Reevaluating that next step up from Help Desk, SysAdmin or...?

N7Valiant

I'm a couple months into a Help Desk position at an MSP and wanted to check and see if my original plan to get into a SysAdmin role is really the best given my personality and preferences.

While I'm willing to put more than 40 hours into my job, I'm finding that my body isn't able to keep up, staying another 2 hours past my shift only results in about an hour of productive work and I usually go home in a daze and with a distracting headache. If I've been working in the hour before I go to sleep, then I'm usually still too obsessed with work to fall asleep. Hence I believe sticking with a 40-hour work week is best.

Thus when I read that SysAdmin is a really fast pace and stressful environment, I'm wondering if I'd be going from MSP to in-house IT only to end up in the same place?


Skill-wise I'd say I'm definitely more System rather than Networking. I actually enjoy hardware as much as software when I'm swapping out parts in a Workstation trying to find that one component that causes it to reboot itself even in BIOS every 5-10 minutes, finding that it was the power supply, and saving myself from having to explain to the POC that it's a motherboard that isn't sold anymore. I enjoy troubleshooting system glitches like a USB device that was shutting down the computer which required a driver install and running DISM to fix the system file corruption that occurred as a result and couldn't be fixed by sfc.


As far as personality, I'm generally much more productive when I'm allowed to work on my own initiative as opposed to being forced into it(say, someone just tossing more work in your direction because they think you're not busy enough). Quick example would be growing up in a stereotypical Asian family where I'm physically beaten for having bad grades, my GPA in high school was barely 2.1. Whereas in college when that all stopped and I no longer had a gun held to my head, I got a 3.5 GPA for a Welding degree and a 4.0 GPA when I went back for an IT degree.



My general path planned was Help Desk(MSP) > Jr. SysAdmin(in-house) > SysAdmin > Security. But given my personality(I also despise phone calls and being on-call), I'm wondering if I should add Desktop Support after Help Desk and/or choose another path altogether?

I noted one of our clients has a SysAdmin who seems to lack some very basic knowledge about the company network and apparently didn't know how to tell if a UPS is actually being used or not in spite of devices being connected to it. It left me with an impression that he had a lot of downtime in his job or that the bar wasn't as high as I expected, but it also seems like one of those "it depends" kind of situations or that he might be the exception.

mikey88

I've met a guy who's been doing desktop support for 30yrs. Some just like the work or are not motivated to advance and that's fine. To advance in this field, one can't be afraid of a bit of overtime or occasional on call. Stress free work will be when I retire and become a parking lot attendant.

N7Valiant

mikey88 wrote: »

I've met a guy who's been doing desktop support for 30yrs. Some just like the work or are not motivated to advance and that's fine. To advance in this field, one can't be afraid of a bit of overtime or occasional on call. Stress free work will be when I retire and become a parking lot attendant.

I don't expect stress free work, but when most of the other techs are also doing overtime every single week and coming in on their supposed day off on Holidays(which they receive no additional pay for because they're all salary), then I don't see that as a sustainable model.

LeBroke

N7Valiant wrote: »

I don't expect stress free work, but when most of the other techs are also doing overtime every single week and coming in on their supposed day off on Holidays(which they receive no additional pay for because they're all salary), then I don't see that as a sustainable model.

Heavily depends on which company you work for.

My last job I was doing 60 hours a week + constant on call because they couldn't be bothered to hire a second person.

I'm doing maybe 35 this place, and on-call is an 8-week rotation with an extra $500 bonus when you've got the proverbial pager.

N7Valiant

LeBroke wrote: »

Heavily depends on which company you work for.

My last job I was doing 60 hours a week + constant on call because they couldn't be bothered to hire a second person.

I'm doing maybe 35 this place, and on-call is an 8-week rotation with an extra $500 bonus when you've got the proverbial pager.

Same position basically?

LeBroke

N7Valiant wrote: »

Same position basically?

