anyone here working as "the only i.t guy" in a company

chickenlicken09

just curious as to how you find it, good/bad? pros/cons?

N2IT

many moon ago I was that guy. It was usually pretty cool, decent pay and good job security. I received some bonuses as well since I was viewed as part of the team and not just some IT hack that was part of a hated cost centre. But every once in a while a weird request would come up. Things outside of scope such as building an Access database to track calls or developing a internal dashboard for the metric using CSS. Sometimes they would just toss something at you and if you couldn't deliver they would take it back and give it to someone else. It was really weird but it stretches you thin and you learn a lot. That was my experience at least.

Understanding networking is a good thing to have. I noticed you have your CCNA and while you probably won't configure much you could be asked to deal with you service provider when outages occur and with your networking knowledge you could call BS on the level 1 agents when the network isn't functioning properly. That is a skill I never really had.

Hammer80

Here is the problem with being the "only IT guy" you become a jack of all trades and a master of none, yes you learn a lot but at a cost usually these type of jobs are grossly underpaid for the amount of knowledge of diverse systems that is required. I am all for learning but I also wanna get payed so I can pay my bills and live in some level of comfort and security and that can usually be attainted these days through specializing and being an expert in one area. You may be the top dog at a small company but good luck then getting any senior level position at a large company since being good at a lot of stuff is not enough but being really really good in one area and then you got the job. If you are a jack of all trades unless you have many years of experience under your belt you will always end up starting out in some sort of a junior position at a large company since junior positions touch everything but not enough and seniors touch one specific area and get paid for it. One more thing there is no career growth, sure they can throw some meaningless title like VP of IT Operations but then good luck explaining in your interview with a large company that you were the VP of yourself.

Danielm7

I agree with the above posters, I've been the "IT guy" a few times. You get to dip your feet into all kinds of things, but you also get asked to deal with anything that has a plug on it and some things that do not. Before you know it you're the web designer, photo editor, etc. Also, as noted above, when you try to handle everything you never really get to specialize in anything either. I found when I left one JOAT sort of position and was interviewing for more specialized roles I really hadn't seen the technologies they wanted in the depth they expected me to have. For example, sure I had installed and maintained a few exchange servers, but I didn't do it for 1000s of people with experience in disaster recovery involving it and other higher level issues. They saw the number of years dealing with it on my resume and assumed I would have been a Sr exchange architect, when in reality you'll never get to that level as the "IT guy"

si20

Regarding Hammer80's post - What does 'VP' stand for in those kind of job titles?? I always see them and they sound interesting but they are always ambiguous and don't always tell you tje salary, just telling you that it's 'competitive'.

chickenlicken09

how does one get out of being the "i.t guy" ? i think my problem is i dont really know what area of i.t i want to get into, and this is after 5 years!
how did ye go about it yourselves? i recently passed the ccna but dont see myself doing a NOC job or going the network engineer direction.
I have lately being given alot of thought to the area of GRC (Governance, Risk, Compliance ) and the thought of a not so technical job is nice.
So maybe thats a start for me, i also feel i know more about what i dont want to do rather than what i do. Take the security+ for example, its on my list soon and its quite an interesting one so maybe continue on that path. So how did ye guys manage to specialise?

Jon_Cisco

eddo1 wrote: »

... So how did ye guys manage to specialise?

None of your response relates to how to specialize. It is about what you want to do with your life. I'm sorry to say but you are not going to find that answer on any forums. You might try a psychology site and see if there is something about finding your inner self but I don't think that's gonna do it either. You need to think about what you want to do. Then you can think about how to do it. If your currently a JOAT and you like it maybe you have your answer. There is nothing wrong with doing a job you enjoy. If it's not meeting your needs then you need to consider what your objective is. For most people part of that is making more money. However it's is also about what your good at, and location, and life balance.... It goes on and on. If you are employed and happy I suggest you consider the things you like the most and the least about your job. Explore the things you like and see what comes up. This is not a 5 second question with a clear cut answer. Good Luck

Danielm7

eddo1 wrote: »

how does one get out of being the "i.t guy" ? i think my problem is i dont really know what area of i.t i want to get into, and this is after 5 years!
how did ye go about it yourselves?

