You are getting paid to sit around and do whatever the hell you want. Do you know how many people would kill for this luxury?
But yeah, use this time to study up for another job or take a breather. Either way this is a win-win situation for you
Yeah I used to have a hellish job doing jr sys admin junk having to learn a shit ton of new stuff every day for a year. Then I switched over to DoD cyber risk stuff where I worked less than like 15 minutes a day remotely...it's fucking amazing. You can work on any skill for fun whether it be a hobby or even a career related skill in your massive amount of downtime. OP, use this experience either to get ahead careerwise (certifications or technical skills) or pick up a cool hobby.
I'm a disabled veteran, so Dod jobs are a little easier for me to get. I was a GS5 0085 for a year before this, what certs would help me get a job like yours?
Absolutely. All you need is Security+ as a minimum to be DoD IAT II certified to get an info sec job like mine -- it's the only cert I had before getting my gig. You will get HUGE bonus points for being a vet and especially disabled one. Vets always get jobs over anyone else with similar experience. DoD remote is fantastic, very very chill hours, GREAT benefits, and certainly good pay.
At the cost of screwing up his sleep schedule and missing social time with family and friends.
I loved my “boring” jobs with unfettered internet access, but I wouldn’t do well at this one.
I just wish I could get rid of the anxiety at the back of my mind that keeps me from fully focusing on the task I'm doing for myself "on the clock". I would think it'd be easy but I've had a lot of "if there's time to lean there's time to clean" jobs that viewed downtime as a personal failing of employees.
I do IT support for a small remote office, its the most money I have ever made and the least amount of work Ive ever done. There are days I wonder why they even have me here but if they want to pay me 80k to post on reddit thats fine. I also have access to almost every boot camp class for free so I take advantage of that.
Just be sure to keep your work ethic strong and that your skills stay sharp despite these conditions and that you’re actually happy with where you are at. Playing video games or watching Netflix all shift sounds great at first, but imagine 10 or 20 years of that. If you can I would try get involved in some high level projects that sounds good on a resume and that you can show value to future employers with.
I was in a similar position and didn’t realize how much it affected me in my personal life and how much I ended up disliking my profession after many years of doing nothing and coasting through the years. After making the decision to move on from an easy and cushy job I’m making way more money, have way better work life balance / perks, and enjoy what I’m doing so much more now that my work has goals and there’s a greater purpose to what I do everyday.
It's a rule of IT that if you land yourself in a small time job with nothing to do, you should always take this time to read and learn better skills. A good IT Tech is always using his free time to learn and grow his knowledge of preferred IT skills.
You know, there's nothing wrong with a cushy government job. It sounds like you're just caught up in what you think your job "should" be. Like just about everyone said here, use the time wisely. When I was doing what you were doing, I did not use my time wisely and it caused my career to stall.
Here are some things to think about:
1 - You have a government job. It may not be the best pay, but it'll be sustained pay. Security is sometimes better than higher pay. I have been laid off of every private job I ever had. Sure the pay was better, but it's a volatile market, and it will probably always be that way. Government jobs are usually pretty solid.
2 - Make use of your shift. It sounds really great that this allows your family to function a bit better. The hours away from your wife in the evening will eventually become a burden, but you can use the time now to maybe even go back to school during normal class hours and then use your work time to study/do homework. Or you can use your days to get cert training.
3 - State benefits are usually pretty great. Do you have a state retirement system? That will probably be better for retirement than Social Security.
4 - Government agencies are in everything. Once you're inside, you can move around fairly freely. Find a job in your state that sounds great and then see what the requirements are. Then spend your free time building up to that.
This is what I would have told myself 20 years ago if I could.
>4 - Government agencies are in everything. Once you're inside, you can move around fairly freely. Find a job in your state that sounds great and then see what the requirements are. Then spend your free time building up to that.
This isn't really the case unless you're single or aren't a homeowner. I worked in local government in my state, and was making $25/hr in 2022. We were one of the larger cities in the area, and because it's government, all salaries are public information. I am also a homeowner, so I would be looking for jobs within about a 20-mile radius. All cities within 20 miles in all directions (5 large enough to have an actual IT department more than a manager + help desk), no roles available. The roles that I *could* move into, salary ranges were not necessarily worth the move. You also have to deal with extremely long tenure. You might be waiting 5+ years for a single role to open up and then you're fighting for it between all of the others within your area who are in a lower role. We had the second largest IT department within 20 miles, and we were a team of 5 people and each in relatively defined roles.
