training advice

AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
Posts
10,084
Location
Stoke area
Hi,

As a few of you may know I am currently the general IT dept at the company I work and it's not the best place, underpaid, undervalued and pretty much just left to it. None of the training etc has come through and I am applying for other positions.

However, because we don't use standard business resources such as Windows server and everything is haphazard in it's approach (old machines running windows 7 home, cpanel for email management etc) it causing issues trying to find something else.

I've spent an hour again trawling through indeed/CWJobs and nearly all helpdesk jobs (all i can really go for but would love to specialise in something eventually) ask for the following:

Windws Server/exchange/Active Directory/group policies
ITIL
Networking technology (DNS, DHCP, VLANS, TCP/IP etc)
SQL Server (up to current version)
Competent user of SSIS including setup
Knowledge of Citrix remote desktop technologies (XenApp, XenDesktop, VDI)
Skilled and Experience of Virtual Environments (VMWare, Hyper-V, XenServer)
IS web services and associated technology

Now, I can work my way around a Windows OS and troubleshoot, finding solutions online etc, I am playing around with Linux and have some basic knowledge or experience in things like powershell, python, web dev etc but every day I am picking up little bits here are there, but if I am going to move on I need to develop knowledge in the above areas, which is why I am asking here.

For those with experience, what areas would you say to concentrate on first? Any qualifications I can look at or work towards, or use the syllabus to train from? Any resources to look at? Anything I can setup at home on spare machines to learn from?
 
Last edited:
Most of those skills appear on every job description, I'd be surprised if you needed most of that for a helpdesk role.

I've contracted in lots of teams where the 2nd line guys wouldn't know what DHCP or a GPO is. It's like that at my current place.

If you want to learn, I taught myself on a i7/8GB laptop with evaluation copies of Windows Sever and Client OS.

Lots of free guides on TechNet, YouTube and blogs\forums.

Use your newly learnt skills in your job if possible, then add to your CV etc.

Start with Hyper-V (free), Server 2012 with AD, DHCP, FS, WSUS, MDT, WDS and a couple of clients. The evaluations give you 180 day trials.
 
thanks :) I'll take a look through that later on this evening :)

I've a couple of i5 desktops lying around as well as a couple of netbooks I can play around with, make a mini test lab, it's just the space that is an issue, but I can do some of this at work.

I'm looking through Microsoft Virtual Acadmey now, Windows 10 and Windows Server certifications (looking at exam 98-366 for networking fundamentals) although I will also be looking at earlier versions on Windows as most of ours are Win 7.

I know some of those skills may be overkill for standard helpdesk but I'd like to progress quickly once I am in.
 
I was able to do a fair bit on an i7 desktop with VMWare workstation, 16GB of RAM, and an SSD.

I created a few VM's, for DC's, exchange etc, and gave them NIC's on the same "vlan". This was all pretty straightforward, and because the VM's were on SSD they also ran reasonably well.
 
Have you considered software development? There's less talking to customers and more maths. Seems win-win really.
 
Flip your situation on its head. There are thousands of people out there who have worked in a cookie-cutter environment, Windows Server network, AD, Exchange, and all the little bits of networking around it - DNS, DHCP etc - and havent had to face a real challenge with any of it.

You've been working in what sounds like a startup with next to no funding (who the hell uses Home editions of windows on company PCs??) which means you're used to fixing issues and working around problems other people haven't even had to think about.

Get a small cheap server, throw a free copy of VMWare on it, setup a couple of servers with Windows / Linux / pfsense whatever. Or subscribe to AWS and fire up some cheap Windows boxes to play around with Windows Server.
 
CrispyWombat said:
That can't be true?!
Click to expand...

I have no idea how these people have managed to stay in their jobs for years. No idea about the Registry, mapped drives, transferring files from USB to HDD, command prompt, computer management console, network printing etc.

Transferring files from USB, I was in a team of 4 on a Windows 7 migration. At the end of the day we were asked to copy our audit spreadsheets to a USB stick being passed around. None of the other 3 knew how to do this, and I'm not exaggerating.

Most are happy to be shown which buttons to press to fix an issue or which guide with big pretty pictures to follow.
 
JonJ678 said:
Have you considered software development? There's less talking to customers and more maths. Seems win-win really.
Click to expand...

I would love to, but I'd also love a couple of weeks to really get started with it, no work, no kids, no phone.

it's gone 11pm before I get me time and i'm usually so burnt out from work and tired from playing the kids my brain struggles to function.

It's something I am going to focus on as well, I don't see why admin work can't be mixed with programming. I'm already using little scripts to automate simple email content to save me typing it out all the time and automated installation packages for internal software and Thunderbird, also half got an setup script for setting up email on thunderbird too.


CrispyWombat said:
That can't be true?!
Click to expand...

I've worked with people with comp science degree's that kicked off because i'd made their screen all tiny (I'd increased the resolution) so nothing shocks me.

Mujja said:
SSDs are a must or you'll be waiting ages for a VM to boot to complete a task.
Click to expand...

Both my i5's and this i7 have SSDs, although not massive ones enough to do the job. I need to reinstall windows on this on first after a setting up a second account manage to corrupt it somehow :(

skyripper said:
You've been working in what sounds like a startup with next to no funding (who the hell uses Home editions of windows on company PCs??) which means you're used to fixing issues and working around problems other people haven't even had to think about.
Click to expand...

I wish this was a startup. It's been going 6 years, currently on £8 million a year turnover, and looking to double again this year. 20 new consultants every 6 weeks, new financial arm launching that currently has . Looking at a new call centre near Swansea selling insurance and that'll be another 30-50 people easily. Currently at 250 staff rising to 300 all over England and Wales.
 
I used to find learning IT work no problem, until I had kids etc. Now I can do nothing at home. Am too busy at work to do it there. Its a real dilemma. I'm trying to make myself less busy at work so I create some time to do my learning there. I automated a lot of my admin/support work which freed up a lot of my time. But I'm trying hard to not get sucked back into the same situation on another project team. I've actually moved to a different team, but still having to do work for the old project. I can feel a window of opportunity closing with every day I don't get my head into new skills.

So my advice if you manage to create some time to get things done for your training. Guard it well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom