some IT recommendations..

[shatterstar]

Hello everyone, so I am in a position in my job where my boss's do not like the current IT guy we have (he always has excuses why he can't come to the office) so my boss's being that they know I'm into computers want me to learn from him and eventually replace him. Now I am not a IT person nor have I went to school for it, I have fixed a few computer problems here and there for friends and co-workers but that is as far as my knowledge goes however they are convinced I could be able to do this. Are there any books/guide that you guys recommend reading to get more knowledgeable in this field? I do realize its a huge field and there are many things to learn and while I am uncertain what are the things that our IT guys does here (he supposed to come in today to have a talk with boss's on this subject) I am certain that all aspects of this feild does not apply to an IT's everyday routine.

BIG BIG THANKS to any recommendations & or comments.
I know they should hire a new IT guy which might be an option later but I'm guessing its because I have some computer knowledge and the fact that I'm always in the office they want to eventually give me the position. kinda works to their benefit + saves them money as well.

 

[ripken204]

what is your current position?
if you don't want to take the job then don't, it sounds like they are pressuring you into it to save some money. IT can be very stressful, especially when things (servers/networks) decide to break.

if it is a small office then you will be fine, if you have a lot of employees then I wouldn't suggest it, especially since you don't think you are capable to do the job.
books can only help so much, it's all about having the hands on experience.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

There is no "quick way" of doing this, no "monarch/cliff notes" approach can do it.

First...we don't know what you would be in charge of. Some businesses have a simple system, not much to it..yet they have what they'll call an "IT Person" that helps people doing things in Outlook, scanning, basic MS Office stuff, basic troubleshooting of computers on a peer to peer network.

Other companies have large complicated setups....many servers, databases, perhaps a wide area network with VPN tunnels, lots of remote access, etc etc.

So..what kind of stuff are you assuming to be in charge of?

To be honest...it's a long evergoing process of learning, start with the basics, gain experience, get "hands on"...train under experienced people, and build up from there.

 

[cyr0n_k0r]

What is your industry?
How many employees do you have?
How are your offices setup? (single building, multiple buildings, regional/international operations)
Looking around what is the state of your technology? (CRT vs LCD monitors, average age of computers, brands that you notice like Dell, APC, HP, Cisco, Linksys, Netgear, D-link)
Is the current IT guy the only IT person for the whole company?
What do your phones look like? Are they older phones that use old phone wire, or newer phones that use thicker computer cable?

All this information will help us to determine what you might be in for and ways to help you.

 

[RocketTech]

Have you tried turning it off and then back on again?

Remember, if they don't like the job you're doing, they have a track record of firing 'the IT guy'.

 

[gimp]

What is your industry?
How many employees do you have?
How are your offices setup? (single building, multiple buildings, regional/international operations)
Looking around what is the state of your technology? (CRT vs LCD monitors, average age of computers, brands that you notice like Dell, APC, HP, Cisco, Linksys, Netgear, D-link)
Is the current IT guy the only IT person for the whole company?
What do your phones look like? Are they older phones that use old phone wire, or newer phones that use thicker computer cable?

All this information will help us to determine what you might be in for and ways to help you.

this.
hard to make any suggestions without having any idea what kind of setup is currently there.
Windows AD network? Workgroup?
In-house Exchange server?
Windows Server? If so, what versions of the OS?
What kind of storage? SAN? Local storage?
What kind of network hardware? Cisco? HP? Consumer-grade?
Routers? Multi-site or single site?

What would you actually be supporting?

 

[shatterstar]

well it is for a small business. maybe about 25 people here. I believe it would be some basic stuff as YeOldeStonecat said... (Office stuff, basic troubleshooting of computers on a peer to peer network.) as Im 90% sure that at least 22 / 25 know absolutely nothing about troubleshooting any computer problem.

For that kind of stuff I believe I am fine for, however I don't know anything about using programs that are not normally used by your average-slightly above average troubleshooter which is what worries me. though I know that statement does not say much and all depends on what I know. Still has me a bit worried. well I guess I can wait for him to show up to see what it is that he actually does.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Is there a server there? Or more?
Exchange Server?
Remote access?
Backups?
What line of business apps?

Office of 25..probably quite simple. Although I'm shocked that an office of just 25 has a full time IT person. Shouldn't need more than 3-4 hours a week of work.

 

[RocketTech]

The thing that will always get you is the stuf you don't know you need to know. Your boss needs to know mistakes will be made and you'll learn from them. It's his call as to whether you making mistakes and getting a cheap IT guy is a better value than a more expensive IT guy and (hopefully) fewer mistakes.

 

[shatterstar]

I'l try to answer what I know...

What is your industry?
How many employees do you have?

About 25 give or take.

How are your offices setup? (single building, multiple buildings, regional/international operations)

single building, 1 floor

Looking around what is the state of your technology? (CRT vs LCD monitors, average age of computers, brands that you notice like Dell, APC, HP, Cisco, Linksys, Netgear, D-link)

LCD monitors, I believe the PC's are 4-5 years old though Im not sure. I have never looked. (I work through my laptop) almost sure all are Dell based PC's. (Ican provide more info later.) as for the networking stuff I see switches, routers, APf from Dell Lynksys, Netgear & D-link. a mix of everything... lol

Is the current IT guy the only IT person for the whole company?

Yes. He's been in the company a very long time.

What do your phones look like? Are they older phones that use old phone wire, or newer phones that use thicker computer cable?

Thicker Computer Cable. Though we are not on VOIP phone system (if that matters)

Windows AD network? Workgroup?

