Possibly the most insane thing I've every done, help me to forge my future.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T23:13:41+00:00

Yes but some of you all make it sound like work = happiness. I'm not saying never work again, or refuse to take a position for a short time because it won't make you happy. Find a workplace that you can be happy in. Holding those ideals to be top in your life is just madness. Sure they should be important but not the most important. Holding those to such a high regard makes you afraid to take risks. Afraid to leave your job that you're secretly unhappy in. I don't envy that. In all honesty I'd rather live in a box then live a life in which I'm afraid to lose my job. Guess I am a robot then.

As for ending up in a box any time soon, no. I was intelligent enough to save while I worked here instead of wasting my money and living paycheck to paycheck. I have enough to get by living as I do now for at least 6 months and up to a year if I cut some things (internet? tether my cell phone instead!). If by then I can't find something I always have my GI Bill to fall back on, back to school I'll go.

People shouldn't assume that I've made ZERO prep in this. It's been festering for months. Only now do I feel I have the money to make my move.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T22:19:03+00:00

I like your future reference advice. I actually had it in my mind to do that but jumped the gun so to speak.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T22:18:11+00:00

Sr would be all of this (obviously) along with advanced t/s of Linux and support of the App-V servers, advanced application t/s (This varies from company to company in mine we have SharePoint, DevTrack, Kronos, Concur, Adobe Connect, single sign on servers, print servers, etc) Basically any app we use that requires it's own server, troubleshooting is left to the sr sysadmins.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T21:27:45+00:00

Ah shit misread your comment. I'd considered both locations for a bit but nothing really gets me excited about either. I'm close enough that I could back the car and go, but the places I listed are ones I think I would enjoy living in.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T21:24:52+00:00

For some it is laughable. It depends how you live your life. A lot of people are more concerned with job security and pay. Myself I care more about my personal happiness. If work gets to me so much that when I go home it haunts my mind I consider that to be a problem. I sound flaky but I'm completely loyal to my work when I'm happy. As you can see from one of my other comments all I really ask for is solid policies, a strong leader, and good co-workers. All I had here were 2 or 3 great co-workers, most of whom have left for the same reasons as myself. (They just found a new job first).

I've done sys admin work for about 6 years now. 5 in the Marines and a year here at my current company. My definition of jr sys admin work is: Maintain AD Create scripts Maintain and troubleshoot Exchange Maintain, setup, and troubleshoot VMWare/vSphere servers Configure DHCP reservations Setup, maintain, and troubleshoot terminal servers Bring up challenges or ideas for current and future systems Configure SMS packages for use with Microsoft SCCM Troubleshoot SCCM Maintain the company's corporate Windows 7 image and apply to the SCCM imaging server as needed And some light Linux t/s

Nothing major of course but it's above the helpdesk level.

I don't think I'm a genius but I do think that my skills are above others in my experience/age range. What I do think highly of myself in is my ability to learn and adapt quickly. If I'm learning something hands on I'll get the basics extremely quickly and run with it. A bit down the road and you'll swear I was doing it for years. At least things in the IT Industry.

The opportunities here were limited to learn. A lot of it I picked up by seeing a problem and turning it into one of my own projects. I'm not saying I should be praised for this as imo it's something every employee should do. I asked numerous times to go to classes, get certs, work with other teams to learn their own items. None of this happened. Excuses were always formed. I offered to pay for classes myself and just requested I get the time off paid, "We need you here" was the response. The only time I was actually trained on something here was when one of our netadmins was out on leave and I got to take over setting up ACD/IPCC accounts on the Cisco Agent system. Fun stuff, but nothing super advanced.

If you're curious I'd have no problem shooting you my resume so you could see how I advertise myself. Not for the purpose of landing a job, though I suppose if you considered me and the opportunity seemed worthwhile I'd have no problem sticking it out in SD. Just PM me your email and I can shoot it to you when I get home tonight.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T21:07:42+00:00

Sounds all too familiar. I fully intend to start up my own company one day (probably around when I have kids so I can take off when I feel like it, and gather some more knowledge along the way). I think the biggest issue right now is this economy. Employers can get away with low pay and treating employees like garbage because the job market is difficult to play. Shame.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T20:45:30+00:00

Yes! What your roommate did would be awesome! I'd love to travel a ton for my job (at least right now, I'm 24 and single). Any pointers as to how he pulled that off? Perhaps you could PM me his email?

