One Man Show

Anyone have any experience being the one guy for a medium sized business?

My supervisor is quitting and he was also their compliance officer, so that leaves just me to manage all Security and their entire infrastructure until they hire someone else. I'm a bit intimidated so I'm curious if anyone else has gone through this. I will definitely need to hire another guy to do what I do, so I wouldn't be opposed to hiring a fellow TE member.

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Techytach

Very interesting thread. Sorry you are going through this Mark!

Good luck on finding something ASAP.

markulous

Screw it yeah, might as well apply for it. I guess it doesn't hurt applying for more seasoned roles.

He said he was debating working here last night. I knew it from how he reacted when I told him stuff. Despite their best efforts, I think they actually hired a decent IT guy, so he may not stick around very long.

DatabaseHead

Mark I agree, I am putting myself in this role for ~1 more year and then moving to the next level, it's painful but it usually pays off at least from my perspective.

I took 3 month contract 4 years ago I had no business taking and LEARNED a ton. It really springboard my career.

TechGromit

markulous wrote: »

Man you guys called it. No background check done on this guy and he hasn't even signed an offer letter! He has no idea what he's making.

Who agrees to take a job without knowing how much they will be making?

markulous

TechGromit wrote: »

Who agrees to take a job without knowing how much they will be making?

Well he had quit his other job, so maybe just out of desperation?

I think he's definitely close to leaving though. He said he likes to give it a few months before making a decision but he's smart enough to realize the crap storm he walked into.

MeanDrunkR2D2

unless I were desperate would I ever start a job on the next business day. That right there is a HUGE red flag to me that the company has absolutely zero idea of what the hell is going on and really, what kind of technical knowledge did they test him on? Basic network questions like "How do you find the IP address of a computer?" and "Who makes Windows Computer Thingys?" would be my guess of the extent of technical questions they asked.

markulous

I asked him that very question because I'm the only technical person they have. He said there wasn't anything technical. He said that they tried to ask him some stuff, but really it was just kinda "tell me about your experience". They got lucky that they found someone solid (at least for the time being), but they clearly don't have any idea what's going on. I gotta get out of here for sure.

EnderWiggin

Well at least now you have someone to commiserate with at work until you both leave

markulous

Definitely.

He totally gets it which is nice. They treat me like I'm crazy for not loving it there.

markulous

Weird timing with the layoffs but got a call from a recruiter for a phone interview with Cisco tomorrow.

Other interview went pretty well. Firewall admin basically and using a SIEM. Hopefully something good soon

Kreken

I read through the thread and maybe I missed it but what makes this environment so toxic? The owner's reluctance to invest in the new technology? To hire more IT people?

I worked in the company like that a while ago. It was hard to sell new technology, redundancy and etc. until something happened. When it happened though, a couple of big failures - core switch and edge router that brought the network down, I got all the money I wanted for redundant network equipment and server clusters. After Sandy, I got the funding to implement a proper DR. All of this hardly made the environment toxic. It made it frustrating at times and forced me to work some extra hours but not toxic.

markulous

That's part of it. Part of it is they expect you to never be sick, never take breaks, work 60 hours a week, etc. I requested a half day 3 months in advance and got denied (despite it being when we had other people here). I also have 5 managers I have to report to that never talk to each other so it's like Office Space where I'll get told 5 different times if I got the memo. The owner fires people on a whim, doesn't care about compliance, and now hires IT people without asking any technical questions nor even giving them an offer letter to know what they're making. I can definitely keep going on about how poor of an environment it is.

MeanDrunkR2D2

Keep in mind, if the new guy makes it to Friday, the boss will probably feel confident in his new guy and decide to fire you then. Many companies will wait til Friday to make those decisions and have that happen. I do think though that it would be amusing to lay a single dog turd on his windshield every day until he cracks. Change up the time it happens and make sure there are no cameras around. Even better if you can put paw prints on his hood so that he believes that a dog is actually climbing on his car and doing its business.

Techytach

I don't think there is a need to stoop to adolescent levels. Just leave quickly and gracefully. Otherwise he'd be conferring a false image of himself that would lead to justification in his bosses mind.

markulous

That's pretty funny. I wouldn't do it but that'd be hilarious.

