Spiceworks 2014 Top Career Advice From IT Pros

2014 Top Career Advice from IT Pros 1 Create your Spiceworks IT portfolio #SpicyCareerTips
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INTRODUCTION
Want a raise? A little respect? Some peace of mind?
Youre a pro, no doubt about it. But if theres one
career tip your peers keep coming back to, its this: The
learning never stops. Just like those users who keep
losing their passwords over and over again its going
to keep happening... forever.
So in the spirit of packing your brain full of as
many petabytes of data as it can take, Spiceworks
hand-picked some crowdsourced career tips straight
from the mouths of real tech experts. Whether youre
looking to upgrade your position, get certified, raise
the career bar, master new skills (and maybe even
the Zen of IT maintenance), discover some resource
goldmines, or just learn the art of being social
Spiceworks has ya covered.
These career-saving (and enhancing) tips are
brought to you by seasoned IT pros, savvy marketers...
and even a few Spiceworks employees who might
know a thing or two about tech. You can also check
out the amazing projects in their IT portfolios for more
expert insights and then create your own. Learn how
to stay relevant in a world thats changing faster than
an SSD reboot. Ready to get busy boosting your IT
career? Read on!
I think that in order to get promoted in todays environment
you need to demonstrate you can do the work.
So, ask for additional responsibility and tackle larger
projects. Once you demonstrate you can be a senior
systems administrator, for example, you can make
your own case for promotion.
At that point you have a track record of being able
to do the job and this will assuage any management
fears that you might not be cut out for that position.
Scott Roberts (jhuscott)
IT Manager, Baltimore, MD
Promotion, anyone?
TIP
01
Scotts IT Portfolio
Focus on adding to your IT knowledge yearly. I try to focus
on a different skill or area of focus quarterly to add up to
one new skill each year.
And to echo others be nice to your users. They may create ridiculous issues, and ask crazy questions, but
without your users, you dont have a job. They are your customers, and no matter how great of an IT pro
you are, if youre surly all the time, your employer will find someone else who has similar IT skills, but
better people skills.
Katie Drucker (Katie)
Social Media & Community Manager, Columbia, SC
Got skillz?
TIP
02
Katies IT Portfolio
Learn to do sysadmin work from the command line and
scripting. Many of the new technologies being deployed
simply dont have powerful GUIs designed for them anymore.
Eli Etherton (Eli @ elitehcomputerguy.com)
Eli the Computer Guy, Baltimore, MD
Tales from the script...
TIP
03
Elis IT Portfolio
The best advice I can provide for IT pros to advance their
career in 2014? First and foremost, have a strong resume
that includes a portfolio if possible.
Expand this with an interactive portfolio online that
concisely shows off all of your different skills, and be
sure to explain, in a nutshell, what sets it apart. Be
aware that the non-tech savvy (including HR people!)
may not understand what theyre looking at, at first
glance. Be a go getter today more than ever. The econ-
omy is tough nowadays and employers are being hit
hard, so you really need to show off how you can bring
a positive ROI to your company.
If you dont already have one, start a blog online,
and write about your solutions to different tough
problems you encounter at work. With social media
such a big part of the world nowadays, employers
are attracted to bringing on board rock stars online
celebrities who bring with them a following, have the
ability to create buzz, and are able to summarize for
their employers where the industry is headed and how
to move forward.
Read full quote
Dani Horowitz (Dani at DaniWeb.com)
Business Manager, Bayside, NY
Danis IT Portfolio
Polish up your resume.
TIP
04
The cloud is growing at an amazing speed, and more and
more organizations recognize the immense benefits of
cloud computing.
Michael Pietroforte (Michael @ 4sysops.com)
Owner at 4sysops.com
Munich, Germany
Know thy cloud.
TIP
05
Thus, the best way IT pros can advance their career is to learn about new cloud technologies. This is the
area where the most exciting and the best paid jobs will be created in the years to come.
Always be nice. This industry is full of jerks.
Dont be one of them.
If you are nicer than average there are many benefits:
Everyone will want to work with you thus you can
work as a team and divide the work among everyone
instead of doing it yourself. Managers will bend
over backwards to keep you there (in small ways and
sometimes in big ways).
