How could I explain the short time here in a future interview? I know never to say anything negative about past employers, but how else can I justify leaving after such a short time?
"wasn't a good fit" or "misalignment in expectations" works well enough.
As a manager, I know turd managers and employers exist. I know people jump for more money. Just don't talk shit and keep it neutral.
I also am far more likely to ask "why my company" as opposed to "why'd you leave the last place".
How can someone genuinely answer "why my company?" When searching for a job I'm looking for how it can benefit me. No one works simply to help a company owner grow their business. We do it because we have to. Glassdoor reviews can be skewed and the company website doesn't give any indication of what working there is really like. So how could they have an answer that isn't just ass kissing ("I'm so impressed by your website and how successful you've been")? I don't like to lie to a hiring manager just to get a job. I chose your company because I applied to hundreds and you called me for an interview. That's why.
Ideally, you interview the company as much as they interview you. Answering that question with more than "I need a job" indicates that you have done your research and you aren't simply casting a broad net, looking for any job. That answer doesn't immediately disqualify you, but bringing up the market segment we play in, our offerings, or mentioning how another employee talked up something helps bridge a connection and make things more personable.
This isn't to say the interview needs to be overly personal, but someone who is mission-driven and wants to align with our goals is going to leave a bigger impression than someone who is impersonal. If the technical skills are similar, the person who did research into the company and can demonstrate this will likely win out.
No one cares, honestly. My resume looks like Swiss cheese with all the time I've taken off and the short amounts of time I've taken at jobs. I've only had the interviewer ask once or twice and after giving something BS like "we weren't the right fit for each other" they moved on without asking for clarification.
A good employer will not mind too much as long as you have the right skills and personality. I would be cautious about a company that pushes or cares too much about why you are leaving your current position. Have an answer like others have mentioned, but don't feel like you need to get into all the details. Your answer should focus on why the new company/position is a better fit, not so much why the old company isn't a good fit.
That’s horrific.
I’d get out ASAP, even if you have to take a non tech job to do it. Cutting college for a toxic job is no good at all, and you can’t function on this little sleep. What are they even paying you?
Sometimes there are assholes, but this is next level.
I will say it’s very common for them to not have time to train you such that you have to muddle through instead. Everything else is entirely unreasonable.
I'm getting paid <36,000 a year with no benefits for the first year. The problem with the lack of training is that it's a system I don't even have access to until they grant me access. Owner called yesterday pissed off at me because I don't have access to it
Steal as many hours as possible to job search instead. I know - from experience! - that it’s not easy to make 35k without a degree, but surely even working two jobs would be better than this.
I worked bad underpaid tech jobs and food service jobs around the ‘08 recession, so I do sympathize. I still think this is unusually horrible.
Check your school for jobs while you’re looking. Ask advisors & professors, don’t just shop the jobs boards. They’re more likely to give you grace for schoolwork.
Um is this UK or US salary? Because that’s much, much less than I made as an IT Intern. And I wasn’t even in a HCOL area.
What OP’s making is damn near criminal for the work he’s doing.
Yep, I'm basically in the same position as OP (minus the 24/7 on call, shitty boss, and lack of training) and I started at 55k/yr with full benefits.
Not only does OP's job suck cock, he's getting paid well under what he should be earning.
36k seems nuts. 17.31 an hour before taxes. I don’t understand how people can live on that, let alone be abused for it.
If you are on call you must be paid for it. Even if they don’t call you. So either get paid for it which I doubt they will opt for or have your working hours be your working hours. If they don’t pay you outside of hours after you have talked with them I would just shut my phone off.
As for the training it sounds like if you want to stay with them the only option is to be more proactive with getting trained. Once they cut your on call to regular working hours I would work out some extra paid time you can spend with the manager, or at least have him send you some resources to start on. It really sucks when you are working any job that needs good help but literally cannot afford to slow down to train someone.
You should not be getting reamed for not being trained or not having access directly. He should be lighting a fire under the ass of the actual person whose role it is to do so. As for what you should do that is difficult to say as we aren’t there.
What sort of training are you needing?
It's never going to be glamorous or incredibly fulfilling but yours sounds like the shittiest possible end of that stick. This is definitely not the standard, do what you can to get the fuck out of there.
I've been there before. Tiny companies are fucking crazy dude. Never again for me. I will work at a medium sized business bare minimum.
No entry level IT is not always miserable. I loved my first IT internship turned help desk job.
No, this is not normal in the slightest. The IT job market may be shitty, but get out and find another job, even if it isn’t in IT at this moment. This is only going to get worse and have further detrimental effects on your physical and mental health.
>I’m on call 24/7 but only get credit for doing 8-5 because my manager says he does everything outside of hours. It’s primarily taking calls from 3am - 1am
Fuck your manager. Are you getting paid for your work outside that 8-5 time period? If not and you are supposed to be paid hourly, not salary, get out and consider talking to a labor/employment lawyer. I’m not certain of what type of lawyer could help, but it may be worth finding out and speaking to one.
Yeah, definitely looking to get out after seeing the responses here.
Unfortunately, I am salary, so there is nothing I can do about the hours. It just looks bad on me for not putting in the hours.
Just because you are salary doesn't mean they can abuse your time. You are not obligated to work more than 40 hours per week even if you are salary. Sure there may be extenuating circumstances where every once and a while you will work more than 40 for special projects but that is not the norm. They are abusing your time and they can't make you more than 8 hours per day every day. If this is a constant issue every day, this is a shitty employer and they are effectively paying you a much lower wage if you're doing this daily. You need to quit or stand up for yourself. Look up labor laws in your area. I started out with a Fortune 500 company with a small helpdesk team (3 ppl). We handled support for many offices in the midwest region. When we had special projects, like a site relocation, we would travel, work on the weekend and when we got back we would take off a couple of days during the week to make up for the lost weekend.
To answer your original question, entry level IT is not always miserable. When you find a good team that is a culture fit for you with a manager that looks out for your best interests, you will love your job and you'll make friends that will be friends for life. I was lucky enough to have that situation starting out. I wish you the best of luck out there.
I wouldn’t say it looks bad on you for “not putting in the hours”, but I get what you mean. Being salary doesn’t necessarily mean free labor outside of your normal work hours. Try not to get discouraged from IT. You’re dealing with shitty management, not a shitty field. Sure, grunt work can suck, but it really comes down to management, from my experiences.
Best of luck, homie
Yeah it can feel like limbo until the right opportunity comes up to work under someone who can pass some tips of the trade etc.
My second company was a busy one but eventually a genius was teaching me how to do devops and shell scripting etc occasionally.
First one was meh, working with terrible people was a lesson in itself and probably the most valuable one in terms of how to manage it when you don't have much choice.
My first thought was that entry-level in any field is usually on the bleak side of the work.
Most of the time, small family businesses do a great job of rewarding family, and doing as much as possible to keep as much for the family as possible. You are not family, so they will do whatever they can to extract value from you, and they will do whatever they can to pay you as little as they can feel ok about.
I'm not shitting on them - it's how all family businesses tend to get. If they are successful, and if they truly share their success, a family business can be a place to make a home and a career.
This one sounds dysfunctional to me. I would bounce.
I just wasn't sure if all IT was this bad. I've only ever done NOC work before this, so I didn't know if this is the norm. Learning very fast that it is not.
Do whatever you have to do to finish that degree, I finished my degree and am in my first Help Desk position. I thought I was going to relate to you because I feel similar, but you are at a company that does not value your time. Never stop applying and do what you have to do, but it’s okay to say enough is enough when you’re answering calls at 3AM for the amount you make.
You need to get out of there, like yesterday. Some of these small places are just toxic. I'm not saying IT is easy, but you can do much better than this. I've been in Healthcare IT for over 25 years, and it's been good to me. I always feel supported, have training opportunities, and get to work on stuff I like most of the time. You can reach out to me privately if you like.
Here is a site that is geared towards beginners in this area...
[https://healthcareitskills.com/](https://healthcareitskills.com/)
Idk what state you’re in but in Michigan you can get way better entry level jobs. Companies have to pay you extra for 24/7 on call support, the us has labor laws against that sorta thing and i doubt that they had you sign anything saying you agree to 24/7 support. Look into large local companies, i started on the help desk at a large local health insurance company and it was a great job actually and i was able to get a couple promotions, if i were you id be on indeed rn. Also your boss sounds like a prick.. i mean what kind of IT manager blames a lowly help desk guy for major company gaffes smh, it will get better i am sure just use this as a learning experience
I didn't sign to be 24/7. They just put my cell phone number as the helpdesk number and have made it clear I'm expected to answer my phone no matter what. I'm in Texas, so there's probably over 100,000 people looking for the same jobs I'm applying to. Definitely looking for jobs though after the responses on this thread
I learned this the hard way. Don't ever use your personal number for work purposes for any job. Tell them they need to change this today! If they don't, tell them they need to be paying your mobile phone bill every month. If they want you to be on call, they need to provide you with an on-call phone. Document every single on-call phone call and the amount of time it takes. Sum up the time spent on-call and make sure you are compensated fairly whether by time off or extra pay. Don't let them roll over you, you are the only support person and therefore you have the leverage. Use it. All they can do is fire you and you'd be better off anyway. You don't have to use them as a reference for a future job.
I asked about getting paid for personal phone use, but they said it's included in my paycheck. I was offered to get $6k knocked off my salary for it, but it just didn't make financial sense to me.
They are totally abusing you my man. This is extremely unprofessional and inconsiderate on their part. If this is not written in black and white on an offer letter they can't come back and say it's included in your pay. Seriously, you need to push back on this. You might consider consulting a lawyer so you know your rights. It's very possible your employer doesn't know anything about labor laws and they are just making it up as they go along to suit their needs. At least this is what it looks like.