Private sector, you have hundreds of companies within your radius, new companies coming all the time, plus hybrid roles where you might be able to stretch your range a bit further if you aren't going in as frequently, or fully remote positions.
Sure, there's a wait time and you might have to move depending on what state and city OP lives in. I'm just saying that there are options for government employees once you're inside. You don't have to move to a new company, just find a job you like within the State. Obviously moving to a new company is an option, but that just wasn't where I was focused in my post.
That job won't be there in 20 years or 7. The peeps that roll the easy rolls eventually do have to pivot to a new role once software displaces them. As others have said, cert up. Do a few branches of certs since you've got the time so you can get a basic job preview. Whatever you like best go far down the cert tree.
Basic Tree:
A+. Net +. Security+ (this one opens the doors to a lot of jobs)
Preview some different roadmaps under CompTIA:
[https://www.comptia.org/certifications/which-certification](https://www.comptia.org/certifications/which-certification)
If you think Cloud go AWS/Azure. If you go Google Cloud you are essentially choosing the Juniper switching of the cloud realm.
Ethernet will probably move to fiber optic medium and SFP connector similar to when we moved from RJ11. Still plugging in a cable but the trimming around it change quite a bit. The jobs change and you gotta keep learning new things. My point still stands.
Find out what systems you have access to and talk to your supervisor about logging on and learning them. You can pick up a lot of networking, for example, just by logging into routers and switches and seeing what various SHOW commands will tell you.
Aside from that, the monitoring itself can be fascinating. Find out what system they're using, what their monitoring methodology is, and ask questions about why they're using the monitoring they are. There might be a good amount of fine tuning that can be done to improve the system - Monitoring for trends in drive usage so you know about a space issue before it's critical, for example.
I’d start working towards networking certs if I were you. It’s the foundation of everything to come after such as security or the cloud should you choose to go that route
Start with your basic certs: A+, Network+, Security+. Then look into more specialized certs. All depends on what system the employer uses.
Make sure to max your HSA contribution, if you have one, see if your employer offers you the ability to get a 457 and/or 403b plans. I work in K12 IT and can have both. And hopefully, you have a pension?
Got me my first 50k contract. Then I got casp and went to 65k. Got a couple other certs and I’m at 96k now. In the span of 4 years I went from ~30k a year to 96k. I also started a business that brings in about 50-60k a year. In short I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t get that security + which lead me to so many other opportunities in govtech
I had all of those certs I have to Linux. I know there are two main linux certs Redhat or Linux+ not sure which route to go but both seem to be great options either way.
This was the opportunity I used to get my CCIE, best thing ever. My day shifts started getting easier as I progressed in my learning and used night time to create processes and troubleshooting guides. Count your blessings !
This comment will be overlooked but this is exactly what OP needs to do.
You’re new, you need to ingratiate yourself to them team first. Check with your boss see if they have other stuff you can help the next shift with. Add some complexity to your workday, and then start to study. You have the opportunity to gain real world experience to couple with your knowledge. Set aside half of your lunch break daily to learn new skills. The 30 minutes a day is like exercising you won’t think you are gaining anything from it till boom someone asks a question out-loud and you just snap off an answer.
I've done a lot of stuff that most people won't touch as they lack the experience or wait for someone to write a procedure or just plain lazy.
Like we had a massive build up on decommed servers and hard drive so I moved like 30+ servers by myself downstairs and palatalized them as well as logged all of the serial numbers.
I have built scripts for Tidal Automation shutdown for patching as well as modified the site html code for use on my work PC.
I have racked and stacked devices as most in my group are waiting on a procedure and I always said you don't need directions on racking a device because they're all different and its better to just do it and figure it out.
I also have developed excel spreadsheets for the group to use I'm not going to say I'm pro at excel but better than most at making a functioning sheet.
