[Fortuna]

There is no compartmentalization at this job at all. I have complete administrative access to everything, including the main router/firewall and I've been there for all of four days. That's not normal, right?

[Lord Dave]

There is no compartmentalization at this job at all. I have complete administrative access to everything, including the main router/firewall and I've been there for all of four days. That's not normal, right?

Not for high security places, no.

[Dr Van Nostrand]

There are two level 3 remote workers from Pakistan, probably being paid $5 an hour for way more advanced work. They manage all of the ESXi machines in the office.

They took mah job!!!

Anytime I have call for support on any computer, application, or software platform, I know the guy answering the phone is 3 or 4 levels below the guy I need to talk to.

Taking Security + in a couple of weeks...  I'll be qualified for some $10 an hour Pakistani job.

[Fortuna]

There are two level 3 remote workers from Pakistan, probably being paid $5 an hour for way more advanced work. They manage all of the ESXi machines in the office.

They took mah job!!!

Anytime I have call for support on any computer, application, or software platform, I know the guy answering the phone is 3 or 4 levels below the guy I need to talk to.

Taking Security + in a couple of weeks...  I'll be qualified for some $10 an hour Pakistani job.

Well, their role is probably a $40 an hour job in the US.

[Fortuna]

Fucking nerds at this place trying to talk about how much they know about IT. The English guy is quiet and hardly says anything unless someone bothers him for help. There's a super autistic guy there who stutters and mumbles constantly who is really nice. Everyone else is a dickhead who is always trying to one-up whoever they're talking to. This one lady won't shut the hell up about Log4j whenever she talks to the manager, like she's some kind of security hotshot. She always announces to everyone that she's "in the firewall poking around". Later in the day, I saw her trying to use PowerShell with red text all over the damn place. I tried to start a conversation with this little Chinese guy the other day about all the services AWS has and how powerful it is, and he goes on a rant about how physical servers will always be better because you can see them and touch them. So, I just sat in my corner for the rest of the day and helped the autistic guy pull hard drives out of old PCs. Kill me.

[Lord Dave]

Fucking nerds at this place trying to talk about how much they know about IT. The English guy is quiet and hardly says anything unless someone bothers him for help. There's a super autistic guy there who stutters and mumbles constantly who is really nice. Everyone else is a dickhead who is always trying to one-up whoever they're talking to. This one lady won't shut the hell up about Log4j whenever she talks to the manager, like she's some kind of security hotshot. She always announces to everyone that she's "in the firewall poking around". Later in the day, I saw her trying to use PowerShell with red text all over the damn place. I tried to start a conversation with this little Chinese guy the other day about all the services AWS has and how powerful it is, and he goes on a rant about how physical servers will always be better because you can see them and touch them. So, I just sat in my corner for the rest of the day and helped the autistic guy pull hard drives out of old PCs. Kill me.

Welcome to IT Hell, level 3.

[Fortuna]

Fucking nerds at this place trying to talk about how much they know about IT. The English guy is quiet and hardly says anything unless someone bothers him for help. There's a super autistic guy there who stutters and mumbles constantly who is really nice. Everyone else is a dickhead who is always trying to one-up whoever they're talking to. This one lady won't shut the hell up about Log4j whenever she talks to the manager, like she's some kind of security hotshot. She always announces to everyone that she's "in the firewall poking around". Later in the day, I saw her trying to use PowerShell with red text all over the damn place. I tried to start a conversation with this little Chinese guy the other day about all the services AWS has and how powerful it is, and he goes on a rant about how physical servers will always be better because you can see them and touch them. So, I just sat in my corner for the rest of the day and helped the autistic guy pull hard drives out of old PCs. Kill me.

Welcome to IT Hell, level 3.

Maybe I picked the wrong career. Hopefully this place is just more insufferable than the norm.

[Lord Dave]

Fucking nerds at this place trying to talk about how much they know about IT. The English guy is quiet and hardly says anything unless someone bothers him for help. There's a super autistic guy there who stutters and mumbles constantly who is really nice. Everyone else is a dickhead who is always trying to one-up whoever they're talking to. This one lady won't shut the hell up about Log4j whenever she talks to the manager, like she's some kind of security hotshot. She always announces to everyone that she's "in the firewall poking around". Later in the day, I saw her trying to use PowerShell with red text all over the damn place. I tried to start a conversation with this little Chinese guy the other day about all the services AWS has and how powerful it is, and he goes on a rant about how physical servers will always be better because you can see them and touch them. So, I just sat in my corner for the rest of the day and helped the autistic guy pull hard drives out of old PCs. Kill me.

