1

I’m pretty happy where I’m at currently, but am just wondering about the future. Here’s what going on.

I’ve worked at my company for 10 months, as an “IT Support Specialist”. I am a glorified help desk technician, which I am fine with. I’ve been in IT for almost 10 years, and I truly enjoy helping people with their day to day issues. But I want more. I am the sole technician, and my boss is the director. We outsource all of our server administration / network administration, although we have a very basic network setup. a couple switches, router, etc.

I have administered servers and VM’s in a previous position, and I excelled. There’s no reason I can’t do that here. But my boss is extremely reluctant to give me any more responsibilities. I’m starting to worry about my future with this company, as the way it stands now, there’s not much room for growth. There is my position, and my boss’ position, and he will not be retiring for another 15 years.

I have spoken with my boss on a few different occasions, regarding wanting more responsibility, but the time frame is always pushed backed and delayed. I spoke with one of the report writers in the department about this situation, and she pretty much said this is the way it’s always been (Helpdesk tech on site, and everything else is outsourced)

I make decent money for what I do, but I want to do more / make more. I’m ready to move up from the helpdesk tech role.

I know you all can’t make this decision for me, but I’m leaning towards looking for other positions, but my wife says just wait it out. Obviously, I’m going to have a real sit down with my boss about all of this before I make any decisions, but am anxious to hear what the community thinks.

Thanks all!

24 Spice ups
2

I have been in a situation where there was no upward growth or knowledge and it sucks. Maybe later this year never comes, especially when a good portion of your infrastructure appears to be outsourced.

Brush up your resume and go fishing.

10 Spice ups
3

If you ain’t learning anything new or getting challenged at all in your job and your boss can’t/won’t do anything about it then its go time! Just make sure not to leave until you have something lined up for you. GL!

5 Spice ups
4

I am in a similar situation as you minus the issue of no advancement, except I have nowhere near as much time in IT (3 years). I worked in a helpdesk/desktop support role for a university for 2 years before I was laid off/position eliminated due to state budget cuts and before that job I worked Helpdesk for a year.

Now I am back in sort of a hybrid helpdesk/desktop support job for a hospital. Good news is the systems and network admins all seem to come from the service desk I work at. It sounds like there isn’t a clear path like the one I have in my situation (I am working on certs and putting my time in here to move up, hopefully to a systems/server admin position).

If you want more I think your choice may be pretty clear.

5

I feel like you answered this yourself. If you are that unhappy time for a new job… :slight_smile:

1 Spice up
6

Stability and being content are nice, but you are obviously meant for more. That’s your gut talking; don’t ignore it!

1 Spice up
7

I’d disagree with that statement, and I think if you re-read your own post, you would disagree with it too. You have a sense that this isn’t really what you want to be doing. You have made efforts to change that within the company and you have been rebuffed. There’s no reason for the status quo to change if they feel it’s working fine as it is, so the only way to change your situation is to start looking elsewhere. You don’t have to take another job, but it’s in your best interests to look and test the waters. You may find something that particularly interests you and is a better fit than what you have now.

5 Spice ups
8

You answered your own question. Time to get your resume out there and start looking.

4 Spice ups
9

Would bringing the server administration in house benefit your company? Would the uptime percentage go up? Would the cost go down?

3 Spice ups
10

Nothing wrong with looking.

2 Spice ups
11

Look at this from a very positive light. You are employed at a job that pays decently and seem reasonably happy with the work and people You want to grow and expand and don’t look like you will have the opportunity with your current company so get your resume together, get networking and look for your dream job. You don’t have to take anything less since you are already in a cushy position. You can always work on your own personal growth while working there and looking for that dream job.

To the point of growth and advancement at your current company, can you build a dev/test environment at work? Maybe you can prove your capabilities to your boss in that way. Look for a new initiative on your own for which you can build at least a proof of concept/trial in-house. See if you can get permission to start something new rather than take the reins of existing responsibility and you might both add some additional value and prove yourself to your current manager. Then you can add value by taking on growing responsibility and reducing the dollars spent some on outsourced providers.

