I need to let off some steam

I don't very often do this publically, but I need to vent and get my story out for two minutes.

So, I left my last job to work here because I was fed up of 1st line support, everyone thinking I was at their beck and call throughout the day, meanwhile I still had to roll out new servers, troubleshoot networking issues, etc etc.

I came here, and frankly had a complete arse for a 1st line support guy, but he would take the heat for most of the phone calls from time to time. He got made redundant, my manager left so now I'm back at square 1, taking crap at all levels.

I have to resolve problems with software I wasn't even brought in to deal with, try and fix network problems, having issues with users storing WAY too much email, (and I'm talking, we've got 160GB of email content, split with 75GB in Exchange 2003 - Standard so that's that full, and 90GB has spilled into PST files on the network (ugh)).

We are licensed for Exchange 2007, but cannot upgrade to it because we have Cisco CallManager 4 + Unity, and Unity will not play nice with Ex07, so we can't touch exchange until we upgrade that.

I've estimated it would probably be 3K-4K (and we really SHOULD upgrade CCM, because we are on version 4.1 and next year it is going fully out of support) but can I get that approved? Can I hell.

We are owned by a parent company, and I know for a fact that they want to ultimately move all of our servers down to head office, which is fine by me, they have expressed an interest in having someone on board who is capable of networking (I am a CCNP) and they have nobody who can do that. They are interested in rolling out VoIP too, and again, I think I could cope with that.

However, none of these things have come to fruition, so I am left to deal with the server infrastructure (and support of the users). I am expected to work weekends sometimes and I have to fight to get expenses paid back (for travelling on my days off) and I do not get paid overtime. I can get the time in lieu, which I suppose is OK.

I am bored, very very bored. I use whatever free time I can to study for the CCIE as free study hours is fine by me - however, I want to be working in a job where I can constantly innovate, and make improvements. I can't do anything here because all my time is spent fixing crap.

I want to be working purely on Networking - I am more than capable of doing it, and have the qualifications to back it up. Yet, when I apply for the once in a few months opportunity a job comes up (i.e. it's ages since I've seen a job) somebody will trounce me because they are "slightly more experienced"

One colleague of mine even suggested that I need to take a STEP DOWN in money in order to get into a better job long term. That idea sickens me even more, but then he is an unqualified person who works for local council, and my experience is that most local council workers get to where they are because they've just been there longer - they despise hiring from outside because it pisses everyone off internally.

Anyway, I've had enough of working here, but can't find another job.

Maybe it is time for contracting - but then there's a recession.

Sucks

/rant.

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Comments

dynamik

We've all been in positions like that; hand in there dude. Just keep applying and trying to find something better. If nothing else, this should serve as motivation for that IE

bertieb

I'm looking at the positive side here, but at least you've channelled some of this frustration into starting on the long road to CCIE. I can count on numerous occasions a lot of people who are frustrated in work but do liitle or nothing about it - you're dead set on personal progression, pushing yourself and are also putting real effort into finding work elsewhere.

You might not think it at times when you are juggling calls or fixing the same old crap etc, but the character traits above will stand you in good stead when an opportunity does finally present itself.

I was stuck in a job with very little progression in a company that was downsizing, would not spend a single penny on anything (overheating and leaking data centre anyone?) and finally found a job elsewhere after 18 months of looking. Granted, I didn't like the new job either but fate stepped in and I was head-hunted by someone I'd worked under some 8 years ago just a couple of months later.

Everyone gets lucky from time to time
* even me, and it's my birthday soon LOL

I wish I had a role available that would suit you, based on what I've 'seen' I'd definately recommend you were interviewed.

In regards to contracting, have you thought about relocating? A significant step maybe but there does seem to be quite a few contract jobs knocking about in London/Manchester at the moment. I guess it all depends on your circumstances etc.

Persevere and you will prosper.
*almost spoken like a true Jedi there

In the meantime keep up the CCIE studies

gorebrush

Thanks guys - at least you have validated that while I cannot really do much to influence the work situation directly, I am at least doing all that I can to make it better for myself.

I have a nice 90 minute window of "nothing" to fill now me and my manager have discussed the Exchange issues. He's dealt with that (by telling people they need to delete stuff), so I can get on with my own thing again.

OSPF revision it is then

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot to answer the contracting part - that would be difficult for me as my partner doesn't want to re-locate. I don't mind that so much, she is a great part of my life and I have to remember to be grateful I have her

However, I could always consider contracting and travelling to Bristol or Birmingham - I could probably manage the commute if I knew I was making the money (Contracting rates are very lucrative as you know

)

gorebrush

Little update

Well my manager has agreed to help and get onto people about reducing their inboxes - while it isn't an investment in technology, at least it proves he is willing to help and that's a start

One of the other major things that really annoyed me was that we never had any solid documentation about what we've got, our network is a bit messy - These are all things I really want to get done but never had the opportunity (my old boss wasn't interested, he was more concerned that I was able to help sort out Dynamics AX, or try and find work for his dis-interested son (yes, my manager was also my juniors father)

Anyway, new boss agrees we need documentation, so I can quit my bitching. These are things that I need to do, will help me towards CCIE (some real world practice for free towards a certification is ALWAYS welcome in my books), and frankly, I enjoy.

