Understanding the Roles of the IT Generalist and Specialist
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@Dashrender said:
In a place like ML, wouldn't we expect to see primarily generalists? There are more dedicated resources for the specialist.
This mass breath of knowledge is what drew me to SW in the first place.
Oh yes, places like ML and SW you will find almost exclusively generalists. If you are a specialist you will likely have a "small" community focused on exactly the thing in which you are a specialist. Generally that would mean a vendor hosted community. If you are an Oracle DBA you will likely hang out in Oracle's own forums. If you are a Windows specialist, TechNet. If you are a Red Hat Linux guru, Red Hat has a community for you.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
In a place like ML, wouldn't we expect to see primarily generalists? There are more dedicated resources for the specialist.
This mass breath of knowledge is what drew me to SW in the first place.
Oh yes, places like ML and SW you will find almost exclusively generalists. If you are a specialist you will likely have a "small" community focused on exactly the thing in which you are a specialist. Generally that would mean a vendor hosted community. If you are an Oracle DBA you will likely hang out in Oracle's own forums. If you are a Windows specialist, TechNet. If you are a Red Hat Linux guru, Red Hat has a community for you.
Plantronics, you have the Sounding Boards...lol
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I'm a specialist of generality. Not really. I was a full-time Access developer for a couple of years, does that make me a specialist. There are also probably only a handful of people in the world that know our current ERP system as well as I do - does that make ma a specialist? I've been working on it for 15 years.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
I'm a specialist of generality. Not really. I was a full-time Access developer for a couple of years, does that make me a specialist. There are also probably only a handful of people in the world that know our current ERP system as well as I do - does that make ma a specialist? I've been working on it for 15 years.
The question is not if you have focused on it, but do you focus on it. Do you do anything besides the ERP system? Then you are probably a generalist. A specialist would be 95% - 100% job role on one very focused thing, full time. Not hopping between things or mixing things. You mention multiple things in which you might be a specialist. If you think of more than one thing to mention, that probably answers your question.
For example, do you support desktops? Servers? Networking Gear? Applications? Each of those would be a specialist, if you combine them, you are a generalist.
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I'm probably 90% ERP, so I'll go for generalist then.
Interesting what you said about managers having to manage people to be a manager. That's maybe a US thing. It's not the case in the UK - a manager manages but what he manages doesn't have to be people, it could be other things.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
Interesting what you said about managers having to manage people to be a manager. That's maybe a US thing. It's not the case in the UK - a manager manages but what he manages doesn't have to be people, it could be other things.
What all are called managers then? Like are janitors "waste managers?"
There are specific, normally mocking, job titles that use manager now in the US but everyone knows what they mean and there is zero pretense. Like "office manager" is now a joke term for "secretary." It's actually a lesser title because it denotes someone putting on pretenses when they really just fetch coffee. Someone with the actual title of secretary is likely more senior.
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You really do 90% of your time on the single ERP system? That's a lot. That's only 40 minutes a day, or so, available for other tasks.
As an example, if this were an Epicor system, would you refer to yourself normally as an "Epicor Administrator"?
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@scottalanmiller said:
That's only 40 minutes a day, or so, available for other tasks.
That's why I do desktop support outside of work hours and write down people's passwords - I'm in a rush
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
That's only 40 minutes a day, or so, available for other tasks.
That's why I do desktop support outside of work hours and write down people's passwords - I'm in a rush
I would say so!
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I specialise in the generalist field.
I like variety
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@scottalanmiller said:
What all are called managers then? Like are janitors "waste managers?"
Janitors are called caretakers over here. I think janitor is a cooler word. I suppose manager refers more to levels of general responsibility rather than specifically managing people.
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We use caretaker too but usual it means janitor plus handyman and usually for someone who lives on a campus like a school. We also use custodian.
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If I ran my own company, I'd get rid of job titles altogether. Are they necessary? They massage egos, cause resentment, restrict flexibility and decrease the willingness to collaborate with colleagues or work in a more project orientated fashion. My job title is Systems Manager, I don't even know what that means!
