Information Technology (IT)

[shake]

 
slides ?! 

my company just implemented a shorts pass.. if you donate $50 to our company charity, you can wear shorts until labor day. otherwise, we have a casual dress code year round.

$50 pass to wear shorts, that's comedy.

I could probably wear basketball shorts to most of my clients if I really wanted, but I always just throw some jeans and a polo (maybe a t-shirt) if I'm feeling comfy. Occasionally I'll need to wear khakis and some boat shoes

 

[shake]

Not really IT but a tech field... I do custom database design / programming / consulting

No dress code unless im meeting with clients on site.

Sneakers or slides almost err day

I actually might be able to throw some work your way one of these days. You're in Fairfield?

 

[Mamba Minhtality]

 

$50 pass to wear shorts, that's comedy.

I could probably wear basketball shorts to most of my clients if I really wanted, but I always just throw some jeans and a polo (maybe a t-shirt) if I'm feeling comfy. Occasionally I'll need to wear khakis and some boat shoes

i still cant believe it 

my co worker asks me everytime i see him, when i'm going to get my shorts pass but i just cant do it. i'm good with my polo, jeans, and roshes. i wear a button down maybe once a month and if i do, its not even tucked in lol.

 

[datznasty]

Yea my royal blue Air Max Tailwinds get some run too. I just don't want to to do it anymore, don't want to take anymore certs tests and don't feel like progressing/changing into server admin or network admin, we do a bit of that stuff anyways since our domain runs off the backbone of another but I'd like to get into somethnig around sports. Like I said, just got this job first and ending up getting the certs and raises to the point if I started over now for HPE stuff, I'd be like a teacher/coach and making like half of what I make. Still iffy even on the Master's though or if I should just get an MBA instead


Wouldn't get a degree in it since it has a career cert and they offer classes on it free here on post a few times a year, but project management somewhat interests me too and could keep me around the Military which is an environment I much prefer to private sector.

Project management interests me as well. Although PM is cool, I like being technically sound too. I don't want to get into PM and then lose my tech skills by not getting my hands dirty anymore.

Makes sense. Most of the PMs for the contracting companies I have worked for have no IT background at all (and similar in other fields) though. It's almost strictly a leadership/management/overhead position. And they get PAID. They'll then just appoint somebody as I.T Dep't Lead or whatever. I got a chance to see first hang a little bit of the finaggling and shadiness that goes on with securing Government contracts to begin with, which again benefits the PMs, but like how guys where given phantom positions (and real money though) to be named as head of a company bidding for a contract so now the company is Minority owned, or Veteran owned, or women owned, etc. and PMs who were on SCA contracts where even though the contract changed they had to retain all the same workforce still submitting paperwork for themselves as the refferrer of all those employees and collecting that bonus when they really reffered or hired no one, staff just transferred over when the new company won the contract.

 

[da r entertainment]

I currently do desktop support for my company. This was the first company to give me my break in to IT last August and I've enjoyed it thus far.

This is my first IT job as well. About a month after I graduated I got hired, and have been employed a little over a year now. I love it, I enjoy IT. Gotta sponge up as much information and experience as possible. Hiren's Boot CD is an awesome tool if you haven't heard it already, great swiss army knife for desktop issues.

IT manager for small optics/photonics company here. Getting my bachelors in it next spring looking to get into a leadership program since I'm still young (22)

22 and managing IT already is an awesome start. Where are you located?

I've actually just begun studying for the CCENT exam. Got my book by Todd Lammie along with a few simulators and some hardware here at my desk.

 

[Mamba Minhtality]

I'm looking to start working on getting certifications. What do you guys recommend as a good starting point? or a cert that anybody in the IT field could/should have? I'm currently a SQL Developer but I want to work with servers more. I'm also looking into an internal position as a System Engineer at my company.

