Best posts made by wrx7m

@scottalanmiller Something tells me that it isn't a lack of funding that is causing their issues.

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I looked at the snipe-it website before posting and liked the idea of the check in and check out setup for items that are issued to people like laptops and smart devices. I was thinking that if it were something I should be doing, I would also track things like monitors and my shoretel phones.

Thanks for sharing. I like what I see.

Nextcloud was way ahead of its time- The replies in the linked-to documentation are from 1970

I am still using keepass (for about 10 years). I use a master password and a key file. I have the encrypted DB file synced across all my systems and mobile devices using dropbox. Being that it is encrypted prior to being synced and stored "in the cloud", does this present a problem?

@wirestyle22 said in When Is It Okay to Say You Are a System Administrator:

@wrx7m said in When Is It Okay to Say You Are a System Administrator:

@wirestyle22 said in When Is It Okay to Say You Are a System Administrator:

@wrx7m said in When Is It Okay to Say You Are a System Administrator:

@wirestyle22 One thing that I have been able to do is market myself here. Every time we have reviews, they give me x% of a raise and know that I am going to negotiate more. Only once did I not get what I asked for (this was at 90 days on the job) but I did get more than I had been given.

When dealing with people that manage you and don't have the first clue as to what you do, you have to make sure that they know, you know what you are doing and that you are doing a lot of it. The key is that you overwhelm them with the results of what you have been working on. Results aren't always as tangible. For instance, one of the first things I went through were the GPOs. I spent hours and hours looking at what was in place and went through and re did them. I printed out a copy of the domain-wide GPO and it was quite thick. Then I printed out Visio diagrams of the network infrastructure that I had mapped and revised. Then I was able to compile a list of accomplishments for the previous year and projects that I was currently working on or would be working on the next year. Each year I check them off and add more for the next.

You have to show them things in ways that they understand. Most of the time, it is printed on paper. Now I just stick to the accomplishments and projects lists and save the paper because they know the quality and volume of work that I do for them.

I've done this. It comes down to what they believe. One of my bosses said "We haven't had any issues. do we even need IT?" Not kidding. I even explained for over an hour, everything that I did to make that happen and she just chose not to believe me.

Well, in that case, you need to move on. They won't realize what they had until you are gone. I came here at a great time. After a list of people that didn't really know what they were doing or care enough to do it well then they tried the service provider and were desperate for someone to just make things work well. I almost didn't want the job because it was so much work at first. I was in over my head but I am glad I did. I would take this job again in a heartbeat.

I thought I would enjoy being a part of a team, but I actually prefer working alone. There is no communication here and I find so many things not documented and also completely mis-configured. I end up doing their job for them.

I would imagine it has to do with the people you are working with/for. If you aren't able to overcome it and aren't recognized for pulling their weight, you should prepare your exit. You have the benefit of trying to find a job while you already have one.

@zuphzuph said in AWS Brings GPU POWERHOUSES to the Cloud:

@scottalanmiller said in AWS Brings GPU POWERHOUSES to the Cloud:

@travisdh1 said in AWS Brings GPU POWERHOUSES to the Cloud:

@scottalanmiller said in AWS Brings GPU POWERHOUSES to the Cloud:

@travisdh1 said in AWS Brings GPU POWERHOUSES to the Cloud:

@RojoLoco said in AWS Brings GPU POWERHOUSES to the Cloud:

And in other news, @zuphzuph brings the much maligned shortened link to Mangolassi.it!

Which link shortener is it that will show you the target when hovering your mouse over the link?

None, because that's not how the technology works

I thought one of them would, tho it probably requires some client side processing to work.

Absolutely requires client side processing. A link doesn't just magically make the browser do things.

Yeah, I think this is a result of SolidWorks having their cloud hosted solution now. We'll probably see a package installer for SolidWorks on AWS in the next couple of days.

This is interesting. We have an old workstation with SW2010 on it and were looking at upgrading to the latest version (subscription model :()

@DustinB3403 said:

@coliver said:

@Dashrender said:

@coliver said:

@Dashrender said:

Ease of use and channel selection is why I haven't left cable yet.

Those are exactly the reasons I don't have cable/satellite anymore.

it wasn't easy to use?

Not really. Content was very hard to find when I wanted it, there were these loud intermissions on every channel every few minutes. Not easy to use at all. Much less so then clicking a button and instantly having the content you want without crazy loud breaks.

You mean commericals..... "loud breaks" that is one way to describe them... the actors need to pee too, they literally live inside that small box on your wall...

Following that to its logical conclusion- they are peeing inside there too!

