The Next Step
So a couple weeks ago, I get off work and I’m sitting on my computer enjoying a beer after five hours of dealing with the type of people that order office supplies at 10 at night. I was honestly starting to panic, as my decision to work at Officemax was based entirely on the need to pay the bills until I figure out my next move. After only a few nights on the floor, I had already realized that this job was going to wear thin pretty quick, and I didn’t KNOW my next move. Bored, I decided to start browsing local want-ads online. It’s futile. It’s ALWAYS futile in this town. If you aren’t qualified to work in legal or medical fields, your choices are basically food service and construction. On a whim, I clicked the “Technical/Professional” link, and 3 pages in (mostly legal positions…) I saw “Computer Support Specialist”.
It was almost too perfect: Computer support technician, 36 months computer/networking experience, Microsoft certification a plus (read: not required). Without certification, this is about where you have to start: An entry level position in which you can hone your real-world skills, proving yourself along the way. The job had been posted for over 20 days by this point, and I was sure it was filled. I emailed them my resume, and I got a reply basically saying:
“We are looking for somebody with advanced network experience. However, if this is not you yet, we are willing to MAKE you a network engineer, if that interests you.”
I bought a suit Thursday night, aced the interview Friday morning, and put in my two weeks’ at Officemax Friday night. Even at entry-level, with no certification, my new employer will be paying me 50% more monthly than I have ever earned in my life, along with health insurance, and will even pay course/test fees to get me any certifications I want. Earning certifications earns me salary increases, and I am also eligible for productivity bonuses.
In the interview, it sounded like I was going to be “breakfix”, which is what they call your basic computer troubleshooting, as well as fixing physical damage to office equipment like printers. Well…after a couple hours in, it was very clear that I was nowhere NEAR the workbenches in back, working on systems people brought in. No, I was hired on as what they call a “junior network tech” because they’re really expanding into network administration and need more people. They needed somebody that knew about computers (specifically, Windows), that they could mold into a network engineer.
The first couple days I got a good look at what I would be dealing with. All our network design, implementation, and administration is done on the small to large business level (for example, a couple clients include the school district and small city governments). This isn’t about throwing a router in somebody’s home so they can share files between their laptop and desktop. I was in enormous humming server rooms with miles of cable and thousands of blinking LEDs all week. So far I’ve done a couple solo network calls (billed at nearly $100/hour) and held my own. I guess I ‘proved’ myself this week, because my boss confirmed on Friday that they want me to stick around for at least 3-5 years so that they can invest some money in me through certifications, etc.
The funny thing about working for these guys is how at odds we are when it comes to computer “morals”. As network techs, we use a lot of “hacker” tools to troubleshoot and diagnose networks. In fact, when I started, I was given a 512mb USB thumb drive loaded with a lot of utilities I used at home, anyway. I was already familiar with a good portion of our toolkit. On the other hand, as professionals, they are also deeply entangled in brand loyalty, mostly to Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. For me, my loyalty to Microsoft ends after the use of their OS, since all the programs I “own” run on it. In every case I can, I run open-source software, and generally avoid MS products aside from Windows (they got me by the balls on that one). In fact, I asked them about their stance toward open-source software, specifically, Firefox (because I refused to use IE on my workstation at work), and the basic reply I got was that they “tolerate it, but it is not a solution”. Interestingly, I received a spillover from breakfix call to a lawyer’s office to remove one of the gnarliest spyware infestations I’ve ever seen (he has a serious internet porn problem…at work), which rendered IE completely unusable. The browser was hijacked to return to ONE page, no matter what you did. I was finally able to fix the problem by booting into safe mode to install Firefox (the infestation also kept my USB drive with Firefox on it from appearing) so that I was able to safely browse to get the tools I needed to cure IE. “Not a solution”? When I left, I left a text file on his computer basically saying “Yes, we are a Microsoft certified business, but I’m not going to push their products on you if I think they are hazardous to your business’ network.” I left a link to getfirefox.com and recommended that he give it a spin, along with a brief explanation of why it is so superior, emphasising the point with the fact that I don’t even allow Internet Explorer on my system.
The upside of working for a Microsoft certified business partner is digging through the MSDN ‘care package’ every month. I had expressed interest to my boss in checking out Monad, and it just so happened that our package from MS had come in the mail that day. It’s basically a stack of DVDs with every single piece of MS software on them. Full, enterprise ISOs of every flavor of Windows, Visual Studio, Office, as well as betas (I saw a DVD labelled Longhorn, though I thought that name had been entirely dropped at this point). No Monad, but I DO plan on making myself a copy of that DVD of Windows, if only to have a quasi-legal copy of the OS. They also told me upfront that nobody there knows anything about Linux, and just the fact that I have tinkered with it makes me resident Linux expert, and they gave me a full boxed copy of Mepis Linux, as well as a full version of Crossover Office to mess with at home. They have mentioned trying to get me in Linux classes of some sort, as well as a desire to get me studying for an MCSE, as well as certification in HP Procurve networking (since we’re a licensed HP dealer, that’s the networking equipment we work with). Those two certs alone pretty much cover the minimum 3 years they want me to work with them, but I’m excited about where this new job will take me.
So that’s basically the gist of my new job, without getting too detailed in much (I had to sign my life away in contracts to get the job, I’m not sure how much I can talk about a lot of what my department does). This is the first job I’ve ever had in my life that I willingly applied for, and was excited when I was hired on. As lame as it sounds, I’m working with some really exciting new technologies, and I love the opportunity these guys have given me to apply what I currently know about computers, as well as learn and grow as I go. Best part is, I will now be making enough money to more than support my terrible, expensive habits, which include my computer hardware obsession, videogames (my NES collection is going to grow exponentially), and beginning to purchase all the DVDs and CDs I’ve “borrowed” online over the years. Win-win is what I call this new job.
November 20th, 2005 at 5:38 am
whooo hoooo!!!!!!!
November 22nd, 2005 at 1:32 am
Right On Brother Bill! I knew something good like this would come sooner or later. Finally a job to support that expensive crack habit, SCORE! “Time to pay THE BILLS!”
November 24th, 2005 at 11:41 am
Who the hell…?
November 29th, 2005 at 1:10 am
It is about time you made your “nerd” official, I was starting to think I would be calling you that for the rest of your life with no credentials to back it up.
January 12th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
Hummmm…… one should think carefully about giving out your website link to look at pitctures to your boss when that site also has your blog on it…