Considered working as Computer System Administrator? This interview will take you through the ups and downs you can expect in the position, what it takes to land the job, what you can expect to earn and more.
I work as a system administrator at Rutgers University. I have been employed here for over five years. I attended this college and obtained my degree and then became employed here. I have received a paycheck here for five years, but they got a few years of free work out of me during my internship and co-op classes.
I work behind the scenes. Rarely do students see me and know who I am or what I do. Unless something breaks down or ceases to function, most students will never know me or the job I do. As a system administrator, the main focus of my job is design and development of computer systems. I work in a small group of ten people. My team is responsible for many systems, including a large wireless network. We are occasionally called on to do support and repairs of equipment spread over a large campus.
I would have to say the single biggest misunderstanding about system administrators is the assumption we just keep things running or only fix things when they break. Most system administrators, including myself, are programmers and are involved in the full system.
If I had to rate my job, I would give it a nine on a scale from one to ten. I love what I do and don’t give it a ten simply because I receive a lower pay than many other system administrators in the industry because I work for a public university.
We also have a very tight budget. I appreciate the challenge of having to figure out how to solve a problem not only quickly and correctly, but with a fraction of the budget that most companies have. My job “moves my heart” not only because of the challenge, but also because of opportunities to come up with an inventive and clever solution to problems. I also enjoy the wide variety of types of work I get to do, from programming and designing systems to assisting users with problems and traveling around our large campus to troubleshoot network problems.
I feel especially lucky and unique to have found a job in IT at a university. I would much rather be working here as compared with colleagues at private companies. I believe that IT in higher education is much more inclined to research, develop and allow employees to experiment with the newest and greatest technologies.
I’ve always had an interest in computers, electronics and building things, even as a young child. I had a strong interest in computers and programming throughout high school. It was a natural transition to study IT in college and find a job in the field. Though there’s not much I would change, I have a degree in Information Technology, and I think I would have better career opportunities if I had pursued a more challenging degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering.
I had to learn the hard way to know when to accept that my solution might not be the right one and when to seek the advice of others. Soon after I started my job, I developed some software which worked perfectly in testing, but had occasional serious problems when put into use. After spending a few days attempting to fix the problems, I described the problems to a more experienced colleague and took his suggestion that it might be faster and better to start over than to fix the problems. It was hard to admit failure and admit my first big project wasn’t a success. In the end, I learned it’s the result that counts and it is more important to solve the problem and have a working system than have something that was 100 percent my design.
The most important thing I have learned outside school since I joined the working world is that virtually no college programs teach the technical skills required for a job in IT. They may teach overall concepts, management skills and problem solving, but virtually everything I’ve had to apply in the workplace, I learned outside the classroom.
The biggest challenge of my job is having to work under pressure and time constraints. When a computer system or network that’s used by tens of thousands of people fails, there’s extreme pressure to find the problem and correct it as soon as possible. The expectations for management and users are for an impossibly fast solution. My biggest source of frustration is products that don’t work as advertised. I also become irate when I design a “perfect” solution that isn’t put into place because of corporate politics or bureaucracy.
To do my job, a college degree is generally required. Something computer-related is preferred, but that depends on the employer. Almost all positions specify a degree or “equivalent experience.” Prior skills and experience, whether working as a system administrator or doing related tasks is more valued than simply a degree. For people without prior experience, there are many certification classes which teach and test important skills. Most importantly, a love for problem solving and learning new skills is the biggest key to success. For people interested in moving to management positions, advanced degrees are generally preferred. Attention to detail is very important, but at the same time, perfectionism can be bad. Usually, a solution that works and takes an hour is better than one that is perfect but takes a week. The ability to learn on your own is very important. Many system administrators are largely self-taught.
This is a true career story as told to ComputerJobs.net.
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