Welcome to IT Hell, level 3.

Maybe I picked the wrong career. Hopefully this place is just more insufferable than the norm.

No idea.  Never worked at a place like that and I'm on...place 3 for IT support.

Of course, I could be 'that guy' and not know it.

[juner]

MSPs are generally shithouses. You can actually learn a lot (by yourself if you are driven) due to the diverse nature of businesses you may provide support for, but you will likely lack guidance from someone who knows what they are doing. Usually, billable hours are the name of the game.

Work for a tech company if you want to do the "bleeding edge" stuff, work for the government if you want to coast, work for a mid-size business (as internal IT, preferably sysadmin or equivalent) if you want something in between.

[Fortuna]

MSPs are generally shithouses. You can actually learn a lot (by yourself if you are driven) due to the diverse nature of businesses you may provide support for, but you will likely lack guidance from someone who knows what they are doing. Usually, billable hours are the name of the game.

Work for a tech company if you want to do the "bleeding edge" stuff, work for the government if you want to coast, work for a mid-size business (as internal IT, preferably sysadmin or equivalent) if you want something in between.

It's a mess, held together by a British guy and a really pro manager. I'll most likely go the government route.

[Lord Dave]

MSPs are generally shithouses. You can actually learn a lot (by yourself if you are driven) due to the diverse nature of businesses you may provide support for, but you will likely lack guidance from someone who knows what they are doing. Usually, billable hours are the name of the game.

Work for a tech company if you want to do the "bleeding edge" stuff, work for the government if you want to coast, work for a mid-size business (as internal IT, preferably sysadmin or equivalent) if you want something in between.

It's a mess, held together by a British guy and a really pro manager. I'll most likely go the government route.

If you can find a school district, go there.

Relaxed.
Few 'after hours' calls.
Holidays and snow days (depending on state).

Gotta take a civil service test most likely but... Its a good job.

[Fortuna]

I quit. I spent an hour trying to figure out why I couldn't set up a VPN on a client's PC. I finally said "what the hell is this shit" out loud and the British guy came over. He looked at the config document I was going off of and said "Oh that lot is out of date." and scooted back to his desk. I had been using the wrong MFA token, credentials, and even the client. There was nothing in the document indicating it was deprecated. The proper client isn't even documented anywhere. I had to ask someone. Big deal, right? Now I know how to do it. No. Everything is like that at this company. Anyway, I have a couple more interviews coming up.

[Pete Svarrior]

Welcome to early IT. It doesn't get better.

[Lord Dave]

Welcome to early IT. It doesn't get better.

Nope.  In fact, you got lucky: someone knew something.
Now imagine a situation where the british guy knew as much as you.

[Dr Van Nostrand]

Welcome to early IT. It doesn't get better.

Nope.  In fact, you got lucky: someone knew something.
Now imagine a situation where the british guy knew as much as you.

Holy Crap, now I see what's going on when I call someplace for tech support.

What kind of money are these people being paid?

I could deal with a lot of bullshit for the right price and if some company wants to pay me enough, I could enjoy spinning my wheels in meaninglessness.  I'll take all the money they want to waste.

Of course, I'd have to develop some weird persona to fit in. I could be 'that dude who wears an ascot' or 'the old hippie with the Ramones screensaver."

[Pete Svarrior]

What kind of money are these people being paid?

The kind of money that makes you not care, thus perpetuating the cycle.

[Lord Dave]

What kind of money are these people being paid?

The kind of money that makes you not care, thus perpetuating the cycle.

Not always.
Depends if you're a contractor or not.
Contractors get paid shit.  Especially if the company paying them is Indian.

[Fortuna]

Looks like I'm off to the Gay Area in June. I just need a Prius and 10 turtlenecks of the same color.

[Lord Dave]

Looks like I'm off to the Gay Area in June. I just need a Prius and 10 turtlenecks of the same color.

Apple?

[Fortuna]

Looks like I'm off to the Gay Area in June. I just need a Prius and 10 turtlenecks of the same color.

Apple?

I wish, but it is another of the big tech companies. It's not a fancy SWE job or anything. Just working in a datacenter.