I arrived here at this Slashdot article via Feedly. I was a Google Reader beta and have used a couple desktop clients but found them more cumbersome to keep in sync between multiple devices so web-based is how I roll. I blame/thank RSS for keeping my mind open to viewpoints different than mine. I've made good friends by following RSS feeds. The deeper significance of RSS is that it allows anyone to collect data from numerous sites and keep them organized and notated outside of keeping an insane amount of bookmarks.
My job requires me to do exactly what you're looking to do but for multiple companies/networks. Then, as soon as I'm done, I usually pack up and go or get hired in and fix the network.
Since I'm writing the Network Overview for managers AND potential future network managers I tend to write mine in the following format:
1) Synopsis of what the network does for the company, what general technologies they use (Windows AD vs *nix OD, thin clients vs Windows boxes, Cisco vs Brand X), and what the LOB software is.
2) Points of contact for the ISP and other providers (anti-spam, anti-virus, hardware, etc). Passwords for various accounts and services.
3) Logical network overview map (visio), containing firewalls, routers, switches, other devices, open/forwarded ports, IPs, what the servers do, what vlans are in place, Quick explainations for why (such as why vlan vs a seperate subnet).
4) Physical map of devices if the complexity of the network calls for it.
5) Software notes, what apps are critical for the business and which systems they rely on.
Then, for my specific job I have to do the following:
Back at MSU I did research on IAD. Being a computer geek and psych geek I thought it was the perfect independant study. The problem I found, which turned into my thesis, was that the entire psychological community saw IAD as a chance to "exploit" clients. So they wrote the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria to mimic that of other addictions (gambling, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc). I thought that was a horrid idea since the internet - and computer - are merely tools to an end so my thesis went something like, "Internet addiction should not be deemed a disorder in itself but another disorder through a new medium."
You've got all the traditional fixes online - gambling, power, people, and so on. You can use the internet to get to your fix, it is not a fix on its own.
Very true, of my bosses that have certs they are mostly MCSE for nt4... I however look at it this way, if I ever get a job that I work very hard at yet when I'm done there and I don't want to put on my resume I best have _something_ to say I know something. The certs are the paper backing that got me my current job (which i excel at). Plus, hell... RHCE, A+, and a few MCP's can't do any harm, can they?
I work for IT at my University and recently we've had a big squeeze all around campus for money. The Computer Center/IT dept. was incredibly effected. Our helpdesk staff was downsized from 41 consultants to 16 for example. I am in the wings waiting for a fulltime job as either a Program Analyst or Net Admin and I've had promises from three seperate higher-up bosses that the job is mine. Alas, they've been telling me this since the beginning of my Junior year and I graduate in mere months. Obviously I'm only 21, but I have more certs then most that I work for.
I have done what The Pi-Guy and Brento suggest, which is talk to the management to why I'm still waiting. They, of course say it has nothing to do with my age but simply beaurocracy... thats not hard to believe for a university position, but 18 months without any new progress? In that time I've gained another cert and SO much more. Further, the HR rules of interviewing negate me from having another interview because of "equal opertunity/affirmative action" laws (I have yet to ask how that works).
I believe that the reason I haven't been given the job yet is because I've worked the same job since I was 17 and they saw a completely different person back then, admittadly I was cocksure and immature (I call it youthful exuberance with a bit of job-related skill). I don't believe I am going to shake this reputation so I'm actively looking for another job for after graduation and of COURSE they are shocked to hear this.
Bosses blame the economly, blame beaurocracy, and generally never tell _you_ the truth about your character and how it relates to the job. Perhaps fulltime employment shouldn't be something 18-20 y/o's should seek.
I'm a senior at MSU... not IT or TC or even CSE... i'm in the Psychology program and I work tech support for the entire campus. Of those that I work with that are CSE majors I can name only 2 (out of about 60 employees and 25 CSE/IT/TC majors) that know or care to know anything beyond what their classes require (which is how to open telnet, open vi, write code with good intents/comments) and then run g++... When a customer asks them to explain what the DNS server does they draw blanks, when a customer asks how to dialup using minicom on an old Linux distro they pass the call. Hell, some can't even walk a user through email client setup.
What scares me more is the fact that no matter what job i end up in i _will_ be the technical supporter for all the computers. This just reenforces my belief that you should study what you love and love what you study. If you don't have the desire to learn something drop out, fight the "real world" and find something to love and learn more about.
Michigan State University
on
Dorm Storm?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I've been a helpdesk consult for 3 years now, I installed ethernet cards for MSU students before I had my first class. This is what I do to prep my coworkers for the rush.