Youll have a better relationship with users and theyll
be more willing to listen to you when you have to tell
them bad news.
Being nice doesnt mean always saying yes. Have
the discipline to say no when you have to... but
always be ready to suggest alternatives that will
help them get what they want some other way.
Thomas Limoncelli (YesThatTom)
IT Consultant (at Google)
Bloomfield, NJ
Nice guys always win.
TIP
06
My advice is: always follow The Golden Rule.
Treat your customers, your coworkers, your employer, your employees and everyone else you encounter as
you want to be treated yourself. This is the best long term strategy you can have.
Ivan Nekrasov (Ivan@Dell)
Spiceworks Partner
Nashville, TN
The Golden Rule.
TIP
07
We all have a vision of what makes us truly happy. Working
in IT can, a lot of times, seem so reactive that its too easy to
sit with heads down and just get lost in the job.
Putting out fires, answering user questions, or kicking
off planning the next CTO-driven initiative causes us
to forget the vision and succumb to the daily grind.
Each of us has a sense of our professional goals and
we know when a direction doesnt feel right. As an IT
person right now, the next 3-5 years will be interest-
ing. Cloud adoption is moving at such a fantastic pace
we all deserve a chance to take a breath and plan for
our professional career.
Do you have a sense of what your job will look like in
5 years? I believe part of any job is to partially focus on
reaching professional goals. Part of that is to ensure
technical knowledge is obtained to accomplish daily
tasks, but there should also be defined guidelines to
ensure that goals are reached.
Rod Trent (Rod Trent at Windows IT Pro)
Community Manager of Windows IT Pro, owner of myITforum.com
Middletown, Ohio
The road ahead...
TIP
08
Maybe this is less advice than it is an endorsement of IT as
a career. Its a great foundation to build your career on. The
technical, business, social and interaction skills you learn
can take you far.
Heres a little known fact about me my second job
out of college and my first job at a start-up was as
a sysadmin. It was a 20 person company building
next generation software for the CAD / CAM indus-
try. My job was to keep 20 Apollo Workstations (a
competitor to Sun in the 80s) up and running.
That company folded, but that experience got me a job
at Apollo, which brought me to NeXT, which helped me
start my frst company Motive where I met the three
other founders of Spiceworks. And the rest, as they say,
is history. And you thought Spiceworks being about
Everything IT was just an accident :-).
Scott Abel (Scott)
President & CEO at Spiceworks, Inc.
Austin, TX
I T for the win.
TIP
09
Listen to this small snippet from Bruce Lee and then integrate
this philosophy into your IT career. We all know how fast IT can
change. Being like this will help you flow with any changes,
whether they are fast or slow or aggressive or unpredictable.
Jeff Grettler (Jeff Grettler)
IT Operations Manager at Spiceworks, Inc., Austin, TX
Be water, my friend.
-Bruce Lee
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10
Jeff s IT Portfolio
Learn, educate yourself! To be successful in IT you need to
do more than just get training.
Certs are also valuable and I do have them. They help
you get launched and learn more about a wider range
of subjects than you normally come into contact with in
your day job. This helps build the width of your knowl-
edge. But most of all, be open minded and look outside
of your current responsibilities. Become an excellent
generalist before you specialize.
Have a T-shaped skill set. Go wide generally and
deep in your current specialties. Move out of your
comfort zone every now and then and tackle a
difcult problem or area.
Do not stop learning, its a journey. Go out into the
world, both figuratively speaking and literally.
Learn from talking to your peers, partners, vendors,
consultants who all bring their points of view to the
table. Participating in a community and outside of your
jobs responsibilities also builds your communication
skills, both in discussions and while presenting.
Read full quote
Didier Van Hoye (workinghardinit)
Blogger (Working Hard In IT), Microsoft MVP
Gent, Belgium
Look at the big brain on [you]!
TIP
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In your job search, know what you want. Take time to think about
what is most important to you in your next opportunity.
Too many people jump to the next job without really
analyzing what they really want and end up in a
place that is not right for them.
Ask yourself things like...whats my passion, do I like
structure or chaos, do I like big or small companies
and why, do I like a narrow role or spinning lots of
plates, what makes me crazy about my job, why do
I like to go into work everyday?
