Will the real sysadmin please stand up?
Picture this…you're barely a year into a new career at an IT Helpdesk job and it's Friday afternoon and you are in a department staff meeting. You are feeling the stress because the new IT job isn't clicking and the imposter syndrome feeling is at an all-time high. The Helpdesk is drowning in work because we don't have the right training. It gets to a point where you are so discouraged that you can sense some of the other senior level techs and engineers you work with are getting frustrated with some of the basic IT questions from the Helpdesk team. Then it's finally said out loud in the meeting by a senior engineer, “maybe we should hire sysadmins.” Those words would change my life and be the start of not only a culture change but push me to be a better technician that would do everything I could to help Helpdesk team succeed.
The life change…
When I heard the senior engineer say those words they really hurt and it made me feel like maybe I wasn't cut out to work at the Helpdesk or in IT. I really considered quitting and giving up but something inside me didn't want that engineer to be right and I wanted to prove to them wrong. I used those words as my drive and motivation to not only work harder but to push myself to learn all that I can to be a better technician. I became more self-motivated to learn more than what I had learned in the technical program that I was in. I would take of every opportunity to learn and absorb every bit of knowledge anyone was willing to share. I made it a point to take on challenges and not shy away from them. If no one understands or knows things about printers well let me learn everything I can to learn about printers. I had a drive that took me to another level in my IT career and placed me where I am today, an engineer myself. Not only did I push to learn all that I can but do everything I can to share what I've learned with the team. If I could help the team what I learned, then we could all be successful as a team. I knew from my previous work experience that individual success can only get you so far, but a team's success can achieve greatness.
The culture change…
I decided at that moment after the meeting that I didn't want to work in a toxic and negative environment. I pushed for positivity, harmony, and did whatever I could to help better the team. I wanted the team to know that we could rely on each other. I worked to build trust among each other and put aside pride and arrogance when it came to helping each other. I never wanted anyone on the team to struggle or feel helpless because they have questions on something they weren't trained on. If there is a knowledge gap on anything I wanted to make sure I do everything I can to help the team. I made an emphasis on documenting what I learned and share it with the team.
So will the real sysadmin please stand up…
Well, there still isn't a sysadmin in the room but there is a teammate who will jump in and help no matter what sort of problem there is. I learned that it doesn't take a sysadmin to be an incredible Helpdesk technician. It takes someone who is willing to learn and someone who values helping one another so that the whole team succeeds. When we use our collective strength to help our customers we can achieve some incredible things.
So what about that senior engineer that made that comment in the meeting…
That person would later become a great influence in my career and later my boss. I shared with them how that comment made me feel and how it impacted my life and helped me who I have become as a technician. They told me later that the letter really opened their eyes and how it helped them change for the good. I truly saw the transformation when that person became my boss and did everything he could to help us. His first tip for troubleshooting would be "what to the logs say?" has forever been ingrained in me. I truly can't thank that person enough for all they have done for me in IT career. I am grateful they would later give me an opportunity to advance in my career and promote me from the Helpdesk to an IT engineer.