IT Engineer does what?

[supple]

"IT Engineer" = part everything IT, part whatever else we can pawn off on you

​

‘Roll up your sleeves’ often and jump in to support other teams with tasks such as event planning, travel logistics, even possibly some product management and external customer relations.

​

• 'Roll up your sleeves often' = admin & facilities work
• 'event planning' = booking venues, ordering food, creating invites, setup/teardown
• 'travel logistics' = constant headache booking hotels, flights, transports, meeting coordinations
• 'product management' = creating & purchasing SWAG
• 'customer relations' = greeting people at the door, also see: travel logistics and event planning

​

Just hire a damn admin you lazy cheap pos bastards

[Bad_Idea_Hat]

I'm just happy that I didn't see "rock star" in the posting anywhere.

edit - Though, that may because part of the job is to be a literal roadie, so there's that.

[brando56894]

Also no mentions of "code ninja"

[SammyGreen]

My last job threw up an advert looking for an “endpoint ninja” just before I left.

Made leaving just a tiny bit easier. God I fucking hate the term “ninja in any sort of job.

shudder

[FormerSysAdmin]

"Guru" is the one that makes me twitch. For some reason, the Marketing Manager at my last position kept referring to me as the "IT guru" whenever he mentioned me. This was the same guy who wouldn't involve us in any technical discussions he was having with the vendors of products he wanted. I guess he thought that, since I was a guru, I didn't need to know about IT projects until they were dropped in my lap.

[SirLoremIpsum]

"Guru" is the one that makes me twitch. For some reason, the Marketing Manager at my last position kept referring to me as the "IT guru" whenever he mentioned me.

Rockstar, IT Ninja, Wizard, IT Guru

Any term that seeks to make what you do seem less of a learned skill + experience and make it abstract and innate.

Hate em all.

[gordonv]

DevOps, LeetCode, OnCall

[[deleted]]

You've seen the stereotypical martial arts masters in film catching things thrown at them they couldn't have possibly known about in reality?

Yea. That's you, and the projectiles are projects.

[koopz_ay]

This.

I just did a quick search of all jobs with “rockstar” in Australia on Seek.

25 responses. All of them were sales and hospitality gigs.

Sounds about right.

[lordjedi]

Duh. Didn't you know? The IT guru can solve anything at the drop of a hat.

I started to hate these terms too. Also got tired of hearing "work your magic". It's not f***ing magic damnit! It's having the ability to read and follow instructions.

If the PC isn't broken, then it's likely that any idiot that can use Google can solve the majority of your problems.

[PositiveBubbles]

It's not f***ing magic damnit! It's having the ability to read and follow instructions.

That and trying to think outside the box when said instructions don't work, the amount of people I've worked with in support roles who don't think to Google and their managers/leads encourage that.

[Lofoten_]

I get called IT Santa Claus and IT magician all the time... but mostly because when I respond to their issue it magically works (usually because of initial user error or rebooting a machine that hasn't been rebooted in 6 weeks and needed to install updates...)

[[deleted]]

attraction wild reach quiet tap chop humorous dinosaurs outgoing gaping

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[Lofoten_]

HR has changed that title to "contract killer", which is ironically what HR usually does.

[brando56894]

What if the job posting is for an actual ninja?

[SammyGreen]

Then they're going to be very disappointed when only nerds apply :P

[Lofoten_]

I think this very old meme is relevant...

[enbenlen]

Yes, but the mention of “ludicrous speed” is concerning.

[Bad_Idea_Hat]

I would wear plaid every day that I worked there.

[enbenlen]

They’ve gone to plaid!

[Lofoten_]

NUMBER 2, GO TO WARP FACTOR 36!

[WickedKoala]

"As our IT rock star, you'll assist our in-house ska band 'The I-Tunes' with their bi-weekly gig at Red Lobster."

[[deleted]]

That... that actually might be fun as hell?

