I have a question about a job that I was contacted about

qwertyiop

I put my resume on Dice.com about a little over a year ago and didn't get many hits until about a week ago when I was contacted by the VP of a staffing company that I wont name that wants to speak to me about a fulltime IT Manager position at their HQ. From what I've been told its a small office with about 25 employees and many satellite office around the U.S. They want to bring someone in to takeover their IT Environment and after speaking to him I found out that the position calls IT Manager / IT Admin.

I wonder if I'm ready for this.
I have a Bachelors degree in IT and working on my Masters degree in Information Assurance. I admit that I don't have as much experience as some of you but I have started my career off working at the helpdesk at a local college and then after that I spent awhile as a IT Intern at a globally known company. After that I spent a few years as the Network Admin / Sole IT person for a Engineering company and after I returned to the globally known company as a Sys Admin for mixed Windows/Linux Environment.


Should I even attempt to go for this new position?

jakecitrix

qwertyiop wrote: »

I put my resume on Dice.com about a little over a year ago and didn't get many hits until about a week ago when I was contacted by the VP of a staffing company that I wont name that wants to speak to me about a fulltime IT Manager position at their HQ. From what I've been told its a small office with about 25 employees and many satellite office around the U.S. They want to bring someone in to takeover their IT Environment and after speaking to him I found out that the position calls IT Manager / IT Admin.I wonder if I'm ready for this.I have a Bachelors degree in IT and working on my Masters degree in Information Assurance. I admit that I don't have as much experience as some of you but I have started my career off working at the helpdesk at a local college and then after that I spent awhile as a IT Intern at a globally known company. After that I spent a few years as the Network Admin / Sole IT person for a Engineering company and after I returned to the globally known company as a Sys Admin for mixed Windows/Linux Environment.Should I even attempt to go for this new position?

Hahahah yeah go for it small enviroment looks like u have the skills put faith in urself.

qwertyiop

I just spoke to them and found out that the most that there looking to pay for this is about 5k more then I make now. If i'm offered the job and accept it I would be the only IT person and both drive and manage the technical aspect including contracts and future growth. Like I said before it's a small company but it would give me a opportunity to continue to develop my technical skills while working on my managing and project management. A bonus would be less stress when compared to my current company and the roundtrip drive is about 20 minutes less.

powerfool

Weigh the risks and benefits. I mean, at least they are offering you more money... try talking them into another $5k and try to work on benefits... negotiating more vacation days is usually possible... what about cell phone and tuition reimbursement? How about insurance(s) and retirement plans? You already mentioned that the commute is less... that is positive. It sounds like it has a few things going for it. Find out about the rest and how important those things are to you... then try to get them to make the decision easier by haggling for some more money and/or time off.

Devilry

powerfool wrote: »

Weigh the risks and benefits. I mean, at least they are offering you more money... try talking them into another $5k and try to work on benefits... negotiating more vacation days is usually possible... what about cell phone and tuition reimbursement? How about insurance(s) and retirement plans? You already mentioned that the commute is less... that is positive. It sounds like it has a few things going for it. Find out about the rest and how important those things are to you... then try to get them to make the decision easier by haggling for some more money and/or time off.

This plan is good, get another $5k~, ask for a few more vacation days, or what you already have at current employer, whichever is greater, increase tuition reimbursement, etc.

qwertyiop

I just wanted to update everyone, I have been back and fourth with one of the VP's and was asked to go in tomorrow to meet a few of them.

Any tips?

qwertyiop

I just wanted to let everyone know that I went in today for the interview which lasted about 2 hours and then got a call 3 hours later from the VP that interviewed me with a verbal job offer. I'm expecting the written offer by friday.

It is a small company but as their IT Manager I would be be running everything. The company is in good shape financially and has been growing rapidly since they opened in 2005. I know they have plans to hire atleast another 15 people in the next few months and possibly more if things continue.

Turgon

qwertyiop wrote: »

I just wanted to let everyone know that I went in today for the interview which lasted about 2 hours and then got a call 3 hours later from the VP that interviewed me with a verbal job offer. I'm expecting the written offer by friday.

It is a small company but as their IT Manager I would be be running everything. The company is in good shape financially and has been growing rapidly since they opened in 2005. I know they have plans to hire atleast another 15 people in the next few months and possibly more if things continue.

A fantastic opportunity for you. If you succeed there you may stay and build an empire, or you can leave and get a great job elsewhere. I advise you to get physically fit, and emotionally fit in terms of your support at home when you are not working, so discuss with girlfriend or wife. Eat well, look to get early nights and avoid computer games, alcohol or other dependencies. Expect to be working long hours in this job but it will pay off. You need to be turning into work everyday well presented and switched on to run many meetings. Good luck.

SteveLord

Start laying the foundation for technology that can make supporting a growing userbase easier. If it isn't already there.

Pilotreborn

Turgon wrote: »

A fantastic opportunity for you. If you succeed there you may stay and build an empire, or you can leave and get a great job elsewhere. I advise you to get physically fit, and emotionally fit in terms of your support at home when you are not working, so discuss with girlfriend or wife. Eat well, look to get early nights and avoid computer games, alcohol or other dependencies. Expect to be working long hours in this job but it will pay off. You need to be turning into work everyday well presented and switched on to run many meetings. Good luck.

I think this is a really good point that most people wouldn't really think about when getting a new position like this. Good advice Turgon

qwertyiop

I have actually already thought about that, right now they have no mechanism for user management so im looking into AD and other alternatives like OpenLDAP.

The company has never had a IT person so I will be developing a real infrastructure for them.

For now its just me but if they keep growing like they plan I should be getting 1 or 2 other people working under me.

phantasm

Best of luck to you!! I worked in small'ish IT shop once and loved it. Sure the burden of being the only IT guy can suck at times, but the good thing is, you can build it your way.

the_Grinch

Congrats! The nice thing about them not having an IT person ever is they'll treat you like gold (at least in the beginning). Good luck, always nice to be the one to build the infrastructure from the ground up. Always remember, best practice, best practice, best practice!