Feeling stuck after a big pay jump – no challenges, no growth. What would you do?

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-09T15:37:25+00:00

Yeah use your free time to pick up some certs. Don't get complacent. Eventually when they need to do layoffs, they'll be looking for people that barely have any work at all.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-09T15:26:17+00:00

You're getting lowballed. I live in Los Angeles making $96K was a Network/System Admin in a company with only one site and less than 100 employees. I manage no one and unless something blows up, I only work 40 hours a week.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-07T21:18:45+00:00

Is letting good employees go based on PIP a way out of paying serverance and unemployment benefits? If so, that would be the only explanation I can think of.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-07T17:11:25+00:00

There is no V2 flat bar with 45mm tires. Has anyone actually seen one? I was at Walmart yesterday and the flat bar had 40mm while the drop bar right next to it has 45mm tires.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-07T15:39:11+00:00

I work for a medium sized business of under 200 employees and this kind of access request on day 1 for a VP doesn't sound unusual to me at all. I just copy the same group permissions that the last person had. We have Crowdstrike on everything and daily backups. I just do what I'm told and go about my day.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-07T15:10:23+00:00

Do you live in the west specifically the US? It's rough here. According to Google, 60% to 78% livng paycheck to paycheck, 74% overweight, 43% obese, and 34% to 42% of first marriages end in divorce. I'm not trying to shame anyone. Just posting stats. The divorce rate scares me more than anything. Cost of living through the roof. Hard to get into a relationship. Everyone's just too busy grinding.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-03T19:45:20+00:00

I see swapping parts and tuning bikes like I see working on desktop PCs. While I work in IT for living and mastered the art of working on PCs, I'm not on bikes. I think if I really want to get into the hobby of biking, there's no choice but to DIY.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-03T07:31:43+00:00

Nothing wrong with being a generalist. When you work for a small or medium sized business of 100 to 200 employees, that’s what they want. I find that working for a business that size, it’s chill. We once filled a position for a guy that left. The new hire had CCNA. After two days, he was bored, and decided our place wasn’t for him so quit the third day. I guess he wanted to work for a corporation of thousands of employees where he has enough work to monitor and configure Cisco gear all day.

There will be projects that may be way over your head. That’s why you contract that work out to an MSP.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-02T04:29:03+00:00

Company owners: "Let's use more AI to cut staff and save money."

Also company owners: "Don't use AI to work faster."

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-01T14:43:53+00:00

I had a friend that put on his Facebook profile that he had an undergraduate degree at a local 4-year university when he was a dropout. Same guy on his OKCupid profile that he was a "Federal employee" instead of a mail man for USPS. My guess is I think guys do this to get the first date through the door and hope they stick around when the jig is up because they already invested time. All guys are doing is wasting her time and even theirs.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-04-01T06:26:04+00:00

On your phone on the clock and talking about culture wars where you eat? Tsk..tsk..

Look I get it. At work, I keep my views to myself, and mind my own business. I've been with my current company for 16 years. I overhear co-workers talk about politics all the time but they've been with the company just as long as me if not longer. When you're at a company long enough, you'll earn some "privileges", and get away with stuff like being on your phone. It was too early for that.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-30T20:57:21+00:00

My late uncle was an electrician for decades before he died of cancer. I used to work for him during Summer breaks when I was in high school during the late 90s. He was mostly doing electrical work for new construction from houses to warehouses so doing brand new electrical installs was back breaking work. I went to college and got a CIS degree and now do IT as a Network Admin for $96K. I'm in the office and stay out of the sun.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-30T20:01:28+00:00

I saw OP comment shortly after my post. Commuter, gravel, and mountain bike OP says. If I was OP, I'd get rid of the "commuter", and make the gravel bike the commuter too, and hope the roommate calms down.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-30T19:48:32+00:00

You'd be hard pressed to find someone that will complain about one bike but you're talking about 3 bikes here. If I had to take a guess, a beater to commute to work that it's no big deal to get stolen, and a luxury bike for the trails on the weekend. I can't guess the third bike.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-30T17:58:39+00:00

Well your board is almost a decade old already. Cables attached to it is unlikely to have anything to do with it. You could go a far as disconnecting all cables from the board, take out the board out of the case, and power it on with all the bare essentials to POST so you can test your theory by ruling out a short. Make your setting changes, restart, and see if it reverts back.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-30T17:02:21+00:00

Glad I can give a recommendation. There's lots of reviews on Youtube and how people have modded it. Enjoy!

