unit.
Keep repeating it in every conversation/email.
Yes, you will be hated, but really, the alternative is worse.
(Alternative is: Being blamed for all crappy choices made by others)
The problem with employers assuming they can still get away with a jack-of-all-trades "IT guy" position these days is the level of complexity and technical competence required to maintain systems properly. IT has fragmented down quite a bit, and one can make a career out of simply mastering IT security, and not ever even get into managing the other 90% of IT services.
Consider some of the most common services we run today in business. Desktops, servers, printers, switches, routers, email, internet, database, file/print/DNS/DHCP, along with SPAM filters, firewalls, IDS/IPS, A/V and anti-malware to help protect it all. And we haven't even touched virtualization or voice/chat services yet. Think you're gonna hire one IT person to do it all, or even find someone who holds a competent level of knowledge? Do you have only one doctor you see for anything and everything? No. Sure, a lot of those services you could hire the magical "cloud" to run to minimize IT staffing needs, but if you're cloud-adverse (which is becoming more and more of a valid stance), that may not be a viable option. If you run a local data center, now you're talking UPS sizing, generators, fire suppression, and physical security. Should the level-1 junior IT person be in charge ot DR/BCP planning for all IT services? Probably not.
IT should now be compared to the medical industry, where you have many specialists serving a compartmentalized field, due to complexity and skill required in each.. I'm not saying a small company needs to employ a staff of half a dozen specialists every time, but as the requirements list for IT services grows, so does the need for additional staff. Also, redundancy. Companies need to avoid the hit-by-a-bus scenario and ensure for every service the business relies on, you have primary and an alternate person named, and not merely on paper. Again, to compare to the medical industry, ongoing training is critical to maintaining competency.
TL; DR - Even for small business, IT today is not simple or easy. Employers cannot assume to get away with a jack-of-all-trades IT position.
- maintaining a high-traffic quake 3 arena server on company Hardware without anyone noticing
- coming up with elaborate and well worded excuses as to why I don't have time to set up and maintain MS Office 365 and it's groupware mess and have them let the intern/media-communications do it (the poor fellows)
- explaining for the n-th time to the utterly clueless online team and the consultant PMs what the difference between a client and a server is, why versioning is important, that it's not *my* versioning but *our* versioning, why ci is a good idea, why manual ftp and working directly on live is a bad idea
- stareing, day in and day out with awe and amazement at the ultimate shitfest that is WordPresses application architecture and wondering how we as a human race even got this far ... That's just from the top of my head.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
The main role that has been overlooked repeatedly here is the role of communicator [on Slashdot? say it isn't so! :^) ]
It is a tough job. People believe that you are a magic djinn responsible for anything they don't understand, that you can fix anything with a wave of your hand, that by not fixing it immediately you just don't want to do it, and that even though they have no idea where to begin, it is actually quite easy as they have a 14 year old nephew who "knows everything about computers." Furthermore, once you go near their computer and future problem they have was caused by you. Good times.
Don't ever foster the belief that you know everything. It will be your ego that destroys you. When the power goes out, let them know that you too feel victimized. When the computer is not working properly, let them know that you too feel frustration about how things never work the way they are supposed to. If you can get them to see you as the poor sap who has to bear the brunt of the insanity rather than the guy who knows the secret but won't share it then your life will get a whole lot better very quickly.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Whether it is the brand new cabinet of AI or the CIO's daughter's piece of crap bought off eBay. Or, depending on the size of the organisation, any other random piece of electronics owned by any staff member.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
I work for a small company of half a dozen people, and I just say that if it plugs into the wall or has a battery, it's my problem. I keep PCs running, deal with our site hosting, sort out phone syncing, find charging cables, fix the printer, yell at our ISP when they change our plan but 'forget' to change what they're charging us, and vacuum the desks. Since I'm the only man working here, I also lift anything heavy, move furniture, and deal with spiders.
I recommend "The Practice of System and Network Administration" by Limoncelli et al:
* https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321919165/
* http://the-sysadmin-book.com
It's a large tome, everything you need to know is front-loaded in the first third or so (300 / 900 pages) in Part I ("Getting Started") and II ("Foundation Elements"). Parts III, IV, and V (many chapters each) are something to worry about later (if at all, depending on the size of the organization).
If you don't have one running already, set up a ticketing system. RT (often recommended in /r/sysadmin) is pretty easy and will take you a long way before you need something more complicated. We used it at $WORK for many years before the higher ups wanted more metrics and reporting and we went to Atlassian (*hawk* *spit*) ServiceDesk.
Congrats on your new job in IT! Depending on your company size, and the number of other people in your department, if it plugs in (electricity or network), you are now the SME for that device! Lucky you.
Call IT!!!
website white/blacklisting; corporate VPN setup, maintenance and wide deployment; machine (hard and and software) assignment, maintenance, violation-management and whatnot; support system setup provisioning and maintenance (ERPs, accounting, time-tracking...); version-control/website/applicational/db/issue-tracking hosting setup, maintenance and management; and the most common and cumbersome of all - wired and wireless network management for internal, external, transient and development usage. Good luck with that last one, it includes hardware selection, spatial placement, load-balancing, QoS'ing, virtual-network arrangement, and the not-so-odd hardware incompatibility.
The list goes on, but I think that bunch will get you started out pretty fairly.
Rarely will you ever encounter a job that fits nicely in it's description. Perhaps factory or a very large corporation. Even then, if you hope to expand your responsibility you better show both desire and ability to move off script. If they are so disorganized, understaffed, or generally confused to ask you, then that's an opportunity to prove your worth and help them do better overall. The better they do, the better you will do. If you acquire all those new skills and they don't reimburse you come promotion time, then the worse case is that you just made yourself a much better resume. However, if you're totally out of your depth with something they ask you to help with, you better fess up or you'll screw it up worse and they'll have to fix more than just the first problem.
