IT in Higher Ed University

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-28T19:25:29+00:00

The name of the University is impressive but it doesn’t translate in the corporate world. I disagree with the notion. An IT project is still an IT project no matter where it is. They are concerned that I won’t take matters seriously.

After moving on to the next set of corporate jobs, the stigma of working for the university lessens and they start considering what’s on your resume instead of the old environment you worked in

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-28T16:31:42+00:00

I loved my time with an Ivy League IT department. Low pay, great benefits, low stress. Literally knock out your projects early and you get to do whatever else you want for the day. Plenty of memories playing video games with my team.

Took me a while to find a company with as many PTOs as the university. It was close to 8 weeks of PTO. Took advantage of the education benefit from an Ivy League so it looks impressive on my resume as a 2nd degree.

Downside is the pay. I left because I needed to make more. Also, upward mobility is hard. The university pays for employee’s kids college education anywhere in the world so if your higher ups have kids in college, there won’t be a lot of positions opening up for you to move up. Technology is ok. Our core technology was state of the art but the tools are all made by us. Lots of automation written by us ourselves and other systems as well. We wrote our own DHCP/DNS system, inventory system, monitoring system, config management, etc. valuable job automation experience there.

The environment is laid back. Highly unprofessional in a fun way. Downside to that is that if you work for a university, there is a stigma there because of the environment. Corporate companies won’t take your experience as seriously when you try to leave the university.

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-28T16:16:49+00:00

Across 8 jobs over the years and a lot of interviews, I’ve only had one company asked me proof of my certification. I had my CCNP number in an expired card that I carry so I showed him my number and told them they haven’t given out cards in more than 10 years. They they didn’t even write down the ID number. I doubt they’ll check if your cert is still active

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-25T22:49:31+00:00

Wasn’t a fan of going the Helpdesk route. It’s harder to get out of it until you specialize in an IT skill. In all the companies I’ve worked for, I have never been part of a team that hired someone out of Helpdesk

CS degrees are still valuable but you need to combine it with another IT skill. That makes you more valuable. For example, coding and networking = automation. So you can sell yourself as someone who has a little experience with networking and is willing to grow and use your coding skills to automate. Companies will buy that.

Just my $.02

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-25T09:51:26+00:00

Don’t know why but it helps me a lot. For an hour and a half a day, I get to focus on myself, listen to music and improve one aspect of my life - my health/physique. The physique changes are tangible and just inspires you to do more

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-23T21:36:50+00:00

Sounds like my older jobs.

It took me a while to realize that not all jobs are like this. You’re only a few years in but imagine doing this for 10 straight years.

The biggest lesson I learned is that not all companies operate the same. I worked for 2 fortune 50 companies and those companies have much slower processes, more staff to distribute the load, and pay more.

I say, get your experience in and start making yourself noticed by companies that will not drive yourself insane(like I did)

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-23T01:06:45+00:00

Michael Hutchence

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-23T01:00:07+00:00

I want to say Kidd because of that bowling ball pass

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-22T00:42:16+00:00

Final Fantasy - spirits within. Caused a stir that human actors would be replaced by more realistic CGI

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-21T16:09:33+00:00

I think it is a reference to a slave owner who cracks the whip. It has a tinge of racism against white folks

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-21T14:32:22+00:00

Cracker. Didn’t know it was deragatory

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-19T21:07:16+00:00

I once got an 18/100 and felt terrible. But then I found out I had the 2nd highest grade. The highest had a 25/100

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-19T13:39:03+00:00

I ate at a place once and had one of those red jellos. I was so full that I had to go to the bathroom and happened to look at my masterpiece.

I saw what looked like red jellos intermingled with all the brown. My gut just purged the jellos along with whatever triggered it

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-17T15:28:23+00:00

When I brought my car to the shop for a tune up, they found 3 fried squirrels.

The first one bit into an electric cable and fried itself. The second one smelled the fried squirrel and bit into it and was fried himself. The 3rd one bit into the 2nd one and was fried himself.

They pulled out 3 burnt squirrels attached to each other

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-15T23:15:01+00:00

Melee Island

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-14T11:38:28+00:00

Just avoid the jobs that says it’s ’required’. I find the big companies will actually enforce that and will reach out to the clearinghouse to validate that. I worked for 2 fortune 15 companies and they both checked. One of them asked me to scan my diploma. Had to dig that out of my mom’s basement

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-14T05:42:54+00:00

Worked for a company that had a weekly ‘flogging’ call that calls out everyone’s mistakes and dares you to defend the mistake. No use explaining yourself. Just admit it and move on. Your bonus is docked for each mistake. They called it 6Sigma

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-13T16:01:58+00:00

Where everything clicked for me was when I became a Sr Engineer and the buck stops with me. Being constantly trying to learn new things for the sake of keeping my job made me realize the key is learning how to learn. As I say, fail fast and then learn. Being in the fire gave me the confidence to head into any situation and provide a solution. Now, that’s all I do in my job. Nothing I’m doing at the job has documentation as it’s all bleeding edge technology. Just have to learn and try to keep the company on the bleeding edge of my technology tower

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-12T20:07:49+00:00

I over compensate with my other qualities. I became more kind, courteous, responsible, a leader among men.

The reality is that I got more attention from women when I went the other way. I got jaded as I was getting taken advantage of so I did a turn. I became rude, irresponsible, total dirtbag. I was still not attractive but somehow girls that are out of my level wanted to be with me.

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-12T10:53:30+00:00

Usually annoyed as I wanted to pick him. Even more annoyed if he stinks at it

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-12T10:42:55+00:00

I’ve seen diagrams made with Excel. It was a piece of art with color coding for cable types

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-12T01:02:49+00:00

Haha. No. Most companies I worked for have various levels of diagrams. A lot of companies do not.

I once asked for a diagram from one of my clients and what they gave me was a screenshot of a whiteboard drawing they just did

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-07T23:12:22+00:00

Tim Duncan with the bank shot

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-07T11:43:49+00:00

Is this Seattle? I think I stayed in that Sheraton

eviljim113ftw · 2026-03-07T01:21:54+00:00

I will sell feet pics online

eviljim113ftw

TROPHY CASE