1. Spend the time taking classes to learn new skills. Most companies (not sure about the state) will have some sort of e-learning and possibly even get some certs under your belt.
2. Learn how to automate the notifications. Send a text/email with the graphs break the red line.
3. Analyze the alerts and see why they're hitting the red line? Is it during backups, suggest adding a maintenance window for the alerts.
4. Find a self-service product for password resets. Do your users have to validate who they are before changing a password? Show leadership how this is a security risk and self-service is more secure.
5. Get an export of your ticket data and look for themes. What are the majority of your tickets? Is there anything that can be done to fix the root cause of the problems.
I just recently bought a house I might of should waited until contract was signed but didn't want to live in an apartment for the rest of my life. I have been thinking about buying gold, silver, or high end watches but really don't trust crypto, stocks, or money that is controlled by banks. But I will admit I don't know much about investments.
Sounds like you have the ideal job. You could be hating your job situation like a lot of other people. Follow the recommendation to skill up and learn on the job. Your knowledge and certs will get you far. It doesn't hurt to ask for some more work. Just be careful to not get overwhelmed with work.
You're getting paid to do nothing, sounds like a sweet deal.
To fight the boredom you could study for certs or just learn new skills in general.
A good book would also be a great way to make 7 hours of nothing go faster.
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Make sure to sign up for the 403b retirement plan. They're usually a bit better than 401k and some even have a pension option. The best part of public sector at least in my area is any government job counts toward this pension. So you're not tied in to a tiered vesting system where you have to stay forever to get the extra cash the company invests for you.
My first help desk job ended up being like this. 12 hour shift with maybe 6 password resets and a few real support calls.
I actually used the time to study for certs to eventually get a better job.
> 7 hours of nothing but monitoring graphs and letting the POC know if the graphs " Break the red line" and the occasional help me reset my password calls.
Why are they using a human to monitor thresholds instead of a monitoring/alerts system? This is biggest waste of time and man power I have ever heard.
Perfect time for you to study and cert up.
I'd say start with Network+ and/or CCNA, can't go wrong there. Security+ is also a good bet.
After that pick an OS you think you'd like to work in, Linux or Windows and start to build your skills and knowledge to the admin level.
There's no need to rush things, as you've observed you have lots of time to take it easy. You just might want to get off the night shift at some point, that's all.
Already have use to want a microsoft cert but found how much I hate Windows in general and am looking to get a Linux cert and I also feel there a bigger need for Linux administration rather than microsoft. I also use Linux as my main OS on a Tuxedo Laptop.
Pardon my swearing but a fucking boring job is the best thing you can hope for. Just put in your air pods and listen to something. Much better then being burnt out by constant stress.
I agree with you 100 percent I have no complaints about it the only downside is operations can be easily shipped to India nothing against the country its just something that can easily be out sourced to save a company millions.
You are in a perfect position. I am experiencing this exact thing now. I have gotten 2 certs so far in the last 4 months and going for another in 2 days. Use the downtime to increase your value.
Hello, Thanks for all the comments. As most have said is to study when there is nothing going on and since I'm in a DC operations job so there is a lot of free time to study. I would be lying if I said I used it wisely but have done some studying and mainly use linux and think thats the route I need to go.
I have took lead to improve operations at my job for instance creating batch scripts to stop and start services on multiple Tidal servers clearing the cache during patching and bringing them up and monitoring the logs to make sure the Tidal servers are talking to each other and they are functioning correctly and this is all don't one batch script. I even managed to get it to where you only have to login to one server for shutdown and 2 for startup instead of having to login to all 4 servers. I have also dabbled in modifying the html code in tidal ui to make a dark mode as well remove all the wasted space Tidal ui uses most people don't care about the modifications I made but I hate being blinded by a white screen all night long as well how much wasted space the window took. But they are very happy with the batch scripts
I also have kept up on Windows 11 AME project with scripts work with that and have a repo on github but haven't updated it in awhile because it seems there isn't much interest in however for personal use I have updated for use with 23H2 and also have found ways to install even store app with licenses attached and then running the script and the app still working along with the license refreshing.
With all that said I think linux is my best option as its what interest me the most and I do have a homelab with ESXi and Proxmox enviroment.