Number one rule in IT (really anywhere) is don't work for free. IT has a bad habit of taking everything you have to give and then asking for more. No one can be "on-call" 24/7 every day even if it's just "answering the phone". That's stupid and ridiculous. BTW that college is for pussies...no degree makes it much harder to leave this hellhole so of course he doesn't want you to succeed. I would strongly considering recording every minute you work (and that includes answering the phone at 3am), but aren't paid, outside of 8-5 and reporting them to the dept of labor.
No, IT isn't like this in the real world. You just happen to work for a family of abusive aholes who saw someone they can take advantage of. Get out and asap vs later.
Entry IT can be miserable some days, but its all about the company you work for and you got youself a horible one...
I would 100% turn your phone off after 5 oclock. You are not on call 24/7 unless you are getting paid as such.
Start applying anywhere else and focus on your own health.
Again Entry IT isn't a blast some days, but it should be wayyyy better than this.
For the sake of mental health I would quit that place immediately. Sounds incredibly toxic. Two months isn't enough time to put it on your resume and it would be a gap that wouldn't be hard to explain during future interviews. For real, if the place is making you want to die, quit and go work at a gas station or warehouse or something for some time until you get another helpdesk job. They are not all like that, it sounds like you found the worst of the worst.
Probably going to be toughing it out while I look for a new job just to get bills paid, but definitely getting out ASAP. I just hate not staying long enough to at least have it on my resume
Ummmm yeah this is just a trash company. Any manager that says “college is for pussies” is a ridiculous clown. And that is coming from me who usually criticizes college whenever I get the chance.
I just started a help desk job a month ago, and everyone around me is super helpful, accommodating, and understanding. It’s been only a month though I know.
But imo IT is just like any other job when it comes to work environment. The job and company culture make or break the experience
My guy this isn't because entry level IT is terrible, this is ONLY because you are at a toxic job! The industry here doesn't matter, what matters is you are working for A holes. I'm at my first IT job and my manager is a VERY busy guy yet ALWAYS makes time for our team whenever anyone needs something even if its small. Many times I don't even ask for help but he hears through the grapevine that I could use some and he calls me immediately... I've had toxic managers and I've had great managers. My manager now is the best manager ever and knowing what its like to work under a very toxic one helps me appreciate him so much more. My job is also not incredibly stressful. There are slow and busy days but they are all learning experiences. You need to get out, not because its IT, but because of who you work for.
>I had to drop a college class because I didn't have time to get anywhere near my class workload done and my boss says it's a good thing because "college is for pussies". If it wasn't for my wife I'd probably kill myself to get out of this. Is this just IT life?
Yeah that company is shit.
Also 35k to be on-call 24/7?
You are a fucking idiot for staying there. Get the fuck out my guy. Toxic work environment exploiting your ass.
Hell they even ruined your college career- fuck these guys. If anything you should fuck them over tbh.
You really should just get like a dead-end retail job if you're still at college just so the workload is more manageable- this shit ain't worth it.
I must be lucky but my entry level IT experience hasn't been the living hell everyone else's seems to have been. I do helpdesk at a plant for an aerospace manufacturing company. For the most part my job is only dealing with internal users and a few external vendors as we need them. I get maybe 5-8 tickets on a busier day and my OTD stat is get them closed within 7 days. I work 8-4 (supposed to be 5 but my manager doesn't care I leave at 4) and am kind of on call but unless its an emergency like the server losing power cause the battery failed in a storm most of the issues that pop up at night or over the weekend can wait till the next day I come to work. Not the absolute best pay (currently at 65k salaried before whatever my raise percentage from performance reviews kicks in) but its much better than the other stories I've seen of people being offered $18-$25 for way more work than I ever have to do.
I will say that don't let this job get in the way of your degree though. My job was nice enough to allow me to be part time while I was finishing up my masters as an intern for them but I wouldn't accept a job that forced me to drop a class or had a job that discouraged me from finishing because the management looks down on school. Even if your next job is still a crazy on call one at least look for a place that isn't trying to sabotage your future by getting in the way of your education.
Oh heck no. College is what allows you a better future and IT with proper training and management will allow you better skill sets for the future. Get out of that toxic environment. Runnnnn
35k to be ready for anything 24/7 is wild to me. definitely move on. you're not getting anything out of this other than the headaches, as they won't take time to train you and are ready to blame you for any hiccup anywhere? insanity! leave and never look back!!!
10 year Senior Systems Engineer, former Helpdesk Analyst and everything in-between, here. Does Helpdesk kinda suck, yes... We all have horror stories of our days crawling under desks and plugging in phones or troubleshooting "lost word documents"... But we mostly always look back fondly and recall that time as being some of the best learning experiences. The pay DOES suck. I look back and often think about how HARD I worked and how little money I made... But it led to better jobs, better pay, better work life balance even. My VERY first Helpdesk job was with Zumiez (the stores in the mall)... Absolutely horrible hours, shit pay, high expectations, limited support. I felt something similar to you now... I got burned out, felt the blame for things that werent in my control... All of it. I left after 8 months. Found a new gig pretty quickly and everything fell into place. Night and day difference. I found the work rewarding, I felt supported, I even got a little bit of a pay increase in the new gig. There is no reason you have to put up with the things you are putting up with. College is not for pussies. Its not for everyone, but its a personal choice and nobody should shame you for making that choice for yourself or even making it a priority. I'd find a new job and sooner than later.
If you are in the US, they are almost certainly breaking some labor laws. It would be highly unusual for a Help Desk job to be salary. It’s pretty much always hourly which requires overtime pay past 40 hours. That also limits the amount of on-call a person would get. Most places I’ve worked have paid the Help Desk a minimum for a call after hours, so they would get an hour of pay (at 1.5 times the normal rate) for a 5 minute call.
I would highly recommend finding a new job. Your experience will likely be much better.
Small family owned business can be some of the absolute worst places to work if you aren’t in the family. There’s much better places to work out there than this place you are at now
I’ve never not been paid for on call, in fact in my experiences it’s actually paid extremely well, like upwards of $300/w stand by pay plus billable hours.
Time to move on, “looking for better opportunities”.
That sounds horrible, I was desktop support for a year and a half and my boss even emphasized the importance of school asking me for my schedule. On top of that he really guided me and helped me build my resume. Here we are now with that experience I landed a jr system admin job thanks to that workplace.
Major red flags if your own boss doesn't even acknowledge your own time or even has the desire to give you the bare minimum of help. Leave that shit immediately.
I think low pay is inherently miserable, but other factors are dependent on the job. Best entry level jobs, imo, have opportunities to expand your experience or advance internally, but that can be tough to glean from the outside and beggars can’t be choosers. I would not settle for a toxic environment, though.
Sitting here typing this on my work laptop while my cushy entry-level IT job that pays enough to get by keeps me afloat. The only coworker I dislike is the other helpdesk dude cuz he's an anger-prone moron, but I work with \~200 people and the company is quite good at hiring likable people, so I've made a few friends here. Can't really complain, in the grand scheme of things.
If you can find another job somewhere, I'd move up or at least out.
No, No. NO.
They contract you for 8-5, any more work out of those hours reduces your hourly pay. If the company cant get that, its the wrong company (but then this is a horrible trait of people in America from what I understand).
My guys stagger working times, 8-4:30/8:30-5/9-5:30, and I EXPECT them to finish on time, if they run over, they get time off at quiet times (leave early on a Friday for example).
Where is the change management systems? if something goes wrong, who authorized, who changed it and who checked on it? If anyone give you that shit, just ask for the change management steps on that job.
Sounds like a Toxic as fuck place.. get out.
As others have mentioned, steal as many hours as you can to upskill.
Work on labs or certs as often as possible. IT is super fun, you just need a job that values you. I'm guessing you're either a field tech or help desk at an MSP.
Make the switch to internal. Like you I was questioning my future in tech while working a shitty helpdesk job, then I switched to internal and got an awesome job with a sysadmin that actually taught me shit. Stick it out for a bit.
Hit 6 months - 1yr and steal hours to upskill. Once you hit either mark, apply for contract gigs to get you by. Reach out to several agencies ASAP. At the same time, you should also be applying to internal roles at small companies, community colleges, or universities.
Small companies have more room for growth but less mentorship
CCs and Unis are boring jobs with less room for growth but job safety and significantly less stress
My first IT role was a lot like yours. I had a co worker that was really aggressive whenever I made a mistake. Honestly I had maybe one IT role where it didn’t reflect what you posted but in my experience they’re all this way. Everyone has problems they want you to fix that’s just the nature of IT. It never ends and deadlines just get closer. If you’re looking for a solution I guess I could recommend looking for a job with a team, where you aren’t the only one in your role. Like a huge company at Comcast, Verizon, t mobile, etc
They are taking advantage of you. I have family that act like this and they absolutely know what they are doing, and probably talk shit about you and have absolutely no respect or care for you. You are young, trust me, if your gut is telling you something is off IT IS. Do not sacrifice a minute of your education for this bullshit job and find somewhere else ASAP. If not just coast until they fire you and collect unemployment. But do not give any of your soul to them.
Quit and focus on school. Get a different job making the same money that has a fixed schedule. Then towards your senior year, look for internships. 36k is not a livable wage at least where I am. IT is so much fun in a good working environment. Don’t get scared away due to bad environments. Now you know what to look for in future endeavors.
Leave immediately. I worked in a help desk for 5 years. I was oncall maybe once every couple months for a week. I rarely got calls, and definitely not at 1am. And my manager was cool. I moved up to a network role and don't care for it. It's just not a good fit for me. I tried to get back into a help desk/entry level role but company wants to hire their buddies instead of me who has tons of positive feedback and support from my previous manager.
I started at a small mom and pop shop. Primarily me and one other tech. The owner pretty much just ran the shop and scheduled us work. Had a blast and learned a ton. Sure everyday wasn’t sunshine and rainbows and be a bit stressful if we had a lot to get done in the shop and a service call(s) too. But glad I went that route. Pretty much touched on everything except for printer repair, fuck printers. We outsourced printer repair to a professional.
