Information Technology

[Jafo]

With the problems that my company has had with its server and computers lately, I have suggested that we look into the costs of hiring a full time IT person for our company. Just for the sake of research, I have no idea what IT people make and I have no idea what type of specifics would be involved. Can you guys give me an idea of what type of Salary an IT person would potentially make? Meaning if you were applying for an IT position what would you expect to make? D-bone, Dante I know you two do this type of work, not sure who else does...

[Rehn]

What kind of IT work are you looking for, network and server maintenance? What exactly are they going to be responsible for? How big is the company, and how many users and workstations are on the network? What kind of workstations and servers are you using? Is there database software to maintain?



It all depends on what exactly you want. What you should be looking for is someone who has a degree, and has or can get certified in whatever you need. You also want the employee to have 5+ years of experience in the field.



Oh and someone who has great personal skills. You would be surprised how much this can help the communication with your IT department. You do not want someone that is socially inept??.Trust me?.

[Dante]

What kind of IT work are you looking for, network and server maintenance? What exactly are they going to be responsible for? How big is the company, and how many users and workstations are on the network? What kind of workstations and servers are you using? Is there database software to maintain?



It all depends on what exactly you want. What you should be looking for is someone who has a degree, and has or can get certified in whatever you need. You also want the employee to have 5+ years of experience in the field.



Oh and someone who has great personal skills. You would be surprised how much this can help the communication with your IT department. You do not want someone that is socially inept??.Trust me?.
I agree. It totally agree with Rehn. It's a matter of how big the job responsibilty is and it really is important these days to hire a person that has excellent communication skills, not just tech skills.

Salary ranges in Colorado usually range from $40,000-$75,000 and higher, again based on the size of the responsibility. Another factor on salary range, which I feel is wrong but it's a fact, is how specific your skills are. For example, somebody who is completely Cisco certified can make more than a person with a broader skill set.

[D-Bone]

Yep, these guys stole my thunder. I'll just re-iterate. The scope of the job will depend on how much you spend. And yes, communication is just as important as the technical ability. Depending on how much work you forsee this person doing, it may not even be a full time job. It is also possible your company you hired to take care of your IT once a month or whatever may have someone they could outsource to you on a weekly basis. The nice part about that is they are not your employee so dont have to provide health insurance and benefits, etc. But again, that depends on the scope of the job. Anyway, just something else to think about.

[Jafo]

Ok, let me see if this helps,

This company has two main offices, with about 100+ PC's/laptops combined in both offices. We also have 2 smaller satellite offices consisting of about 10 PC's/Laptops. We are also persuing additional satellite offices in the next few years which will potentially add more to the overall number of PC's/laptops.

We have 2 main servers, that I am aware of, one at each of the major branches. We have large scale HP plotters to print out CAD designs and a hand full of smaller HP printers of various models distributed in both branches, maybe 15-20 printers total. Good thing is, they are all HP.

Server and network mainetance is a definate YES. Individual PC mainetance is also a huge factor. We have a multitude range of PC's/laptops, some that use Windows 2000 Professional and several that use Windows XP. Some of these PC's/Laptops are just out of the box, some are several years old. We have mix and match of PC's; Dells, HP, Compact. really no consistancy at all.

A major issue right now is Drive space. Just in my branch alone we have an 80G HD that is full and has never really been maintained on a regular basis.

currently we run Micro Trend for our virus protection, and that is all that I know of. D-bone pointed out to me last week, we really don't have much proection as far as spyware.

This company has never really had an IT person and it needs one. One that would potentally take ownership of it and be willing to travel to each of the branches. Obviously their would be budget constraints involved. What that budget would be, I have no idea.


That should sum it up. We are not exactally a small company. Basically the person that walks into this is going to have their hands full getting it under control, then keeping it running smooth.



Question, What is this Cisco Certification and how important is it?

[D-Bone]

Wow, just wow. Your whole company has about 120 PC's in 3 locations and no IT staff. Yes, you need to get someone in there, pronto. And yes, they will have their hands full. The first hurdle is going to be getting the company to realize this is important enough to spend money on it. And yes, its gonna cost ya. Not only the additional salary, but that person is gonna need to spend money to make things right around there. For example, this line concerns me GREATLY.