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
Until the owner of the business comes to you asking about Bitcoin, you aint seen nothing. Especially when you tell your colleagues how much you made this last quarter (before it crashed again) and you get the "I asked you about this and you said not to worry about it" comment...
So yes, apparently IT is also good for dispensing financial advice now too.
Dan. -- So what if it's spelt wrong, nobody's perfect
You have, at the broadest level, physical and virtual. Physical people deal with things like servers, switches, copiers, phones, etc. Virtual people deal with things like software support, development, databases, etc. Generally, organizations are aligned with three broad buckets: Development, Infrastructure, and Support. Security is a role as well, but many organizations place security outside of the broader IT organization.
If you want to have structured rigidity to your role (ie, not asked to do things you feel outside it), you should probably seek out a larger organization. Understand, however, that you'll likely grow further and faster as a professional in an organization where you are asked to stretch those boundaries. Do you want to be the world's most awesomest developer focused on x technology stack, or do you want to be a well-rounded IT professional with the skills and background to thrive in any environment? Maybe I'm just biased, but with a 25 year career spanning help desk, server and network admin, database administration and development, fifteen years of web app dev, and now seven years of security, I vote for well-rounded. Without all that time doing all those "other things", I would not be able to be effective in my current role.
The truth about Scientology, Xenu, and you: Operation Clambake
I was hired 12 years ago for specifically IT. Up until 6 years ago, that was all I did, other than the odd point of sale system. After our service manager died, we all are now made to sweep the shop floor, and vacuum the carpets at the door. The service manager had no issues doing that himself, but the person who took over his job is apparently "too good" to relegate to that task. It sucks, and I would leave if I could, but there is nowhere else to go currently, and my employer knows that.
You are on one hand, a janitor. You do menial tasks and clean up other people's messes. On the other hand you roll out complex systems that require time and concentration. You juggle these and everything in between all day all throughout the day.
At my job, I am in IT hell. If it has any kind of electronics, I am told it is my responsibility. I also handle the phone systems for 3 properties along with managing all the hardware, software, cabling, vendors, ordering, and pretty much anything else you can think of. I have even been asked to fix microwaves, tvs, copiers, credit card machines, surveillance equipment, etc. Definitely not what I was hired for and definitely not what I am getting paid for.
There is a huge difference between a "Software Engineer" and a "Network Engineer". From your comment I would guess you are the "Software Engineer". If that is the case, I think you are in a mismatched position, and you should stick to software. The situation you are describing is handled by the "Network Engineers" (such as myself), and it's a normal part of the I.T. world.
Our job is mostly hardware, design and implementation, configuration, monitoring and analysis of network traffic. We are the experts of the equipment that connects to the network which is why corporations have us be the ones to perform the task assigned to you.
I think you somehow got placed in a position not suited for you, and that may be the fault of H.R. failing to correctly describe and define the position.
I never knew I would go into IT in order to become an accountant, calculating depreciation schedules and providing chargeback/showback charts to "internal customers."
And I'm not some middle-management drone....
...
1) Everything is your fault
2) Perfection is the minimum standard
3) Everything is your fault
4) You must fix everything without spending any money
5) Everything is your fault
6) IT people are a dime a dozen
and lastly
7) Everything is your fault
...it is part of the I.T. domain; especially in smaller Mom & Pop operations.
One ring to bind them - should probably have more fiber and less rings in their diet.
Sometime you will find that they company doesn't have a policy for use of the network or what kind of devices can be connected to it. Lack of a policy an be a really major pothole.
In most medium or small companies the IT person (or "team") would be in charge of the following even though the budget for it is not under their control.
- Hardware Procurement
- Desktops
- Servers
- Phones (Desk/Conference/Cell)
- Printers / Copiers
- Toner and other consumables like paper
- Paper Jams
- Software Procurement and Licensing
- Keycard System
- Security Cameras
- Telco (Internet and all phone lines/PRI/SIP/etc)
- Phone System
Oh no, they are arguing with a phone vendor, boo hoo.
In the wake of the dot-com burst, the company I had been working at (well as much 'working' as college kids actually did at dot com startups) dissolved, so I found myself with the only job I could find, IT intern at the research site of an industrial equipment manufacturer. It paid barely more than minmum wage and capped my hours to 20 a week.
The first day I was informed that they consider IT a part of facilities, so I would report to their director of facilities, and I was in fact *the* IT department. This seemed ok. They showed me to where I should sit, and it was a rickety table and cheap hard plastic chair in the closet with a rack of servers, a rack of telephony equipment, and bits of the HVAC control system around.
The next day I went to ask for my work assignment and the facilities director wasn't there. A few hours later I was informed that they had fired him, and I was assuming the role of facilities. I asked if I could use his now empty office and was told no, those were only for director level executives, so I went through my tenure in the closet, not even allowed to use any of the empty offices or cubicles. But the fun had not yet begun.
I quickly learned that the company had one rule: never ever ever call a vendor, even if under warranty. My first lesson was when they brought me in to look at some piece of industrial equipment used on factory floors for something or another. There was a computer attached saying that there was a fault in the equipment, and so the equipment would not run. After double checking the computer I said as near as I could tell, that the fault was legitimate, and we should call the manufacturer for guidance. I was informed we shouldn't do that, and I should try to diagnose the equipment myself. So I grabbed an oscilloscope and an ohmmeter and went about effectively trying to reverse engineer the monitoring circuitry of a broken whatever the hell it was. I did actually find an open in a fairly standard component, and said we could buy a new one for a couple dollars and see if that worked, was asked if I could repair it, so broke it's casing open and soldered it and the equipment actually worked.
Another time the HVAC stopped working, and they asked me to dig into that. Fortunately there was some sort of locked down monitoring implementation and we had to call the vendor, who informed us that it would have been against our contract to even *try* to fix it.
