Solved Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?
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@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@scottalanmiller said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
Now question is, my title says "System Administrator" and my knowledge on AD and experience is very less (assuming going to choose Windows environment job) and years of total experience is 4.2 Years.
Your workload is IT Generalist or SMB Generalist. SMB only has generalist in reality. In theory some SMB somewhere hires someone outside of generalist, but it is purely a theory, I've never heard even a rumour of someone having found one.
I just wondering to know what is "IT Generalist" ? is that mean All-in-One IT ? who takes all categories of work like System Admin tasks, Network admin, helpdesk, cabling guy etc. ?
Yes, generalists don't specialize, they do "IT", rather than one discipline area within IT. No shop with fewer than maybe ~100 IT people can realistically specialize. It doesn't make any sense until you have specialist departments for them to work on, or teams at least.
http://www.smbitjournal.com/2014/10/it-generalists-and-specialists/
The SMB is pure generalist, SME is almost pure, Medium starts to see specialists, by enterprise, you are at specialist saturation which is like 95%.
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@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
2. If I choose System Admin position : (Assuming of Windows environment)
....
d) I believe Virtualization and Cloud knowledge matters ?All knowledge is good knowledge. But if you really want a system admin specialist position, many do nothing with virtualization or cloud, because those are platform tasks, not system tasks. Small companies, like the SME and Medium space, will normally merge platform speciality into the system speciality because there is so much overlap in skills. But you can get into the Fortune 100 where they do not and system admins never see the platform, at all.
I've seen this separated in companies as small as 1,400 staff - where the platform team and the systems teams were completely discrete.
Also at specialist, admin and engineer are discrete. So you'd have platform administration, platform engineering, system administration and system engineering all in one company.
Then when you specialist more, it's common to have tech divisions. So in a company with two platforms and three systems, you might have these teams:
- Windows Administration
- Windows Engineering
- Linux Administration
- Linux Engineering
- AIX Administration
- AIX Engineering
- VMware Administration
- VMware Engineering
- Xen Administration
- Xen Engineering
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@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
1. If I choose Desktop Support :
a) I feel my current knowledge is enough or more than enough (see above) ?
b) What kind of knowledge than above I mentioned will be helpful ?
c) How about certifications ? what certifications are good ? I already have "ITIL Foundation"How much desktop automation have you done? What about imaging? Do you mean support or administration? Desktop Admins do not deal with end users, or rarely, but Desktop Support deals with them all of the time. In small companies these are merged, in larger ones they are normally not.
ITIL is for management, not for IT. All knowledge and skills are positives, but ITIL doesn't apply to any IT role, at least not directly.
Microsoft and Red Hat offer desktop certs or desktop related certs.
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@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
a) I think I need to learn and do lots of exercise on Active Directory and Domain things
If you are doing AD work, yes. Not all Windows shops do. Of course most careers in Windows will need AD, so lacking it will keep a lot of doors closed for you, it's considered a starter skill. But there are big Windows shops with no AD.
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@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@Dashrender said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
Your list reads like mine for the most part.
And I just get to parrot Scott and Dustin, what is your goal? Next desired job?
As said above, confused about my Title, my knowledge and available options (system admin, Desktop Support etc.), once I analyse my status and options with you people help, I will set my Goal.
Your available jobs are based on your skills, not your past titles. All SMB workers are in the same pool by past job. The skills you build are what define your options.
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@scottalanmiller said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
2. If I choose System Admin position : (Assuming of Windows environment)
....
d) I believe Virtualization and Cloud knowledge matters ?All knowledge is good knowledge. But if you really want a system admin specialist position, many do nothing with virtualization or cloud, because those are platform tasks, not system tasks. Small companies, like the SME and Medium space, will normally merge platform speciality into the system speciality because there is so much overlap in skills. But you can get into the Fortune 100 where they do not and system admins never see the platform, at all.
I've seen this separated in companies as small as 1,400 staff - where the platform team and the systems teams were completely discrete.
Also at specialist, admin and engineer are discrete. So you'd have platform administration, platform engineering, system administration and system engineering all in one company.
Then when you specialist more, it's common to have tech divisions. So in a company with two platforms and three systems, you might have these teams:
- Windows Administration
- Windows Engineering
- Linux Administration
- Linux Engineering
- AIX Administration
- AIX Engineering
- VMware Administration
- VMware Engineering
- Xen Administration
- Xen Engineering
What's difference b/w Administration and Engineering ? I mean how responsibilities separate them ?
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@scottalanmiller said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
1. If I choose Desktop Support :
a) I feel my current knowledge is enough or more than enough (see above) ?
b) What kind of knowledge than above I mentioned will be helpful ?
c) How about certifications ? what certifications are good ? I already have "ITIL Foundation"How much desktop automation have you done? What about imaging? Do you mean support or administration? Desktop Admins do not deal with end users, or rarely, but Desktop Support deals with them all of the time. In small companies these are merged, in larger ones they are normally not.
ITIL is for management, not for IT. All knowledge and skills are positives, but ITIL doesn't apply to any IT role, at least not directly.
Microsoft and Red Hat offer desktop certs or desktop related certs.
I have not done any Desktop Automation, as I didn't seen any requirement. But I can learn with Lab or by using in Realtime even its not worthy to improve the skill. What list would you suggest ?
