Real world experience

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As a bit of background I took over the IT responsibilitys of the company from my boss as he had no time for it and didn't want to do it either. I'm also starting my MCSA training course on the 17th sept. We also have an IT professional that only works for the company 10% so for him it's sort of a nice little sideline and a bit of extra income. I was talking to him yesterday and at some point I asked him if he also needed some volunteer help at the University IT dept where he works as I would like to get some real hands on experience too. To my surprise he said yes and we talked about how we'd work it out with the working times etc. So it looks like I'll have some more work ahead of me (yay) and some perspective.

The thing that surprised me the most was to hear me asking about this to start with. To say I was surprised is an understatement, I was gobsmacked.Then I realised how stupid I really am in not asking about it a year ago.

I'll probably start with going 2 times a week for a couple of hours in the afternoons. This means I'll also have to start work earlier to make up the 'lost' time but I think it's worth it.

 

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Good luck Nugget, it looks asthough you're gona be getting a lot of experience in the near future!

 

good for you! any hands on experience and perspective you can get is great. you will gain so much, both technical knowledge as well as developing your own way of solving problems.
i myself have worked years as a consultant, going from one company to another, and i discovered very quickly that no network/server environment is alike. there's always something different and unexpected. it's a challenge, because sometimes you really have to improvise, despite all the knowledge and experience you think you have. i've really learned a lot.
good luck in your endeavors.

 

I know what you mean, i'd been working at my place for ages before i thought!

Good on you though!

 

Nice One!
I have been helping out for the "odd day" here and there with a local company. It has been a great help to me and it looks good on the CV too.

 

Great stuff, Nugg - well done for using your bottle

 

Well, just a little update. I got permission from the boss. He also saw it as a good benefit for the company too. Now they're working on sorting the insurance issues at the Uni.

On a brighter note when I was talking with the boss he mentioned that it had come up in discussions that we might eventually need a windows server. As some of you know we run a Linux server here so ..... maybe happier days ahead.

Now I've really got to jump in the deep end as I've started my course with the training provider and I've seen how necessary real hands on experience REALLY is.

 

Nugget,

I am really pleased for you pal. It will all work out in your favour.

 

You rock, Nugget! Great score! BTW, if you've got a Linux server, how come you need a Windows server?

 

Okay, time for another update. (I'll keep doing this till you scream 'no more')

I went to the Uni the other day and it was great. I didn't actually do anything but my boss showed me around all the servers and all the insides of them too. File servers, AV servers, backup and database servers and also WSUS ones too, all servicing about 150 clients from desktops to laptops to specialised pc's running custom software for various machines. A great mix of Linux, Mac and Windows and also classroom setups fully kitted out with thin clients.

Maybe next time I can get down to the nitty gritty.

On a lighter note I was thinking today about how I could set up a 2K3 server at work. I asked about it and I'm now all owed to set up my own private internal netork inside the company one. To top it all off we have a spare server sitting around doing nothing so now I get it to play with.

How good can it get??

 

Like I said before, Nugget...you rock! Good deal.

 

LOL. There you go, Trip. Nugget does something great and you call him names.... When did you start calling people rocks anyway....

Good initiative, Nugget.

 

We've got to update your vocabulary, Freddy.

 

Congratulations nugget!

 

Just out of interest Nug, how are these thin clients set up? I am aware of Citrix and Windows terminal services but as they are not using Windows servers at the moment, I presume there must be a Linux equivalent?

Good on ya for getting involved in this!

 

I see where the misunderstanding is Bluerinse. As Trip pointed out we have a Linux server but it's at the place that I work and we have around 40 win2k and xp clients. The IT pro works for us 10% (approx 1 afternoon per week, more or less) but his full time job is at the University in Zürich. So now the situation is that I will go to the Uni (about 10% too, and free) to get some hands on experience with 2K3 servers etc.

All the good stuff is at the Uni and the thin clients run with terminal services. It's getting to the stage though that the Linux system is getting past it's use-by date. Having said that, it's rather easy to maintain (bugger all work to do) as it rarely needs updates now and when it does it's just a case of installing the updates and restarting the services. I think it's been up around 500 days or so now and we only stopped it to change over to a new linux server which didn't work. At that point it had also been up for about 450 days too.

 

Pretty cool how long the Linux servers will stay up isn't it. I've seen some reports on the net in the 3-4 year range.

 

Thanks Nugget!

You have clearly got more stable mains power than here on The Gold Coast. We have power cuts all the time, if there is a storm, the power will certainly be lost in various parts of the city. I have known it to stay off for up to five hours. This seriously hampers my SBS boxes up time

 

I take it as a compliment freddy. Last month I was a nugget, this week I'm a rock (bigger than a nugget) and next year I'm aiming to become a boulder.

 

Way to go, nugg!