From The Eyes of a 25-Year Network Engineer, Veteran
Think back to high school, and think about life now. What should school have taught you in order to help you prepare for the real world? The importance of having good credit? How to balance a checkbook? Budgeting and the basics of managing finances, maybe?
College and careers, in relation, are no exception. There are things that you wish you were taught, or real-world knowledge in the field that books just never mentioned. I have separated this post into two distinct categories: Things that you needed to know but were never taught, and what you were never told about working in the industry. Some of what I’ll tell you may fall under the umbrella of the white-collar office life, in general, so I will try to be as specific as possible.
What books never taught you
Most tech work can be classified into two categories: dictating what you will be doing at work that day. You are either putting out fires or working to avoid starting any. In any systems, administration, or engineering position, in my experience, only about 20% of your daily tasks are actually technical. Here is a list of what you can expect when you take your first step in your new career.
PRO TIP: Always proofread your emails before sending. One bad email can change how you are perceived in the office. Press send with care.
When There Are No Fires to Extinguish
- Meetings: Unavoidable time sinks. Make peace with them.
- Email Management: Don’t let emails grow stale, especially from management. Set aside a window that works for you to reply promptly.
- Documentation: Outdated documentation is the bane of every company, especially those with high turnover rates. Update it frequently.
- Diagram creation: Detailed diagrams go hand in hand with updated documentation. You will use them often.
- More Meetings: Sorry (they’re inevitable).
- Vendor Management: Keeping a handy sheet, either on a file share or company wiki, with all service providers will come in handy. In the event of an outage.
- Asset Management: You wouldn’t believe how much equipment grows legs and walks out of the office. Keep track.
- Life Cycle Refresh: Most companies have life cycle management for equipment replacement every three years.
- Maintenance: Maintenance windows are usually around midnight-3 am. Prepare. Have good documentation with good rollback procedures. Nothing quite like misconfiguring mission-critical equipment when you’re half asleep.
- Tech Work: This varies from position to position.
At the end of the day
Tech work can be fun and rewarding, if you let it. The tech aspect of work-life is great. Many new toys and things to learn and keep you busy. But office life is not without its drama and politics. Be mindful, and wary, for one wrong email or a single passive-aggressive CC: on an email could land you in the unemployment line.
In my next post, I will be talking about the basics on how to avoid fires at work. When I use the term fire, I am speaking about any unanticipated surprise that caused a problem, or outage, that could have been avoided.
