Becoming a Network Manager

[tscnmuk]

I am only 20 and an ICT Director in charge of NM's across many schools. Definately go in through the apprentice route and work your way up through the ranks, this is what I did.

 

I did have a couple of lucky breaks where people left and I was the only person suitable to take over etc but work hard, learn as much as you can - and you can do whatever you want.

 

Tom

[john]

I am only 20 and an ICT Director in charge of NM's across many schools. Definately go in through the apprentice route and work your way up through the ranks, this is what I did.

 

I did have a couple of lucky breaks where people left and I was the only person suitable to take over etc but work hard, learn as much as you can - and you can do whatever you want.

 

Tom

Lucky b******! is all I can say to that tscmuk I want that job.

[webman]

I've heard these NM types can be a nightmare to manage

[mattx]

So what period are we talking about here, must have been around 1995/96, didn't realise there was an OS/2 server aswell, must have been a killer combo way better than what was around at the time, NT 3.51 (urghhhhh!!!) and Netware 4.x (IPX only I think).

 

Agree with you that it was all down to marketing, i heard that there have been numerous requests from OS/2 fans to IBM to release it to the community as an open source project.

 

IPX - ha ha - god, that brings back memories....

I worked with OS/2 ver 2,3 and 4. If memory serves me correct there was LAN server and WARP server - I cannot remember the differences.

Both pi55ed all over NT 3.51 and NT 4 when it came out. OS/2 ver 3 had win 3.1 intergrated in enhanced mode - and getting office ver 5 [ i think ] to work along side was not a problem. We also managed to intergrate NT4 as data servers which worked along side OS/2 quite nicely as we also had some windows 2000 servers + then some citrix farms. It was a nice complex network which worked really well. In the end Windows and citrix was the winner over a 10 year period for me of around 7 or so years. We also had a mainframe + other lotus stuff running.

OS/2 builds were easy, all scripted and built via netbui !! I developed a windows95 thin client build - again over netbui on token ring.

Anyway I'm waffling.

Now I could go down the network manager route if I wanted but I won't because I want to stay technical, I want to get my hands dirty, I want to work and develop stuff. I've seen people like me go down the manager route and its the biggest mistake's they ever make in their lives. They loose the ability quite quickly on the technical aspect and in the end just blab out manager clap trap speak to try and sound big and important.

Then of course if you work in the private sector [ large business etc ] then as soon as hard times hit, its the managers that get the shove first.

IT / Network managers - [ most of them ] are nothing more than failed technicians, or are people in place of employment who have been promoted out of the way because they were sh1t at what they did to start with and no one liked them.

 

Gosh is that the time - just finished watching the Pink Floyd prog on BBC1 - you can tell that was most probably directed / produced by a manager of sorts as it was rather sh1t.

[maniac]

OS/2 is where I learnt most of my related OS skills from - LAN & Warp server pi55ed all over windows and linux at the time. I remember running OS/2 ver 3 and 4 on my old overclocked P75s for weeks at a time without having to re-boot.

Shame IBM never really marketed it proberly. Just did a quick check for the OS/2 site I used to use all the time and its no longer there - [ the OS/2 supersite ]

 

Pointless bit of information for you; The checkout system in most CO-OP stores ran OS/2 as the operating system for their custom written checkout application, they were incredibly reliable too. They're all being replaced with flatscreen type checkouts now, don't think there's any of the old ones left anymore (they had the little 8 inch VGA screens as the customer display)

 

Mike.

[GrumbleDook]

I've heard these NM types can be a nightmare to manage

 

Manage? you don't manage NMs ... you prod them, cajole them, bribe them and when all else fails promote them to senior manglement!

[mrcrazy04]

Pointless bit of information for you; The checkout system in most CO-OP stores ran OS/2 as the operating system for their custom written checkout application, they were incredibly reliable too. They're all being replaced with flatscreen type checkouts now, don't think there's any of the old ones left anymore (they had the little 8 inch VGA screens as the customer display)

 

Mike.

The new flatscreen ones run XP Embedded and take ages to boot up apparently.

 

I found buying a server to be quite helpful - if you scout about on ebay you can usually find some old kit for little money. I found a 266MHz Server with 256Meg of RAM and a Win2K server license for £10 - it was fine for testing out Group Policy and Active Directory and RIS (2K doesn't do WDS).