The last notable event along those lines came as one day the security system was emitting a little chirp every 5 minutes and had a fault light. They asked me to look at it, but knowing that I had no idea how to approach it and that a mistake could incur a hefty false alarm fine from the city, I refused. Ultimately some VP said 'fine, let me see'. Within 10 minutes of him 'seeing', the full alarm went off, and within 2 minutes two fire trucks and 3 police cars arrived and the company had to pay a large false alarm fine (for residential, there's leeway, but corporate alarm are treated a bit more strictly).
Thankfully it only took about 3 months of working there before I found a better job.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I've done I.T. for everything from "running out of a large garage" type businesses to mid size companies with multiple offices.
I'd have to say the weirdest variety of job expectations were at the smallest places. When you're the only I.T. guy hired full-time at a small business, you're immediately viewed as one of the "smart guys" who surely knows how to do X, Y and Z that people want to do - regardless of if it has much of anything to do with computers.
The weirdest tasks of all had to be when I applied for a job in the local newspaper for a Macintosh tech for a small start-up business that wanted to refurbish older Macs and PCs to resell in daycare settings and secondarily to the public as "great first computers for small kids". I was unemployed at the time and needed to make the house and car payment, so wasn't being too selective. It turned out, the guy running this business came up with the idea because he already owned a number of daycare centers, as well as other rental property. He was a long time fan of Apple Macs, even though he wasn't that great at using them. (He was your typical older guy who attended those monthly users' group meetings held at the local library and knew just enough to be dangerous.) One of the interesting features of his house was this HUGE multi-bay garage built into the back side of a hill. He put about 6 rows of shelving units in part of it, where he collected up old, obsolete Macs that area schools, the local newspaper and others wanted to get rid of. He'd drive his van out to one of these places every so often with a trailer attached, and bring back 25 to 50 of the machines at a time.
The rest of this garage was stuffed full with other odds and ends that looked like a scene from one of those "American Pickers" episodes on TV. He had tool and die equipment (as he said he used to work in that field years back), a huge collection of paint cans of various colors (probably whatever was left when his rentals needed repainting), a lot of miscellaneous hardware like chains, bolts, hooks, and several vehicles including an older car with less than 500 miles on it, sitting under a cover.
Right away, this guy was maddening to work for. He insisted that I punch in and out on this old time clock he had sitting in the back on a desk. It was one of those green metal analog clocks where you had to line up the paper time card just right and press the big steel button on top to stamp your time on it. And as it was as ancient as most other junk in his garage, the clock often stopped -- so you had to make sure it was set right before punching your card. And the time it printed was barely legible either. I was supposed to be refurbishing these old Macs, putting collections of kids' games and learning programs on them, and tagging them with price sheets that told you exactly what the computer's configuration was. In reality, I'd get one or two finished only to find the hard drives were dying and they'd only boot correctly every other time. Then, I had to dig through a collection of used hard drives he kept around to try to find one that worked well enough so it would hold the information in a stable manner. Every so often, he'd come around trying to micro-manage my work and scold me about something or other I should be doing, in his opinion, in order to work faster.
At some point, he figured out I knew how to do things like update web sites, so he'd regularly pull me away from what I was doing to come up to his office in the main part of the house. There, he'd have me update his daycare center web site or upload photos and edit descriptions of his rental homes, or edit listings on his personal .Mac web page trying to sell some of those nuts, bolts and chains he had around.
In the winter months, he had this wood burning furnace contraption he built to heat the garage. So I had the task of tending the fire in it and adding logs to it regularly each day.
Eventually, he decided to try to sell a bunch of these computers at a computer show at an area
Actually, depending on what OS you are running, especially *nix, YES! I would expect that one IT guy can handle everything and I hire as many as I need to cover the size of my organization.
Even I can handle all that, and I'm basically a software guy. BTW, you forgot the most important part: backups.
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
WordPress is a fork of a project written in PHP 3. It's purely procedural, as PHP did not support classes or object-oriented programming at that time. There are lots of over-engineered piles of crap in the world, and the ones written in PHP are a special hell indeed, but at least from an architectural standpoint I sincerely hope that WordPress stands in a category of its own.
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
Supporting company cell phones, unloading boxes of paper, moving furniture (tip: invest in some of those "moving men" things that you put on the feet).
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
... it was in my scope of work.
I was a one-man show for my 25 year career and I had the pbx, electrical installations, overhead paging system, smart phone/tablet issues, including negotiating contracts, moving furniture, moving boxes, taking possession of anything that had a wire or was unusual, fixing computers at each manager's home ...
I also had my day job as Technology Administrator -- all the stuff a network administrator and systems analyst would do.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Let's see... Over the years... Cameras. Makes a bit of sense. It uses wired infrastructure. With IP cameras, network video recorders and POE switches, it makes more sense. Building environmental conditions. I just soldered up a bunch of Particle.io Photons with some sensors and throw them around the various parts of the building relating to IT. Door access systems and badges. I've helped build portals and webapps for customers. Which was a primary save on a hundred million dollar customer who was very unhappy with our reporting previously. We helped out our manufacturing folks with technical assistance with the more high tech ends of assembly. We've helped fix multi million dollar CNC machines. We assisted our engineering staff with better workflows to get work from the designers to engineers to the manufacturing folks to the actual CNC devices themselves. Writing policies is always fun.
It's not just PCs, servers and whatnot. It's information and technology. That covers a lot of diverse legitimate things in any business.
On the less legitimate side. I've had VPs call the help desk asking why their desk light didn't work. People have put in help desk tickets about clogged toilets. When a bird connected with three phase power run, exploded while catching fire, and started a couple acre burn... Yep. IT was responsible for calling cops, fire, power company and asking accounting to call insurance. We set up the mass notification system for HR because they didn't want to do so.
