Best posts made by thanksajdotcom

Stolen from @Nic

@RojoLoco said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:

As much as I am a nice person I don't agree with the 'every kid gets a trophy' mentality.

I don't think nice is a factor. No matter how nice you are doesn't mean that you want to reward failure. Rewarding failure is just another term for trivializing success.

Agreed.

I mean I'm nice in the sense that I'm friendly towards people and if given the choice to be positive or negative I try my absolute best to be a positive influence on other people. If we're talking about my child though, I have a duty to them to raise them in what I consider to be the 'right way'.

Unfortunately, you now find yourself in opposition to most of American society if you want to raise your kids the "right" way (as mentioned above, no participation trophies, learning to deal with both success and failure, etc). Now you get to be the "bad guy" for wanting to raise sensible, well adjusted kids who can deal with reality and haven't been coddled. Which is f@cked if you ask me.

I was raised in a way that if I failed, I was told to figure out why, and either try again or, move on if it was a one-time thing, and learn from the mistake. I was raised that if I wanted to get ahead in life, I needed to work hard, be smart, and not just be passively accepting of everything, but if I wanted something, push for it, drive for it, and make it happen, which I know I need to tone down on in some ways (brute force doesn't work in relationships sadly). But the drive is important, because people who are successful all share certain traits at a fundamental level, and one of the biggest ones is the drive to succeed.

How does one define success? That’s a big question open to a lot of interpretation and scrutiny. If you ask 100 different people to define success, you'll get at least 80 different answers. In this case, I’m going to talk about my time in the IT field and as an IT service provider and hopefully share some tips with people in my former position on what helped me climb from retail hell to IT heaven.

Let’s go back a few years to a simpler time… oh wait, too far. Fast-forward the tape. OK, stop there. Good.

I worked at an office supply chain store on and off for three years between 2011 and 2013. It was an interesting time. During that time, I went from a mere sales associate to an “EasyTech Associate” to the onsite technician back to an associate to the onsite technician to EasyTech Expert (associate-level head of department but not management) and Onsite Technician. To say I wore many hats with varying levels of responsibility and pay levels is an understatement. However, I used this time to grow.

Points to take away:

• I made it my mission to know my products better than anyone. This meant I often bought products on my own dime to simply try them out and understand them better.
• I improved my overall technical knowledge, which led to me, through work, doing things like setting up a Windows Server 2012 print server and configuring VPNs for businesses.
• I worked my blooming rear-end off to be the best salesman/technician there.

However, despite all the things I gained there, it was still retail. I would never be working on high-end stuff (at least not consistently) and my growth in IT was fairly stunted.

Now, while I was working, I had started an internship through the college I was attending for a company in the financial industry. I got to learn all kinds of fun things like FINRAA regulations and also how to administer things in a professional environment. It was a small company but still, I was able to gain new exposure to elements of the field I had never even seen and some I had never even heard of before.

Points to take away:

• We were a two-man shop for 40-ish people in house and 150 reps across the country. I learned the struggles that most of the people working IT in the SMB face.
• I learned many best practices on things I had been doing for a long time and actually learned what a quality job meant.
• I was doing a great job but was laid off in September 2012. I entered one of the lowest points in my life. However, I bounced back and in October 2012 started a new job in the healthcare field (kind of), and in early November at an IT service provider — the one and only Niagara Technology Group (NTG). This is where I finally was able to grow.

Play the cards you have
I was what you might call "parched" as far as information was concerned. I was a dry sponge just waiting for the right time to come along and soak up what I could. In the time between when I started at NTG and when I had begun my work career (only a little over two years) I had tried to learn as much as possible, but there were still many aspects of the field I hadn’t gotten to touch or play with. However, everywhere I went, I was able to take something away, good or bad, and learn from it. I applied the good and learned from the bad — both from my mistakes and from others'.

Now, to the meat and potatoes of my post. First of all, let me just state that working in retail — any retail — is hell. No other way to put it. You are underpaid, under-appreciated, over-worked and often the expectations are unrealistic. Corporate America for you...

But, I made it out of that prison. I was finally free.

When I started at NTG, I set out to establish myself. I tell people that when I started there, I was far from truly qualified to start working for a company like NTG. Go to our IT service provider page and look at some of our people. I was nowhere near that level, and in many ways I'm still not. But, I like to say the key to success is not holding all the cards, but playing the ones you have well.

