Job Title vs Actual duties - Does it match?

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Hello,

I am working in my first job from uni, as IT Assistant. I have been doing so for 1 year 3 months now, and i feel my duties have drifted somewhat to a point where i don't feel the job title suitably reflects the the work i do - looking for your thoughts whether you think this is so or not.

I currently work on all the servers, resolve problems/migrate/set up/patch etc. Servers include:

Exchange
BES
DC
Interscan Messaging Security Suite
File/Print
VMware ESX
LeftHand SAN/iQ
SQL 2005

I also respond to all desktop support calls, image new PC's, set up video conferences. I have also installed and configured 3 ASA 5510's to remote offices.

What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks
Daniel

 

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From the sounds of it you are doing 1st - 3rd Line Support.

 

Yes as there is just me and my boss in the IT dept, job duties do range, but its in the last 6-10 month have been in almost complete control of any server upgrades/installs/fault resolution.

Just wondering if i am jumping the gun by saying anything about my role at the minute as i have not been in the job so long, and whether if i moved jobs would i get a 2nd line 3rd line position with only a years experience.

 

If you feel you have the experience and the knowledge to back it up, why not apply for some jobs and see what happens.

 

Wagnerk: thats the other side of it, part of wanting a job role reflecting my duties is, if i convinced them my role should be changed, then i could also say what sort of market rate i would get for such a position (i currently get £21k, do you feel i should earn more?)

At the same time though, they have put me on the exchange and vmware courses etc and i am still learning so i wouldn't want to sound like i am throwing down ultimatums or anything.

Criagie: have been looking at jobs, hopefully after getting some advice here i will be able to bettert narrow down the sort of roles i should be searching.

 

If you have been on a Exchnage and VM Course, you are looking at approximate £3K to £4K investment in you.

Personally, I would stay and get some more courses as in this economic climate it is rare to get anything.

A poll was done recently on this subject and in most IT positions, you may get a book and the exam paid for, but thats about it.

 

who cares? Your job title tells you nothing anyway. You can call a window cleaner a "Transparent Wall Maintenance Engineer", but it doesnt change the fact they clean windows.

If you feel that your job warrants more money, ask for it. Dont beat around the bush regarding job titles, that could just lead to a nominal change of title, but no change in pay. Be very clear as to what it is you want.

Even as cv collateral it isnt necessarily such an issue, you can just go into detail about what it is you have been doing.

 

[flippant]
My job Title is IT support North, which is a lie aas I support the south of the company as well!
[/flippant]

The title is nothing, the experiance you are getting is far more important.

 

Some people are motivated by Job Titles due to being recognised.

We actually dropped job title in a company I used to work for.

 

I haven't been very clear. I am not asking about my job title because i want something that makes me sound better than i am. I was just thinking about it with respect to looking at new jobs/determining whether i could perhaps seek more money from my current employer (only way to do so is to determine market rates, which is where job titles come in).

However, It also crossed my mind that when the time comes to applying for jobs, and i say i have been IT assistant - it doesn't exactly portray me as being the person who i would describe in my CV! But again this is why i am here asking for opinions - i don't proclaim to know what a title means to somone reading CV.

I struggle to believe a job title means "nothing" however.

 

Yeh i would definately agree, i was very lucky to get into a company where i got such a range of exposure. Just starting to look to the future (possibly too soon?). Working in a 2-man IT team is good because i get hands on with a lot of stuff, but i miss out on learning from guys with a years of experience, and a passion for IT.

Thats why forums like this are so good!

Migrated our BES and IMSS server from physical to virtual, and exchange to new hardware.

Thanks for all the responses so far guys.

 

In my experience, a job description means pretty much nothing in IT. Here's two examples.

The last role I was in the official job title was 'Network Security Administrator' for a UK police force. I spent about 20% of my time doing 'true' Security Admin duties (firewalls, IDSes, Content Filtering, pen Testing, AV etc). The rest of it was general Systems Engineer/Admin work because the force I worked for had about 20 people in IT - only four of whom had even the first clue about what they were doing.

My current role title is 'Senior Systems Engineer', yet I regularly find myself patching, rolling out laptops/desktops and doing support stuff because the company is very small. Does it bother me? Hell no - most of my roles have been like this - its just the nature of the job. In fact, that's what keeps it interesting to me. If I had to do the same thing day in day out I'd go garrity.

The money you;re on sounds like a fair old whack for a first job - plus you're getting training, have a steady job in a poor economic climate and are learning a helluva lot. Provided you like your boss and don't mind the working environment, I'd follow the advice others have given and stick it out. Remember: the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. In fact, in IT, you'll usually find somebody has pissed on it, turning it a nice shade of yellow )

 

job titles and description don't really mean anything.

No where in my job title or description does it say "you must deal with asreholes who wouldn't know the difference between a pdf and a bitmap file" or

" you must constantly tell people that if they have to send an amended file over the network after just sending the first wrong one that they must wait a few minutes because if the new file is smaller than the old one it will hit my machine first then get overwritten by the wrong one"

 

What salary do you think you could potentially earn with 2 years experience in that type of role? I will be entering almost an identical role to yourself, my job title is also IT assistant and i will be working alongside the manager only and also supporting staff and responsible for several sites. This is my first role as a graduate aswell.

I havent started my role yet i will be starting in a few days.. but how did you find it at the start? Was it difficult to get accustomed to the environment? I think this type of role is brilliant because it is from 1st line all the way to 3rd line.. and i hope to get alot of exposure and experience.. I was wondering what the potential earnings could be for these types of roles.. because i have seen 2nd/3rd line upto 30-35k.. and of course its not all about the money but.. if you are doing something you enjoy and have the ability to make some extra money.. i guess why not?

 

I'll explain my situation... I started as a desktop support technician doing basic things such as ghosting pc's, troubleshooting pc's, basic AD stuff like lock and unlock accounts. At that point I couldn't even create AD accounts because I didn't have the permission. Two and a half years later me and the network admin basically split the tasks umong us... For example now I deal with BES, AV server, WSUS, VMWare, Citrix, etc... My job title is still Desktop Support. To be honest I don't really care that much... it would be nice to be called a systems admin or assistant network admin but either way the tasks just network/desktop support, a hybrid I guess. Which is why experience is so much more. Also each company has their way of naming these positions, there are no standard naming like a lot of new IT professionals think. That's somethig I learned the first month.