1. Create floppies of the 5 POS net cards that Best Buy sells down the road. Keep them around, this year I burned a CD with them and a bunch of other utilities (3c95diag, etc).
2. Tell your consultants to not worry about turning people away because they bring you their Grandma's old Recipe machine (you know, x86, 8 megs of ram, win3.1 or pre MacOS 7.0). They're job is one of utilitarianism, if they can help the old machines, try, but if not go on to the next walk-in.
3. Work with the computer store oncampus (if you have one). They can ease the pain by handing out your documentation on how to setup pre-installed NIC's for your network. Putting some of these sheets in dorms would be great, we have yet to do this however. When those tech-sav's that come by to just pick up a NIC for their GF's give them a few network config packets to put in their dorm
4. With a campus thats nearly 36 square miles we have setup multiple stations, some on dorms, one in the union, one in the Computer Center (mid-campus). If you can trust your consults to open and close a room with expensive equipment in it, do it. If they play quake 3 when it gets slow, fine, they make space issues go away almost completely, plus you look more professional and helpful when you are closer to students.
5. With over 30,000 people on campus wanting ethernet, have late phone support (we are at midnight, but ever 2 am seems reasonable). Hook up some phones in 24 hr labs if need be.
6. Mailings - Campus mail generally can put a 1 page flier in all mailboxes, put the URL/phone/location stuff on it. Nothing worse then a crying guy begging the front desk dude to setup his ethernet.
7. Block netbios access between routers. These shares KILL our bandwidth, so reducing sharing to one's own dorm, or 1/2 of it helps a lot.
8. No use in dwelling, the students will come, and no matter how much you prepare, they will overwhelm you at least a bit. Damn pr0n Monkeys.
First off, I cannot represent Mr. Browne, but I am voting for him. Secondly, I am hoping to someday be president (yes, I know you all are thinking that I'm just a 20 year old with pie-in-the-sky goals, but I hope despite that), and I am very much a Libertarian, I want to work from the inside out to reduce the Federal (cap. "F") government because it has overstepped its bounds. It has the duty to protect our life, liberty, and property but all these *nice* programs they made for us have all failed. I would love to see a Federal Government that is self-sufficient that doesnt require income taxes but still takes care of it mandated duties. The extra's have got to go... if not for my generation, but for all those that follow.
Simplicity is the peak of civilization. - Jessie Sampter, Peot and Author.
Slashdot Mirror
I arrived here at this Slashdot article via Feedly. I was a Google Reader beta and have used a couple desktop clients but found them more cumbersome to keep in sync between multiple devices so web-based is how I roll. I blame/thank RSS for keeping my mind open to viewpoints different than mine. I've made good friends by following RSS feeds. The deeper significance of RSS is that it allows anyone to collect data from numerous sites and keep them organized and notated outside of keeping an insane amount of bookmarks.
My job requires me to do exactly what you're looking to do but for multiple companies/networks. Then, as soon as I'm done, I usually pack up and go or get hired in and fix the network.
Since I'm writing the Network Overview for managers AND potential future network managers I tend to write mine in the following format:
1) Synopsis of what the network does for the company, what general technologies they use (Windows AD vs *nix OD, thin clients vs Windows boxes, Cisco vs Brand X), and what the LOB software is.
2) Points of contact for the ISP and other providers (anti-spam, anti-virus, hardware, etc). Passwords for various accounts and services.
3) Logical network overview map (visio), containing firewalls, routers, switches, other devices, open/forwarded ports, IPs, what the servers do, what vlans are in place, Quick explainations for why (such as why vlan vs a seperate subnet).
4) Physical map of devices if the complexity of the network calls for it.
5) Software notes, what apps are critical for the business and which systems they rely on.
Then, for my specific job I have to do the following:
6) Licensing issues.
7) Network weaknesses/points of failure.
9) Other rec's.
Where you do sign-up for the t-shirt?
Or is it just signing up for the AA or other large party = receiving a T-shirt if you're early and lucky?
Back at MSU I did research on IAD. Being a computer geek and psych geek I thought it was the perfect independant study. The problem I found, which turned into my thesis, was that the entire psychological community saw IAD as a chance to "exploit" clients. So they wrote the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria to mimic that of other addictions (gambling, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc). I thought that was a horrid idea since the internet - and computer - are merely tools to an end so my thesis went something like, "Internet addiction should not be deemed a disorder in itself but another disorder through a new medium."
You've got all the traditional fixes online - gambling, power, people, and so on. You can use the internet to get to your fix, it is not a fix on its own.
