Are you guys confident in your ability to do your jobs?

CodeBlox

I remember when I first got into IT... I started on the helpdesk and I didn't feel confident at all about my skills. That washed away after about 6 months in that role and I felt unstoppable and felt like I could fix anything lol. Then, I jumped ship and went to another helpdesk and felt very confident with my work on that helpdesk. I eventually was promoted to Systems Administrator after 7 months in that role. I started my Sys Admin journey about 1 year 7 months ago. It was feelings of lack of confidence all over again. I knew at that point though it was sink or swim. Fast forward to present and I'm starting to realize that I am now one of the "big time" people who gets a lot of stuff done and fixes extremely complex problems and all the while, I'm not nervous and I'm confident in troubleshooting issues. I've got to work on some awesome stuff at my current gig, never thought I'd be doing what I do now but it's great! Perhaps the feeling of lack of confidence was really the result of a lack of experience.

Dakinggamer87

I'm very confident in my ability to do my job as I continue to advance into higher positions and get exposure to new technology. I started at the Desktop support level and now work as a Data Center Operations Systems Engineer and I love it!!

Techguru365

I think it mostly has to do with all the unknowns. You know what you are capable of doing, but until you are fully immersed into the role, you arent sure what will be required of you and so naturally you are nervous, cause last thing any of us want and that is to be asked to do something at our job that we have no idea how to do.

kohr-ah

It is a nerves thing. I get it all the time.

I learned to think like the surgeons at the hospital I worked at a long time ago. Know which one I wanted to do surgery on me ? The cockyest guy they had because he was the one that would make sure I wasn't going to die on his watch.

So now I think like them. Something comes up I don't know...Damned if my network is going to die on my watch !

Deathmage

I've very confident in my abilities since I have a keen sense of troubleshooting. I not certified if everything but I know enough that I know not to change things that will affect production. However I'm always knowledgeable enough to get things fixed.

I think having solid troubleshooting skills is what makes or breaks someone in IT. Doing Desktop Support for 2 year prior to this job really helped me develop troubleshooting skills to think outside of the box and get creative long before I even had my A+.

Myself the past 3 years at my current job, I've learn more from hands-on than I could from a book or certification. My recent certifications only strengthen my knowledge of things involving IT. My biggest issue at my current job is I'm a jack-of-all-trades so I know a little of everything and it helps me to get to know everything very well over time...I'm sure someday all these skills will come in handy.

For instance, before coming to my current job I never understood fully how a switching network worked and then when Hurricane Sandy destroyed our NJ location with 6 feet of water on the 1st floor and rip off the roof, I was hard pressed by my boss and management to re-build a network from scratch (luckily the server room had a harden roof placed on it and the wall reinforced a year before for a DR measure and it kept the 2nd floor server room intact and DRY! - so I didn't lose our SAN/switches/servers). It was the greatest thing to ever happen to me, although very stressful for about 2 weeks - trial by fire really. I ended up having to coordinate 8000 ft of cat5e (the location still had cat3 really surprised me to finally figure out why that location was always so freaking slow! - cat3, really!), 30 brand-new Cisco autonomuos AP's, new fiber runs, brand new punchdowns, over 500 network drops with a proper network layout flowchart that was properly documented, brand-new PC'S, over 500 Wyse thin clients, brand-new Kyocera printers, brand-new HP Procurves, and 3 brand-new Dell R610's to add another DC in the location (it was easier to buy then than in the past since it was covered by insurance) .... I did this all only are being on the tail-end of my A+ book studies. I managed to figure out how to network the location on the Procurves with proper vlan segregation, switching security, voip setup, STP, QOS on the voip and lifesize system and re-programming two adtran routers with literally zero network knowledge (except for a CCNA course in 2005 that I didn't use since then) and re-do two Sonicwall NSA 240's all within less than 7 days. If I recall I think I got 3 hours of sleep that week..... it was by far the most intense experience of my life..but now I fully understand how a network works and servers and pretty much everything all without the proper certifications.....I took my vacation 3 weeks later and did absolutely NOTHING! (I was told to keep my cell phone on, so I went to the Adirondacks in Upstate NY and there was no cell reception but my phone was on, lol *sinister smile*)

Moral of the story, I'm very confident in my abilities since my troubleshooting skills are high. It's helped me out a great deal. I hope that my current certification track helps me to become better at what I do... but the experience I've learned the past 3 years is insane.

N2IT

I do so much it varies. Writing complex SQL not so much it takes me a long time to complete sometimes. Managing projects, gathering requirements, developing solutions I am very confident.

Snow.bros

I am about a year old working in my company and about five to six months in help-desk, well honestly it was a nightmare when I first started taking calls, I couldn't even speak properly and my voice was shivering when I was on the phone because I let nerves get the best of me. But I am seeing a bit of improvement now, am not there yet but i am getting comfortable handling calls in the help-desk.

To answer the question, I don't know but I do know that I trust and I am confident that my abilities can take me all the way to the top no matter how difficult the job may be.

paul78

Great question - it really had me being a bit introspective as I thought about it.

I probably would describe myself a nervously insecure. Although a lot of my closer friends at jobs have commented that I exude confidence, I seldom feel confident about any job that I have ever had. Whenever I am working on any particular activity, I have never really felt complete confidence. For me, I question less about my ability but more about the work product quality. It's probably just my own neurosis.

NovaHax

I frequently bite off more than I can chew. I perform best when the pressure is on. And in the end...I'm better for it.

As a consultant...I feel like every couple of weeks, I have to prove myself all over again (with each new client). You learn to adapt to it.

Jon_Cisco

I have not switched to IT yet so I'm sure my first job will be intense. However I have been working on computers and troubleshooting files and printers for 20 years and I am very confident in my ability to get a job done. I think it's important to realize you don't have to have all the answers. What is important is the ability to get the answers.

devils_haircut

I came into IT late, and I've always been one to downplay my own skills. But I have to admit, I have yet to encounter a problem I couldn't solve. I think I'm working below my skill level, but the work environment is too good for me to worry about that.


So yeah, I'm pretty confident in my abilities. Once I've had some more time in my current position (since I'm so new to the company), I definitely plan on trying to move up into a purely networking role.

UnixGuy

I think part of our job is to be able to learn on the job and fix things as they come. No one will have all the answers all the time, but at least we should be able to find the right answers when we need to, under pressure, in the right time. And we need to be able to communicate those answers in a professional manner. I love this aspect about IT, that we need to keep growing

Tom Servo

I am never confident in my ability to do the job. As soon as I start getting confident, I find myself getting bored and I end up quitting to do a new job that I'm not confident at.

astrogeek

I've never been confident about anything in life, but I've noticed working in IT has helped tremendously. I'm really not sure why this is, but I think it has to do with how I can see myself grow around my colleagues from being a total noob, to being someone who gets called in to help on some configurations.

Now I'm starting a new job and the same feeling of lack of confidence is coming back, but not as strong. I guess over time we just learn to deal with new situations better, but I know I'll probably get that same feeling with each new job.

YetAnotherITGuy

I am not confident when I deal with something new. In fact, it makes me panic(inside). But, I keep this feeling to myself, calm down and chip away at the problem until it is resolved. I don't stop. I like to give my best shot and utilize all my resources - this is my trait.

I have been in situations where I have been knee deep in troubled waters and out of my niche. Looking back, I never felt confident in these situations. But, they are some of my happiest memories because whenever I look back at my career, these achievements make me proud. These are the situations that made me what I am.

Even though, I do not enjoy the unknown, I want to be in such high pressure situations, because they are the situations where I can forget about myself completely and immerse myself in work.