Roles

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My boss wants me to choose a direction (role) that I should aim towards I currently do 1/2nd line support.
The only problem is I am not sure what direction to take or what I can take so I was hoping you guys could give me examples of roles you all do and a little explanation of them and I can see which roles I may like.

Thanks

 

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Hi Rob, it would be nice to elaborate a bit more on what your current role involves on a daily basis as this would give us a clear picture in terms of advise.

I am saying this because 1st/2nd can mean differing responsibility from one company to the other. On the other hand one would think progressing more into the 2nd/ advance side of things would seem the more reasonable.

 

I do mainly first line support with things like helping users with problems we have with our in-house software and Microsoft software. Built a few servers, create user accounts in AD, and clear down user accounts when people leave. Just things like that.

 

Hi Rob,

I would say this depends on what you are interested in, and what technologies your company use.

Network admin, exchange, cisco etc or possible database related work?

 

I agree. What is it that interests you, and what do you do today that can help you get into the desired technology. If it's network admin, perhaps you can look at the N+ or Cisco's ICND (depending on your current experience). If you want to go deeper into Microsoft techologies look at the MCDST; and so on...

 

I have done the A+ and N+ and am currently studying the MCDST. The areas that interest me are the network side of things and I am particularly interested in security, I am not sure what other types of roles are out there so I may hear about one and think that sounds interesting wish I had of done that, if you know what I mean? That is why I wanted to know what sort of roles other people do.

 

My previous role was I.T. Assistant, my job now is I.T. Technician and I am responsible for two school networks of roughly 70 nodes per school (including printers/pc's/laptops/servers/wireless AP's etc).

My roles in both jobs have been simmilar, although now I am (responsible) and have to make decisions, including buying, meetings etc which I didn't do before. In both jobs I do what you could say is 1st/2nd/3rd line support. I configure group policy, active directory, create users, look after WSUS, troubleshoot, pretty much do everything you could think of in a small network as there is nobody else apart from me (including website etc). So I am a general odd job I.T. guy.

My aims are to be the person people come to for help! The person who is respected and knowledgeable with years of experiance. So whether than be consultant or manager, I want to reach that level one day where I have to make strategic choices for a business. The path to get there might be 1st/2nd/3rd line, network engineer, graduate scheme, an MBA. Anyway point is I am aiming for that senior role one day, then I will become a teacher ;]

 

If that were asked of me, I'd have a difficult time answering that question. I enjoy doing multiple things... not just Exchange administration, not just router administration, not just security... but ALL of those things. So... "jack-of-all-trades" is a role that I fit into well, back when I was a "real tech". In a way, I became exactly what Jiser mentions above: I was the go-to guy that the IT department came to for help when they didn't know how to resolve something. If that's something you want to go for, know that some of us consider that a viable - and quite enjoyable - option.

That said, if you want to specialize in something, that's fine too... but you'll have to ultimately decide what it is you want to focus on.

Since you're interested in hearing about something that might make you say, "I wish I had done that", my current role is as a senior content developer. Primarily, I write questions and explanations for practice exams. I also edit things that other writers write. In my senior role, I manage one or more project teams so that projects move through to completion, and I mentor the other writers, letting them know how to improve their "craft". In a way, Josh and I have become the "go-to" guys for content development at Boson, much like I was the go-to guy as a senior network admin at Tennessee Orthopaedic Alliance. Once you become knowledgeable in what you do, that role will come naturally to you.

 

This is going to be a short reply. You mentioned security as something that interests you. If you brought this up with your employer, most people know that you cannot find an expert in security without knowing networks as well. Meaning, that while you may be focusing on security, you will not find yourself out of work because you specialized in an area that might die out or become out of date.