Bummed

dps

So here's my rant/story. Just want to share this with you guys.
I was working for a structured wiring company but was laid off due to the economic slowdown. I was the primary desktop/helpdesk guy of the company, handling all IT concerns. Also did router, switch, etc. installs on the field and handled basic AD and Exchange administration.

After a month of being laid off, I got a job in a computer service company. I'm a helpdesk slash network technical support, handling all kinds of customer service calls. I also do field work, installing routers and NICs and troubleshooting all kinds of weird computer issues.

I just finished my first week and I'm really stressed out. Work's been really busy for my first week. Really busy. I don't know if I can adjust to the fast paced events of my job. It sucks too because they give me tickets/jobs even though I'm done with my shift. I don't get OT pay btw.
For example today, they asked me to install/deliver a server to a client a few minutes before my shift ends. Can't really complain because I'm new to the company.

I don't know if I'll get used to this type of work. Just want to rant here. I thought I'd be handling servers and learning VMware etc. I also thought I'll handle Cisco devices which I really wanna get my hands on. I think I moved a step back with my current job. I don't know. Maybe I'm just to picky with work but it's really getting into me.

My wife says give the company 2 weeks and decide if I wanna really quit.
Good advise.
I love my wife.

Sie

Sounds good advice to me too, give it a while and see how it goes you may get into the swing of things.

Changing jobs is always a stressful time so I can understand your situation, just try and stay calm and prove your worth, you never know things may change for the better in the near future.

In the meantime just remember you can always be looking for something else while you sit it out and its putting food on your table and a roof over your head for the time being.

Sorry to hear its a bit rubbish at present but hang in there and whether you stay or move onto pasters new im sure it will all work out for you soon.

Turgon

dps wrote:

So here's my rant/story. Just want to share this with you guys.
I was working for a structured wiring company but was laid off due to the economic slowdown. I was the primary desktop/helpdesk guy of the company, handling all IT concerns. Also did router, switch, etc. installs on the field and handled basic AD and Exchange administration.

After a month of being laid off, I got a job in a computer service company. I'm a helpdesk slash network technical support, handling all kinds of customer service calls. I also do field work, installing routers and NICs and troubleshooting all kinds of weird computer issues.

I just finished my first week and I'm really stressed out. Work's been really busy for my first week. Really busy. I don't know if I can adjust to the fast paced events of my job. It sucks too because they give me tickets/jobs even though I'm done with my shift. I don't get OT pay btw.
For example today, they asked me to install/deliver a server to a client a few minutes before my shift ends. Can't really complain because I'm new to the company.

I don't know if I'll get used to this type of work. Just want to rant here. I thought I'd be handling servers and learning VMware etc. I also thought I'll handle Cisco devices which I really wanna get my hands on. I think I moved a step back with my current job. I don't know. Maybe I'm just to picky with work but it's really getting into me.

My wife says give the company 2 weeks and decide if I wanna really quit.
Good advise.
I love my wife.

Stick it out for 4 weeks. If there is no improvement start looking elsewhere and move on when you get a better gig. If the situation deteriorates dont allow the job to take over more and more of your time. Just work your hours. There is nothing wrong with working hard and being busy but if work is being thrown at you and everything is rushed it wont get done properly and it may affect your health. 4 weeks should tell how things will pan out. I took a job once where before I knew where I was I was doing everything trying to keep an entire poorly designed and undocumented datacentre going when the place was falling apart with buggy services regularly failing for clients. Nobody knew how anything really worked and nothing was backed up and there were virtually no support contracts and no install media for anything important they were hosting like exchange. They continually delivered solutions to clients on an infrastructure that was virtually unsupportable. I stayed there 3 months but I should have handed in my notice one month earlier.

I hope things settle down for you there!

danclarke

I've found myself in similar circumstances before. After a period of unemployment, finding a new job and feeling elated - but then being brought down to Earth when the job doesn't turn out as you expect.

It can be tempting to walk away when that happens, but I think that it is - usually - the wrong reaction for many reasons. Chief amongst these is that it is better for your future employment chances to demonstrate staying power: if the work you are doing is not what you want to be doing, take whatever opportunities you can to show what you can do, to redefine your role.

I don't know what the situation is where you are, but here in the UK there is also an immediate reason not to walk away from a job: If you make yourself voluntarily unemployed, you can't claim "Job Seekers' Allowance" (i.e. social security payments). No big deal in itself, the level is miniscule compared with the rest of Europe. However, if you have mortgage protection insurance, this is dependent on you claiming JSA.