Yes though slightly more senior. DevOps -> SRE (functionally doing cloud architecture).

NetworkingStudent

N7Valiant wrote: »

I'm a couple months into a Help Desk position at an MSP and wanted to check and see if my original plan to get into a SysAdmin role is really the best given my personality and preferences.

While I'm willing to put more than 40 hours into my job, I'm finding that my body isn't able to keep up, staying another 2 hours past my shift only results in about an hour of productive work and I usually go home in a daze and with a distracting headache. If I've been working in the hour before I go to sleep, then I'm usually still too obsessed with work to fall asleep. Hence I believe sticking with a 40-hour work week is best.

Thus when I read that SysAdmin is a really fast pace and stressful environment, I'm wondering if I'd be going from MSP to in-house IT only to end up in the same place?


Skill-wise I'd say I'm definitely more System rather than Networking. I actually enjoy hardware as much as software when I'm swapping out parts in a Workstation trying to find that one component that causes it to reboot itself even in BIOS every 5-10 minutes, finding that it was the power supply, and saving myself from having to explain to the POC that it's a motherboard that isn't sold anymore. I enjoy troubleshooting system glitches like a USB device that was shutting down the computer which required a driver install and running DISM to fix the system file corruption that occurred as a result and couldn't be fixed by sfc.


As far as personality, I'm generally much more productive when I'm allowed to work on my own initiative as opposed to being forced into it(say, someone just tossing more work in your direction because they think you're not busy enough). Quick example would be growing up in a stereotypical Asian family where I'm physically beaten for having bad grades, my GPA in high school was barely 2.1. Whereas in college when that all stopped and I no longer had a gun held to my head, I got a 3.5 GPA for a Welding degree and a 4.0 GPA when I went back for an IT degree.



My general path planned was Help Desk(MSP) > Jr. SysAdmin(in-house) > SysAdmin > Security. But given my personality(I also despise phone calls and being on-call), I'm wondering if I should add Desktop Support after Help Desk and/or choose another path altogether?

I noted one of our clients has a SysAdmin who seems to lack some very basic knowledge about the company network and apparently didn't know how to tell if a UPS is actually being used or not in spite of devices being connected to it. It left me with an impression that he had a lot of downtime in his job or that the bar wasn't as high as I expected, but it also seems like one of those "it depends" kind of situations or that he might be the exception.

I have worked at two MSP and I can tell you a few things.

1) They're small businesses supporting other small businesses.
2) They really don't pay that much and demand a lot in return from their IT workers/employees () Think you're the desktop/admin guy, help desk guy, oh and you do sales too!!)


As far as staying past your shift, I don't think it's worth it if you're getting sick. Being on call is probably needed, but do they require you to stay past your shift?

I have worked in other environments that are NOT msps and the work load is more relaxed, and they have more IT staff.

My general path planned was Help Desk(MSP) > Jr. SysAdmin(in-house) > SysAdmin > Security. But given my personality(I also despise phone calls and being on-call), I'm wondering if I should add Desktop Support after Help Desk and/or choose another path altogether?

I think you should go into desktop support or look at a JR sysadmin role. Just don't let ANYONE define who YOU can become!! Never Quite!

Here's a good video to watch:
DOnt' Quit!!
https://youtu.be/XR3yQwp_4KM?t=4s

N7Valiant

They actually pay considerably well (let's just say, more than $35k) all things considered. No, they don't force or require anyone to stay past their shift, they'll just keep piling onto your workload to the point where you can't finish it all in a 40-hour shift, and your coworkers consistently staying past their shift is indicative of that.

I'm not considering calling it quits now, but I went into it expecting to grind out the next 2-3 years to be a SysAdmin(or equivalent work) with the same MSP, now revised down to a year, and the downward revisals continue every time someone wants to try a "great idea" or something that you know will only increase your workload.

And more importantly, the workload of everyone else who is already exhibiting stress and overwork.