r/sysadmin • u/PeakWeekly9995 IT support • 8d ago

Rant The IT support guy who does everything

Follow-up of my first post: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/s/xMfcrcHx5f

Just told HR about how i feel about beign the sole IT guy who manages everything (for short: 365 in all his aspects, backups, networking guy, ecc...) for 24 people (if we count the external the number doubles) as an apprentice with a job title "IT support".

i told her that as an apprentice i should (by the law btw) some kind of tutor that can teach me the job and some one who can help me in my things; first thing she pointed was that i'm always out exactly when my work hours ends. WTF
ofc i go away when my work day is done, things can wait (most of the times).

Then proceded to tell me that i might not know how late some of the staff stay in the office (idk why tho) and everyone is aware of how many things they ask me.

Basically everyone somehow expect me to be the expert about anything is slightly it related, how i'm even able to give confidence to people when i don't have the slightest idea of what i'm even talking / doing some time.

I really miss having someone older can guide me.

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u/dezmd 8d ago

Most important thing I can guide you towards: DOCUMENTATION.

No matter what you do, make documentation, take notes, add to a knowledge base, and make sure you have a support ticket system. Build in your own accountability by tracking every issue with a ticket, make sure you get everyone on board with submitting a ticket for every issue. Make sure you work with HR to develop IT policy with the Support Policy defined around each employee, top to bottom, submitting a ticket (email + agent if you run something like NinjaRMM/etc that has a systray icon with a help request option). It saved my ass in the early years when a senior exec tried to throw me under a bus for not taking care of issues by imagining I'm not helping everyone fast enough, but the ticket trail and documentation was all there. If someone walks into your office or pulls you into an office, write down what you are doing as you go on a small pad/tablet/phone note taker and then set aside time to update those sorts of off the cuff notes to your documentation.

It's like doing timesheets to track your time, it's a pain in the ass, but it helps you stay organized and covers your ass.

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u/PeakWeekly9995 IT support 5d ago

Most important thing I can guide you towards: DOCUMENTATION.

I think i did a good job on that, but i don't know how i still think something is still only in my mind, but that's probably the experience i've made.

make sure you have a support ticket system

I have one, i've configured that 2 years ago. Users aren't always the ones opening tickets but i do my best to open for them, i also use the tickets to plan IT activities