@scottalanmiller said in When Is It Okay to Say You Are a System Administrator:

@tirendir said in When Is It Okay to Say You Are a System Administrator:

Since SMBs are fighting most MSPs for the same talent.. what makes MSPs automatically superior to the SMBs they serve, especially since they don't have any more resources than the SMBs do to fight for said talent (perhaps even less)?

A few things...

• Infrastructure. They are professional IT organizations, not lone IT people in another organization. This totally changes the IT value proposition in every imaginable way.
• Ladders. They is a career path.
• They can earn dramatically more because they leverage specialties that SMBs cannot on their own.
• Variety that SMBs cannot offer.
• IT hired by IT. SMBs have generally zero ability to identify and hire good IT because they have no IT without them. MSPs don't have this issue. The degree to which the is advantageous is enormous.

Reverse it. SMBs have no advantages to IT hiring except that they often offer the ability to "do less". If you are non-competitive and looking for an easy ride doing very little, internal SMB IT is the most likely (but no guarantee) of being able to find this. Enterprises tend to keep you really busy and use metrics to watch this. MSPs need to service customers and keep density rates up. But internal IT in an SMB is often overlooked and forgotten. So that one aspect may lure many an IT pro to a long, low key career without upward mobility.

But for anyone looking for career growth and opportunity, education, advancement, peers, mentorship, income, challenge, variety - the SMB lacks in all areas. They have nothing to offer a talented, ambitious IT person vis a vis an MSP.

I must have really lucked out. Most of the stuff you said you don't get with an SMB is something I get or made happen here. I am ambitious and have tackled the vast majority of projects myself and I get paid pretty well. I would like to move on at some point but I drive a lot of what happens here so it keeps me learning and growing my skill set. It definitely helps that the company is growing and also looking to increase efficiency of workflows, by way of technology.

@scottalanmiller said in Public and Private key Library Breached:

Can't help but point out that the author of the article doesn't know what "ironic" means.

Now I have to read it. LOL

Edit: It isn't ironic when TPM, which is created to be more secure than standard, is, in fact, less secure?

If you want to see how well an aerial will work for you. Enter your zip code here.
http://www.channelmaster.com/Articles.asp?ID=134&Click=47329

I would get 1 channel and it isn't one I would watch.

@scottalanmiller said in What are the highest paying IT careers?:

@wrx7m said in What are the highest paying IT careers?:

@scottalanmiller said in What are the highest paying IT careers?:

SMB is all the same two jobs.... generalist or generalist manager. All comes down to seniority, experience, market, etc.

This is where I am, currently. What do you think national average is?

No idea about national average, nor would it likely be meaningful in any way. Pay is so dependent on the job, job role, company, level, and location that an average would be kind of meaningless. Imagine asking "what's the average pay of a business person" or "how much can you expect to earn as a business owner?" An average in anything like those would be totally meaningless.

Hmm... Oh well. I hit 6 figures this year.

@obsolesce said in Miscellaneous Tech News:

MicroSoft Surface Phone 2018 - Windows 10 Foldable Mobile Phone - TY

http://flip.it/nJ3c4g

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

@scottalanmiller Sorry... Will do next time.

I have seen weird/slow response with the video/hardware acceleration turned on. Try disabling it.

Hmmm.

Migrate Your Files to OneDrive Easily with Known Folder Move (KFM)

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-OneDrive-Blog/Migrate-Your-Files-to-OneDrive-Easily-with-Known-Folder-Move/ba-p/207076

I would like to have an easier method of creating, storing, accessing and displaying my network and systems documentation. Right now it is Visio, Word, Excel and PDFs on a file share.

What are you using for this - Wiki, Sharepoint, etc?

Hi guys and gals,

I finally started finding some potential candidates for an onsite Jr. IT systems administrator position here. The person is going to be at least 70% help desk and the rest will be some routine maintenance and projects.

It has been quite awhile since I interviewed someone. I wanted to get suggestions for some good questions to ask. Should I post the job description, or can you do without it?

Thanks for your suggestions!

@kelly said in Miscellaneous Tech News:

Microsoft Teams is now free: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-teams-now-available-use-free. I haven't used it, so I don't know how good it is, but if nothing else it will push Slack to innovate.

Our customer service team is just starting to use it. They seem to like it, but it's only been a week.

I checked out MediWiki, Alfresco and Sharepoint. Mediawiki looks cool and Alfresco is definitely cool but a bit more than I need. I didn't realize I could create a wiki on a sharepoint site because all I have is Office 365 Pro Plus. Turns out you can, due to the One Drive integration. I also intend to migrate our on-premise Exchange server to Office 365.

For now I am going to try using Sharepoint. If anyone else has suggestions, please post.

Thanks, everyone.