I’m not necessarily talking about being in the server room, I’m talking about more like doing power shell stuff and the stuff you would think system administrators do. They are still teaching active directory in IT classes in college
I knew a guy with almost that exact resume, except he told me it was chickens. He worked in Lagos during the week and went back to his chickens in rural Nigeria on the weekend.
I worked for a classic MSP a while back, barely lasted 3 months. Such a toxic environment, tons of pressure to spread yourself thinner and thinner.
It was one of those places where you were expected to be there an hour early, stay an hour late, and work through your lunch.
Even though that’s illegal, it was never explicit, just one of those, wink wink type things. But the workload was always so heavy, you couldn’t stay on top of everything unless you were working 50+ hours a week.
And of course, all salary, no overtime or double time for weekend work.
I do internal IT now, much better. Trying to get my own one-person shop going to eventually be fully self-employed. Actually, it would be really cool to become a worker-owned co-op, but that’s still a faint dream.
Currently in an MSP. It’s all on the company culture as to if it’s shit or not. We’re fully wfh with no plans to move back to the office.
Overtime is never forced. If we have to work through lunch because all hell is breaking loose, we’re practically encouraged to leave an hour early unless the CEO is allowing ot and we want it. No pressure either direction.
If users are rude or generally hard to deal with, manager has our back in dealing with them.
I just accepted a job with a small MSP starting early next year. I kept a close ear out during the interview for signs of the classic MSP hell stuff that would chew through techs but it does look like I got a good one (small 8 or so man shop) but check in in about 3 months and we’ll see how I’m feeling haha
My longer term plan is to use this as a stepping stone to then move onto being in-house then figuring out my exit strategy before burnout takes me, which I’m thinking I’ll either be aiming to move into IT management or possibly moving into a business analytics or cloud administration type role. Technical sales probably wouldn’t be too bad either.
Nice! I’ve job hopped a few times and tripped my salary in 5 years and am at a unicorn msp with unlimited PTO and management that cares about employees.
I wish I could find a union IT shop, but nothing around that I’ve seen available. Happy to hear my first statement isn’t as universal as my experience suggests!
“Unlimited PTO” is a meaningless term, and a trap.
I have 42 days of PTO per year, plus 13 state holidays.
I have a right to take those days off, they can’t be denied by anyone.
And if I don’t take them, my team lead will have a talk with me in October at the latest, because the company would get in legal trouble if I didn’t get them.
With “unlimited PTO” you have no such right to any amount of PTO.
Sure, you could try to schedule lots of PTO, but it can just be denied (“not possible right now”), or if you take too many, you’re just fired.
Do system administrators still exist? Honest question. I was one of those years ago and layoffs, forced back to office bullshit drove me away
yes, but we spend most of our time in meetings with cloud service vendors now.
I haven’t been inside the server room for a month.
I only go in the server room to t-pose in front of the giant air conditioner to cool off.
I’m not necessarily talking about being in the server room, I’m talking about more like doing power shell stuff and the stuff you would think system administrators do. They are still teaching active directory in IT classes in college
Yes, this is still a crucial job role for most organizations.
I knew a guy with almost that exact resume, except he told me it was chickens. He worked in Lagos during the week and went back to his chickens in rural Nigeria on the weekend.
I think they call them devops now.
I still prefer sysop.
Same.
There are dozens of us (working for MSPs because in house doesn’t pay as well and companies are cheap and want to outsource that cost center)!
I switched from an MSP to a unionized in-house position, doubled my salary and my days of paid time off.
I worked for a classic MSP a while back, barely lasted 3 months. Such a toxic environment, tons of pressure to spread yourself thinner and thinner.
It was one of those places where you were expected to be there an hour early, stay an hour late, and work through your lunch.
Even though that’s illegal, it was never explicit, just one of those, wink wink type things. But the workload was always so heavy, you couldn’t stay on top of everything unless you were working 50+ hours a week.
And of course, all salary, no overtime or double time for weekend work.
I do internal IT now, much better. Trying to get my own one-person shop going to eventually be fully self-employed. Actually, it would be really cool to become a worker-owned co-op, but that’s still a faint dream.
Currently in an MSP. It’s all on the company culture as to if it’s shit or not. We’re fully wfh with no plans to move back to the office.
Overtime is never forced. If we have to work through lunch because all hell is breaking loose, we’re practically encouraged to leave an hour early unless the CEO is allowing ot and we want it. No pressure either direction.
If users are rude or generally hard to deal with, manager has our back in dealing with them.
Pay isn’t top dollar but there’s trade-offs
€ or good team, right?
I just accepted a job with a small MSP starting early next year. I kept a close ear out during the interview for signs of the classic MSP hell stuff that would chew through techs but it does look like I got a good one (small 8 or so man shop) but check in in about 3 months and we’ll see how I’m feeling haha
My longer term plan is to use this as a stepping stone to then move onto being in-house then figuring out my exit strategy before burnout takes me, which I’m thinking I’ll either be aiming to move into IT management or possibly moving into a business analytics or cloud administration type role. Technical sales probably wouldn’t be too bad either.
Nice! I’ve job hopped a few times and tripped my salary in 5 years and am at a unicorn msp with unlimited PTO and management that cares about employees.
I wish I could find a union IT shop, but nothing around that I’ve seen available. Happy to hear my first statement isn’t as universal as my experience suggests!
“Unlimited PTO” is a meaningless term, and a trap.
I have 42 days of PTO per year, plus 13 state holidays.
I have a right to take those days off, they can’t be denied by anyone.
And if I don’t take them, my team lead will have a talk with me in October at the latest, because the company would get in legal trouble if I didn’t get them.
With “unlimited PTO” you have no such right to any amount of PTO.
Sure, you could try to schedule lots of PTO, but it can just be denied (“not possible right now”), or if you take too many, you’re just fired.
Plus they don’t have to book the liability on the balance sheet!
You’ll let us know if they’re hiring, right? Right!?
That’s my job title.
What, do you think it’s all run by AI now?
No, just not many job postings for it. Go look on indeed with that exact title. Switch to remote, almost no jobs
So yes, they still exist.
What do you do now?
Idk dude, I got a redundancy about a year ago. There are still jobs out there but it feels like it’s dwindling.