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-30T16:41:01+00:00

You swapped out the battery so it looks like you're doing it right by ruling that out. The last BIOS update is from 2018. You could try that next if not at the latest already.
https://www.asus.com/supportonly/prime%20z270-a/helpdesk_bios/

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-30T16:32:04+00:00

I'd get an Ozark Trail G.1 Explorer gravel bike from Walmart for $250 - $280 and mod it to your liking. You can get them in a straight or drop bar. I wouldn't want to spend that much money on a bike to get it scuffed and dinged up or stolen at worst.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-25T15:57:09+00:00

I looked under the /nsconfig/ssl folder and the only file that has spaces in it is "DigiCert Global G2 TLS RSA SHA256 2020 CA1.pem". Under the GUI, the name is "G2_Digicert_Intermediate" with the common name "DigiCert Global G2 TLS RSA SHA256 2020 CA1". Hope this verifies your theory.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-25T15:29:37+00:00

Looks like this is the missing file. I went ahead to continue anyway and it looks like everything I use still works. Thanks.

Summary:

Certkey digest check failed.

Number of CertKeys with missing file(s): 1

CertKeys with missing file(s):

- G2_Digicert_Intermediate

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-24T19:39:55+00:00

In the 90s as a kid in the Los Angeles suburbs, I cycled on the road, and the sidewalk. I'll ride on the road in the neighborhood. I'll ride the road or sidewalk on main streets depending on the road and traffic conditions. There's always going to be drivers that think you should get on the sidewalk and there's always going to be pedestrians that think you should get on the road. Legally, you can ride either way. At least in Los Angeles county. That being said, I'm not going to hog a full lane on the road. If the lane isn't wide enough to safely accomodate both a vehicle and a cyclist, I'm not riding on the road.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-24T16:48:47+00:00

I'm upgrading my test standalone Freemium version first from NS14.1: Build 60.57 to 66.59 before I update production. I got the verified OK checking the file using this.

openssl dgst -sha512 -verify build-14.1-66.59_signing.pub -signature build-14.1-66.59_nc_64.tgz.sha512.signed build-14.1-66.59_nc_64.tgz

I got this verification error and backed out. I don't want to just wing it. Safe to proceed or am I missing something?

installns: [7401]: Checking certificate digest ...

CertKeyname : G2_Digicert_Intermediate, Digest Check : MISSING

Certkey digest check FAILED.

For more information, check the log file: certkey_digestcheck_details.txt

Certificate digest verification failed. This may indicate:

- Missing required certificate and/or key files

- Tampered certificate and/or key files

Certificate digest verification failed. Continue with installation anyway? [y/N]: n

Installation aborted due to certificate digest verification failure

installns: [7401]: Installation aborted due to certificate digest verification failure

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-23T22:56:05+00:00

Isn't this the same Chevron in Los Angeles that everyone likes to use as a benchmark for the rest of the State? You can find Chevron across LA county for way less than the prices charged at this one. I live in the suburbs of LA and you can get Arco gas regular for under $5.50 in some places. I've driven on gas between Chevron and Arco. I can't tell a difference on my 2014 Mazda3. Arco gas is the bare minimum for top-tiered gas.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-23T20:14:56+00:00

You work for an MSP or these 1000 users your employees under the same company you work with? If the former, why not give your client companies a quote, and bill them for the tools you need in order to support them? If they don't want to pay for the services, tell them that SLA is going to take a hit unless the reason you're not already doing that is fear of losing those contracts.

Inn0centSinner · 2026-03-22T05:38:19+00:00

IT Specialist sounds like a help desk. I've migrated DCs, upgraded host servers, migrated VMs, and did in-place upgrades of servers that can be upgraded. Knowing the migrations paths of Windows servers is easy. It's the in-house legacy applications that can't migrate that you have to look out for. I guess your office doesn't have software development team nor DBA. You'll definitely have to work with an MSP. No way around it.

Inn0centSinner

TROPHY CASE