Preparation Is Key : Career Planning Part 2

If I have learned anything in IT, it is that preparation is key.  Before meeting with a private customer for a job I must take time to go over what it is they need.  I need to know what tools to bring with me, what kind of equipment I will be dealing with, what software they have etc.  This also applies to situations at work, when I was working at the Help Desk I made sure I knew as much as I possible could about the person I was calling.  I would check and make sure they're computer was up and running, if there were any network wide problems, or if there were any recent changes.  In short, I did my homework.

The same goes for my path back into IT (part 1 here).  Free Geek provided me with a lot of hands on experience with hardware and with customer service.  Not only did it teach me how to strip down basically any type of desktop (Power PC's are a PAIN.  Apple did NOT want you opening those things) and deal with the surprises inside (food, cockroaches, bees, a hand gun once...) but it taught me how to handle a wide range of personalities and people in the context of IT.

Intel : Bees Inside

The experience I gained working with a large range of individuals was directly applicable to my next position at a small IT company.  They dealt primarily with small businesses providing "Break-Fix" IT Support.  Calls would range from setting up printing to physically moving a server to resetting passwords.  Most of the customers had what is called a SLA, or Service Level Agreement.  Basically these are contracts which outline the level of a support a customer can receive.  Level 1 may be 1 hour a week of remote, while level 3 may be 5 hours onsite support and unlimited remote support.  Level 3, of course, costs substantially more.

The vast majority of the work I did here was remote.  We used various tools, including LogMeIn (something I still use from time to time for my side gigs), and TeamViewer (This is a great one for family and friends since it's free for non-commercial use.  I help my grandfather out with this one). We also used a ticketing system to track what work was done and how long it took.  Learning how to use these tools was a bit of a learning curve, but it did teach me some valuable concepts, such as ticketing and remote support, which I had not yet been exposed to.

(I can virtually guarantee you that you will use a ticketing system of one kind or another in your path through IT.  I use it as a programmer analyst to track problems as they appear, our Help Desk uses it to track new installs, and our sysadmins use it to audit our permissions.  Having a systematic approach to tracking problems is a critical skill to learn.  I will get into this more in another post, but learn to love tickets.)

Start early.

This was also my first exposure to Microsoft Server and Active Directory (AD).  It was incredibly confusing and I got lost more times than I care to remember, but this trial by fire got me used to a normal business IT environment.  Simply looking at and navigating through AD helped prepare me for my first full time position.  I have learned that just by going through a system and getting a passing familiarity with it will pay off a LOT in the long term.  Be careful, but go in and play around! (with permission of course!).

From time to time I would have to go out on site.  This involved logging not only my time, but miles driven.  Currently the US Government mandates $.565 paid per mile driven for work, which made for some nice gas money.  Now this only includes times when work needs you to use your personal vehicle to go from site to site.  (It doesn't include driving into work in the morning.  It is especially nice for me since I happen to drive a hybrid and go "slow" at only 65mph).  These on site trips also gave me experience dealing with diverse physical systems.  No two customers were a like, even if their logical setup was similar.  Some have their server in a crawl space, others have no server, some have a large warehouse, others a coffee shop.  This helped make me more flexible and better able to adapt when presented a new situation (something that happens a LOT in life).

All the time I was working part time I was pursuing additional training on the side.  I finally earned my Network+, having started it when I was just volunteering at Free Geek, and began working on A+.  I was also still volunteering at Free Geek.  By this time I had moved into their "build" program and was getting good experience building computers from the mother board up.  I have kept up that habit of continually learning and improving.  Currently I am working on another security certification and am taking classes at my local community college.

My first (and only) part time job in IT taught me a lot.  Mainly, that preparation is key, and to keep moving forward.  By preparing myself a head of time for various situations, I was able to best capitalize on the opportunities offered.  Simply having a job was preparation for the next step in my IT journey, getting a full time job.  Being able to test out my skills and how I deal with problems gave me a better sense of confidence and more tools to use in the future.  Just like GI JOE taught me, Knowledge is Half the Battle (tm).