Casino IT?

Good Morning TE Forums!

I applied for a IT Service Desk position at a well-known casion/hotel in Detroit last month and got contacted last Friday to schedule a phone interview this week! Have any of you guys ever held or are currently holding an IT position in a casino/hotel environment? What was it like? Advantages/Disadvantages? What can I expect?

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cyberguypr

I think psoasman either works or worked at a Casino.

jibbajabba

I worked for four years ish in one of the largest online casinos (does that count?) and the main difference between that and my other jobs was shifts. Rather than on-call we had 24/7 operations and therefore the stress was high when (not if) something went wrong.

Because of the 24hr nature you also had other staff working 24hrs (IT and non-IT) - which means unlike working in NOC, where you sometimes have the nights to study and whatnot, you likely still have to deal with "funny" user during night breaking their keyboards or shouting if the phones don't work

...

My experience anyway

Psoasman

cyberguypr wrote: »

I think psoasman either works or worked at a Casino.

I've been working at a casino for over 5 years now.

Casinos can be a fun place to work and you'll definitely learn a lot. Most of them run 24x7, so if hired, you may end up on a graveyard shift.

For me, here are some advantages:

1. Technology to learn.
2. Study time. When I work graves, I can spend 4-5 hours studying. That's how I did my B.S. in IT along with 15 or so certs.
3. Free food and drink. Watch out if they let you eat from the restaurants, I gained 10 pounds my first year.
4. Good pay.

some disadvantages:

1. Smoke. took me years to get used to it.
2. crazy busy at times. I have spent entire shifts running from one end to the other fixing things.

Good luck! Really emphasize those people skills on the phone interview.

gbdavidx

2. Study time. When I work graves, I can spend 4-5 hours studying. That's how I did my B.S. in IT along with 15 or so certs.

this is why i want to go to graves, hella slow usually

traceyke

Psoasman wrote: »

1. Smoke. took me years to get used to it.

This is my only fear. I'm an asthmatic. However, I've been in environments filled with people who heavily smoke and it has not bothered me at all. Hopefully, the casino floor environment shouldn't bother me much. Only sudden weather changes seem to affect my asthma.

Psoasman

A lot of times, the IT office will be up in non-smoking areas, so that should help. For me, the smoke is worst when its cold and rainy outside.

olaHalo

For me the biggest issue in working in a casino is the great deal of software I have to support.
Even though my role is as a Network Tech, we end up supporting a lot of software from various vendors. (Many of them not in business anymore) I also had very little training in any of it.
Also most of the software only runs on XP. So we end up having to use VMs or keep using old hardware.
Its a pain.

Other than that I love it.

Psoasman

It's even more fun to have another department buy some software and then expect us to make it work

olaHalo

Psoasman wrote: »

It's even more fun to have another department buy some software and then expect us to make it work

We had to lay down the law.
If we didnt install it we wont support it anymore.
Too many managers installing random programs and configuring them wrong.

traceyke

Thanks for all the responses. My phone interview with the casino is this afternoon @ 12pm(EST). I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure I'll do fine. Wish me luck!!

coreyb80

traceyke wrote: »

Thanks for all the responses. My phone interview with the casino is this afternoon @ 12pm(EST). I'm a little nervous, but I'm sure I'll do fine. Wish me luck!!

You will do fine I'm sure of it.

nosoup4u

Good luck today!

thenjduke

Lots of luck. Knock the phone interview out and move to next phase

traceyke

Phone interview went well. I am scheduled for a face-to-face interview this Friday @ 6pm (EST)! In terms of duties (service desk/desktop support), this will be a lateral move. Here's what I was able to find out during the interview:

1.) It's downtown Detroit location makes for a shorter commute --I live in Clinton Twp and my current gig is in the Port Huron area -- and it's literally next door to my GF's job!

2.) Unlike my current employer, they are adequately staffed, they like to promote from within, and they'll let me get the opportunity to actually "touch" real equipment. It's only 3 of us in my current gig and we're supporting a giant PLANT!

3.) I did not get a chance to talk about salary (I like to wait until after I receive an offer), but I'm pretty sure that it will pay a little more than what I'm currently making ($32K) and it's probably bi-weekly pay. I'm currently paid monthly and let me tell ya, it's NOT easy:).

4.) DOWNTOWN DETROIT! I always wanted to work downtown. Lots of places to dine at during lunch lol.

Thanks for the support and info on this thread. If you guys got any more tips, I'm all ears. Meanwhile, I'll be jotting down some good questions to ask the manager this Friday....

krjay

Good luck, I've been meaning to check out the casinos down there for years it seems. I've only made it to MGM so far. I'm actually working in Troy currently, wouldn't mind taking a job down there if the price was right.

coreyb80

Glad to hear it went well. I'm also paid monthly and I swear I have a serious dislike towards. My first and last time doing this monthly thing and I've been doing it for almost 6 years. Definitely ask good questions at the interview as they believe it shows genuine interest in the position. Congrats on the journey!

olaHalo

Glad it went well. I have never had a phone interview and I would be pretty nervous. Im happy you did well.