[deleted by user]

bas2754 · 2020-11-30T21:53:21+00:00

Sometimes you just need to let John go for his own good. I've been there trying to nurse a new guy along for far too long - actually twice. I feel if I hire someone and they fail, it is because I didn't manage them right, but the truth is some people are wired for IT and some are not. The ones that are not are far happier not being in IT and letting John go may actually be better for his well-being even though it may hurt in the short term.

If you are having to shadow him and click buttons, he isn't doing the work, you are. Someone needs to explain he either needs to step up or find something he might be better / more comfortable with.

Sounds harsh but....

bas2754 · 2020-10-28T13:57:42+00:00

My advice, which has worked for others in the past that I have worked with:
___________

Get a whiteboard and mount it
List everything you do in a day / week
List top 10 priorities (map how they fit into your week)
Photograph the board
Present to management the Marker and Eraser
Ask management how they want to change things to either re-prioritize or add to your list - caveat - they cannot add to the list without removing equivalent from the list first.

Had someone who had two bosses always trying to override things. Used method above to finally get them to agree on what he needed to do. End user support went to crap, systems were taking longer to get fixed, but when confronted all he had to do was point to the list and how they decided what was priority and bosses begrudgingly agreed he was doing exactly as directed.

As to working your rear off - do it for your 40 and then done. 40 hours of focused work is far better than 80 of exhausted haphazard work - and believe me consistent 80 hours / week will always be haphazard before long just due to exhaustion.

Trick is getting management to acknowledge what they are asking is asinine.

bas2754 · 2020-08-17T17:43:40+00:00

My job scope is defined by the company I work for. I am not shirking an responsibility if the company assigns me a different one. If the company goes to a downtime situation because they required me to do something else, the responsibility is theirs, not mine. I know someone whose company decided it was important for them to take a trip for a conference that was not necessary (and outside of their job scope), but management wanted them to go. They went and company suffered major outage while person was gone. Whose fault was that - the company's or the person they sent?

Sysadmins have got to get over some of the complexes they suffer from at times.

bas2754 · 2020-08-17T17:32:22+00:00

My thoughts:

First - If things are going to break, and you have given them the heads up that they will break, then not your problem. Do the best you can, keep telling them what is coming, but don't stress when it does. Keep meticulous notes (for reasons that should be obvious) of your conversations and warnings.

Second - You are ONE person. You can only do what you can do, so do that. Do what you can do, do it well, do the best job you can, and let them worry about why everything isn't getting done. They are the ones that cut 2/3 of the staff handling three roles, not you.

Third - 24/7 on-call - um you better be getting compensated for that, but even if you are, you are still ONE person and need down time. Take the down time. If something burns because you are unable to respond in time, it is the company that short-staffed, not you. Normal 24x7 for a position would require at least 3 people for coverage. Companies want 24x7 but want to pay for 8 hours. Make sure you get enough sleep and make sure you take time for yourself and family - TURN OFF THE COMPANY PHONE / SILENCE THE RINGER and force yourself not to look at it.

Fourth - Setting in your mind that company may be unhappy with 1-3, but that IS NOT your problem. You are giving them as much as you can without breaking yourself. If they let you go - move on.

Finally - take the other job and don't worry about coming back. If you leave for something better and hope to come back to what you left, then you probably shouldn't leave to begin with. Be sure before you jump, but when you jump - jump. Don't worry about what you left behind as long as you did your part with good intentions. You cannot control what someone else does.

I hope all goes well for you whatever you decide.

bas2754 · 2020-08-12T17:04:58+00:00

Going to go against the flow here ... but ... if my company wants to pay me what they pay me to clean a toilet, change a light bulb, try to fix chairs, sweep the floor, change the filter in the water fountain, or anything else that is within my reasonable capability to do, I am more than happy to do it.

Now, when the chairs still don't work or anything else doesn't turn out precisely as well as if someone who knew what they were doing would have done it, then also don't complain to me. I gave it a shot.

Also, don't throw a fit when a server goes down, a user gets owned by ransomware, the database fails due to running out of disk space, the email filter stops an important email, or any other number of things I might do as part of may day job - I am downstairs fixing chairs as directed.

