Going to be the only IT guy at a new position

[sean4441 (speelman)]

Hello, Everyone!

Currently I am working in a two man IT shop at a small business and always had a least another IT professional working with me. I recently accepted a new job offer and start the new job in a few weeks. I have been professionally working in IT for about 2 years now. The new site has around 75 users and is windows based. At the new job I will be the sole IT guy. I am looking for advice, tips and best practices that will help me be more successful in this new position. Some projects the new place wants to go forward with are setting up a new VPN/firewall and getting an inventory of all hardware and software, spiceworks for the win!
I look forward to everyone’s responses.

Thanks!

[thatcher]

Congrats on the new job. With 75 users, I’d say you’ll probably be pretty busy. You may want to set up the knowledge base in Spiceworks so people can do a little self-service troubleshooting and help take some of the simpler things off your plate.

[doctor-who (RAM.)]

Gargle mouth wash every morning very loudly in your cubicle, then grab a mirror, stare deeply into your eyes and meow for 15 minutes. THEN everyone will think you’re insanely weird and will leave you alone to do what ever you need to do.

[reg2 (Reg1145)]

Good luck. With no backup, it may be a difficult job.

[mattjones1537 (mjones19)]

Keep the numbers of the people you used to work with incase you can’t remember something or figure something out. Never underestimate the power of a fresh mind. And dont forget to take breaks if needed.

[justin-e (_Justin_)]

RAID 10, backups (test them!), and regular patching will all help in the long run. And remember Spiceworks is always here. Good luck!

[dtaylor (Baxio)]

You’re never truly alone when you access to Google

[sean4441 (speelman)]

@thatcher

Congrats on the new job. With 75 users, I’d say you’ll probably be pretty busy. You may want to set up the knowledge base in Spiceworks so people can do a little self-service troubleshooting and help take some of the simpler things off your plate.

Thanks! yes I have a feeling I will be pretty busy. I would like to do this so I can finish some of the bigger behind the scenes projects.

[mattjones1537 (mjones19)]

@rjones1

Gargle mouth wash every morning very loudly in your cubicle, then grab a mirror, stare deeply into your eyes and meow for 15 minutes. THEN everyone will think you’re insanely weird and will leave you alone to do what ever you need to do.

This is genius i have no idea why i didnt think of this first off.

[sean4441 (speelman)]

@rjones1

Gargle mouth wash every morning very loudly in your cubicle, then grab a mirror, stare deeply into your eyes and meow for 15 minutes. THEN everyone will think you’re insanely weird and will leave you alone to do what ever you need to do.

I think you may be on to something here!

[aaronvinyard (shatteredhourglass)]

I will say, it will be interesting. There will be times when you are bored because you have no on with whom to talk. There will also be times when you are overwhelmed by the number of things you have to do… and YOU have to do them.

Do they have any consultants now? How were their services installed and managed before you?

[aaronvinyard (shatteredhourglass)]

@rjones1

Gargle mouth wash every morning very loudly in your cubicle, then grab a mirror, stare deeply into your eyes and meow for 15 minutes. THEN everyone will think you’re insanely weird and will leave you alone to do what ever you need to do.

Or just wear a hat like is in your profile picture. /sarcasm, I kid.

[sean4441 (speelman)]

@mattjones1537

Keep the numbers of the people you used to work with incase you can’t remember something or figure something out. Never underestimate the power of a fresh mind. And dont forget to take breaks if needed.

I defiantly will and they have agreed to help me if I need some assistance in something. A fresh mind is always good and will help you figure out things!

[sean4441 (speelman)]

@justin-e

RAID 10, backups (test them!), and regular patching will all help in the long run. And remember Spiceworks is always here. Good luck!

Thanks! the backup solution now is not the best so hopefully I’ll change that. I will sleep better knowing spiceheads are here to help

[doctor-who (RAM.)]

@aaronvinyard

@rjones1

Gargle mouth wash every morning very loudly in your cubicle, then grab a mirror, stare deeply into your eyes and meow for 15 minutes. THEN everyone will think you’re insanely weird and will leave you alone to do what ever you need to do.