Note: I haven't really thought this policy through.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Carnival-Boy said:
Interesting what you said about managers having to manage people to be a manager. That's maybe a US thing. It's not the case in the UK - a manager manages but what he manages doesn't have to be people, it could be other things.
What all are called managers then? Like are janitors "waste managers?"
There are specific, normally mocking, job titles that use manager now in the US but everyone knows what they mean and there is zero pretense. Like "office manager" is now a joke term for "secretary." It's actually a lesser title because it denotes someone putting on pretenses when they really just fetch coffee. Someone with the actual title of secretary is likely more senior.
This isn't always the case though. I small and perhaps medium physician offices, an Office Manager is like the CEO, runs the day to day operations of the office.
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@Carnival-Boy said:
If I ran my own company, I'd get rid of job titles altogether. Are they necessary? They massage egos, cause resentment, restrict flexibility and decrease the willingness to collaborate with colleagues or work in a more project orientated fashion. My job title is Systems Manager, I don't even know what that means!
Note: I haven't really thought this policy through.
Well at NTG we don't eliminate them but we do reduce them significantly. Management has titles, a few titles are required by law in the US. Not the specific titles, but similar ones (CEO, President, etc.) But the non-managers all have the same title.
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@Dashrender said:
This isn't always the case though. I small and perhaps medium physician offices, an Office Manager is like the CEO, runs the day to day operations of the office.
Still considered a secretary, though. Just someone at a secretary level and skill doing everything by physicians aren't often very bright.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
This isn't always the case though. I small and perhaps medium physician offices, an Office Manager is like the CEO, runs the day to day operations of the office.
Still considered a secretary, though. Just someone at a secretary level and skill doing everything by physicians aren't often very bright.
uhh.. hmm.. My office manager is definitely no secretary. She does run the day to day for the entire office. She may not be Michael Dell, but she's definitely not some slub who just answers the phone and files papers for everyone else.
What is the person in charge of the Dr offices out there called, title wise? And I hope it's not Dr, that would be a waste of a medical degree.
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@Dashrender said:
uhh.. hmm.. My office manager is definitely no secretary. She does run the day to day for the entire office. She may not be Michael Dell, but she's definitely not some slub who just answers the phone and files papers for everyone else.
Well a secretary does a lot more than that. I think that you are downplaying the secretary title. They may not be the top end jobs but they are often pretty decent. Especially with the secretary or executive assistant title rather than the office manager title. OM is the lowest of those from what I have seen.
Have you seen the movie "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds? He is her secretary (executive assistant) and uses that to move up to editor.
@Minion-Queen was NTG's president's executive assistant before taking over as president herself.
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@Dashrender said:
What is the person in charge of the Dr offices out there called, title wise? And I hope it's not Dr, that would be a waste of a medical degree.
Office Manager is not a good title. Not for anyone (secretary or actual manager.) It's just a weird title. If used completely as the words imply, it would mean managing an office of people. Which is what you are describing. But the title is completely co-opted to mean entry level secretary. So I'd be shocked that anyone at mid or higher level secretary would accept a position with that title.
A doctor would almost never run an office, it makes use of none of their skills and rarely do doctors have the necessary skills.
Most physicians offices are actually, from what I have seen, run by office managers (secretaries.) They are senior to the receptionists and counter people, but not above a normal secretary. It's mostly filing, scheduling and the like. The stuff that secretaries do.
So office manager might be the right term. What do they do outside of secretarial duties? Do they handle payroll, finance, etc. beyond the basics of maintaining the receptionists?
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In our case (and other offices around here I've been to) they handle everything - They are HR (most small clinics can't afford separate staff), the person ultimately responsible for compliance (think HIPAA), depending on size, they are the first line of IT support, etc, etc.
In our case, her other duties (managing company direction, budgets, the GL, advertising, etc) she has spun of many jobs to other people beneath her, like basic accounting, IT, managing personal within specific departments (those people in charge are called supervisors, though they are really more like team leads - i.e. no real authority, but they do make schedules).
