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I just left a position in a small business as the general IT guy. I handled everything a Network Admin, SysAdmin, Help Desk Tech, and Security guy would, albeit on a small scale. I decided to move on because my focus was being pushed into EDM, and that is not where I want to be. In order to avoid stagnating and to advance myself, I decided to leave in order to pursue better endeavors. As my time there was rather short-lived, I wasn’t getting calls back about Systems Administrator positions. Experience is the buzzword in IT, and I guess people didn’t think I had enough.

So, I decided to interview for and accept a position as a Tier 3 Help Desk Tech. The pay is great, the position is relevant, and it is in an industry and on a campus that I know I will love. The focus is on Active Directory and Exchange Server Administration, so I know I will be reinforcing my IT foundation and challenging myself. That said, I want to show these people that they made the right choice, and I want to excel at what I do.

My experience with Exchange Servers is at the basic level, but I know enough to be able to find and apply the solutions I find. Basically, this post is me asking what any of you experienced folk would expect of a new hire in this position. I want to start making a name for myself, and I’d like to stay here as long as I can and move up the chain. Any advice and comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

24 Spice ups
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Don’t shoot for what we’d expect, shoot for what we wouldn’t expect. Go out and get Exchange and run it at home. Do you own your own domain? If not, buy one. (I have scottalanmiller.com, for example.) Run your own Exchange server from home. Build it soup to nuts. Implement everything you can think of. Break it, fix it.

18 Spice ups
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Thanks, Scott. That was actually something I was thinking about. I was trying to figure out how I could run it on a VM and get effective training out of it.

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Pretty much all Exchange runs on a VM. If a business is running Exchange in house and isn’t virtualized that’s double problems. Running Exchange in house is pretty much a no no today. Not completely, but very often it is caused by technology or business misunderstandings (or hubris or tin foil hat syndrome.)

But even when Exchange makes sense in house, it should always be virtualized.

For home, you could run it on old desktop, or on an HP Proliant MicroServer, or even on VirtualBox on your desktop. But as it is email, I’d lean towards something that will be on 24x7 and can be used for other things too.

2 Spice ups
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I’ve had my fair share of fixing things in the last 20 years, Exchange twice.

Exchange 5.0 1998 3 days to get back online.

Exchange on a VM, shadow volume went crazy and used the entire disc space, 2 hour fix.

Built second Exchange Server and second AD Server.

But I’m all cloud now

Rackspace for email

Godaddy for DNS

Google Docs

Rackspace Jungle Disk for file sharing.

Lonewolf Brokerwolf Real Estate using their servers RDP.

Earthlink Phones VoIP

Flydoc Fax to Email

Only 48 employees but 600 agents in 20 Offices

But now I don’t have to worry about anything going down and fixing it.

No licensing, hardware, SSL certificates, nothing and saving the company $$

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Best advice ever.

The amount of places I’ve worked that don’t have a test lab. A few times I’ve been able to work from home to sim a situation at home and find the resolution because work doesn’t have a lab.

Any interview I go to that has a product I’ve never used before I’ll install and play with prior to the interview if possible. It’s amazing what you’ll learn by doing that.

For example, Windows 2000 had a nice little ‘feature’ that, when you ran DCPROMO, and let it install DNS would create a record that said ‘I am a root DNS server’. This meant that forwarders couldn’t be used.

That little feature helped me out in an interview when I was asked about Windows 2000 and Active Directory.

You never know what you’ll find out just by installing something.

2 Spice ups
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When you’re done with all of that, sign up on windowsazure.com and do it all again, remotely. Connect your local domain to the remote cloud based host and get the hang of working with multiple locations. Add another azure host, and connect them together. Backup 'em up, tear 'em down, and build them back.

3 Spice ups
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Read Community post in groups of relevance and get a bit out of those comfort zones. Try other niche communities, such as StackExchange and MS community for added perspective. Visit, support, and volunteer for technical user groups, e.g. a local Spicecorps. Don’t know your education level; but, keep taking new classes and advance your certification repertoire as opportunity permits.

Try Microsoft’s TechNet Virtual Labs—

.