I had enough knowledge to handle some L1 stuff at the time. I have worked my butt off since to improve. You see, many people get out of retail into a professional job. Whether that is working for an MSP or not, there is often a shock that occurs when you do. It’s night and day. The quality of work expected, the consequences of failing, the level of skill. These are all in a completely different league than working in Geek Squad or as an EasyTech Associate. The bar is higher. Many people work very hard at first to impress their boss or company but then make the mistake of either stunting themselves by not continuing to grow in their knowledge or expertise, or, they get comfortable. NEVER get comfortable working for an MSP. What do I mean by that?

Let me first say I love my job. I wouldn’t trade it for any other. However, I stay on my toes. I realize that I’m not irreplaceable. I realize that there are people out there a lot more qualified than me. I realize that if I start to slack off, even a little, I’ve just lost what made me get the job in the first place, and I’m no longer a valuable asset as much as a liability.

MSPs work very different than in-house IT. In many ways, they are complete opposites. To an SMB, IT is a hit to the bottom line.They are a necessary evil and one they will skimp on every way they can. With an MSP, when you have more qualified techs, and you can offer more services, you increase your value internally and to the clients you serve. The level of respect is higher, but again, so are the expectations.

Points to take away:

• Where you are and where you can be are very different. Never mistake your current status for your future potential.
• Find something that makes you valuable. If nothing else, work yourself into the ground to prove that you have the drive and dedication to make it work with your employer.
• Keep raising the bar you set for yourself. When you reach a goal, set a newer, higher one. This will ensure you continue to grow and maintain your value. Stagnant techs are useless techs.

So, in my journey from retail hell to IT heaven, I have sacrificed; I have worked many 12+ hour days (more than I can name), been very active on IT communities, bailed out some of my own techs from situations that they were unable to fix (some more complex than others), and have really proven my value. I plan to continue for a long time at NTG. It was a lot of good planning and a little bit of luck, but I have settled into what I hope to make my permanent career.

So to all my fellow “up-and-coming” techs just starting out, lay out a roadmap. Where do you want to be in five years? Two years? Six months? Talent and brains without hard work and time will not get you very far. So push yourselves, and it will yield great rewards.

What is it that separates the men from the boys, the good from the great? Aptitude is one essential factor, but another is drive, or passion. You have to have that passion for what you do, pushing yourself to be better. SAM is smart, very smart. However, it was, and is, his passion for what he does that made him push to learn what he did, like he did, as fast as he did. It's paid its dividends many times over, I'm sure. However, it's pushing yourself beyond that proverbial comfort zone that makes you excel. Read more here!

http://www.thanksaj.com/2014/09/passion-the-separating-factor-between-good-and-great/

@thecreativeone91 said:

@Joyfano Yep, happens to me all the time.. I'm always hunting elephants.

This morning I woke up and shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know!

So I need some help...I really need a professional resume writer for someone who specializes in IT to help fix my resume. Sadly, that is money I don't have to spend, so I turn to the community. 2014 was a rough year for me. Even with everything I've dealt with the past 10 months, 2014 is still, to date, the worst year of my life.

The issue is that it is reflected by my resume. I've also bounced around the country a lot, which hasn't entirely been in my control either, so that compounds the issues too. What I need is a way to help redo my resume to try and put things in a more positive light/context. I've had it suggested to list some of the short-term jobs as projects, but the problem is that there isn't really a good way to do that based on the work I did there.

I know I need to find a position and stay there for awhile. Even something very entry-level, and I'm willing to do that. However, I'm finding I have trouble even getting some of those positions because people aren't willing to take that gamble. I've got a plethora of experience, especially in the MSP world, and have also done extensive marketing and sales work.

Anyone who knows someone or might be willing to help, I'd be most appreciative.

Thanks,
A.J.

@scottalanmiller said in MangoCon 2016:

AJ is still walking home from the train station.

Train got in early, actually. Supposed to arrive at 7:01, and I was off the train at 6:55. Bus wasn't until 7:20, and then it was still going to take an hour and twenty minutes to get home, and I'd have to do a transfer. Or, I could walk the exactly four miles home in about the same time, and not wait for 25 minutes doing nothing...so I walked it... @NetworkNerdWifey sent me a message through the FitBit app asking if I was sleepwalking around town to have already hit 10K steps by 6:30AM CDT. Lol

Would love to have some feedback on this! I know @thegillion said he has this but on CentOS. Thanks!
http://www.thanksaj.com/2015/04/how-to-setting-up-a-headless-plex-server-on-ubuntu-linux/