Another point to make with your director is that you should always know enough about and have sufficient control over your systems in-house to be able to fire your outsource provider. Even if you don’t take over day-to-day operations try to get enough familiarity with the system to be a viable backup to the MSP/outsourcer. This is simply the reverse of the sometimes seen method whereby in-house staff will train oustource staff for “backup” or “follow-the-sun” support only to see the actual ownership of those duties actually being sent to the outsourcer. Just a thought.

12

Just like everyone else said, touch-up that resume and try to find a better position to your liking.

13

Look around passively, look harder after the new year when places play musical chairs.

1 Spice up
14

Time to flee the nest and allow you wings to spread

15

Sometimes you have to move sideways before you can move up. Especially if you want to break out of a support role and into system administration. I’d look for a new job that allows you to add more administration to your resume even if your title doesn’t change so that you can land an admin job after that. Job hopping is a lot of work but the sooner you get the bigger pay and title you want, the sooner you reap the benefits!

16

Look around - worst thing is you don’t find something you like. Or, you do, they make an offer, and your boss either counters (which would include more responsibility and $), or you have a new job.

17

If you want to grow you got to go. If you are a comfy little hobbit by all means stay.

1 Spice up
18

The community gave you great advice Pursell. All in all it comes down to you and what you feel is best. From the way you speak on the situation, it seems you are stuck and will have to do with it as it does on. When it comes down to the nitty gritty, it sounds like you will be looking elsewhere regardless whether somethings go your way or they dont. If I had to venture a guess, if its always been that way, until something or someone changes their jobs above you it will be that way. You gotta take things off at the head if you want it to change in a figurative sense. As someone who has been where you are. I have to leave due to nothing was changing, growth was stunted, and not being able to use skills attained and to learn more, they are just wasting away. Go ahead and have your conversations with your boss and you may get lucky, but usually in situations like this wont change. Also, do whats best for you and your family. Take advantage of the situation and strike while the iron is hot.

19

If you are not happy look for something else that you think might be a better fit.

20

A few steps I would take:

-put it in writing what your goal is an enumerate some steps towards it. As I read, a good goal to put forward is something like “saving the company money in the long term and enabling company personnel(you) to become more familiar with the equipment and environment to not be totally dependent on consultants full time.”

-Since you have a fairly simple network, it shouldn’t be a hard task to identify the major technologies and equipment your boss it worried about. Write down the major stuff and then look up some training courses on the subjects you wrote down. Note the costs. Getting certificates out of some classes would also boost your standing. This will address the lack of confidence your boss has. You will submit these classes to your boss later for your purposes.

-Outline some areas of setup or network design that are customized or out of normal configurations. Schedule time with your consultants to go over these configurations and learn about the whys and the hows. If the MSP balks at this, it’s a clear sign you shouldn’t be trusting them anyway.

-Pour over in-place documentation of your network. Notate areas that need improvement or are old/invalid. Go back to your consultants and have them fill gaps in the documentation, it is extremely common for network docs held by MSP’s to be neglected. This will help your company immensely if something should ever happen to the MSP company or your primary techs there… As well as make you look good.

-Do your own analysis of where the network could be improved, and a few projects you would like to line up to improve the systems and business. Put together a report with your boss as the audience.

-Take all of this and use it as ammunition to point out that not only are you dedicated and want to grow and hold more responsibility, you’ve thought it through. This is the perfect time to bring up the fact that once you’ve collected all this info and informed yourself, you can go back and re-negotiate the contracts with the MSP so that they are secondary support for you. I say again, you should not be looking to get rid of them, just change the pecking order and bring more control in house, which saves money. This will help show that your expenses for training and the rest are well spent as you’ve now proposed a large reduction in the monthly support costs which over time will pay for themselves and then start generating positive influence on the balances.

If you’re trying to do stuff like this and getting no support, or worse, push back… Then you’re probably right. Your boss and company like things as they are and your ambition is not well suited for the company.