I believe its a Windows AD network though not 100%.

In-house Exchange server?

Yes

Windows Server? If so, what versions of the OS?

Yes, Windows Exchange server 2003. One of my boss's said to try and look into a new server because the one we have is really old.... lol All PC's here are running on Windows XP as for what version of xp not sure yet.

What kind of storage? SAN? Local storage?

Not sure will have to get back to you.

What kind of network hardware? Cisco? HP? Consumer-grade?

Switches from Dell, Netgear
Routers/AP/Wireless looks to be consumer grade.

What would you actually be supporting?

My guess is to do stuff when he doesn't feel like coming in (he only comes in when there is a problem) though they keep saying they want to get rid of him.

I would like to get more specific on hardware but cannot being that they haven't spoken to him and I keep saying they want to get rid of him I do not know if he visits these forums or not so he may end up seeing this.

 

[gimp]

what kind of budget are you planning for reading materials?
CompTIA A+ and Network+ are a good place to start for the basic hardware/software and networking stuff. These books by Michael Meyers are recommended a lot.

As for Windows and Exchange; there may be better options, but the Microsoft Press stuff is pretty good. While those books won't necessarily give you the "correct" way to do things, they give you the Microsoft way.

IMO, simply managing user accounts is easy, and certainly does not require any kind of school education. They are pretty easy to get the hang of, as long as you aren't given enough permissions to break things in AD or Exchange.

As for server upgrades and migrations, whether it be AD or Exchange upgrgade/migrations, of course those are very involved and should be completed by somebody who has the knowledge and understanding.
Well, depending on how they want to go about doing it anyway.

 

[altivec]

Don't get into IT.

Just the way you answer the basic question you are far far far away from doing IT.
Fixing a driver or virus problem on a WindowsXP machine doesn't make someone a IT Manager.

Not knowing what is the cable on your phone (RJ11, RJ45) is quite basic.
Same thing for computer in the office, if just by a quick look around you can't figure out what you have...

I would be in your place i would stay away from that proposition unless you are welling to go into class after work for a year or two. If not don't bother it would hurt you more that anything else.

As a external consultant i saw to many internal guy who "knew" or to fix a thing or two on computer that by request from their boss tried to take over IT for many reason (availability, budget, etc...). Well the result were quite simple most of them ended up on loosing their job.

Have a look at it this way. Let's say you are a nurse and someone ask you to do surgery what do you think the result will end up like ?

 

[gimp0]

Tell them to hire an IT consultant/company to do things on an as needed per hour basis. You don't need a full time IT guy for 25 people unless it is a complex setup and even then it is questionable. This is very common in the small business space.

In house Exchange and AD with little to no computer knowledge is a disaster waiting to happen. You won't just need to learn about basic troubleshooting and apps we use, but also the whole enchilada of backups, disaster recovery, and security.

 

[KidZer0]

Tell them to hire an IT consultant/company to do things on an as needed per hour basis. You don't need a full time IT guy for 25 people unless it is a complex setup and even then it is questionable. This is very common in the small business space.

In house Exchange and AD with little to no computer knowledge is a disaster waiting to happen. You won't just need to learn about basic troubleshooting and apps we use, but also the whole enchilada of backups, disaster recovery, and security.

+1 on this.

 

[MrGuvernment]

^^^ Yup

Exchange can be awsome, but when something goes wrong, it tends to really go wrong.....

i jumped heads into an exchange 2003 set up, and i learned real fast

Are you a fast learner?
Do you retain knowledge or you would have to look up solutions to everything every time?
Can you think ourside the box?
Are you good a problem solving via process of elimination?

i am the IT Manager now, former System admin / Network Admin for our company, we have 37 people in office, but i have 3 racks of servers i maintain as well and also some co-location stuff.

I have no formal training but i learn and read ALOT, on [H] i have literally just read every thread under networking and security learn things, experts-exchange.com = awesome site and worth every penny.

 

[jjeff1]

This sounds like on of my customers. Your role as the IT guy should consist of troubleshooting basic PC problems, basically very little more than you'd do for your parents.

Any server/network stuff is best left up to professionals. New server, new phone system, major upgrade.... the stuff you only do once every few years, you hire someone for. Stuff you do every week, do inhouse.

Changes are you'll need to have an IT pro come onsite for maybe 4 hours a month.

 

[blinkmus]

I am in this same boat. my company has asked me to do the same thing, but they are willing to have me trained. They want to purchase a few books to see if it is something i would like to do, and then we go from there. But we do retain a consultant that comes in for the heavy duty stuff. The hope is to be free of him in two years.

 

[Tech249]

Tell them to hire an IT consultant/company to do things on an as needed per hour basis. You don't need a full time IT guy for 25 people unless it is a complex setup and even then it is questionable. This is very common in the small business space.

In house Exchange and AD with little to no computer knowledge is a disaster waiting to happen. You won't just need to learn about basic troubleshooting and apps we use, but also the whole enchilada of backups, disaster recovery, and security.

This.

I wouldn't estimate more than 3-5 hours a week tops in support, less if you do the basic work. Fire the IT guy, become the main point of contact for the IT consultant and do as much internal work as possible, what you can not handle, dump to the consultant. You will learn some along the way and have the support you need. This should save your company money.

 

[thefreeaccount]

Do they want to get rid of this other guy because of poor performance? Or is "wanting someone in the office" truly the reason?

If it's the latter (and not just an excuse) be prepared to be bombarded by LOTS of interruptions. Make sure you set up a system to defend your productive time that your boss is willing to enforce.