Or just wear a hat like is in your profile picture. /sarcasm, I kid.

I don’t endorse normality, what is odd is awesome, and what is awesome is intriguing.

@mattjones1537

This is genius i have no idea why i didnt think of this first off.

Mjones19 after years of practicing the art of solitude, “odd” things make that possible… after chinese/mexican farts don’t work as you get older though… the person you’re talking to just keeps talking but has the “oh god” face on, but I’d assume they try not to come off as rude… that is a good parlor trick though, and well worth a laugh after they leave.

[gilrodriguez9399 (GeeRod)]

Congrats, I am also a single IT person but with a larger user base 125 users, 2 locations and I also handle the phone system. My recommendation would be to find a trusted local IT shop that can be your backup and fill in. It is very important to plan everything from vacations to projects. Use the local shop for those small projects and they will become familiar with your environment and then manage them. Also have the company provide you a company phone, again as the single point of contact you will burn minutes. Are you salary or hourly? Will they pay overtime or provide compensation time instead?

Document all you can.

Good Luck!!

[sean4441 (speelman)]

@aaronvinyard

I will say, it will be interesting. There will be times when you are bored because you have no on with whom to talk. There will also be times when you are overwhelmed by the number of things you have to do… and YOU have to do them.

Do they have any consultants now? How were their services installed and managed before you?

You got that right it will be interesting! I think it will go to the extremes of being really busy then pretty slow, so I will have to be ready for both. Currently they have no consultants and I will have to find out contracts and contacts with what services they correspond too. Before it was managed by one IT guy and in the last few months another non related IT employee was helping manage it, hes an engineer so he knew a few things.

[kosta-colorado-it-geezer]

Sounds like my job.

If a “help desk” system is not already in place, institute one to have users submit requests. You can prioritize tickets and get some control over the position.

Spiceworks inventory is handy but does take a lot of effort. I’ve been maintaining an Excel spreadsheet to supplement inventory for some time. One day I hope to phase that out.

If there’s a major problem (e.g., an outage) - try to get vendors involved ASAP. Use their expertise; this helps with your workload.

A job like this keeps life interesting. Every day you can learn something new! And it can be difficult to find the time to do things like strategic planning or major projects.

[edgrauel]

I made a similar move about 6 months ago (from an MSP to a 100 user 4 site environment). My advice is to find anyone with a modicum of technical ability- like they know what you say when you ask them to reboot their computer, can easily find a power cable with you walking through how to find it on the phone etc. and make them your friend.

Also, make sure to set clear boundaries on who can call you when and for what, otherwise you will be fixing everyone’s email contacts or adjusting screen resolution for someone while you try to eat dinner. Make an escalation template for issues, if the whole network is down or a server crashes, you are it. If someone is having a non critical application error or the like, that can wait until the next morning when you are at work.

Don’t fall into bad habits of not documenting EVERYTHING!!! As you are a one man shop, if you are hit by a bus (proverbial or physical) someone has to take over from you. Make a log of IP schemes, contacts, usernames and passwords, who has access where, what vendors control things, how to contact your ISP, visios of your network etc. I made mine in the weeks before and after Christmas when everyone else was on vacation.

Make the network your own, but dont make it impossible for someone else to take over. One day you might get promoted and get to hand it off to someone else

Good luck and congrats!

[timothycumby6650 (TCumby)]

@Gil7582

Congrats, I am also a single IT person but with a larger user base 125 users, 2 locations and I also handle the phone system. My recommendation would be to find a trusted local IT shop that can be your backup and fill in. It is very important to plan everything from vacations to projects. Use the local shop for those small projects and they will become familiar with your environment and then manage them. Also have the company provide you a company phone, again as the single point of contact you will burn minutes. Are you salary or hourly? Will they pay overtime or provide compensation time instead?

I agree totally. I have been in that position. Find a good local IT firm. Consult them when needed.