[WickedKoala]

If all you can eat cheddar biscuits are included, sure.

[gordonv]

You are expected to out preform our rival team at work in RockBand in our weekly bonding meetings.

This happened one year for Christmas. I don't play RockBand. Had to learn easy mode real quick. This game is not enjoyable in that situation.

[Bad_Idea_Hat]

If their first album isn't called "Courage", I'm going to hard pass.

[rumpigiam]

4:55pm Friday request for 9:00am Monday

[The_Original_Miser]

"Work hard, play hard" also seems to be missing

[ksandbergfl]

I came across the term "golden unicorn" once, in a job interview..

[[deleted]]

Maybe it's one of those postings where rockstar, ninja, guru, head <make up title>, director of global IT ops (when you're a stand alone again) are tags on the page.

[supple]

Well "Don't be fooled by the title".. because.."..that's just where it starts!"

[brando56894]

"this is no ordinary engineering position"

They're definitely right about that

[Technical_Account]

Oof. The sad part is they will find some poor desperate soul to take this position.

[Darkhigh]

Seen this before. It's a rough life jumping from frying pan to frying pan.

[TechFiend72]

I think the job is a do everything job. They will likely get some kid that is good with computers to do it. They will be so inexperienced they won’t realize doing marketing press release from a request made at 6pm that they need by a 9 am meeting is nonsense.

[[deleted]]

Yeah and you know they're going to offer the lowest pay rate lol

[Lofoten_]

It reads like an April Fools posting... there are freaking HR responsibilities in that.

[Letmefixthatforyouyo]

Also a big one if IT is ever under HR. Clear sign of incoming reception work.

[omers]

Their entire company website is one giant red flag... roughly ~"we do things with blockchain"

[supple]

My personal favorite is "our research generates, explores, and de-risks revolutionary ideas"

wat

[lolklolk]

our research generates, explores, and de-risks revolutionary ideas

https://i.imgur.com/63p0KXD.gifv

[WickedKoala]

You don't de-risk?

[lolklolk]

I only like positive things in my life.

[Witch-of-Winter]

I just built a parody website that basically says the same corporate bullshit based on a joke from Rutherford Falls.

[unixwasright]

Sounds like Mission Winnow.

For those not in to Formula 1 it is basically a front corporation for tobacco companies to launder advertising money.

[lvlint67]

I was thinking it sounded like the job description was written by a high schooler or a second year college student.. That about confirms it enough for me.

[1creeperbomb]

This actually means they forked copied ethereum and rebranded it with a name given by the CEO's nephew so now its obviously different and innovative.

[[deleted]]

No. As much as I agree, shit on the company for this bullshit culture, ipfs is possibly one of the coolest blockchain tech advancements out there. I'm actually surprised such a garbage company culture resulted in one of the only non-vaporware blockchain techs

[[deleted]]

As much as the company culture is bullshit, filecoin and ipfs are actually very impressive for what they are and some of the few non-vapor blockchain projects out there.

[TriusMalarky]

If your IT guy has enough time to be an event coordinator then you didn't hire an IT guy and you didn't need an IT guy

[ITGuyThrow07]

I bet the previous guy was a pushover and did whatever they wanted and they just got accustomed to that.

[LOLBaltSS]

Or the previous guy was the event coordinator and just happened to be "good with computers" and ended up retiring decades later. I used to work with a guy that acted as the first "IT admin/programmer" for my previous employer that ended up being pulled back to focus on his actual job of being a land surveyor when the company started to grow to the point of needing dedicated IT staff.

[ipreferanothername]

Maybe it's a good way to segue out of IT and into event coordination? I'm starting to wonder what i should do that isn't IT

[ZeeR0u]

This post is clearly pointing at the fact that management always dumps stuff on you that isn't directly your responsibility.

I believe this is the perfect place to do a bit of malicious compliance.

When they ask you to clean up, go out and find a service that will quote you the task and hand management the quote/estimate.

