What makes a great IT guy?

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Hi ,

How's everyone?

I've got about almost a year's experience in IT second line now... some days are good and others I have so much to do I cant even think straight. Sometimes I can get a ahead of the game and start working on some projects I have going but but other days its just firefighting and learning things on the fly!!

How does everyone else handle the balance of being a bit more proactive and just firefighting? What makes a great tech?

cheers

 

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IMHO.. talent.

You cant learn it, you got it or not.

 

Take a look at ITIL v3 and perhaps SLA's which will define the expected time frames to resolve certain issues. Can be a pain in the neck or can be a saviour when you need to organise. Where i work, people have always expected every little request done immediately regardless of whether i am working on another problem or a project. These types of things can make life easier and help you to become more proactive due to better time management.

 

LOLO, sounds just exactly as where I currently work.

 

Patience, tolerance, empathy, organisation, willingness to learn and adapt to new situations.

Really the same things that make people succesful in all walks of life

 

In my opinion, these are two somewhat unrelated questions. Certainly great techs can get more done and, therefore, can put out fires quicker. However, I've been employed by some companies that ran so lean, staffwise, that firefighting was all that could be done, despite having great techs. Before one large project (that has to be done NOW) is done, two more arise (that have to be done NOW). It happens.

So... how do you be more proactive? You simply do it when the opportunities present themselves - when time opens up and there's nothing on your plate. Don't just sit back, relaxing in the afterglow of a finished major project. And that's easy to say, but hard to do - it takes discipline, drive, and determination.

What do I think makes a great tech? I can think of seven abilities (and there are likely others I'm forgetting):
1. The ability to troubleshoot quickly. You either have it, or you don't - I have yet to see anyone truly learn this skill to mastery without already having the skill to begin with.
2. The ability to work and research independently. You *have* to be able to find the answer to solutions on your own... and this includes effective use of the Googletron.
3. The ability to work in a group. Great techs can relate well with others. Nobody wants to work with the antisocial server room rat who ridicules others or goes ballistic when you do something that he perceives to be incorrect.
4. The ability to mentor and teach others. Many people can do tech work. Great techs can teach others how to be better techs.
5. The ability to multitask. You'll have a rough time in IT if you can't be flexible and switch between tasks easily.
6. The ability to put the requirements of the job above his own personal desires. I don't mean by working for far less than you're worth, or by letting an employer work you to death - that's being a doormat. I mean by doing what needs to be done to accomplish the mission. If that means working on a weekend or a public holiday to migrate a domain, you do it. If that means staying late to roll out an application, you do it. Certainly you don't want to neglect your family... but some amount of "working late" is understandable.
7. The ability and desire to learn. Learning in IT never ends. If it does, your career is in trouble, because you are as obsolete as the technologies you know how to support.

 

I can't do this anymore justice.

 

You been reading my CV BosonMichael? Only kidding.

That is a cracking list. It's all the stuff that seems to sit hidden between the lines in your job description.

 

1) Works cheap
2) Has no aspirations to get any ladder
3) Willingness to take blame for poor management decisions
4) Not a union member

That's really about it, which is why H1B wage slaves are so highly prized in this country. The American worker has been "spoiled" according to some idjuts here.

 

^ why does it say valued member under your name??

 

the ability to constantly adapt to new technologies and not call people retards when they say the computer isn't working and you point out that it isn't plugged in

 

You nailed it.