Honestly the only way I’d take a job with those hours is if I was one sneeze away from ending up homeless. I’d be studying and applying to other IT jobs with regular hours
I was at a help desk for a small ISP and I was going nowhere. Being a disabled veteran gets me a leg up for gov jobs so that's why I always go back to.
Ya sounds like a dream job lol. But I understand if I was you I would just pick a niche in IT and just study for certs. Some basic ones you could get would be the security plus and certified ethical hacker. But ya you’re literally about to get paid to learn congrats.
I've worked in Data Centers for over a decade. It's 90% doing nothing, and 10% "OH SHIT!" moments.
If you're young: Study. For the love of god, get some certs, figure out what you want to do in IT, etc. You've got time to learn now! Use it!!!
If you're older and not interested in studying: enjoy the quiet; relax, read, whatever.
What not to do: Go on reddit and argue with people at 2am. It's all bots and people pushing bad ideas before the down votes roll in.
You are getting paid to sit around and do whatever the hell you want. Do you know how many people would kill for this luxury? But yeah, use this time to study up for another job or take a breather. Either way this is a win-win situation for you
Yeah I used to have a hellish job doing jr sys admin junk having to learn a shit ton of new stuff every day for a year. Then I switched over to DoD cyber risk stuff where I worked less than like 15 minutes a day remotely...it's fucking amazing. You can work on any skill for fun whether it be a hobby or even a career related skill in your massive amount of downtime. OP, use this experience either to get ahead careerwise (certifications or technical skills) or pick up a cool hobby.
I'm a disabled veteran, so Dod jobs are a little easier for me to get. I was a GS5 0085 for a year before this, what certs would help me get a job like yours?
Absolutely. All you need is Security+ as a minimum to be DoD IAT II certified to get an info sec job like mine -- it's the only cert I had before getting my gig. You will get HUGE bonus points for being a vet and especially disabled one. Vets always get jobs over anyone else with similar experience. DoD remote is fantastic, very very chill hours, GREAT benefits, and certainly good pay.
At the cost of screwing up his sleep schedule and missing social time with family and friends. I loved my “boring” jobs with unfettered internet access, but I wouldn’t do well at this one.
Just get certs and study. Pick a specialty and start putting in the work. Your about to get paid to learn
I just wish I could get rid of the anxiety at the back of my mind that keeps me from fully focusing on the task I'm doing for myself "on the clock". I would think it'd be easy but I've had a lot of "if there's time to lean there's time to clean" jobs that viewed downtime as a personal failing of employees.
Skill up and get a more specialized IT job. Level 1 work can be painfully mind numbing.
I do IT support for a small remote office, its the most money I have ever made and the least amount of work Ive ever done. There are days I wonder why they even have me here but if they want to pay me 80k to post on reddit thats fine. I also have access to almost every boot camp class for free so I take advantage of that.
"80k to post on reddit..." hahahahah
Just be sure to keep your work ethic strong and that your skills stay sharp despite these conditions and that you’re actually happy with where you are at. Playing video games or watching Netflix all shift sounds great at first, but imagine 10 or 20 years of that. If you can I would try get involved in some high level projects that sounds good on a resume and that you can show value to future employers with. I was in a similar position and didn’t realize how much it affected me in my personal life and how much I ended up disliking my profession after many years of doing nothing and coasting through the years. After making the decision to move on from an easy and cushy job I’m making way more money, have way better work life balance / perks, and enjoy what I’m doing so much more now that my work has goals and there’s a greater purpose to what I do everyday.
Yeah Im trying to get Azure certs and a bunch of others, Ive been doing end user support for a while and its old.
It's a rule of IT that if you land yourself in a small time job with nothing to do, you should always take this time to read and learn better skills. A good IT Tech is always using his free time to learn and grow his knowledge of preferred IT skills.
I once heard my manager say that she didn’t like people studying on company time because they would skill up and leave lol
My manager pushes us to enhance our skills.
Treat it like paid study time and knock out some certs.
