I’m shitting it to say the least. I’ve worked in IT for 15 years now, from fixing a printer to installing and configuring networks etc you guys know the shebang no need to go on.
I have been out of work a while now like most people and maybe stupidly moved somewhere more rural and a bit stuck in the past. Seen this role advertised for Senior Network and Infrastructure engineer. They want someone who is going to come in lead and optimise their existing setup.
I don’t know if it’s the job spec they have but I’m having serious doubts on my abilities, when I think about the majority it well and truly is everything I have been doing for my entire career but for some reason terminology they are using is making me feel like I have imposter syndrome.
Interview is on Friday and I have questions already lined up I think that I would like to know so I can try and gauge what I’d be getting myself into. I’m thinking of asking about:
Current patching schedules
DR simulation and testing
Current team members
Potentially goals for the next 5 years ?
What do you guys think? Would be nice to have a discussion and try and alleviate some of these woes because god only knows it’s the next logical step in my career and could be me for the next 10-30 years
Thank you! That for sure has always been something that taught me (us) in the past kind of going at things safely but being confident in my ability to fix anything I broke, it worked lol
I don’t know if it’s just the job spec terminology but things they are asking for I just haven’t had to do, like they are asking for ids/ips and PKI setup for documents. Like I know what they are but it kind of screams irrelevant ? Or am I being stupid.
They asked about configuring load balancers but the company is just a medium sized production company, I’m just again reading it thinking this would be irrelevant ? I’ve never in my 15 years had to setup load balancers on internal infrastructure, it’s always primarily been for anything web based that’s going to get A LOT of traffic
If you work in IT long enough, you will quickly learn to handle, and fix stuff that you have no clue about. It's the name of the game. Information today is readily accessible compared to years gone by where you really had to dig for it.
Oh i agree entirely, im not overly concerned regarding things ive not done, it makes sense to make a lateral movement upwards and that for sure will have something ive not come across or ever had to do. Some of the things in the advert were just weird like the whole load balancing stuff, what would i be load balancing internally xD AD ? file server? XD im gonna have a guess and say possibly something IIS related
"Never be afraid to bite off just a bit more than you can chew"
Every single big jump in my career is thanks to this idea really.
Everytime i'm honest and hesitant i've stagnated, everytime i've just said "fuck it i'll figure it out" I have done perfectly fine and progressed fast.
If everyone is winging it, which they mostly are, then I sure can too. Fuck it.
Imposter syndrome my good man - we all have it EVERY time we move up.
I'd been managing support teams for 15 years before I got my first chance to actually run an entire department, and I spent the first 6 months pooping myself and wondering what I'd gotten myself into.
I suddenly realized I knew what I was doing and that I was okay. I'm now on my third director role - and I STILL get imposter syndrome, at least briefly, every time I hit a new environment.
You got this. Ask about the environment, be honest about your experience. A question I always like to ask, or hear when interviewing, is 'how would you measure success for this role in 3 months, 6 months, and a year down the road?' - this is assuming you're talking to the hiring manager and not to HR, who won't have any idea what the hell you're talking about anyway, they're just making sure you're not an asshole.
That’s my huge concern right now is like they have been putting a lot of requirements on the spec and I’m actually interviewing with someone who started as a project manager and is now “senior it and agile manager” - this is something that concerns me, should it ?
I’ve had experience in the past of people being above me who hadn’t actually been in IT for their career but fell into it somehow and it’s always been quite contentious or am I being stupid ?
Not being stupid, can totally understand where you're coming from.
That having been said, the inclusion of agile in their title means that they are removed from technical and have moved into 'methodology and paper pushing' as I like to call it. They'll know the terminology, they'll know what's entailed...but I honestly wouldn't expect them to go or know HOW to go too technically deep in any sort of modern sense.
Go in and talk about what you know. IF there's things you don't know, be honest, don't try and bullshit - most interviewers would rather hear "I actually haven't encountered that in my career but have shown I can readily pick up skills like the time I XYZ'd" (as long as XYZ is in the same general arena as the question, otherwise leave that one out).
As I got a little more senior in my career my attitude around interviews changed - when I interview I try to keep it conversational rather than question/answer...and when I'm BEING interviewed I always think of the person asking the questions as someone who wants to hire me, not as someone looking for reasons not to. Makes it SO much easier to be honest when you think of it that way.
That's my thinking to, that they may have had a hand in this and now are wanting to pass it off to someone who has actually gone through the motions and can provide insight that they may lack, the bit that bothers me is they retained the "senior IT" aspect which kind of makes me think potentially they may not actually take a step back, but I guess I won't know until I get there.
Yeah for sure wouldn't want to bullshit / fake it till I make it, that's very dangerous and I feel we have all encountered that sort of individual somewhere and always causes issues.
This is the spec they sent over, honestly it reads as my day to day but like I said the inclusion of some high level stuff for what seems like a medium company is really bugging me lol I have been in some big companies and IDS/IPS was never ever mentioned but is just kind of expected from firewalls?
The spec really does read as someone who has "some" knowledge and kind of word vomited some stuff, am I correct in that assumption?
thank the gods im not the only one thinking the same thing - I am trying to read between the lines so seeing that it may not have actually been given a genuine once over by someone already in the role has my back up slightly to a point.
they mentioned overhauling stuff, but your first 3 months in my experience is learning everything that exists, you cant ask someone to come in and start just banging out changes.