Well, first you would need to figure out what you want to do. No one is going to hand you a specialization when you're a generalist and tell you to become interested in it. In my case, I wanted to get into information security. I went back to school while working, did a bunch of security certs. Then when I interviewed I played up the security tasks I had at each generalist type position that I had. In my case they really wanted someone that understood the big picture, networking, servers and could actually communicate with people but also had a passion for security.

techfiend

I can understand the limitations of JOAT at midlevels but is it good to start out doing this to learn a broader range of things to put on a resume?

lsud00d

You should try to be exposed to as many technologies you can until you find what really interests you because without tasting something, how do you know if you do or don't like it? Also, following the JOAT path allows you to be more flexible for applying towards a wider range of positions.

ignacioalfonso

i am working for 5 years now, as a "solo IT" in this company , next year im planning to move out and take some certification exams. planning to take ITIL & CCNA. my question is which one should i take first?

thanks guys!

bigdogz

I was the "IT Guy" at a few companies.
You have to learn a great deal. Sometimes it because management does not want to pay for maintenance because your time is considered cheaper and not 'on the books'.
One time I had to rebuild an old printer which was like a 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Luckily I worked on those as a kid.
You are looked up to and respected by piers but a few infrequent times I could feel the jealousy of my position. I was lucky because I earned their respect after time.
I found that a few developers were lazy but I would step up and learn more to finish the project. Other developers were very kind and open minded in helping me in joint projects.
This job would chew up your time like there was no tomorrow. Since your are IT, you are the only to deliver the solution(s) at the cost of your personal life.

TeKniques

I had a job like this once for a while, and I agree with much of what has been said describing it. After I moved on I was in a position to look at places like the one I left from the outside and more times than not you see a huge lapse in oversight of the IT department. My advice to others would be to not limit yourself to stay in a "cush" role unless that's what you're aspiring to. Get out, take a chance and grow your professional skill set. When I did that, it was a good decision looking back and the only thing I would have changed is to have done it sooner.

adam220891

There's two of us and a manager to support 3 offices and mobile sales reps that include 300 workstations and 400+ users.

Not 'the IT guy' but pretty dang close. As others said, you get familiar with everything but become an expert it nothing. Time is limited, so sometimes you don't have the chance to thoroughly investigate root causes and you often end up dropping what you're doing and have half a dozen or more projects open at any given time. Probably good for future manager positions but I think at some point you need to narrow your focus and become an expert in something.

SteveLord

Been doing it for 6 years now in a small government agency. This past year my role has shifted more into database/application support, but I am still responsible for all other systems be it desktops, laptops, mobile devices, policies, etc.

Flexibiltiy, benefits and pay are good. Although I am trying to request higher pay given these changes.

Someday I will feel the itch to move onto a larger more enterprise-like role. But right now I am comfortable and the flexibility is most valuable to me.

Cleverclogs

I've been doing a similar thing for a bit over 2 years now. In my last role it was almost all phone support, but my current role it's very much a "Spartan" operation. I was in a team of 12 (Which was whittled down to a team of 5 after all those trendy cutbacks) but my knowledge was lower. Now there is a manager, me and another IT guy looking after about 200 people in two locations. My knowledge has gone through the roof, and I've found what I want to specialize in (Networking). However, as already mentioned on this board, it's not something to do forever as I'm already looking to get out of support and in to a Techie role. Just have to get my certs and keep at it.

chickenlicken09

so how often do ye guys get to step outside your comfort zone in a role like this?

Cleverclogs

eddo1 wrote: »

so how often do ye guys get to step outside your comfort zone in a role like this?

As much as humanly possible. My problem with my job now is that I'm bored, I reached my comfort zone back in the summer. I volunteer for any projects I can with the second level teams, which helps a bit.

Bokeh

I used to be. Did it for 5 yrs working for an audiology company, and was the regional IT guy for 13 offices, 17 remote locations and one regional office. JOAT with everything but the actual server. That was a "no touch zone." Regional president got burned by an IT guy 3 years prior to me starting there, and the only ones allowed to touch the server was him. He wouldn't even let corporate have access! Total trust issues.

techwizard

I am "The IT guy" at my job. My title is "Information Systems Specialist". I am sys admin, security specialist, equipment maintenance, network admin, and help desk all rolled into one. I have my own office, I don't share with anyone. The server room is in a closet in the same room. If its a hot day, I can close the door to my office and open the server room door and have my own dedicated air conditioning. Pay is above average for my area (and for the occupation), and I am only on as part time, unfortunately. If it were full time, it would be perfect. I am responsible for creating new users, managing existing users, managing MS exchange server, about 30+ computers and users, and another site about 80 miles away. I am also in charge of teleconferencing between the sites when there is staff meetings, etc. I don't oversee a bunch of monkey help desk lackeys, I can prioritize my projects, and my boss is actually very cool. It is a state funded organization in a small city. Before this job I was looking for a job for 18 months. I figure the title alone with this job will give my resume a huge boost. I am gaining a ton of hands on real world experience, I would not be able to get anywhere, school, training, virtual labs, etc. It is awesome. There are downsides, and some of the posters above have already covered them. I do wish sometimes there is at least one other tech working with me, to bounce ideas off of. A lot of what I do depends heavily on prioritizing my day, to get things done.

