Any Network Admins In The House?

[theryno665]

Alright, so here's my situation: I have an Associate's Degree in Network Administration but have trouble finding a job - partially due to there not being many IT jobs around here (I had to move to a bigger city and am still having problems) and partially due to my lack of experience. I know this, hence why I'm looking for something entry level so I can work my way up and relearn most of the stuff I forgot. You see, I've had this Associate's for about 4 years now. Plus I took some Cisco classes in high school but that was about 9 years ago. Also, I have no certifications due to the fact that I've been living paycheck to paycheck and can't really afford the tests, whether I pass or fail.

I've pretty much been begging people I know for a decent job as I'm sick of working customer service for the past 10+ years. Well, today one of my friends pulled through, saying the small company he works for will need an Administrator in about a month. While I'm glad that he's thinking of me, it sounds like I'll be the only Administrator there, which I'm super-uncomfortable with due to my lack of experience. Yeah, I may be freaking out early and maybe I won't even get the job but I'm still freaking out.

Am I really cut out for this? What should I be doing to prepare? What should I expect if I do get the job? Should I just forget about IT since I can't get my foot in the door anywhere? What else should I do? I'm pretty much working just enough to keep me out here in a decent city so I don't have to move back home with my parents' (while my stepdad doesn't have a job himself) in the middle of nowhere. I don't want to move back home a failure.

[Pervy Stone Cold]

Just my limited knowledge opinion, but since you have a degree in that field have you considered trying to apply for a job in a company like Verizon which from what I know is supportive of furthering your education/training and maybe giving you more of a direction.

[Deleted]

Expect the worse if you have no experience and they are willing to hire you for a network admin job. No offense to you at all. It's very odd for a company to put so much faith into someone with no experience unless it's a small company and your friend is in real good with the company. Ask lots of questions, and try to get a good feel for the company and what will be in store for you once you take over. I had a teacher who was telling me he knew of a friend of his that landed an admin job then the network was a mess. The guy ended up quitting soon afterwards and the company blamed him for the previous guy's mistakes and for not being able to fix the issue. I guess they were very difficult do anything he thought would be good for their network.

[dabossftw]

May 18, 2010 8:43:06 GMT -5 theryno665 said:

I don't want to move back home a failure.

You'll never be a failure as long as you give it 100% of your best effort.

[theryno665]

May 18, 2010 9:58:49 GMT -5 @jeffx said:

Expect the worse if you have no experience and they are willing to hire you for a network admin job. No offense to you at all. It's very odd for a company to put so much faith into someone with no experience unless it's a small company and your friend is in real good with the company. Ask lots of questions, and try to get a good feel for the company and what will be in store for you once you take over. I had a teacher who was telling me he knew of a friend of his that landed an admin job then the network was a mess. The guy ended up quitting soon afterwards and the company blamed him for the previous guy's mistakes and for not being able to fix the issue. I guess they were very difficult do anything he thought would be good for their network.

See, that's what I'm afraid of. My friend is pretty much looking out for me and trying to find me a decent job, so I don't even know if I'm in the running. Also, from the sounds of it, I'm not even 100% sure if they even have an IT department right now because he said I'd be building the network from the ground up. I don't know what's going on with that. If I were an assistant Network Administrator so that I could re-learn stuff on the job, I'd be much more excited. It just sucks that after all this time, this is literally the only IT job I've had a shot at, and I'm not sure if I can do it.

[ThePhantom86]

Do you have a copy of Win 2000 server or Win 2003 server? Do you have the ability to run VM's on your own computer? Do you have more than 1 computer at your house?

These are things that can be done at home. Setup a small network in your house so you can refresh yourself. If you get interviewed, defiantly ask how big the network is or how big the expect it to be. Come up with a good unique computer name for each system (whether server or desktop/laptop).