What am I in IT? Need help.

syntax said:
Exactly what I thought when I read this.

Like the old IT admin guys, who actually do a ton of work and keep the lights on for so many things, but not specialized enough to get paid large amounts
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To be on the cutting edge is also not easy. Ten years ago it was virusalisation, today it's cloud.
 
What happens when you read myBB clickbait articles and think the hold authority..... beach you get paid whatever they want to pay you.... you aint that special.
 
Bliksis said:
To be on the cutting edge is also not easy. Ten years ago it was virusalisation, today it's cloud.
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Those skills are very transferable. You are still managing virtual resources the interfaces are just different.
What usually happens with those guys is life gets busy and they don't keep up or the company they work for rather employ new people for the new tech because they don't want to disrupt the day to day of the old systems and they get pigeon holed.
 
B-1 said:
Those skills are very transferable. You are still managing virtual resources the interfaces are just different.
What usually happens with those guys is life gets busy and they don't keep up or the company they work for rather employ new people for the new tech because they don't want to disrupt the day to day of the old systems and they get pigeon holed.
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What also happens often is that the company moves in a different direction, or changes strategy.

I probably used bad examples, but I think you get the idea. My brother was an expert Novell administrator, but by the time he grew sufficiently in the organization to actually make use of his skills, they migrated to Microsoft.

Maybe another bad example, but IT is a little precarious. Cutting edge is always shifting. At some point it's either left or right, in two different directions.
 
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Actual industry matching title I would probably put you in a “Technical Support Analyst” slot leaning towards “TechOps/Devops Engineer”.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Actual industry matching title I would probably put you in a “Technical Support Analyst” slot leaning towards “TechOps/Devops Engineer”.
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How would you differentiate analyst from technician or even engineer (which is all too easily used)
 
Bliksis said:
How would you differentiate analyst from technician or even engineer (which is all too easily used)
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Technician : Purely assists end users.

Analyst/Administrator : Actually works with the backend systems and infrastructure.

Engineer : Usually builds and maintains infrastructure.

In the cloud space some might add Architect on top of that.

But yeah it does get tricky and sometimes I’ve seen it split by department especially where they don’t want to use a “lowly” title like technician so you’ll see analyst used for that but under a different department.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Technician : Purely assists end users.

Analyst/Administrator : Actually works with the backend systems and infrastructure.

Engineer : Usually builds and maintains infrastructure.

In the cloud space some might add Architect on top of that.
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Good post, thanks.

Often at work, I see big overlap, with everyone working together and getting involved with things outside the vaguely defined boundaries of their disciplines.

This made it all very hazy for me, but probably a technician recommending another way of doing something to the architect that will make operational support easier.
 
Bliksis said:
Good post, thanks.

Often at work, I see big overlap, with everyone working together and getting involved with things outside the vaguely defined boundaries of their disciplines.

This made it all very hazy for me, but probably a technician recommending another way of doing something to the architect that will make operational support easier.
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Yeah every business is going to treat it a bit differently and often you’ll see it change over time.

Departments also augments it. You’ll find engineers in development and then also find engineers in infrastructure and those things are similar in some cases but also often entirely different, but usually defined by their sub titles.

I see the Analyst/Engineer/Technician parts of the role more as a verb and the department they are in what they are responsible for.

Quite likely OP is in a very small company, or at least a very small team (if any at all) and therefore the overlap.
 
Very similar to my experience only unqualified but with much more years in the industry.

My old title: Application Support Specialist
My actual role though was also very diverse but I think in a good way.
I was responsible for 3rd line support dealing with the intricate issues that requires a mix of cloud infrastructure, network, DB and software dev experience.
I gained enough experience to land a job as a mid-senior level role as a DBA, Apps specialist or infrastructure specialist.

Moved to the UK and had the choice of choosing between a DBA role and application engineer.

I chose the application engineer role because in the interview, they mentioned all the things I would work on including SQL Server which I was happy with since I enjoyed being deeply involved in many things.
Only to start and find out that it's a 2nd line support role where all the fun things gets escalated to someone else.
Should have just gone the DBA route since I do really enjoy that and will be looking again soon.
 
My advice:
  1. Apply for Business Analyst roles. You have a well-regarded certification through FTI.
  2. Build on your ability to project manage, and work with multiple teams
  3. As far as possible, avoid support and infrastructure management. Those generally thankless responsibilities in an org, and will not help you climb the ladder. Position yourself to manage people responsible for those tasks. Your experience and knowledge in these areas will put you above other non-technical managers.
  4. Regarding your no. of years of experience you are severely underpaid. You will need to job hop annually for the next few years to bump your salary.
 
As Head of Engineering I'd say that's a pretty decent set of skills, but depending on how well you are doing your job, that is underpaid. The best advice I got go en was: to get promoted make yourself redundant in your current role and indispensable in your new role.

There are many ways to that but that's another topic.

Don't underestimate the value of a jack of all trades. I have an engineer like you and he's getting raises because I can give him anything random and he gets it done. Not great on the tech documentation but that's where your skillset seems to compliment someone like him in a team.

Don't pick a lane for the sake of picking a lane. Know where you want to go. I'm a jack of some trades - but you don't need speciality if you want to manage people and teams. It's a huge amount of fun to be able to co-ordinate and see specialists in action.

On the flip side specialisation can be rewarding in its own right... as long as the FOMO of other stuff doesn't eat you away.

Lastly, talk to your line manager about your salary. A good manager will be open to discuss and will appreciate it.
 
averagejoecpt said:
I do but no current positions for BA and it doesnt look like the BA's are going anywhere soon, but I enjoy the Tech side a lil bit more though.
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Unless you absolutely love mountains and mountains of paperwork don't consider BA.

As mentioned above specialize in something and go deep. with the other exposure you've had perhaps Cloud Architect? There is MASSIVE demand for them at the moment. Not only in SA. I know of a handful of guys that have been picked off to go to Dubai/UAE.
 
Napalm2880 said:
My advice:
  1. Apply for Business Analyst roles. You have a well-regarded certification through FTI.
  2. Build on your ability to project manage, and work with multiple teams
  3. As far as possible, avoid support and infrastructure management. Those generally thankless responsibilities in an org, and will not help you climb the ladder. Position yourself to manage people responsible for those tasks. Your experience and knowledge in these areas will put you above other non-technical managers.
  4. Regarding your no. of years of experience you are severely underpaid. You will need to job hop annually for the next few years to bump your salary.
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Oh, it's tiring though. I would really like to move faster in my work though. These yearly reviews really are from the dark ages.
 
Slaught3r said:
Unless you absolutely love mountains and mountains of paperwork don't consider BA.

As mentioned above specialize in something and go deep. with the other exposure you've had perhaps Cloud Architect? There is MASSIVE demand for them at the moment. Not only in SA. I know of a handful of guys that have been picked off to go to Dubai/UAE.
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Cloud architect, hmm what is that?
 
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