I plan to stick with this job for at least a year, and in the meantime continue obtaining certifications, and hands on knowledge, and look for another job that pays more.

chickenlicken09

sounds good, i imagine i will be doing something similar and will have my own office too

hisesa

I'm going through the interview process right now for a position that sounds similar to the one techwizard described. I've had two phone interviews and an on-site in front of a panel of five. I sent thank you letters to all and now I'm just waiting for the phone to ring.

doobu

Cleverclogs wrote: »

As much as humanly possible. My problem with my job now is that I'm bored, I reached my comfort zone back in the summer. I volunteer for any projects I can with the second level teams, which helps a bit.

This sums it up nicely.

techfiend

Techwizard's position is mostly what I interviewed for yesterday and add in 2 vmware servers for fault tolerance, cisco configuring and san in the near future. The position will be trained by the guy who is leaving and there is one other guy, it manager, that deals with some of it, mostly development though. Small company with average pay and little advancement but I think it will be a great learning experience for someone just starting out and much better then a call center help desk position, noc tech or maybe even MSP tech.

Hammer80

bigdogz - Mentioned personal life, if you are a JOAT you can kiss your personal life goodbye. You will be on everybody's speed dial 24/7/365 for absolutely anything server, network, phone system, security system, printer, VPN issues, including the executives son's laptop which is infested with spyware and viruses.

Danielm7

Hammer80 wrote: »

if you are a JOAT you can kiss your personal life goodbye

It really depends on the company. Some small places value work/life balance more than larger companies. Some even put a lot less stress on things going down during off hours, as with everything else "it depends".

Saal

Danielm7 wrote: »

It really depends on the company. Some small places value work/life balance more than larger companies. Some even put a lot less stress on things going down during off hours, as with everything else "it depends".

Also remember the old adage, "If it looks too good it probably is". Case in point, I had a friend who's job was the "IT guy" at an investment firm. He's was break'n maybe 40k (two years running with no raise) Meanwhile, he told me a couple of weeks ago his boss had the gall to ask him if he would look better driving a yellow or red maserati....needless to say the proverbial light came on, he dropped his papers and moved on. I heard he starts a new job next week with half the responsibility, a promotion, and double what he'd been getting abused for in the past.

Now on the flip side of things, I'm the sole SA and IT guy for my department and get paid and treated very well. Some of the benefits are the obvious like no micromanaging(I'm the "man"). I get to establish and enforce policy for a relatively small group of employees. Also, when there's an IT related issue I don't have twenty chiefs telling me what I need to do...if it's broke, it gets fixed...no "meetings to discuss problems" and then trying to fix it? On the other hand, enterprise migration, patch management, new equipment fielding, and user training is on me. This can be challenging.

Honestly, if you're looking for possibly individual employment. Do some background research on the prospective employer and definitely get a defined scope of work. You'll be happier in the long run.

Danielm7

Agreed, Sal, there are two sides to every situation. I had some great JOAT type jobs. One of them paid very well and I only stopped because the company was bought out and they moved IT a few states away. The only times that job was super stressful was when we were hosting client sites or services then I was on call for that stuff. Otherwise, I had close friends there, the owners would take me out to long, expensive lunches weekly, great place.

cablegod

I did for a LONG time until we grew too big to be a one-man-show. It certainly has it's ups and downs.

Verities

As the only IT guy, no matter how high up you move or whatever title you get, you will forever be known as the "IT guy". Pay bump and title change? Still the "IT guy". However, people will treat you like a king and feed you cookies/goodies/etc because you are the only one who can fix their computers. This is based on my experience as the only IT guy at a non-profit for a while.

bradl3yC

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned or not, but if you're at a point your career where you're still working on your skillset, being the 'smartest guy in the room' might not be a good idea. If there were nobody for me to learn from at my current job, I would be getting my paperwork in order and start looking for the next move up.

However, if a paycheck and a comfortable work environment are enough and that job does it for you, go for it.