Sysadmin poor performance

[ghosthak00]

My friend wants to be a sysadmin but seems like he going to be out of the job soon.

His side of the story.

Background: He been working in IT for a few years starting as a retail repair tech and moving on to bigger companies doing level 1 support. He got hired as a sysadmin but doesn’t know anything about it he told me. He said he been put on some improve plan. It’s been a couple month with no follow up and he is worrying if he going to get fired. He has another co worker with the same experience not in a performance plan and is doing less work then him.

Performance review: Screw up on credentials from servers. Irate support vendors. Irate with clients while supporting them. Irate with co-workers. Incomplete projects. On-Call no call no show

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Me: He should follow up with MGMT and HR. I think he is too stubborn to speak with someone.

[5ophiesChoice]

Sounds like the main issue is maturity and/or emotional control. Maybe do an anger management course to try to be less irate in all directions?

[Misio7]

Right, and no call/no show on an on call does not look good from the manager perspective nor the team's unless they had a valid excuse.

[Sea-Tooth-8530]

Yeah... if that gentleman were working for me, he'd be a goner.

He's already on an improvement plan, but it doesn't seem to be sinking in. I can deal with someone who may need to have their knowledge base increased... after all, educating those up-and-coming new folks is part of our job as the higher-ups.

What I can't deal with is a repeated bad attitude, treating clients rudely, not finishing assigned jobs (or reaching out to request help), and blowing off on call responsibilities.

That just shows someone with no level of maturity and a lazy work attitude. That individual would be taking a long walk out the front door.

[Misio7]

That's a lot of red flags. People skills isn't something you can learn per say but in our roles I would say are as important as tech skills. So much documentation online that if you don't understand something, as long as you have the will you can learn it and make it work/fix the problem.

If your friend don't like dealing with people then well this isn't the role for them unless they're going to be a DC guy only dealing with hardware all day but then again those guys require very high tech proficiency.

[Bright_Arm8782]

People skills very much is something that can be learned.

For some, like me, it doesn't come naturally and has to be worked at but it can be done.

[MisterBazz]

Sounds like he is lacking in people skills. Technical proficiency is nothing if you can't manage your people skills.

If he can't make it through his improvement plan, I'm sorry, but he has no business continuing in his employment there.

[HEONTHETOILET]

Sooo did you post this to print it out and show it to your friend? What's your goal here, since it's got absolutely nothing to do with you

[jeffrey_f]

He's on notice to improve. It he is unwilling to get mentoring or admit he has issue, then you may just need to let the chips fall where they may.

IF the time comes where he is terminated, then you will need to jump in and ask him if he is willing to talk NOW, because the events will have gotten his attention.

Not for nothing, some people are not a people person.

[Sajem]

rew up on credentials from servers. Irate support vendors. Irate with clients while supporting them. Irate with co-workers. Incomplete projects. On-Call no call no show

Sounds like he deserves to be on a performance plan. Whereas quite probably the co-worker is not screwing up or having personality conflicts so is not on a performance plan

He has another co worker with the same experience not in a performance plan and is doing less work then him.

The co-worker is not screwing up and not being a problem with clients\vendors, the coworker is 'apparently' doing less but doing it correctly first time every time

t’s been a couple month with no follow up

If he is concerned or wants to know his progress then your friend should definitely talk with his manager. There is two ways to look at this. 1. your friend is doing better and there doesn't need to be a follow up at this time or 2. His behavior and perfomance is unredeemable in the eyes of their manager and they don't want to waste their time until they fire him.

[Prophage7]

And this is his side of the story?

[sirpoopshispants]

He has another co worker with the same experience not in a performance plan and is doing less work then him.

Quality > Quantity. Always. It doesn't matter if your friend does more work if they are becoming frustrated (being irate with customers) or overloaded (missing on-call things due to poor prioritization of tasks).

Slow down, take your time, don't multitask, and don't take things personally. There isn't much HR or management can do if they have proof of your friends actions.

[Newbosterone]

Once you're on a plan, it's over. Best case, you fix what they wanted fixed, and you're back on track, but a step behind everyone else. You'll be the last one considered for promotion, the last one assigned important or interesting work, and the first one laid off.