If it plugs in it is your problem. At my prior position I became the point person for our HVAC system because the control system ran on a PC. So every complaint about offices being too hot or cold came to me. I don't mind because it is easy to make friends and become a valued part of the organization this way but if you are looking to specialize then big corporations are the way to go. I want no part of corporate red tape and I like being jack of all trades so it works for me.
In high-school I got certified in life guarding. I took a few Red Cross classes on CPR, general first aid and safety, and of course life guarding.
Fast forward to 20 years of being expired on all my certs, pudgy, and in no way fit to be a lifeguard - the H.R. department called me up to the big conference room to help them get some slides on the displays so they could teach those who showed up to the presentation about using the new A.E.D. The H.R. department was fumbling - badly - with everything to do with the whole situation. I asked the H.R. girl if she wanted me to explain what she was having trouble with and I basically did the whole training class, along with a Q&A at the end with absolutely no prep or practice. I just used the resources in front of me and semi-related knowledge from 20 years earlier.
A.E.D. was barely covered when I did my training. We did about half an hour on older style defibrillators that we weren't actually expected to use when I was in school.
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If you want your hardware to keep working, unless your company is particularly large-ish you have to be a complete facilities manager on top of your daily IT struggle. Want the server room to stay dry? Well you better have water detection in there cause no one else is going to give a crap. Want the power to stay on? Better get good at breaker sizing, figure out where the failure points are, and secure backup power/generators. Someone in IT better figure out all this because unless you have a skilled facilities dept (most are really not) you wont realize it til its too late.
Really, the precise role of any position within the IT department, and indeed the role of the IT department as a whole, depends a fair bit on the company you work for. I've seen companies where most employees were fairly technical, and basic helpdesk support was rare. I've seen companies where most employees were supposed to be extremely technical, but people still needed help logging into their computers on an almost daily basis. I've seen companies where the IT department is largely about development and server work, and I've see companies where it's all desktop and VoIP support. I've seen companies where that have one role (even if they have multiple instances) of "IT guy", and it's a never-ending barrage of different kinds of work covering anything remotely associated with computers, but I've also been in companies with highly specialized roles, including some where a guy sits around waiting, in case some particular thing breaks.
There is only one unifying factor of all the IT positions I've seen: You will get shit on. People within the company will treat you like a servant. Management will treat you as a cost center with no productive value. When things are working well, the executives will be angry that they're spending money on your department because they assume you're not doing anything. When things aren't working well, the executives will be angry that they're spending money on your department because they assume you're ineffective.
I have yet to work in a place where IT personnel are treated as respectable hard-working skilled experts.
In this part of world, you dont get to be in it, unless you have double degrees or 5 years of prior experience. And not to say fixing teapots is consumer's business..
Wearing too much cologne and making people sick.
Also, being lazy, inept cunts.
.....it's always the network....
Often I've gotten a ticket to help someone hooking up the computer and find out they moved the desk and computer to the other side of the room from the network connections so we have to move everything.
* Garbage man. Nobody else is going to clean up, break down and haul all these card board boxes down to the recycling dumpster
* Plumber. Problem with the sink or water filter? Just like most IT problems all it really takes is having the courage to take a look and see if it is fixable
* Electrician. Office admin put a toaster, coffee maker and three microwaves on the same kitchen circuit? Time to get out some extension cables and distribute the load.
* Building Security. I've been called by my boss and asked to goto the office to investigate an alarm, because calling the police would be too expensive. I got there and saw pry marks on the door in our empty office buliding. Luckily the guys were gone.
* Bouncer. I've also been asked by HR on multiple occasions to be present to walk terminated employees out of the office "In case things get emotional".
I've been asked why the room is too hot/cold before.
No, I don't care how nice your legs are; I don't go down on all fours during office hours.
There is a very good reason I put that [surge protector] box there on the tabletop. Because her ass meant nothing to me your Honor. And I have no recollection of that encounter at all.
Dear Software Engineer,
while the label might indicate that you are only responsible for software and the other layers do not need to concern you, this is not true for real software engineers, as the design and selection of hardware (execution environments, networking etc.) is also part of your job description. You are often not an operator, but you need to think about operation as well. In the first year of your studies, you might learned all the stuff which is relevant for operations on a basic level. Also you are an academic. Therefore, you can learn the rest on the fly. This means you have to adapt to the various needs which are presented to you. You should have been involved in that phone system purchase.
Please note: Do not become the guy who values the smooth operation of the system higher than the utility to the users. If no one can do something useful with the provided services, they are dysfunctional regardless, you did not have a crash in years.
Oddest one I've heard is the sysadmin asked to sort out a problem with a urinal.
I suppose at least that makes it an I pee address, but jokes aside it happened because we are seen as "techie" types so better at dealing with machinery and infrastructure than a receptionist.
A lot of IT shops that I've been in don't know how to manage obsolete inventory, throw everything into storage closets and run out of space for projects. Cleaning up my immediate work area and the storage closets is usually my first order of business. You can't work efficiently if you're buried in crap.
Have you actually thought about where those policies came from?
If a policy is stupid (many are) there is no point blaming the tail and not the dog.
Starting at about the middle of my 17 year career in IT I considered myself a technology janitor, because that's basically what I was. IT does the tech tasks that people with other jobs don't want to take the time to do. Usually this just comes down to reading the manual to figure something out. Also repetitive processes. Kind of a double edged sword.. I always resented "taking out the trash" for people who just didn't feel like doing it, but there was satisfaction in helping people who really needed help. The pay was ok for relatively easy work.
is exposing every detail of your life, spamming Amazon affiliate links, telling us your real name, then getting upset that we know every detail of your life.
Also, this must be done with bad grammar and during working hours.