Very true, of my bosses that have certs they are mostly MCSE for nt4... I however look at it this way, if I ever get a job that I work very hard at yet when I'm done there and I don't want to put on my resume I best have _something_ to say I know something. The certs are the paper backing that got me my current job (which i excel at). Plus, hell... RHCE, A+, and a few MCP's can't do any harm, can they?
I have done what The Pi-Guy and Brento suggest, which is talk to the management to why I'm still waiting. They, of course say it has nothing to do with my age but simply beaurocracy... thats not hard to believe for a university position, but 18 months without any new progress? In that time I've gained another cert and SO much more. Further, the HR rules of interviewing negate me from having another interview because of "equal opertunity/affirmative action" laws (I have yet to ask how that works).
I believe that the reason I haven't been given the job yet is because I've worked the same job since I was 17 and they saw a completely different person back then, admittadly I was cocksure and immature (I call it youthful exuberance with a bit of job-related skill). I don't believe I am going to shake this reputation so I'm actively looking for another job for after graduation and of COURSE they are shocked to hear this. Bosses blame the economly, blame beaurocracy, and generally never tell _you_ the truth about your character and how it relates to the job. Perhaps fulltime employment shouldn't be something 18-20 y/o's should seek.
I'm a senior at MSU... not IT or TC or even CSE... i'm in the Psychology program and I work tech support for the entire campus. Of those that I work with that are CSE majors I can name only 2 (out of about 60 employees and 25 CSE/IT/TC majors) that know or care to know anything beyond what their classes require (which is how to open telnet, open vi, write code with good intents/comments) and then run g++... When a customer asks them to explain what the DNS server does they draw blanks, when a customer asks how to dialup using minicom on an old Linux distro they pass the call. Hell, some can't even walk a user through email client setup.
What scares me more is the fact that no matter what job i end up in i _will_ be the technical supporter for all the computers. This just reenforces my belief that you should study what you love and love what you study. If you don't have the desire to learn something drop out, fight the "real world" and find something to love and learn more about.
I've been a helpdesk consult for 3 years now, I installed ethernet cards for MSU students before I had my first class. This is what I do to prep my coworkers for the rush.
1. Create floppies of the 5 POS net cards that Best Buy sells down the road. Keep them around, this year I burned a CD with them and a bunch of other utilities (3c95diag, etc).
2. Tell your consultants to not worry about turning people away because they bring you their Grandma's old Recipe machine (you know, x86, 8 megs of ram, win3.1 or pre MacOS 7.0). They're job is one of utilitarianism, if they can help the old machines, try, but if not go on to the next walk-in.
3. Work with the computer store oncampus (if you have one). They can ease the pain by handing out your documentation on how to setup pre-installed NIC's for your network. Putting some of these sheets in dorms would be great, we have yet to do this however. When those tech-sav's that come by to just pick up a NIC for their GF's give them a few network config packets to put in their dorm
4. With a campus thats nearly 36 square miles we have setup multiple stations, some on dorms, one in the union, one in the Computer Center (mid-campus). If you can trust your consults to open and close a room with expensive equipment in it, do it. If they play quake 3 when it gets slow, fine, they make space issues go away almost completely, plus you look more professional and helpful when you are closer to students.
5. With over 30,000 people on campus wanting ethernet, have late phone support (we are at midnight, but ever 2 am seems reasonable). Hook up some phones in 24 hr labs if need be.
6. Mailings - Campus mail generally can put a 1 page flier in all mailboxes, put the URL/phone/location stuff on it. Nothing worse then a crying guy begging the front desk dude to setup his ethernet.
7. Block netbios access between routers. These shares KILL our bandwidth, so reducing sharing to one's own dorm, or 1/2 of it helps a lot.
8. No use in dwelling, the students will come, and no matter how much you prepare, they will overwhelm you at least a bit. Damn pr0n Monkeys.
Secondly, I am hoping to someday be president (yes, I know you all are thinking that I'm just a 20 year old with pie-in-the-sky goals, but I hope despite that), and I am very much a Libertarian, I want to work from the inside out to reduce the Federal (cap. "F") government because it has overstepped its bounds. It has the duty to protect our life, liberty, and property but all these *nice* programs they made for us have all failed. I would love to see a Federal Government that is self-sufficient that doesnt require income taxes but still takes care of it mandated duties. The extra's have got to go... if not for my generation, but for all those that follow.
Simplicity is the peak of civilization. - Jessie Sampter, Peot and Author.
- Carl Seabold