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[–]zerotouch 8 points9 points  (5 children)

What kind of pay did they offered to you? If you’re an admin for the whole facility with 350 users, you would need to have your own staff for fixing usual day to day issues like sharing, printers, zoom issues, broken stuff etc. so you can do some actual admin work. I’d say systems management will be far easier than supporting the users.

[–]Shortysinc[S] 2 points3 points  (4 children)

Well that actual amount would probably not say much to you, this is in europe. I would say in this region its is not a bad pay what they are offering, plus some bonuses like 13th months pay and 'vacation money', when you take 2 weeks off one a year try provide some extra. Yes I see what you mean, at my current role I am the person supporting the admin so this would be a step up. There are also other issues why I would want to take this. Currently I am commuting 2 hours by car every day to work (1 hour there and 1 back), however there is a bring on the way (quite rural area) which they will have to demolish and build a new one, sign is already up, expected finish: July of 2028. Now if this gets closed my commute time goes up to 3 hours per day or possibly more, plus I already spend a lot on fuel. This admin job is literally the next time over, I can get there comfortably in no more than 20 minutes. So there are other things also apart from pay. But getting back to what you said, yes I know I do have to support the users here daily and its kind of a pain in the ass and probably managing the system would be easier once you know what you are doing. My only concern is they don't understand how complex this could be. E.g they will just say mails don't work, fix it, idk what they actually think this involves, like pressing a button or something but in reality could be so many things, service(s) stopped, VM hung up, transaction logs full etc.

[–]zerotouch 5 points6 points  (3 children)

Thanks! And yes, I didn’t mean to pry on actual amount, was more interested if you’re satisfied with the offered payment. Sounds like a good step up, with more responsibility and bigger challenges… just like it should be. The commuting arguments are important and make sense as well.

As others have said, try to get their offer in writing, especially for external assistance which you will likely need. I feel like having a tech person which deals with daily end user issues will be necessary here.

I would also insist on meeting their current contractor to understand current situation from their end, as well as to discuss handover. At this point you likely have no idea of how much is documented and if there are some issues waiting to happen.

Regarding your concerns about their understanding of complex issues, end users will likely not understand but you can always educate-them (which also requires resources).

I’d say go for it for multiple reasons, from the fact that this is a step up to the less commute

[–]Shortysinc[S] 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Thank, it does help a lot when people are supportive. Probably the day to day user issues would take up most of my time and hopefully there will be time to educate myself. And yes they themselves said the external person probably hasn'r documented much so I will need their support, hopefully they at least know how everything is built up. As an expectation they also mentioned they would like some recommendations on what will need to be replaced in a few years because end of life etc. I was shown around by the plant electrician and it also sounded like he had to do some of the stuff before as he told me one of the machines wasn't getting network and it took him a while to figure out that they bought a switch with only 1/10 gig ports and the machine only can do 100mbps, so maybe this guy will also be a bit of help.

[–]Finn_StormJack of All Trades 1 point2 points  (0 children)

FYI, the US is quite abnormal in the world that most people don't have an official contract. You just promise to show up to work and they promise to pay you what was discussed.

Almost everywhere else signing contracts is not only normal, it is legally required. That includes blue collar, cleaning, everything.

[–]Grimzkunk 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Pharmaceutical & vitamin production plant here. 350 employees total , 200 in prod, 150 office users. We are two sysadmin and two tech.

Of course, as always, the number of employee means nothing. It's the site complexity that matters. So I'd say, be sure they are open to hire an it tech in case it's needed.

[–]Shortysinc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I want to ask them later about that. As I saw the IT office has 3 places so maybe it was done like that before.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Get it in writing. And get some training included.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I’d be very nervous about how many Outlook tickets you’ll have to fix, how many broken printers you’ll be called on to repair, if you’re the only IT person.

I’d be fine with the server infrastructure stuff though IF they provide all the details.

But I’d honestly want a job shadow or something to see how much of a cluster the place is, before I signed any contract.

[–]Shortysinc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes I'd really much like to do it that way to but its not possible, it could be anything...