It's a bit of light relief for now while the jobsearch is ongoing, and it means I can keep my real world skills sharper for when I do go.

pitviper

Sounds to me like you're well on your way to a better place already! I react exactly the same way - focus on items that help better myself (which by the way can NEVER be taken away from you), and the job becomes more of a job again and less of "my life"

Like other have said, it's absolutely astonishing how many people in the same situation do nothing about it.

it_consultant

Sounds like you guys need an exchange admin worth his salt. Its implementations like this that make it hard for me to keep selling exchange to people! You are running on a 7 year old enterprise messaging system and somehow people are surprised it does not do everything they want. Even when you delete things in the inbox it doesn't clear the whitespace in the database until you do an offline defrag, good luck with that on a store that big.

You need Ex 2010 SP1 with a SAS RAID and SATA RAID with an archive info store on the cheap storage.

gorebrush

Well considering that I AM the exchange admin... hehe

I'd love to upgrade - but it won't happen here

it_consultant

HA! I missed it somehow that you were the E2K3 admin. Tell them they must migrate or they will die. Not literally die, but there email capabilities will. Give them something concrete that they can relate too. "This server is like a Nissan pickup that is trying to haul steel girders to a construction site" or something. Eventually that little truck will explode in flames on the motorway, destroying both the truck and the girders.

They need to understand that there is a very real risk of this server going down and not coming back up, with the whole friggin info. store going with it.

tpatt100

Try and find several things that motivate you to continue working. For me I got a bit sloppy a few months ago and then I realized my son relies on me to take care of him so I pulled my head out of my ass and looked for ways to learn some new things.

Clockworks

Pretty much how I feel about my job at the moment. I'm busting my ass much like you to get a better place; I'm glad you posted your story, makes me feel like I'm not alone... Company spends more money on useless **** and I have to fight it out to get a friggin LCD....I'm using a blurry CRT that jitters badly....

Devilsbane

Clockworks wrote: »

Pretty much how I feel about my job at the moment. I'm busting my ass much like you to get a better place; I'm glad you posted your story, makes me feel like I'm not alone... Company spends more money on useless **** and I have to fight it out to get a friggin LCD....I'm using a blurry CRT that jitters badly....

We are all getting brand new 21 inch LCD's for an unknown reason. I guess having dual 19'' screens wasn't enough.

Devilsbane

Devilsbane wrote: »

We are all getting brand new 21 inch LCD's for an unknown reason. I guess having dual 19'' screens wasn't enough.

I just went to a meeting, came back and I have 2 of the new monitors sitting in my cube. LED monitors, it is actually kind of hurting my eyes.

it_consultant

Can I have one?

Devilsbane

it_consultant wrote: »

Can I have one?

I don't think the company would be very happy. They are 22'' monitors.

tpatt100

We had to complain like hell at my last job to get duel monitors. I was doing Checkpoint plus audit scans and you need duel monitors when looking at a firewall change request plus the Checkpoint dashboard

Devilsbane

tpatt100 wrote: »

We had to complain like hell at my last job to get duel monitors. I was doing Checkpoint plus audit scans and you need duel monitors when looking at a firewall change request plus the Checkpoint dashboard

They are standard here. Even laptop users have an external monitor at their desks so that they can get dual screens.

gorebrush

Funny that I should see this thread.

Thought I would chime in and update my situation. So I left my last company in November 2010 to come and work here, a major IT Outsourcing company. If I mentioned the name, then chances are a large number of you will be aware of who I work for...

Anyway, 4 months on, and already I've smashed my record for "quickest honeymoon period". The grass isn't always greener, as we are always told, and this situation is no different. However, my feelings can't be towards the company in general, the main problem I've got is management. I'm not going to go into it here as there is no way I want to risk my position and get myself sacked etc, but there are a lot of things here that could be better.

Anyway, I've had to come to a conclusion that there won't be any job out there that will be perfect, but you must go and make the best of it.

So, I'm cracking open the CCIE books and looking for my next opportunity in the mean time.

Good luck to all.

Turgon

gorebrush wrote: »

Funny that I should see this thread.

Thought I would chime in and update my situation. So I left my last company in November 2010 to come and work here, a major IT Outsourcing company. If I mentioned the name, then chances are a large number of you will be aware of who I work for...

