Typical Day

cxzar20cxzar20 Member Posts: 168
I thought it would be interesting to start a thread for people considering a career in IT. Feel free to post a "day in the life" from your job. I work as a Senior Network Architect in Tampa and this was my Thursday last week:

6:00am - Alarm Goes Off
7:00am - Drive to work.
7:30am - Arrive at work, check e-mails, put out morning fires
7:40am - Surf the web for the latest news
9:20am - Get some coffee, formulate a plan for things to do today
9:30am - Having issues with a Cisco IOS release that we pushed to many sites in the network. Working directly with Cisco on this issue but neither Cisco nor I have been able to recreate it in our respective labs. We have a router from a different site that arrived and will try to recreate the issue in our lab again.
9:35am - Began building the testbed. It is small consisting of only a switch and 3800 series router to test connectivity across a T1 link. Trying to determine if there is a bug with this certain version of IOS code.
10:15am - Could not recreate the issue as connectivity tests were successful between the devices, back to the drawing board.
10:30am - Informed operations supervisors of the test result, will need to come up a new plan of action with my group and theirs. Operations involves Tier I/II support and I work in Tier III engineering.
10:45am - Call up customer in order to get more details about a request for an upgrade at one of their sites. This is to determine what services will be running and how many people will be at the site. This will determine the equipment they will need and the bandwidth provisioned.
11:05am - Auditing devices in the network based on configuration specifications determined by the customer and my team. This is part of an ongoing project that I am in charge of.
11:45am - More web surfing
12:00pm - Lunch - I normally go at 1 but have other obligations at that time today
12:39pm - Issue gets escalated up to me directly from Tier I, Major site outage. High impact/visibility issues bypass Tier II due to company policy
1:53pm - Still working on issue, missed meeting at 1pm
3:06pm - Issue Resolved, it was visibility only due to IPSec misconfiguration. Back to surfing the net.
4:10pm - Check emails, nothing new. Refresh on BGP confederations and route reflectors
5:20pm - Leave work and head to the gym
7:15pm – Leave gym and head home
7:30pm – Eat dinner while streaming Grooveshark from my computer
7:50pm – Finish dinner, talk with some friends while listening to music in the background. Facebook is great as it has allowed me to stay in contact with old friends from the places I used to live.
10:15pm – Set the alarm and head to bed, 6AM comes up awfully quick
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Comments

  • pham0329pham0329 Member Posts: 556
    To be honest, I can't really say what a typical day is like. I wake up every morning thinking "hmm, I don't have that much on my plate today...wonder what I'll do at work", and yet, there's always something that keeps me busy the entire day
  • EssendonEssendon Member Posts: 4,546 ■■■■■■■■■■
    A typical day (now-a-days) for me would look like:

    5.30am - Alarm goes off, I snooze it once-twice before finally cursing the alarm and dragging myself out of bed.
    7.00am - Leave home.
    8.00am - Drop the missus off at her work.
    9.00am - Get to my work, check that all the backups completed successfully the night before
    9.30am to 5pm - I could be doing anything ranging from, troubleshooting DNS/DHCP/GPO issues to working on the backups to posting on TE.
    Lunch is usually anywhere between 11.30-2.30pm. My work is flexible with hours, so no issues there.
    5.45pm - Reach home.
    6.00pm - Grab a coffee/tea.
    6.30pm - Flick the channels on the TV
    7.00pm - Help the missus out with the dinner
    9.00pm - Time for bed, usually takes another half hour or so before falling asleep (for obvious reasons! :p)
    NSX, NSX, more NSX..

    Blog >> http://virtual10.com
  • ChooseLifeChooseLife Member Posts: 941 ■■■■■■■□□□
    Awesome thread, it should give newcomers to the field the opportunity to "virtually shadow" those holding a position of their interest...

    Btw, please post your titles...
    “You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.” (c) xkcd #896

    GetCertified4Less
    - discounted vouchers for certs
  • EveryoneEveryone Member Posts: 1,661
    Ok I'll play your silly game... :P

    Currently an "Exchange Administrator".