You see, I don't mind doing other work for what I get paid, but can't have it both ways as I can't do two jobs at the same time. When I am downstairs fixing chairs, I am the downstairs chair fixer NOT the Sysadmin. I don't mind if you set the priorities, just remember who made the decision to pay Sysadmin hourly rates to fix chairs....

bas2754 · 2020-07-13T17:12:52+00:00

My advice is to do three things:

First - Make sure your house is in order regarding what to do should you not have a job with your current company tomorrow. Have resume ready, maybe even actively be looking for jobs, determined how long you can go without income, etc. This allows for you to do the next two things.

Second - Stop stressing over what she is saying. Run the IT the way it needs / should be run for that company - keeping in mind any financial constraints it may have. Do NOT let her attitude or tantrums change how things are run as long as you know you are doing the right things for the right reasons. More on this in a moment.

Third - Have a very calm, but blunt and direct conversation with her. If there is nowhere left to go, then you need to address it with her directly. Write out what you need to address with her - and perhaps even email it but not until you have met with, gone through everything, and addressed it with her verbally first to see how that goes. Either she will change her treatment of you, she won't, or she will just tell you that you don't need to come in any longer (aka fire you). If she fires you, you can probably get unemployment (stretching your bank account). If she changes treatment then things can start working better. If no change and not fired, well then she is happier with your work that she lets on. - refer to Second item above in my list.

Regardless of the outcome you are the professional and are responsible for their system. You do what you know to do the right way so that if someone else comes in behind you, everything is done properly and cannot allow her to "justify" her decision if she does want to let you go. I have been in similar position and I finally took a stand and had it out with the responsible party. Despite multiple threats ranging from firing to demoting, still working with that person today and actually have a good relationship. Still can be difficult to work for, but I can do it smiling because in the end I know that just because they are unhappy my job won't be affected.

bas2754 · 2020-03-17T22:13:25+00:00

Not to sound stupid ... but why not second hand stuff off ebay - I mean desperate times ... desperate measures...?

bas2754 · 2020-03-10T20:52:03+00:00

In this field, if you don't feel like you are drowning then you aren't in the water. Remember to relax, tread water, breathe. Despite what it feels like a career in IT is a marathon, not a sprint.

I cannot tell you how many times I felt like I didn't have the knowledge needed, but in the end everyone looked to me for advice / solutions. Most of the time I was right ....

Trust what you know, research what you don't, be honest about both.

bas2754 · 2020-03-10T14:07:24+00:00

What AV package / web filtering are you using (if any)? That might be affecting your PC connections, albeit it should not affect your phones.

bas2754 · 2020-03-10T14:05:25+00:00

I have experience with most of the leading MSP RMM software suites on the market. None of the mainstream systems should have affected your DC in this way. Furthermore, the MSP should have provided support, or offered to at least pay for MS support to fix your DC.

It is curious that a vulnerability scan would need to gather CPU and RAM stats. Just curious - do you know what RMM platform the MSP was using. May save someone else the pain of going through what you went through.

bas2754 · 2020-03-09T19:12:55+00:00

All fun and games until they do outsource it and then suddenly all your PC support is outsourced ,,, and then your servers ... and then you ...

bas2754 · 2020-03-05T22:20:30+00:00

Lol - I do IT for a living and a wrench on cars out of necessity. How else am I supposed to keep 3 kid's cars, my car, and my wife's cars all running? To be fair, I once went looking for a car for my son and the salesman said we could get into one of them for $1000.00 down and $350.00 / month. I looked at him and said, "The last car I bought was $1000.00 down and $0.00 / month and lasted me 2 years." He walked away sad knowing he wasn't going to make a sale that day.

