IT BS thread

Maybe I'm not up to date on facts, but this is what my assumptions of the situation would be:

1. In WinXP and below, your OEM box would have a printed license key, either on the box or as a sticker on the packet that included your Windows recovery disc. After that period, they started 'baking' the code into the disc so it would auto-fill when you used the system restore.
2. I don't understand by what the Vaio user meant when he said, "Before I rebooted it I had windows 10 because of the update. Now, after rebooting it, still at windows 8.1 because of it starting off at Windows 8 and having to I guess do that upgrade first..." Is he trying to say that he is dual-booting Win8.1 and Win10, or that when he said 'rebooted' he really meant 'reinstalled'? I'm guessing it's the latter situation.
3. If I was correct in #2, then my understanding of the Win10 upgrade process is that it upgrades your 'key'. Bad news is you can no longer go back to an older OS. Good news is that the installation process should not require a key, but rather it identifies the machine configuration with Microsoft and authenticates once a internet connection is established. Even if the machine came with an older OS install disc, there's no need to go in order, nor CAN you go in that order based on what I've previously said. Instead, you need to download Win10 install media and use that directly. Oh, and if you aren't already aware, it's best to put those installables on a bootable USB stick so you can get fast install times and not wait all day.

Please correct me if I'm wrong

 

Sorry, by rebooting I meant start from scratch, like when I first got it.

 

On another note, I have a buddy who has been the IT Systems Manager for 4 years at a company with two buildings (about 400 total employees?), and before that was a support desk supervisor for 3 years for the same company. The guy is very good at what he does: he doesn't just have IT smarts, but he is also reasonable and professional with his approach to managing upgrades and security.
He's undervalued at his current employer and he's been looking for something new. He's received positive feedback from other organizations as well, and has an upcoming opportunity, but there's one thing he's worrying about: what to put down for 'desired salary'.
It's never an easy question, but he's additionally hampered because if he looks at places like salary.com, he's currently underneath the pay scale for his title by a good margin. He may have risen through the ranks, but his salary didn't keep track because of that old situation, "what makes me need to pay you more, if I can keep getting more work out of you for the same dollar?"

So, my question to you all who are out there, what's the going rate for my buddy up here in the PNW, or at least what value should he be filling in the 'desired salary' box to not scare away an interview, yet not undervalue himself?

 

Anyone on here have experience setting up Render Farms?

 

If it's through a 3rd party recruiter, I ask flat out what the salary range is. Just like with car negotiations, whoever says a price first loses. I'd leave it blank and hash it out after an interview.

 

Hi All first post in this thread.

I have been in IT for 25+ years and I still have a hard time when it comes to asking for what I think I am worth. Right now I know I am worth more than what I am currently making. You may think what your asking for is high and will disqualify you from getting the job but unless your asking for 200k and the going rate is 120 it probably won't.

There is a jack ass at my work who really hasn't produced much and used to work FOR me and is now making 30k+ more then me just because he keeps asking. Its quite disappointing. Asking more shows confidence in your skills and abilities. However if you don't produce you will most likely be kicked to the curb. I have seen more incompetent people making serious $$$ and it really comes down to how well you BS with those above you more than your abilities.

In short I wouldn't worry too much about "scaring away" and interview. Here in LA its hard to find good people because they are is a lot of demand which brings salaries up.

 

Current opportunity is direct, no 3rd parties.

I really appreciate your response, thank you. As for 'asking for more', the guy can't even get an annual review, and has all but stopped asking to use his vacation.

I should also say that he definitely does work. He's done an impressive job of keeping things running and has key points in his work history where he's saved the company big money. without him, that place would be on stone tablets in the dark.

 

Asking for more doesn't always work. When it doesn't its time to move on. I seem to move on about every 5 years give or take.

Yeah when I started at my current place 5 years ago they hadn't even started to virtualize anything and where running on 100Mbps Ethernet with T1s. Now the entire business runs on 8 physical servers (which could probably be reduced to 4), has Gig/POE switches to every port, and servers on 10G.

The key thing to come to grips with is that no matter how much you have done for the company or how important you "think" you are to the operations of the company is that the company will still move on without you. It may be a struggle for the company for a bit but they will survive without you. Then there is the disappointing fact that the person that comes in behind you will most likely say how messed up everything is and that you didn't know what you were doing but that is just because they are stupid or they are trying to justify the huge salary they happened to negotiate for your old position.

IT is truly a thankless job most of the time.

Best of luck to your buddy.

 

You can say that again a million times!!

 

Code:

printf "IT is truly a thankless job most of the time.\n%.0s" {1..1000000}

 

Im not a coder but i get this and its hilarious

 

If your a young IT guy, desktop support for cougars isn't too bad. They know how to thank you.

 

Wait till they ask if you do any "work on the side".

 

I agree with the sentiment, but I have had some interesting occurrences in the past.
When I left my first 'real' job, my manager just about cried. My contact had been extended by a year and I was part the expiration by a few months. He knew he couldn't match the package I was agreeing to at the new place.

At the last place I left, my boss got in trouble with the executive staff for not providing a counteroffer. My vacancy hasn't been filled for over a year. I still hear from my old dev team. One guy is constantly talking about how good my legacy code is, how well it interfaces, and how hard it is to create more of what I was doing. I railed for a year about how a certain app needed to be fixed up, which they never did. Once I left, they hired a consulting team to analyze the app for $300/hr (Yeah I wasn't getting paid a fraction of that), and they came to the exact same conclusion I did.

Every now and then you get some sweet justice.

 

Told a cute girl I'd fix her MacBook pro... that was my first mistake. Apparently you can't make or create offline install media for OS X anymore. They force me to drive 40 miles to the Apple store to get the OS reinstalled.

Their online recovery/reinstall keeps failing with an ambiguous code too. Reminds me why I got rid of apple shit 4 years ago.

 

Come on be honest, you bad mouthed the guy before you. I think it's a requirement I know I've hired a gem when they ask why it was done that way. Sometimes the answer is the previous guy was dumb ass, sometimes the answer is look closer grasshopper and learn from a master. But, most of the time the answer is the previous guy just did it that way, tell me how you'd like to improve it.

 

One place I worked had the salary requirement question and some applicants didn't even get an interview because they put too high or low of a figure in that question. Too low and I figured they weren't experienced enough, too high and maybe they were too experienced. Your buddy would do well to learn the going rate. I got mine from the salary sites and talking to other employers in the area. Another tactic is to just answer negotiable to that question. One gig didn't want to pay as much as I wanted, so I negotiated more vacation and stock options.

^+1^