hmm I keep trying to push the WWAN stuff…I will see if I can hook you up with some sales
itd be sales for your company homie…we pay commission to resellers…
Do it all from server deployment, router & switch management, all network management, all typical operation stuff of printers, desktop/laptop support, altigen setup/config/management, BES deployment, BB management, etc. We are a small corporation with <100 employees, and an even smaller IT department (3) so by being in charge of day to day operation of 6 current data centers and ~4 or so more planned out for 09 and more down the road I really have to be able to do it all.
I can see where some places it would hurt you to be the jack of all trades, where as some places need that type of person.
As stated by a previous post, it just comes down to the needs of the company you are with and/or the needs of where you want to be. I’ve met a lot of consultants who know it all, and lot of specialty consultants who make a killing because they are a specialist of 1 thing and people pay big bucks for their expertise.
In my company there are about 6 people that do all the work for this place. My company is made up of about 280 people locally and another 100 in 5 regional offices that we get to watch over. There are a couple thigns that are tasked to a specific person. But we all work with AD, Citrix, Novell, VMWare, AS400, Windows Server (2000,2003,and 2007 in testing), McAfee ePO, SQL, BES, Imageright. Most of our Cisco work goes to one person and our Lotus notes system is administered by 2 people.
As far as being a jack of all trades there are two negatives to this point when looking for a new job. As mentioned above they will believe that you are spread to thin. They wont believe that you did all of that. If then do believe you our second negative is the ever annoying ‘over qualification’ where they feel that you would cost too much for them to hire.
This may b e best that if you are narrowing your job search to one area, focus on your strong points in that area, but still list that you have experience with those other areas. Because one of the biggest joys in IT is interoperability, so if they understand that you knew how to integrate one system with the other successfully, that’s a good strong point and will save them money in the long run.
If you are looking to keep a job, then knowing as much about everything they do is a huge strong point, makes you harder to replace.
anyone running system monitoring software?
<— future IT guy. Thanks for giving me a glimpse into the future lol.
Edit: Mind if I ask what you guys are getting paid? I plan on leaving WNY…
All depends where you go, what you are worth to the company you go to, etc. Good mind set to know that you are leaving Buffalo before settling down roots there career wise :tup:
We build massive data centers, that’s a critical part of the operations side. On our network side, yes as well.
I run Orion by Solarwinds…use it to monitor our point to point connections…
You can make really good money in IT in Buffalo…you just need skills outside of being a huge nerd…like the ability to network with people…
I would love to build a massive data center some day. That stuff always intrigued me for some reason.
We run IPSwitch Whatsup Gold to monitor ours.
Anyone using Nagios? It is REALLY awesome.
My aunt is about 10 years away from retirement and she lives in San Antonio. She is the senior IT person and has made over 100k for 15 years now. She’s at the point where she runs the server from home, and goes into to work only when she can’t perform a certain task from her home office. Thats where I’m headed.
Amen to that. DONT go through recruiters. They will tell you that you are only worth like 25k a year out of college.
Get as much part time expierence when you are in school as possible. People skills are a must now. You not only need to know your shit and be willing to learn but also have the ability to carry on a converstation with people.
The days of the IT department locked away hidden from everyone is over. I even go on sales meetings now to explain products and what we can do more now.
On a side note, don’t let numbers fool you. 100k in California isnt that much. I technically make that here if you google a cost of living caluclator. Its only like making 50-55k here in Buffalo. I ran into the same situations when I was looking. Got a few job offers outside of LA and San Diego that paid 100k but I am not someone who is gonna drive 3 hours to work and sit in traffic each way and pay 36,000 a year just to rent an apartment on my own.
If you think about it, you are getting taxed about 35% so you only see 65k and paying most likley 3000 a month for rent if you are on your own unless you want to drive a lot so kiss 36,000 of that goodbye and you only are left with less than 30 k for food and living expenses, gas, etc.
Yes. My professor gave us a lecture on people skills to start this semester. I have that on lock down. Last Monday I arrived to class and the kids behind me were describing their action packed weekend getting to lvl 60 with there magic priest or whatever. All the LAN students are freakin nerds and absolutely no females.
Ya don’t expect to meet girls in this field. The ones you see are few and far between. Every now and then you see some company that has a few girls who are in IT and its like seeing a mirage in the middle of the desert.
We had a few, two of them left. One does web design and support for our outside agents, another did coding and statistical mapping (and like 4 other systems that I don’t know, she left soon after I started and we just recently replaced her), one was responsible for security auditing (She left and was replaced), we have a couple in programing, and another handles the AS400 mainframe and Lotus Notes access.
The two that left were both replaced by men. My IT manager is a woman. But she has nothing to do with IT, she was specifically hired as management, and she SUCKS HARD at it. The entire chain above us has no technical background what so ever, none of them know what it takes to do our job.
About a month ago the managers let us know that they wanted an internal video hosting system, so them could do monthly or weekly updates with the regions. They requested it at 11am and wanted the plan by 3… They gave us a $0 budget. the guys that were tasked with it gave them YouTube… It was all they could come up with for free and that short notice. Because none of them know what it would take to have the resources for the regions to view video streaming off our site with embeded video.
Couple other things…
You can never stop learning…and really have to be interested in IT to do well…
You can make really good money in IT in Buffalo you just need to get at least 3 years of real world experience don’t just assume you college degree is going to get you shit…
Also learning to communicate effectively with people ranging from a CEO, CFO and down to some moron who can barley send an email.