    5:00 AM - Alarm
    5:27 AM - Oh Crap, did I hit snooze 3 times?
    6:00 AM - Arrive at work 2 hours before anyone else, only because I need to be able to get off early. Logon and check e-mail.
    6:30 AM - Eat an "Everything Bagel" with real butter and garden vegetable cream cheese on it. Start checking the 28 different servers I'm responsible for, while surfing the web.
    7:30 AM - Boss comes in, turns on the lights, and tells me to "wake up", even though I've never fallen asleep on the job, he must think it's a funny joke.
    8:00 AM - Rest of co-workers start coming in, BS with some of them for a bit. Start looking at tickets that have been escalated to me.
    8:15 AM - Resolve tickets, complain about how the Help Desk doesn't even try to troubleshoot. Send many tickets back to Help Desk manager, explain to him why most of them should never have been escalated to my level, and should have been handled on the initial call by his staff. Start working on projects (Currently AD clean-up and a DFS re-design).
    11:45 AM - Start thinking about lunch, check the cafeteria menu, surf the web a little more.
    12:00 PM - Have lunch with handful of co-workers in a break area we made for ourselves. Have shockingly outrages conversations that would make even the most seasoned HR professional curl up in the fetal position and cry.
    1:00 PM - See what kind of tickets made their way up to me over lunch, back to work on projects.
    2:30 PM - Yay off work for the day, go home.
    3:00 PM - Get home, send my wife off to work, spend the rest of the evening with the kids.
    8:00 PM - Get the kids in bed, try to come up with something to do until my wife gets home, before finally going to bed myself, usually around 11.

    Depending on the day of the week, I could squeeze several different kinds of meetings in there. Many of them are for non-IT additional duties.
  • EuclidJonesEuclidJones Member Posts: 33 ■■□□□□□□□□
    My schedule will be changing soon as I just accepted a position out in AZ.

    Anyway - here goes

    "Freelance Programmer"

    5:30 AM - Wake up
    5:45 AM - Workout
    6:45 AM - Shower/Breakfast
    7:00 AM - Check oDesk, Elance, craigslist for work. Post ad on craigslist.
    8:00 AM - Put in any bids for work I could do/find interesting.
    8:30 AM - Check workload list/documentation and get cracking on high priority items.
    12:30 PM - Food!
    1:00 PM - Back to work, scallywag! /crackwhip
    5:00 PM - Start wrapping up work, document changes, work completed, work left to do, priorities, etc for tomorrow.
    6:00 PM - Food!
    6:15 PM - Free time! I usually get in an hour of studying.
    10:00 PM - ZzzZzzzZzzzZzz
  • hiddenknight821hiddenknight821 Member Posts: 1,209 ■■■■■■□□□□
    5:30 AM - Wake up
    5:45 AM - Workout
    6:45 AM - Shower/Breakfast
    7:00 AM - Check oDesk, Elance, craigslist for work. Post ad on craigslist.
    8:00 AM - Put in any bids for work I could do/find interesting.
    8:30 AM - Check workload list/documentation and get cracking on high priority items.
    12:30 PM - Food!
    1:00 PM - Back to work, scallywag! /crackwhip
    5:00 PM - Start wrapping up work, document changes, work completed, work left to do, priorities, etc for tomorrow.
    6:00 PM - Food!
    6:15 PM - Free time! I usually get in an hour of studying.
    10:00 PM - ZzzZzzzZzzzZzz

    Out of everyone else here, you're the only person that actually take a shower! icon_lol.gif
  • TackleTackle Member Posts: 534
    I'm an Asst. System Admin

    6:30 - Wake up
    7:00 - Check e-mail (work and personal), see if I need to go in early.
    7:45 - Arrive at work and check e-mail again, put out anything hot
    8:00 - Surf forums, tech deal websites
    8:30 -12:00- Server work, AD/GP, user issues, R&D
    12:15 - Eat sandwhich on carride back to Apartment, close my eyes for a few min once I get there.
    1:15 - Back at work doing more Server work, AD/GP, user issues, R&D
    5:15 - Arrive home
    6:00 - Supper and possibly a beer
    6:30 - Go for a walk around the complex with the woman
    7:00 -8:30- Either Black Ops, R&D on my ESXi server/openfiler, TV, cleaning
    9:00 - Cuddle time!
    10:00 - Walk accross the hallway and go to sleep in my own bed seperate from my girlfriends, ( for being a cute little asian girl she sure snores/passes gas/gets up at 4:00AM a lot.). Set alarm for 6:30.
  • shodownshodown Member Posts: 2,271
    8:15 wake up brush teeth
    8:30 Log into work Start Tickets or projects
    12:00 Cook lunch
    12:15 eating lunch while doing light work
    1:00 Meetings with Managers
    1:15 Shower
    1:30 Back to tickets projects
    5:00 Wrap up for the day
    5:01 already home shut down citrix or work laptop
    5:05 Gym
    6:15 Shower/ BS with my wife cook dinner
    8:00-1200 Usually studying
    Currently Reading