When I've been in a job I haven't liked, I always remind myself that you don't get paid for enjoying yourself - in fact you get paid for doing something when you'd rather be doing something else.

Theory breaks down over overtime, of course, but in 25 years as an engineer in the UK, I was only paid overtime for the first 2 years.

Hang on in there. One way or another, something better will turn up - but make the most of any opportunities that present themselves to you, within your current job or elsewhere. Good luck.

janmike

Just want to say, Good luck!

And, since I am almost 62 years old, I will say to stay with. A week or two is not long enough to determine whether or not you are going to be satisfied, or helped along professionally by a particular job position or employer.

Plan on staying with it for a year. You may get disgusted enough to terminate, but if possible, stay there a year. IT departments generally have a pretty high turnover in personnel. So, do your job, and in a month or two you will probably be more satisfied, you may have a little help, and you may even have a new position. You may want to get an attitude like, I'm staying a year just to show the sons-o'-so-and-so that I'm a better person than they are--so there!

Always, Always be on time for you shift, and never whine about personal problems--nobody cares, and stay out of other people's stuff. You don't need that.

Just MHO. Good luck!

dps

Thanks for all your advise, guys!
I'm just so bummed last night that I need to let that out.

The future's bright. Will have to make use of what I have now, after all, we don't usually get what we ask for.

brad-

I'd say give it a little more than 2 weeks...2 months i'd say. You really cant get to know anyone in that amount of time...particularly people who arent open to new employees.

If the pay is ok, stick it out. If it's not, start lookin around.

Turgon

dps wrote:

Thanks for all your advise, guys!
I'm just so bummed last night that I need to let that out.

The future's bright. Will have to make use of what I have now, after all, we don't usually get what we ask for.

Stick it out for a while. But I would say that if things don't improve after a couple of months, then they probably won't. Do your utmost in the meantime. If after 2 months things are still unreasonable get your CV out and talk things over with the company.

dps

Just an update, I quit from this job after 2 weeks. I really don't think it's the right fit for me. It drained me out physically and mentally.

So I called them up Monday and told them I'm resigning. Got an interview that Wednesday for a Network Engineer position close to where I live (about 6 miles away). Got the job that same afternoon and I'm happy with what I'm doing now.

Basically doing all kinds of stuff too. Handling 2k3 servers, DHCP, DNS, RAID, SonicWalls and a whole lot more. Learning a lot of stuff too. My co-technician told me we'll be "plate-spinning" a server 2 weeks from now. Never plate-spinned before but I'm excited to do this.

I also am scheduled for the ICND1 exam on May 17th. This will be my first ever certification exam.
Hope I do well in this one. Need to focus on the IOS commands now.

Any advise on a first-timer taking on Cisco? Topics I *really* should brush up on?

TIA guys.

hetty

Congrats on the new job & good luck with the exam.

aragoen_celtdra

dps wrote:

I also am scheduled for the ICND1 exam on May 17th. This will be my first ever certification exam.
Hope I do well in this one. Need to focus on the IOS commands now.

Any advise on a first-timer taking on Cisco? Topics I *really* should brush up on?

TIA guys.

How are your studies going? I'm not sure if you've checked the CCNA forum lately, but do a little search and you'll be able to find a lot of tips from those who have taken the test.

With that said, I just passed this test back in March and I'm preparing for the ICND2 exam for the end of June. You'll find that there's a lot of varying opinions on the amount of time you should devote to studying and what to focus more on. Obviously, it also depends on how well and how quickly you can grasp new materials. Aside from a MS exam I took years ago, this was also my only test I've taken so far. So I made sure I put in at least a good 3 months of studying. I started out the first month reading almost everyday for about 1-2 hours a day. Then I really stepped it up the last 2 months studying pretty much everyday, 4-5 hours/day. That included a lot of note taking, reading and re-reading, labs, and subnetting practice.

The number one thing that you really need to know well is subnetting. Why? Because a lot of the exam questions will depend on you knowing how to subnet. I would say I had to use my subnetting knowledge to answer almost half of the questions. I don't know if there were really that much but that's how it felt like to me. So know subnetting cold.

As far as knowing the commands, as long as you try to "lab up" the major concepts in the exam blueprint, I think you will be ok. Don't try to just memorize them. Getting a lab and practicing them is more fun and it tends to stick in your memory better without much effort.

Lastly, on the exam itself, make sure to mind your time because you might find yourself running out of time if you don't manage it properly.