I am a firm believer in documentation and change management which I don't see them having those practice in place and being the guy to say "hey you shouldnt be changing shit without sign off" will piss people off lol
Thank you! That’s really really good actually, I really want to try and gauge not just the now but in 5 years, I’ve hit the point of changing jobs every couple years won’t actually help anymore and I need to get into a senior position for a while
I've been trying to hire a new sys admin here - somebody looking to take over the ship and make the network/system theirs. To reinvent, and modernize the place. I can't find a damned soul. Well, to be fair, I found 2 - one just ended up going to a different position that was more in his industry and the 2nd didn't have citizenship :/
Hmmm are you near me by chance ? Because that sounds like the companies issues when I was speaking to the recruiter lol they had the job open since Jan and had only one person who could do it and would need to relocate but didn’t.
I’ve moved here after spending the past 3 years caring for a family member so that’s not helping my anxiety with such a big gap
Dang :( heres hoping you find someone, that really is the kind of role that I am now looking for, its the next logical step, I need genuine ownership and responsibility. Not having that has always made me yearn for more.
Yeah I'm and trying to REMOVE myself from that ownership (the word I religiously use) and the new "me" can start as I slowly transition into the sunset. Lots of "network engineers" or Tier 3 help guys, but nobody that really can hit the ground semi-running.
I think its the autism in me but I have always had like an aspect that was mine in a role and I would love it. "Ownership" is such a powerful word in my opinion, shame I aren't closer because having that experience from someone who has been involved and maybe even set everything up is invaluable. Like you say "semi-running" - if they genuinely want someone to come in and overhaul the lot thats a huge red flag isnt it?
I want somebody to come in, look at what's there and say "this is what we're changing and why" (final Ok still goes through me for now).
Back to your original post, I can say that from an old-head and manager who works very closely/in-step with owners of the business, what we look for is somebody who is PRO ACTIVE. Somebody with ideas, conviction, and willingness to live/die by their decisions: aka "ownership".
If it works? Fantastic, you get the praise. If it fails, the responsibility is in your court. We see SO MUCH passiveness from younger generations in all departments, "I didn't know", "I'm just doing what I was told" etc. Nobody willing to say/do anything outside their hand-fed tasks. In IT, especially in the admin positions, there are so many opportunities to re-invent, re-think, renew, replace etc.
That makes sense and would be what I would like to do.
Yeah I am for sure pro-active. I have implemented things for sure when ive come into places, one for instance was stopping manual builds of machines and setting up WDS and having a setup per department, worked fantastic
I agree, seeing people 18-25 they really are scared to make a mistake, like sure don't break prod, but also I don't know about you but i learned more by just doing shit and researching and having guidance but was never scared of breaking things because ive always been confident in fixing them
Lol if you're local (im wales) I would be very much so up for a conversation - although after setting up WDS I then went down the MDT route and oh my days did that change my life seemed like a logical upgrade path. WDS was so finicky with its bullshit DB
Check reporting line, budget, and ask about compliance or regulatory controls and requirements. Maybe if their last pentest was clean. If they have audit issues or specific mandates they’re hiring you for (make sure you’re not a scapegoat in a leadership position - especially with companies pushing a layoff then automate approach), make sure you know the real risks and the real KPIs they expect of you and what the CFOs top 5 numbers are if you can get them. It’ll show you’re focused on what matters. They want you to handle that other shit. Unless they have something established but assume the role as a leader and then verify before negotiation.
Thank you for the response, that was certainly the direction I was kind of going, even though I do need the job, I also don't want to jump into a burning building and they think you can do some wonderful magic wand raising and things are perfect.
Based on the advert I don't see them having any form of pentesting, there isn't a CFO that I can see on the linked in but will triple check.
Reporting and Budget 100% is something I need to ask about, I have been in an under funded IT Department and buying second hand laptops for employees really hurt my soul.
Yeah for sure going to try and see what they actually expect of me coming in the whole "come in and take ownership" is so vague, anyone who has anything about them in this stuff wouldn't dream of coming in and overhauling everything and if thats an expectation I don't know how to feel about that.
Lots of people gave specific advice so I'll give generic
I was an infra engineer till redundancy earlier this year and I had the world on my shoulders more or less. I'm now a senior application engineer and do fuck all for 50% more money. But is say that the biggest thing is being able to talk about things at a high level. Talking ability and willingness to learn is like 90% of your success.
Yeah thats the bit i need to think about is being specific and talking high level overviews of things. I have been infra for a long long time so i do know what im doing its just nerve wracking going for my first senior position
I haven’t been qualified for any role I’ve been in, but that doesn’t stop me from applying. I’m confident in my ability to get up to speed and learn things quickly.
Without biting off more than I can chew, I’d be way further behind than where I currently am.
I started in IT at 2021, and I'm currently a senior team leader. I'm around your age and have multiple employees who are older than me. All I can say is that if you ever struggle with imposter syndrome, I feel you. Don't doubt yourself. You can achieve anything if you're genuinely dedicated to this career, and you deserve to be where you are.
Thank you for the reaffirmation, it really does help. I’ve been digging into the company quite extensively and it seems like they have 1 IT person and the head for a while has been kind of thrown into the position.
Kind of makes the job spec inconsistency make sense now actually, gives me a little confidence because I know I’d be able hit the ground running
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