Just answering a few of these questions for yourself
can help set you in the right direction when you are
searching for a new role or when you get another
recruiter phone call. Youll know what sounds right
for you and what doesnt.
Jennifer Cantu (Jen C)
Director of Talent & Culture at Spiceworks, Inc.
Austin, TX
So whatcha want?
TIP
12
1. Dont get a I know everything better complex.
2. Improve your social skills -> this will make a lot of things
easier in your life.
3. The I in IT is more important than the T. And the
best place to get I is from people.
4. There are two types of IT companies: business-centric
and technology-centric. If you like to geek out, avoid
business-centric companies, and the other way around.
5. Grow a sense of humour to survive the stressful situ-
ations that you will encounter when something might
not go as planned.
6. Be open and flexible, i.e., learn to implement
what you may not know rather than being boxed
into learning and implementing what you know. This
will stand you in good stead and give you a broad
background as you grow in your career.
7. While you are in college do a search for the job you
will be seeking when you graduate, and do a gap as-
sessment amongst the experience, projects, technology,
and certifications you will need to land the job.
8. Be focused on what cluster you want to specialize in.
IT is far too big to be a generalist.
Read full quote
Maxime Trottier (Devolutions)
Spiceworks Partner
Lavaltrie, Quebec, Canada
Quick Top 10.
TIP
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Build an expansive network of contacts frst and foremost.
Chances are you have many of the skills you need if youre
looking to advance your career, you may just need a resume
booster or two with a few certifcations.
If you have the right contacts and the resume
to back it up, you should be able to obtain the
position youre looking for with a reasonable
amount of effort.
Learn the following and get certified:
Virtualization (Hyper-V, ESXi VCP5, Oracle VM
Certified Implementation Specialist, etc).
Networking, Network Security (CCNA, CCNA Security,
JNCIA-Junos for the Juniper folks, JNCIS-SEC, etc).
Windows or Linux Servers (Linux+, RHCSA for Red
Hat folks, RHCE, MCSA for Microsoft folks, MCSE, etc)
As much as I dont like working on servers outside
of work, it helps to set up a hardware lab at home
to build out new environments to test out and learn
new products.
Ralph E. McNabb III (rmcnabb)
Microsoft Engineer, Southfield, MI
Ralphs IT Portfolio
Know your bottom line.
TIP
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You cannot know everything. If you do then you are worth
more than your company can aford. Use your resources such
as the Spiceworks Community, Google, Experts Exchange, etc.
Be resourceful.
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Karl Ross (Karl8674)
Systems Engineer
Bradford, PA
So you want a raise huh? Do you think you deserve it? Can the
company afford it? Last year I answered yes to all three, asked
for a 15% raise, and low and behold got over an 18% raise.
How did you do this? you ask Well, quite simple if
you prepare and present. Start with your job descrip-
tion - what do you do, what are your responsibilities,
and what are you expected to do (i.e: On Call, week-
ends, etc). Next, do a self evaluation and be honest.
Do you show up on time, do you get your tasks done
correctly and on time, do you go the extra mile or do
you just do what is required? You need to be really
honest with yourself on this one.
If you fudge, your whole presentation will fail. Include
in this where you succeded and where you have failed,
and what you intend to do to prevent the failure(s)
in the future.
Now go and talk with the money folks. This would be the
controller, or bookkeeper, possibly the CIO, or maybe
the owner. THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO ASK FOR A RAISE.
You are looking for information on how the company is
doing...fnancially. Did they give bonuses? Was it a proft-
able year? What are the projections for next year?
Read full quote
Paul Chiodo (pchiodo)
IT Manager, Cuba, MO
Raise the bar...
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Pauls IT Portfolio
Get a new job! or Hold up your boss for more money!
Many people dont progress because they dont look
for new opportunities or ask for more money. Better
titles and better pay means you can command even
better titles and even better pay. If you are not content
with where you are now, talk to your boss about what
it will take to improve your situation.
If not, start looking for a new opportunity that will ei-
ther provide you with a better situation or is a sideways
move to prepare you for a better situation. If you are
willing to work hard and do a great job, why not work
hard to have a great job?
Erik Nordman (Erik)
Director of IT, Hollis, NH
Greener pastures...