"Just in my branch alone we have an 80G HD that is full and has never really been maintained on a regular basis."

You need to implement shared storage and a backup solution first and foremost. Then you need to get your virus and spyware protection standardized. You can see where this is going... money, money, money. Find someone good and pay them well. :) Finding this perfect IT person may be tricky though. You are gonna have alot of requirements. Server and network maintenence, PC maintenence, security, backup, good communication skills, etc etc.

Good luck homie, let us know how else we can help.

[Ghost]

Cisco is basically a network gear company. The Internet pretty much runs on Cisco hardware. Anything from switches to routers to VoIP phones to network security is what Cisco does. They are pretty much the top or near the top in all that they do. For a medium size business like yours, you wouldn't have to have Cisco experience in a IT person. It would be helpfull to have some basic experience (CCNA) if you are using Cisco gear for your Internet or WAN connections. Cisco is pretty much 90% of what I do these days.

Everyone has pretty much been spot on with advice on what kind of skills you'd need. You are probably right on the line of actually needing 1.5 or 2 people even. It will all depend on how supportable the network is once someone is actively trying to fix problems. Also, a good thing to keep in mind is that you'll probably always need a little outside help. IT is just so big, that even with large companies, you can't possibly have someone who knows enough about every section of the field.

You are also right, it will probably be a long term commitment for the person who takes the job. They'd have to decide on a direction and slowly push everything in that direction. It might take a while before everything settles down to a nice easily supportable setup.

We are working with a local Medical provider that is going through this same type of thing. They had an IT person before, but everything is really screwed up. We are providing them with 2 outsourced people to help support their 300 node network.

[{OOE}Death]

bah users suck. :p These guys are right. I work with Ghosty. I have CCNA, CCDA, CQS IPTD, and a slew of other certs from voip to hardware. I can do pretty much anything I want. The kicker is I have a bad attitude, and I know it. I get to hide in the back ground. So yeah people skills are mandatory in this line of work. Salary requirements for that kind of position will range from 75k to about 50K. I was the guy that did the audit that ghost was talking about. You guys need help badly before the majic smoke comes out of that HDD. Tell me you are atleast backing it up to tape and also to removeable storage prefferably. The job could easily be split into 2 to 3 positions. Server/ network hardware that needs a body and hell desk. Obviously the hardware and hell desk need not be the brightest individuals. I mean hell look at Dante and D-Bone.

[D-Bone]

Obviously the hardware and hell desk need not be the brightest individuals. I mean hell look at Dante and D-Bone.

:eek:

I challenge you to a spyware removal dual! :p

[{OOE}Death]

I don't have any thankyou. Besides format and reload. You do have backups don't you.... no.... too bad. I win. Or we can have a challenge to configure a 2811 with CME and CUE. With 7 7970s and 3 7920s, four WAPs will need to be configured as well as a 2948. You will have 4 1FBs and 1 partial PRI. Ross stay out of this. :wave:

[Jafo]

We do use tape back up drives to back up our information and that is done every day of the week.

We have a company that maintains our servers but they only come when they are called and then we get charged close to $100.00 per hour, I am not sure if that is completely accurated but I am sure it is a reasonable rate.

Guys thank you very much. I appreciate the information. I know how much of a pain it is just to maintain my own 3 computer network in my house let alone a network my company has.

[Dante]

You're getting a deal at $100/hr network support. The Connecting Point dogs here charge something like $400 an hour now, right Ross/Death? :p

[Ghost]

I'm going to Aspen for $150/hr. Usually it's right around there. Most people who do the same network type stuff we do say we don't charge enough. One other competitor that works mostly with large organizations is like $250/hr for Cisco network stuff.

[D-Bone]

we can have a challenge to configure a 2811 with CME and CUE. With 7 7970s and 3 7920s, four WAPs will need to be configured as well as a 2948. You will have 4 1FBs and 1 partial PRI.

Child's play. I can do that with both eyes closed... ;)

Anyway, yeah, 100 bucks an hour is good. Thats what we charge for network labor and yeah, we could charge more but we don't.