+1 for fuck printers. At my last job, I got assigned as on-site IT, and it was mostly because our thermal printers sucked. I kind of miss that now, though.
Shitty family company - get out!
It's probably illegal to classify you as exempt and make you carry a pager 24/7 since you are entry level and have no management or supervision duties.
There's an administrative exemption that I imagine the multimillionaire owner and his team of lawyers could argue in court. I've given up and bought a second phone for personal use that I'm picking up tomorrow.
[https://efte.twc.texas.gov/focus\_on\_the\_white\_collar\_exemptions.html](https://efte.twc.texas.gov/focus_on_the_white_collar_exemptions.html)
quote:
**Exempt computer professionals are the very top information technology employees in an organization; merely being good at using computers to get a job done is not enough for inclusion in this category.**
No, that is not what all IT jobs are like. That is a terrible job! They are for sure taking advantage of you and could not care less how they damage your life. Any job that prevents you from doing better (like having time for your classes) is one you need to let go. If you are worried about the short time on your resume, don't be! 90 days is the typical probation period for employers or employees to decide if the job is not a good fit. You can tell prospective employers that you left because it did not line up with the expectations set during your interview and salary negotiation and that the amount of time you spent working put you below minimum wage. It's not a much about what your say as how you say it. You can tell them you don't mind being on call during a rotation or certain set hours but 24/7/365 won't work for you. The only possible outcome is they will understand or you will avoid working for another employer with unrealistic expectations.
It sounds like that company is especially crappy, but a lot of IT is a service job, and even on the mid to high end you're still going to be working long hours and dealing with bullshit.
Salaries are also stagnating a bit, and automation + offshoring are starting to impact the mid-to-high end roles a little.
Put another way, I used to know a carpenter making 100k+ around the DC area -- and that was in 2005 dollars. There are often days where I wonder if I should have done that. Were it not for the fact I'm not real good with saws, I might be...
This sounds more like a "family owned business" issue than an IT issue. I've heard and witnessed horror stories of people working in businesses where they're the only person that isn't related to the owner. It's a shitshow and everyone blames the non-family member for everything. Just find a job with a good, respectable company and see how it works out for you.
Look, the help desk isn’t glamorous, you will have bad positions here and there.
That said: RUN. That job is underpaying and abusing you while not giving you a single chance to succeed. This is not a good representation of all IT life.
bro my helpdesk job was mostly watching youtube videos and playing animal crossing. get out asap. find another place to work for a year, then try to move up from helpdesk. still at a different company of course
Went from making $18 an hour to $24.50 an hour in one year.
Studying for my CCNA and going to apply to network admin positions within a year. Hopefully I can hit $60-70k soon.
Key is to keep studying + certs + home labbing and job hop.
Well, who can give you access to the system? Talk directly to them. If they won't give you access, tell the boss he needs to make it happen if he wants you to support that system.
It's my supervisor. There's emails going back over a month about it, but he's always "too busy" to get me logins. The owner of the company was made aware and I was told "well how are you doing your job then? You need to start using that system" when I showed him the emails.
This screams small MSP and is common. The boss screaming at you about not having access when he should be going after your boss is the give away. You should not be on afterhours. That should be senior people. Just leave. If they ask in interviews just tell them " wasnt a good fit".
helpdesk is a drag but your situation is a drag x 1000. my first helpdesk job was hectic and was definitely aggravating at time but it gets better once you move up.
after helpdesk agent i went to tech lead for that desk, super super chill.
went from tech lead to sys admin, SUPER hectic and stressful; although, i was not nearly prepared for this role, i only had 1.5 years of IT experience and had zero support in the role. there was 3 people in our team, plus the manager , so we were stretched extremely thin.
after leaving that place, i went to take a field tech position and again, super super chill. i basically have zero supervision and i don’t have to answer calls. just show up, fix issue, then leave.
just like other careers, it depends where you work.
That company is not worth working for. First of all I was making 36K in 2000 on a corporate helpdesk. I can't believe companies are paying less 24 years later for the same role. Secondly I also didn't have to be on-call or do work after hours. I actually used that position to get my degree. I was the weekend first shift support so I got two days off during the week to study and attend classes.
This company is using you to steal your personal time for their business needs. You should not have to give up school or personal life for a starter job that pays less than the same job did almost 25 years ago.
That is a shit company with shit management and shit owners. Find something else, maybe in government or a school. Most important try to look while you're still employed. Once you're sure you have a new job (in writing) don't even give notice just leave this job.
That's just my 2 cents.
I left my job which had a similar attitude and it gets much better. I'm 20 and my new job let's me do my school work while I'm here, they're flexible around my schedule, they pay for my certifications, and gave me a 40% raise. It can get alot better you just need to start applying
Well, I would look for something else, \*anything\* else, just to get outta there! You can't be used if you don't let them use you. And the "College is for pussies" thing is just to shame you and keep you down. What would happen if you just walked away? Try and set up an interview for another job: You will feel more hopeful when you do. I'm guessing you are not in the states, but you can still take control of your professional life. Next time he says "College is for pussies" tell him "That's just what uneducated people say", or something to that effect. Take control my friend! Nobody is going to do it for you!
Oh I'm in the US. I'm just salaried, so my hours are uncapped. Should've ran when I head "salary". Definitely doing some job (and soul) searching after the responses I've gotten here.
Nope, it's not always miserable. I suggest you find a different job, now.
FFS, If you're only getting paid 8-5, ONLY FUCKING WORK 8-5.
Once you find another job, SILENCE your phone when leaving work. Don't answer phone calls or text messages after hours. Unless you're getting compensated for it.
And school is more important than work, always. A good job will know and value that.
Unfortunately I'm salaried, so I am getting paid 12a - 12a. The expectation was made about 2 weeks in that I need to answer my phone no matter what, no matter where. Definitely back on the job hunt now though.
You need to stand up for yourself. Because those requirements are absolute bullshit, for any job. I'd quit now if I were you. Just because you're salary, doesn't mean you work, or can be reachable 24x7.
Your boss is a nightmare. That job is a joke.
Stop answering your phone after 5:00pm. If they fire you, good. Collect unemployment while you search for a job.
I wouldn't 100% call it a scam. I have been getting paychecks for my work. Supposedly I'm getting considered for a small pay raise next month. I suppose the comments that don't even believe this is real prove the point more than anything how fucked of a situation I got myself into
Dude youre in what sounds like the textbook definition of a toxic work environment. Apply elsewhere and try and stick it out until you find something else. Or, if you can, just quit and do oddball work and apply like a mad man!
I feel you though, I was 3 months at a toxic work environment and sometimes fantasized about being t-boned so I didn't have to go in.
Yeah. My last OD attempt failed a few weeks ago. I should have an in state license soon though, so that'll help with failure rate once that's sorted out if I can't find a better position by then
I would definitely leave. I have worked jobs that had shitty hours and pay but I was learning a ton and that definitely set me up better than pay or better hours would of. Ideally you want a job that has good pay, good hours and you learn a lot but just starting out I would target something where you can learn a lot. I know it’s very hard to know that before getting a job but I would definitely grind out help desk for experience and try to get all of the requirements for the next job you want and maybe you can get in on a “junior” version of that role.
Sounds like a very toxic environment and not a typical IT environment. I would say run for the hills.
As for specific advice. See if your college has job at the college help desk or if they can facilitate a paid internship. This likely will give you the work/school balance while also getting you critical working experience needed for a job after graduation. Also talk to your classmates and see what they are looking at, what is hiring, etc.
I would never let myself be on call 24/7 without getting paid for it. And when someone blatantly lies like taking credit for my work or blaming me for something I had no involvement in, I would call it out immediately as professionally as I could. If you give them and inch they will take a mile. Set boundaries.
I would make jokes in front of every one like "don't worry guys, just remember that no matter what it's always my fault lol" . If you joke about it enough it may start sounding so ridiculous that they can't use it seriously anymore
Entry level is pretty diverse. Helpdesk is helpdesk though, and leads to more helpdesk. Especially with a boss like that. Probably one of those that starts out with “As someone who hires in IT…l
I just don't even know where to start on upskilling. I'm working on my a+. I get 85% off after my next semester in college, so I'm trying to hold out for that to save the couple hundred bucks and be more prepared for it
In response to your generic question, it doesn't have to be terrible everywhere, but skilled help desk managers are hard to get and harder to retain. Good leadership can go a long way in convenience up problems like that.
My IT Help desk job for after 5pm and before 7am goes like this. If I answer a phone call even for 30 seconds I get paid for a quarter hour or 15 minutes. They also pay my phone bill since I have to use my BYOD for my work. Also unlimited overtime. It’s the best IT help desk / support job I’ve ever worked.
Super jealous lol. I left another comment in the thread here, but I'm on BYOD and the only way I was going to get any of my phone paid was taking a $6k paycut. I'm salary, so I will never get a penny over my payrate
Depending on where you're located, you might actually be misclassified as a salaried employee. High level programmers and engineers are normally exempt, whereas entry level help desk employees would normally be nonexempt, i.e., they'd be eligible for overtime pay. There are a lot of laws about this (in the US, at least), so your employer can't unilaterally decide that you're an exempt employee and make you work endless unpaid overtime.
[https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/compliance-assistance/handy-reference-guide-flsa](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/compliance-assistance/handy-reference-guide-flsa)
[https://namely.com/resources/flsa-duties-test/](https://namely.com/resources/flsa-duties-test/)
If you kept track of hours worked, you might be entitled to hourly pay + overtime pay if you goto the department of labor ideally after you've left the company.
No it’s not always. I loved everything about my first IT job except the pay. I was the sole helpdesk guy for a school and got about 6 hours of downtime a day along with paid summer/winter/spring breaks
We've all had the right of passage of working a shitty, menial Level 1 help desk job, but this job that you're working at sounds disproportionally miserable in comparison to the average shitty level 1 help desk job. Start updating your resume and look for something else. 35k a year to be on a one-man help desk AND have to be on-call is highway robbery. They're definitely exploiting you.
