Trying to break in to IT infrastructure field

[Ayahuasca]

One of my former colleagues doubled his wage in the first two years after he left the company I work for.

He doubled that again when he went contract.

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I should have moved on from my position years and years ago. But my focus since around 2012 was partying on the weekends. What I should have done was found another role after 4 years (if not before) partied less and studied more.

There's no point having regrets about time spent enjoying yourself (I assume). You can change career at any point with the right mindset, IT is one area where it's very easy to self study pretty much anything.

 

[Diagro]

This is an interesting thread.

It has given me some good ideas on what i can do to progress further myself.

I might look into Linux.. I'm ashamed to say that as an IT professional of 28years i have never used linux! :O I may need to educate myself.

 

[dowie]

I.e try and get a job at the next pay bracket up. Maybe look at junior level Devops role.

sounds like a meaningless buzzword when used in relation to a job title

 

[skyripper]

After having a catchup on this thread since I last posted..

your current manager is an arse.

And your manager is still an arse.

Why are you still there?! Get out, they're killing your spirit!
Take a good look in the mirror and say out loud the things you're good at.
Then just say those things to recruiters and at interviews.

 

[drakioned]

sounds like a meaningless buzzword when used in relation to a job title

DevOps seems quite buzzwordy at the moment, although I don't know why.

I think mostly it refers to be app support staff who can do a bit of automation via a scripting language, or developers that don't mind doing some support.

There is something of a difference between the two groups, and I think bundling them together doesn't necessarily do the hiring managers any favours.

 

[skyripper]

Isn't DevOps just a balancing act. Development likes to create change. Ops likes to avoid change. So DevOps is a funky way of saying "How do we keep both sides happy" ?

 

[drakioned]

Ops shouldn't be resistant to change, it should just insist that the changes are supportable.

 

[Sheff]

When I've come across DevOps it has meant the team designing and developing a system have gone on to provide 4th line support, liaise with problem management and work on patches etc.

 

[dowie]

something some developers and analysts have been doing for decades, yet it is apparently a new thing now....

still 'devops' as a actual job title rather than a concept? What does that entail?

 

[Sheff]

something some developers and analysts have been doing for decades, yet it is apparently a new thing now....

still 'devops' as a actual job title rather than a concept? What does that entail?

I've not come across anyone using it as a job title, more like the team that analysts and developers are assigned to for a specific system.

 

[oldbag]

It's passing on more of the responsibility of releasing and supporting that release/component to the development team. It's also about automation of as much of your infrastructure as possible so much of the risk surrounding patch levels and code running nicely is reduced, since if your release ends up being a fresh build of the os, plus the latest copy of the code, then a lot of the traditional issues disappear. Also you ensure consistency in your infrastructure if you're tearing it down and building it on each release. It's a big culture change which not only involves technical changes but behaviour changes.

But if it's done right, you can bring stability to your product as well as releasing value much faster.

Gone are the days of waiting days for ops to build a webserver, installing the appropriate software and config and then handing it to a dev, now they can programmatically spin up a server themselves on the latest code, test and tear it down.

 

[dowie]

I've not come across anyone using it as a job title, more like the team that analysts and developers are assigned to for a specific system.

further up the thread the OP seemed to be referring to a job

 

[drakioned]

My employers might end up using it as job title.

The current one is "Software Engineer in Support"

 

[Sheff]

further up the thread the OP seemed to be referring to a job

Sorry, I meant to add that I have seen job adverts specifically for roles in a devops team. I'm probably forgetting some; developers, business analysts, testers.

 

[opethdisciple]

Sorry, I meant to add that I have seen job adverts specifically for roles in a devops team. I'm probably forgetting some; developers, business analysts, testers.

To me. When I refer to DevOps I am referring to jobs involving automation, visualization and things like Puppet, Ansible, Elastic search, Jenkins etc ect ect.

 

[opethdisciple]

Well I have a break through.

I applied over the weekend to a role that was a split between technical support and Linux server administration.

I interviewed for it today and the agent called me after to say that I should expect them to make me an offer on Thu.

Before I went for the interview they where my third choice. As I don't want to do technical support anymore.

However once I arrived I was quite blown away. It was like I had stepped in to a miniaturized Google. They had ping pong tables everywhere, a huge snazzy kitchen area everyone was chilled and relaxed and it had a laid back vibe.

The interview it's self was down to earth and not pretentious or formal at all.

So company/location/vibe huge WOW.