[{OOE}Death]

All kidding aside. Do you have any buddies that are also in the field. I'd ask them to make reccomendations as to the IT help they use, or have stolen people from. Just remeber that no matter what is on the card you can't beat a good referral. I can dazzle people who have no idea what IT is farly easily. The trick is to get some one who can explain and teach as well as do. Talk is cheap. What area of Va are you in. Ross and I could make some inquiries. Hell for the right cash I'll take the job.

[Jafo]

The only people that I know and trust when it comes to computer issues is you guys. I keep reminding myself that is how I met Dante in the first place 10 some years ago when he was working at the Connecting Point. Hell, I have even had Ross work on my computer at the gaming sessions we did at the Connecting Point.

I honestly do not know what this company is going to do, the decision is not mine and I am merely a small fish in a large sea with alot of other bigger fish. I am trying to just give them as much information as I can to support the need of putting someone into this position. Having your opinions and knowing what you guys do for a living gives me a solid and reliable information base to ask questions.

I could be wrong as far as the hourly rate, I have nothing to back that up at all. My main thing is to do research for the people above me. After D-bone helped me last week with that one computer issue I got involved in, It concerns me that if the spyware would have managed to get stuck into the main server what it could have done. That would have been a problem.

[Kazami]

I manage a global IT operations for my organization. I typically don't like to outsource since we spend a lot of time holding their hands too much because our environments are very complex. I have a large office in Rockville, MD where i'm looking for a Customer Support Engineer as well. Basic break and fix stuff with competencies in OS (Linux, Windows), Networking (Cisco, L2, L3), and other back office operations (Backups etc.). I found good candidates for around $60K per year. It's fairly affordable and based on the size of your organization, should be cost effective.

I'll be happy to refer some people to you. We outsource some of our hardware maintenance to some folks in Virginia so if you're interested, i'll give you a referal and see if they may fit your bill if you want to outsource. These guys are really good it seems because my East Coast operations manager who resides in Maryland seems to be happy with them.

Feel free to drop me an email if your interested. My email address is Paul.Agamata@SpirentCom.COM.

regards,
Kazami

[Jafo]

I apprecaite that.. I just need to talk to the proper people in my company to see what they are willing to do. Thanks Kaz.. I appreciate it.

[Jafo]

Hey Guy, Another Question on this Topic. I had a conversation yesterday with the owner of my company on this very topic and it appears that we are going to be adding someone into this position within the next 6 months. I am just trying to give him as much information as possible.

Can you give me some recomendations on what type of candidate to look for? I know some of you mentioned Certifications. What are the different types of Certifications and what do they mean? Are their websites out there that will give a back ground information on this?

Next is Server security, Our servers only protection right now is Trendmicro, but from my conversations with Dbone, it is not that impressive. What is a good Server Security package to fit a net work of our size?

Thanks for the input guys, gald to have you all as a valuable resource.

[D-Bone]

Can you give me some recomendations on what type of candidate to look for? I know some of you mentioned Certifications. What are the different types of Certifications and what do they mean? Are their websites out there that will give a back ground information on this?

Next is Server security, Our servers only protection right now is Trendmicro, but from my conversations with Dbone, it is not that impressive. What is a good Server Security package to fit a net work of our size?

As for the certs, it would be a good idea to get someone who does have some good certs BUT make sure they have plenty of experience to go along with that title. Lots of people can get certs and have no real world experience to speak of. Here is a list of all the MS certs:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/certifications.asp
Also, if someone has any Cisco certs, they are probably pretty good. I understand those are hard to get. Perhaps Ghost or Death can comment on that more for you.
Disregard any A+ cert, it is worthless.

For security, I personally recommend 3 things.

1. Symantec Corporate Edition for anti-virus.
2. Webroot Spysweeper Enterprise Edition for spyware.
3. A good hardware firewall.

There are plenty of other things your guy should also recommend once he gets in place like a good backup solution, secure user passwords, etc etc.

Those are my thoughts, I'm sure others will add to it. Awesome news man.

[{OOE}Death]

Yeah make sure they have atleast 5yrs experience. Prefferably more. Ghost and I have a bunch of certs but we both have at least 10 years exp in our field. You don't some one who is cocky but they have to have a good demeanor. l think the experience is more important than certs. Education is a good thing. Atleast for the HR goons. Good luck.

[Jafo]

Experience is sometimes worth alot more than the education itself. Thanks alot guys I appreciate the feedback..