The IT Generalist

I’ve spent the last ten years of my life becoming fully involved in Information Technology. I started my Bachelor’s degree in IT around April of 2009, unclear what direction I would take, only knowing that I would complete my degree as quickly as possible to become better employable, and hopefully secure my future. Early on in my studies, I became fascinated with databases - construction, querying, and the power they have on the modern world. At the time, the term “big data” was prevalent, and although not a popular term today, it is safe to say that money equals data, and vice versa.

In my second course on databases, strictly covering stored procedures, structured queries, and other similar feats of magic with data, I came to a realization that it wasn’t something I really wanted to do for the rest of my life. I felt a future in database administration would likely be tedious and boring, especially when I considered the challenge and sense of adventure I could get from routing and switching (read: networking) that I was feeling in the course I was taking at the same time. After that term, I spent most of my time and courses delving into networking, learning the hardware and software it takes to facilitate instant worldwide communication.

Network Solutions

After I graduated with my degree, with a concentration in networking, I started looking for that entry-level job all college grads want. You know the one - the one where one can put the knowledge and skills they’ve gained to work, eager to learn more, and grow with an organization. The first job I landed was with Network Solutions in Pennsylvania as a Technical Support person for their Hosting department. Little did I know that literally all of my education was lost on that job and company as they ushered me into a call center environment where I worked with happy and irate customers on their billing and configuration issues with their web hosting packages. Oh, and the SALES! Can’t forget the all important, or rather most important, aspect of the job - sell to each and every customer who calls in, regardless of their mood or service need.

To be fair, I should have known better and asked more detailed and open-ended questions about the environment I would be working in. The truth is, I just wanted to go to work and use what I had learned to make a difference. After three months of working for Network Solutions, I quit. I yelled at one of the team leads to get off my back about selling to customers and left for the night. Showed up the next morning, spoke with one of the executives, told him how it was, and walked out never to return.

Summer of 2013

That summer, I asked the Veteran’s Administration (VA) for help, feeling that my college degree wasn’t enough to land a job, especially considering that out of 76 job applications, after quitting Network Solutions, I had yet to land an interview. The VA sent me to a training facility where I earned my CompTIA A+ and Network+ certifications. I was on track to get my MCSA cert too when I finally landed a job. It was a dream job of sorts - I would be the sole IT person for a start-up of 34 other individuals and I was tasked with technical support of internal and external customers. Perfect!

It is through this job that I learned a vast majority of the knowledge I have today including technical support, network and system administration, and working with internal and external customers with varying degrees of technical prowess. I became the subject matter expert (SME) for the company on servers, desktops/laptops, software, VoIP systems, production environment configurations, client domains and email accounts, various email applications/offerings, and the list goes on.

The instructor at the training academy the VA sent me to once said, and I quote,

A good sysadmin never has anything to do.

• Ed Rivers, Prime Tech Training

I took that statement to heart, developing processes to automate much of my daily tasks to literally leave me hours of time to read logs, monitor activity, and interact with internal and external customers. Heck, along the way, I even helped the company with business processes, aligning business and IT long before I even knew it was a thing.

The Generalist

I gave four years of my life to that company and got a lot of knowledge and experience in return. There were some rough times then, and I wasn’t too keen having to work under a manager that was a software developer by trade and completely clueless about IT administration. I left that company at the same time I began my pursuit of a Master’s degree in cybersecurity, which is perhaps another mistake in a long line of mistakes over the last decade, and reserved for another time.

As of March 2019, I am unemployed, having been laid off from another startup that I was working for could no longer afford to keep me on board. I am reading job description after description on various job boards, receiving and contacting large numbers of recruiters, only to be disappointment in the “system” and myself.

• I don’t know VMware (ESXi and vSphere)
• I don’t know anything about IBM systems (AS400 and AIX)
• I dabble in C#, ASP .NET, Python, HTML & CSS, and SQL, but I’m no developer, only a solutions creator
• I love Linux, and I dabble, but I know nothing about the LAMP stack in terms of management

I am literally an IT generalist, one who knows a little about a lot, enough to carry on a conversation with another IT professional, until they get beyond the scope of my knowledge and abilities. I feel like I am stuck in the Technical Support Black Hole that so many others have gotten stuck in. Regardless of the articles and whitepapers I read, the textbooks and literature I review, and everything I continue to learn - I am not gaining the experience I need nor tailoring my career to any single path. Hell, my love has been networking for the last few years, but I am behind on the advances, especially in BGP, SDN, and the future of software and AI focused networks. I lack the certifications in my “area of expertise” due solely on the sheer cost of entrance to these certifications.

Summary

I am working on a project right now in MS SQL and C#, developing a little application with a database for myself to use for my books. I use www.goodreads.com for tracking my books, what I’ve read, currently reading, and want to read, but the site lacks certain functionality that I would like to see. So instead, I am creating my own solution to the problem for my personal use. I love the challenge, but I am by no means proficient in either of these technologies to make it a job. The same is true for the Linux skills I have and so many other things I like to dabble in.

I suppose I could open my own business, performing technical services and repairs for people and businesses, but I am no salesman. And that might ultimately be my real problem - I lack the confidence to sell myself to recruiters and hiring managers, allowing myself to boast honorably but humbly about what I can do, while admitting what I can’t do but am willing learn, and push for those folks to give me a chance.

I need to break free from being an IT generalist and find my place in the information technology field.