Need advice - should I take the job if it gets offered to me?

si20

Ok guys, a long story cut short: I was working in digital forensics for law enforcement; I was there for 2 months on a temp contract. 90% of the work was being outsourced and my colleagues were unbearable - I mean: absolutely unbearable and I couldn't tolerate spending another second with them. I've been in situations before where colleagues don't see eye to eye, but this was something else. It was almost like they were attempting to bully me in the workplace because I was (and I seriously don't mean to sound big headed here) more knowledgeable than them about the role. One of the guys I was working with had a 3rd class degree. To get a 3rd class degree in the UK, you just have to show up to class once per week. The girl I was working with had openly cheated her exams....

Anyway. I left that role because I couldn't stand it any longer, plus, I didn't think it was good for my health looking at illegal material all day long. I had passed two interviews at another company and was expecting to be handed a contract. 6 weeks after my 2nd interview, i'd been told that they "haven't forgotten" about me and that i'm still "in the running".... needless to say, I got sick of waiting.

So I applied for a 6 month temporary desktop admin role with another company. The role asked for the following:

Knowledge/experience of the following:

• Basic Active directory & Group policy
• Citrix (client) management
• RSA token mgmt software
• Win 7
• Microsoft deployment tools
• DNS and DHCP server knowledge

So, i've got knowledge of AD, Win 7 and *some* knowledge of deployment. I swatted up on Citrix, RSA, Deployment and had my 1 hour long telephone interview today. They pressed me on group policy and replication of passwords on domain controllers along with deployment.

I'll hold my hand up - it went fairly well - far from perfect, but not terrible. I managed to hold my own. I had watched a bunch of youtube tutorials on RSA and deploying Windows 7 to endpoints. I was a bit off with group policy.

I get the feeling that I am going to be offered the contract. It's paying well and it looks like a fantastic opportunity, but I feel like it's a little bit above me. It's nothing I cannot learn, but should I take something like this? Or will it come back to bite me? For a contract, will they be prepared to let me learn as I go along, or should I really know everything going into it?

I will really appreciate some help and advice because as much as I need a job - i'm anxious about it.

Thanks.

TL;DR: I left a temp job because of terrible colleagues - too awful to describe on here. I might be getting offered a temp contract with a new company but the skills are a bit beyond me at the moment. Should I take the job knowing I need to learn as I go along? Or for a contract role, should I know all this stuff before starting?

MitM

I'd say if you're interested in taking it, keep learning the technologies that you'll be working on there, in the meantime.

Based on your post, it seems you aren't working now? If so, I'd say what do you have to lose.

To answer your question, it depends on the company. I've worked with a lot of contract employees where I had to teach them things. It was never a big deal because we needed a body in the seat. It's not always about what you know, sometimes it's the potential an employer sees in you.

thomas_

If your only reservation about the job is that you think it's a little above you, then I think you should take the job if it's offered. You never know if that other company is ever going to get back to you or if they're just going to string you along.

Nobody is ever going to know everything in a new position because there is always going to be company/environment specific info to learn.

alias454

Sounds kinda like a pc refresh gig. I'd take it if offered.