In addition to handling all software and hardware installation and support we are supposedly supposed to know every employee's role so that we can do their jobs for them. It never ceases to amaze me how many people think it's my job to do a vlookup or setup fuel routing solutions. Apparently we don't require our employees to know a damn thing, just push it to the I.T. department to get it done....in a company with 1,000+ employees and an I.T. staff of 5.
Notice I didn't say that we purchase software. No no....that would mean that we're involved in that process. Instead some other department purchases the software and then notifies IT after the fact. It doesn't matter if it will work with existing hardware/software because the software salesman said it will work just fine. And salesmen never lie.
Some days I think I would rather flip burgers for a living.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
Kit furniture construction
Drywall repairs
Modeling and 3D printing drone parts
Putting vinyl coating stickers on ice cream machines
Minor electrical work
Office decor
Etc
So, you have to send time deciphering that. Why are users asking for the old shit? Is something really wrong with the improvement or are they just too stressed out to learn a smarter way to do things? Why are they reporting errors in unrelated systems etc. What exactly is wrong when they ask for a "PowerPoint cable"?
You are the shepard. Most users don't know about bogus/infected email messages, trick-to-click, and spam. You are the phone guy. You are the mobile device guy. You are the systems admin and the network admin and the systems engineer and the network engineer. Windows platforms are Hell incarnate. Linux and BSD systems, when properly secured and updated, will save your soul and let you sleep at night. You are the printer administrator and often the printer repair man. You procure hardware and recycle/dispose of the utterly spent 15-year old crap that the company finally decides to let go of. House cabling is your problem, as are wireless access points. Fire suppression, security, and environmental systems are your problem. Any specialty systems are your problem. Tutoring and providing guidance to upper management is your problem, if they'll let you. ...Otherwise other problems will flow from that. You are responsible for instilling a sense of mindfulness into your accounting or book keeping people so that they aren't inclined to wire money to some random bank account without checking with the boss via a different communications channel. Then you need to teach them how to spot bogus email messages. Then you get to tech them how to be skeptical. How to be mindful. How to seek veracity in the crap information pointed at their head all day long. You are the Divine Manipulator of The Threads, whether management understands that or not. Your budget will be incomplete, inadequate, or non-existent. Your hours aren't always "eight to five". If it has a cord or a keyboard it's your problem. And I can't imagine life any other way. Good luck.
Now that's the tough one - with enough people it can be both at the same time!
Here's a few I can think of.....
Trainer (for every piece of software anyone wants to buy or has bought) - This is actually a HUGE part of the job....
Security System Guru (cameras, wiring, you name it)
Projector Turner-offer (most meeting rooms are left with the projector on and no one will turn it off. At $400 a bulb, I turned them off throughout the day in passing.)
I work in manufacturing, and I've often gotten roped into manufacturing projects in areas where they should have had their own engineer do it.
Receiving clerk for purchases.
Monitor mover. (that really sucked with CRTs that weighed a ton....now it's not so bad)
Floor scraper (I has a user leave her tower on the floor for years. The cleaning folks worked around it, even waxing the floor around it. I had to literally kick it to break it off the floor when I was replacing it, and I then had to clean up the mess that was left.)
Many good comments already. Over decades, I've had many positions IT and others. When in an IT / admin position, I've always kept the 'bofh' series in mind; helps with the constant stupid requests. http://bofh.bjash.com/ Hope this helps. :)
IT peps regularly have to take on the roles of administering anything that uses electricity. audio/video, security (doors and cameras), telecom, you name it. "If it powers on then the IT guys should automatically be masters at using it, right?" It's hard enough being just the desktop/systems/network engineer, as that job usually ropes in everything from IT purchasing manager, to software engineer, to web dev.
I've been in "IT" professionally for 11 years now and have held many different jobs. In each one of them tasks like this have always creeped up on me.
I'm currently in the Telecom area of a large corporation and I need to put on several various hats such as: Project Manager, Data Analysis, Accounting, Sales Engineering, Inside Sales, network troubleshooting, material procurement, vendor management, network designer, financial forecaster, just to name a few. All in the name of "IT"!
No matter what POS the Pointy Haired Bosses buy YOU are expected to make it do what the lying salesman SAID it would do.
You are Star Trek Scotty, you are expected to work miracles.
Title says it all. If it plugs in to any outlet of any kind or if it runs on electricity then it's your job.
Finding places at the last minute that will deliver lunch to executive meetings. If they don't deliver, then picking it up myself. :-(
At a previous job, we used to joke (only half-heartedly) that if something had a light on it, it was obviously IT's responsibility. Hmmm, the coffee isn't has hot as it used to be. Oh, the coffee-maker has a light on the power switch! Open a ticket and call IT!
who has installed what and when the license expires
Lesser known IT roles I've seen over the years include:
- Coffee maker fixer and clean up crew
- Pest control (yes, I did throw away a mouse - the furry kind)
- Counselor
- Author
- Investigator
- Sales and marketing
And every once in a while I get to fix a computer or do some actual network design. Seriously though, if you enjoy the process of learning regardless of its relevance to your actual on paper job functions, you can really enjoy the job. If not, you can get cynical real quick.
As an IT employee for (ahem) many years I've done the following not usually associated with programming: :)
1. Mopped the computer room floor
2. Driven a U-Haul 700 miles to retrieve a computer a client didn't want to pay for (it was a large computer)
3. Driven around the city looking for an office building to move the company to
4. Cut up a tree that had fallen on our backup power generator
5. Surfed ebay for spare computer parts for an obsolete computer
6. Knocked down a wall to create room for a new computer
7. Interviewed and hired an HR Manager, receptionist, secretary, etc
8. Built a computer from spare parts so two Field Service reps could work in parallel on different hardware problems
9. Built a hardware solution to a software problem on the fly at a customers site
---- It's all part of the fun.
