Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab
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IMHO (just read the first post): when you hire someone, it depends completely for which tasks and/or in which team you want to place it. It's a "human problem" first.
It's like having a sport team: you need to have a balance. The whole should be more than the sum of its parts (that's the key).
So when I spent time with potential candidates, it's entirely a question of feelings, ability to be not serious and have at least one interest in common with people he/she will work with. Then it's about curiosity and capability to search for itself (that's easy to spot during the trial period). That's also the time to see the "enjoy" level during working (mood is a good indicator).
Technical ability will come last.
So what about home lab? It could be something great if it fits with the rest of personality, but not a game changer per se.
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Am I the only IT guy that gets a salary anymore? I much enjoy salary rather than having to fill out a timecard every day. Also, if things are good i go home a bit early.
My home lab:
4930k with 32GB Ram, a couple TB storage, half a dozen vms. Going to add some managed switch in there at some point just havent done it yet. Also have a much lamer lab here at work that i am slowly building up using old stuff. Currently a XS 7 server with a vm on it to test gpu passthrough performance eventually(Solid Edge on a vm). Havent got around to testing it yet.
I would hire somebody without a lab, esp if it was an entry level help desk type situ. -
Jared has the best possible schedule. Also as an employee of a consulting company.. he has many customers who he supports, many of whom hire his company because they are willing to work outside the normal 8-5 time frames.
Jared get to spend time with his wife at lunch for a few hours.. then with his kids when they get home from school. then he goes back to work for a few more hours to get his 40. It's the ultimate in a flexible schedule.
Is it for everyone? Of course not, actually it's probably for the very few, because like Loco people like their simple routines.
If JB does have to work more than 40 hours in a week, he does get OT.
Now his numbers where definitely on the low side in my opinion for someone who is basically working like a self employed person, with the exception of needing to carry their own worker's comp and covering the business's side of the matching taxes.
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@momurda said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
Am I the only IT guy that gets a salary anymore?
I like the idea of it but where I work it wouldn't change anything. They would still demand when I come and go and expect the same amount of "on call" available from me.
In other words, salary for me wouldn't change my freedoms one bit. It's my general opinion (based on what others have said) that salary typically just means the boss expects you to work more, longer, and at home, and on weekends too, and on the road, and keep the phone by you at all times, and answer work emails, etc.
We moved our general manager to salary and all it did was make him stay longer hours and answer phone and emails all day and night.
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As far as I understood, Jared's initial statement was a bit misleading. He works for 42 hours and can split that in any way he likes, which is ok. I've worked both ways and both have their pros and cons. I don't care much for the exact model, time card or fixed salary.
If someone wants me on standby 24/7, he would have to open his wallet. Very wide.
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@momurda I'm salary.
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@guyinpv said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
@momurda said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
Am I the only IT guy that gets a salary anymore?
I like the idea of it but where I work it wouldn't change anything. They would still demand when I come and go and expect the same amount of "on call" available from me.
In other words, salary for me wouldn't change my freedoms one bit. It's my general opinion (based on what others have said) that salary typically just means the boss expects you to work more, longer, and at home, and on weekends too, and on the road, and keep the phone by you at all times, and answer work emails, etc.
We moved our general manager to salary and all it did was make him stay longer hours and answer phone and emails all day and night.
That's what salary has always meant. Or for a very long time. Even in the 1970s a "professional day" was ten hours, not eight. And salary has always meant that you were paid more, and given more flexibility, but expected to be more flexible yourself and that work/life kind of mix together in most cases. Hourly denotes a much stricter delineation between work time and non-work time. Salary denotes a blending.
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@momurda said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
Am I the only IT guy that gets a salary anymore?
Almost everyone that I know in IT is salary.
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@RojoLoco said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
@wirestyle22 said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
@david.wiese Point being that @JaredBusch has a schedule. It just changes week to week. I don't know how much advanced notice he is given, but hypothetically it doesn't really have to interfere with his life that much.
How does one plan their life if the above is true? A schedule that varies week to week is something I gave up in my early 20s. Plus any work I do outside of M-F 9-6 is paid as overtime and scheduled in advance. I wouldn't give that up for $1600 a year.
Conversely, having any schedule at all is something that I gave up in my early 20s. The ability to work when needed, take off when not needed, be flexible and do what makes sense rather than what is scheduled is great. The last thing that I ever want is to be forced to work for no reason and to be forced to stop working for no reason. My flexible schedule lets me to work when it is needed or practical and lets me not work when it is best suited.