 

[datznasty]

www.examcollection.com bro, some people rock with the Pass4Sure's but I aced the Windows 7 tests after like 10 days of studying maybe 20 minutes per with examcollection. Army just up and out of nowhere one day decided "Get Windows 7 text in 60 days or be fired," so taking a college course or reading the whole book wasn't an option. We don't even go a lot of the stuff in there, or not the way it is in the test. Word has it Server 2012 is the next one they're going to spring on us with an unrealistically short timeline

 

[shake]

 
i still cant believe it 

my co worker asks me everytime i see him, when i'm going to get my shorts pass but i just cant do it. i'm good with my polo, jeans, and roshes. i wear a button down maybe once a month and if i do, its not even tucked in lol.

When you're gonna get your shorts pass, that's too funny bro. Jeans are just as comfortable so that's no biggie. Roshes as well. IT is known to have a loose dress code to it really ain't no thang.

I've actually just begun studying for the CCENT exam. Got my book by Todd Lammie along with a few simulators and some hardware here at my desk.

That's how I got my CCNA. I passed the ICND1 (CCENT) and then finished the second half ICND2 for the CCNA.

You need to know how subnets work very well, that was what most of CCENT consisted of. Know all of the layers of Cisco OSI. Get comfortable with Cisco's IOS too, those simulators work very well for that. Nothing beats having physical infrastructure to test with though. There are many CCNA one day training sessions that let you get your hands dirty with their gear and that teach you main topics that will be covered during the tests.

 

[djyoung08]

I actually might be able to throw some work your way one of these days. You're in Fairfield?

yup. my development platform is FileMaker though

No SQL/oracle etc

 

[Mamba Minhtality]

www.examcollection.com bro, some people rock with the Pass4Sure's but I aced the Windows 7 tests after like 10 days of studying maybe 20 minutes per with examcollection

so you studied from this site, took a bunch of practice exams and went to take the actual cert test??

 
When you're gonna get your shorts pass, that's too funny bro. Jeans are just as comfortable so that's no biggie. Roshes as well. IT is known to have a loose dress code to it really ain't no thang.

lol yeah, but we specialize in consulting too so there's constantly clients around, hence why i thought the shorts pass was funny.

 

[Mamba Minhtality]

yup. my development platform is FileMaker though

No SQL/oracle etc

dont forget those crazy PS skills you got. 

 

[datznasty]

From what I have heard from people using the examcollection site VCE files, they aren't nearly s accurate as they were when I did Windows 7 and Prometric and the testing companies are changing the tests quicker to combat the popularity. But basically you just find the link for the test you are taking taking, click the VCE file page to download it and read the comments at the bottom. It will be from recent testtakers and be like, "100% accurate, just took the test 6/1/2014, these were all the right questions," or maybe the opposite and tell you they changed the test or added questions, notes like that.

By no means am I advocating you not learn the material as opposed to memorization and studying just hte test, but again in my circumstance it was the only option to do it this way. I don't want people to think I am @sladewilsonin' out here.

 

[shake]

yup. my development platform is FileMaker though

No SQL/oracle etc

Not familiar with FileMaker. I was aiming more towards Java, since the company is very, VERY closely related to Oracle.

 
dont forget those crazy PS skills you got. 

Photoshop is 1337

 

[djyoung08]

dont forget those crazy PS skills you got. 

I haven't done any PS work for NT in a MINUTE

I mostly do volunteer graphic design for my church and for my instagram

Not familiar with FileMaker. I was aiming more towards Java, since the company is very, VERY closely related to Oracle.
Photoshop is 1337

bro FileMaker is GUI based programming.. its almost NOT programming

 

[RIP sleazyy]

would love to be in the field. on the outside looking in sadly.

haven't gotten off my *** and made it happen yet.

 

[currensy]

Interesting thread. I got into a vocational class for computer network administration for my last HS yr, so hopefully I learn something good. You guys have any advice for getting your feet wet in this field?

 

[shake]

would love to be in the field. on the outside looking in sadly.

haven't gotten off my *** and made it happen yet.

whachu waiting for? IT is growing everyday.