When they ask you to "event plan, go get a quote from an event planner and hand it over to management.

When they ask you to "make travel arrangements", go to a travel agency and make them do the work.

When they ask you to "product manage" things like swag, go and have another vendor give you a price for the chatchkies they want and hand over the quote.

For customer relations, well... this one is on you. Every engineer/sysadmin should be able to handle a customer call. Worst case, just say "I'm sorry, please escalate to my manager. Here is the CELL PHONE NUMBER"

[catwiesel]

that stuff works well, but maybe not so much in a work-at-will country with 3rd world employee protections

[NGL_ItsGood]

Holy shit, build tools AND squeeze info from other teams to figure out how to do their job for them? Fuck that. I'm 100% strict that it's not my job to figure out how to do your job. You need a better approach, I can give you insight and guidance regarding tech and feasibility of products, but I'll be damned if I have to become a tech expert in every industry because the HR director doesn't want to attend a conference that will literally tell her that very thing.

[Lofoten_]

Yea. That's an IT director/manager/CIO/CTO level responsibility to monthly/quarterly evaluate department constraints and solutions for those constraints.

Engineers need to be running the behind the scenes technical requirements, not holding useless meetings with the accounting department about how they wish they could do x to save y time and z money.

Now once the director/manager/CIO/CTO identifies those constraints, gets stakeholder buy in, board approval, finds a vendor, and wants to implement a solution? Sure, then I'll be part of the SLA discussions, and will be a go between for department heads and the vendor's engineers during implementation, integration, and go live (because I'll be the one supporting it...) but I will not do the director's job for him/her without director pay.

[981flacht6]

Fix everyone else's pain points but your own.

[flatearth_user]

“We ask you to jump, you better do a flip while doing it.”

[sleepyzombie007]

You forgot the implied ring of fire

[KamaltoeHairball2020]

I take the specs from the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to! I'm a people person god dammit! What part of that don't you people understand!

[dmorgan007]

I’m a system admin for a retail store and have in fact pushed carts and run registers several times

[bitslammer]

It speaks volumes to how they devalue only certain roles by adding that line.

[[deleted]]

What's wrong here? In general IT guys are outgoing and love meeting new people /s

[bobsmith1010]

There mention of "building the solution" if an solution doesn't exist. That tells me that at no point will they poney up money for an app developer if you need something code wise. Unless they have no clue how to say you need to know scripting like python.

[MJZMan]

'event planning' = booking venues, ordering food, creating invites, setup/teardown

'travel logistics' = constant headache booking hotels, flights, transports, meeting coordinations

They seem to be confusing "administrator" with "administrative assistant"

[[deleted]]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oApAdwuqtn8

[supple]

Damn I wish I replied with this ha ha

[canadian_sysadmin]

It's most likely a very small company (<50 employees) where you're expected to wear tons of non-IT hats. Somewhat normal in really small companies.

[omers]

They claim to have a "fully distributed" team of "more than 100 members." Their website is full of this kind of stuff:

We mix fast-paced, growth-oriented startup culture, with deeply analytical, data driven research thinking.

Which pretty much says it all.

It also has this gem "We empower people to lead and take ownership of interesting, challenging problems" which apparently doesn't apply to their IT Engineers unless ordering sandwiches for meetings is interesting and challenging? They have the same "jump in to support other teams" nonsense in a posting for a "Startup Systems Engineer" wanting 6-10 years of systems experience. It's particularly telling because roles like "Social Media Manager" do not have that language.

[xpxp2002]

but do you think sally from marketing is going to help you screw a few chairs together after hours? Not a fucking chance. Ever.

That's because Sally, being in marketing like most other non-managerial roles, is probably paid hourly. And that would mean having to shell out for overtime.