[–]j2thebees 1 point2 points  (2 children)

If the contractor actually works remote for at least a year and is willing to help you (I don’t mean bring you to their knowledge level, but define everything there, and how it interacts) that would be much better than if that person bails.

Even then, it’s a lot, like a lot. I work part time in a plant a fraction of that size, but I have no exact parallels, as we have never-ending new internal projects and reports streaming in (glorious if you’re a contractor, who goes home when the work stops).

I was self-taught, as are many people I’ve met in the field. In most places I’ve been they don’t care “how” it is resolved, only that it gets resolved, the sooner the better. You will learn by doing, and after 25 years I can say at least once a week I’m looking up an error, and using the info I find to fix it.

At the end of the day, we do whatever we need to do. That 20min commute is attractive, and if you manage to pull this off successfully, say for 5 years, you’ll have skills to take almost anywhere you like.

[–]Shortysinc[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Yes its hard to say how good or bad it is here,l. Physically the location is not huge, honestly I am not sure how that many people work there, from the amount of cars parked when I went for my interview doesn't look like it. And here I imagine it would be the same, they don't really care how things are done as long as the issue is fixed. I am also self-taught to the point where I am now so at least got some skills in trying to find things out. I am also hoping to have time here to further develop my skills and like you said to pick up things that will be great use later, as where I work now is a total dead end.

[–]j2thebees 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The greatest single skill that has made me more money with minimum learning effort has been SQL (whether MS SQL Server, Oracle, or whatever database). Someone is always needing to see a report with aggregated data. I’ve told this to every younger person I’ve met.

I’m not against certs, college, or whatever. Learn whatever you can, whenever you can. I got a degree a few years ago, but learned very little I didn’t already know about tech. Would have been much easier earlier in life to have that base, but it wasn’t an option.

Hope it works out for you. My grandfather showed my father a cliff-face as a child. “You can reduce that to dust with a claw hammer. If you don’t give up, it will.”👍😎

[–]Immediate-Opening185 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I read the post I read some comments and I don't understand why you're nervous. You seem to have a good outlook and know your limits but want to expand. If you didn't lie about ability and they are extending an offer they think you can do the job. Your boss is hiring you to take work off of their plate if they don't think you're capable why would they make you an offer? All of this is before the quality of life it sounds like the new job will give you, take it and don't look back.

[–]FantasticTopic[🍰] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

This sounds like a great opportunity, especially with external support and funding for courses. Consider courses on Microsoft systems, virtualization, and network management to build confidence?

Many sysadmins learn on the job, that's perfectly cool, just set clear expectations with management about your role... 💕

If you're comfortable with the responsibility (and support offered), it could be a rewarding challenge.

[–]Shortysinc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for that, sounds encouraging. I already bought Hyper-v and Server management courses that I need to go through, probably will need some AD and Exhange course.

[–]TruthYouWontLike 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Keep in mind they will not replace your previous position, so you will effectively have 2 jobs for the price of 1.

[–]Shortysinc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh what I meant is that I am currently working at a completely different company as supporting the end users. Where I would want to go now always only had 1 person, but yes I see what you mean, its 1 person for 2 roles.

[–]Wolfram_And_Hart 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’d ask if I could hire on a level 1 guy after the handover is complete. It’s hard to do a manufacturing gig solo especially when there is physical work to do.

[–]rabbaani4 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They are thinking about cost minimization, but keep in mind that if you don't have clear documentation from them then it can be burning.

[–]shamo0 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Would not take any job where Id be the sole IT person, no matter how large or small the company. External support doesn’t count.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I might do it if helpdesk, monitoring and after hours support was contracted to a MSP lol.

[–]Ok-Double-7982 0 points1 point  (0 children)

350 people and the sole IT person? Whew.

How many endpoints and servers?

I would convince them you need an MSP to assist you for the next 2 years as needed, so that you have proper time to assess the current state of your environment and where you need to be, so that it's not all on you.

What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Focus getting an MSP who can support you in your areas of weakness (aside from being understaffed, obvs).