Interesting thread. I got into a vocational class for computer network administration for my last HS yr, so hopefully I learn something good. You guys have any advice for getting your feet wet in this field?

That sounds like an awesome intro to IT. Networking is a huge part of IT and you'll need at LEAST basic networking skills to be successful in this field. Study for a Cisco exam, it has lots of Cisco proprietary material but also includes standardized networking concepts.

Ask your teacher if you guys can get into the server room/network closets and get your hands on some equipment. Getting your hands dirty is the best way to learn. I learned 90% of what I know on the job the past year I've been employed just by getting thrown in to fires and having to learn/sponge information quickly and in large amounts.

 

[4318michaeljohnson4318]

30 PCs is a pretty large company to manage yourself. What type of servers are you running? Any virtual hosts? ESXi is always fun to play with.

What kind of network infrastructure do you have in place?

Are there any XP users that have panicked since Microsoft sent out their scare tactic message saying XP isn't support anymore? (lulz)

We only have 1 Windows Server 2008 server that is ancient in relative computer terms, basically only used for more secure file storage for sesntive information, we have 1 company public nas for our company that is used heavily but that requires no administration. No virtual hosts, whenever I get time around to rebuild the server I will play with the idea of virtual servers for different functions (I want to implement a opensource crm or erp system but I rather run them virtually). I may think about running exchange on the server whenever it is rebuilt.

Our network is pretty simple Router -> 48 port gigabit switch - > 24 port 10/100 switch (will be replaced when I get the time to to another identical 48 port gigabit switch). Most of the network is gigabit, the people who did the networking for the building did a great job. I am blessed to work at a company were most people are pretty smart, we make optical elements for laser systems so most people are science people. This is our website www.optigrate.com . It def needs some work, I maintain it but I want to switch to a real CMS platform just for the sake of getting up to date. Also thinking of something like sharepoint for our company but really not sure, I hate using paid business software because of the price, rather keep it open source.

I had some simple fun projects so far, I set up a off-site storage back up. Basically had our CEO set up a nas at his house and set up a openvpn server and have our windows server synch nightly with the offsite nas. Something so simple that only cost maybe $1,000 would cost maybe that same amount yearly from other vendors. Also about to set up our time clocking system, thinking about setting up a simple mysql database to sync with our time clock system as our companies first test with databases for operational purposes. Currently we we are using mainly excel files for documents which is really a horrible system to go on but its what they were on when I get there. We sometime run into issues with excel files being treated like a database (excel files can bloat up from 5 mb to 1 gb sometimes from being shared workbooks). It's just so hard to transition a company from such a older style of data management to something new.

 

[4318michaeljohnson4318]

I'm looking to start working on getting certifications. What do you guys recommend as a good starting point? or a cert that anybody in the IT field could/should have? I'm currently a SQL Developer but I want to work with servers more. I'm also looking into an internal position as a System Engineer at my company.

How did you get into SQL developing and what is the typical day for you. Im pretty good with SQL and i really enjoy databases but I have no idea to transition into making it a job position.

 

[Humbled]

P4L.

 

[Rootin4EverybodyBlack]

would love to be in the field. on the outside looking in sadly.

haven't gotten off my *** and made it happen yet.

This is me.

My homie is doing programming right now, he gets paid a much being an intern as I do being a full-time employee. One of these days i'ma sit him down and pick his brain. Funny thing is I was by far the smarter/better grade getting one in high school, so I'm pretty sure I can do it.

 

[shake]

We only have 1 Windows Server 2008 server that is ancient in relative computer terms, basically only used for more secure file storage for sesntive information, we have 1 company public nas for our company that is used heavily but that requires no administration. No virtual hosts, whenever I get time around to rebuild the server I will play with the idea of virtual servers for different functions (I want to implement a opensource crm or erp system but I rather run them virtually). I may think about running exchange on the server whenever it is rebuilt.