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@RojoLoco said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
Plus any work I do outside of M-F 9-6 is paid as overtime and scheduled in advance. I wouldn't give that up for $1600 a year.
My guess is that you are a planner. I'm a perceiver. I don't want a strict schedule, that's boring and exhausting to me. I love checking in, finding out that there is no work to do and heading to the bar. I like being the guy that gets called in a panic because there is a disaster and working while there is excitement and taking off when there is not.
What you describe as glorious sounds terrible to me. I would hate that rigid schedule. It sounds like punishment to me. I had a schedule like that when I worked in restaurants and hotels (as the cashier or clerk, not in IT), getting into IT let me escape that and set my own schedule.
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@scottalanmiller said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
@RojoLoco said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
Plus any work I do outside of M-F 9-6 is paid as overtime and scheduled in advance. I wouldn't give that up for $1600 a year.
My guess is that you are a planner. I'm a perceiver. I don't want a strict schedule, that's boring and exhausting to me. I love checking in, finding out that there is no work to do and heading to the bar. I like being the guy that gets called in a panic because there is a disaster and working while there is excitement and taking off when there is not.
What you describe as glorious sounds terrible to me. I would hate that rigid schedule. It sounds like punishment to me. I had a schedule like that when I worked in restaurants and hotels (as the cashier or clerk, not in IT), getting into IT let me escape that and set my own schedule.
This comes down to personal preference, which is what I was getting at. I definitely enjoy a schedule for work. I like to know what the expectations are. With that said, I also enjoy excitement which I think comes with the territory sometimes.
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@guyinpv said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
Find good people first. Train them. Keep them when you got them!
That's what we are trying to find. I've never found someone that loved working in IT and didn't bring the job home with them. Could the two be separate? Probably. Have I seen it, not really. And that's the question that I keep proposing... if you don't use a home lab as an indicator of passion and self learning, what are you using?
No one is saying that it is the only factor or that you have to have one for every role anywhere. But when you are looking to hire someone passionate, what would you consider a good alternative indicator?
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@JaredBusch said
Depending on skill, an hourly rate between $30 and $50.
65K a year for the $30 rate.
109K a year for the $50 rate.I'm unsure of US salaries but what would people compare that to over there?
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@wirestyle22 said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
This comes down to personal preference, which is what I was getting at. I definitely enjoy a schedule for work. I like to know what the expectations are. With that said, I also enjoy excitement which I think comes with the territory sometimes.
If I'm hiring for the help desk, for a purely 9-5 position that can clock out and leave, I could see this nature working in IT. Sometimes, but certainly not always and it would be very limiting. But outside of very limited end user support, once you get into infrastructure, only very limited roles would work with this planned hours strategy. Some engineering could do it, but only very engineering roles. Outside of that, you need full shift workers in most cases to have a shot at it.
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The ability to be flexible allows our team to run lean. There is very little that must be done during the late hours, but we have guys who don't mind doing it. It works for us. If you're not comfortable with being able to relax for most of the day when it's quiet but have to be able to at least respond to an email at 8pm, it's probably not for you. Personally, I love it. I get so much freedom, with the possibility that I might be needed if something goes wrong.
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@art_of_shred -- But how does it work if you are out and about with no access to a laptop and a client has an emergency?
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@dafyre said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
@art_of_shred -- But how does it work if you are out and about with no access to a laptop and a client has an emergency?
You don't have a smart phone? I have email/internet access pretty much everywhere.
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@art_of_shred said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
@dafyre said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
@art_of_shred -- But how does it work if you are out and about with no access to a laptop and a client has an emergency?
You don't have a smart phone? I have email/internet access pretty much everywhere.
Are you going to remote desktop in to your clients infrastructure from your Phone?
Yes... it's doable, especially with the larger phones, but how much would you really be able ^W^W want to do from a tiny phone in an emergency situation?
I mean, you could call your backup / partner...
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@dafyre said in Would You Hire Someone in IT Who Does Not Have a Home Lab:
@art_of_shred -- But how does it work if you are out and about with no access to a laptop and a client has an emergency?
Basically, don't be a 1 man band. If you are the model never ever works. This is why teams are important.
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I have fixed things from my IPhone before just so that I don't have to leave the bar. Totally worth it to take a couple more minutes and have it be slightly more frustrating to do.
