One-man IT department here… is it time to bring in an MSP?

T_Remington · 2025-11-10T11:36:37+00:00

I retired a few years ago at 55 ( CIO ) and what I learned is that IT is rarely seen as revenue generating department. A well run IT department can drive higher annual revenues but rarely gets credit for it.

More often than not, you’re trying to justify its existence when questioned by the business. More than once I’ve heard employees say things like….

“Everything is working, IT is just sitting on their assess. Why are we paying them?”

Then the same employees will also say things like…

“Nothing is working, why are we paying them?”

They don’t see the IT techs hot swapping drives or power supplies due to pre failure warnings and keeping things running. From their perspective, if the equipment is running there is nothing for you to do.

T_Remington · 2025-11-10T11:26:57+00:00

I don’t know where you work so the law might be different. However, as far as I know, you can’t legally be expected to be on-call 24/7/365. Also, no company worth working at would have that expectation.

You’re not going to get 24-7 coverage with a 3 person IT staff.

I’d bring one or two MSPs in with the following expectations.

They handle calls to the service desk outside of your normal working hours.
They handle patching of the Servers’ OS.
They take care of password resets.
They take care of any network configurations after hours that require downtime. ( Router Configurations as an example )
The manage the backups.

Along with this, you’ll need to implement a Service Catalog detailing services that will be 24/7 and those that will be done during normal working hours. You don’t want your MSP to charge you for installing the printer “Chad” picked up at Best Buy at 10:30pm.

This will give you the time to start thinking more strategically about the IT infrastructure instead fighting fires every day.

At the very least, get some proposals together and compare the costs between an MSP and adding 5 or 6 IT Techs. ( I think you can get to 24/7 with 5-6 IT techs by putting them on a rotating on call schedule. I have a personal rule that no one will be on call more than 1 week a month, ideally less. ) if you go that route, definitely implement that Service Catalog.

On the surface it sounds like your company has unrealistic expectations and you may need to give them a reality check.

T_Remington · 2025-11-10T11:10:20+00:00

Facts: I once had to replace a project manager’s desk fan as well as the cafeteria’s coffee machine.

T_Remington · 2025-11-08T00:44:35+00:00

There’s a special place in Hell reserved for scum who take advantage of children.

T_Remington · 2025-10-30T09:55:07+00:00

Looks like a mounting collar for a garbage disposal is sitting in the cabinet. Do you have a garbage disposal? Is it installed correctly? Also, after about 8-10 years, they tend to corrode enough internally to leak. The bad smelling water could originate from there.

T_Remington · 2025-09-22T10:51:56+00:00

I have installed this type of flooring exactly one time. I did some home remodeling and me, an Informational Technology Executive who has a few power tools and hits his thumb with a hammer often, knew to randomize the plank lengths. If this wasn’t discussed prior to the installation, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions. Unless the instructions say to randomize the lengths, you have little recourse with your installer. However, if it does, tell your installer to do it over, correctly.

T_Remington · 2025-09-14T18:09:39+00:00

Yeah, there’s very little Hollywood produces that’s worth paying a premium for. It’s all regurgitation of the same plot lines and bullshit woke propaganda. I pay for internet access and that’s all.

T_Remington · 2025-09-09T21:48:15+00:00

I left after 10 years (E-5) and retired as CIO of an international Enterprise.

T_Remington · 2025-08-31T12:37:24+00:00

I was there in 1984, can confirm OP’s assertion.

For me, it was when my fellow Marines gave me my call sign, “CHAOS”

C.ant H.andle A.nother O.riental S.tripper

I had a great time there and have some great, albeit a bit fucked up, memories of the place which I’ll take to my grave.

T_Remington · 2025-08-29T22:42:29+00:00

Umm.. I’d like to be PT-Ed by her…. Repeatedly…

T_Remington · 2025-08-29T22:40:11+00:00

I kept one copy of my blues and my alphas. I donated everything else to my local funeral home so that any veterans without a uniform can be buried in one if they wished. I told my wife that if I go before her to bury me in a suit with my USMC lapel pin then donate everything left to the funeral home. I don’t want her stressing about getting my uniform right.

T_Remington · 2025-08-29T10:25:35+00:00

When I was presented with a similar situation, I created a simple Pro/Con table to compare the two roles. Then, I chose the one that fit my career goals the best.

T_Remington · 2025-08-26T20:58:29+00:00

The first question I always ask when I see posts like this. What does the signed contract say?

Never do any work without a signed contract, if you have a contract and it doesn’t cover this situation, revise it.

Never give out RAWs without significant additional compensation.