I was the web/IT guy for an adult photography company. This company used to take test poloroids of in-coming models, to shop them around to the publishers, to determine if any of the publishers wanted the model to be featured in a layout. Now comes the advent of the digital camera, which would allow these test shots to be disseminated faster, and with less complications. So, being the IT guy, I'm tasked with working the digital camera, taking pictures of naked women in various poses, which jump-started a sideline business of being a nude (the girls, not me) photographer.
And fueling a major portion of my sex life.
Tip of the iceberg my friend...
You also get to deploy spyware, enforce useless security policies, implement latest IT fads, and get blamed for anything and everything that goes wrong with the network whether or not its your fault. Everyone else loves to complain about the IT department. Just keep in mind that software developers need admin rights to their machines to install useful software tools which you haven't approved yet, otherwise things can get really unproductive. Try to be as invisible as possible, and you'll do fine.
"What are the lesser-known roles of the IT department?"
Easy. If it runs on electricity and it isn't a lightbulb, toaster, microwave, or HVAC, it's IT.
Wait, let me roll that back -- I did have to tell someone once how the microwave works.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
I'm a printer tech and not only am I supposed to trouble shoot and fix printer issues, I also have to deal with network and fax issues with out access to the network or data closest. I also have to trouble shoot the pc side with applications and print drivers even though I'm not aloud to touch a end users pc at all.
it's bs but you do what ya can and move on.
One of my first jobs was doing tech support in a call center environment. :S
My then director instructed me that we we're also responsible for security, and had to change the numeric codes of the lock of the doors that separated the production room from the administration. The lock was mechanical mind you, nothing electrical. We did this monthly... but changed admin passwords only when a sysadmin was sacked or left
-Electrician (The never ending battle over who is responsible for power strips)
-Carpenter (Wouldn't it be great if the company hire someone to assemble the new cubicle walls?)
-Network Administrator (Network Administrator =/= Systems Administrator, completely different areas of expertise)
-Tour Guide (Oh sure, I'll meet the Sales client at the door and escort them to the other building)
-Interpreter (when you're the only one who speaks a foreign language, Japanese used to be in demand, now Chinese is in hot demand)
-Psychiatrist (Please do tell me all about your divorce, marital strife, kids in jail...)
-Foreman (because who else is best to tell a construction crew what to do then the IT Guy)
-Security Officer (someone has to set those alarms)
-Babysitter (for those times when AT&T wants to be on premises after midnight)
-Mailroom (don't you love filling out International mail slips?)
-Suicide Prevention Hotline (had a guy once telling me all about how much booze he drank and what he was planning on doing with his gun)
-Tutor ("I don't know how to do X/Y/Z in Excel and I'll get fired if I don't figure this out", try Googling it bitch)
-Power Button Pusher (Is it turned on, because guess what, the first thing I'm going to do when I get to your desk is check if the power is turned on)
" Desktops, servers, printers, switches, routers, email, internet, database, file/print/DNS/DHCP, along with SPAM filters, firewalls, IDS/IPS, A/V and anti-malware to help protect it all. And we haven't even touched virtualization or voice/chat services yet. Think you're gonna hire one IT person to do it all, or even find someone who holds a competent level of knowledge?" ...Yes? At least for a small-medium org that isn't in the IT sector itself. I do all those things except voice/chat, and also some development work. By the way, you forgot backup and disaster recovery planning. There is a market for people who are competent generalists. Not necessarily experts in any given niche, but with a well-rounded understanding a many different technologies, how they fit together, and how they fit into the organization.
**Imagines Slash standing outside of a church with a cig in his mouth doing a mean guitar solo... from the November rain music video.
In the cold November rainnnnnnnn!!!
- mikal
"What fresh hell has this software engineer gotten themselves into? Leave your best answers in the comments. What are the lesser-known roles of the IT department? "
Software engineers should NOT be sysadmins. Full stop.
How does being a Linux guy, a subset of just one item on that list makes someone competent for literally everything else on that list? The medical analogy would to assume since someone is very good with joint replacement surgeries they can also do everything else from reception, EMT, GP, and chemo to being on the ethics committee and HIPAA compliance board.
What Linux guy do you know that can handle Business Continuity Planning?
If there is one, he is in the wrong field and can make three times as much writing BCPs instead of chasing down the latest package dependencies.
Even I can handle all that
Ahh, so this has nothing to do with reality and everything to do with ego. Again, if what you said was true, you would not be a software guy. Why would you be when you can make 300 an hour writing plans?
I've worked in a similar situation for a while where the workplace was really in the business owner's house, fortunately it was only temporary until we were able to move back into the old office but still it made me declare that I would only work for "real" companies that have actual office space from then on. When he announced that he was planning on doing it again as he was building an office area into his new house I handed in my notice.
I worked as a contractor to a food service bakery. I kid you not, the operator on a snack cake line was using his bare hand to dip into batter to portion it out to the batter. I came up with a pneumatic system that they used until they closed to shoot batter 8 at a time into the pans. No more hands.
Then I was doing a gig in a quarry that cut countertops. The automatic saw was breaking about 1/3 of the slabs it was cutting. I found some one had replaced the braided pipes with normal rubber hose. Put back the braided pipe, re-installed the hydrolic shock absorber thingie, no more problem.
Worked a gig at an amusement park. Found that the ticket booth and parking lot attendants were stealing. Drew up proposal to count cars in to the parking lot, and changed outside sales tickets to be serialized. (The attendants would swipe the tickets from stores in the area, then when someone paid cash, take the money, and use the stolen ticket and pocket the cash.)
Worked a gig for a point of sale system. Company was getting sued because of lost inventory. Found out the chasheirs were zeroing out the system, re-entering half the sales. Pointed out the reports had a "Z" serial number, and that many were missing. Fault was in audit control, not software. EG: If the Z serial number skipped, the problem was someone zeroed out the register then didn't report it.)