The role it's self.... Well the first 3-4 months I will be doing Windows based projects. At the moment they out source their IT. They want someone to come in and sort them out basically.

Set up an WSUS server, Netboot/PXE environment, sort out the wifi, inventory the IT systems and some sort of standardisation going as well as provide day to day IT support for about 70 odd people.

So basically I will be the one researching solutions, proposing them and then implementing them. Currently my manager just does everything himself and only uses me to do the crap he cant be bothered to do.

After that period and things start to calm down, I will start training on the Linux sys admin side. They currently only have one guy who is the sys admin. And ideally they need someone to be able to give him a hand.

Pay would be about 3-5k more than what I currently earn.

So the job not strictly what I was looking for does seem to be a good one.

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On the flip side, my friend who works as a Linux DevOps engineer is trying to get me through the back door with his firm. They are looking to recruit for a junior position so he has put my CV forward which they have said fine will take a look at him.

The problem is the firm he works for can take a while (1-2 months) to actually start the interview process so I'm not sure what to do.

This role would probably have the biggest benefit on my career. And would eventually lead to the largest salaries. Where as the environment may not be as fun as they one I interviewed for today.

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The firm I interviewed with today, barring an epic change of heart, will most likely make me an offer tomorrow.

Only major fear I have with this job, is if they bring me in starting off doing the tech support and then in a few months bring in another guy to be the new server side admin.

The whole point of me leaving my current role is to do more server side stuff myself.

However the IT manager dude I spoke to said they would put me on a Linux course, so I guess if they are willing to invest cold cash in to training me they wont be looking to bring someone else in.

 

[FishThrower]

Sounds like a good problem you have...

devops is just a buzz word, I will be surprised if it's not called something else in 5 years...

The interview you had sounds very promising.... 3rd line support is different to 2nd line as you will end up doing more project work and general BAU support will be much less than 2nd line user support. Working for a small company allows you to have much more exposure to different technologies so you will learn much more. The only negative thing I can think of is that windows and Linux support are two totally different career paths. You may fall into the " jack of all trades, master of none" category.

Take the job ( if offered ) and see what your mate comes back with about the devops junior role, that might not even materialise yet, so don't reject the offer based on hope and a prediction.

Your current company sounds crap ( no offence) , this sounds like a good opportunity to leave a poisoned environment. How old are you btw ?

 

[opethdisciple]

Sounds like a good problem you have...

devops is just a buzz word, I will be surprised if it's not called something else in 5 years...

The interview you had sounds very promising.... 3rd line support is different to 2nd line as you will end up doing more project work and general BAU support will be much less than 2nd line user support. Working for a small company allows you to have much more exposure to different technologies so you will learn much more. The only negative thing I can think of is that windows and Linux support are two totally different career paths. You may fall into the " jack of all trades, master of none" category.

Take the job ( if offered ) and see what your mate comes back with about the devops junior role, that might not even materialise yet, so don't reject the offer based on hope and a prediction.

Your current company sounds crap ( no offence) , this sounds like a good opportunity to leave a poisoned environment. How old are you btw ?

34. 35 in Nov.

I am still going to carry on with my Linux home study. I started doing the LPIC material.

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Not sure what to do to be honest. I want to move towards a Linux server admin role. Yes I could start with this firm and maybe move on again in a year or so, but that just seems like a waste of a year.

On the flip side, this role could end up being good and I could end up learning a lot about Linux. It's one of those things I wont know until I start.

I have another interview next week on Tuesday which is a purely Linux server side role. But it's based at least 1.20hr (maybe longer) from my house each way.

The role I interviewed for today is about 40mins away.

The issue is the agents are the pushy ones. They want an answer asap so they can earn their commission and move on to the next target.

What are the rules regarding accepting a job, interviewing for another role then realising that one is better and going with them?

 

[randomshenans]

You can accept, no problem in that, it'll buy you some time as they will always need to get written stuff to you etc. Verbal accepting would be the best bet, especially with pushy recruiters. You have to look out for yourself, they won't do it for you.

 

[El Pew]

What are the rules regarding accepting a job, interviewing for another role then realising that one is better and going with them?

There aren't any, really. If you sign a contract then change your mind then there might be some backlash, but typically there's a probationary period where you can quit with little or no notice. If you think there's a chance you'll change your mind, then hold off on signing any contracts if you can.

You might annoy the company that you let down and that may or may not have consequences for future employment with that company, but it's unlikely there will be any immediate negative consequences.