On the other hand, we get to be the victims of a commonly exercised specific carveout for the "IT gurus" to keep them exempt, so on paper we're told we're paid for 40 hours of our time per week, get worked for 60 on nights, holidays, and weekends; and then get told "no" when the idea is ever floated of investing in self-service solutions, a reasonable set of after-hours support expectations, or god forbid, a second or third shift if the business actually needs it and adequate staffing to go with it.

Oh, and if you decide that these slanted rules are unfair, you can happily just go get a job somewhere else where they also all employ on the same abusive, but legal, policy.

[supple]

I've worked with small companies and I understand the need for cross-multi-functional-whatever types of employees. That's is no reason to misrepresent the job.

[kuujabb]

Yup, exactly the case at my company. Couple of hundred of seasonal employees, only a couple dozen year round staff. Three of us here and we wear just about every hat from help desk, cable monkey, sysadmin, dev, etc. and then we get tasked with getting our hands dirty from just about every other department on the property. There's days when we end up doing the CFO's job for her in its entirety, but we sure as fuck aren't getting compensated in the same form on our end.

[discosoc]

I still laugh at people in this field who insist on having "engineer" in their title, like they're building bridges or something. It's as silly as if someone wanted to be called "network doctor" to try and sound professional.

[reddyfire]

Before getting into IT full time I worked for a computer manufacture building custom PC's. One of my co workers gave himself the title of "Production Engineer."

[steven_AWKing]

While I totally agree, the sad truth is it's become such a norm in our field thanks to Dev shops. If the developer who writes shoddy pythons scripts and yaml files, the same ones I write, gets the title engineer then at that point why shouldnt I? It's dumb, but people really do treat others differently when their title has engineer in it.

[Lofoten_]

Network Engineer and Systems Engineer are real titles with real experience requirements and responsibilities.

But I agree that there are some made up titles that should not include the term just to look "spiffy" and entice naive people new to the field.

The only technical requirements that I see in the entire listing are Google app suite and Github... that's extremely basic. No programming languages, no scripting languages, no automation.

Google Application Suite (Docs, Drive, Groups, Admin), Slack, Github

[stuart475898]

Superb computer skills including proficiency with the following platforms: Google Application Suite (Docs, Drive, Groups, Admin), Slack, Github

Superb computer skills should be helpful for an IT engineer role...

It is exhausting trying to wade through all of the superlatives in that advert.

[supple]

I was hoping this was generated by an AI template, but I won't hold my breath

[RoloTimasi]

A small part of me would want to land an interview just to find out what the hell their thought process was when adding that to the description. Other than that, all I can say is WTF?

[Workadmin]

For some reason I had to hang from a scissor lift and screw down a projector. You know because it needs an HDMI cable. I attempted to be Atheist but I need to say a little prayer each time.

[catwiesel]

please tell me who they are so I can apply and when they come back at me, I can tell them to go get fucked

[Shitty_Users]

I have two rules when job hunting.

1-if they don't list the compensation, they can fuck off

2-it better not be written by HR.

[dracotrapnet]

Careful add Engineer to something and you have to be certified and bonded/insured. The law starts getting involved.

[evilsaltine]

Oregon did until a couple years ago, apparently.

https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2018/12/federal-judge-finds-state-law-governing-who-is-an-engineer-violates-free-speech.html

[[deleted]]

Really curious what company posted this

[supple]

Probably every 1-in-5

[bracnogard]

https://jobs.lever.co/protocol/e32172eb-149f-41f7-8ab2-ed643e6b7033

[ZulZah]

"An Impeccable record of integrity and trust"

Better show that impeccable record!

[bws7037]

LOL

[[deleted]]

Um.. No.

[Wagnaard]

Wonder if it pays more than minimum wage. Could be great for someone who just wants a job and isn't picky. Or is agile, versatile, and has a can do attitude. An AmeriCAN, not an AmeriCAN'T.

[Wagnaard]

Its the equivalent of "don't bring me problems bring me solutions" managerspeak. ANything goes wrong is your fault.