Or the OEM that delivered a few thousand systems where the case was bent.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Over the last 20 years in IT, at different times and for different employers - I have been responsible for almost everything you can imagine in a company or non-profit organization that requires some form of organized thought, planned, or methodical execution.
I have researched, purchased, and serviced company vehicles.
I have built furniture and done construction work on office spaces.
I have written HR policy that lightly touches on technology.
I have made legal actions for the corporation.
I have managed entire office moves (not just the technology part).
and so... so much more...
It depends on the size and nature of the company... I've worked at everything from global aerospace defense to a 15-person local non-profit. It's understandable in a smaller company that you'd need to stretch your skills into other areas like facilities, but you'd be surprised how much of this kind of thing still lands on you even at the 200-300 person software company.
Basically when you're an IT Manager/Director/Senior Admin or whatever your title is - they honestly think that you're smarter than they are in nearly every way but that you're happy to be subjugated to whatever work they send your way because they are too tired/lazy/overworked/busy/dumb to do it.
In my case, that's actually kind-of true (I'm definitely NOT smarter than everyone else, but I AM more willing to do things)... If you want to pay me the salary you pay me, that I agreed to be paid, to put my hands under the hood of the company mini-van and change the alternator... I'll probably say yes to that as long as the conditions around doing it are reasonable. I'm naturally very ADD and multi-tasking a wide variety of topics actually feels very good.
Actually, depending on what OS you are running, especially *nix, YES! I would expect that one IT guy can handle everything and I hire as many as I need to cover the size of my organization.
Even I can handle all that, and I'm basically a software guy.
I've been in IT for over 25 years now. I'm not trying to assume your specific capabilities, but when I hear someone tell me they can handle all that, it usually means I'm talking to someone who knows just enough to be dangerous. Yes, I've gained a considerable amount of experience with everything I've mentioned here and more. I am also accepting of the fact that systems have reached a level of complexity today that no longer sustain the one-man-band argument when it comes to IT, and I would never claim I could do it all anymore.
Maintaining proficiency in IT security alone can create enough work to sustain a full-time position and career, as the threats are that fast-paced and ever-changing. Perhaps the reason we have so many security breaches and insecure systems these days is because companies still assume they can hire one person to handle security who also tries to handle everything else in IT. The reality is most IT "gurus" are capable of maintaining everything just good enough to keep it working, which does not always mean it's working well or mitigating risk sufficiently.
As I said before, compare it to the medical field. If your family needed to have a baby delivered, a brain tumor removed, and the dog needed to be neutered, imagine your response if your family doctor claimed, "Oh yeah, I can handle all that."
BTW, you forgot the most important part: backups.
An inherent part of maintaining servers, but not the most important part. The most important part when it comes to managing IT is respecting the level of proficiency specialists need to maintain in order to manage systems properly, and hire enough staff to mitigate risk in order to sustain business, which is one of the primary missions of IT.
The secondary subject "this software engineer" is singular, not plural. Therefore, the correct self-referential pronoun is "himself", not "themselves".
"What fresh hell has this software engineer gotten himself into?" There, FTFY.
EditorDavid, as you gain more experience using crayons, please make sure you color between the lines.
Slashdot, it's Ok to hire editors who have graduated from junior high school.
Seriously though, what happened to this website? I used to seriously regret my failure to create an account with a 5 or 6 digit user ID when I first started reading Slashdot twenty years ago. These days, not so much.
Recaptcha: "injured". I entered "themselves" but it didn't work there, either. I think that's a double-whammy for EditorDavid. He got spanked by his own readers and his own software.
It is a good thing that most users do not need to think about breathing because if they had to, we'd be out of a job.
In medicine there is such a thing as a General Practitioner. In fact it's a speciality!
" Desktops, servers, printers, switches, routers, email, internet, database, file/print/DNS/DHCP, along with SPAM filters, firewalls, IDS/IPS, A/V and anti-malware to help protect it all. And we haven't even touched virtualization or voice/chat services yet. Think you're gonna hire one IT person to do it all, or even find someone who holds a competent level of knowledge?" ...Yes? At least for a small-medium org that isn't in the IT sector itself. I do all those things except voice/chat, and also some development work. By the way, you forgot backup and disaster recovery planning. There is a market for people who are competent generalists. Not necessarily experts in any given niche, but with a well-rounded understanding a many different technologies, how they fit together, and how they fit into the organization.
Ever wonder why we hear of so many insecure systems and security breaches happening across many different levels of business? It likely has something to do with the expired mentality that a one-man-band can maintain that level of complexity with an adequate level of proficiency.
Aside from putting all of it in the proverbial cloud (which has also been proven to be rather horrible when it comes to maintaining security), the level of complexity surrounding the average IT environment these days tends to demand compartmentalized staffing. In the last 25 years, I can count in one hand the number of people I would consider IT "gurus", which none of them would claim they could sustain it all today. The rest I've met who have some jack-of-all-trades experience tend to know just enough to be dangerous.
How much IT training do you think will need to be funded? It ain't cheap, and most organizations too cheap or too small to hire enough IT staff aren't going to be very accepting to budgeting 6-10 weeks of training per year, which is likely what would be needed to sustain proficiency as an IT "generalist".
When it comes to IT security alone, "well-rounded" doesn't cut it anymore, which reinforces my first point. The environment is fast-paced and ever-changing, and there's a valid reason I compared it to the medical industry who also recognizes compartmentalization is necessary to sustain proficiency due to complexity.
If it plugs into the wall I support it.
One of the oldest truths in IT. Welcome to the fold my son.
I'm just "this guy", you know?
The best thing about IT in the days of raised floor machine rooms was if you kept Guiness down there it was always the perfect temperature and you were quite popular with other departments.