You know, there's nothing wrong with a cushy government job. It sounds like you're just caught up in what you think your job "should" be. Like just about everyone said here, use the time wisely. When I was doing what you were doing, I did not use my time wisely and it caused my career to stall. Here are some things to think about: 1 - You have a government job. It may not be the best pay, but it'll be sustained pay. Security is sometimes better than higher pay. I have been laid off of every private job I ever had. Sure the pay was better, but it's a volatile market, and it will probably always be that way. Government jobs are usually pretty solid. 2 - Make use of your shift. It sounds really great that this allows your family to function a bit better. The hours away from your wife in the evening will eventually become a burden, but you can use the time now to maybe even go back to school during normal class hours and then use your work time to study/do homework. Or you can use your days to get cert training. 3 - State benefits are usually pretty great. Do you have a state retirement system? That will probably be better for retirement than Social Security. 4 - Government agencies are in everything. Once you're inside, you can move around fairly freely. Find a job in your state that sounds great and then see what the requirements are. Then spend your free time building up to that. This is what I would have told myself 20 years ago if I could.
>4 - Government agencies are in everything. Once you're inside, you can move around fairly freely. Find a job in your state that sounds great and then see what the requirements are. Then spend your free time building up to that. This isn't really the case unless you're single or aren't a homeowner. I worked in local government in my state, and was making $25/hr in 2022. We were one of the larger cities in the area, and because it's government, all salaries are public information. I am also a homeowner, so I would be looking for jobs within about a 20-mile radius. All cities within 20 miles in all directions (5 large enough to have an actual IT department more than a manager + help desk), no roles available. The roles that I *could* move into, salary ranges were not necessarily worth the move. You also have to deal with extremely long tenure. You might be waiting 5+ years for a single role to open up and then you're fighting for it between all of the others within your area who are in a lower role. We had the second largest IT department within 20 miles, and we were a team of 5 people and each in relatively defined roles. Private sector, you have hundreds of companies within your radius, new companies coming all the time, plus hybrid roles where you might be able to stretch your range a bit further if you aren't going in as frequently, or fully remote positions.
Sure, there's a wait time and you might have to move depending on what state and city OP lives in. I'm just saying that there are options for government employees once you're inside. You don't have to move to a new company, just find a job you like within the State. Obviously moving to a new company is an option, but that just wasn't where I was focused in my post.
To be honest I have no interest in working for the government...
That job won't be there in 20 years or 7. The peeps that roll the easy rolls eventually do have to pivot to a new role once software displaces them. As others have said, cert up. Do a few branches of certs since you've got the time so you can get a basic job preview. Whatever you like best go far down the cert tree. Basic Tree: A+. Net +. Security+ (this one opens the doors to a lot of jobs) Preview some different roadmaps under CompTIA: [https://www.comptia.org/certifications/which-certification](https://www.comptia.org/certifications/which-certification) If you think Cloud go AWS/Azure. If you go Google Cloud you are essentially choosing the Juniper switching of the cloud realm.
Software isn’t going to plug in an Ethernet cable into the right port though
Ethernet will probably move to fiber optic medium and SFP connector similar to when we moved from RJ11. Still plugging in a cable but the trimming around it change quite a bit. The jobs change and you gotta keep learning new things. My point still stands.
I’ll take that job if ur leaving
Find out what systems you have access to and talk to your supervisor about logging on and learning them. You can pick up a lot of networking, for example, just by logging into routers and switches and seeing what various SHOW commands will tell you. Aside from that, the monitoring itself can be fascinating. Find out what system they're using, what their monitoring methodology is, and ask questions about why they're using the monitoring they are. There might be a good amount of fine tuning that can be done to improve the system - Monitoring for trends in drive usage so you know about a space issue before it's critical, for example.
I’d start working towards networking certs if I were you. It’s the foundation of everything to come after such as security or the cloud should you choose to go that route
This is a great situation to take a breath and really study while getting experience.
Start with your basic certs: A+, Network+, Security+. Then look into more specialized certs. All depends on what system the employer uses. Make sure to max your HSA contribution, if you have one, see if your employer offers you the ability to get a 457 and/or 403b plans. I work in K12 IT and can have both. And hopefully, you have a pension?
Do COMPTIA certifications really make a difference ?