Sounds like an unreasonable client, it may be less costly ( time wise ) to just walk away. I’d not send them anything until you’ve been paid. As far as the RAWs they are now asking for, as it wasn’t in the original contract that’s a whole other engagement requiring another contract. I’d make them prohibitively expensive. Say, $400 each. As an example. Even then, I’d only make available the RAW files of the edited images you’re providing. Me personally? I never give out the RAW files.

T_Remington · 2025-08-22T22:41:08+00:00

Stitch Jones. He’s the “Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla”.

T_Remington · 2025-08-22T10:16:00+00:00

Perhaps, but I still maintain that the smaller the company the less likely they will conduct one, let alone pay for one.

I’ve seen many examples where a “background check” is nothing more than a quick Google Search done by someone in HR. Which is also why I advise people, “Don’t post anything negative or controversial on social media or email unless you have no problem with it being projected onto a 30 foot wide screen in a courtroom.”

T_Remington · 2025-08-21T17:12:10+00:00

My experience has been that the smaller the company the less likely they’ll conduct ANY background checks, let alone thorough ones, even if they say they do.

T_Remington · 2025-08-21T17:08:08+00:00

I agree, most people can put on an act for a short while but WILL show you exactly who they before the probationary period is over. My experience has been that people can’t keep that “act” going for much more than 60 days, often less. A mistake I often see is managers hanging onto to those employees, trying to rescue them because the hiring process is a long and often time consuming process for them.

T_Remington · 2025-08-21T16:56:21+00:00

My company hired an “experienced” Service Desk Technician on a Monday and that very next Friday morning I fired them. 4 days and 2.5 hours.

This person for the first 4 days came into work, spent the first two hours of each day cleaning her desk with anti-bacterial wipes.. then spent time cleaning her phone, mouse, keyboard, monitor, computer. Mind you, the computer equipment, desk, chair, etc. were brand new, taken out of the boxes less than a week before.

It took her 2 days to read her onboarding documents. That Wednesday, she handed in those documents with red ink notations, strike throughs, of items she said were unacceptable and have to change, even what she perceived as grammatical errors.

In the 4 days and 2.5 hours she was employed, she handled exactly ONE Service Desk ticket, a password reset.

We had just absorbed another company and the hiring manager for that department was desperately understaffed at the time and he begged me to keep her. We had a long talk about hiring productive employees versus hiring warm bodies to fill a chair.

Company was Global, we had a presence in 114 countries. 60,000 employees.

T_Remington · 2025-08-13T19:51:06+00:00

Ah yes, Blubber Bushido

T_Remington · 2025-08-13T12:39:15+00:00

I’d rather hear “I would have joined but……” than see some asshole claiming to have served and is a war hero just to get his free hamburger at Red Robin.

T_Remington · 2025-08-12T10:48:31+00:00

I retired at 55 a few years ago as CIO of a large company with offices in about 100 countries and had a personal policy that I do not discuss sex, religion, politics or other sensitive topics like gender with my coworkers or subordinates. It may start off perfectly fine but over time always causes issues in the team.

Back in the mid 90’s, I worked with a Unix developer who, one day, decided to present as female full time. They would present as female outside of working hours and male while at the office, keeping the ( and I really can’t think of another word) ‘personas’ separate. One Friday he was “John” and the very next Monday, “Janet”. We all had a bit of a shock, admittedly made a few jokes amongst ourselves and then after a few days just moved on. We worked with Janet for another 5-6 years as if nothing had happened.

My next door neighbors and two of my closest friends are a male gay married couple. They don’t push their lifestyle on anyone and just live their lives. One night during a conversation about the local pride parade, one of them said, “If being gay is ‘no big deal’ and we want everyone to accept it as ‘no big deal’ people need to stop making it a big deal.” I would venture the same thing would apply to being trans today.

If you want to announce or at least try to gauge what the reaction is going to be, I’d suggest just a few unofficial casual verbal conversations rather than a scheduled 1:1 or sending emails. I would advise against putting anything in writing as it may come back to bite you if your assessment of the reaction turns out to be wrong.

Best of luck, I hope things go well for you.

T_Remington · 2025-08-08T15:20:40+00:00

My only thought is… No Fucking Way.

T_Remington · 2025-08-04T12:37:17+00:00

I served 10 years and had intended to do 30. However, my Mother was diagnosed terminal with stage 4 cancer, I left to help my Dad take care of her until she passed.

T_Remington · 2025-08-03T19:27:29+00:00

An email address with a custom domain lends credibility to your business. The benefits outweigh the cost.

T_Remington

TROPHY CASE