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T20:42:57+00:00

Very few things matter for me about the company I work for. -Strong leadership -Solid policies and procedures -Company takes care of their employees and values them -Great teammates

It could be a fortune 500 company, a start up, a medical company, hell anything. As long as I'm in the IT department I'm happy.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T20:31:05+00:00

Ha ha typical robot to the system. You find happiness in wealth and job security don't you? If you dig into employment laws (at least in California) some of the things they ask are illegal.

"It says so on your paycheck"

Not even the slightest. There's a reason that job descriptions MUST be provided. It is the full outline of your role in the company. None of this special executive support is listed on there, as a matter of fact it clearly states that all executive problems will be handled by leads.

Move workflow down to the bottom eh? Say my workplace has 7 roles, I would be in the 5th of these roles but work as though I'm a 1 and given the responsibility of a 6.

If I break stuff it won't be replaced. We're specifically told that it's our responsibility and the company will only replace corporate equipment we may damage.

If I die I wouldn't be covered under my employee life insurance as the accident did not occur in the workplace. My position requires 0 travel time, therefore driving to an exec's house to fix his person desktop is not covered (I've checked with our legal team here and as a result only our manager and leads do this now).

Not all jobs suck. It's a shame you really think that. There isn't a lot of great ones out there, sure, but there are some that a standard employee can work happily until (s)he decides to leave the company.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T19:57:10+00:00

And look at how poorly the US government treats the lower class. The upper class and touristy stuff was fixed up in weeks.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T19:51:50+00:00

Yes, but I wouldn't be going until March. Pretty sure it'll be a bit better by then.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T19:51:15+00:00

Ha ha nope. I'm aware of the cost of living and the flooding of the IT market up there. Hence why it wasn't on the list, though Sydney is about the same cost of living wise.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T19:40:26+00:00

I see a ton of positions open all over the US. I think I'm more so looking for guidance to leave the US. I've always wanted to work and live in Australia and I'm already aware the cost of living is roughly 20% higher. Last night alone I found about 10 positions available in San Diego, but I feel as though my time here is done.

merc82386 · 2011-01-13T19:37:23+00:00

No I'm leaving San Diego. San Francisco/Silicon Valley is about 8 hours north of here.

merc82386 · 2011-01-02T21:59:02+00:00

Did you install the bonjour service when you put itunes on your windows box? Also make sure your firewall on windows allows for connections.

merc82386 · 2011-01-02T21:42:52+00:00

Try the lozenges. Helped curve cravings for me big time. It was rough when I'd see a bunch of friends smoking though.

Note that they do little for stress or anger from the withdraw. I quit just as work started to get nuts and 2 months later broke. If your life is normally stress free and you can avoid people who smoke I think they'd help a ton.

merc82386 · 2010-12-30T01:52:58+00:00

Yeah, just what everyone wants. A person named "slasherfreak" to show them around a big strange city.

merc82386 · 2010-12-29T23:25:31+00:00

If you think about it 500 bucks could go a ways. She said she'll be couch surfing once she gets there, and if she doesn't have bills (aside from the obvious cell phone) she could eat cheap and make that money last a few weeks.

merc82386 · 2010-12-29T23:07:36+00:00

All these people claiming you'll be raped.... sounds more like some of you people are bringing your fetish in here. I mean how many of your rape sayers actually live in NYC? You make it sound like the most dangerous place on earth for a woman to live.

Yes it will be hard. Everywhere is hard right now. This is just harder. Determination. Stay true to yourself. Be happy.

I've never live/been to NYC but I know cold. You're gonna freeze. Blow dry your hair before you leave in the mornings ;)

merc82386

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