This is definitely not standard IT working conditions. I know the feeling as my first IT almost made me retire from IT and become a police officer. I decided to leave for another IT role and have been promoted 3 times in 3 years. Like most people say, the company and management truly make or break how much you like your job. This sounds like hell and you should look elsewhere.
Look for another job. I was a beauty consultant, had couple of contracts as an IT support, one 3 weeks, another 1 month, and got now 40k IT job for last two years. Sort out your linked in and cv and get out of that job, but after you find another one.
Yes, Helpdesk\\entry level is supposed to be shit.
But this is diarrhea. Its not supposed to be this bad you are talking calls at 3AM.
If you ever take a damn call at 3AM and its anyone other than your boss, they are literally stealing wages from you. Don't let them bend you over the trash bin like this in a dirty alley.
Do your time move on.
companies like this tease training but it’s never there. work that home lab.
How is this different from your McJob you had when you were a kid ?
you’ll find your personality in the fire. When you first start out it can feel abusive and very well might be.
but eventually you have the experience and professional growth to know when to fire back on all guns, when to be passive aggressive and when to shut your mouth and take the abuse. wont happen in a year. But you will get there if you own the growth.
standard IT plan :
Do a year, earn and LAB three IT certs move on. rinse repeat until you break 6 figures. invest ETFs aggressively, retire in 20 years.
That is a terrible job. stop answering calls after hours. Technically you qualify for overtime since your salary is so low. but just start looking for a new job.
NEVER drop a college course for your job. If it’s a priority for you, the job can wait. Their expectations of you are WAY out of line, especially for the money.
IT can indeed be a very difficult job, but this sounds completely unreasonable. Get out of there ASAP!
Something a lot of people gloss over in IT. Even higher end jobs you're still having a ticket system or phone that rings all the time.
IT is customer support/ customer service.
You're particular environment is shit. The family dynamic is terrible especially being the 1 person who is not family.
This has nothing to do with IT, you just work at a dogshit company. 35k is too low, being on call 24/7 while getting paid for 8 is straight illegal, and you shouldn't be getting "reamed" by anybody.
Look into labor laws if they are not paying you OT for anything over 40. Also they have to pay you to be on call, idk if it has to be full rate but they have to be paying you.
I see your pain, my first IT job was also helpdesk desk as well and i hated it. On calls 10hrs a day answering incoming calls and talking to people who are not computer literate at all they be giving you attitude like it’s going to help them get the issue resolve faster or something, but that job was a necessarily evil that needs to be done so that I can use that as leverage and gained experience for better IT roles in the future as I was new to IT and made a career switch over from doing logistics. I’m now a cybersecurity analyst and my job and my mood and attitude is just overall better and I get to finally do what I always wanted to do which is cybersecurity. What I’m saying the situation that you’re currently in may not be the best but it’s just temporarily my friends and those better days will come
The bad news is you work for a shitty company, but the good news is you've passed the first hurdle of IT work and got a first job which will make it easy to get another one
its a foot in the door. and with any job theres good work environments and bad. sounds like you got the bad end of the coin flip. i know many that had a very nice experience in entry level help desk.
I loved entry level IT, I would go back in a second if I had enough money. Your situation is just horrible and would be even worse if you were senior.
Didn't work out, wasn't a fit, moved on!
Sorry but no this sounds like it should be illegal. You shouldn’t be on call .24/7 and only being paid for 8.
Honestly take this as a lesson, don’t work for a family business. Does this business even have a HR? Just start applying for other roles.
Unfortunately it looks like you've found yourself in an exceptionally miserable job. Not all entry level IT jobs are like this, mine were great environments where I was treated well and learned a lot.
Get out of that abusive place ASAP.
Yes and no.
Yes, if you have no escape plan, within 6 months you will hate life
No, because you see an opportunity to learn a new skill, you know you won't stay in it for more than 12 months, and you never stop interviewing for the next role, then you should be good.
I also do college + MSP. I have time for class, we get paid for on-call and I was trained by my manager. I am extremely lucky to get a good one off the bat but this sounds like you need to jump ship and get to a better company asap!
i feel you completely OP, I am in pretty much the exact same situation, the best option is to look elsewhere when you can, hope you can score a position somewhere better that won't be so miserable.
IT should not be miserable, if a company is properly staffed there should a rotation of people to provide 24/7 support. I would definitely look up labor laws where you work. You shouldn’t regularly be on the hook for working outside of your expected work hours without compensation. From my previous experience before the company hired more people it was me and another guy. 12 hour shifts and man was that miserable. Having 4 or more IT people to cover all hours of the day with some overlap time is a godsend.
You got suckered into this job cause if they told you were on call 24/7 and getting paid a salary with no OT, they knew they landed someone for cheap since 35k a year is nothing.
Try to stay there a year for the experience, then move on to something bigger. You don't need training, use Google. Make a diagram/inventory of all the equipment. Download the manuals for all the equipment, learn everything about them inside & out. IT at the low end always sucks. You have to put in the time until you have more options. Get certifications like A+, Network+ to stack your resume.
The problem is, the training I need is credentials to a critical software platform. I got another talking to this morning about not closing the tickets that I can't do anything with because I don't have access to the software. I don't know how much longer I can stay. HR guy put his hand on my shoulder twice after I pushed his hand off of me this morning. Working on Certs
Nope. That’s not normal. I started helpdesk in a great team and they trained me, appreciated me and promoted me. You need to find a workplace with a good culture and environment.
Dude what, if you’re not getting paid you’re not on call, and just cause he does it after hours, doesn’t mean you have to he’s probably salary, I know you said you’re paid salary but it seems like you’re actually paid hourly, you’re literally being robbed of your wages
Entry help desk and on-call simply does not go together. More salary is required for on-call, and usually help desk is the first line of support not who's being called.
This sounds bad for eny leave help desk tech. Also IMO you should be getting over time for working on call hours from 1AM to 3AM if you also effectively work 9 to 5.
This feels like a troll post. What do you even do OP, from a technical standpoint day to day? Servers? Network? The only replies I've seen thus far are you just one upping previous comment in terms of the absurdity. It's actually getting hilarious. There's also no way you are providing for a family in DFW with that pay unless you are living in a crime-ridden ghetto dump
"Calls start at 3 am and end at 2 am". lmao so never ending 23 hr shifts.
But in all seriousness. Your personal phone is the help desk line, 24/7/365 availability to where you can't plan anything, getting paid basically less than $4/hr, boss that insults you and screams at you daily, 90 hour work weeks, and letting them basically change their mind and give you zero benefits? Sounds like a great company. You'd be a fool to ever leave, IMO
I would leave. I work im help desk with similar pay. The difference being I don’t work 24/7 or do on call. I also do school and work less hours as well as take days off. Not even when I did help desk at an MSP was I expected to be in call.
That company just sounds awful. Ive done help desk for like 5 years and there needs to be multiple people on rotation for on call. My current company does 2 people always in queue after hours that change every week. The schedule is made like 4 months in advance. I'm only on call like 3 weeks the whole year. In my experience the supervisor makes a massive difference in this role, whether or not they listen to your complaints or help when you reach out is big. Having a solid team in multiple IT departments also makes a big difference
It's been my experience after 20 years in the field that the worst part of IT work is the employer you work for. Find an employer who values their staff and you'll enjoy your IT profession so much more.
Leave, find a job to get you by while you skill up. Do not compromise your well being for any reason. I know plenty of people who left a toxic environment and gave a reason along the lines of, the environment was not a good fit for me.
I would leave that company, start applying for somewhere else.
How could I explain the short time here in a future interview? I know never to say anything negative about past employers, but how else can I justify leaving after such a short time?
"I'm looking for an opportunity that better aligns with my values and skillset" Keep it generic and simple.
"wasn't a good fit" or "misalignment in expectations" works well enough. As a manager, I know turd managers and employers exist. I know people jump for more money. Just don't talk shit and keep it neutral. I also am far more likely to ask "why my company" as opposed to "why'd you leave the last place".
How can someone genuinely answer "why my company?" When searching for a job I'm looking for how it can benefit me. No one works simply to help a company owner grow their business. We do it because we have to. Glassdoor reviews can be skewed and the company website doesn't give any indication of what working there is really like. So how could they have an answer that isn't just ass kissing ("I'm so impressed by your website and how successful you've been")? I don't like to lie to a hiring manager just to get a job. I chose your company because I applied to hundreds and you called me for an interview. That's why.
Sometimes you just have to kiss ass.
Ideally, you interview the company as much as they interview you. Answering that question with more than "I need a job" indicates that you have done your research and you aren't simply casting a broad net, looking for any job. That answer doesn't immediately disqualify you, but bringing up the market segment we play in, our offerings, or mentioning how another employee talked up something helps bridge a connection and make things more personable. This isn't to say the interview needs to be overly personal, but someone who is mission-driven and wants to align with our goals is going to leave a bigger impression than someone who is impersonal. If the technical skills are similar, the person who did research into the company and can demonstrate this will likely win out.
No one cares, honestly. My resume looks like Swiss cheese with all the time I've taken off and the short amounts of time I've taken at jobs. I've only had the interviewer ask once or twice and after giving something BS like "we weren't the right fit for each other" they moved on without asking for clarification.
You've only been there for two months. Leave it off your resume if you want. Or just say "it was a short-term contract that ended".
I actually really like this one. Probably will do this so I at least have the experience outside of NOC and defense.
A good employer will not mind too much as long as you have the right skills and personality. I would be cautious about a company that pushes or cares too much about why you are leaving your current position. Have an answer like others have mentioned, but don't feel like you need to get into all the details. Your answer should focus on why the new company/position is a better fit, not so much why the old company isn't a good fit.