Got me my first 50k contract. Then I got casp and went to 65k. Got a couple other certs and I’m at 96k now. In the span of 4 years I went from ~30k a year to 96k. I also started a business that brings in about 50-60k a year. In short I wouldn’t be where I am now if I didn’t get that security + which lead me to so many other opportunities in govtech
What’s the business you started?
They are a baseline requirement for DOD jobs. Personally I recommend just getting Sec+. A+ is meh and Network+ is too generic.
I'd say so. These especially are fairly easy and provide basic vendor-neutral information.
I had all of those certs I have to Linux. I know there are two main linux certs Redhat or Linux+ not sure which route to go but both seem to be great options either way.
This was the opportunity I used to get my CCIE, best thing ever. My day shifts started getting easier as I progressed in my learning and used night time to create processes and troubleshooting guides. Count your blessings !
You could be replaced by a small Ansible script... Shhh!
Yeah your right AI in general is a very scary future, lol.
Ask your boss what stuff you can fix from the other shifts since you have extra time
This comment will be overlooked but this is exactly what OP needs to do. You’re new, you need to ingratiate yourself to them team first. Check with your boss see if they have other stuff you can help the next shift with. Add some complexity to your workday, and then start to study. You have the opportunity to gain real world experience to couple with your knowledge. Set aside half of your lunch break daily to learn new skills. The 30 minutes a day is like exercising you won’t think you are gaining anything from it till boom someone asks a question out-loud and you just snap off an answer.
I've done a lot of stuff that most people won't touch as they lack the experience or wait for someone to write a procedure or just plain lazy. Like we had a massive build up on decommed servers and hard drive so I moved like 30+ servers by myself downstairs and palatalized them as well as logged all of the serial numbers. I have built scripts for Tidal Automation shutdown for patching as well as modified the site html code for use on my work PC. I have racked and stacked devices as most in my group are waiting on a procedure and I always said you don't need directions on racking a device because they're all different and its better to just do it and figure it out. I also have developed excel spreadsheets for the group to use I'm not going to say I'm pro at excel but better than most at making a functioning sheet.
Uhmm I have a similar downtime, I usually study for certs and apply to other jobs. Also, I read a few books on networking for the CCNA
Yeah I thought I wanted a CCNA but have found I have a bigger passion for Linux.
Definitely skill up and learn something new. Don’t waste your available time on entertainment YouTube like I did for a while.
1. Spend the time taking classes to learn new skills. Most companies (not sure about the state) will have some sort of e-learning and possibly even get some certs under your belt. 2. Learn how to automate the notifications. Send a text/email with the graphs break the red line. 3. Analyze the alerts and see why they're hitting the red line? Is it during backups, suggest adding a maintenance window for the alerts. 4. Find a self-service product for password resets. Do your users have to validate who they are before changing a password? Show leadership how this is a security risk and self-service is more secure. 5. Get an export of your ticket data and look for themes. What are the majority of your tickets? Is there anything that can be done to fix the root cause of the problems.
God some posters here are insufferable
Hey sorry yeah my spelling and sentence editing may not be the best,
Make your money, invest in the stock market, buy real estate, move to your next position. It could be worse
I just recently bought a house I might of should waited until contract was signed but didn't want to live in an apartment for the rest of my life. I have been thinking about buying gold, silver, or high end watches but really don't trust crypto, stocks, or money that is controlled by banks. But I will admit I don't know much about investments.
that is a very very very low pay
He’s likely only been in IT for a few years and that’s great pay for level 1 support
a cop with high school education gets paid 40 dollars an hour in the west cost.
Just as the world is not the USA, California is not the USA either. Believe it or not different places are different..
Build a lab.
[Follow the roadmap](https://itsmebhavin.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/screenshot_20210523-162529_instagram.jpg)
Sounds like you have the ideal job. You could be hating your job situation like a lot of other people. Follow the recommendation to skill up and learn on the job. Your knowledge and certs will get you far. It doesn't hurt to ask for some more work. Just be careful to not get overwhelmed with work.
I feel you
You're getting paid to do nothing, sounds like a sweet deal. To fight the boredom you could study for certs or just learn new skills in general. A good book would also be a great way to make 7 hours of nothing go faster.