I talked to the new guy and told him that I think I'm out the outs. He said that they aren't happy but didn't get the impression they'd fire me. He did mention if that happened he'd leave at that point. He's already tired of a lot of their crap and being the only IT guy at that point would make him go somewhere else. Either way I'm planning for the worst and hoping for the best. The owner never stops and thinks about his actions so I wouldn't put it past him to get rid of me.

MeanDrunkR2D2

Well, then I guess I'd just spray some fox urine on his office chair. Make him think that someone is ******* in his office. That's a bit more than a sophomoric joke, more of a senior or college level.

And no, I'm not serious about any of that, it's just something that any person who has an insufferable jerk as a boss would find amusing.

At least that new guy knows that he doesn't want to be the only person involved in that circus should they decide to let you go, or you leave. Hopefully you get to be the one to tell the boss that your last day is "X" and take that joy and satisfaction away from him. I could imagine that he'd get mad and yell and say "YOU CAN'T QUIT BECAUSE YOU'RE FIRED!!!!"

Kreken

markulous wrote: »

That's part of it. Part of it is they expect you to never be sick, never take breaks, work 60 hours a week, etc. I requested a half day 3 months in advance and got denied (despite it being when we had other people here). I also have 5 managers I have to report to that never talk to each other so it's like Office Space where I'll get told 5 different times if I got the memo. The owner fires people on a whim, doesn't care about compliance, and now hires IT people without asking any technical questions nor even giving them an offer letter to know what they're making. I can definitely keep going on about how poor of an environment it is.

I don't know, I still feel like we are getting only one side of the story and wouldn't three months be in September?

Date: 1 Jun 2016.

markulous wrote: »

Yeah. I would have put it in earlier, but I got the offer letter too late Friday and Monday was a holiday, so put it in yesterday. I'm really struggling to fulfill this notice. 60-90 minutes each way is brutal. I'm almost tempted to tell them I'll only do it if I can work from home.

Two weeks notice? So you started this job on 15 Jun or close.

Approximately three weeks later, you are there by yourself and feel a bit intimidated to run everything by yourself.

Date: 5 Jul 2016.

markulous wrote: »

Anyone have any experience being the one guy for a medium sized business?

My supervisor is quitting and he was also their compliance officer, so that leaves just me to manage all Security and their entire infrastructure until they hire someone else. I'm a bit intimidated so I'm curious if anyone else has gone through this. I will definitely need to hire another guy to do what I do, so I wouldn't be opposed to hiring a fellow TE member.

A month later after being by yourself, you want to start a new big project to migrate to VOIP? What happened to being understaffed? Who is going to support the infrastructure and do the VOIP project?

Date: 4 Aug 2016.

markulous wrote: »

Well I'm (un) officially done with this place. Now it sounds like the owner doesn't want to hire anyone because "last year we had more employees at this building with only one person". I tried explaining to him that we have more projects going on, a new domain that's federally audited, as well as hosted clients, data center migrations, etc. He just argued and said it's fine.

The conversation started when I told him how their 1980s phone system had a single point of failure (a 15 year old XP PC) and if it went out they'd be down for days and it'd cost them thousands of dollars. He started going off saying that all IT guys want is the "latest tech" and don't care about cost when I suggested we replace the phone system since there's no other way for redundancy on that old of equipment. Then said our investment of getting VOIP at our other sites was a waste as was shutting down our single core single hard drive servers and moving them to a datacenter (where they're on a RAID10).

It's frustrating dealing with someone so stubborn that won't listen to reason even when there are huge risks that impact his business.

I am inclined to believe after you gave up, your performance really started to suffer.

You have been to a few interviews but so far no bites even if you say your technical knowledge is sufficient...

So we have here a knight in spotless armor (you), incompetent owner who doesn't know yet his business is doomed and a toxic office space.

Pardon me for being skeptic about you standing knee deep in crap and not getting any on yourself.

markulous

I'm about a week or so away from 3 months, what's the big deal?

I never said I was perfect so I'm not sure where these white knight comments are coming from. The 2 former employees that worked here and my current coworker all feel the same way.

MeanDrunkR2D2

Sheesh, you sound like alot of fun at parties Kreken. And those earlier posts don't prove anything as he was trying to stay positive in a bad situation and trying to get things going smoothly. Then the train came off the tracks during that time frame and he's soured on his time at his employer. **Checks to see if poster is from the East Coast**. Yep.

blatini

I think Mark is more looking for an avenue to vent frustration and get guidance/encouragement.