TIP
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Eriks IT Portfolio
Mistakes shape you into the worker/person you become
and are. Some of my best opportunities and successful projects/
implementations have resulted after I failed terribly.
Kacia Steiner (Kacia (QuickCert))
Marketing Manager
Portland, OR
Happy little accidents.
TIP
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IT is moving away from break/fix. IT nowadays is about system
deployment, adoption and utilization.
How many systems do you have in your environment
that users are only scratching the surface of? The next
great way to grow your IT career, is find that system in
your organization and master it.
Then figure out new ways the system can help the
users and the business make money. That is where
the value in IT is going forward.
Chris Davis (Chris7262)
Systems Implementation Specialist, St. Louis, MO
Master IT.
TIP
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Chris IT Portfolio
Ive stayed miles ahead of the pack by the way I treat my internal
customers and clients. Long gone are the days of the antisocial,
pocket-protected, server-room recluse, stereotypical nerd.
Lee Burns (Atillion)
IT Manager
Bend, OR
Learn some humil ity.
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Any monkey can learn technical skills. You need to bring your soft skills to the table these days as well. IT
needs humble, hard-working members who fully understand that If everyone knows what I know, then they
wouldnt be paying me to do what they pay me to do.
Keep a record of all that youve worked on as you cross
it off your project list.
That way you have something to show your boss at
review time. And if he/she isnt impressed then you
can use the list to update your resume.
Read these two books that have done the most for
my IT career: The Practice of System and Network Ad-
ministration, and Getting Things Done.
Nicholas Tolstoshev (Nic)
Former Spiceworks Community Manager
Austin, TX
Document your day.
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Never be afraid of emerging technologies. Dont be the
department of NO, but rather, how can this technology be
used to make my (or other peoples) work easier?
Always network with other people in your industry.
Doing this will keep you abreast of diferent solutions
and opinions of how technology is used. Yours is not
the only environment diferent environments require
diferent solutions, but sometimes theres ideas out
there that can help you enhance your environment.
When working with someone, always follow up with
them, even if nothing is going on. Never leave your
customer in the dark.
Rob Dunn (robdunn)
Network/Systems Administrator, Rockford, IL
Be unafraid. Be very unafraid.
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Robs IT Portfolio
Label and document everything. Keep it simple.
Spiceworks is your friend. Learn new skills, and keep learning!
Remember customer service... talk to users on the phone with
a smile, (yea hard sometimes). You are serving them!
Streamline workfow, look for ways to improve processes.
Back up everything! Be a team player.
Alexia Andrew (Gadget Gal)
Help Desk Tech
Plainview, TX
Simply put...
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If you really want to go farther, learn to manage people better.
Nearly 100 years ago a fellow by the name of Dale
Carnegie mentioned that around 15% of your success
at work is technical, the other 85% is getting along with
others. Supervision and management, the real skills
of getting results via others is the MOST valuable skill
you can learn in 2014, not just for yourself but for you
department and for your organization.
Help others achieve results they had no idea they could,
so they can grow, get along at work, set realistic but
stretch goals and surpass them.
These are things great managers do everyday. They
make a huge diference in organizational performance.
So stop taking certifcation, techie, hardware, software
courses and learn how to coach, mentor and lead.
Randy Ansems (RAnsems)
IT Director, Halifax, Canada
Manage your peeps.
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Randys IT Portfolio
Document, label, and document some more. Then make Projects
on Spiceworks. And for god sake, keep up with your certifications!
But one of the best IT tips for 2014: LEARN SOFT SKILLS.
Nobody likes to receive an email in capital letters. Heck,
it may even infuriate you. Your users (because thats why
were ALL here, for the users) dont like or need to be
treated like an idiot because they didnt know to turn it
of and on. Be nice! Were all human. Im paraphrasing
Tom Limoncelli here when I say this, but you should see
it as such a compliment that someone comes to you,
when they know absolutely nothing about something.
They dont go to a library, to the Internet, to a guru, or
to a fortune teller. They come to you, because youre
their best resource. You ARE the library, the Internet,
and a guru to them.
Sometimes even a fortune teller (I see a forgotten
password in your future...). So take it as a compliment,
slow down, maybe teach them a thing or two. They
may even surprise you and (successfully) try to fx it
themselves one day.