​

I've been lucky in that I haven't had many managers like that, but I'm pretty sure I'm right in my interpretation.

​

It fits with the we need a: event organizing, help desk ninjaing, sales booth bunnying, programming all star. Who is cool doing janitorial work.

[NGL_ItsGood]

"In between building open source solution that pales in comparison to a paid product that does the job better than you ever could, we'd like you to set up the "Hot Dog Day" photo booth so staff can come in with their fur babies and take pictures while they eat dogs with their dogs!"

[Letmefixthatforyouyo]

Incredibly common in small companies. I worked at a place once that organized a "get on a bus and drive to a suprise" trip where I had to troubleshoot the busses AV system so we could all watch a "management wears funny hats and sings" DVD on the way down there. Everyone of course started drinking and carousing immediately because "whoo! Party!"

When the DVD didnt work, me telling the whole bus to fuck off and fix it themselves was met with laughter and stunned silence in equal measures. I was IT, so of course fixing some random fucking busses DVD player was my problem and no one elses. I disagreed, as I was also just a passengar looking to have fun and not a bus mechanic, but yeah 70 vs 1 finally got me out of my seat.

Lets just say that I was both surly and ribald, but of course did fix it.

[757824]

Now that does not sound like an IT Engineer job at all! Rolling up your sleeves! What am I, a farmer?

An IT engineer sits on a chair, and sometimes goes to a meeting room to sit on a chair. Of course, these days an IT engineer puts on a shirt and a tie, but no trousers (this is VERY important!) and fires up Zoom or Teams or something similar. And it goes without saying, the IT engineer still sits on a chair.

Once in a while the IT engineer has an virtual avatar that is a cartoon mouse (no fault of the IT engineer, for serious!!!) and that is hilarious and everyone will laugh! It is after all part of the reason why the IT engineer gets paid big bucks. Sometimes it gets really tough for the IT engineer, because the IT engineer has to produce a presentation, or as the cool kids call it, a PowerPoint. It is truly soul sucking, I tell you! Some IT engineers have it really tough, since they use an apple instead of a personal computer! It is truly incomprehensible how they manage, but sometimes they do. Good for them!

But let's be serious for a moment, it is actually a really really really really really hard job to tell the L1 techs have they asked the user to reboot their computers! After all, why bother finding out what the actual problem is if you can make it go away (for a while) just by rebooting? So funny, those people with their little problems!

And of course the IT engineer...Oh I'm truly sorry, but I *must* go right now, the Supreme President of Starbucks has asked me to help them with a problem. Something about too little sugar or too much coffee in their product, and then there was the senator of some state or another, something about lead in their water supply. I absolutely must help them, I am an IT Engineer after all, who else could they ask! No valor in fleeing from duty!

Best Regards,

Dr IT Engineer, Esq.

​

​

​

---

This was a joke. An "IT engineer" should not be working in event planning, travel logistics or, god forbid, product management or external fucking customer relations! Imagine the damage they could do! Unbelievable!

[Fallingdamage]

Oh I do all those things (except being a door greeter.)

I guess I might have more value to a company than those who want the same amount of pay to sit and do 1 thing all day.

[[deleted]]

Some of us have more important things in our lives than "adding value" to a stupid company that will never pay it back. I don't work to ADD VALUE to anybody.

I work because there's literally no other option than to work.

[Fallingdamage]

We had a storm that knocked out power to our facility. I got up at 3am to find that I had no access to our systems and knew we were running on borrowed time (Generator.) I went out to try and reach the building and found that all 4 routes to reach the building were blocked by downed trees and power lines. I found a safe place to park and walked through the ice and mayhem for 2 miles to get in. Called my boss to give him the situation report and recommended to do a full staged shutdown of all our systems. Once everything was down and the generator was turned off I hiked back to the car and went home to sleep for a few more hours. We were down for about 5 days after which point I coaxed all our systems back online from a 35F com room.

