lotus notes - where to start?

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Ive been having hard enough time looking for work for nearly a year in the 1st line helpdesk section since my redundancy. but thought learning some new skills might help my chances to back to work.

The reason why I want to learn lotus notes was because theres a few employers asking for it in some job description. although, on the job descriptions it just says on some of them "Lotus notes V6 or strong outlook skills"
I am just looking to try the admin section. The impression i am left for Lotus notes is that its just another Outlook but my newbie knowledge could be wrong
The real questions I should be asking is, where do I start? how is Lotus notes going to work in the real world? what are the common problems I am going to be asked?

Any help would be great

-Mallet

 

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When I first started in IT, the company was using Lotus Domino and Notes.

A good place to start would be perhaps setting up a virtual machine woth Domino on, and also a client running Notes.

There are trials available from here.

Failing that, I suppose a good book on Domino/Notes would help.

HTH

NB

 

thanks for the reply. any difference between Lotus iNotes and Lotus Notes? or should I just stick to the standard notes?

-Mallet

 

Yes I think Wagnerk is correct about iNotes been comparable to OWA.

The Notes client can be downloaded from this link.

NB

 

By running away as quickly as possible in the other direction. It should be a warning sign to you if a company is using Lotus Notes.

 

Also, be aware that Microsoft is consistently gaining ground from IBM in the messaging market. More, and more companies are converting to Exchange and abandoning Notes/Domino entirely.

Not sure it's worth it to learn this technology right now, but I guess if you're lucky, you'll be hired for a job at a company that will still use it for another 5 years...

 

Yup, glad to say the only time I've seen it 'in the wild' was when my dad's firm used to use it so I've never had to touch the damn thing. He used to swear at it a lot though.....

 

Mallet what sort of roles are you looking for in IT? I believe there should be a role out there for you without having to retrain on Lotus Notes Dominos. I'd concentrate on my customer service handling skills and keep plugging away.

Best wishes and lets know if you need help with your CV via e-mail PM. Cheerio

 

I used it at the first place I worked in IT and it's an awful messaging system. Saying that they used an older version. I would say Lotus Notes is still kicking about in some big companies so it would come in handy but personally I hated Lotus Notes. There should be plenty of good books on the topic from Amazon to learn from and again setting up a lab will be the best way to learn it.

 

If you're looking at moving into a career in IT the last thing you want to do is join a company that's still using Notes 6, seriously I wouldn't bother with a career in Notes at all. In the last 5 years worth of contracts I have only used Notes once and even that was migrated to Exchange midway through the 21 month contract.

As a messaging product it really isn't all that much these days, even the likes of SameTime are being replaced with Messenger or OCS.

I should also add that as a messaging specialist (which is what they would be looking for if they are after a strong Notes person) you are usually expected to have a good exposure to the whole server infrastructure that you're likely to be exposed to. You would be expected to know about MTA's and how the various protocols work (SMTP, POP3, IMAP and even NNTP). I certainly wouldn't want you to think that it's a straight forward topic that you can just 'pick up', especially if you don't have a strong server back ground.

 

I am looking into 1st line support or even non IT related customer support service over the phone. Even with three years experience of 1st line support, its still very hard getting back and securing a job.
You have PM

-Mallet

 

The company I work for just now uses it for database stuff, v8. I have went for 2 jobs in the past year and both still use notes and were looking for someone with expeirence in it rather than Outlook. Standard Life and Virgin Money.

 

It's not a problem have just sent you a PM.

 

Not seen it for about 10 years, but j1mgg makes a valid point, some of the functionality was like Sharepoint, it had a database and portal type stuf. So was ahead of its time in some respects and not just used for messaging.

I wouldn't bother learning legacy or niche products to land a role, too high risk and chances are you still won't get the position.

 

Our CRM system is still on Notes\Domino. It is absolute, utter turd. I refuse to even touch it. You do NOT want to work for a company that still has Notes and expects you to support it in any way, shape or form. It belongs in the stone age.

Best example I give for this is that Domino databases are not relational. They also can't exceed 64Gb. That - right there - should tell you what a crud platform it is.

 

Very interestingly, the following page has a comparison between Exchange and Notes: http://itcomparison.com/Mail/Exchange2k7vslotus8/Exchange2k7vslotus8.htm

Only problem is that the entire site seems to be anti-Microsoft, and this particular article has quite a number of inaccuracies

Oh well...

 

You'll never get the required Lotus Notes 'skills' for the workplace by just dabbling with it at home etc. I don't mean that in a nasty way either, it's just that you have to be there in the working environment to see and experience just how sh1t it is to support! Usually ID files and nsf files going balls up and also HUGE user mailboxes due to an ill thought out archiving systems that makes such a task impossible! If you f*ck it up then the emails involved just vanish...so as a result most users do not archive with the result being that they hit a 4 gig mailbox! Not a problem if that is replicated to the local machine...but when their nsf dies (this can be anything from corrupt database to knackered GUI in the client) you have to create a new one! Ok if it's on a site with a Domino sever...bad news if on a remote site with an ADSL line! Oh...and not to mention the 20 minute + bullsh1t process to setup a user on the client too!

Jeez...I supported notes/domino for 2 years...bloody never again!!!

My advice, steer well clear as not only is it cr*p but it's a cheap ass solution for cheap ass companies that actually gives a higher TCO when compared to Outlook etc!

Of course, just my opinion!

 

I'll second drum_dude's opinion, I've been stuck administering Lotus for 2 years and its crap....

Get yourself an Outlook/Office 2k7 book and read that... will open more doors than Lotus