Our network is pretty simple Router -> 48 port gigabit switch - > 24 port 10/100 switch (will be replaced when I get the time to to another identical 48 port gigabit switch). Most of the network is gigabit, the people who did the networking for the building did a great job. I am blessed to work at a company were most people are pretty smart, we make optical elements for laser systems so most people are science people. This is our website www.optigrate.com . It def needs some work, I maintain it but I want to switch to a real CMS platform just for the sake of getting up to date. Also thinking of something like sharepoint for our company but really not sure, I hate using paid business software because of the price, rather keep it open source.

I had some simple fun projects so far, I set up a off-site storage back up. Basically had our CEO set up a nas at his house and set up a openvpn server and have our windows server synch nightly with the offsite nas. Something so simple that only cost maybe $1,000 would cost maybe that same amount yearly from other vendors. Also about to set up our time clocking system, thinking about setting up a simple mysql database to sync with our time clock system as our companies first test with databases for operational purposes. Currently we we are using mainly excel files for documents which is really a horrible system to go on but its what they were on when I get there. We sometime run into issues with excel files being treated like a database (excel files can bloat up from 5 mb to 1 gb sometimes from being shared workbooks). It's just so hard to transition a company from such a older style of data management to something new.

WS 2008 R2 is my favorite server OS right now. 2012 is okay with a Start menu replacement, but 08 is perfect. It's great for domain controllers, which it sounds like you're using it for.

What kind of router are you using? That website is nice and simple, I like it. WordPress and Drupal are awesome and easy GUI friendly CMS platforms. Ever considered using Windows SBS (I've never recommended it before, I have one client that uses it and I hate it) and converting the old 2008 box into a test/dev/app server? SBS includes Exchange and Sharepoint and is basically just an all-in-one server solution.

NAS are nice and user friendly. I usually see SANs at the clients I go to. I've never had to configure one, but iSCSI seems straight forward. OpenVPN is nice also, I have a DD-WRT router at my hosue that I use for an OpenVPN connection. I also use a Windows Server 2008 VPN at my house for L2TP connections. Have you ever configured Windows RRAS? Easiest VPN setup ever.

You should run Exchange on a seperate box, that's kind of standard. Exchange is too much to mix in with other server roles and features, and for the price you'll be paying for an Exchange license you might as well invest in a new server. Maybe get a new VHOST box, they're relatively cheap, and create a virtual domain controller and then use the old 2k8 server you have now for Exchange. Then you can build virtual servers on the new VHOST without affecting the DC or Exchange server.

 

[shake]

This is me.

My homie is doing programming right now, he gets paid a much being an intern as I do being a full-time employee. One of these days i'ma sit him down and pick his brain. Funny thing is I was by far the smarter/better grade getting one in high school, so I'm pretty sure I can do it.

Programming is so boring

I can't stand it. Once you get comfortable with a language it becomes easier to be creative though. It can also be very lucrative if you have good ideas or work for a big company.

 

[imaginaryone]

Im a software engineer intern for a company in NYC doing oracle and .NET development. Looking for a full time, need to continue practicing my algorithms and data structures so I can land one. Had dozens of interviews with almost every company you can think of, its really frustrating having all of these interviews and nothing coming of it.

 

[dathbgboy]

 


I don't deal with databases much, but @Minhsanity
said above that he's a SQL developer too. He would be able to advise more about proper types of database training.

i actually only had one semester of school in ms access and database when i graduated in 2012. I learned SQL on the job here at my company and have been doing that for almost 2 years now. With databases and SQL, you can really learn with hands on training or even getting books to help you pick it up. 

I'm doing a 6wk course in SQL right now. Using MS Access for the course since I don't have SQL Server and the other ones. Trying to use those skills and Excel to enhance my resume for a project manager position.

Yall that knew yall wanted to do IT are good to go, I'm 28 and starting from scratch with this since the lawer route didn't pan out.

I feel SQL is simple but the examples this teacher is kind of all over the place. My Excel teacher has a whole lesson guiding u to teach u a technique every lesson.

Considered gettin an MSIS if I went back to school but not trying to take the GMAT/GRE and the prereqs required