Justin Dale (JustinCredible)
IT Coordinator, Edmonton, AB, Canada
Soft skills for hard results.
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Justins IT Portfolio
Share! When we were in Kindergarten we were taught to share;
we should continue this practice. It will benefit you greatly.
Hoarding knowledge just makes the world more difficult.
1. Be friendly, even to your enemies. You may just win
them over. Data is important, and critical. Treat it like your
life. It may just save yours (from an irate boss).
2. Dont be afraid to try something, but make a backup
frst (preferably in two or more diferent locations)!
3. Immerse yourself in tech. Every possible moment, try
something diferent (MS Windows RT?). You will probably
be working on it sooner or later. More than likely the boss
10 year-old will have one.
4. Set up a server at home with a hypervisor on it. Play
around with all the servers you have room to store.
5. Take time for a break, and get outta that chair.
6. Make a list of preventative maintenance tasks to do /
check on. It may just save your Super Smoked Applewood
BACON someday.
Read full quote
Josh Hymer (Gadget)
Network/Systems Administrator, Bruceville-Eddy, TX
Kindergarten lessons...
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Joshs IT Portfolio
For me these days, if something is worth doing, it is
worth documenting.
Documentation this one cannot be over emphasized. I can
recall countless times going into an environment where there
was no documentation and spending ungodly amounts of
time trying to fgure something out. For me these days, if
something is worth doing, it is worth documenting.
Never stop learning EVER. It can be as simple as reading a
technical book, installing Linux, install Active Directory at
home or just learning any technology you are not familiar with.
My home test environment was a key learning tool for me
as it allowed me to install, make changes, implement new
technology, etc. without afecting real users. My wife and kids
may disagree now group policies locking down computers,
frewall preventing access to certain sites, etc.
Set realistic goals short term and long term. Short term
take an IT certifcation every 6 months to stay current. Long
term set a progressive career path like - Help Desk > Desk-
top Support > Network Administrator > Network Engineer >
Network Manager > Director of IT > VP of IT > CIO.
Read full quote
Bruce Gilbert (InkMaster)
Chief Technology Officer, Ft. Worth,Tx
Bruces IT Portfolio
Document your day (the sequel).
TIP
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Mingle. Networking is the best way to advance or change
your career.
Even in this web centric tablet wifi world of ours its personal relationships that make the real difference. Go
to professional gatherings, trade shows, even lunch with coworkers and friends, and make new or strengthen
friendships. A human will be much more likely to refer you to a job than a server.
Michael Fasman (michael fasman)
Digital Media Producer
San Francisco, CA
Hello, my name is...
TIP
28
Improve your people skills! Even though most of our focus is
on implementing and maintaining technology systems, we
all still need to interface with users (people).
Tim Loga (Tim Loga)
IT Director, Mount Prospect, IL
Some micro-tips.
TIP
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Go virtual -- even small networks are going with virtual
servers. If you do not know VMware or Hyper-V you
soon will not be able to work on any LAN!
Get to know PowerShell v3 - for better or worse, more
and more Windows server management is done with
cmdlets and scripting.
Tims IT Portfolio
Best advice, which has helped me in every profession Ive
worked in: Answer the phone and return calls quickly.
Ring! Ring! Ring!
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Once people know that you do this, they become helpers and clients. They know if you dont answer the phone
you are either not there and you will call back at your first opportunity or you are neck deep in someone elses
problem and you will get neck deep in their problem as soon as you can. With a reputation for that, no one is
going to believe anyone who says you have been ignoring them.
Dan Hatt (danhatt)
Network/Systems Administrator, Los Angeles, CA
Dans IT Portfolio
Always Be Learning! - Seems straightforward but never rest
on your laurels, especially in IT.
A.B.L: Always Be Learning.
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Dont forget to treat your co-workers like your customers.
When it comes to technology, they dont always know
what you know, or what you think they should know.
(And its good they dont, thats called job security!)
Always Be Patient! - Its often the hardest thing to have
and the quickest thing to run out. Work at it and dont
let that happen.
Tim Brandt (DrakeCroft)
IT Manager, St. Paul, MN
Tims IT Portfolio
Learn how to be a premier communicator it will come in
handy. People in IT have a reputation for not being the
best at communicating to non-technical people.