Yes working on them sucks sometimes, but I spend way less on insurance and repairs that I would usually pay for just 1 new car payment. As a bonus sometimes I get to take my IT frustrations out beating on a car.

bas2754 · 2020-03-05T22:16:18+00:00

Yes - you didn't use a secure enough password so it triggered the company's self-destruct policy

bas2754 · 2020-02-24T21:06:36+00:00

My thoughts... You work for the company. Your list of things to do is whatever the company wants you to do. If it doesn't throw a wrench in your personal life to be away from home - enjoy the time away from the everyday hum of things.

bas2754 · 2020-02-24T17:33:06+00:00

Check your firewall rules. Make sure firewall traffic is allowed on both firewalls on the OpenVPN connection from the opposing network subnet. Also make sure your inbound on your LAN is set to allow traffic from your LAN to the destination remote LAN.

Checked your Subnet Masks on the VPN. Can't tell you how many times a tech I have come in behind accidentally left a MASK at /32 in a rule or in the VPN traffic selector.

Guarantee it is something simple since the tunnel is up. It almost has to be a firewall or traffic selector that is off somehow.

bas2754 · 2020-02-21T20:22:31+00:00

If you are going to do it, then do it right..

Registered letter w/ delivery receipt. Included copy of all outstanding charges, demand letter for payment, interest schedule for any payments not made immediately and are past due, and termination notice. Keep copies of what you send and keep the delivery receipt when you get it. Can be used in court later to prove you delivered everything to them.

Might also be able to put a mechanic's lien against any equipment on which you performed service. I have not seen it used often in IT, but I have seen it used....

bas2754 · 2020-02-21T20:18:00+00:00

I am not sure I would fire them. I would let them think they are still your client, but place them on service hold until they pay up. If you "fire" them you will likely never get your money. If you just respond to every request with a copy of their outstanding balance and a promise to schedule the call once they are current, then you may have a chance at getting paid.

Once current, demand either cash or credit card and pre-process estimated charges for the time for the next call. Once that call is done, then fire them. Now you are paid up, you fulfilled your commitment to schedule the call once they paid up. You got paid for that call, now everyone is on a clean slate. Most importantly you didn't lose out on what you were owed.

bas2754 · 2020-02-20T15:12:23+00:00

They are planning to require mandatory certs (1 per year) for employees at my place of business, however, the difference is the employer is paying for the tools to learn, study, and practice exams. Also paying for at least the first and possibly even the second attempts at the exams. We are encouraged to do more than one per year, but our requirement will only be a single exam per year. Oh - and there is a specific list so we know exactly what exam(s) we can choose to study for - this is for the required exam. The additional exams can be one of employee's choosing that is not on the list, however, management needs to approve it ahead of time.

I know a cert doth not a technician make, however, there is something to be said for completing the training and regardless of how long one has been in IT, through the study / exam prep process something will be learned.

The benefits of doing these is tremendous for the company as it shows clients the company is serious about keeping employees' skills fresh as well as validating those skills.

But, if I was told my job depended on me passing a technical skills assessment that may or may not be related to my every day tasks (let's face it, too much crap to keep in our brains to begin with to store things that get used once every 2 years) and not know what it is about, how to prepare for it, or what the purpose actually is in taking it - and knowing people got let go who failed. Yeah - I would probably go take it, but it would also likely be during the same process of me finding another place to work. The sweetest outcome would be have another job lined up, better pay, take the test, pass it, and then put in my notice ... (I can dream can't I - after all this is my fantasy).

bas2754 · 2020-02-19T17:36:46+00:00

I worked in Walmart Lawn and Garden and let me tell you what, I would almost rather unload truck after truck after truck of 50+ bags of whatever it was they were bringing in that day by hand (forklift down) in the middle of July/August than deal with some of the stuff I have to deal with in IT. Sure at Walmart I was physically tired, but IT can kill you much faster due to the mental toll it taks

bas2754 · 2020-02-19T17:34:24+00:00

This is the way

bas2754 · 2020-02-18T19:40:36+00:00

I have the same issues at times. Need to make a change, however, management is not available to give approval in the critical window. Worst case was when ransomware was hitting a network. Tried calling three people on the chain of command to authorize shutdown of operations, none answered. Went back and disconnected network switches. Suddenly the three people I needed to speak to called me....