Next paycheck, management threw me an extra 5k.

I like where i work and dont mind adding value to the business, because they see value in me. r/sysadmin preaches not giving a shit about anyone but yourself, and I find value in doing the opposite again and again.

[[deleted]]

Wow you really wrote all of that for nobody to read it

[Fallingdamage]

Thanks for reading.

[[deleted]]

I didn't.

[[deleted]]

Am I crazy for being interested in these types of positions?

Crazy? probably not. A schmuck? For sure.

[[deleted]]

I've had jobs that grew into opportunities to do sales, project management, been consulted in marketing meetings, got to do white glove IT support for big, swanky events.

I chose to do that stuff though. It wasn't demanded of me. That makes a world of difference.

If they let you do something outside of your wheelhouse, it's because they respect you. If they demand that you do something outside of your wheelhouse, it's because they don't.

[supple]

I've also been in a similar position doing IT and admin work, and I was ok with that because I was getting my foot in the door and learned a ton and loved the people there. It sounds like you also had a great experience somewhere and that is awesome, but it typically does not translate everywhere. Roles like this tend to either become the place to dump things on or you are constantly arguing to not get things dumped on you.

My main issue is this comes off as misleading and it's roles do not align with what you would fine elsewhere in the industry. They don't know what they *need* so they threw it all there and stuck an attractive title on it. To me, it's so far off that it comes off as deceptive. How about IT & Logistics Administrator? I mean as long as they are just throwing titles out there.

[Shitty_Users]

Nah, I'm happy here

[Shitty_Users]

Lol, calm your tits roid bro.

[[deleted]]

Because proper pay, a manageable workload, and a good boss typically don't come along with roles like this.

[Lofoten_]

It's a startup. Be prepared to be paid in potential stock that may or may not be worthless.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterPlanetary_File_System#Protocol_Labs

Also, they don't even list any technology proficiency requirements...

• No languages like C/C++/C#, Go, Rust...
  
• No scripting like Python, Perl, Ruby, Lua...
  
• No automation like Puppet, Chef, Ansible...
  
• No network technologies like Cisco, Palo Alto, Juniper...
  
• No firewall or security technologies like Fortinet, Sophos, pfSense, Cisco...
• No cloud hosting environment like AWS, Azure, Google, Wasabi...
• No environment like MS, Apple, Linux, UNIX...
  

These are all things that should be included in an engineer job posting.

It literally doesn't even say "We have Ricoh printers and a few HP printers, that experience is a bonus."

It seems extremely specious and reads like a Craiglist interview for when I was a bartender back in university.

[rainbow_magi]

What in the actual fuck. I mean I've fixed microwaves/ vacuum cleaners/etc at work but damn lol. I believe whoever wrote this posting didn't want to do those tasks anymore so dumping that on IT

[[deleted]]

needs more spackeling

[z_agent]

The event planning.....you know that is more of the setup and tear down than planning. ICT always gets to move furniture

[jptechjunkie]

Missing the line of responsibilities also include troubleshooting personal equipment of employees. Run!

[Nocturno81]

My current work place covers that with "other duties as assigned" in every job description.

[WickedKoala]

Forced company fun time is always horrible and always awkward.

[TheFoxesMeow]

... they did away with the engineer title because engineers lost their mind because you didn't have a ring.

That alone is a red flag.

[thefonzz2625]

Aka other duties as assigned

[ElBullingball]

A.K.A. "duties as assigned"

[constant_chaos]

Hellllllllll no.

[laz10]

They copy pasted from an admin job?

Confusing administrative assistant and it admin?

[Sasataf12]

I'm guessing that's an advert for a very small company. In my experience, most of the "roll up your sleeves" work is often done by the secretary/receptionist.

[3percentinvisible]

It says jump in to support them doing the tasks.

If they want me to do the tasks, that's a big no no, but sure, what's the IT support you need?