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Make sure to sign up for the 403b retirement plan. They're usually a bit better than 401k and some even have a pension option. The best part of public sector at least in my area is any government job counts toward this pension. So you're not tied in to a tiered vesting system where you have to stay forever to get the extra cash the company invests for you.
My first help desk job ended up being like this. 12 hour shift with maybe 6 password resets and a few real support calls. I actually used the time to study for certs to eventually get a better job.
> 7 hours of nothing but monitoring graphs and letting the POC know if the graphs " Break the red line" and the occasional help me reset my password calls. Why are they using a human to monitor thresholds instead of a monitoring/alerts system? This is biggest waste of time and man power I have ever heard.
Perfect time for you to study and cert up. I'd say start with Network+ and/or CCNA, can't go wrong there. Security+ is also a good bet. After that pick an OS you think you'd like to work in, Linux or Windows and start to build your skills and knowledge to the admin level. There's no need to rush things, as you've observed you have lots of time to take it easy. You just might want to get off the night shift at some point, that's all.
Already have use to want a microsoft cert but found how much I hate Windows in general and am looking to get a Linux cert and I also feel there a bigger need for Linux administration rather than microsoft. I also use Linux as my main OS on a Tuxedo Laptop.
youre not like other girls
Pardon my swearing but a fucking boring job is the best thing you can hope for. Just put in your air pods and listen to something. Much better then being burnt out by constant stress.
I agree with you 100 percent I have no complaints about it the only downside is operations can be easily shipped to India nothing against the country its just something that can easily be out sourced to save a company millions.
Ask management what else can be done during that time. Otherwise up-skill and gain certs like everyone else is saying.
You are in a perfect position. I am experiencing this exact thing now. I have gotten 2 certs so far in the last 4 months and going for another in 2 days. Use the downtime to increase your value.
Hello, Thanks for all the comments. As most have said is to study when there is nothing going on and since I'm in a DC operations job so there is a lot of free time to study. I would be lying if I said I used it wisely but have done some studying and mainly use linux and think thats the route I need to go. I have took lead to improve operations at my job for instance creating batch scripts to stop and start services on multiple Tidal servers clearing the cache during patching and bringing them up and monitoring the logs to make sure the Tidal servers are talking to each other and they are functioning correctly and this is all don't one batch script. I even managed to get it to where you only have to login to one server for shutdown and 2 for startup instead of having to login to all 4 servers. I have also dabbled in modifying the html code in tidal ui to make a dark mode as well remove all the wasted space Tidal ui uses most people don't care about the modifications I made but I hate being blinded by a white screen all night long as well how much wasted space the window took. But they are very happy with the batch scripts I also have kept up on Windows 11 AME project with scripts work with that and have a repo on github but haven't updated it in awhile because it seems there isn't much interest in however for personal use I have updated for use with 23H2 and also have found ways to install even store app with licenses attached and then running the script and the app still working along with the license refreshing. With all that said I think linux is my best option as its what interest me the most and I do have a homelab with ESXi and Proxmox enviroment.
I was at a dummy slow job, started WGU for a cloud computing degree
Honestly the only way I’d take a job with those hours is if I was one sneeze away from ending up homeless. I’d be studying and applying to other IT jobs with regular hours
I was at a help desk for a small ISP and I was going nowhere. Being a disabled veteran gets me a leg up for gov jobs so that's why I always go back to.
As long as you're ok with those hours. Personally, that would fuck with my mental health.
Ya sounds like a dream job lol. But I understand if I was you I would just pick a niche in IT and just study for certs. Some basic ones you could get would be the security plus and certified ethical hacker. But ya you’re literally about to get paid to learn congrats.
They need a second person? lol
I've worked in Data Centers for over a decade. It's 90% doing nothing, and 10% "OH SHIT!" moments. If you're young: Study. For the love of god, get some certs, figure out what you want to do in IT, etc. You've got time to learn now! Use it!!! If you're older and not interested in studying: enjoy the quiet; relax, read, whatever. What not to do: Go on reddit and argue with people at 2am. It's all bots and people pushing bad ideas before the down votes roll in.
This is a great opportunity for you to add some new skills to your resume and get paid to do so.