A+ only but was given a break into an IT position...Help! 1

[Drew888]

I recently changed careers deciding to do what I want as opposed to what I need to do, anyway...

I got a position in an IT dept. supporting 200 people locally, 50 or so V.P.'s remotely all in a W2k environment.

Boss's thinking is that he is tired of hiring someone only to have them leave soon after. They all seemed to learn what they needed and searched for something better.

I am here because I am capable of learing and will stay (pay is good and atmosphere is great).

I was hired just before the holiday and the last thing he asked of me was to prepare some technical questions for him upon my return ( I think he doesn't quite know where to begin training me...I suspect).

I can reset passwords, I can add a new user to the mail server, I can set permissions (most of this via NetIQ's "Directory and Resource Administrator"), I know how to switch back-up tapes, and can diag./repair any desktop/laptop hardware problem, but that's about it.

If you were to go into a job cold what would you ask first (a list of server addresses for example?) and what would be the priority to learn?

My boss is taking a vacation soon and I have only 3wks to get up to speed enough to "hold the fort".

Any help is greatly appreciated. I realize this industry is very competitive and I was aware that it would take a very long time to get my foot into the door so getting my break...I am very grateful.

Drew

 

[willir]

Drew

My suggestion is to focus on IT support from the business end.
- Learn what parts of the business are critical. Then learn what is required to support them. Work your way down the list from super critical to critical to very important.
- Learn what are common support issues and how to resolve them.
- Learn who is responsible for which system. I suspect you will not be required to support everything. Rather, learn whom to escalate problems to.
- Learn who the key people are within each department. This is helpful two ways -- they can help you on identifying issues and resources; and they may help you personally in "networking" with others.
- Learn who the "boss" listens to -- these are people not to tick-off!
- Learn what technology is being used, and what suitable technology is available on the market.
- Learn which departments are the odd-balls. For example, I have always found engineering to be a different breed from the rest, hence they are the most awkward to support.

Hint: Make friends with shipping / receiving. These guys may seem small in many businesses but when you need to purchase something, or are desperately waiting for a delivery, it really pays to be on good terms with these guys.

When answering the interview questions...
- Indicate that you realize that production is priority #1. Whether it is getting product out the gate, or offerring quality service, time is money, and down-time is expensive.
- Indicate that you will escalate problems that you can not resolve.
- Indicate that when you fix a problem, you want to develop a resolution to prevent the problem from re-occurring. A typical real-life example. A network switch or several switches shut down periodically. This problem could be a minor annoyance to a major production problem depending on where and when. The quick resolution was to reset the switch. But the better solution was to ensure all network switches are plugged into a superior UPS that supply power during brown-outs and capable of instant switching.
- Prepare some thoughts on a technical plan. Where are the weaknesses in the current IT topology, and what technology can be used to improve productivity.

Try and project that you understand the "big picture" thinking. But you are also knowledable of the details.

Lastly, proceed with caution. I feel one of the worst things to do is sell yourself on more than you are technically capable of. If you are hired to do a job you are not qualified for, unless you are a very quick study, this will be bad for the company, and eventually, it can be very bad for you -- you get canned, and have poor references.

Good luck on this.

 

[vstewart7206]

Why did you want to get into IT?

 

[langleymass]

Just learn what you can. They knew that you didn't have much experience when they hired you.

 

[Drew888]

Thanks for the advice!, exactly what I was looking for.

Why IT?, I helped my wife get through dental school because at the time her career path was more sound. Soon afterward, we were married, moved away, had two kids (4 & 6 now).

I worked in facilities supporting 3 sites and 7 buildings (some over seas) until my locations closed. I didn't like the job (not through lack of effort-heck I was hired into the mail rm and worked my way up) and decided to try something else. First it was as a house husband, we didn't have any relatives who might help and it is very difficult maintaining a job when school is out at 2:30, it's closed all the time for a teacher appreciation day, conference, or parent teacher meetings, and days off to care for a sick child.
I needed a breather (love the kids but it was driving me nuts) and just recently got the A+ so... got a job repairing PC's. I enjoyed that very much. I fell in love with the hands on approach to computing. Before landing this, I had built maybe 15 or so PC's for friends/family, modded my own over time (upgraded 6 times), built the pc's and networked them at the dental office we opened just 2 yrs.ago as well as my own 3 pc wireless home network.
Ok not much of a resume but anything related to computing just thrilled me. So I'm giving it a shot.
I never completed college. I worked straight away and moved out at 19. At age 24 I met my wife, stopped taking classes and focused on getting bills paid. At 28 we got married. For the 7 yrs after highschool I was kind of misdirected, not knowing what I should do and floated amoung various auto dealerships (from washing cars, apprentice mechanic, to managing the owners' new side business-organized, good attention to detail and cared about customers, and I could wrench).

So, hey my life in a nutshell (cheap therapy

Drew,
(also thought of $300/job as home inspector or appraisals, getting my real estate license, and maybe even finishing school)

 

[jrbarnett]

I would add to the switching backup tapes: who is responsible for taking the backup set off site each evening (I hope this is done), is there a specified safe storage location or not, and if the inevitable happens, how to restore from a backup.
Make sure this includes more complex items such as restoring SQL databases as well as ordinary files as they often are far more critical than a few word documents.

John

 

[Corran007]

ask where all the documentation is kept for things you need to take care of and start reading fast. ask any questions you are not clear of so they can be answered.

also ask about important stuff that is not documenated. It all should be but ya know how that goes.

 

[dk87]

One thing of note. If you are working for a publicly traded company, ask about their policies, procedures, and SOX documentation. Not only are you required to follow these procedures, they will also teach you quite a bit.

 

[Drew888]

Thanks all for the input!

It looks like they are scaling down a bit. It's much cheaper to let a few go that have been here for years (through the internet boom) and start over with some one like myself who is getting paid much less (I don't yet care about the pay...happy to be here).

It happened at Pac Bell and my Mom was offered a generous early retirement package. Wish they all would do that.

Anyway thanks again, I hope to be here for a while so I'll spend more time here learning and helping (if I can).

Happy New Year All!

Drew,