    CUCM SRND 9x/10, UCCX SRND 10x, QOS SRND, SIP Trunking Guide, anything contact center related
  • gorebrushgorebrush Member Posts: 2,743 ■■■■■■■□□□
    I work in Server and Network Automation

    I have differing days depending on my wife's shifts, but generally: -

    07:00 up
    07:15 leave for the pool
    07:30 swimming
    08:30 leave for work
    08:45 work
    12:00 lunch
    12:30 back to work
    17:00 home
    17:15 arrive home
    17:16 me and wife time
    22:00/23:00 sleep

    Generally spend my evenings with my wife if she is at home. If (like today) she is working until 21:30 then I've got the evening to myself to work/study/game

    On weekends she often works for 1-2 8 hour shifts, so there's my study time there. Sometimes, she may work 3 shifts :)

    :)
  • networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    I sure hope none of you have a stalker or you're screwed.
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
  • TLeTourneauTLeTourneau Member Posts: 616 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Currently it's:

    Senior Operating System Consultant

    06:30 - Wake up
    06:45 - Shower
    07:30 - Head to work and have breakfast in the caffateria
    08:00 - Start work/check email
    08:15 - 11:30 - Work on tickets/browse internet (multitasking)
    11:30 - 12:30 - Lunch with the guys
    12:30 - 17:00 - Work on tickets/browse internet (more multitasking)
    17:10 - Return to hotel
    17:10 - 17:30 - Call wife
    17:30 - Dinner
    18:00 - 21:00 - Study
    21:00 - 22:30 - Unwind/Call wife to bid good night
    22:30 - 06:30 - Sleep

    Depending on the day sprinkle meetings in at various times.

    New Job (start 8/1/11):

    Systems Engineer

    09:00 - Wake up
    09:15 - Shower
    09:30 - Breakfast
    09:30 - 14:00 - Whatever I want (studying etc...)
    14:00 - 14:30 - Prepare for work
    14:30 - 15:00 - Travel to work
    15:00 - 00:00 - Do work (not sure what I'm doing yet but 1 hour lunch and no call schedule)
    00:00 - 00:30 - Go home
    00:30 - 01:30 - Unwind
    01:30 - 09:00 - Sleep
    Thanks, Tom

    M.S. - Cybersecurity and Information Assurance
    B.S: IT - Network Design & Management
  • nhprnhpr Member Posts: 165
    Essendon wrote: »
    9.00pm - Time for bed, usually takes another half hour or so before falling asleep (for obvious reasons! :p)

    Mild insomnia combined with indigestion isn't necessarily that obvious. :)


    How about those of you who primarily telecommute? How much does that change the dynamic?
  • pitviperpitviper Member Posts: 1,376 ■■■■■■■□□□
    Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, I use the side door - that way the boss can't see me - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour. I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.






















    :)
    CCNP:Collaboration, CCNP:R&S, CCNA:S, CCNA:V, CCNA, CCENT
  • TackleTackle Member Posts: 534
    pitviper wrote: »
    Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, I use the side door - that way the boss can't see me - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour. I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.


    Where can I apply?!?!

    Oh, as far as stalkers...not a big deal. I don't have many friends so I'd welcome them with open arms.
  • networker050184networker050184 Mod Posts: 11,962 Mod
    LucasMN wrote: »
    Where can I apply?!?!


    Its a company called Initech.
    An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made.
  • BokehBokeh Member Posts: 1,636 ■■■■■■■□□□
    Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and had a cup, looking up I noticed I was late....


    GoldMine Administrator, IT Support

    5am - alarm goes off, smack it
    530am - snoozes done, get up.
    530-615am - catching up on email, FB, news, etc
    630am - wake the little lady up, head to shower, get dressed, pack lunch, etc
    730am - out the door for 45 min commute
    815am - BS with boss
    830am - punch in, see what issues are out there from the remote offices
    noon - lunch
    1230pm - dealing with more issues, database crashes
    5pm - clock out
    515pm - picked up by gf since we carpool
    6pm - home, dinner, surfing, studying
    10pm - bed
  • Asif DaslAsif Dasl Member Posts: 2,116 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Bokeh wrote: »
    Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and had a cup, looking up I noticed I was late....
    Phew... Thought for a minute there you were reciting the lyrics to that Rebecca Black song... just when you thought you had forgotten it, it comes back to haunt you!
  • vColevCole Member Posts: 1,573 ■■■■■■■□□□
    Engineering Support Sys Admin.

