1 Year at a Job Enough?

Curious about this one. Direct supervisor was recently laid off, and a supreme moron (guy who gives users Domain/Enterprise/Schema Admin privileges, sets backups then ignores them when they fail continuously for 2 months, leaves the default password on a hypervisor, commits fraud, etc.) was elected to be in charge. I'm thinking of walking the second I make the 1-year mark, and there's no guarantee I won't just walk off when they announce the Supreme Moron's promotion.

Thing is, can I sell myself with just that? I would only have 1 year of work experience in IT, but some of the things I end up doing are pretty staggering. Expanded a forest schema so I can put Bitlocker keys in AD, wrote scripts to start up broken vendor software that doesn't start up on reboot like it should, built an MDT/WDS deployment server because I didn't want people to install an OS full manual, and now I'm tinkering around installing Windows Server 2016 on an ESXi host (which I also installed) on an old server to make sure I get the right settings before doing it on a production server.

Problem is, I don't have anything cert-wise to show for it. I've been doing some studying for the MCSA, but after my first failure I get a deep impression that it's not something I can just force my way through. So with just 1 year under my belt, is it possible for me to break through the HR barrier and get another job, preferably one that lets me touch servers? I personally feel like if I transition to another Help Desk or Desktop Support position, my skills will rot.

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Comments

Domm362

Best of luck! Based on all the posts I've read, it's clear that you're not happy where you are, and you've taken an important first step by committing to leave. All I can say now is, walk and never look back.

MontagueVandervort

Great!

You'll be ok.

Keep us updated on the upcoming interviews!

MeanDrunkR2D2

Good luck, don't forget to update us when you get that new job.

N7Valiant

Wow. 1st phone interview, got the job. Was only looking for a week or so. Pretty much a $15k raise over my current position, and that's not factoring in moving from Salary Exempt to hourly (so all overtime is voluntary and paid at the standard rate). Feelin' pretty good!

Johnhe0414

Glad to see that it all worked out!

MeanDrunkR2D2

That was fast! Congrats! It's clear that you definitely made the right decision.

MontagueVandervort

Yeah see... I told you that you would be ok.

Congratulations!!

Remember: Nose - out of - politics

DatabaseHead

Great war story. I always felt it was easier findings a job WITHOUT a job. You have plenty of time to interview and you don't have competing interest between your regular job and the jobs you are interviewing for......

I don't subscribe to the theory keep your job before you find another.

MeanDrunkR2D2

DatabaseHead said:

Great war story. I always felt it was easier findings a job WITHOUT a job. You have plenty of time to interview and you don't have competing interest between your regular job and the jobs you are interviewing for......

I don't subscribe to the theory keep your job before you find another.

I think that line of thought was born in the age when the job market wasn't great and there was much competition for every role which made it much more difficult and took time to find that job. Of course, the area you are in, unemployment in the area and of course how experienced a person needs to be for a role will have a huge factor in that. As long as a person has a big enough emergency fund just in case if it takes longer than expected to find a good new job it's ok to do that and quit.

I think that theory on what a person does depends on their situation. If one likes their job and just wants to test the market to make sure they are paid fairly it's fine to keep the job you enjoy while you casually search. If you absolutely hate your job and it affects your entire mood and harms you then absolutely quit and start looking. Also, with the importance of having health insurance in the US you need to make sure that you are covered for something should you need some sort of medical care between jobs.

N7Valiant

DatabaseHead said:

Great war story. I always felt it was easier findings a job WITHOUT a job. You have plenty of time to interview and you don't have competing interest between your regular job and the jobs you are interviewing for......

I don't subscribe to the theory keep your job before you find another.

Hmm, maybe. I think once you have enough skills it doesn't actually matter. It took a little more than a week, but other employers left several voicemails for me regarding my applications for their systems administrator positions. Had to leave voicemail apologies for them since I already accepted.

Bit of a juggle though. My coworker tells me 1-month notice is kind of the standard in our industry, though most employers don't want to wait that long before getting you started.

DatabaseHead

Personally for me, it's absolutely fact. I don't base my decisions on fear, we can all get let go at anytime.... Of course I have a contingency which is a MUST, but any one fiscally responsible should have some savings tucked away.

Thankfully my wife makes good coin as well and we back each other up in situations like this. And to my original point, it's 100% easier applying for jobs when you don't have one, again at least for me. I'm much more relaxed and not uptight. Balancing work with scheduling time off for interviews or in my case (a lot of the times) multiple interviews it's much more smooth. Let's be honest most of the time applying for positions can be a full time job in itself......

Besides the sabbatical is a nice recharging time gives me opportunities to relax and do things I normally wouldn't be able to do. Life is short, when you are on your death bed (if you go like that) you aren't going to be wishing you worked more.....

Tekn0logy

Bite your tongue, avoid contact with your boss, be mindful of what you say on ALL SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS until you are officially out the door. Being laid off or resigning is one matter, but being fired for cause (insubordination, badmouthing company, etc...) can haunt you in your job search. Check with vendor education platforms and register if they require a "work" email. Change the address before you are gone. Not reporting fraud can also bite you if you are running out the door. If I was a dishonest, unscrupulous person, I would blame the person "running from the fire". Maybe its my paranoia, but thinking that you gave notice may have put a target on your back.

MeanDrunkR2D2

N7Valiant said:

DatabaseHead said:

Great war story. I always felt it was easier findings a job WITHOUT a job. You have plenty of time to interview and you don't have competing interest between your regular job and the jobs you are interviewing for......

I don't subscribe to the theory keep your job before you find another.

Hmm, maybe. I think once you have enough skills it doesn't actually matter. It took a little more than a week, but other employers left several voicemails for me regarding my applications for their systems administrator positions. Had to leave voicemail apologies for them since I already accepted.

Bit of a juggle though. My coworker tells me 1-month notice is kind of the standard in our industry, though most employers don't want to wait that long before getting you started.

Usually notice periods will depend on the standards in your country. In the US, many times you can just put in your notice and leave, however that will leave your employer you are leaving putting you down in the not eligible for re-hire category. Standard for most companies is 2 weeks and anything more than that is completely up to you and your relationship with your boss/company.

Germany for example it's common to put in a 2-3 month notice period.

EANx

DatabaseHead said:

Personally for me, it's absolutely fact. I don't base my decisions on fear, we can all get let go at anytime.... Of course I have a contingency which is a MUST, but any one fiscally responsible should have some savings tucked away.

Thankfully my wife makes good coin as well and we back each other up in situations like this. And to my original point, it's 100% easier applying for jobs when you don't have one, again at least for me. I'm much more relaxed and not uptight. Balancing work with scheduling time off for interviews or in my case (a lot of the times) multiple interviews it's much more smooth. Let's be honest most of the time applying for positions can be a full time job in itself......

Besides the sabbatical is a nice recharging time gives me opportunities to relax and do things I normally wouldn't be able to do. Life is short, when you are on your death bed (if you go like that) you aren't going to be wishing you worked more.....

I'd suggest that there's a difference in job-hunting stress between someone newish to IT (less that five-years experience), especially if they're in a single-income situation with a stay-at-home spouse and kids, vs someone experienced whose spouse makes a good income. It's easy to say anyone fiscally responsible should have savings tucked away but starter families in their 20s often don't have much to put away, even if they aren't splurging. The lack of stress when you have the wherewithal to be picky definitely comes through when interviewing and someone who has that stress can come across as needy or desperate, resulting in fewer job opportunities, perpetuating the cycle.