My IT Job conundrum

don't be scared to move on... it is good practice to put your CV out there and go to interviews even if you're not really looking for a new role - tis good to just get practice and see what you're worth

tis probably better to spend time self studying while in a role you're already comfortable in, so I'd look at self study right now if I were you
 
The best way to pick up skills isn't with training, it's on the job. Don't wait to get on a course, muck in. Make time to sit with the people doing the bits you don't understand. Ask them questions. Offer to help do some of the simpler stuff, then some of the more complex stuff etc...
 
Can't believe no one has said this yet:

Pics of said women so we can understand your conundrum!

Ps learn Linux otherwise you can forget about MS, yes you have to get comfortable with command line (bash, in windows they are copying it with Powershell) otherwise you are dreaming that progression is just doing some courses.
 
Ergates said:
The best way to pick up skills isn't with training, it's on the job. Don't wait to get on a course, muck in. Make time to sit with the people doing the bits you don't understand. Ask them questions. Offer to help do some of the simpler stuff, then some of the more complex stuff etc...
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There's four of them and they all do a similar role. I.E. no one to learn from. To my mind unless you do some study in your own time just about every business I know of won't do a damned thing more than they have to and there's always that thought that if they train you out of their own pocket you'll immediately jump ship to someone else. Tbh it sounds like it's time to move on.

Also if you haven't 'been horizontal' with at least one person at work on top of some POS 'art' at some point you've failed.
 
only real use I can see for 'training' aside from maybe induction type stuff for a new joiner is when you need an entire team/department up to speed on something at the same time

like say you've got some dev teams using waterfall but you want to introduce scrum... well that might make sense to bring in someone and conduct some training sessions to make sure everyone is on the same page

though for personal development, it really isn't necessary - people should be capable of self study - if you want to learn more about linux etc.. then you're best off doing it yourself, plenty of resources out there without having to shell out for some overpriced chump to take people away from their work and sit in a meeting room staring at power point slides

learn from books, online resources, colleagues etc.. and just learn by doing
 
your boss seems like a k**b, you can tell him i said that
i wan to move on and have done a few microsoft associate exams. just going to do as many part time exams as i can until an employer takes notice
good luck
 
opethdisciple said:
My question is however, given my experience, would I even stand a chance at interview?

Im 33 now. Surely the older I get the harder it will be to move on?

The current job is cushy yes. But not great for my career, unless I start brushing up on my Linux.
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If you want to to do more you have to go finish all the qualifications and move them all up a notch. If you can't get the experience in work you'll have to do it outside of work. Best way to know if your up to scratch, is to do interviews. If you get them your qualified. if you don't you're not.

The truth is, you have an easy number. Its going to take a lot of motivation, work, and effort to move up. There's no guaranties either. It might not work out. But then no risk, no reward.

None of this has anything to do with your manager, or the job. Its up to you to change it.
 
Beerbaron said:
Some companies have no interest in training and investing in their staff. I work for a company like this. It just means all the good people just progress and then leave. Learn what you are interested in and then move on.
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+1 this.

In our place if you do the work, you get left to do the all work. The ones who do just enough to get by but concentrate on their skillset, move up.
 
I was told this by a good friend:

"To move up, you have to move on". Both of us work in IT, both work for massive global companies (different companies) and he's absolutely spot on. If you want to progress, earn yourself more money and get 'higher up the ladder' than you have to move on.
 
McAfee EPO system, deployment etc
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How much do you know about EPO and deployment? As in a bit of disk imaging with tools like ghost or products like SCCM and Citrix PVS

Your manager sounds like a complete tit. I would spit in his tea, hunt for another job, call in sick when you need to go for interviews then leave. Also, a good company will give you all the training you need if they think it will better the team then company in the long run
 
dowie said:
only real use I can see for 'training' aside from maybe induction type stuff for a new joiner is when you need an entire team/department up to speed on something at the same time

like say you've got some dev teams using waterfall but you want to introduce scrum... well that might make sense to bring in someone and conduct some training sessions to make sure everyone is on the same page

though for personal development, it really isn't necessary - people should be capable of self study - if you want to learn more about linux etc.. then you're best off doing it yourself, plenty of resources out there without having to shell out for some overpriced chump to take people away from their work and sit in a meeting room staring at power point slides

learn from books, online resources, colleagues etc.. and just learn by doing
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Programming is not the same as IT. If you're a developer you can just link to your Github when applying for a job and show off what you've done. IT is still quite heavily focused on certs - mainly because it's cheaper to get someone up to VCP level via official training channels than it is to have them fiddle with VMware and asking questions on a forum until they get it right, and also because nobody has come up with a better way of proving that your company is competent to CIO-types than to play the certification game and rack up partner status with vendors. And improvements in partner status have a direct financial impact, so the training ends up paying for itself.
 