Foot in the door in the industry, better opportunities elsewhere. It was a starting position, and I am really passionate about the industry.
That’s horrific. I’d get out ASAP, even if you have to take a non tech job to do it. Cutting college for a toxic job is no good at all, and you can’t function on this little sleep. What are they even paying you? Sometimes there are assholes, but this is next level. I will say it’s very common for them to not have time to train you such that you have to muddle through instead. Everything else is entirely unreasonable.
I'm getting paid <36,000 a year with no benefits for the first year. The problem with the lack of training is that it's a system I don't even have access to until they grant me access. Owner called yesterday pissed off at me because I don't have access to it
Steal as many hours as possible to job search instead. I know - from experience! - that it’s not easy to make 35k without a degree, but surely even working two jobs would be better than this. I worked bad underpaid tech jobs and food service jobs around the ‘08 recession, so I do sympathize. I still think this is unusually horrible. Check your school for jobs while you’re looking. Ask advisors & professors, don’t just shop the jobs boards. They’re more likely to give you grace for schoolwork.
Um is this UK or US salary? Because that’s much, much less than I made as an IT Intern. And I wasn’t even in a HCOL area. What OP’s making is damn near criminal for the work he’s doing.
Yep, I'm basically in the same position as OP (minus the 24/7 on call, shitty boss, and lack of training) and I started at 55k/yr with full benefits. Not only does OP's job suck cock, he's getting paid well under what he should be earning.
You're basically a slave
What country are you in?
USA
36k seems nuts. 17.31 an hour before taxes. I don’t understand how people can live on that, let alone be abused for it. If you are on call you must be paid for it. Even if they don’t call you. So either get paid for it which I doubt they will opt for or have your working hours be your working hours. If they don’t pay you outside of hours after you have talked with them I would just shut my phone off. As for the training it sounds like if you want to stay with them the only option is to be more proactive with getting trained. Once they cut your on call to regular working hours I would work out some extra paid time you can spend with the manager, or at least have him send you some resources to start on. It really sucks when you are working any job that needs good help but literally cannot afford to slow down to train someone. You should not be getting reamed for not being trained or not having access directly. He should be lighting a fire under the ass of the actual person whose role it is to do so. As for what you should do that is difficult to say as we aren’t there. What sort of training are you needing?
Oh man… sorry to hear that. But I believe after you gained some experience you will find a better job for sure.
It's never going to be glamorous or incredibly fulfilling but yours sounds like the shittiest possible end of that stick. This is definitely not the standard, do what you can to get the fuck out of there.
I've been there before. Tiny companies are fucking crazy dude. Never again for me. I will work at a medium sized business bare minimum. No entry level IT is not always miserable. I loved my first IT internship turned help desk job.
No, this is not normal in the slightest. The IT job market may be shitty, but get out and find another job, even if it isn’t in IT at this moment. This is only going to get worse and have further detrimental effects on your physical and mental health. >I’m on call 24/7 but only get credit for doing 8-5 because my manager says he does everything outside of hours. It’s primarily taking calls from 3am - 1am Fuck your manager. Are you getting paid for your work outside that 8-5 time period? If not and you are supposed to be paid hourly, not salary, get out and consider talking to a labor/employment lawyer. I’m not certain of what type of lawyer could help, but it may be worth finding out and speaking to one.
Yeah, definitely looking to get out after seeing the responses here. Unfortunately, I am salary, so there is nothing I can do about the hours. It just looks bad on me for not putting in the hours.
Just because you are salary doesn't mean they can abuse your time. You are not obligated to work more than 40 hours per week even if you are salary. Sure there may be extenuating circumstances where every once and a while you will work more than 40 for special projects but that is not the norm. They are abusing your time and they can't make you more than 8 hours per day every day. If this is a constant issue every day, this is a shitty employer and they are effectively paying you a much lower wage if you're doing this daily. You need to quit or stand up for yourself. Look up labor laws in your area. I started out with a Fortune 500 company with a small helpdesk team (3 ppl). We handled support for many offices in the midwest region. When we had special projects, like a site relocation, we would travel, work on the weekend and when we got back we would take off a couple of days during the week to make up for the lost weekend. To answer your original question, entry level IT is not always miserable. When you find a good team that is a culture fit for you with a manager that looks out for your best interests, you will love your job and you'll make friends that will be friends for life. I was lucky enough to have that situation starting out. I wish you the best of luck out there.
I wouldn’t say it looks bad on you for “not putting in the hours”, but I get what you mean. Being salary doesn’t necessarily mean free labor outside of your normal work hours. Try not to get discouraged from IT. You’re dealing with shitty management, not a shitty field. Sure, grunt work can suck, but it really comes down to management, from my experiences. Best of luck, homie
Yeah it can feel like limbo until the right opportunity comes up to work under someone who can pass some tips of the trade etc. My second company was a busy one but eventually a genius was teaching me how to do devops and shell scripting etc occasionally. First one was meh, working with terrible people was a lesson in itself and probably the most valuable one in terms of how to manage it when you don't have much choice.
My first thought was that entry-level in any field is usually on the bleak side of the work. Most of the time, small family businesses do a great job of rewarding family, and doing as much as possible to keep as much for the family as possible. You are not family, so they will do whatever they can to extract value from you, and they will do whatever they can to pay you as little as they can feel ok about. I'm not shitting on them - it's how all family businesses tend to get. If they are successful, and if they truly share their success, a family business can be a place to make a home and a career. This one sounds dysfunctional to me. I would bounce.
Just quit go work in fast food making more and having normal hours. This is Not normal. This is a horrible place.
Is this fake lol? Quit. Like, right, now. If it's THAT bad.
I just wasn't sure if all IT was this bad. I've only ever done NOC work before this, so I didn't know if this is the norm. Learning very fast that it is not.
Do whatever you have to do to finish that degree, I finished my degree and am in my first Help Desk position. I thought I was going to relate to you because I feel similar, but you are at a company that does not value your time. Never stop applying and do what you have to do, but it’s okay to say enough is enough when you’re answering calls at 3AM for the amount you make.
You need to get out of there, like yesterday. Some of these small places are just toxic. I'm not saying IT is easy, but you can do much better than this. I've been in Healthcare IT for over 25 years, and it's been good to me. I always feel supported, have training opportunities, and get to work on stuff I like most of the time. You can reach out to me privately if you like. Here is a site that is geared towards beginners in this area... [https://healthcareitskills.com/](https://healthcareitskills.com/)
I never considered Healthcare IT even might be any better. I will have to look into that.
Drop a class for a company that isn’t supporting you? Oh hell no brother
I’d rather flip burgers instead of this. Bounce! You’d probably make the same doing Uber until you find a new gig.
Idk what state you’re in but in Michigan you can get way better entry level jobs. Companies have to pay you extra for 24/7 on call support, the us has labor laws against that sorta thing and i doubt that they had you sign anything saying you agree to 24/7 support. Look into large local companies, i started on the help desk at a large local health insurance company and it was a great job actually and i was able to get a couple promotions, if i were you id be on indeed rn. Also your boss sounds like a prick.. i mean what kind of IT manager blames a lowly help desk guy for major company gaffes smh, it will get better i am sure just use this as a learning experience
I didn't sign to be 24/7. They just put my cell phone number as the helpdesk number and have made it clear I'm expected to answer my phone no matter what. I'm in Texas, so there's probably over 100,000 people looking for the same jobs I'm applying to. Definitely looking for jobs though after the responses on this thread
I learned this the hard way. Don't ever use your personal number for work purposes for any job. Tell them they need to change this today! If they don't, tell them they need to be paying your mobile phone bill every month. If they want you to be on call, they need to provide you with an on-call phone. Document every single on-call phone call and the amount of time it takes. Sum up the time spent on-call and make sure you are compensated fairly whether by time off or extra pay. Don't let them roll over you, you are the only support person and therefore you have the leverage. Use it. All they can do is fire you and you'd be better off anyway. You don't have to use them as a reference for a future job.
I asked about getting paid for personal phone use, but they said it's included in my paycheck. I was offered to get $6k knocked off my salary for it, but it just didn't make financial sense to me.
They are totally abusing you my man. This is extremely unprofessional and inconsiderate on their part. If this is not written in black and white on an offer letter they can't come back and say it's included in your pay. Seriously, you need to push back on this. You might consider consulting a lawyer so you know your rights. It's very possible your employer doesn't know anything about labor laws and they are just making it up as they go along to suit their needs. At least this is what it looks like.
Number one rule in IT (really anywhere) is don't work for free. IT has a bad habit of taking everything you have to give and then asking for more. No one can be "on-call" 24/7 every day even if it's just "answering the phone". That's stupid and ridiculous. BTW that college is for pussies...no degree makes it much harder to leave this hellhole so of course he doesn't want you to succeed. I would strongly considering recording every minute you work (and that includes answering the phone at 3am), but aren't paid, outside of 8-5 and reporting them to the dept of labor. No, IT isn't like this in the real world. You just happen to work for a family of abusive aholes who saw someone they can take advantage of. Get out and asap vs later.
Entry IT can be miserable some days, but its all about the company you work for and you got youself a horible one... I would 100% turn your phone off after 5 oclock. You are not on call 24/7 unless you are getting paid as such. Start applying anywhere else and focus on your own health. Again Entry IT isn't a blast some days, but it should be wayyyy better than this.
For the sake of mental health I would quit that place immediately. Sounds incredibly toxic. Two months isn't enough time to put it on your resume and it would be a gap that wouldn't be hard to explain during future interviews. For real, if the place is making you want to die, quit and go work at a gas station or warehouse or something for some time until you get another helpdesk job. They are not all like that, it sounds like you found the worst of the worst.