I also setup DansGuardian on an Ubuntu virtual machine (my dad limited how many physical boxes I could have!) - that was good fun (even though I couldn't get it to do transparent filtering properly)

[torledo]

So what period are we talking about here, must have been around 1995/96, didn't realise there was an OS/2 server aswell, must have been a killer combo way better than what was around at the time, NT 3.51 (urghhhhh!!!) and Netware 4.x (IPX only I think).

 

Agree with you that it was all down to marketing, i heard that there have been numerous requests from OS/2 fans to IBM to release it to the community as an open source project.

 

IPX - ha ha - god, that brings back memories....

I worked with OS/2 ver 2,3 and 4. If memory serves me correct there was LAN server and WARP server - I cannot remember the differences.

Both pi55ed all over NT 3.51 and NT 4 when it came out. OS/2 ver 3 had win 3.1 intergrated in enhanced mode - and getting office ver 5 [ i think ] to work along side was not a problem. We also managed to intergrate NT4 as data servers which worked along side OS/2 quite nicely as we also had some windows 2000 servers + then some citrix farms. It was a nice complex network which worked really well. In the end Windows and citrix was the winner over a 10 year period for me of around 7 or so years. We also had a mainframe + other lotus stuff running.

OS/2 builds were easy, all scripted and built via netbui !! I developed a windows95 thin client build - again over netbui on token ring.

Anyway I'm waffling.

Now I could go down the network manager route if I wanted but I won't because I want to stay technical, I want to get my hands dirty, I want to work and develop stuff. I've seen people like me go down the manager route and its the biggest mistake's they ever make in their lives. They loose the ability quite quickly on the technical aspect and in the end just blab out manager clap trap speak to try and sound big and important.

Then of course if you work in the private sector [ large business etc ] then as soon as hard times hit, its the managers that get the shove first.

IT / Network managers - [ most of them ] are nothing more than failed technicians, or are people in place of employment who have been promoted out of the way because they were sh1t at what they did to start with and no one liked them.

 

Gosh is that the time - just finished watching the Pink Floyd prog on BBC1 - you can tell that was most probably directed / produced by a manager of sorts as it was rather sh1t.

 

So we can add OS/2 to the list of great technologies that have been sent to thegraveyard, along with the alpha processor, tru64 unix, and I'm sure a lot of other stuff that I can't think of right now.

 

In the future we can add netware, ibm z mainframes to the list.

 

In the final shakedown we're going to be left with Windows and Linux running on commodity server hardare, Sun will likely revolutionize the mid to high-end server space with their new Rock (RK) processors, so big unix iron will all of a sudden become a lot smaller in size with many times the processing power, who knows someone may be able to tune Linux to have it scale on the new unix server iron to rival propetary unix...leaving ibm with their american refridgerator sized mainframes as the dinosaur technology. Same fate could happen to IBM's AIX and HP's HP-UX unless they follow Suns lead and opensource their closed systems.

 

The only thing I'll say about Pink Floyd is that the 2005 live8 reunion is the only time i've been glad to see ageing rockers strutting their stuff (it was the only good thing about live8). The Who, those bahamian nationals the rolling stones, £10000 a ticket Led Zeppelin and McCartney embarassing themselves and their families on stage long past their sell by date the world can do without

[Butuz]

IT / Network managers - [ most of them ] are nothing more than failed technicians, or are people in place of employment who have been promoted out of the way because they were sh1t at what they did to start with and no one liked them.

 

Whooo what a statement!

 

This may often be the case in industry where network managers are often simply "people managers" but I think in education as a whole it is certainly not the case, because most network managers have been promoted from technical jobs / backgrounds - I know I pride myself in being able to offer high level technical support if our technicians are struggling with something.

 

But then I am a geek I suppose.... the question is can geeks make good managers?

 

Butuz

[djm968]

IMHO - don't do it - its a thankless task and not particularly well paid, you have to completely relearn your knowledgebase every couple of years and when you're past 40 - you can't get a decent job for love nor money.

 

If you're bright - be an accountant, engineer or a lawyer - at least they have a properly defined career structure.