You can't fight in here - this is the war room!
As the system administrator, you are God and your minions know it. If anyone brings in food to the office, you get first dibs. But, when things go wrong ...
I was fortunate enough to be the SA in a Unix (Solaris) development shop, so when they start asking about how to fix their home computers, I would just tell them to buy a real operating system, I don't do windows.
Do your best to make your systems idiot proof, but there will always be a better idiot, and you'll get the job of fixing, if not the blame for their problems. Be prepared to explain to management how the idiot got past your safe guards.
Perhaps the reason we have so many security breaches and insecure systems these days is because companies still assume they can hire one person to handle security who also tries to handle everything else in IT.
No, we have that because especially companies like MS lowered the bar so low.
99% of the security problems we now have are either bugs (most of the time avoidable) or completely idiotic decisions that *.doc attachments sent via email can have macros that get executed automatically when opened or that you can hide the extension of files (which works in mail programs, too) and so a Your-Bill.pdf is in fact a Your-Bill.pdf.exe and so on.
Security problems don't come from bugs in firewalls ... those are probably the most easiest things to get air tight.
Security problems come 99% from MS wanting more money for less effort and having super brain dead ideas.
All the standard attack vectors on a MS system don't work on a Mac: because they simply are not there. Same for Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX etc.
And to graps that you don't need a PhD in "computer sabotage" (in case you get the reference)
So the first thing to do if you want/need a secure environment is to get rid of that Virus called MS Windows ...
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
My list goes like this: - Telecom - Information Security - Human resources - Systems administrator - Network administrator - Network cabling - Database administrator - Systems analyst - Windows developer - Android developer - Apple developer - Web developer - Helpdesk for in-house developed programs and everything else - Graphics designer - In-site hardware maintenance and repair (PCs, tablets, phones, scanners and printers/mfp) - CCTV installer/administrator - RFID antennas install/configure - Telephone and cellphone plans management - New hardware and software technologies investigation - Social media manager - Scale calibrator - Microwave configuration - Professional spider killer - Landscaper - Charisma and good vibes enabler - Sex-ed
> Some days I think I would rather flip burgers for a living.
Right ? Wouldn't that be relaxing.
Reminds me of "office space".
Working in IT you should never admit to knowing any more than the job requires, once you fix those phones once you will be known as the "phone guy". If they want a piece of badly made hardware or software supported they either need to pay the supplier more or pay you more, it seems petty but it all adds up until one day you realise the job you are in isn't the one you accepted, and if you leave the company could be royally screwed. It won't be your fault of course, but they will still lumber you with the blame.
I've found that users will sometimes vent at me...not personally, but since I'm there, and they're frustrated, I'm often the recipient of that frustration.
I've learned to not take it personally, but to listen to them and their concerns (real and imagined).
Once they've finished and calmed down, they're often far more receptive and cooperative in helping to resolve issues.
Most of the time, just having someone actually listen makes a world of difference in future interactions in a positive way.
The preventer of information systems!
Tracy Johnson
Old fashioned text games hosted below:
http://empire.openmpe.com/
BT
Anything that plugs in or out, turn on or off, winds up or down, does or does not roll back and forth...
Being cool. I've had admin rights on my own machines at work for years. By demonstration I've shown them that I won't be a nuisance and can be left alone to set up my PC. I'm that trusted that they've given me a brand new OS to live test before they roll it out to the whole company. Its called Windows ME.
Assuming this is a small business, everything related to computers---or electronics in general---will end up in your lap. (Assumption is based on the size of your conference phone order.)
You either need to willing to accept the responsibility or become adept at deflection. E.g., "I don't really know anything about that projector, let me see if I can google the manufacturer for you." Give them the number and walk away. Be polite and appear helpful, but make them do the work.
If you do the work once, you will do it forever---or until they hire a junior admin, which is likely the same time frame.
Only take on things that are in line with your interests. You can either grow into your role as the organization evolves, or you can expand your resume to find more suitable employment.
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According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
I regularly get asked to resolve issues with gas fired central heating boilers, leaky taps... IT~=it~=anything
I was once put in charge of lightning.
Lightning took out the service provider's sub-station for our phones and internet, at a smaller company where I was the only IT. It took until that night for the service provider to get us running again.
The following day we learned that the same storm also took out one of our T1 cards - one for internet, one for phone. The service provider promised us we would have a replacement card by noon the following day. In the interim we used our remaining card for the internet and moved it over for outgoing calls. My office was upstairs, the phone closet was downstairs - lots of exercise that day.
After the replacement card arrived and was installed I was hauled into the owners office and informed by the owner of the company and the head of HR that the next time a lightning strike damaged the sub-station I would be fired - no questions asked.
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I was there for several years before that. They did manufacturing. I:
Repaired printers
Rebuilt printers (no joke, cannibalized two to repair three others)
Everything regarding the PCs support/troubleshooting/upgrades(piece-mil and complete)/assignment/placement/configuration/inventory/etc.
Programming - nothing too intense. (Mostly AutoLiSP and vba)
Supported all software, in all ways Updates/repair/(re)install/support/troubleshooting/purchases/modifications (mostly AutoCAD - so AutoLiSP, Custom toolbars, etc.)
Phone support - add/remove/troubleshoot/program
Networking - all
Any corporate Cell phones, any manufacturer (Blackberry, Motorola, Apple, whatever)
All servers (SBS, Nas, two custom built, custom built firewall)
Electric sign (Support, create/deploy graphics/animation, troubleshoot)
In house IT support for the computer related portions of a Plasma Table, Three Roll Formers, a Press Break and a Trim Break.
And, let's not forget, lightning.
I ended up on a 10 foot A-frame ladder with a long handled broom scooping snow out of a 6 meter satellite dish...