    7:30AM- Wake up
    7:45 - 8:00AM - Shower, brush teeth, get ready for work.
    8:15AM - Drive to work
    9:15 - 9:30AM - arrive at work
    9:30AM - till lunch (could be 12:30 - 3:30PM) - Run around like crazy, do lots of work, tickets, throw things at each other from our cubes, etc.
    Sometime come back from lunch - 7PM - 9PM: do more work, play video games with coworkers/drink beer occasionally, etc.
    7-9PM: Leave for home
    8-10PM: Get home, make something quick for dinner.
    10:30-12AM - Go to sleep.
  • JinuyrJinuyr Member Posts: 251 ■■□□□□□□□□
    As an IT Manager for a Luxury Resort, here is my schedule:

    07:30 - Wake up to my alarm
    07:35 - The "3 S's" Shower, Shave, and you know the last one...
    08:00 - [START OF THE DAY] Arrive at the employee entrance where I work. I live in the same building which can be a perk at times but also leads to unnecessary calls during my day(s) off.
    08:05 - Check my on site equipment and update backup tapes from the previous day.
    08:15 - Update myself on current events, CNN, MSN, IGN, etc...
    08:30 - Review e-mails and process new tickets from the previous night.
    08:45 - Follow up with on site A/V Team to ensure that the third iMac is being installed at the Business Center. Postponed by a day due to design issues with the desk it is being installed on.
    08:55 - Review notes for the upcoming morning meeting.
    09:10 - Speak to our Security department regarding procedures for incidents.
    09:00 - Complete smaller issues or tickets.
    09:30 - Attend morning meeting with other managers and directors.
    10:00 - Meet with Engineering Coordinator who got back from vacation and ensure that all of her logins are working properly and reset the ones she has forgotten.
    10:10 - Check if HR Manager is available who reported having problems using an application with 1024 bit SSL encryption. They were not available, will follow up later.
    10:15 - Repair broken LCD for the laundry conveyor.
    10:30 - Install client software for one of our applications for the Executive Chef.
    10:45 - Update tickets and create new ones for the problems I fixed while travelling from the morning meeting to my office.
    10:50 - Follow up with the A/V Team regarding the installation of the third iMac in the Business Center. They are waiting on remote configuration to be pushed to the machines.
    11:00 - Attend conference call for Regional IT Meeting to discuss training and development for IT staff.
    12:00 - Meet with telephone vendor to address network related issues related to wireless VOIP phones and connectivity.
    13:00 - Lunch at the Employee Cafeteria
    13:30 - Review tickets and prepare equipment for installation of a wireless phone at the Pool Bar.

    ~ - Speak to the Spa Director regarding Instant Messenger applications installed on the reception and therapist break areas. Talk to him about the Spa's future plans to include Kindles and iPads in their operation.
    Rescheduled - Assist Accounting Clerk in installing new hardware peripherals for his computer.

    16:30 - Troubleshoot the Ballroom with Assistance Chief Engineer. Found out that the client's iPad was not working.
    Canceled - Attend meeting with Security Manager to go over Emergency Response Training.
    Reassigned - Run Cat 5e cabling around the Catering cubicles since one area was forgotten during construction.

    18:00 - As the day draws to a close, I study for a few moments. Currently reading the Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK.
    18:30 - Start or continue on my larger projects. Currently reviewing documentation on our contingency plan.
    19:00 - Continue working on PlayStation 3 Policy and Procedures for staff. Working on this project with Engineering to have an enforceable policy on how guests will check out the consoles and who will provide the games if any.
    20:00 - [END OF THE DAY] Check the systems for one last time before shutting down my laptop and head back to my room.
    20:15 - Call my wife and remind her to get on Ventrilo so we can start our premade League of Legends group followed by Global Agenda. She lives in a different city, =\
    21:00 - Cook rice and heat up some leftovers.
    21:20 - Continue watching Season 3 Disk 3 of The Big Bang Theory
    21:00 - Continue reading Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK on my Kindle.
    21:30 - Wife convinces me to continue playing games with her.
    22:30 - Alternate between studying during load screens or quiet moments and playing with my wife.
    23:30 - Wife logs off for the night so I continue to study.
    24:00 - Clean up and head to bed. I continue reading for a few more pages.
    00:40 - About the time I actually fall asleep.