Corrine R. Greenhalgh (Corrine572)
Enterprise Support Tech
Hadley, MA
Use your words.
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You will go far if you can speak to tech and non-tech people with ease. It is not always easy to do, however it is
worth trying and worth the practice. Take advice from people who have been in the industry for a long time as
they always have good tidbits to share!
The best thing you can do in IT is keep up on upcoming technology
and emerging threats. If you are not willing to keep up on newer
technology then you will get left behind quick.
William McGuire (wmcguire)
IT Security Analyst, Trenton, OH
The times, they are a-changin...
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Another is to be easily adaptable to change. If you are
not willing to change at a moments notice then you
are in the wrong field. As a security professional I have
been put into multiple scenarios where I have had to
change tactics at the drop of a hat.
If you cannot change and adapt then you will get
extremely stressed out and hate life. The last thing
I would say is dont let people tell you that you
cant do anything.
I have been told by a lot of people that because I am
younger than a typical IT security guy that I cant pos-
sibly know how to react to a threat or give adequate
recommendations for risk mitigation. Dont buy into
others opinions of you. You are there to do a job and
they do not evaluate your performance your super-
visors do. The results of your hard work will show and
will not go unappreciated.
Williams IT Portfolio
Learn VMware or Hyper-V. Learn how to say No to users without
sounding like you dont care about what they want (like, Cant
we switch from Windows to OS X?, or We should all get iPads!).
Brian Scheele (Brian Scheele)
Manager, Information Technology, Lancaster, PA
Wear the ware.
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If you dont report to the correct boss, check for other signs you need a new employer. The HR manager was my
boss. She had no clue or care about IT and would volunteer the IT Department to help out other departments
with non-IT tasks. Fortunately, this all changed.
Brians IT Portfolio
I think the best advice I could give to any newcomers is be friendly.
Justin Drakes (JDrakes)
Network/Systems Administrator
Meadville, PA
Youre my BFF.
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Yes I know users can frustrate us all, but they are just people and yes sometimes picky people, but in the end
they are just looking for our expertise and we need to present it to them in a way they will understand. I really
try hard to make it my niche to be the friendly IT guy, as it gives me more perks than you think!
TIP
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The quote my previous boss drilled into my head. If youre not
uncomfortable youre not learning. Push yourself and spend time
to fnd a good process of documenting tasks to help you stay
organized. Set reminders in Outlook to follow up with vendors
and co-workers on projects you are waiting on. They will be
impressed with your fail-proof memory.
Seth Cooper (Static)
IT Manager, Kansas City, Kansas
So long, comfort zone!
Seths IT Portfolio
I always keep track of all of the ways that I have saved my
organization money. Whether it is by negotiating better pricing
on a product or reviewing existing contracts and services.
Dawn Wolf (Dawn7643)
IT Director, Sioux Falls, SD
Know your bottom line.
TIP
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By far the most important thing you can do is To Be of Service to others in a professional and joyful way. Be
thankful for the awesome job that you get to do each day. I have been working in the IT field for over 14 years
and still feel grateful that I figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up!
Dawns IT Portfolio
TIP
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Pick an area of IT that you love doing at home... you will end up doing
this sometimes and it makes sense to not be bothered by it.
Shayne Kawalilak (SW-Desperado)
Network Systems Analyst, Edmonton, Canada
Shaynes IT Projects
Love your field.
Read both of Tom Limoncellis books if you dont think you have time to read the big one then you need the
small one more than you might think. Both books are a must! Find a supervisor that you can learn leadership
skills as well at technical skills from it will help you grow like you cant imagine.
OK, so you love learning new stuff and technology is your passion.
You can naturally assume that you will advance quickly in your
IT career, right? Well, the answer is not quite as simple as that.
Darren Schoen (Darren for VMWare)
Spiceworks Partner, Palo Alto, CA
Darrens IT Portfolio
Learn to speak CEO/CFO.
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You may get that Sys Admin job quickly, but in order
to really advance your career, you will eventually
need to start working and explaining your projects
to non-IT folks.