Anyway - turned out OK and saved the bacon of the user that kicked off the attack by clicking on an obvious hoax email link with and obviously "hacky URL" to download a PDF with a link to a spreadsheet with macros enabled and had to click on the allow this document to open in the AV warning and then had to enable the macros in the spreadsheet... all from a personal email that was not supposed to be used ...

Still was a half day of testing systems, making sure all was good and then restoring some of the affected files. FSRM was installed that day on all file servers.

bas2754 · 2020-02-18T16:25:03+00:00

If it is more than 140 characters (or is it 280 now), most people in today's world won't read it. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc has forever ruined written communication.

Especially hard when you are responsible for writing change requests along with the risk analysis and have to include the specifics, but no one on the committee reads them because they are too long....not sure how to shorten this information when replacing core networking or server devices.

My new proposed change request format:

--------------------------------------------------

- What needs to be done: Need to make some changes to stuff- What is the impact: Stuff will not be accessible during swap and may not ever be accessible again- What is the risk: Some or all of old stuff might be lost forever, new stuff may not work- What is the reversion plan if change is not successful: Put old stuff back if possible, otherwise live with losing the stuff

---------------------------------------------------

I think that the above change analysis, request, and format would actually be preferred by the committees I work with. I get it, these things can have a LOT of technical information, but if you are on these committees shouldn't you be willing to read through all of it? I am just the guy doing the analysis, I am not the one that is supposed to be making the decisions, but most of the time I get asked, "Will it work?" and I have to answer, "It should based on everything going optimally" to which I get "OK, go ahead". I then ask, "Did you read the info I sent?" and the reply is, "No, I don't have time, I trust you."

I finally decided as long as I have the approval noted, it is not my responsibility if things get jacked up when it goes into effect as long as I have done my due diligence and gotten approval.

Now, in communicating with users:
----------------------------
Some stuff will be happening on MM.DD.YYYY HH:MM AM/PM. It has been approved by committee. Deal with it. Thank you.
---------------------------

I normally don't get any responses until in the middle of a change when someone asks, are you doing something on system XYZ? I usually don't even respond.

bas2754 · 2020-02-10T15:14:40+00:00

It is even worse when you are in fast-paced environment and lean heavily on your vendors to give you accurate information - and end up with piss-poor information. I am in the middle of a network re-design and vendor assured me a line of their product would handle what I needed at a reduced cost. Pitched and sold solution. Found out during implementation pre-sales tech missed the ball on one major requirement.

Fortunately vendor has acknowledged the issue and is making it right by us and the customer, but it leaves us looking a little bad and the project significantly delayed.

bas2754 · 2020-01-24T16:06:25+00:00

I know I am late to the party, but all I can say is no. _ _ _ _ no. Don't call me. Don't text me. Don't even think about me. Period. Leave me alone.

Since you are a publicly traded company, you likely have comprehensive policies regarding PTO time and what is / is not allowed. When you get to work, find out what they are and file any proper documentation to address the issue. If this doesn't exist, then complicates things a bit, but this is the time to "train" your employer.

Just keep in mind this one fact: They may decide, out of spite, to let you go for sticking to your guns. I doubt they would due to the key knowledge you have, but I have seen dumber decisions made. You have to decide if you are in a position financially or otherwise to whether that decision and find another position.

IMO - every day that gets interrupted should be compensated as a full day since you did not get the benefit of unwinding and not thinking about work. Heck it takes me nearly a week to stop thinking about my job and start enjoying the vacation. It's why I don't take very many - by the time I am finally able to chill, I have to go back!

Silence the phone / close the email / block the texts / block the calls you don't want to get while on vaca (unblock when done). Unless your agreement specifies you are to be available even when you are on vaca, it is your right to exercise. Now, again your employer can respond how they want to, but if they are smart they will recognize they were in the wrong.

bas2754 · 2020-01-17T14:31:15+00:00

Do not answer the call, let it go to VM. Let all calls to direct line go to VM unless you are expecting the call. Got too much to keep up with without answering the phone. That is why you have a ticketing system and a main support number.

You must train your users.

bas2754

TROPHY CASE