In at the Deep End

Discussion in 'The Lounge - Off Topic' started by MacAllan, Jul 25, 2007.

  1. MacAllan

    MacAllan Byte Poster

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    Reading another thread on the forum where a member is trying to find his feet after landing his first job, makes me remember my own experiences of being waist deep in poo for the first time.

    Just started working for this tiny company, not an IT job, but I was asked to upgrade their 2 PCs (running DOS - oh yes) to a small network of 4 new PCs (with this new-fangled Windows 95 thingamajig) + a couple of laptops.

    Bought them, unpacked them, set them up - and 2 of the PCs went 'phhhhhtttttttt.' Contacted the company supposed to be doing the support - never heard of us or any contract. Contacted the suppliers: they'd gone bust, ours were among the few last boxes they'd shipped before being closed down.

    Everyone from the manager down looked at me, and sort of went: FIX IT! (with an implied - or else...)

    Yeah, well, I learned more in the next week (sometimes being there 'til 2 or 3am) than I learned on half of my A+ course years later. Non-working floppy drives, virus-infected software, wrong sound-drivers, complete OS and software re-installations, setting up printers... from a starting point of knowing zip.

    So, that was my learning-to-swim experience. Anyone else?
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, CCNA
    WIP: CCNP, Linux+
  2. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    I've had a lot of challenges... some involving all-night repair sessions... but only one real "learn-to-swim" moment in my IT career. And that's all it took.

    I was the go-to computer guy at my job (where I was an Operations Analyst) for 6 years before I got my first real IT job as a Field Service Tech, where I would go out to a customer's location and fix their hardware/software, or they'd bring it in to us and we'd diagnose it.

    Well, one day, a customer brought in a printer, and we said we'd fix it (though for the life of me, I can't understand why they'd want to pay $60-$100/hr to fix a printer with a hardware problem). After struggling with it for a couple of hours to no avail, I asked the IT manager if he would take a look at it (this was LONG before the days of Google, and Webcrawler turned up nothing). He must have had a frustrating day, because he yelled, "People aren't going to just hold your hand and help you out all the time! If you want to be a good tech, you're going to have to learn to fix problems on your own, even when you don't have the answers in front of you." So... I did.

    Should my manager have been more patient with me, or helped me out? Maybe. But I learned a valuable lesson that day... to be a good tech, I *have* to rely on my own skills and abilities, and use every resource available to me before running for help. And to be honest, it worked - having followed that advice, I'm now a better tech for it, and I've got a solid career.
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!
  3. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
    WIP: Microsoft Certs
  4. Mr.Cheeks

    Mr.Cheeks 1st ever Gold Member! Gold Member

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  5. Sparky
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    LOL I'm due another f**k up, these days I generally play around with servers and firewalls so should be a good one! :biggrin
     
    Certifications: MSc MCSE MCSA:M MCSA:S MCITP:EA MCTS(x5) MS-900 AZ-900 Security+ Network+ A+
    WIP: Microsoft Certs
  6. VantageIsle

    VantageIsle Kilobyte Poster

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    Yikes…. All the above makes interesting breakfast reading, especially Sparkys story. I guess I have all this to come:D
     
    Certifications: A+, ITIL V3, MCSA, MCITP:EST, CCENT, 70-432-SQL, 70-401 SCCM
    WIP: MCSA upgrade MCITP:SA then EA

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