With the general business level ignorance of IT, I don't think it makes much difference, particularly in larger companies. IT *is* a commodity outside of technology companies (and to a smaller extent within) and engineers are part of that. You can help yourself by acting differently, but it's not that likely to stop management at large treating IT differently and not looking at options such as cheap outsourcing. Unfortunately it takes a few years of that hell to come back to the realisation that in-house expertise is often infinitely preferable! All the better if more people in the company know what the business goals are an align themselves with them instead of playing their little niche, but actually I think we're moving away from that now in larger organisations due to outsourcing and the like. What's left is a company full of managers who have no idea how anything works! Back to the OP's actual question - I think my previous answer is perhaps along the lines that his one-over boss is coming from (rightly or wrongly). He said he's been at the job for a long time so probably hasn't had much pressure to change in the way you highlight. At the end of the day, all paths tend to lead up and the more you move your skills away from sysadmin to a more open design type role, the more you should get a new job as a technical architect! The more your move your skills away to dealing with the business and enabling them through IT in a way they can understand, the more you should get a job as an IT manager! This is the way it should always be unless you believe in a job/role for life ... everything is in transition to something else ... a ________________________________
From: Andrew S. Baker [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 07 March 2011 13:18 To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Morale killer... I would argue that cross-business exposure and involvement is already a necessity for sys admins and engineers who do not want to be mistaken for mere commodities. Used to be a manager thing, but no longer limited to that level. Welcome to IT and business in the 21st century. -ASB: http://about.me/Andrew.S.Baker Sent from my Motorola Droid On Mar 7, 2011 5:28 AM, "Alan Davies" <[email protected]> wrote: > It really sounds like she thinks you're just beavering away at behind > the scenes infrastructure work right now. Changing laptop encryption, > VPN, patching, etc. are just "blah blah blah" details in the background > to business users. Working on projects that change the business or > improve customer interaction in someway ... rightly or wrongly ... are > seen in a different light by many in the business outside of IT. > Getting involved in more of these projects and the PMs outside of the > directly technical areas will get you a far higher profile in the > business (assuming your business is large enough for this type of > politics to be relevant!). > > Now, having said that, the above advice isn't really all that relevant > to a Systems Engineer of any level IMO! If you were applying to be an > IT Manager, Head of, etc. then I would be far more concerned about how > well you communicate with and known the businesses outside of IT. > > In my experience, if you stick too long at something, then that's what > you get known as and it can be very hard to break those perceptions. > It's often a lot easier to leave in order to progress than to stay .. > hell, I've seen a number of people leave and come *back* as contractors > to the same place for twice the money! If you're going to stick at it > and you enjoy working there, then your current image ... even if you do > a really good job every day ... is not going to get you that promotion > (assuming they're not just blowing smoke up your backside to sidestep > the issue!!). You need to change your image and appear to be something > that you haven't been to date. That may be what I described above with > interacting with different parts of the business, or it may be utilising > new skills. You'll need to sit down with your manager or above and > understand what that is. > > One other option (and it's a very American thing, but hey, you're > probably American anyway!) is to get a mentor in the company. This only > really works with larger companies, but can show that you're serious > about picking up your game and moving forward. It can also expose you > to parts of the business with which you've not had much familiarity. > Personally, after doing all this I'd be looking for your manager's job > though! ;o) > > > > a > > ________________________________ > > From: David Lum [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: 04 March 2011 18:51 > To: NT System Admin Issues > Subject: Morale killer... > > > > vent mode:on > > I asked for a promotion to Sr. Systems Engineer but I have been denied. > Talking to my boss she feels I am qualified but her boss disagrees - not > because I don't fit the roles and skill set of a Sr. SE as listed in our > job description, but because she wants to "see more broad scoped project > proposals". Yeah sorry that my evaluation of products used across the > enterprise for encrypting our laptops (chose PGP), remote access (went > with RDS), 3rd party patching (Shavlik), and then doing the work of > standing up the servers and installing configuring, deploying and then > handing off of said items all in the last 12 months isn't broad > enough... > > > > "You're really great at what you do and you meet the job description but > it's not enough, sorry". Some of you guys can relate, right? I've only > been doing IT professionally for 16 years...and admin-y stuff for 12 of > that. > > > > Vent mode: off > > David Lum // SYSTEMS ENGINEER > NORTHWEST EVALUATION ASSOCIATION > (Desk) 503.548.5229 // (Cell) 503.267.9764 > > > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > > > ************************************************************************************ > WARNING: > The information in this email and any attachments is confidential and may be > legally privileged. > > If you are not the named addressee, you must not use, copy or disclose this > email (including any attachments) or the information in it save to the named > addressee nor take any action in reliance on it. 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