    Rinse and Repeat sorta...
  • demonfurbiedemonfurbie Member Posts: 1,819
    7:00 am - wake up
    7:07 am - get out of bed while dog looks at me like im crazy
    7:15 ~ 8:15 - get ready and get kids ready
    8:20 - yell at car seat
    8:23 - drive to daycare/work
    9:00 - check in with da's office and wait to be called
    10:00 - play games on phone while waiting for lawyers to fight about data on a hard drive and giggle about what they think they know about computers.
    11:00 - explain what the difference between a hard drive and a pen drive is to a judge
    12:00 - lunch and Tylenol
    12:30 - check techexams for interesting stuffs
    1:00 - back to waiting
    2:00 - testify about the "stuff" i found on the computer
    3:00 - back to waiting if i am recalled
    4:00 - yep still waiting
    5:00 - court over for the day back home
    wgu undergrad: done ... woot!!
    WGU MS IT Management: done ... double woot :cheers:
  • FueledbycaffeineFueledbycaffeine Member Posts: 14 ■□□□□□□□□□
    pitviper wrote: »
    Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, I use the side door - that way the boss can't see me - and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour. I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.







    :)

    Haaaahaha, had to quote this for my first forum post.

    +1 ;)
  • EveryoneEveryone Member Posts: 1,661
    Out of everyone else here, you're the only person that actually take a shower! icon_lol.gif

    The shower schedule is posted on my other website, but you have to pay $3.99/min for it. icon_rolleyes.gif
  • CodeBloxCodeBlox Member Posts: 1,363 ■■■■□□□□□□
    4:45am - wakeup and take shower
    5:00am - walk dogs
    5:20am - take care of hygenic stuff
    5:30am - make lunch
    5:30 - 6:00am - Watch the news play xbox
    6:00aM - leave for work
    7:30am - start work
    7:30am - 6pm - answer phone calls troubleshooting the problem of the end user
    6:00pm - leave work
    7:00pm - finally back home
    9:00pm - Sleep, rinse, repeat!

    The work day is rather long because we are in a state of mandatory overtime :P
    Currently reading: Network Warrior, Unix Network Programming by Richard Stevens
  • JohnnyBigglesJohnnyBiggles Member Posts: 273
    cxzar20 wrote: »
    7:40am - Surf the web for the latest news
    9:20am - Get some coffee, formulate a plan for things to do today


    LOL... Nice way to kill some time at work icon_lol.gif
  • hex_omegahex_omega Member Posts: 183
    Asif Dasl wrote: »
    Phew... Thought for a minute there you were reciting the lyrics to that Rebecca Black song... just when you thought you had forgotten it, it comes back to haunt you!
    No. THere was no mention by him of getting cereal. HAVING A BOWL.
  • hiddenknight821hiddenknight821 Member Posts: 1,209 ■■■■■■□□□□
    Everyone wrote: »
    The shower schedule is posted on my other website, but you have to pay $3.99/min for it. icon_rolleyes.gif

    Haha, I'm no pervert, but can you give me the link anyway? icon_lol.gif Jk.
  • pham0329pham0329 Member Posts: 556
    So...is it safe to say that us IT people don't really do much at work?
  • demonfurbiedemonfurbie Member Posts: 1,819
    pham0329 wrote: »
    So...is it safe to say that us IT people don't really do much at work?

    for me (when im not stuck at court) its a wait till somethign breaks then PANIC ... then stay ther till 3am fixing it
    wgu undergrad: done ... woot!!
    WGU MS IT Management: done ... double woot :cheers:
  • EveryoneEveryone Member Posts: 1,661
    pham0329 wrote: »
    So...is it safe to say that us IT people don't really do much at work?

    We do plenty of work, it's just often in spurts.

    On the operations/support side of things, you're sitting around waiting for something to break or go wrong. It may seem like you're not busy until something does, but then when it does, you'll be VERY VERY busy. As a Systems Administrator, I always said if you're busy all the time, then you aren't very good at your job. You should be able to keep things stable without too much effort.

    On the consultant side of things, you'll be busy all the time, if you're not, then you aren't making any money.

    Architects, Engineers, Developers, and any other roles that revolve around completing projects, will only be busy when there are projects to be completed. If you complete all your projects, and the company doesn't have the budget to start any new ones, you won't be busy again until funds are released to start more projects.
  • cxzar20cxzar20 Member Posts: 168
    LOL... Nice way to kill some time at work icon_lol.gif

    Yes it is, at work there are usually two kinds of days:

    1. All hell is breaking loose
    2. Steadily working on projects at a reasonable pace

    This day was more of the latter. Days with multiple large site outages and fiber waves down are the former, no time to read techexams forums lol
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