Anyway, 4 months on, and already I've smashed my record for "quickest honeymoon period". The grass isn't always greener, as we are always told, and this situation is no different. However, my feelings can't be towards the company in general, the main problem I've got is management. I'm not going to go into it here as there is no way I want to risk my position and get myself sacked etc, but there are a lot of things here that could be better.

Anyway, I've had to come to a conclusion that there won't be any job out there that will be perfect, but you must go and make the best of it.

So, I'm cracking open the CCIE books and looking for my next opportunity in the mean time.

Good luck to all.

The same angst is felt by engineers world wide. Engineers make the world work but managers run the world. That isn't going to change so don't be a victim.

gorebrush

Turgon wrote: »

The same angst is felt by engineers world wide. Engineers make the world work but managers run the world. That isn't going to change so don't be a victim.

I think it just goes with the territory now, and that's how it is.

brad-

Every bad situation is an opportunity to test yourself. Either they will recognize it, and appease you, or you will just use that time to improve your cisco and move on when the time comes. thats that.

you have to stop thinking in terms of "they're treating me this way or that way". Its just business. Crappy managers, overmanaging...ya. Its everywhere, it will even be at the next job you take unless you start your own company.

Take a breath, get some perspective, be glad you have a good paying job, and take advantage of your downtime to gtfo.

GL.

thenjduke

I have been in similiar situation. My last job was just the same as what you are going through. I was actually the IT Manager and everything was put on me to fix. The management I worked below was horrible at handling money and they wanted me to do magic with no money. I made the best of the situation and turned around and gave them notice. I tried to reason with them but no luck. Come to find out that they are getting ready to close doors. I seen it coming.

gorebrush

Cheers, all

bertieb

"That might not be greener grass; it could be just cabbages"

^Thats a favourite of mine.

But I agree with the rest. In my case, I'm swamped with paperwork; creating paperwork, chasing paperwork, chasing others for paperwork and so it goes on. Thats been the same in the last few roles I've had and sometimes (OK, always) drives you mad when you want to do some interesting lab work, research, or dare I say, real tech work.

It just goes with the territory, bad managers, bad colleagues etc and no job is ever going to be perfect. Just use it as ammunition to make progress on the studies and move on when the time comes

Turgon

bertieb wrote: »

"That might not be greener grass; it could be just cabbages"

^Thats a favourite of mine.

But I agree with the rest. In my case, I'm swamped with paperwork; creating paperwork, chasing paperwork, chasing others for paperwork and so it goes on. Thats been the same in the last few roles I've had and sometimes (OK, always) drives you mad when you want to do some interesting lab work, research, or dare I say, real tech work.

It just goes with the territory, bad managers, bad colleagues etc and no job is ever going to be perfect. Just use it as ammunition to make progress on the studies and move on when the time comes

Very true. Techs today are obliged to follow a lot of process. They have very little decision making capability and need to report constantly to management who decide what happens and when. Techs have no budgetary responsibility. A lot of time is spent generating material and answers to management questions and raising issues to management for their consideration. Change control is another overhead. Engineering is increasingly reduced to a rinse and repeat exercise with all the frustration that goes along with it. Wherever you go in your career its a fact of life. Either move into management or the architect space if you want more lattitude to do things you feel need doing, but there's still a lot of paperwork to generate, just different kinds, like a presentation to the whole company or a disgruntled operations team!

N2IT

Turgon wrote: »

Very true. Techs today are obliged to follow a lot of process. They have very little decision making capability and need to report constantly to management who decide what happens and when. Techs have no budgetary responsibility. A lot of time is spent generating material and answers to management questions and raising issues to management for their consideration. Change control is another overhead. Engineering is increasingly reduced to a rinse and repeat exercise with all the frustration that goes along with it. Wherever you go in your career its a fact of life. Either move into management or the architect space if you want more lattitude to do things you feel need doing, but there's still a lot of paperwork to generate, just different kinds, like a presentation to the whole company or a disgruntled operations team!

I am starting to see this since taking my new job.

Process and process improvement are always being tagged in our meetings.

Turgon

N2IT wrote: »

I am starting to see this since taking my new job.

Process and process improvement are always being tagged in our meetings.

You will start to appreciate this more now you have this new role. One of the challenges you will have is keeping the technical people who despise process onside so that the right paperwork emerges. If it doesn't decisions will be stalled and so will your project.

bertieb

Turgon wrote: »

Either move into management or the architect space if you want more lattitude to do things you feel need doing, but there's still a lot of paperwork to generate, just different kinds, like a presentation to the whole company or a disgruntled operations team!

Already there, but just means MORE paperwork

Even the office cleaner here has several sheets to fill and tickboxes to complete on a daily basis. Its the world we live in.