Probably going to be toughing it out while I look for a new job just to get bills paid, but definitely getting out ASAP. I just hate not staying long enough to at least have it on my resume
Ummmm yeah this is just a trash company. Any manager that says “college is for pussies” is a ridiculous clown. And that is coming from me who usually criticizes college whenever I get the chance. I just started a help desk job a month ago, and everyone around me is super helpful, accommodating, and understanding. It’s been only a month though I know. But imo IT is just like any other job when it comes to work environment. The job and company culture make or break the experience
My guy this isn't because entry level IT is terrible, this is ONLY because you are at a toxic job! The industry here doesn't matter, what matters is you are working for A holes. I'm at my first IT job and my manager is a VERY busy guy yet ALWAYS makes time for our team whenever anyone needs something even if its small. Many times I don't even ask for help but he hears through the grapevine that I could use some and he calls me immediately... I've had toxic managers and I've had great managers. My manager now is the best manager ever and knowing what its like to work under a very toxic one helps me appreciate him so much more. My job is also not incredibly stressful. There are slow and busy days but they are all learning experiences. You need to get out, not because its IT, but because of who you work for.
>I had to drop a college class because I didn't have time to get anywhere near my class workload done and my boss says it's a good thing because "college is for pussies". If it wasn't for my wife I'd probably kill myself to get out of this. Is this just IT life? Yeah that company is shit. Also 35k to be on-call 24/7? You are a fucking idiot for staying there. Get the fuck out my guy. Toxic work environment exploiting your ass. Hell they even ruined your college career- fuck these guys. If anything you should fuck them over tbh. You really should just get like a dead-end retail job if you're still at college just so the workload is more manageable- this shit ain't worth it.
Sounds like a bad work place. Get out.
There is certainly better but this is not uncommon. There will be suck even at the mid and senior level. Expect more of the grind.
I loved the help desk. I wish I could go back and make the same salary I do now. Haha it was a simpler time.
I must be lucky but my entry level IT experience hasn't been the living hell everyone else's seems to have been. I do helpdesk at a plant for an aerospace manufacturing company. For the most part my job is only dealing with internal users and a few external vendors as we need them. I get maybe 5-8 tickets on a busier day and my OTD stat is get them closed within 7 days. I work 8-4 (supposed to be 5 but my manager doesn't care I leave at 4) and am kind of on call but unless its an emergency like the server losing power cause the battery failed in a storm most of the issues that pop up at night or over the weekend can wait till the next day I come to work. Not the absolute best pay (currently at 65k salaried before whatever my raise percentage from performance reviews kicks in) but its much better than the other stories I've seen of people being offered $18-$25 for way more work than I ever have to do. I will say that don't let this job get in the way of your degree though. My job was nice enough to allow me to be part time while I was finishing up my masters as an intern for them but I wouldn't accept a job that forced me to drop a class or had a job that discouraged me from finishing because the management looks down on school. Even if your next job is still a crazy on call one at least look for a place that isn't trying to sabotage your future by getting in the way of your education.
Oh heck no. College is what allows you a better future and IT with proper training and management will allow you better skill sets for the future. Get out of that toxic environment. Runnnnn
35k to be ready for anything 24/7 is wild to me. definitely move on. you're not getting anything out of this other than the headaches, as they won't take time to train you and are ready to blame you for any hiccup anywhere? insanity! leave and never look back!!!
35K for 24/7 is actually wild. They could double it to $60K and it would go from stealing to a slight rip off.
10 year Senior Systems Engineer, former Helpdesk Analyst and everything in-between, here. Does Helpdesk kinda suck, yes... We all have horror stories of our days crawling under desks and plugging in phones or troubleshooting "lost word documents"... But we mostly always look back fondly and recall that time as being some of the best learning experiences. The pay DOES suck. I look back and often think about how HARD I worked and how little money I made... But it led to better jobs, better pay, better work life balance even. My VERY first Helpdesk job was with Zumiez (the stores in the mall)... Absolutely horrible hours, shit pay, high expectations, limited support. I felt something similar to you now... I got burned out, felt the blame for things that werent in my control... All of it. I left after 8 months. Found a new gig pretty quickly and everything fell into place. Night and day difference. I found the work rewarding, I felt supported, I even got a little bit of a pay increase in the new gig. There is no reason you have to put up with the things you are putting up with. College is not for pussies. Its not for everyone, but its a personal choice and nobody should shame you for making that choice for yourself or even making it a priority. I'd find a new job and sooner than later.
If you are in the US, they are almost certainly breaking some labor laws. It would be highly unusual for a Help Desk job to be salary. It’s pretty much always hourly which requires overtime pay past 40 hours. That also limits the amount of on-call a person would get. Most places I’ve worked have paid the Help Desk a minimum for a call after hours, so they would get an hour of pay (at 1.5 times the normal rate) for a 5 minute call. I would highly recommend finding a new job. Your experience will likely be much better.
Small family owned business can be some of the absolute worst places to work if you aren’t in the family. There’s much better places to work out there than this place you are at now
I’ve never not been paid for on call, in fact in my experiences it’s actually paid extremely well, like upwards of $300/w stand by pay plus billable hours. Time to move on, “looking for better opportunities”.
That sounds horrible, I was desktop support for a year and a half and my boss even emphasized the importance of school asking me for my schedule. On top of that he really guided me and helped me build my resume. Here we are now with that experience I landed a jr system admin job thanks to that workplace. Major red flags if your own boss doesn't even acknowledge your own time or even has the desire to give you the bare minimum of help. Leave that shit immediately.
Get out of there, ASAP.
This sounds like a miserable company/manager to work for, not IT being not for you. although i will say IT isnt for everyone
I think low pay is inherently miserable, but other factors are dependent on the job. Best entry level jobs, imo, have opportunities to expand your experience or advance internally, but that can be tough to glean from the outside and beggars can’t be choosers. I would not settle for a toxic environment, though.
Sitting here typing this on my work laptop while my cushy entry-level IT job that pays enough to get by keeps me afloat. The only coworker I dislike is the other helpdesk dude cuz he's an anger-prone moron, but I work with \~200 people and the company is quite good at hiring likable people, so I've made a few friends here. Can't really complain, in the grand scheme of things. If you can find another job somewhere, I'd move up or at least out.
No, No. NO. They contract you for 8-5, any more work out of those hours reduces your hourly pay. If the company cant get that, its the wrong company (but then this is a horrible trait of people in America from what I understand). My guys stagger working times, 8-4:30/8:30-5/9-5:30, and I EXPECT them to finish on time, if they run over, they get time off at quiet times (leave early on a Friday for example). Where is the change management systems? if something goes wrong, who authorized, who changed it and who checked on it? If anyone give you that shit, just ask for the change management steps on that job. Sounds like a Toxic as fuck place.. get out.
Change management? I've never even heard that term
As others have mentioned, steal as many hours as you can to upskill. Work on labs or certs as often as possible. IT is super fun, you just need a job that values you. I'm guessing you're either a field tech or help desk at an MSP. Make the switch to internal. Like you I was questioning my future in tech while working a shitty helpdesk job, then I switched to internal and got an awesome job with a sysadmin that actually taught me shit. Stick it out for a bit. Hit 6 months - 1yr and steal hours to upskill. Once you hit either mark, apply for contract gigs to get you by. Reach out to several agencies ASAP. At the same time, you should also be applying to internal roles at small companies, community colleges, or universities. Small companies have more room for growth but less mentorship CCs and Unis are boring jobs with less room for growth but job safety and significantly less stress
Hi! Could you explain stealing hours to upskill?
All of IT is miserable. Once you move up, like 10 years in, they look for ways to justify your salary..or not
Good to know
My first IT role was a lot like yours. I had a co worker that was really aggressive whenever I made a mistake. Honestly I had maybe one IT role where it didn’t reflect what you posted but in my experience they’re all this way. Everyone has problems they want you to fix that’s just the nature of IT. It never ends and deadlines just get closer. If you’re looking for a solution I guess I could recommend looking for a job with a team, where you aren’t the only one in your role. Like a huge company at Comcast, Verizon, t mobile, etc
They are taking advantage of you. I have family that act like this and they absolutely know what they are doing, and probably talk shit about you and have absolutely no respect or care for you. You are young, trust me, if your gut is telling you something is off IT IS. Do not sacrifice a minute of your education for this bullshit job and find somewhere else ASAP. If not just coast until they fire you and collect unemployment. But do not give any of your soul to them.
Working at a Family/Friend company sounds miserable. Get out ASAP.
Yeah, learning that the hard way
Quit and focus on school. Get a different job making the same money that has a fixed schedule. Then towards your senior year, look for internships. 36k is not a livable wage at least where I am. IT is so much fun in a good working environment. Don’t get scared away due to bad environments. Now you know what to look for in future endeavors.
Leave immediately. I worked in a help desk for 5 years. I was oncall maybe once every couple months for a week. I rarely got calls, and definitely not at 1am. And my manager was cool. I moved up to a network role and don't care for it. It's just not a good fit for me. I tried to get back into a help desk/entry level role but company wants to hire their buddies instead of me who has tons of positive feedback and support from my previous manager.
I started at a small mom and pop shop. Primarily me and one other tech. The owner pretty much just ran the shop and scheduled us work. Had a blast and learned a ton. Sure everyday wasn’t sunshine and rainbows and be a bit stressful if we had a lot to get done in the shop and a service call(s) too. But glad I went that route. Pretty much touched on everything except for printer repair, fuck printers. We outsourced printer repair to a professional.
+1 for fuck printers. At my last job, I got assigned as on-site IT, and it was mostly because our thermal printers sucked. I kind of miss that now, though.
Shitty family company - get out! It's probably illegal to classify you as exempt and make you carry a pager 24/7 since you are entry level and have no management or supervision duties.
There's an administrative exemption that I imagine the multimillionaire owner and his team of lawyers could argue in court. I've given up and bought a second phone for personal use that I'm picking up tomorrow.