So again I need to understand what is Desktop Administration and Desktop Support ? Well, Desktop Support is clear that they deal directly with end-users at the time of issues, how about Desktop Admin ?
About certification, I understand Desktop Certs, but what do you mean by Desktop related certs ? is that mean like MS Office suite etc. ?
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@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
What's difference b/w Administration and Engineering ? I mean how responsibilities separate them ?
http://www.smbitjournal.com/2011/02/it-roles-productivity-and-availability/
Engineers design and build things. Administrators run things. One is design, one is operations.
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@scottalanmiller said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@Dashrender said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
Your list reads like mine for the most part.
And I just get to parrot Scott and Dustin, what is your goal? Next desired job?
As said above, confused about my Title, my knowledge and available options (system admin, Desktop Support etc.), once I analyse my status and options with you people help, I will set my Goal.
Your available jobs are based on your skills, not your past titles. All SMB workers are in the same pool by past job. The skills you build are what define your options.
I have question here, now my title says "System Admin", and if I choose to go for Desktop Support, do you think new employer will not question about "why you are choosing lower level" and doubts my ability or skill ?
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@scottalanmiller said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
What's difference b/w Administration and Engineering ? I mean how responsibilities separate them ?
http://www.smbitjournal.com/2011/02/it-roles-productivity-and-availability/
Engineers design and build things. Administrators run things. One is design, one is operations.
Noted.
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@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
About certification, I understand Desktop Certs, but what do you mean by Desktop related certs ?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/mcsa-windows-10-certifications.aspx
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@openit It's really easy to fall into a generalist role naturally because a lot of SMB's have a single IT staff and you will be responsible for everything. @Dashrender and I are both generalists. It's not great.
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@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@scottalanmiller said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@Dashrender said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
Your list reads like mine for the most part.
And I just get to parrot Scott and Dustin, what is your goal? Next desired job?
As said above, confused about my Title, my knowledge and available options (system admin, Desktop Support etc.), once I analyse my status and options with you people help, I will set my Goal.
Your available jobs are based on your skills, not your past titles. All SMB workers are in the same pool by past job. The skills you build are what define your options.
I have question here, now my title says "System Admin", and if I choose to go for Desktop Support, do you think new employer will not question about "why you are choosing lower level" and doubts my ability or skill ?
Not any employer with any clue at all. But, lots of employers have no skills. However, your resume should always list your role, NOT false titles. Other employers will say that you are lying if you keep it as system admin.
Also, desktop is not lower than system, there are NO levels here. So again, only a very clueless, confused manager would think that.
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@wirestyle22 said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit It's really easy to fall into a generalist role naturally because a lot of SMB's have a single IT staff and you will be responsible for everything. @Dashrender and I are both generalists. It's not great.
So are all CIOs, though. Generalist runs the gamut.
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@openit said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
So again I need to understand what is Desktop Administration and Desktop Support ? Well, Desktop Support is clear that they deal directly with end-users at the time of issues, how about Desktop Admin ?
Desktop Admins are like System Admins (like meaning, they are) but deal with desktops instead of servers. It's a subset of system administration.
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@scottalanmiller said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@wirestyle22 said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit It's really easy to fall into a generalist role naturally because a lot of SMB's have a single IT staff and you will be responsible for everything. @Dashrender and I are both generalists. It's not great.
So are all CIOs, though. Generalist runs the gamut.
IMO I'd be a lot more valuable as a specialist but if I want to do that I need to get an enterprise job. SMB's obviously can't hire like that.
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@wirestyle22 said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@scottalanmiller said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@wirestyle22 said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit It's really easy to fall into a generalist role naturally because a lot of SMB's have a single IT staff and you will be responsible for everything. @Dashrender and I are both generalists. It's not great.
So are all CIOs, though. Generalist runs the gamut.
IMO I'd be a lot more valuable as a specialist but if I want to do that I need to get an enterprise job. SMB's obviously can't hire like that.
Specialists are more valuable, that is true, just because they can do more work in a shorter time without task switching and can focus on the most valuable set of their skills to the company at hand. Most roles are simply more valuable in bigger companies, it's the nature of scaling.
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@wirestyle22 said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit It's really easy to fall into a generalist role naturally because a lot of SMB's have a single IT staff and you will be responsible for everything. @Dashrender and I are both generalists. It's not great.
Yeah I can understand that. Why you are not feeling great, is that same reason I am seeing now ? that is "not specialized and may find difficulty when we want to move to other company" ?
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@wirestyle22 said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit It's really easy to fall into a generalist role naturally because a lot of SMB's have a single IT staff and you will be responsible for everything. @Dashrender and I are both generalists. It's not great.
What's not great is being the only person responsible for everything. I actually love the generalist role because it lets me keep my hands in all the cookie jars and experience far more than i would otherwise.
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@wirestyle22 said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@scottalanmiller said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@wirestyle22 said in Which IT role I am suitable and to which should I apply for ?:
@openit It's really easy to fall into a generalist role naturally because a lot of SMB's have a single IT staff and you will be responsible for everything. @Dashrender and I are both generalists. It's not great.
So are all CIOs, though. Generalist runs the gamut.
IMO I'd be a lot more valuable as a specialist but if I want to do that I need to get an enterprise job. SMB's obviously can't hire like that.
And you would be wrong again as you always are when it comes to what you perceive as value.
Am I a specialist? Where do you think my value lies?