Your CEO/CFO doesnt care how you built your infrastruc-
ture, they just care how much it cost and the benefts it
can bring to the organization. Being able to convey ideas
in terms they can understand is key to promoting IT and
your own skillset in your organization.
Read full quote
My advice is make sure this is your passion. You have to love
IT to stay in it. As soon as you start hating it youll start hating
the users who make you do it and thats a path you dont want
to go down.
Martin Pugh (Martin9700)
IT pro, Milford, MA
Follow your passion.
TIP
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Martins IT Portfolio
Keep learning... whether studying to finish a degree, acquire a
certificate, or self-taught... do not get stuck in one type of
technology or one way of doing things.
Christine Wilson (cwils14)
Systems Administrator, Warrenton, VA
Know IT!
TIP
41
Also, be a yes man (or woman). My predecessor said no a lot. I will always give things a try. Sure, you
may not get something to work but the reward of getting all the other things to work that you may
have initially thought would not is an amazing feeling. Both of my tips keep you from feeling bored
and stuck in your current position.
Christines IT Portfolio
1. Always make only one change at a time when troubleshooting.
2. Documentation, documentation, documentation, and
documentation.
Real Verrier (Cigar-Boy)
Network/Systems Administrator, Edmonton, Canada
Quick Top 5.
TIP
42
3. Never be afraid to ask for help, check newsgroups, peers (Spiceworks!), a two-second question may save
you hours of work.
4. No is not an answer -- dont be afraid to try. If it fails or cant work, at least you tried and learned something.
5. If all else fails S.W.A.G. Strategic Wild Ass Guessing . Its bailed me out more than once.
Reals IT Portfolio
My 2 cents after 36 years of IT/Tech/Programming:
Make sure you are able to let everyone know what you
did to fix and to avoid issues. The silent ones get ignored.
Greg Joiner (Zaphod)
Network/Systems Administrator
Bushnell, FL
Let em know you did IT.
TIP
43
Dont be too brash and full of yourself, but by our very
nature techies are quiet, get out there and crow when
you do good!
Make sure when you make system changes that you
do them properly, and communicate with everyone
in dumbspeak (few and simple words) that your end
users can understand.
Getting burned once with a great idea that is either
flawed or simply not understood can set you back in
your career, so make changes carefully and wisely.
Get lots of input frst, then feedback later to make sure
any changes you made were understood and imple-
mented and USED properly. Give them a hammer and
they will use it like a screwdriver if they dont under-
stand what the tool does and how to use it properly.
Set some goals and create a plan to achieve them.
Be realistic about them.
Valerie Huffman (DarthVal)
Technology Manager, Hickory, NC
Goal!
TIP
44
1. Is there a specific technology that you need/want
to learn? Have your goal establish a firm definition for
achievement. Get certified in XX by XX/XX/XX date or
Have XX technology implemented by XX/XX/XX date.
2. What incremental steps will you need to take to
make that happen? Do you need to take classes? Do
you need to find them first? List out all of those steps
and apply target dates for them.
Valeries IT Portfolio
Never stop learning. There are a lot of free resources and some
that are fairly inexpensive to be able to expand your knowledge
of what interests you or what you want to accomplish. There is
always going to be something new to learn.
Steven Lipp (SLipp82)
Helpdesk Administrator, Cranberry Township, PA
Be a know-it-all.
TIP
45
Stevens IT Portfolio
Follow your passion, dont be afraid to ask for help, and
dont give up on your dreams. As long as you keep pushing
forward to grow, you will always look back and be grateful
for where you are.
John Schuepbach (Shuey)
IT Manager, Baltimore, MD
Dream Big.
TIP
46
Johns IT Portfolio
Join some of your local meetups and groups that are in the interests
that you hold. Im part of the Information Systems Security Association,
Infragard, my local VMUG (VMware users group), and more but you get
the idea. Grow your network of people because you will never know
when you might need their help.
Michael Cimino (MCimino)
Network/Systems Administrator, Delaware, OH
Fancy meeting you here...
TIP
47
Michaels IT Portfolio
Work on people skills. All too often we are excellent with
machines but have a serious failure to connect with the
humans that use those machines we service. Poor social skills
can block any advancement, no matter how excellent your
technical skills are.
