IT jobs with lots of downtime?

I heard that System/Network Administrator and Computer Operator have a lot of downtime. Is that true? What about System/Network Engineer (as opposed to administrator)?

If so, what is allowable on downtime, looking at websites (things like reading news articles?), reading a book you brought along, reading a book on your phone?

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TechGromit

Nightflier101BL wrote: »

Sometimes, it can get frustrating seeing these surveys that give false hope and make people believe they can just walk right into these high paying jobs.

It's certainly not for everyone. If I picked my job based solely on how much money I could make, I would have become a drug dealer 20 years ago and a script kiddy today.

Anonymouse

TheFORCE wrote: »

Yes! IT helpdesk has the most downtime of all the IT jobs! It also has pretty good salary based on the latest surveys you could make at least 90K with just the A+ comptia certificate. I would suggest you take the job if you find one.

Funny thing is I interviewed for a few helpdesk jobs in Silicon Valley paying close to that. I probably should have accepted the job offer. Easy work for great pay.

markulous

Anonymouse wrote: »

Funny thing is I interviewed for a few helpdesk jobs in Silicon Valley paying close to that. I probably should have accepted the job offer. Easy work for great pay.

90k in the silicon valley really isn't that much money. Not when a small house or condo costs 700k.

TechGromit

markulous wrote: »

90k in the silicon valley really isn't that much money. Not when a small house or condo costs 700k.

LOL, even the homeless make more than 90k a year pan handing in Silicon Valley. Well not really, but the median income for Silicon Valley is 98k. It's only 50k for New York City and that's an expensive area to live in as well.

Anonymouse

To answer phones all day yeah that's a lot of money.

xengoreth

I have a co-worker who is the "helpdesk guy" for our team. He gets to work at least an hour or two late each day, takes a two hour lunch, complains he has too many hours due to all the overtime he's been putting in to justify his leaving early, and spends the rest of his time not on the phone talking about non-work related stuff.

He sometimes gets assigned some of the SA work, but inevitably is unable to perform it since he is completely incompetent and uninterested in putting forth even the most limited effort to learn anything. In the one in a million chance he might actually know something, he refuses to share it with anyone. And finally, if he is lost and needs a hand, he's too proud to ask.

The rest of the SAs on our small team suffer for this, being constantly interrupted by customers he isn't around to support, but the management loves him. I'm sure the "helpdesk guy" really enjoys his downtime.

Anonymouse

Are you in California? Sounds like a place I worked.

xengoreth

Anonymouse wrote: »

Are you in California? Sounds like a place I worked.

No, but this personality is definitely a recurring theme in the IT world. I've seen one on nearly every team I've ever worked on!

Mike7

SanDie wrote: »

Yes, I'm looking for the job with most downtime.

IT jobs where the manager does not understand what you do usually can have a lot of downtime. i.e. the manager is not that technically proficient and is unable to estimate effort required..

Need to do that code change? Tell the manager: "It will take 1 week" when the actual effort requires a one liner code change.
Upgrade that server application to a new .1 version? "2 weeks"...

You can find them around, but I will not take up these positions.

SanDie

Anonymouse wrote: »

Funny thing is I interviewed for a few helpdesk jobs in Silicon Valley paying close to that. I probably should have accepted the job offer. Easy work for great pay.

Did they require a few years of experiences?

SanDie

Mike7 wrote: »

IT jobs where the manager does not understand what you do usually can have a lot of downtime. i.e. the manager is not that technically proficient and is unable to estimate effort required..

Need to do that code change? Tell the manager: "It will take 1 week" when the actual effort requires a one liner code change.
Upgrade that server application to a new .1 version? "2 weeks"...

You can find them around, but I will not take up these positions.

So even programming / software development jobs can have a lot of free time if the manager doesn't know the work?

majestic_pecan

Computer Operator jobs (if you can find them) have a lot of down time. If there are no issues with batch jobs you monitor, then you don't do much of anything. Even if there are issues with batch jobs, you contact the owner of the job and they handle it.
Source: I am a computer operator and spend 80% of my time studying for certs, 10% trying to find new work-related tasks to do that aren't technically my job, and the remainder on my "assigned duties."

SanDie

Thank you. Aren't Computer Operator jobs more rarer than Network/System administrator/engineers though?
Would they be willing to hire you if you come all the way from another state?
What kind of qualifications would you need to be hired? I suppose 2 year computer related degree or one year of IT experience like Network/Server engineering?

OfWolfAndMan

More rarer? Thats a new one.

From what it sounds like, you don't know what you want in your career yet. There's always other alternatives, but id say it depends purely on the company and department (As a composite). You gotta find your niche. If that's IT, so be it. Many fields are very busy, but if your team knows what they're doing (As a whole), then that downtime may be a consistent thing, depending on your manager's sense of workflow.

cyberguypr

What do you mean he doesn't know what he wants. He has a very clear career goal: enjoy downtime.

Mike7

SanDie wrote: »

So even programming / software development jobs can have a lot of free time if the manager doesn't know the work?

Sure. See Computer programmer 'outsourced job to China' - Telegraph

The software developer, who is in his 40s, is said to have paid a Chinese firm a fifth of his six-figure salary to do his job for him while he spent his working days surfing the internet.

Mr Valentine said that the employee, who no longer works for the company, had even been praised for 'his' work

A spokesman for Verizon Business confirmed that the story was true, but declined to provide further details

Capitalism at its best. Your idol. @SanDie

majestic_pecan

SanDie wrote: »

Thank you. Aren't Computer Operator jobs more rarer than Network/System administrator/engineers though?
Would they be willing to hire you if you come all the way from another state?
What kind of qualifications would you need to be hired? I suppose 2 year computer related degree or one year of IT experience like Network/Server engineering?

Are they rarer? Probably, operator jobs are going the way of the dinosaur for the exact reasons I mentioned: we do almost nothing that can't be automated and/or subsumed into another position, like a service desk analyst or low-level admin. Personally I am trying to get OUT of operations for that exact reason.
I got my job with 6 months IT experience and a B.A. You could certainly get one with a 2-year degree. Honestly if you have 1 year of network or server admin experience, going into computer operations would be a massive step down.

kohr-ah

I honestly cant believe this thread is still going :P

hiddenknight821

Apparently we ain't done feeding. Somebody's still hungry!

gorebrush

This thread has quite severely rustled my jimmies.