"I don't know, I still feel like we are getting only one side of the story"

Pardon me for saying no ****.

TechGromit

blatini wrote: »

"I don't know, I still feel like we are getting only one side of the story"

Hey your right, we should email this thread to Markulous's boss and ask him for his point of view.

markulous

TechGromit wrote: »

Hey your right, we should email this thread to Markulous's boss and ask him for his point of view.

He uses an Earthlink email address for everything official if he wants to find it.

blatini

Hah that would be great.

If you think the thread is whiny/not worth your time/whatever then you can not read it. There are clearly people coming back and bumping the thread who are curious. It's far more productive than half the threads that come through all the forums collectively. And even if ya wanna be snarky, you can do it way funnier and more constructive way than wasting more of your time playing the role of Dork Tracy

thomas_

Kreken wrote: »

knight in spotless armor

I always thought the saying was "knight in shining armor"

Kreken

markulous wrote: »

I'm about a week or so away from 3 months, what's the big deal?

markulous wrote: »

I requested a half day 3 months in advance and got denied...

I understand you wanted to exaggerate a bit to show how mean these people are. What else did you exaggerate?

markulous wrote: »

I never said I was perfect so I'm not sure where these white knight comments are coming from. The 2 former employees that worked here and my current coworker all feel the same way.

How long did two former employees work there for? Two and half months like you?

markulous wrote: »

I talked to the new guy and told him that I think I'm out the outs. He said that they aren't happy but didn't get the impression they'd fire me. He did mention if that happened he'd leave at that point. He's already tired of a lot of their crap and being the only IT guy at that point would make him go somewhere else. Either way I'm planning for the worst and hoping for the best. The owner never stops and thinks about his actions so I wouldn't put it past him to get rid of me.

Sounds like you talked crap about the company to the new employee to convince him of your point of view.

Now what I think really happened is that this position is a bit over your head.

markulous wrote: »

I've only been here a month. Half of the stuff here I hardly have any experience with. Once I'm comfortable with everything and it starts the plateau more I'll ask for more or just move on.

Once your boss left, things stopped getting done. You started blaming it on the old technology in place. This caused the arguments with the owner. He doesn't agree with you and you give up. The place becomes toxic and you are the cause of it. Am I right? But since we can't hear the other side, we won't know what really happened and have to rely on your view of events.

blatini wrote: »

I think Mark is more looking for an avenue to vent frustration and get guidance/encouragement.

Here, I join the masses. "Burn the witch! Burn the witch!"

thomas_ wrote: »

I always thought the saying was "knight in shining armor"

It was a deliberate choice of words.

markulous

Clearly you have your own idea of what's going on so there's really no point in me trying to convince you otherwise.

Good day to you sir.

scaredoftests

markulous wrote: »

Clearly you have your own idea of what's going on so there's really no point in me trying to convince you otherwise.

Good day to you sir.

It is like political beliefs..can't convince anybody. LOL

markulous

Exactly. They are entitled to their opinion but no point really arguing with them. Like others have said, it's just a thread to vent and get some advice/encouragement, not to slander the company or convince everyone to mail bomb them with hate mail or something.

IronmanX

We are only hearing one side of the story, but I totally believe it.

Generally when applying for jobs I like to look up linkedin profiles of current and past employees. I think you can tell a lot by where employees go after leaving the company.

They had one guy with multiple IT roles for a medium organization with multiple sites.... He finally gets help and leaves. My thinking is whats up with that? Maybe just happenstance. Maybe you where not his first choice and he wanted someone else. This new guy who they hired seems like he was hired based on being able to start right away and with what ever salary they decide to give him.

I know you say the new guy is decent, but its kinda hard to believe.

This is a "SIEM software company"? seems weird they would only have one IT guy

The OP said somewhere about having only 2 years of IT experience and being in product support in a prior role. Its too bad the other IT guy left sounds to me like you need a mentor. Suggesting systems be replaces a couple months in and getting the reaction you got from the boss I think is expected and you probably shouldn't have suggested it or maybe approached it more lightly (Hey I see the phone system is pretty dated and has a single point of failure. Are there plans in the future for an upgrade? He says no and maybe in a year you bring it up again).

Mow

@Kreken - I'm starting to suspect you might be his boss...