Getting exposure to linux in enterpise is valuable. Linux roles can earn £60k, even knowing linux for home use does not help that much although an advsntage. Often only way to move up and earn more money is a job move. I am looking for a £7K payrise at next job move. Doubt my current employer would even entertain thst sort of jump. plus i find it all gets stale after a while. Same people and same commute. also i think the longer you dont move the harder it can get to take on the challenge of moving. Its a lot easier to stay in the same job. I just book interviews then take holiday or call in sick. Say you have a dentist appointment and have to come in late or schedule the interview after work like 5pm.
 
8 years IT Experience and I dont see any virtualization technologies mentioned, does your currently employer not use any or just not something you have to worry about in your current role? Have a look at these though, very interesting and is certainly a valued skill.

I agree with anything_i_dont_mind - linux is valuable.
 
I think you need a mindset change. Throw yourself in to unknown tech, become the guy that can skill up on demand. Then start to anticipate demand and finally drive innovation.

This is a change needed for finding a new job as much as getting the most from your current one.

Oh and Linux is a must have imho.
 
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Caged said:
Programming is not the same as IT. If you're a developer you can just link to your Github when applying for a job and show off what you've done. IT is still quite heavily focused on certs - mainly because it's cheaper to get someone up to VCP level via official training channels than it is to have them fiddle with VMware and asking questions on a forum until they get it right, and also because nobody has come up with a better way of proving that your company is competent to CIO-types than to play the certification game and rack up partner status with vendors. And improvements in partner status have a direct financial impact, so the training ends up paying for itself.
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but in the OP's case he's doing in house IT for an art gallery - they're only going to be interested in what he can do for them not some certs/credentials so he can be pimped out to clients - self study ought to be fine in his case, certainly I can't see many reasons fro his manager to want to fork out for training - in fact the main one I could see is a spurious one - perhaps the manager say gets a training budget and uses it on the OP because he's kicked up a fuss over his pay/bonus or something, training is then just used for retention

on the other hand if he wants certs so he can jump ship, there is little motivation for the company to pay... and tbh.. in a lot of cases he's still probably better off with self study and then just paying for the exams
 
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Learn more about Linux (or networking seeing as you have a CCNA) as Windows server admins are ten a penny. If you want to 'do Microsoft' then specialise in something. SQL is pretty hot.
 
I'm on the dev side of things but if I were in your position then I'd perhaps take a look at something like this:

https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-linux-linuxfoundationx-lfs101x-2#!

might just be revision or covering stuff you already know... in which case skip through it

then perhaps look at the various red hat exams... personally I think training is usually overpriced and books/other resources are a much better use of your time and money
 
LordSplodge said:
Learn more about Linux (or networking seeing as you have a CCNA) as Windows server admins are ten a penny. If you want to 'do Microsoft' then specialise in something. SQL is pretty hot.
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This is good advice. Even *nix admins aren't that well paid these days (+25% over Windows admins, ish). You'll need an RHCE, at least once scripting language (Python, Ruby, Powershell) and storage, networking, DevOps, WebOps or some kind of specialisation to get the big bucks.

The market is still good and things are shifting more towards hybrid / cloudy solutions. Docker is hot at the moment ('Virtualisation' for applications within the OS). Hadoop, Teradata and other 'big data' platforms are getting very popular in enterprise at the moment, that's more on the developer / devops side of things though.

Tl;dr Specialise in something. Learn a scripting language. Start moving away from SMB Ops kind of work. Technical projects and management are both options too.
 
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icehot said:
8 years IT Experience and I dont see any virtualization technologies mentioned, does your currently employer not use any or just not something you have to worry about in your current role? Have a look at these though, very interesting and is certainly a valued skill.

I agree with anything_i_dont_mind - linux is valuable.
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Oh yes. There's a whole heap of stuff they use, but I don't in my current role.

Stuff I see them doing or using:

Space Walk
Incinga/Nagios
Vmware
BCFG2
There doing all this Yum / Repo business
Centos
Deploying Cisco VPNs
Bacula and other back up technologies

And lots lots more. But I have received 0 training on these things.
 
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