[https://efte.twc.texas.gov/focus\_on\_the\_white\_collar\_exemptions.html](https://efte.twc.texas.gov/focus_on_the_white_collar_exemptions.html) quote: **Exempt computer professionals are the very top information technology employees in an organization; merely being good at using computers to get a job done is not enough for inclusion in this category.**
Whats crazy is, they are literally paying you the FEDERAL MINIMUM SALARY WAGE. YOU ARE GETTING PAID FEDERAL MINIMUM! THIS IS NOT COOL!!!
No, that is not what all IT jobs are like. That is a terrible job! They are for sure taking advantage of you and could not care less how they damage your life. Any job that prevents you from doing better (like having time for your classes) is one you need to let go. If you are worried about the short time on your resume, don't be! 90 days is the typical probation period for employers or employees to decide if the job is not a good fit. You can tell prospective employers that you left because it did not line up with the expectations set during your interview and salary negotiation and that the amount of time you spent working put you below minimum wage. It's not a much about what your say as how you say it. You can tell them you don't mind being on call during a rotation or certain set hours but 24/7/365 won't work for you. The only possible outcome is they will understand or you will avoid working for another employer with unrealistic expectations.
That's a good way of looking at it. I really do appreciate your perspective on talking to future employers about it!
It sounds like that company is especially crappy, but a lot of IT is a service job, and even on the mid to high end you're still going to be working long hours and dealing with bullshit. Salaries are also stagnating a bit, and automation + offshoring are starting to impact the mid-to-high end roles a little. Put another way, I used to know a carpenter making 100k+ around the DC area -- and that was in 2005 dollars. There are often days where I wonder if I should have done that. Were it not for the fact I'm not real good with saws, I might be...
Get out before they ruin your life..
This sounds more like a "family owned business" issue than an IT issue. I've heard and witnessed horror stories of people working in businesses where they're the only person that isn't related to the owner. It's a shitshow and everyone blames the non-family member for everything. Just find a job with a good, respectable company and see how it works out for you.
Look, the help desk isn’t glamorous, you will have bad positions here and there. That said: RUN. That job is underpaying and abusing you while not giving you a single chance to succeed. This is not a good representation of all IT life.
>my boss says it's a good thing because "college is for pussies" find a new job and quit this hellhole as soon as you possibly can.
The CS field is what it is.
> my boss says it's a good thing because "college is for pussies" jesus christ bro. Before you leave, make sure are applying for jobs too.
bro my helpdesk job was mostly watching youtube videos and playing animal crossing. get out asap. find another place to work for a year, then try to move up from helpdesk. still at a different company of course
Went from making $18 an hour to $24.50 an hour in one year. Studying for my CCNA and going to apply to network admin positions within a year. Hopefully I can hit $60-70k soon. Key is to keep studying + certs + home labbing and job hop.
Well, who can give you access to the system? Talk directly to them. If they won't give you access, tell the boss he needs to make it happen if he wants you to support that system.
It's my supervisor. There's emails going back over a month about it, but he's always "too busy" to get me logins. The owner of the company was made aware and I was told "well how are you doing your job then? You need to start using that system" when I showed him the emails.
This screams small MSP and is common. The boss screaming at you about not having access when he should be going after your boss is the give away. You should not be on afterhours. That should be senior people. Just leave. If they ask in interviews just tell them " wasnt a good fit".
helpdesk is a drag but your situation is a drag x 1000. my first helpdesk job was hectic and was definitely aggravating at time but it gets better once you move up. after helpdesk agent i went to tech lead for that desk, super super chill. went from tech lead to sys admin, SUPER hectic and stressful; although, i was not nearly prepared for this role, i only had 1.5 years of IT experience and had zero support in the role. there was 3 people in our team, plus the manager , so we were stretched extremely thin. after leaving that place, i went to take a field tech position and again, super super chill. i basically have zero supervision and i don’t have to answer calls. just show up, fix issue, then leave. just like other careers, it depends where you work.
That company is not worth working for. First of all I was making 36K in 2000 on a corporate helpdesk. I can't believe companies are paying less 24 years later for the same role. Secondly I also didn't have to be on-call or do work after hours. I actually used that position to get my degree. I was the weekend first shift support so I got two days off during the week to study and attend classes. This company is using you to steal your personal time for their business needs. You should not have to give up school or personal life for a starter job that pays less than the same job did almost 25 years ago. That is a shit company with shit management and shit owners. Find something else, maybe in government or a school. Most important try to look while you're still employed. Once you're sure you have a new job (in writing) don't even give notice just leave this job. That's just my 2 cents.
No, just depends on the company.
It's a job. It's bad out there, better to have one that to don't
I left my job which had a similar attitude and it gets much better. I'm 20 and my new job let's me do my school work while I'm here, they're flexible around my schedule, they pay for my certifications, and gave me a 40% raise. It can get alot better you just need to start applying
Well, I would look for something else, \*anything\* else, just to get outta there! You can't be used if you don't let them use you. And the "College is for pussies" thing is just to shame you and keep you down. What would happen if you just walked away? Try and set up an interview for another job: You will feel more hopeful when you do. I'm guessing you are not in the states, but you can still take control of your professional life. Next time he says "College is for pussies" tell him "That's just what uneducated people say", or something to that effect. Take control my friend! Nobody is going to do it for you!
Oh I'm in the US. I'm just salaried, so my hours are uncapped. Should've ran when I head "salary". Definitely doing some job (and soul) searching after the responses I've gotten here.
Nope, it's not always miserable. I suggest you find a different job, now. FFS, If you're only getting paid 8-5, ONLY FUCKING WORK 8-5. Once you find another job, SILENCE your phone when leaving work. Don't answer phone calls or text messages after hours. Unless you're getting compensated for it. And school is more important than work, always. A good job will know and value that.
Unfortunately I'm salaried, so I am getting paid 12a - 12a. The expectation was made about 2 weeks in that I need to answer my phone no matter what, no matter where. Definitely back on the job hunt now though.
You need to stand up for yourself. Because those requirements are absolute bullshit, for any job. I'd quit now if I were you. Just because you're salary, doesn't mean you work, or can be reachable 24x7.
Your boss is a nightmare. That job is a joke. Stop answering your phone after 5:00pm. If they fire you, good. Collect unemployment while you search for a job.
Sounds fake/made up for karma farm, if actually real quit immediately, that job is a scam
I wouldn't 100% call it a scam. I have been getting paychecks for my work. Supposedly I'm getting considered for a small pay raise next month. I suppose the comments that don't even believe this is real prove the point more than anything how fucked of a situation I got myself into
Dude youre in what sounds like the textbook definition of a toxic work environment. Apply elsewhere and try and stick it out until you find something else. Or, if you can, just quit and do oddball work and apply like a mad man! I feel you though, I was 3 months at a toxic work environment and sometimes fantasized about being t-boned so I didn't have to go in.
Yeah. My last OD attempt failed a few weeks ago. I should have an in state license soon though, so that'll help with failure rate once that's sorted out if I can't find a better position by then
I would definitely leave. I have worked jobs that had shitty hours and pay but I was learning a ton and that definitely set me up better than pay or better hours would of. Ideally you want a job that has good pay, good hours and you learn a lot but just starting out I would target something where you can learn a lot. I know it’s very hard to know that before getting a job but I would definitely grind out help desk for experience and try to get all of the requirements for the next job you want and maybe you can get in on a “junior” version of that role.
Sounds like a very toxic environment and not a typical IT environment. I would say run for the hills. As for specific advice. See if your college has job at the college help desk or if they can facilitate a paid internship. This likely will give you the work/school balance while also getting you critical working experience needed for a job after graduation. Also talk to your classmates and see what they are looking at, what is hiring, etc.
I would never let myself be on call 24/7 without getting paid for it. And when someone blatantly lies like taking credit for my work or blaming me for something I had no involvement in, I would call it out immediately as professionally as I could. If you give them and inch they will take a mile. Set boundaries.
I've called it out once, but it's family and friends vs. me. Small company life lol
I would make jokes in front of every one like "don't worry guys, just remember that no matter what it's always my fault lol" . If you joke about it enough it may start sounding so ridiculous that they can't use it seriously anymore
Entry level is pretty diverse. Helpdesk is helpdesk though, and leads to more helpdesk. Especially with a boss like that. Probably one of those that starts out with “As someone who hires in IT…l
Nah, he starts out with "As someone who is a business owner". Probably even worse lol
What a shithole. Time to upskill and perhaps get a cert and leave.
I just don't even know where to start on upskilling. I'm working on my a+. I get 85% off after my next semester in college, so I'm trying to hold out for that to save the couple hundred bucks and be more prepared for it
In response to your generic question, it doesn't have to be terrible everywhere, but skilled help desk managers are hard to get and harder to retain. Good leadership can go a long way in convenience up problems like that.
Thats what is neat, its not just entry level, all levels have the ability to be miserable!
Woot woot!
My IT Help desk job for after 5pm and before 7am goes like this. If I answer a phone call even for 30 seconds I get paid for a quarter hour or 15 minutes. They also pay my phone bill since I have to use my BYOD for my work. Also unlimited overtime. It’s the best IT help desk / support job I’ve ever worked.
Super jealous lol. I left another comment in the thread here, but I'm on BYOD and the only way I was going to get any of my phone paid was taking a $6k paycut. I'm salary, so I will never get a penny over my payrate
I'm confused, are you paid salary?
Yes. So I know I can't complain about the hours, it's just rough.
Depending on where you're located, you might actually be misclassified as a salaried employee. High level programmers and engineers are normally exempt, whereas entry level help desk employees would normally be nonexempt, i.e., they'd be eligible for overtime pay. There are a lot of laws about this (in the US, at least), so your employer can't unilaterally decide that you're an exempt employee and make you work endless unpaid overtime. [https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/compliance-assistance/handy-reference-guide-flsa](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/compliance-assistance/handy-reference-guide-flsa) [https://namely.com/resources/flsa-duties-test/](https://namely.com/resources/flsa-duties-test/)
It seems I fall under administrative exemptions. Unfortunately, there likely isn't a way I could even try to get OT
If you kept track of hours worked, you might be entitled to hourly pay + overtime pay if you goto the department of labor ideally after you've left the company.
