[thelist] NTWRK ADMNSTRTN: [OT] a desperate plea to all you network administrators, i need your advice!

Kid Stevens kstevens89 at comcast.net
Wed Aug 14 20:31:00 CDT 2002


Very typical, that is why I no longer work for companies.  I dropped
everything but consulting work since most companies can't figure out
why I have so much time to goof off when I am on the payroll.  You
have to show that you are a profit center and not a loss center if
you want to keep your job.  I told my last boss to stick the attitude
5 minutes before HR was to deliver the goodbye notice.  They hired me
because the last guy ripped them off and never got anything done.  I
got his year all done in 3 months.  I knew I was history.  I only get
hired to solve major problems I charge too much.

So now I remotely control servers and firewall systems and design web pages.

Every day, walk past every user, at least once and ask how the
network connection is or how their PC is doing.  In meetings, have
usage and repair full color charts and be prepared to speak about the
positive changes for 5 minutes, outside vendor solutions for 1 or 2
minutes then internal problems for 2 to 5 minutes followed by your
conclusion with an emphasis on the up time that you(don't mention
just yourself) have improved.  See ways to make low tech work not
high tech.

Case in point I walked past a server with the company president one
day.  I remarked that one of the drives was failing by the pitch the
computer was putting out.  He complained about having to spend
$11,000 on a clone server.

I told him I could rebuild the raid to match the existing hardware or
when the drive failed I could rebuild it to be more reliable for a
lot less money.  I kept my job long enough to give my son a Christmas
because I gave him a cheaper alternative.  Better than getting laid
off before Christmas.

Last time I worked for a company.

At 4:58 PM -0700 8/14/02, Chris W. Parker wrote:
>well ok recently i did get a raise (about 2 months ago). but the reason
>i'm writing this post is because (recently, like last week) bossman has
>come to the near conclusion that i am possibly not "cost effective".
>therefore my job is almost on the line. he doesn't want to fire me
>because so he's given me the opportunity to try and restructure my job
>position and maybe move into the marketing department.
>
>all the things i listed are not daily job duties, however some of them
>are. and also, if anything goes wrong with any of those, i'm the one
>that gets to fix it.
>
>seeing as how i haven't been doing this very long (almost 2 years with
>almost no mentoring) and am spread really thing i am not able to focus
>on one subject for very long and thus my knowledge is most areas is more
>than some people, but definitely not at any level where i could go to
>another company and say "here is what i can do! give me a job!"
>
>please anyone and everyone chime in with your .02!
>
>
>chris.
>
>p.s. i'm really confused by the whole thing so forgive me if this post
>is difficult to follow.

--
Sincerely,
Kid Stevens

"Warning,
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons.
They will make you crunchy and eat you with ketchup."
-Unknown Author



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