Three day report

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Just finished my third day at my new job. There's definitely lots to learn, we support quite a few companies and their infrastructure goes from small simple networks to large complex networks. My job is basically consulting for those companies and new ones to come... I originally thought I'd be doing mainly storage and VMware but instead I'll be doing a lot more. For example, network design, implementations to supporting the network, to seeing clients and and building something new for them, etc... Basically from what I can see everyone has more than just one role.

This is definitely different from what I am used to... I came from a place where IT was just supporting in house users. Now we're talking about not just support but also building and touching new networks and applications all the time.

I was asked to get my CCNA done asap and then I am off to the VMware course to get the VCP. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I am hoping to finish my MCSE track

It's been three days and already I feel I've worked non stop for months!! Really fun, complex, and interesting stuff!

 

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Awesome job mate!

Sounds exactly like what I do

 

Congratulations as I didn't know you started a new job. Well done and congratulations again

 

Congrats on the new job. Sounds like you're enjoying it.

 

I'm so jealous - sounds like a wonderful opportunity! Enjoy and congrats!

 

wow congrats, sounds like a brilliant role!!

 

Thanks guys! It is a great role, lots to learn!

 

I currently do exactly that: manage and look after in house users and the network. The thing I am worried about is the laid back attitude at this job. Tasks aren't critical and thus time can be taken to finish them. This means I am pulled off in all kinds of directions or sometimes, if I am completely honest, I will just fail to concentrate and side tracked easily. I know when I eventually move on from here I will get a shock because I will be given deadlines and actual customers to look after etc.

I'm glad to see you're enjoying the job though. I hope one day I will be doing fun stuff like that ;-)

 

That's the thing, I have my daily tasks that I have to get done for our customers such as verify backups have ran, follow up on projects, we're now looking at a monitoring solutions for logs, etc... and aside from all that there is actual work like configuring switches/routers, building, adding or repairing stuff... Really interesting but also demanding at times as we do have certain deadlines.

At the moment, I don't really have any particular clients, I have to still learn the works of this place, but I already started making notes and luckily we have some decent documentation so it helps too. One thing that I've learned about a consulting job is that it's very important to document procedures, etc... There's lots to learn, I find myself reading lots of manuals and best practices. I work with consultants so it's a different environment, different mind sets, etc.. I think that for someone who does enjoy IT he/she would definitely enjoy this kind of work...

 

Congrats, the role sounds brilliant

 

Yup, in time... Right now I am actually re-doing one of our clients backup environment as it's quite a mess!! other than that, I start VCP training course soon so that's great!

 

Although we don't have customers (that I deal with), it sounds as though I need to get my head sorted and get the same setup here. I do have a little "to do" list, but that's not the same thing.

We have an internal Wiki here that we use to document things. I recently setup four HP Proliant servers with Debian GNU/Linux and then a GlusterFS clustered file system. I need to document all this now :/

 

Being busy keeps you out of mischief

 

There's always something to do right? You seem like a smart guy and knows what he wants so it's a matter of time before you get there.

I came from a transportation/logistics industry where IT is just supporting end users so we had our IT department run differently. Our job was to keep everyone happy.

In the IT consulting industry... IT is the product the company is selling so it's different. As a consultant, you're often on the road, working on projects that can take weeks, always in meetings, meeting customers, etc.. You're always working with different networks, you're not really in charge of any network per-say but perhaps the support contact... But consultants also tend to be exposed to a lot more technology, get to be the first to test new technology, etc.. but a lot is expected of you.

If you're working for an in house IT support group, you get to know your network inside out, you constantly building on it so it becomes easier to support over time, you know all the problems that you might have and you're always dealing with the same bosses and users. The down side, at least for me, is that you can't always work with new technology because of budgets or your environment does not require it so management won't spend money on it, over time, you kind of plateau and get bored, unless you're in a very dynamic environment where things often change, etc...

I never really thought about working for a consulting company until last year when I started looking at my other options... I almost got in to this one company... but they decided to go with someone more experienced, so when the second opportunity came a long I went for it and got the job.

I think for us, at the end of the day, any company that has the potential for advancement and growth is great, because you can always learn something new from new environments and working with different people.

 

We just acquired a huge customer so there should be lots of work to come