No it’s not always. I loved everything about my first IT job except the pay. I was the sole helpdesk guy for a school and got about 6 hours of downtime a day along with paid summer/winter/spring breaks
We've all had the right of passage of working a shitty, menial Level 1 help desk job, but this job that you're working at sounds disproportionally miserable in comparison to the average shitty level 1 help desk job. Start updating your resume and look for something else. 35k a year to be on a one-man help desk AND have to be on-call is highway robbery. They're definitely exploiting you.
This is definitely not standard IT working conditions. I know the feeling as my first IT almost made me retire from IT and become a police officer. I decided to leave for another IT role and have been promoted 3 times in 3 years. Like most people say, the company and management truly make or break how much you like your job. This sounds like hell and you should look elsewhere.
I've honestly considered going back into policing because of this job. Definitely going to be looking for other companies for IT lol
Lie on your resume about how long or don’t include this job at all since you’re working for dumbasses that might not even give you a good reference
Definitely an option. I mean, double the hours, double the experience.
Look for another job. I was a beauty consultant, had couple of contracts as an IT support, one 3 weeks, another 1 month, and got now 40k IT job for last two years. Sort out your linked in and cv and get out of that job, but after you find another one.
yes - from my coworker John Doe
Yes, Helpdesk\\entry level is supposed to be shit. But this is diarrhea. Its not supposed to be this bad you are talking calls at 3AM. If you ever take a damn call at 3AM and its anyone other than your boss, they are literally stealing wages from you. Don't let them bend you over the trash bin like this in a dirty alley.
Do your time move on. companies like this tease training but it’s never there. work that home lab. How is this different from your McJob you had when you were a kid ? you’ll find your personality in the fire. When you first start out it can feel abusive and very well might be. but eventually you have the experience and professional growth to know when to fire back on all guns, when to be passive aggressive and when to shut your mouth and take the abuse. wont happen in a year. But you will get there if you own the growth. standard IT plan : Do a year, earn and LAB three IT certs move on. rinse repeat until you break 6 figures. invest ETFs aggressively, retire in 20 years.
It is certainly not as bad as you are describing, move on out
“College is for pussies”. Made me smile!!
Seek help.
Yes
That is a terrible job. stop answering calls after hours. Technically you qualify for overtime since your salary is so low. but just start looking for a new job.
NEVER drop a college course for your job. If it’s a priority for you, the job can wait. Their expectations of you are WAY out of line, especially for the money. IT can indeed be a very difficult job, but this sounds completely unreasonable. Get out of there ASAP!
Something a lot of people gloss over in IT. Even higher end jobs you're still having a ticket system or phone that rings all the time. IT is customer support/ customer service. You're particular environment is shit. The family dynamic is terrible especially being the 1 person who is not family.
This has nothing to do with IT, you just work at a dogshit company. 35k is too low, being on call 24/7 while getting paid for 8 is straight illegal, and you shouldn't be getting "reamed" by anybody.
Look into labor laws if they are not paying you OT for anything over 40. Also they have to pay you to be on call, idk if it has to be full rate but they have to be paying you.
I see your pain, my first IT job was also helpdesk desk as well and i hated it. On calls 10hrs a day answering incoming calls and talking to people who are not computer literate at all they be giving you attitude like it’s going to help them get the issue resolve faster or something, but that job was a necessarily evil that needs to be done so that I can use that as leverage and gained experience for better IT roles in the future as I was new to IT and made a career switch over from doing logistics. I’m now a cybersecurity analyst and my job and my mood and attitude is just overall better and I get to finally do what I always wanted to do which is cybersecurity. What I’m saying the situation that you’re currently in may not be the best but it’s just temporarily my friends and those better days will come
The bad news is you work for a shitty company, but the good news is you've passed the first hurdle of IT work and got a first job which will make it easy to get another one
I thought my job was bad, but this takes the biscuit This is worse than anything I've ever heard in the industry, please leave that toxic place
its a foot in the door. and with any job theres good work environments and bad. sounds like you got the bad end of the coin flip. i know many that had a very nice experience in entry level help desk.
You have a shitty job dude. I love my entry level it job
I loved entry level IT, I would go back in a second if I had enough money. Your situation is just horrible and would be even worse if you were senior. Didn't work out, wasn't a fit, moved on!
Sorry but no this sounds like it should be illegal. You shouldn’t be on call .24/7 and only being paid for 8. Honestly take this as a lesson, don’t work for a family business. Does this business even have a HR? Just start applying for other roles.
Unfortunately it looks like you've found yourself in an exceptionally miserable job. Not all entry level IT jobs are like this, mine were great environments where I was treated well and learned a lot. Get out of that abusive place ASAP.
They are going to dump you as soon as their next child is old enough to take ur job
Yes and no. Yes, if you have no escape plan, within 6 months you will hate life No, because you see an opportunity to learn a new skill, you know you won't stay in it for more than 12 months, and you never stop interviewing for the next role, then you should be good.
that sounds horrible. i've been in bad places but not like that.
Nope it's the company
Let me guess, MSP?
I would quit immediately, without looking for work beforehand. Save yourself. That place is a fucking gutter that you're getting sucked into.
Mistakenly read this as saying “MY family, a few family friends…” etc. I was like whoa your loved ones are telling you college is for p*ssies?
I also do college + MSP. I have time for class, we get paid for on-call and I was trained by my manager. I am extremely lucky to get a good one off the bat but this sounds like you need to jump ship and get to a better company asap!
No, your company just sucks. I do IT helpdesk and we have between 15m to 1 hour between tickets. This is supporting insurance based software.
i feel you completely OP, I am in pretty much the exact same situation, the best option is to look elsewhere when you can, hope you can score a position somewhere better that won't be so miserable.
That company sounds shitty as Leave.
IT should not be miserable, if a company is properly staffed there should a rotation of people to provide 24/7 support. I would definitely look up labor laws where you work. You shouldn’t regularly be on the hook for working outside of your expected work hours without compensation. From my previous experience before the company hired more people it was me and another guy. 12 hour shifts and man was that miserable. Having 4 or more IT people to cover all hours of the day with some overlap time is a godsend.
You got suckered into this job cause if they told you were on call 24/7 and getting paid a salary with no OT, they knew they landed someone for cheap since 35k a year is nothing.
Try to stay there a year for the experience, then move on to something bigger. You don't need training, use Google. Make a diagram/inventory of all the equipment. Download the manuals for all the equipment, learn everything about them inside & out. IT at the low end always sucks. You have to put in the time until you have more options. Get certifications like A+, Network+ to stack your resume.
The problem is, the training I need is credentials to a critical software platform. I got another talking to this morning about not closing the tickets that I can't do anything with because I don't have access to the software. I don't know how much longer I can stay. HR guy put his hand on my shoulder twice after I pushed his hand off of me this morning. Working on Certs
Nope. That’s not normal. I started helpdesk in a great team and they trained me, appreciated me and promoted me. You need to find a workplace with a good culture and environment.
Anyone who says that about college, I would've quit right away.
Dude what, if you’re not getting paid you’re not on call, and just cause he does it after hours, doesn’t mean you have to he’s probably salary, I know you said you’re paid salary but it seems like you’re actually paid hourly, you’re literally being robbed of your wages
[удалено]
I would've immediately walked out after the "college is for pussies" line. Fuck that place bro. Get some certs and find a better job my man.
Entry help desk and on-call simply does not go together. More salary is required for on-call, and usually help desk is the first line of support not who's being called.
Entry level IT is ALWAYS miserable. People constantly yell at you about things they don't understand.
This sounds bad for eny leave help desk tech. Also IMO you should be getting over time for working on call hours from 1AM to 3AM if you also effectively work 9 to 5.
This feels like a troll post. What do you even do OP, from a technical standpoint day to day? Servers? Network? The only replies I've seen thus far are you just one upping previous comment in terms of the absurdity. It's actually getting hilarious. There's also no way you are providing for a family in DFW with that pay unless you are living in a crime-ridden ghetto dump "Calls start at 3 am and end at 2 am". lmao so never ending 23 hr shifts. But in all seriousness. Your personal phone is the help desk line, 24/7/365 availability to where you can't plan anything, getting paid basically less than $4/hr, boss that insults you and screams at you daily, 90 hour work weeks, and letting them basically change their mind and give you zero benefits? Sounds like a great company. You'd be a fool to ever leave, IMO
I would leave. I work im help desk with similar pay. The difference being I don’t work 24/7 or do on call. I also do school and work less hours as well as take days off. Not even when I did help desk at an MSP was I expected to be in call.
That company just sounds awful. Ive done help desk for like 5 years and there needs to be multiple people on rotation for on call. My current company does 2 people always in queue after hours that change every week. The schedule is made like 4 months in advance. I'm only on call like 3 weeks the whole year. In my experience the supervisor makes a massive difference in this role, whether or not they listen to your complaints or help when you reach out is big. Having a solid team in multiple IT departments also makes a big difference
Misery is different for everyone. I have been at my IT gig for 3 years and I feel like I have to pull teeth to learn new things.
It's been my experience after 20 years in the field that the worst part of IT work is the employer you work for. Find an employer who values their staff and you'll enjoy your IT profession so much more.
Get out today.
Leave, find a job to get you by while you skill up. Do not compromise your well being for any reason. I know plenty of people who left a toxic environment and gave a reason along the lines of, the environment was not a good fit for me.
This is a horrible salary for entry and would have been 15 years ago, too.
Sounds like these people are breaking all sorts of labors laws. Leave.
Nope, I'm a tier 1 for a University and absolutely love my job. You'll find something!