Amanda Hagen (Hageam)
Recent Computer Science graduate, Norwich, CT
IT pro
TIP
48
Amandas IT Portfolio
The quote my previous boss drilled into my head. If youre
not uncomfortable youre not learning.
Pasha Shah (pasha shah)
Help Desk Tech
London, UK
Keep up your mad skills.
TIP
49
Keep on top of your current skill set update your
qualifications and expand. If interested, look at cloud
technology. Learn some form of coding C# is cur-
rently highly in demand and will be for some time.
For contractors, network and build good relationships
with all employers you contract for and always give
110%. Loads of courses out there to refresh yourself.
Enjoy what you do if you dont enjoy it, youre in
the wrong job!
Id have to say, the best tip I can give to any Windows server
administrator is: Learn PowerShell.
Matt Bergeron (Chamele0n)
IPTV Administrator, Langley, WA
Power to the shell.
TIP
50
Over that last year I have been learning PowerShell
the best I can (with the help of the PowerShell group
in Spiceworks, I love you guys) It is the easiest and
most effective way to manage multiple servers. (I have
104 windows servers that I manage, so PowerShell is
the ONLY way to go.)
Another tip is to just keep reading, you will learn so
much from just reading posts you find on Spiceworks,
or researching Google for a new project you would
like to complete. I cant stress this enough.
And lastly, create yourself a home virtual server.
Something with either VMware ESXi (preferred) or
Microsoft Hyper-V. Both are really nice Hypervisors
for hosting virtual machines. VMware is a bit more
feature-rich and mature, but Hyper-V comes with
high-availability features built in. ESXi would require
a license to enable these features.
Matts IT Portfolio
ABOUT THE TIPS
So how exactly did we gather such valuable career advice from IT pros (and marketers) who know? We just started a thread
in the Spiceworks Community, and it took on a life of its own! Its crowdsourcing at its most powerful!
Whats the Spiceworks Community, you ask? Its where more than 4 million IT pros come to trade tech tips, show of their
awesome IT projects and share real-world advice (as well as their love for bacon and zombies!). Plus, experts from tech vendors
are there as well -- talkin shop and answering IT questions. Like to be part of the IT revolution?
Join us in the Spiceworks Community!
A VERY SPECIAL THANKS
Not to get too sappy, but everyone here at Spiceworks HQ
just wanted to extend our spiciest appreciation: THANK YOU!
To every SpiceHead (IT pro), marketer and Spiceworks em-
ployee who took the time to share the love with a little career
advice: YOU ROCK!.
Who knows? maybe your tidbit of wisdom could help
someone get a well-deserved raise... or even score a promo-
tion. You did your part, and we salute you.
Thanks for keepin IT spicy!

The Spiceworks Team
Who the heck is Spiceworks?
The contents in this publication are a result of primary research performed by Spiceworks. Unless otherwise noted, the entire contents
distributed as part of this report are copyrighted by Spiceworks. As such any information made available by any means in this report may
not be copied, reproduced, duplicated, published, displayed, transmitted, distributed, given, sold, traded, resold, marketed, ofered for
sale, modifed to create derivative works or otherwise exploited for valuable consideration without prior written consent by Spiceworks.
For more information, visit www.spiceworks.com.
This report contains information of fact relating to parties other than Spiceworks. Although the information have been obtained from, and
are based on sources that Spiceworks believes to be reliable, Spiceworks does not guarantee the accuracy, and any such information might
be incomplete or condensed. Any estimates included in this report constitute Spiceworks judgment as of the date of compilation, and are
subject to change without notice. This report is for information purposes only. All responsibility for any interpretations or actions based on
the information or commentary contained within this report lie solely with the recipient. All rights reserved. 2014.
.About Spiceworks
Spiceworks is the professional network for IT more than 5 million IT professionals use to connect with one another
and over 3,000 technology brands. The company simplifes how IT professionals discover, buy and manage more
than $525 billion in technology products and services each year. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Spiceworks is
backed by Adams Street Partners, Austin Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Goldman Sachs, Shasta
Ventures and Tenaya Capital. For more information visit www.spiceworks.com.
Follow Spiceworks on Twitter: twitter.com/spiceworks and connect with Spiceworks on Facebook: www.facebook.
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