There is a strong drive to move to O365, mainly for Exchange. Can help to get a test account to understand its options. MS has frequent webinars for it as well—

3 Spice ups
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I guess exchange is already installed and running. The best thing you can practice is data recover and exchange restores. it is not something you do every day. Work what what needs to be done to bring a mailstore back on line and then run the log files to get it back to date.

Also if the exchange is totally dead and people are screaming for old emails there are 3rd party tools out there that will allow you to open and read the .edb files and export them to personal .pst files for each user.

Learning these skills will make sure you keep your head in the unlikely event of a system failure.

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Along with setting up an exchange lab like SAM suggested, there is also quite a bit of training material and options from Microsoft in their learning center:

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If you are going to run an exchange server at home on a VM you need several things

  • A box to run the VM’s
  • Server licences(Exchange Server 20xx, maybe Server 2012 also)
  • Domain name
  • Static external IP address or dydns type setup

I think the most challenging part of this is going to be the server software, because of the cost. If you are in school at all you might be able to get the software for free, I did at least. There might be other options, but I do not currently know of any.

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To me, it sounds like your confidence is shaken because you didn’t get any interviews for a sys admin position. Keep in mind that while system admin is a common title, the level of experience can drastically vary from one organization to the next. A sys admin in a small organization is just not going to have the same skill set compared to one thats in a larger organization (because SMBs dont usually want to pay the money). Being in a similar position as you, you just dont get the exposure to a vast number of technologies being in an SMB (although YMMV). You’ve gotten a good position at a larger organization where you probably will get more exposure to various technologies and training. As long as you seize those opportunities by the throat when they come around (if they come around), I think you’ll be in good shape.

All that being said, I think following everyone’s recommendation of setting up and experimenting with the tech on your own will help too!

2 Spice ups
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When I was 23 and starting my first week in IT as a Help Desk Tech with absolutely no experience or idea what I was getting into, I was asked the following question. “What are you going to do to ensure you keep your position for many years to come?” My answer was so I though well thought out and strong. “I’m going to work smart and hard. I am going to study diligently, and prove myself indispensable to the company” I was proud of the answer, and then this older savvy IT veteran said, “Son the moment you think they can’t make it with out you, is the moment they will cut you and prove they can.” I became a better tech at that exact moment. I shared any simple piece of knowledge I learned, I worked better as a team member, and first and foremost I made sure at the end of the day I was the one that was happy with my work. Because if I was happy with meeting my standards I had set for myself I knew my bosses would be.

Just continue to be introspective, and you will achieve your goals.

6 Spice ups
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Is there a cost effective way to do that?

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What is the cost?

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You can get domains for less than $20 at hover.com. Exchange and Windows Server are available as free trials.

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I’m surprised nobody has yet mentioned the Microsoft Virtual Academy:

It’s free.

For instance: Training | Microsoft Learn

3 Spice ups
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I’ll second all I’ve read above, Spice it up man. In the modern IT world realize that you are not alone and you can rely on your fellow IT pros on the web and in Spiceworks to back you up and help you grow. Defintely build a home lab and play with and learn the inner workings of the apps you support.

From my own experience, don’t come in trying to change how they are doing things…as Covey says, seek first to understand…THEN to be understood. Document the environment and get up to speed on how everything works. Show them how dedicated and hardworking you are by putting forth extra effort at first to get up to speed quickly. Ask your manager how you can do better. Find a good mentor.

2 Spice ups
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For me a few key items I would suggest:

1 - As a level 3 I would say look at coming up with new and improved processes for whatever you are working on. Whether it be from ticketing to application resolution, show that you are more than your job description.

2- Don’t stop learning…EVER! Even if outside your scope keep updated on tech advances within the industry your company is in.

1 Spice up
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Thanks everyone. As usual, a ton of great advice in here. I guess my biggest concern is whether or not I’m going to live up to everyone’s expectations. When I worked Help Desk, I was at the first level of support. It’s just going to be a new feeling knowing that I’m at the top tier for other techs. If I can’t solve someone’s problem super fast, I’m going to feel like the lower tier techs are thinking they can’t count on me. Most of this is probably just pre-job nerves. I tend to do better than I give myself credit for.