Hope some of these tips help and good luck.

dps

aragoen_celtdra wrote:

dps wrote:

I also am scheduled for the ICND1 exam on May 17th. This will be my first ever certification exam.
Hope I do well in this one. Need to focus on the IOS commands now.

Any advise on a first-timer taking on Cisco? Topics I *really* should brush up on?

TIA guys.

How are your studies going? I'm not sure if you've checked the CCNA forum lately, but do a little search and you'll be able to find a lot of tips from those who have taken the test.

With that said, I just passed this test back in March and I'm preparing for the ICND2 exam for the end of June. You'll find that there's a lot of varying opinions on the amount of time you should devote to studying and what to focus more on. Obviously, it also depends on how well and how quickly you can grasp new materials. Aside from a MS exam I took years ago, this was also my only test I've taken so far. So I made sure I put in at least a good 3 months of studying. I started out the first month reading almost everyday for about 1-2 hours a day. Then I really stepped it up the last 2 months studying pretty much everyday, 4-5 hours/day. That included a lot of note taking, reading and re-reading, labs, and subnetting practice.

The number one thing that you really need to know well is subnetting. Why? Because a lot of the exam questions will depend on you knowing how to subnet. I would say I had to use my subnetting knowledge to answer almost half of the questions. I don't know if there were really that much but that's how it felt like to me. So know subnetting cold.

As far as knowing the commands, as long as you try to "lab up" the major concepts in the exam blueprint, I think you will be ok. Don't try to just memorize them. Getting a lab and practicing them is more fun and it tends to stick in your memory better without much effort.

Lastly, on the exam itself, make sure to mind your time because you might find yourself running out of time if you don't manage it properly.

Hope some of these tips help and good luck.

Thanks aragoen_celtdra for the tips.

We'll I passed ICND1 last May 24th (I rescheduled it because of family obligations) and I'm gonna hit the books for ICND2 this week. Hopefully we'll have success in our next Cisco exam.

Keep us posted.

Btw, I'm located in SoCal too.

aragoen_celtdra

dps wrote:

Thanks aragoen_celtdra for the tips.

We'll I passed ICND1 last May 24th (I rescheduled it because of family obligations) and I'm gonna hit the books for ICND2 this week. Hopefully we'll have success in our next Cisco exam.

Keep us posted.

Btw, I'm located in SoCal too.

Awesome! Congrats on the pass. I'm sitting ICND2 on June 28th. I believe it gets harder at this point. Well, maybe not. I think there's just more new technology covered so you're attention is spread wider when studying. I think the hard part comes in because you have to keep all the new information in your head as you move on to other topics. As far as comprehending the new technologies, I think anyone, with a little bit of time and resourcefulness will not have a problem "getting" the stuff.

By the way if you want to track my progress, check it out in my website/blog . On the top you can also find my study schedule. I hope that gives you some help or maybe you can share your study methods. I'm always open for suggestion... anything that can help me succeed, and vice versa.

So another SoCal local. There doesn't seem to be a lot in this forum.. or maybe it's just my impression. Anyway, how long have you been in the OC? I lived in Irvine for about 10 years before buying a home in the Inland Empire with my wife 3 years ago. I'm originally from L.A but I went to school in Irvine. I wouldn't be surprised if we've met before as it's happened to me several times meeting someone on the forums whom I previously knew.

dps

aragoen_celtdra wrote:

Awesome! Congrats on the pass. I'm sitting ICND2 on June 28th. I believe it gets harder at this point. Well, maybe not. I think there's just more new technology covered so you're attention is spread wider when studying. I think the hard part comes in because you have to keep all the new information in your head as you move on to other topics. As far as comprehending the new technologies, I think anyone, with a little bit of time and resourcefulness will not have a problem "getting" the stuff.

By the way if you want to track my progress, check it out in my website/blog . On the top you can also find my study schedule. I hope that gives you some help or maybe you can share your study methods. I'm always open for suggestion... anything that can help me succeed, and vice versa.

So another SoCal local. There doesn't seem to be a lot in this forum.. or maybe it's just my impression. Anyway, how long have you been in the OC? I lived in Irvine for about 10 years before buying a home in the Inland Empire with my wife 3 years ago. I'm originally from L.A but I went to school in Irvine. I wouldn't be surprised if we've met before as it's happened to me several times meeting someone on the forums whom I previously knew.

Cool blog ya got there! Good stuff!

Funny, I'm living here in Irvine now and my in-laws are in Riverside. We usually go there to visit them every weekends. I don't know if we've met already but I wouldn't be surprised if we did.

Haven't set a date yet for ICND2 but I wanna get it done within a month. *crosses fingers*