Career Advice - Possible IT Consulting/Support Job

jdeck

Hello all. Hopefully you can share your advice and experiences.

Credentials:

5 years total in IT field.
3+ years at current job. I am a Sr. IT Analyst.
A+
Network+
Server+
Working on MCSA, working knowledge of material.

I am a Sr. Tech who does everything on my site from the lowest level desktop support to maintaining the server room, all wiring, backups etc. However, we are a large national corp entity and I do not configure the servers, Cisco equipment, VM's, or get to do the really fun stuff. I've been learning, studying and have outgrown my position.

I am looking to make a job change to either a Sr. Tech/Network Admin or strictly Network admin. I applied to 3 jobs on Monday and heard from two so far. I had a phone interview yesterday with one and the IT questioning went flawless. It looks like I will have an interview next week with one of the managers. The catch is that it is an IT consulting/support company, which I am not very familiar with at all. This means I would be on the road a lot via car to assist users and work on different client's infrastructure. They also seem to be positive about helping you move forward with your development (growth). I've only worked in corporate environments where commute to work, come in and sit at my desk. All the jobs that I applied for were desk jobs for corp companies but this particular business is 15 minutes from my house as opposed to an hour commute from to the city so I figured why not (obviously a plus).

Also, this may sounds dumb I figured I would ask. I have always been known as an ace IT guy. I really enjoy interacting with people in the office. I love coming into the office and basically having everyone know me. I wouldn't get this kind of rapport with the IT Consulting company, but I also realized today that when I move away from desktop this may be the case anyway...(and I do want to move away from Desktop for my career, $ and challenge). Thoughts from you older guys?

Would working for this type of company help or hurt or help my career? Would it look good or meh on my resume? I would like my next job move to be a either a Sr. Network Admin or Network Manager. Thoughts please... and I can answer any questions you might have as well.

Thanks!

JC

ptilsen

It can be a great career move. In 2009, I was in almost exactly your position, the job, certs, career level, everything. I took a job at a managed service provider/consulting firm. It was a lot of work, but it was exciting and gave me a lot of direct exposure to technology that I wouldn't have otherwise. Now I would say the work was much heavier and deeper on systems, storage, and virtualization than networking. I mean, I did some switch, router, and firewall configuration, but zero routing protocol implementation, nothing fancier than LACP, and the firewalls were all SMB-class devices. I didn't get or pursue my CCNA and wouldn't have needed it. Much deeper on MS and Vmware. I got to try on nearly every hat, but only wear a few of them for any significant period of time. Great experience, for sure, but it can be demanding and it can lead away from specialization, which can be good or bad.

The consulting firm you're looking at could be in a very different market, but I just want to add that detail. You will likely have to be somewhat broad, but can still go deep with certain technologies. It's just a question of whether they're the ones you want. Best thing you can do is ask. This position will definitely prepare you for later admin or engineer work, at the very least.

jdeck

ptilsen wrote: »

It can be a great career move. In 2009, I was in almost exactly your position, the job, certs, career level, everything. I took a job at a managed service provider/consulting firm. It was a lot of work, but it was exciting and gave me a lot of direct exposure to technology that I wouldn't have otherwise. Now I would say the work was much heavier and deeper on systems, storage, and virtualization than networking. I mean, I did some switch, router, and firewall configuration, but zero routing protocol implementation, nothing fancier than LACP, and the firewalls were all SMB-class devices. I didn't get or pursue my CCNA and wouldn't have needed it. Much deeper on MS and Vmware. I got to try on nearly every hat, but only wear a few of them for any significant period of time. Great experience, for sure, but it can be demanding and it can lead away from specialization, which can be good or bad.

The consulting firm you're looking at could be in a very different market, but I just want to add that detail. You will likely have to be somewhat broad, but can still go deep with certain technologies. It's just a question of whether they're the ones you want. Best thing you can do is ask. This position will definitely prepare you for later admin or engineer work, at the very least.

Thanks for your advice, I appreciate the feedback. The firm sounds similar to where you worked. It deals with everything from building infrastructure from scratch (all Microsoft, Cisco) to DR/DLP, 24/7 monitoring/support and server room wiring. It sounds similar in the sense that I would be doing more MS and VM than cisco but get exposure to configuring. As for the technology it would be exactly the path I want and would lead me to MCSA, MCSE, CCNA and lots of virtual environments.

So do you think you made the right decision as opposed to a corp office? What is your current job? How was it being on the road and driving all the time (my biggest reservation)?

ptilsen

Well, I made the right call taking that job, but I also made the right call quitting. I've done at least one pro/con write up on TechExams, but hell if I'm gonna track them down after nearly 2300 posts. I'll try to be brief:

Pros:
1. Breadth of experience -- Try on every hat
2. Depth of experience -- Actually wear many hats
3. Being the revenue driver -- In typical corporate jobs, IT is a cost center. Being the revenue driver can mean better working conditions, perks, training, money, etc.
4. Influence -- You set IT direction. If you are the consultant and something needs to change, not only will your recommendations at least be considered, but they're paying you just to make them. Non-technical-professionals end up making very (bad) technical decisions in other organizations

Cons:
1. Money -- This can go both ways. For a larger, more specialized firm, money is actually much better. For a small MSP, especially one in the SMB sector, pay can be crappy
2. Hours -- Tying in with money, it can be a lot of long hours. I didn't find myself traveling much, but working frequent nights and weekends, even if from the comfort of my own home, is only marginally better than traveling. Sometimes worse.
3. In-house advancement -- I went from being a senior at hiring to be the de facto service manager in less than a year, and it would have been official if I'd stayed. That's fast advancement, but it also means quickly becoming stagnant. I wouldn't look at a job like this and plan on staying for more than three years.
4. Influence -- Despite being a pro as well, the other side of things is people will pay you for advice, then reject it. That is actually more frustrating than not being asked. Fighting with small business owners over getting $400 switches instead of $40 switches or having a proper backup schedule, for example, is just not fun. When things don't work out later they might still be mad you didn't convince them.
5. Depth of experience -- again, despite being a pro sometimes, the reality can be you get just enough exposure to be barely competent with something. I've configured a few SANs along with virtual host clusters and for brief periods of times knew a lot about both. What a great experience, except the exposure was so intermittent I have to question even mentioning them on my resume after getting hung up on basic questions ("What's a WWN?", or "How do you mount a LUN in xxx?").

I guess that wasn't brief. Oh well.

Looking back, I'm definitely glad I took that job. The admin job I left for it was just as generalized and with much less depth, even if I was the guy. I'm similarly glad I left that job. The pressure and responsibilities were huge compared to my current role as a Sr. Systems Engineer. I'm a bit more specialized now, get paid significantly more, and work less. But my experience got me here, so even though I was happy to quit that job, I don't regret it. I doubt you will either, but definitely think it through.

jdeck

Thanks ptilsen! I appreciate the detail in your feedback. I'm still waiting to hear which day the interview will be and I have a lot of questions to ask them as well. Overall, it sounds like it could be good for my career and would be a demanding role. As for your cons, the pay is a substantial bump over my current pay and I would expect to stay 3 years or less. I'm still mostly apprehensive about being on the road all day and want to see what the hours are like.

"compared to my current role as a Sr. Systems Engineer. I'm a bit more specialized now, get paid significantly more, and work less."

This is what I'm shooting for when I make the move to the "next" job actually.


Can anyone else chine in with their advice or experience?

jdeck

Also, does anyone have advice on what the best case scenario would be as far as my next job, based on where I am in my career?

Thanks!

jdeck

Bump, anyone else?