 

Agree to a point.... and definitely not in the public sector anyway.

 

The problem with the roll of a NM in education is that even now you still tend to get "pigeon holed" and often find it difficult to break into the private sector. Obviously this shouldn’t be the case, and an NM in education will often have more diverse but less specialised knowledge and herein we find the problem.

 

A NM in the private sector will often, only tasked with managing the network and his team of network engineers, basically the main task of the team is to ensure reliable connectivity between devices and work on future connectivity projects. Training will often be specialised and targeted towards specific technologies and/or products.

 

I would look at all of the aspects of managing ICT in a educational environment, see if you can find some work experience at a local school over the Easter or Summer break, then decide which element of being a NM floats your boat and find a suitable position within the private sector.

[apoth0r]

If you're serious about becoming a Network Manager then I would seriously consider a management based degree and taking an A+ > MCSE/Cisco certification on the side.

[josno]

Most of the comments in this thread seem to be pretty pessimistic - is there no-one out there who enjoys there job?!

 

I was really lucky and got a job as an ICT Technician in a secondary/6th form school in my gap year between A levels and Uni and I absolutely loved it. Even luckier, it was the year they were moving from Win98/NT4 to XP/Server 2k3 and was heavily involved in creating group policy, setting up remote XP installs etc. What I loved was the variety in the job and the rich IT environment a school provided.

 

Even though I'm now doing a degree in French I'm hoping to go back to technicianing after I graduate - are people saying this isn't something they'd advise?

[Joanne]

you didn't work in it for long enough... just wait until year 3 or 4... they will break your spirit.

[AshF]

Whooo what a statement!

 

This may often be the case in industry where network managers are often simply "people managers" but I think in education as a whole it is certainly not the case, because most network managers have been promoted from technical jobs / backgrounds - I know I pride myself in being able to offer high level technical support if our technicians are struggling with something.

 

But then I am a geek I suppose.... the question is can geeks make good managers?

 

Butuz

 

I'm a good geek, terrible at the manager part. I fell upwards into the network manager role, but mostly out of the fact that the previous network manager suddenly found the door, and someone needed to step into the shoes. Part of my JD was to deputize for the NM in his/her absence. Only difference was this absence eventually just turned into me being the network manager. There is still an overall ICT Manager above me, but I work in the office, with the technicians (my Snr Tech, + 2 Jnrs), and they frequently default to me for answers to questions they don't know. Doesn't mean they always listen to the answer tho...

I think there are a lot of different interpretations of the word 'Network Manager'. For me it's still a very technical role, and indeed has made my job more technical as now I'm in charge and usually implement all server migrations/rollouts.

 

As for the job sucking the will to live...

 

I have dreams about retiring to the country and growing begonias.

I'm 26.

 

P.S. Aging Rockers? I was at Live8, and Pink Floyd was *IT* for me. The event I never thought I would see happen. I did go on to see The Who the next year and enjoyed the concert huge amounts. Even have it on DVD sat on a shelf near me. Roger Waters solo concerts however... Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. Very poor. A man of his age should be above lip-syncing. And should be the one actually playing bass. What he was doing... it was air-bass.

 

P.P.S. First post of 08. Everything changed! This is how mad my job gets. I disappear off t'net for months at a time.

[apeo]

you didn't work in it for long enough... just wait until year 3 or 4... they will break your spirit.

 

so true...

[Butuz]

so true...

 

Haha nearly into year 7 now - they aint broken me yet!!

 

Just call me Jack Bauer

 

Butuz

[greenfieldsupport]

anyone remember what happend to lotus???

 

after lotus notes dissapeared 5 years ago i havent heard a thing about it :|

Edited January 11, 2008 by greenfieldsupport

[Geoff]

anyone remember what happend to lotus???

 

after lotus notes 5 years ago i havent heard a thing about it :|

 

Bought out by IBM in '95.

[torledo]

anyone remember what happend to lotus???

 

after lotus notes dissapeared 5 years ago i havent heard a thing about it :|

 

eh ? How exactly did Lotus Notes 'disappear' five years ago. It's been a mainstay of corporate messaging for well over a decade - it's lost it's lead to Exchange it's hardly disappeared. domino/notes is awfully difficult to get rid for corporates and big public sector orgs